Vegetable Stir-Fry

Our house has very little food in it at the moment. We are making a much needed Trader Joe's run tomorrow, but for tonight we had little to work with.

We decided to make a stir-fry after noticing a bag of frozen vegetables in the freezer.

We put on the rice to cook and then I proceeded to make a sauce.

Stir-Fry Sauce

Combine 2 tbl soy sauce, a splash of vinegar, a splash of oil, 1/2 Tbl of peanut butter, 1 tsp tahini, 1 tsp mustard, 1/2 tbl sugar, a dash of salt, some sesame seeds, 2 gloves of garlic--minced, and a pinch of salt. Whisk together.

Add to the vegetables in the last few minutes of stir-frying.

Irish Soda Bread

Last night I had two friends over for an early evening St. Patrick's Day celebration while all the other roommates were out. I bought some vintage Dubliner cheddar, some Kerrygold butter, and served them with delicious Irish Soda Bread just out of the oven. (Harold brought the Guinness and whiskey).

I used the recipe offered at 101 Cookbooks and added 1 C of baking raisins and 2 Tbl of caraway seeds. I can't imagine making soda bread without these superb additions (a traditional Irish method too!). I also had to add a full 2 cups of buttermilk.

It turned out wonderfully. A slathering of butter or a piece of cheese on a thick slice with a Guinness at my side made it a meal.

tart and roll

tart and roll
Originally uploaded by dumin.

Last night when I returned home from work I was in the mood to bake, but our supplies were limited. I always enjoy the occasions where I can concoct something delicious out of some random items. Last night was such an occasion.

The picture didn't turn out the best, so let me explain:
I made a tart shell out of the left over puff pastry from the onion tart, whipped some heavy cream, some milk and one egg together and added some salt and pepper.

I sauteed a small amount of onion until translucent and golden in olive oil infused with garlic, then I added some halved cherry tomatoes which I had squeezed over the sink to rid of excess liquid. Finally, I added some baby spinach leaves to the pan with some salt and pepper and mixed until wilted (about 2 min.).

I then arranged the pan mixture into the base of the tart shell and poured the egg/cream/milk mixture over the top. I sprinkled some chopped fresh basil over the top and popped it in a 380F oven for about 15 min.

I had some extra egg/cream/milk mixture and it seemed a shame to throw it out, so I mixed in about 2 tbl of sourdough starter and some unbleached all-purpose flour until it had the consistency of a bread dough. I kneaded it a few times and formed it into a ball. I then placed on the Silpat mat along side my baking tart and checked on it periodically.

The tart was excellent. The roll was mediocre. I think the ingredients were to heavy. Next time I will just make some normal dinner rolls, but I was glad not to waste the liquid ingredients.

Popovers

Note: I've updated this popover post - find it here!

This morning I made popovers for breakfast. They were delicious, airy, and eggy, but they didn't quite 'popover.' Last nite Mindy convinced me that to make a good popover one must have a popover tin (rather than subsituting a muffin tin). I now agree. The recipe I used was somewhat styled after Martha Stewart's Perfect Popovers. Here is the recipe with my modifications.

Popovers

Preheat oven to 450F In one bowl whisk 1 C unbleached all-purpose flour and 1/2 tsp fine sea salt. In a second bowl whisk 2 eggs, 1 C heavy cream, 1/4 C milk, and 1 tbl melted butter. Slowly add dry mixture to the wet mixture and stir just until combined. Fill greased and floured muffin tin cups 3/4 full. Bake for 15 min. at 450F and then reduce heat to 350F and bake for 15 more minutes or until golden brown and crusty. Remove from tins onto a wire rack and serve immediately. These delicate and wonderful creations need no accompaniment. Just look at this luscious and moist crumb.

I had some left over batter and since all of the ingredients seemed to be in order I decided to try using this as a pancake batter. I was quite pleasantly surprised! I think I may be making this batter in the future soley to use for pancakes. They tasted somewhat like Swedish pancakes (Hrm. . must be all the butter and heavy cream. . .) and had a perfect texture.

onion tart

Orangette's piece on onion tarts had been making my mouth water for weeks.  Last night I was finally able to try my hand at the lovely creation.  Mine did not turn out as well, nor are my pictures as beautiful, but it made a fantastic dinner for my housemates and I look forward to trying my hand at it again in the future.

