Family Bites

Saturday Mornings with English Muffins

 
I adore Saturday mornings.  When I was a child those precious hours of weekend time were spent lazily in front of weekend cartoons, noshing on that week's must-have breakfast cereal.  Thankfully our weekends are a little tastier and more productive these days.

Spring Saturday mornings are the best, as far as I'm concerned.  We stuff ourselves silly with homemade goodness and then head out to a farmer's market, garage sale or antique market, or a combination of all three. We add in a bike ride or a trip to a park, some good coffee and tea and everyone is happy.  But the part we all look forward to the most is the breakfast.

I know some cultures prefer the idea of a long and loungy brekkie on Sundays, but for me it's a Saturday thing. I love to bake or cook up something bright and early and devour everything slowly.  A small reward for making it through the rushy weekday mornings.

Today we're indulging in homemade English muffins.  Easily created on the stovetop, I did some research and discovered they can also be baked.  I had no idea though, for I thought it was only possibly to create these with a cast iron skillet.  I prefer the original method.  The resulting golden crust that envelopes the bread is brilliant and really only achievable with a skillet.

What's tasty about your weekend mornings?

Honey Whole-Wheat English Muffins, adapted from Country Living

• 1/2 cup warm water
  
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
  
• 1 tablespoon honey
  
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
  
• 1 tablespoon salt
  
• 3/4 cups buttermilk (warmed)
  
• 2 teaspoons cornmeal
  

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.  Combine the water, yeast and honey and let stand until bubbly - about 5 minutes.  

Combine the flours and salt and spread evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Warm in the oven for 5 minutes.

Place the flour mixture and the yeast mixture in the bowl of an electric mixer and combine.  With the motor running, slowly pour in the buttermilk and mix until the dough is smooth.  If needed, add water, 1 teaspoon at a time, until the dough comes together and is supple.

Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides.  Cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, knead it on the counter for 3-5 minutes, cover with a damp towel and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Sprinkle a baking sheet with the cornmeal and set aside.  Divide the dough into 8 pieces and shape into round patties.  Place on prepared baking sheet and coat both sides lightly with the cornmeal.  Allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes.

Lightly coat a cast-iron skillet with oil and heat over low heat.  Place 4 muffins in the skillet and cook until the bottoms are golden brown.  This will take 15-20 minutes per side.  Repeat with the remaining muffins.

Serve toasted with butter or your favourite breakfast condiment.

Bread Love

If I could only bake one thing for the rest of my life it would, unequivocally, be bread.  I realize that's a bold statement to make, but I'm confident it's the absolute truth.  

I love bread and the many creations that can come from this leavened (or unleavened) goodness and I enjoy that despite differences in race, religion and culture we all enjoy and appreciate the role bread has played in our history and in our day to day life.  In fact, I love the idea of bread so much that I even take pictures of it when we travel.

(Paris, '08) 

(Paris, '08)

Since December 2008 I have been making most of our bread.  Not all, but most.  It started with the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day phenomenon and has now advanced to Jim Lahey's No-Knead Bread recipe. With nothing more than flour, water, salt and a tiny (and I mean tiny) bit of yeast, a hot oven and a pot, this golden, crispy bread is ours a few times a week.  This is my staple recipe and while I do make other loaves, and try other recipes, I find myself coming back to this one over and over.

I'm now venturing into other breads, mostly artisanal, and I look forward to sharing them here.  But for now I will leave you the link to the recipe for the bread you see above.  I did not change one single thing and it was absolutely perfect. And easy-peasy.  Enjoy!

Recipe here

Maple Oatmeal Bread

When I was a young child my mother decided we should test out vegetarianism.  We abandoned the meat eating, Sunday roast dinners of my parents youth and embark on a journey of meat-free living.  I was almost too young to remember much of this time in my life and I don't recall if my sister had been born or not and I can't quite remember where we lived or if my mother worked, but I do remember the food and the special outings that came with this new lifestyle we adopted.  

We would travel to a specialty health food store in the downtown core of my hometown to purchase some items which aided our new way of eating.  This store, with its rustic hardwood floors and dim lighting, offered bins upon bins of natural goodness.  Dried beans, herbs and spices, grains, lentils and natural peanut butter. Not the confectioner-sugar ladden peanut butter we're familiar with today, but the unrefined, wholesome variety. You know, the one that is made of nothing more than peanuts.  

