Dill Pickle Bread, Because Weird is Fun!

I think it took me all of 5 seconds to decide if I would make this bread. Usually there's a whole lot of deliberation before I decide what baking project I will take on. I'll sit with several cookbooks, mark them with post-it notes, and anywhere from an hour to 3 hours later, I've made my choice. None of that happened with this pickle bread. I basically read the title, read the pickle ingredients it called for (just to make sure it sounded pickly enough for my satisfaction), and made my way to the kitchen. It was that simple.

This bread truly tastes like pickles. And sure, that is a little weird but it is surprisingly good. The texture is an absolute 10. Soft and chewy. And it has a sour flavor similar to sourdough.

I will say, using a cup of pickle juice pretty much means there's no juice left in your jar of pickles. And the recipe only calls for one chopped pickle. So I guess that means you have to eat the rest of the pickles right then, or host a pickle party that afternoon so they don't go to waste. Or I guess you can save the pickles for later. But since you've used up the pickle juice, what liquid do you put back in the pickle jar so the pickles will last? If you are a pickle expert, please advise in the comments below!

My brilliant mom made the suggestion that this bread would be perfect for a corned beef sandwich. Or how about pastrami! Makes sense since you eat dill pickles at the same deli where you get your corned beef or pastrami sandwich. Why not in the same bite? Jewish delis, are you listening?

Dill Pickle Bread
Adapted from a recipe on What's Cooking America

1 generous cup lukewarm dill pickle juice
3 teaspoons instant active dry yeast

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon dried dill weed
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large dill pickle, finely chopped

3 cups bread flour or unbleached all-purpose flour

In a standmixer or large bowl, stir together the warm pickle juice, yeast, and sugar. Add in the oil, dill, salt, chopped pickle, and 1 cup of the flour. Beat until incorporated. Gradually add the remaining two cups of flour, adding an additional tablespoon of flour at a time until the dough forms a soft, elastic ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Knead the dough on a floured work surface. Place in an oiled bowl and turn once to coat. Cover the bowl and leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size, about an hour.

Turn the dough out onto the floured work surface and shape the dough into a loaf by rolling or stretching it into a rectangle, then folding it in thirds like a letter, turning it over, and tucking the ends underneath.

Spray a 9x5-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle the bottom and partway up the sides with cornmeal. Place the shaped dough into the loaf pan and cover. Allow to rise in a warm place about 40 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a very sharp knife, make three diagonal slashes in the top of the dough. Brush the top with water. Bake for 25-35 minutes. If the bread starts to get dark brown but isn't done baking yet, cover the top with foil and return to the oven. To check for doneness, remove the loaf from the pan and tap the bottom with your finger. It should make a hollow sound. If it doesn't, return the loaf to the pan and return the pan to the oven to bake for a few more minutes.

When done baking, remove from the oven and allow to cool out of the pan on a wire rack.

Step-by-Step in Pictures

Combine the sugar, yeast, and pickle juice...

Chop up a pickle or two!

Add in the oil, dill, salt, chopped pickle and 1 cup of the flour...

Add in the remaining 2 cups of flour...

Mix and add a tablespoon at a time of flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl...

Knead the dough, then place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise for about an hour...

When the dough is ready, it will have doubled in size...

Shape the dough into a rectangle...

Fold the dough in thirds like a letter going into an envelope...

Tuck the ends under and pinch to seal...

Place in a greased loaf pan that has been dusted with cornmeal, cover and let rise about 40 minutes...

Once risen, slash the top of the loaf three times, then brush the surface with water...

Bake at 400 degrees F for 25 to 35 minutes...

Let cool out of the pan...

Slice and serve with butter or use for a corned beef or pastrami sandwich!

Oatmeal M&M Cookies, Where M&M Stands for Mmmmmmm

M&Ms are one of my favorite things to put in cookies. And the M&M cookie at Diddy Riese near UCLA is one of my all-time favorites!

M&Ms are also great eaten straight out of the bag. (Stating the obvious.) But I was feeling like baking, and I view candy as a baking ingredient as much as it is a treat on its own. I'm funny like that. You'd be surprised to see my liquor cabinet. It's pretty extensive. I mean, for someone who is not a big drinker, my liquor cabinet is impressive and actually shocking. People come over and see my booze and jump to ALLLLLL the wrong conclusions. That stuff is 99% for baking! Ok, and maybe on occasion I'll have a shot while I'm in the kitchen.

When I'm browsing at the grocery store, I often look at ingredients as "baking potential" as opposed to stand-alone stuff. You should try that method of thinking sometime. Go to your local grocer and view everything with a different eye - a baker's hat, if you will. You'll be surprised the sort of fun things you'll discover. Pinenuts in biscotti? Sure! Crushed potato chips in chocolate chip cookies? Yes, please! Thinking with your "baking potential" brain on means entertaining DIY projects. Brilliant ideas. Delicious baked goods-in-the-making.