I did make 2 changes.  First, I used puff pastry because time was short (well, I must admit mainly because I have pate brisee envy and I knew I couldn't compete with Orangette's perfect crust.)  Second, I put a layer of dijon mustard on the bottom of the unbaked pastry shell before I added the onion/cream/egg mixture.  I had read about this suggestion on several French cooking sites and I decided to try it out.  I think it added a wonderful, yet very subtle flavor.  On a side note, I found that my tart baked for 35 min. in a 375F oven.

Rosemary and Almond Sourdough Gems

I was eager to use my sourdough starter and too impatient to make a traditional loaf, so I made Rosemary and Almond Sourdough Gems. They are based on the Sourdough Gem recipe from Lon Walters' The Old West Baking Book.

I gleefully noticed this book in a lodge gift shop this summer while on a hiking trip in Glacier National Park with my family. This well researched collection of authentic old west pioneer recipes is also dabbled with trivia and stories. As a baker and a lover of baked things, it is fascinating to learn bits about the American baking tradition and how things have changed.

As small packages of conveniently dried yeast did not yet exist, the sourdough starter was a prized possession and a popular leavening agent. This book has many unique recipes which call for sourdough starter.

Gems were popular in this country long before the muffin and are now rarely heard of. These were heavier and denser than the typical muffin, baked at a higher temperature, and used unique baking pans to create a larger and squater product.

The original recipe writer included the note, "To a natural, healthy appetite no item of the gourmand's feast can be more tempting nor eaten with keener rellish."

I would agree, here is the the recipe with my modifications:

Rosemary and Almond Sourdough Gems

1 C sourdough starter
3/4 C buttermilk
2 C whole wheat flour
1 C all-purpose unbleached flour
1 tsp fine sea salt
1 tbl sugar
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp fresh rosemary
2 tbl slivered almonds

Combine wet ingredients
Combine dry ingredients (everything else) in a separate bowl.
Add dry mixture one cup at a time to the wet ingredients until combined.
Knead briefly to form a nice dough.
Fill greased muffin cups nearly to the top with dough.
Leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 15 to 20 min.
While cooling on a wire rack, brush tops with melted butter.

Serve warm with butter, mustard, or honey.

Sourdough Starter

My sourdough starter: Freshly fed and happily active.

This is a natural starter. I mixed 1 part unbleached bread flour to 1 part warm water and left it in a warm spot for about a week (after the first 2 days I covered it with clear film). Wild yeasts from the air will start to activate the dough over time. This can take anywhere from 1 to 10 days. Every 12 hours the starter should be 'fed.' Remove one cup of starter from the bowl to throw away (while doing this, skim any gunk from the top as well). Then add 1/2 a cup of flour and 1/2 a cup of warm water and mix. By feeding the starter two things are accomplished. First, it keeps the starter active because the yeast has something to eat. Secondly, feeding the starter encourages the yeast to be active and discourages bad bacterias from taking over and eating the yeast. (More scientific accounts can be found if you google sourdough). Once the starter looks healthy (doesn't smell off, is a good creamy color) and active transfer to a jar and store in the refridgerator. Feed at least every two days in the same manner.

I will be making sourdough bread soon, check back.

A fantastic resource for learning how to make your own sourdough starter and bread can be found here on the eGullet forums. (You can also order starter here if you are not prepared to make your own.)

vinegar

I bought this champagne citrus vinegar thursday on my lunch break from work. Upon arrival home, I opened it up and it smells wonderful. I look forward to using it in salad dressings and mustards. Other ideas would be appreciated if something comes to mind. Some sort of marinade perhaps. . .

Pizza (dough)

Wednesday John invited his former high school history teacher over for dinner with some of his other high school friends. John, James, and I made dinner. I was put in charge of pizza dough and James was put in charge of sauce and toppings.

I made my dough using the following recipe. It creates two very thin (10-14 in.) pizza crusts.

Pizza Dough

Mix one packet of dry yeast with 3/4 C warm water and allow to sit in a warm place until active (frothy).

In a large bowl combine 1 tsp. fine sea salt and 2 C all-purpose unbleached flour.

Make a well in the center and add 1 1/2 to 2 Tbl. olive oil to it. (I used olive oil that John had infused with garlic).

Add the yeast/water mixture to the well. Stir to combine beginning at the edges of the well and slowly bring in more of the flour/salt mixture.

If it becomes too stiff to stir, use your lightly floured hands to combine.