As I remember, my mother would scoop the gloppy peanut butter into a small plastic container (yes, organic stores used plastic in those days!) and I would hope it was the crunchy sort.  The smooth was nice but the crunchy had texture.  It  was more interesting and each bite more flavourful than the last.  I couldn't wait to return home and enjoy a scoop of this precious commodity, licked slowly and carefully from my small spoon. My favourite treat was a thick slice of grainy bread topped with this deliciousness.

 

Fast forward a few decades to the present, a time when I'm now the keeper of my own kitchen.  Our vegetarian days of my youth were short-lived, but they did leave a lasting impression on me, for I now stock my own fridge with the same delicious peanut butter of those days long ago.  Not because of the health benefits or because of the taste, but because it's a gentle reminder of a nostalgic part of my childhood. One I remember fondly and happily.  

I'm happy we didn't remain vegetarians for there's nothing like the taste of a perfectly roasted chicken, or a moist and tender steak, but I am grateful for the experience.  One that allows me to now enjoy this peanut butter on a slice of toasted homemade bread early in the mornings and occasionally, but not too often, even scooped from the jar with a spoon. 

Now, if only my boys loved it as much as I do, we'd be all set.

Maple-Oatmeal Bread (to eat with natural peanut butter)

1 1/3 cups very warm water

2 1/4 tsp yeast

3/4 cups oats

2 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

• Warm the water in a pot on the stove or in the microwave, until very warm but not hot to the touch. 
  
• Place yeast in a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over, cover with oats and allow to sit for five minutes until it becomes bubbly.
  
• Add the oil, maple syrup, and salt.  Cover with the all purpose flour and stir until smooth.  Allow to rest for 15 minutes.  
  
• Add in the whole wheat flour and stir to form a stiff dough.  Turn the dough out onto a floured cutting board or counter top and knead with you hands until it is smooth and springy. 
  
• Cover the bowl and let the bough rise for one hour.
  
• Turn the dough out onto the counter, punch dough shape into a round loaf.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Cover and allow to rise for another hour.
  
• Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for approx. 40 minutes (if the bread is removed from the oven and you tap on the bottom of the loaf and it sounds hollow, then the bread is done)
  
• Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Chicken Club Pizza

I think every family is in need of a good pizza recipe, don't you agree?  We try to make pizza at least once every two weeks for a few reasons - it's economical, it uses up the almost-expired veggies and left-over meats living in my fridge, AND it is the one meal where I know I won't have to encourage Jackson to eat "everything on his plate".  Pizza is one of his true food loves, and he happily digests whatever tops the baked goodness we put in front of him.

One of the things I love about making pizza mid-week and not just on the weekend, is that we always have enough dough and toppings to make extra za, which I then turn into lunch for the next day.  Cooking once for more than one meal, is my favourite way to cook.

 

With Rob on dinner duty once a week, he decided to take over our pizza night  with a "Club" Pizza. I made the thin, whole wheat dough which he topped with tomato sauce, spinach, bacon and chicken.  A slight variation on the original sandwich, but close enough all the same.  A little roasted garlic oil was added to the mix, and once baked we were all noshing on some delicious thin-crust pizza. 

Tell me, do you make pizza at home?  If so what are your family's favourite topping combinations?

Chicken Club Pizza

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded or diced

1 1/2 cups of cooked bacon, torn into small pieces

1 1/2 cups of baby spinach

1 1/2 cups pizza sauce

2 tbsp garlic or chili flavoured oil

1 recipe of pizza dough (recipe to follow)

• Pre-heat to oven to 500 degrees.  Using your favourite cookie sheet, flip it upside down and lightly oil the bottom of the pan (you will bake your pizza on this)
  
• Place 1/4 cup of sauce on each piece of rolled out dough.  Top with 1/4 cup each of the chicken, bacon and spinach and then drizzle with 2-3 tsp of flavoured oil.
  
• Bake each pizza for 9 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool for 3-4 minutes before serving.
  

Pizza Dough

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2-3  cups of warm water
• 1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
• 1 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp olive oil

• Combine 2 cups of warm water and yeast and allow to sit for 5 minutes, or until the yeast is frothy.

• Place the flour and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer, or in a large mixing bowl.
• Add the oil and honey to yeast mixture, and pour into the flour.
• Using a dough hook, or your hands, mix together the ingredients until the dough is smooth and springy.  Add more water if necessary. Knead for approximately 10 minutes.
• Divide the dough into six small balls and lightly dust the tops and bottoms of each ball with flour
• Cover with plastic wrap and place on a wooden counter or cutting board and allow to rise for 1 hour
• Roll out each piece of dough into an 8" circle
• Follow your favourite pizza recipe