Bread Head

Because I am generally cold in the winter (and fall and spring), baking is an excellent way to satisfy my culinary urges while also heating up the apartment. Sneaky, I know.

One of my favorites lately has been a really easy, really tasty bread recipe I first heard on The Splendid Table. (Shout out to Lynne Rossetto Kasper!) Called Five-Minute Artisan Bread, it's a recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery that Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. Basically, you mix up a bunch of flour and yeast and water and salt and put it in your fridge, and then bake it on a pizza stone. No proofing. No kneading. No punching down. And don't be scared of "artisan." That's just a fancy way of saying you made it yourself.

Zoe appeared on The Splendid Table about a year ago to talk about the book and share some tips; the show reaired on Dec. 27. If you're interested in trying her recipe, you can find it here. I'd recommend listening to the show as well. It's worth it to hear Lynne get all misty about a delicious loaf of bread. Lynne, you are my hero.

Oh, and one thing I learned the hard way -- unlike store-bought breads, which have preservatives to keep them fresh, homemade bread goes stale pretty quickly. I think breads with oils or eggs keep longer, but this one is good for 24 hours at most. There are ways to resuscitate it, but my solution is to only make as much bread as we'll eat in one night. Which is lots. We love bread.

The food: Five-Minute Artisan Bread
The verdict: Heat up the oven -- and not just because it's cold

Merry Christmas to Me

This is me at Christmas, about to enjoy a whole pile of one of my favorite (and Oprah's favorite) desserts: Wicked Whoopies.

Ben and I went straight to the Isamax bakery to pick up a dozen. Unfortunately, they were closed early for Christmas Eve. Fortunately, my sister made it there before they closed and picked up all my favorites: strawberry, raspberry and cream, and peanut butter.



See all that raspberry goodness?

I'd like to take this opportunity to offer a formal word of thanks to my sister for her whoopie pie foresight. Whoopie pies, it would have been a blue Christmas without you.

Hot Potato (Latkes)

We had our first Christmas on Sunday with Ben's side of the family and, in honor of the first day of Chanukah, Peter lit the menorah and made beef brisket and potato latkes. After Peter mixed the latkes, I volunteered to fry. It was strangely satisfying to drop piles of shredded potato and onion into hot oil.

It was also satisfying to eat them. Crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. Yummy all around. I recommend a little sour cream on the side.

I'm not sure what recipe Peter used, but everyone's favorite home expert and jailbird Martha Stewart offered this take on latkes on her show yesterday, after taking a moment to emphasize that her family is Catholic, not Jewish.

We've had a great time with Sue and Peter and Gabe and Melissa, and we've been eating very well and often. Next up is our Nixon Christmas, with more fun and more family.

And more food. Oy vey.

A Chip Off the Old Bar

When it comes to Christmas baking, I usually stick to the faithful favorites, but this year I branched out a little with these ginger chocolate chip bars. Overall, I would rate them as an "ehh, okay."

Basically, they're a blondie brownie with ginger in the batter. I love ginger, but the flavor wasn't very pronounced, so I pretty much ended up with plain old blondies. No Christmas razzle dazzle there. And with holiday baked goods, I'm going for the razzle dazzle. I might try them again with lots more ginger.

I will say that the batter tasted much better than the final product. So if you like raw cookie dough and you're feeling brave about salmonella, this might be the recipe for you.

The food: Ginger chocolate chip bars
The verdict: Like I said: ehh, okay