Knead 5 min. until smooth and glossy. It should be fairly stiff. (If it is too wet, add more flour.)

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl and turn the dough to coat in the oil. Cover with clear film and leave to rise in a warm place for 60 min and doubled.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface and place on baking sheets dusted with cornmeal. Brush the top of the rolled out dough with olive oil.

Prepare with sauce, toppings, and cheese and bake in a preheated oven at 500F for about 8 min.

James will be sharing his expertise on the rest of our pizza preparation soon.

Yum.

Contest! -apricot sheets

These Cortas Kamar-Deen Apricot Sheets (1 lb 2 oz. Apricots, glucose, sugar, olive oil.) were part of our Devon loot. 

I have been debating what to do with them for a bit now and I thought I would open up the issue for suggestions.  Please email your suggestions to me at probonobaker@gmail.com and the winner will get to see their suggestion put into action on the this site and I will send you some small, inexpensive, and hopefully unique culinary good from Chicago.

All submissions should be in by March 10th. Two weeks from today.

Thanks for the advice!

Gemma: Medici Bakery

This Sunday morning John and I met Harold at the Medici Bakery in our neighborhood of Hyde Park, Chicago. (See Harold's review below)

The Medici Bakery is located next to the Medici Restaurant and the University Market, all owned by the same family. Interestingly, Lauren Bushnell the Medici's head baker, once worked at the Red Hen which we reviewed the other week. *(UPDATE: I have learned that Ms. Bushnell left the Medici Bakery this past spring and is currently working towards opening her own bakery at 61st and Dorchester.  This excites me!)*

This attractive and modern neighborhood bakery is frequented by neighborhood families as well as University of Chicago students. Besides breads, they serve coffees, teas, ice cream, and pastries. We purchased the lovely things you see below:

beginning at the top left, two small whole wheat and walnut rolls, our Morbier du haut L'ibradois cheese from University Market, a soft pretzel, (and on the lower cutting board from top to bottom) a semolina sesame loaf, a seeded baguette, a small ciabatta, and a small olive ciabatta.

We began with the pretzel. I was more interested than usual in ordering a soft pretzel because I recently made my own pretzels at home with some success. The Medici's had a thin, chewy, glossy, and golden 'traditional' crust with nice salt distribution and a moist, silky crumb. Harold remarked and I agreed that it had the consistency of a sourdough. Overall enjoyable.

Next we tried the semolina sesame. This was heavily seeded with a thin crust and a glossy and erractically holed crumb. It tasted heavily of the toasted sesame with almost a smokey flavor. The crumb was moist and soft with a light semolina flavor. There was a smooth nut butter flavor suggested by the aroma, which we decided could be described as a 'creaminess.' It went fantastically with a bit of irish butter as well. A good bread.

Next we started on the plain ciabatta. Perhaps it was an off day or perhaps it was due to not purchasing the full sized loaf, but this was not a strong example of a ciabatta (and unfortunately this trend continued for the rest of the breads we sampled). The flavor was nice; salt and oil (though a little heavy on the oil). It had a thin chewy crust with very odd and atypical holes. Did it not rise well, did something strange happen during kneading? It had a shiny, glossy crust and crumb. An aromatic and yeasty flavor--a little too close to pizza dough. See the interior below:

From left to right: plain ciabatta, olive ciabatta, semolina sesame, and seeded baguette.

Next we moved to the olive ciabatta. This had many of the characteristics that the plain ciabatta had. Strange holes, one huge air pocket in the top mid-crust, the same very chewy, glossy crust, salty, oily. For both of these ciabattas, the chewiness was almost plastic-y and they were not very true to what I normally expect in a ciabatta.

We then tried the seeded baguette. This was also a very odd version of a standard bread. The crumb was overly soft and glossy, completely uncomplex. It was seeded with sesame, fennel, and poppy seeds. I think Harold put it best when he described this as a 'limp-wristed baguette.'

Lastly, we sampled the two small whole wheat and walnut rolls. They were suprisingly sweet, had a dense crumb, a soft crust, and a savory-walnut flavor. As a roll, I thought these were quite good. They would go particularly well with a pasta with a tomato-based sauce.

The cheese was quite nice. It had a subtle, chalky and sharp flavor that was pungent yet not over-powering. It went best with the semolina sesame, seeded baguette, and the olive baguette.

