breads: quick and yeasted Archives - East of Eden Cooking

2017/12/232018/12/11

Triple Gingerbread with Easy Caramel Sauce

Dizzy with holiday warmth, three kinds of ginger update this old-fashioned Gingerbread recipe. An Easy Caramel Sauce completes this classic dessert.

It was a good time for Adam, the best time. He was the king of his wide and spacious life. East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Triple Gingerbread with Easy Caramel Sauce was inspired by an unassuming tray of gingerbread samples at Gayle’s Bakery in Capitola. The dark chunks of cake were heaped in a pile near the ultra busy checkout. Until I read the gingerbread sign I thought the samples were a chocolate something. I wasn’t interested in chocolate or gingerbread, I was waiting on a bear claw. I read the sign again, Triple. Ginger. Bread. Since everything at Gayle’s is wonderful, I tried a sample. What a revelation in flavor, the backdrop of dusky molasses gives way to cascading layers of gingery warmth from ground, fresh and candied ginger. I had to make my own Triple Gingerbread.

While I was searching through The Fannie Farmer Baking Book I stumbled upon the introduction to “About Sauces” and found that early American cakes were served with sweet sauces rather than frosting. That was all the momentum I needed to try the recipe for Easy Caramel Sauce with the Triple Gingerbread. The soothing sauce is silky smooth, sweet, divine. The recipe is super easy, melt the butter, then whisk in the brown sugar and cream, done. Easy Caramel Sauce will keep in the refrigerator, gently warm the leftovers. READ MORE . . .

2017/12/162018/01/25

Panettone, the Fast and Easy Recipe

All the flavor of traditional Panettone in a fast and easy recipe.

They hurried up to Main Street and one short block around the corner on Central past Reynaud’s with stacked French bread in the window and black-haired Mrs. Reynaud waved her flour-pale hand at them and they were home.
East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Every holiday season I have the best plans, things to make and places to go. I start in November and feel confident. I will finish my making and doing, I will not become anxious or stressed. Sound familiar? By mid-December its time to get real, there are only so many days left for all the doing. With Panettone, the Fast and Easy Recipe now is the time for all the baking.

Essentials

I’m here to shatter the myth of 32 hour Panettone with a fast, easy and very rewarding recipe. Fancy Panettone from a speciality bakery is fabulous but if you want something homemade, moist with lots of eggy goodness and fragrant with traditional Italian holiday spice this is the recipe to make. Panettone, the Fast and Easy Recipe can be made in smaller pans or containers, perfect for gift giving. Baking with active dry yeast is such a pleasure. Its almost fool-proof. With Panettone, the Fast and Easy Recipe there’s no floured surface to clean, just the mixer and proofing bowl. Your kitchen will smell of baking bread and holiday spice when making your own Panettone. A simple way to bring the holiday season home. READ MORE . . .

2017/10/112018/01/25

Apple Pie Bread

IFBC 2017 with a Big Fat Slice of Autumn

I asked what you wanted, and you said, A box. What for? To put things in. What things? Whatever you have, you said. Well, here’s your box. Nearly everything I have is in it, and it is not full. Pain and excitement are in it, and feeling good or bad and evil thoughts and good thoughts —the pleasure of design and some despair and the indescribable joy of creation.

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

Somewhere between SEO and avocados I lost my patience. My pen dug deeper into the paper while my heart shattered into a heap of brightly colored sprinkles. Other than the opening remarks at the International Food Bloggers Conference by Nick Papadopoulos of CropMobster, it was all about me, me, me. I found myself wedged between blogging as a business and searching for a way to nurture my creative spirit. We learned the importance of more unique sessions, better SEO, having more followers, all about making money blogging. And yes, I know we need money to live in this time and place. And yes, we all would love to have wildly popular blogs that bring in six figures from advertising. I wanted more. READ MORE . . .

2017/09/042018/01/25

Pear Walnut Muffins

It’s Still Summer

“The floor of the Salinas Valley, between the ranges and below the foothills, is level because this valley used to be the bottom of a hundred-mile inlet from the sea. The river mouth at Moss landing was centuries ago the entrance to the long inland water.”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

The fabulous pears are from Gerlinde’s birthday party, a gift from Judy and Mark. Gerlinde gathered her friends together to celebrate a momentous date, a marker of time past and times to come. Nostalgia, a longing for the past came rushing and blowing. Straightforward, direct, reminiscent of the afternoon wind in the Salinas Valley. The only escape was to go inside, the place where introverts hide. It was a sensory thing, the winding county road, the sweetness of a summer forest in bloom, the gathering of Gerlinde’s long time friends. It arrived, settled in and took me back, I felt summer. READ MORE . . .

2017/07/172018/01/25

Lemon Lavender Pound Cake

Baking with Lavender

“Samual went on, After we’ve visited Olive for maybe a month or two, there will come a letter from George. And his feelings will be hurt if we don’t visit him in Paso Robles. And after that Mollie will want us in San Francisco, and then Will, and maybe even Joe in the East, if we should live so long. ”

East of Eden, John Steinbeck

Inspiration

The Lemon Lavender Pound Cake is laced with floral notes from the dried, culinary lavender. There is just a hint of lavender which is nicely balanced with lemon and vanilla. It’s a wonderful snacking cake, every bite brings summer thoughts of lavender fields in full bloom. Making lemon-lavender sugar is how the recipe for Lemon Lavender Pound Cake from Bon Appetit begins. As the food processor whirls and chops a sensory experience unfolds. The explosion of aromas is divine. The combination of lemon, lavender, vanilla and sugar bring thoughts of boutique candles and fancy bath scrubs. My kitchen smelled like an upscale vacation spa. I couldn’t wait to bake with the sugar. READ MORE . . .