But back to M&Ms. It is no surprise to anyone that M&Ms lend themselves well to baking. So today, I stuck them in oatmeal cookies from my new Williams-Sonoma Baking Book.

Oatmeal M&M Cookies
Adapted from a recipe in The Williams-Sonoma Baking Book

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Approximately 1 cup M&Ms (or more...or less...whatever you want!)

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Remove from the heat and stir in the granulated sugar and brown sugar (I used a big wooden spoon). Then add the egg and vanilla and stir until fully incorporated.

Over a sheet of wax paper, sift together the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Carefully pour the sifted ingredients into a bowl and stir to blend. Add the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, and stir to combine, then stir in the oats, walnuts, and M&Ms. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously grease 2 baking sheets.

Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to drop tablespoon-size balls of dough onto the cookie sheets, spaced evenly apart (about 2 inches because the dough will spread). Use a metal spatula or the bottom of a glass to flatten each ball of dough to about 1/3-inch thick disk.

Bake the cookies for about 11-15 minutes, until golden brown. Err on the side of underbaking, especially if you want a chewy cookie. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to finish cooling.

Step-by-Step in Pictures

Melt the butter in a saucepan, remove from heat, and stir in the granulated and brown sugars...

Stir in the vanilla and egg...

Sift the dry ingredients together and stir to blend...

Add the dry ingredients into the butter-sugar-egg mixture...

Stir in the oats and walnuts...

Stir in the M&Ms...

Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for an hour...

Shape the dough into balls...

Place evenly apart on the baking sheet and press the tops down with the back of a glass or a metal spatula...

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 11 minutes...

Enjoy!

How to Have a Half Birthday Cake

Today is my half birthday. The 6 month mark. That is worth celebrating, right? I was thinking of baking myself a half birthday cake. But what exactly does that look like? Does it mean I bake a whole cake and toss out half or give away half? Or do I only bake half the recipe? But in a round cake pan so it looks like a whole cake? Or do I bake a cake in a cake pan that looks like half a round cake? DING DING DING!

My friend Jan sent me a link to this half-round cake pan. It's perfect for celebrating half birthdays! Let me know if you have a different interpretation of how to bake a half birthday cake. I'm very interested. Particularly because I love finding excuses to bake. Not that I need excuses...

Sally Lunn Bread: The Bread That Thinks It's Cake

I finally made Sally Lunn Bread. I've seen various versions of this famous bread in a lot of my cookbooks and couldn't figure out what the allure was. Why were so many cookbooks including it?

But by george, I've got it! Now that I've made it and tasted its richness and analyzed its dense cross section and feared I'd be home alone with the loaf eating all of it in one sitting, I understand. It's cake bread. Er, not cake, but cake bread. As in bread that has cake-like qualities. Notice the eggs, milk, and butter called for in the recipe. Your everyday white sandwich bread does not contain any of those ingredients. Sally Lunn Bread is special!

I just want to know, with a stick of butter already in the dough, is it wrong to slather a slice with butter before you pop it in your mouth? Don't judge me.

Sally Lunn Bread

Adapted from a recipe in Fast Breads by Elinor Klivans

Makes 1 large round or 2 rectangle loaves

1 1/4 cups milk, any fat content

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (one 1/4-oz packet)

3 large eggs

Choose your baking pan first. Use either a 9 1/2- or 10-inch tube pan or two 8x4- or 9x5-inch loaf pans. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan(s). I used two 9x5 but wish I had used two 8x4 so the bread would be taller (but either is fine!). Line the bottom with parchment paper and then butter the parchment. Yes, that's a lot of buttering.

In a small saucepan on medium heat, combine the milk and butter until a thermometer reads around 130 degrees F. Remove from the heat and allow to cool considerably (if it's still too hot to stick your finger in it, it is not ready to use).

In a stand mixer, blend together 1 cup of the flour, the sugar, salt, and yeast on low speed. Carefully add the milk-butter mixture and beat on low until smooth. Cover the bowl with a towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

Beat in the eggs on low speed for about 1 minute. Add the remaining 3 cups flour and mix for 6 minutes. It's totally normal that the dough is a bit thin and sticky and doesn't pull away from the sides of the bowl. Avoid the urge to add unnecessary extra flour. And don't worry about kneading it. Simply scrape the sticky dough into the prepared pan(s).

Place the two pans side by side on your countertop and cover with plastic wrap or a towel and allow to rise for about 1 hour. It's ready when the dough has risen about halfway up the sides of the baking pan(s).

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake the bread until golden brown and the top is firm to the touch, about 50 minutes. If you're using smaller pans, the baking time may be less, so err on the side of checking the bread early. The bread should rise to the top of the pan(s). Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes. Then invert onto a cooling rack and turn over so they are cooling right side up. Be sure to remove the parchment paper before they are left to cool.