Harold lives nearby the Medici Bakery and was shocked at the poor quality of things he normally enjoys from them. Since they are a neighborhood bakery we decided we could give them a second chance. Check back for an update when that occurs. Hopefully the Medici Bakery was simply having an off day.

The Medici
1327 E 57th St.
Chicago, IL 60637

Harold: Medici Bakery

located firmly in the orbit of the university of chicago, hyde park's
medici bakery has the pleasant feel of a neighborhood place.  most
customers arrive on foot--some seem to be grabbing something (coffees
and pastries in the morning but breads in the evening), whereas others
dally somewhat longer with a newspaper, homework, a book, or
(occasionally) a stack of papers.  however it is hardly an indictment
that much of the clientèle seem either to live or to work within a few
blocks: one can hardly get a cup of coffee without overhearing a
conversation along the lines of

--are you in line?

--oh, no.  go ahead!  i'm still looking...

while i have taken great pleasure in eating bread from the medici
bakery on many occasions, i was disappointed on the day that we
visited to do a more studied if not a more scientific tasting.  my
reason for this qualifying what is to follow is to expose my own bias,
in virtue of having approached the tasting with elevated (in lieu of
neutral) expectations.  be that as it may, i shall attempt to
accurately describe our experience.

first, some items of general interest:

- the coffee at the medici bakery is fair trade, rather strong, and
almost always fresh

- the pastries at the medici bakery are made by a different baker than
the breads

- the medici bakery also handles takeout orders for the medici
restaurant, which is next door

- we purchased a piece of morbier in the market (with the same owner)
two doors down from the medici bakery that was tasty but not unusual

the soft pretzel with which we began our tasting was quite good,
although it was nothing to write home about.  setting it apart from
your standard junk-food soft pretzel was its vaguely bagel-like crust
and its more substantial texture that was somewhere between that of a
bagel and that of a san fransisco sourdough with rather well developed
glutens.  were one to desire a soft pretzel this would satisfy, but it
is otherwise unremarkable.

we progressed to the sesame semolina loaf, which turned out to be the
star of the lot.  the flavor of the sesame seeds (some of which were
toasted by the baking process) was nicely offset by the flavor of the
semolina flour that is in this bread.  the density of this bread's
crust is quite pleasing, making for a crust that is neither overly
crumbly nor overly chewy; while this bread has a fairly dense texture
inside, it is not at all heavy in the way that some multi-grain breads
can be.  all that said, the favor of this bread is mild, making it
acceptable for "normal" bread purposes.

we subsequently tried both a mini ciabatta and a mini olive ciabatta.
both had a pleasant flavor but both were impressively oily, reminding
me more of pizza dough than of bread.

my expectations were probably too high for the seeded baguette because
i was so disappointed when i tried it that i wrote nothing but "dull,
average" in my notes.  working from memory, i will say that the crust
was flimsy and the texture was dry, if not lifeless.  for what aspires
to be a serious bakery for serious bread lovers, this baguette was
impressively mediocre.

we concluded with a whole wheat walnut roll which was rather
inoffensive, if a touch too sweet for my taste.  ostensibly the vision
was of a dense, crumbly, and slightly sweet roll, in which the nuts
and whole wheat flour were balanced by the sweetness; unfortunately
the execution was strikingly average.  while this is not normally one
of my favorite styles, this did not rank particularly favorably among
breads of this style that i have tasted.

as i have enjoyed the medici bakery in the past (and as it is by far
the closest "serious" bakery to where i live) i can only hope that our
experience was an anomaly: it gives me no pleasure whatsoever to speak
ill of their products.

souffle

souffle
Originally uploaded by dumin.

This morning for breakfast I made souffles with sauteed pears for Molly, John, and I.

I used this recipe from Epicurious and followed it fairly exactly. I had never made a souffle before and I have to admit I was always super intimidated by the prospect. These 'puffed' up nicely. They may have been a little over-cooked (as they would not budge from their containers after baking, so I served them from their cups), but I don't think this affected the taste.

They were fairly sweet and would do well as a dessert because of this. Overall I sometimes find souffles a little too dry, so eating the pears with the souffle was a nice match in texture.

Now that I have had success with my first souffle experience, I look forward to playing around with different recipes and modifications. I will have to buy myself a large souffle pan and try my hand at the large and decadent variety. Though, I suppose it would be good to hold off on that just a bit and perfect my skills on the smaller scale.

