Peach Shortcake

In attempt to keep up with the Joneses I made challah on Friday. I thought up the idea to make peach shortcake with the challah, the peaches I bought at the farmer's market, and some leftover cream. Ross whipped up the cream with some vanilla. I toasted the challah and put honey on both sides. I peeled and chopped up the peaches. I assembled them and voila--dessert. Very yummy dessert.

Challah Back Y'all

I don't think I've made challah since last Summer. Last week I had a vision of challah rolls. On Thursday evening I decided to make them. I used my challah recipe, and shaped the dough into little swirls. I shared with some coworkers and they seemed to like them. Ross and I have been gobbling them up with butter and turbinado sugar. I got tired of making all the little rolls, so I made a few larger knots. Today we are going to make pastrami sandwiches out of those knots. Mmmmm. I think in the back of my mind I also wanted to have a bit of a bread binge before Passover. I'm definitely eating lots of bread, and it is good.

Challah French Toast

This week I made challah specifically for French toast. I didn't get a photo of either loaf of challah intact. One was sliced and the other ripped and gobbled up. I haven't made challah in a long time. I had challah recently, and it wasn't very good. With the Foxes here it was a perfect time to make it. This is my own recipe that I formulated years and years ago. This week it was a little overcooked (I was concerned about it being gummy and doing too many things at once), which was perfect for the toast.

Challah

1 Tbl. + 2 tsp. yeast

1 3/4 c. warm water

2 Tbl. sugar

2 eggs

1/3 c. sugar

1/3 c. oil

3 c. whole wheat flour

3 1/4 c. white flour

1 Tbl. + 1 tsp salt

1. Proof yeast 5 minutes with sugar and water.

2. Add eggs, sugar, oil, and salt. Mix.

3. Gradually add flour.

4. Kneed dough until smooth.

5. Leave dough to rise in oiled, covered bowl until doubled (about an hour).

6. Punch down dough, divide in half.

7. Shape dough. To make braids divide each half into thirds. Roll out each third into a rope. Braid ropes together starting from the center. The braid can be put into a loaf pan or onto a baking sheet.

8. Allow the dough to rise again (about another hour).

9. Preheat oven to 350 F.

10. Glaze bread with mixture of water, honey, and egg.

11. Bake for 20-30 minutes.

To make the French toast, slice the loaf and check out my other blog post on the subject.

Banana Bread

I used to make banana bread for Ross all the time. It is easy to make, and he can eat the bananas because they are cooked (he is allergic to bananas.) So, the other day he was whining that a coworker had banana bread--but with nuts. Ross does not like nuts--any kind, but he does LOVE peanut butter. So last week I made some banana bread and we ate it with leftover gelato for dessert. Ross likes to warm it up in the toaster. This week I had a couple of BLACK bananas, so I decided to make more bread. I think it turned out better this week. The riper (blacker) the bananas, the better. Of course I altered the recipe that I used to use...so here is the recipe that I used yesterday.

Banana Bread

2/3 c. milk

juice of half of one lime

2 c. flour

1/4 c. whole wheat flour

1/4 c. ground flax

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

3/4 tsp. salt

6 Tbl. butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 very ripe bananas, mashed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper and then grease the paper.

3. Add the lime juice to the milk.

4. In a small bowl mix together the dry ingredients.

5. Cream the butter and sugar with electric mixer at high speed for about two minutes.

6. Add eggs one at a time.

7. Beat in bananas until the mixture is well combined.

8. Add flour and milk alternately to banana mixture while mixing at low speed.

9. When mixture is thoroughly combined pour into loaf pan.

10. Bake for 55 minutes, or until tester (I use a chopstick) comes out clean.

11. Leave pan to cool and then pop the bread out.

12. Remember to peel the parchment paper off the bottom of the bread.

Of course you can contaminate it (as Ross would say) by adding some walnuts or pecans.