To store the bread, place in a plastic bag and seal to keep airtight. Leave at room temperature for up to 3 days. Makes great toast, especially after 3 days when it's not as fresh!

Step-by-Step in Pictures
Heat the milk and butter, then set aside to cool...

In a stand mixer, combine the yeast, sugar, salt, and 1 cup of the flour...

Add the milk-butter mixture, then cover and let rest for 10 minutes...

Beat in the eggs...

Add the remaining flour and mix for several minutes...

The dough will be sticky and that's OK...

Scrape dough into two prepared loaf plans, cover and let rise for an hour, and then bake at 375 degrees F for up to 50 minutes...

Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack in the pans for 10 minutes...

Remove from the loaf pans and cool directly on the wire rack...

Slice and serve!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

GASP! SHOCK! AWE! BEHOLD! A cookie dough truffle! Why haven't I heard of this before?! And for all you raw-egg-freaker-outers, there are no eggs in this cookie dough so don't get your panties in a bunch. Instead of eggs to bind the dough together, you use sweetened condensed milk!



Go crazy with topping choices. I opted for brightly-colored star sprinkles and some white chocolate that I melted and placed into a piping bag for a few more designs. The effect is so cool! For the 4th of July (Happy Independence Day to you!), try red, white, and blue candies, sprinkles, or dyed white chocolate. These would be festive and perfect to celebrate the holiday.


The truffles set up in a short time and then look really elegant and fun. And one of the best ways to customize this is, if you already have a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, feel free to use that dough instead of this one. Just replace egg with sweetened condensed milk. Voila.




Cookie Dough Truffles
Adapted from a recipe on FoodNetwork.com that was featured on Paula's Best Dishes, Episode: Sweet Somethings
Makes 5 dozen truffles

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips (it's important they are mini!)
Semisweet chocolate for melting (I used a LOT, maybe 18 ounces or more?)

In a large bowl using an electric mixer on medium speed, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour on low-medium speed (unless you want flour in your face). Then add the can of sweetened condensed milk. Add mini chocolate chips and mix until well combined. Chill the dough, covered, in the fridge for about an hour. Shape into 1-inch balls. It helps to use a cookie dough scoop to get evenly sized balls. Place on wax paper-lined baking sheet; chill 2 hours. You want the balls really firm before you roll them in the melted chocolate.

Melt chocolate in a glass bowl and place the bowl over a hot water bath so the chocolate stays liquidy and melty. Otherwise, you'll find yourself constantly microwaving the bowl of chocolate and huffing and puffing. Drop a cookie dough ball into the melted chocolate, turn to coat completely with a spoon. Lift up using a fork, thin spatula (such as metal offset spatula), or specialty dipping tool, shaking any excess chocolate off. Place on a wax paper-lined baking sheet. While the chocolate is still setting, top with desired sprinkles so they'll stick. If you want to pipe melted white chocolate on top instead of sprinkles, it's not as critical that you decorate right away because the white chocolate will stick no matter what. Once the baking sheet is filled, place in the fridge to chill and completely set the truffles. This takes about an hour. Then they're ready to serve!


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Cream together the butter and brown sugar...

Add the vanilla...
Add the flour...
Add the sweetened condensed milk...

Stir in the mini chocolate chips, then chill in fridge...
Shape into 1-inch balls of dough and return to fridge to chill...
Dip the balls in melted chocolate, then top with sprinkles...

Or decorate with melted white chocolate in a piping bag...

Chill the truffles in the fridge to set the chocolate completely, then enjoy!

I Would Do The Same Thing

Click image to view larger

My mom just sent me this comic strip. It was published in today's San Jose Mercury News.

Lucy and I are clearly related. I would do the same thing.

Celebrate New York With My Friend Christina's Rainbow Cupcakes

Photo Credit: Tastes Like Yum on flickr
Photo Reprinted with Permission

I am very excited by the news that New York has just legalized same-sex marriage, becoming the largest state to do so. And while perhaps this political news is out of place on a baking blog, I am going there!

My friend Christina and I go wayyyyy back, back to high school in the Bay Area. Christina is a GREAT baker. And actually, I have to give her extra credit because she is up to just about any challenge to turn a "normal" recipe into a vegan one. It's quite impressive. Well, on her own fabulous blog Tastes Like Yum, she just posted a tribute to this fresh-from-the-oven New York law. Rainbow cupcakes! While her cupcakes are vegan, you can use a dairy yellow cake recipe instead and follow her instructions for creating the rainbow layers. Her pics are very helpful!

Visit Christina's Rainbow Cupcake blog post here and let's all toast to New York and hope we see more states follow suit soon. Rainbow cupcakes everywhere! All the time!