Gemma: Chiu Quon

The other weekend a few friends from Reed and I attended an alumni event in Chinatown. We ate dim sum and then wandered around through some stores afterwards. We came upon a bakery called Chiu Quon. The bakery was bustling with shouting customers trying to make their way to an employee behind the counter.

We were eventually helped by a sweet young woman who was patient with us as John and I made our selections. Of the handful of things we purchased, here is the first of the three we will highlight:

moon cakes

These tiny little cakes had gorgeous patterns imprinted on their dough encasings. Inside, the cakes were filled with a thick, golden jelly. They tasted pleasantly of sweet musk and jasmine, however the texture was so thick and overwhelming that they were difficult and ultimately unenjoyable to eat.

Second, we tried a coconut puff:

These delightful puffs shared many characteristics with the common danish. They were soft, glazed, sugary, and airy. The cocount flavor worked well and did not seem overly sweetened. The puff was not necessarily remarkable, but it did have a much subtler taste than a normal doughnut or danish might and was considerably less sweet, which I enjoyed. As such things go, I was impressed with this version.

Lastly, we tried a creme puff:

The creme puff was soft, airy, and golden. It was sprinkled with coconut shavings and stuffed with a light creme frosting. It was quite sugary and would have been impossible to eat entirely on my own, but sharing it with John and Molly for dessert worked well (we could have used a fourth person in the end). The creme puff was good, but also irremarkable. The coconut was a nice touch, but overall I would not order a second one.

Chiu Quon bakery is a nice, quaint, and popular destination in Chinatown. They do things well, but not spectacularly. The coconut puff was the standout of our selection due to the subtle flavors. I would not make a special trip to Chiu Quon, however If I were hungry for a sweet and in the area, I would duck in for a coconut puff.

Vegetable Paella

A few nights ago I made the 'Chunky Vegetable Paella' from Christine Ingram's Vegetarian and Vegetable Cooking.

I made a few substitutions in the kinds of vegetables (we didn't have any eggplant), but otherwise I followed the recipe exactly. It was amazingly easy to make and it was quite good. (I'm finishing off the leftovers now).

Gemma: Red Hen

We began our bakery tour last weekend with Red Hen. (See Harold's review below). We went to the Milwaukee Ave. location.

This cute, small store front filled to the brim with delicious looking baked goods, wooden shelves, and bright sunlight made for a perfect early Saturday morning excursion. The two nice young women presiding over the store were patient with our indecisivness and helpful when answering our questions.

After the intoxicating selection process we retired back to Hyde Park to enjoy our goods.

We began (in the car, I admit) with a focaccia. The thing that stood out to me most was the soft texture achieved without an overwhelming oily-ness. The seasoning was delicate and savory witout being over-powering. A very nice way to start the day.

We then began on the lovely things you see here:

On the left you see two asiago cheese and black pepper mini brioches on either side of a mid-sized regular brioche. Up above you see our cheese selection, Stinking Bishop, and below that in the center we have our olive rosemary boule, to the right-- a Milwaukee sour, and of course, a seeded baguette.

The asiago cheese and black pepper mini brioche was delicious. They were true to their title and the black pepper was the stand-out flavor, the sharpness of which was nicely rounded out by the asiago cheese. These were not greasy and only had a hint of cheese, which worked well. The crumb was not as delicate as a typical brioche.

The regular brioche was airy and delicate with a golden flakey crust and a soft crumb. This was a well-crafted version of the standard brioche and Red Hen will certainly be my default brioche vendor from now on.

We then moved to the olive rosemary boule. When we sliced into the interior we were greated by large kalamata olives, fresh rosemary, and a mouth-watering aroma. The olives and rosemary were evenly distributed throughout the bread and there was a moist and shiny crumb. The crust was dark and thick. This was an amazing bread with a pungent but never overwhelming taste. You can see the interior in the picture below. The olive rosemary boule is on the right and the Milwaukee sour is on the left.

We next sampled the Milwaukee sour which had a beautiful golden crust. One thing I noticed right away as the bread was being cut was the very resilient crumb. Upon further experimentation we found the bread could be fully compressed between your fingers and immediately bounce back to it's original stature. This sour was denser than others I have had, while also being perfectly moist. The crust was thin and hard and the crumb was chewy (in the good way). The bread had flecks of whole wheat. This was a far more substantial bread than most sourdough and was not as aromatic or as pungent in taste. This was a delicous bread, though quite a bit different than other sourdoughs I have had. I will have to learn more about the Milwaukee sourdough tradition in order to see if this was a typical offering or not.

