I cannot make pretty pancakes. It doesn't matter if I make them from scratch, from my own homemade mix, or from a store-bought mix. It doesn't matter if they're whole-grainy or white-floury. It doesn't matter if I use an ice cream scoop or a big spoon to measure the batter, or if I pour it out. It doesn't matter if they're silver dollar sized or 6" in diameter. They always come out in these funky, mostly oval (but with odd little appendages) shapes. And flipping them... look out! It doesn't matter what kind of spatula I use. Splat! Metal, plastic, super-thin, round, rectangular... the pancakes always land toward the middle of the frying pan, and four pancakes often become one. But really, when all is said and done, they always taste good. That's what really matters, isn't it? With a bit of nice, organic butter and some sweet Maine maple syrup, it's hard to go wrong.
Just for the record, the pancakes in the above picture were made from Hodgson Mill Whole-Wheat Buttermilk Pancake Mix. I don't often use baking mixes, but this stuff is damn good. And I know, one side got just a bit overcooked. I was apparently still half asleep when I made them. But they sure tasted good!
Today is the first day of spring, and it actually remotely resembled spring here! The sun was out, temps were in the mid 40s (trust me -- for Maine, in March, that's downright balmy!), and it didn't snow! Not one little flake or flurry! In honor of such a glorious day, I dug out and dusted off my beloved Birkenstocks:
My toes are so happy! And yes, that is, in fact, snow on the ground under the deck. That won't be gone anytime soon. And yes, I do, in fact, plan on wearing my sandals when I go to the radio station tonight.
When I was searching for a blog hosting company last summer, I really had no idea what I was doing. I just Googled "free blog host" and came up with a few matches. I didn't know any more about one host than any other. I'm not sure exactly how I ended up on Blogdrive, but I think it was fairly random -- it was the first free blog hosting site I saw that seemed to have the features I thought I wanted -- mostly, it was free, and it promised no pop-ups or pop-unders. Sold!
A month or so ago, Blogdrive added some new bells and whistles, and also started "featuring" two blogs each day. When someone goes to the Blogdrive home page, there is a box on the right side of the screen. That box contains two headings: "Featured Subscriber" and "Featured Profile," along with a little snippet of each blogger's header, or a photo from the blog. Guess who is today's Featured Subscriber! Here's what Blogdrive's visitors see today:
Featured Subscriber
I have to tell you, I was quite surprised when I went to the site and saw that. I said to my cats, "hey -- that's me!!!" I'm sure it's as random a thing as how I chose Blogdrive, but it sure has gotten me a lot of hits! =) It's barely noon here, and I've already exceeded my daily average of visitors, more than one-third of whom are other Blogdrive subscribers. It will be interesting to see how many of them stick around. I haven't found any other food blogs on Blogdrive in the nine months I've used it... maybe this will start a new trend. Thanks, Blogdrive!
My diet has been seriously lacking plum jam lately. It's not because I don't have any plum jam on hand... it's because I haven't taken the time to make my favorite vehicle for plum jam -- bread! Plum jam can't be eaten on just any old bread, you know. It really should be eaten on homemade bread. This afternoon, I got out my trusty copy of "Smart Bread Machine Recipes." It is, as I have mentioned, my absolute favorite bread book. Almost every recipe calls for 100% whole grain flours. A few -- very few -- call for just a little all-purpose flour. And I don't think any of the recipes calls for refined sweeteners. It's the crunchiest, granola-y-est bread book I own. I love it. I highly recommend it.
Today's recipe is one I've made before as dinner rolls for family gatherings. It's a perfect example of my favorite type of bread... you know, the more grains and seeds, the better? It came out as close to perfect as any loaf of bread I've ever baked. And yes, of course I baked it in the oven, and not my bread machine!
Amaranth Crunch Bread
makes 1 - 1 pound loaf
1-2/3 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 tbsp wheat gluten
1 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tbsp lecithin granules or vegetable oil (I used lecithin)
2 tbsp maple syrup or honey (I used honey)
3/4 cup water
3 tbsp pumpkin seeds
Put everything except the seeds in the machine's bread pan and turn the machine to the "raisin bread" setting. Add the seeds when the machine buzzes.
At that point, you can either leave the dough in the machine all the way through the baking cycle, or take it out after one rise and have your way with it, like I did. I shaped it into a loaf and let it rise for about 45 minutes, until it had doubled in size. I baked it at 350 for about 25 - 30 minutes (but who was counting?), until it was golden brown and pulled away from the sides of the pan.
This is a beautifully soft, light, moist bread with a nice crunch from the pumpkin seeds. It goes equally well with sweet or savory sandwich fillings and spreads.
A few weeks ago, Julie had a bit of trouble with popovers. They didn't pop. It's a problem she's had before. Poor Julie! Popovers are such a beautiful thing. What better vehicle for some good, organic, sweet butter and some lovely imported French jam? I've made popovers quite a few times and have always had success. I thought I'd make a batch so I could tell Julie exactly how I did it, in hopes that I could find the reason her popovers won't pop...
Popovers Puffy buns with space for stuffing
(12 popovers)
Mix thoroughly:
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup milk
2 tbsp melted butter
Use popover pans or regular muffin tins. Pre-heat oven to 450. Grease muffin tins and heat in pre-heated oven. When hot, fill 1/3 full with popover batter. Bake at 450 for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 and bake for 10 - 20 minutes longer. Do not open oven until after 30 minutes of baking or popovers may fall. Eat with butter or jam or cheese.
I followed the instructions pretty closely. I mixed the dry ingredients in one bowl and the wet in another. I added the dry to the wet and whisked until the batter was smooth. I used a regular nonstick muffin pan. I even preheated the pan for just a couple minutes while the oven was getting up to temp, which I don't normally bother to do. I think it helped -- they popped higher than I've ever had popovers pop!
Of course, I used a different recipe than I usually do, too. Some of them did have weird little indentations, but they were still pretty poufy. I usually like my popovers for breakfast, with butter and jam (of course!), but they went very well with the corn chowder my parents and I had last night!
Well, Julie... I don't know what to say. I can't imagine why your popovers don't pop. All I do differently is I'm not quite as fussy as the recipes want me to be. I hope you have better popover luck soon!