Lastly, we tried the seeded baguette. I found this baguette to be very unique. It was encrusted in fennel, sesame, poppy, and caraway seeds. The unique flavor could be traced to the number of fennel seeds, making it a powerful flavor. The scent of the crumb was almost rye and was moist and nicely holed. The crust was hard, thick, and did not flake. Overall a very enjoyable bread.

The Stinking Bishop is a very pungent cheese. We asked Whole Foods for a soft and pungent cheese that would be ready to enjoy in about an hour, and this is exactly what we got. The Bishop was silky, but not melty, and had a nice sponge to it. The rind was soft, light, and golden. It worked well with the baguette and even better with the sourdough--to our suprise. The cheese brought out more of the sour aroma.

Over-all I highly recommend the Red Hen.

Harold: Red Hen

located in an area of wicker park that the relentless march of
gentrification has only recently reached, the boutique-like decor and
atmosphere of the _red_hen_bakery_  belie the humble character of its
breads: they are straight-up good.  and by good i mean yummy.

i began with a basic focaccia the mere sight of which made me drool at
half-past nine on the saturday we visited.  the bread had a quite
chewy crust without being particularly crunchy or excessively oily and
the tomatoes were quite flavorful, especially considering it was
februrary.  it was very nicely sized for a light breakfast or snack
and fairly priced at just under two dollars.

the coffee was hot, fresh, and made from beans of an italian brand,
but was otherwise unremarkable.  it showed no signs of being
politically correct: viz. it was labeled neither organic nor
fair-trade.

we continued our adventure with a mini asiago-black-pepper brioche (a
full-sized cousin with the same flavorings was also available).  the
asiago cheese had been employed with a pleasantly light touch and the
black pepper served as a nice counterpoint.  while the flavors were
nicely balanced, one who was not terribly fond of black pepper might
not enjoy this brioche.  we also tried a full-sized plain brioche
which was not as moist as some brioche but had pleasing saltiness and
a slightly challah-like texture.

the next bread we tried was a full sized loaf called a milwaukee sour.
 this sourdough seemed to have some whole wheat flour in it and was
both dense and fine textured.  interestingly, the glutens in this
bread seemed less developed than i would expect for a sourdough and it
was also more lightly salted than i would have expected.  nonetheless,
the subtle crust and divine aroma made this bread a real winner.

the olive rosemary bread was unusually well crafted: an intensely
flavored and very chewy crust served to balance the powerful flavors
of the kalamata olives and fresh rosemary.  the bread has a nice
saltiness to it and is my favorite example of this style that i have
tried.

the seeded baguette was not your average baguette: while most of the
good baguettes one finds in this country tend to have quite crunchy
crusts, this baguette had a wonderful chewy crust that retained hints
of crispiness.  moreover, the inside of this loaf was unusually
aromatic for a baguette, without seeming at all out of place.

Harold

Harold
Originally uploaded by dumin.

I have decided to get a few friends on board and tour Chicago bakeries. We will post reviews of the bakeries and their individual products, as well as perhaps the occasional attempt at an in-home recreation of breads we have sampled.

My main partner in consumption and critique at the moment is Harold. With his discerning eye, delicate palate, and witty enthusiasm-- Harold will offer his reviews along side of mine.

New Book

I ordered a new cookbook that adds to my previous list-- Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker by Robin Robertson. I have only made one thing from it thus far and it wasn't very good (Mac and Cheese Florentine, made without cheese but rather with a cashew paste). Next time I will make a soup, chowder, or stew from it and stick to slow cooker basics. I think the main course section will be hit or miss.

Pretzels

On super bowl Sunday we had a number of friends over to watch the game. As football is not a sport I generally follow and sitting space in our living room was limited, I decided I would make pretzels.

I followed the pretzel recipe from Eric Treuille & Ursula Ferrigno's Ultimate Bread. I had made pretzels before with semi-success. They always came out too dense and chewy. These turned out fantastically. I doubled the recipe and followed it almost exactly. I topped them with coarse sea salt and served them warm with the two mustards John and I made over the last week:

On the left is our horseradish and vermouth mustard and on the right is our malt vinegar and stout mustard.