The Fresh Loaf

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24 Hours of Not Baking Bread

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

24 Hours of Not Baking Bread

With the freezer full of half loaves of recent bread bakes we had time to do some other cooking and grilling.  We ran across these great apricots.  Never seen anything like them - just beautiful color - inside and out.  Almost too good to eat!

So some apricot, nectarine and ginger jam was soon to follow.

A nice salad with 3 kinds of lettuce, green onion, criminis, carrot, queso fresco, tomatoe, corn, brocolli, squash, red pepper...

Indian Chicken with grilled, eggplant, grey squash and pak choy.

My daughter said this is her favorite of all the bread we have made.  Her tastes have come a long way.  50% whole grain SD combo with sprouts, scald and 2 nuts found here  http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/28591/multigrain-sd-w-multi-sprouts-2-nuts-and-seeds-somewhere

A smoked sausage, green onion, red pepper, chipotle aioli and queso fresco sammy.

With berries, grey squash, corn, brocolli, salad Thai red chili mac and cheese and pickles.

Apple granola crisp with bourbon, sans dried fruit.

Grilled peppers, grey squash, onions for some; chickan tacos, Pico de Brownman, Mexican green dirty rice and some 3 beans Baja style with pork jowl.

Tequila, Mojo de Ajo, multi dried peppers and lime Baja Chicken.

Is that a piece of chocolate pudding cake hiding under the ice cream w/ chocolate sauce and Apple Granola Crisp? 

A tuckered out apprentice chillin' in her favorite spot on the back of the sofa.  Do you think she is getting a little cubby?

 

 

 

 

Comments

FlourChild's picture
FlourChild

before I read your post, now I'm hungry!  Beautiful stuff there.

Now that you've cleared some room in the freezer, what'll you bake next? :)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

3 half loaves left but the herbed Ciabatta will go for the monthly hamburger buns tonight (going to use the last pretzel roll for that too). I'm pretty sure the first bake will be a SD 100% whole grain, home ground with rye scald, sprouts, nuts and seeds using my apprentice's 3 day process that has a 24 hour autolyse.  Then next week probably a nice Borodinski cocktail loaf with much of the same add ins.  I have to make some more white and red malts and want to smoke some sprouted grain too so that is a 5 day process.

What are you baking?

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

I had better not show Mike this post!  Everything looks so delicious for the hot days ahead.  The bread looks wonderful.  I have a real weakness for apricot anything..especially the apricot fried pies, another long story..the pies are posted on my blog..Blenheim are the best I've ever tasted, grown in Rancho Sante Fe, CA home orchard..the home sold and the new owners dug up the whole 20 something year old trees and made it a horse pasture :/

Happy grilling!

Sylvia 

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

too good to cook.  Almost made me cry.  We built a house up on the moutain in Rancho Coucamonga on 3/4 of  acre.  We planted the front yard in strawberry clover, never seen that before even in CA and the back was pastacios, grapes, fruit and citrus trees of all kinds.  It was like a little bit of heaven on earth.  The new owners ripped it all out and put in a tennis court and a huge pool in the back and grass in the front.  That did make me cry.

Your apricot pie sounds great, I will check it out on your blog and I think we can still some more of these apricots.

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Beautiful spread (s) as usual DA!.

Your cooking is certainly inspiring to all....including your apprentice!

Sorry to hear about your former house....that must be painful for sure.

My last bake ended up becoming a flat bread when I didn't have time to let it rise at room temperature long enough before resting in the fridge....I'm working on a new cheesy, onion bread using some Queso and Smoked Cheddar....I almost ate the cheese before adding it to the bread!

Regards,
Ian

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

Hope all are inspired to keep on baking on :-)  I wasn't the owner of the house.  If I was I would have never sold it.  I was just the designer, general contractor and personally picked out and planted all of those plants.  The guy that owned it had a home in Beverly Hills I worked on, one in Malibu that I worked on and a dozen like this one that were investments and where he stashed his girl friends.  I went to this one one day and she had put a sign on the front door,  If you want to enter this house, call my lawyer Marvin Michelson  (the big CA divorce lawyer of some fame).  What a hoot that was but for another blog :-) He is the most interesting man I have or ever will meet.  For years I flew all over the country building food distribution center projects for him on his private jet.  Some day we will write a book........

I stash my dough in the fridge all the time right after the S&F's with no development or fermentation at all.  I just take it out and let it come to room temp and pretend it never happened.  The dough doesn't seem to mind.  It may take 6 hours before it is ready to bake but we don't mind either - my apprentice is pretty loose with the rules.  Sorry to hear you tossed your baby in the trash.

Queso sounds great since it never melts even when heated by an atomic bomb.  Sounds like a good bake will come after the  fall......

Isand66's picture
Isand66

Let me know when the book comes out.....I anxiously await its release!  :)

Not sure exactly what went wrong with the dough....maybe I should have waited longer before trying to bake, but I think since I didn't let it rise long enough before retarding it the gluten didn't develop and also I should have given it more S&F's.

The Queso I bought says it is good for melting so we will see what happens.  I love the smoked cheddar I used also, so I am looking forward to baking this tonight to see how it comes out.  I had to add some carmelized onions of course :).

Stay tuned....

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

yippee's 2 posts that came up new today even thought eh posts were earlier this year?  One was a SD and YW combo starter German Pumpernickel loaf that was gorgeous with all kinds if add ins and then a YW one that was just about as good as it gets with YW.  Something to shoot for !

shastaflour's picture
shastaflour

..and eat at your house? It all looks SO good! And yes, I do believe your assistant has been enjoying the taste-testing.

:)

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

bite at the place where the world is invited but only part of it shows up :-)  We do eat well but my apprentice needs to cut back on her forte - taste testing.  The rest of us seem to be fairly thin.  Thanks for your kind words.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I wish we could apricots that ripe here in Maine. I would make an apricot strudel with, though (without seeds, for once).

Karin

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

The Queen of Seeds doesn't put seeds in her, bound to be fabulous, strudel?  With no seeds, do don't leave the stones in instead?   :-)  My assistant says that she thinks chia and crunchy hemp seeds in strudel would put it over the top!  She couldn't remember if her German Granny did that or not though so doesn't know how authentic it would be.  We are so tradition bound around here it is pathetic!

I did go back last night and get some more of these apricots and tried to find a bread on TFL using them but the very few recipes that were listed were for dried ones.  So strudel might be on the bake list.  I don't think I have ever made it so some kind of adventure is in store. 

Sprouts moved the price of hemp seeds to $17.99 a pound, just couldn't believe it,  so I am on strike against them and Spouts.

hanseata's picture
hanseata

And I can give you a nice strudel recipe (a bit faked, with phyllo dough - but very good!)

Maybe we have to cultivate our own hemp - those prices are a rip-off!

Karin

Mini Oven's picture
Mini Oven

Not to sell my favorite thing to do with apricots... but... to sell my favorite thing to do with apricots:

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/7851/apricot-dumplings-marillenknödel

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

dumplings look really good and they are not fried which is also good! I would be tempted, not that deserts have any affect on me (unlike my apprentice),  to cut the apricot in half and put a small teaspoon of the apricot, nectarine and ginger jam where the half a stone used to be and get twice as many of these fine dumplings to munch on - in the shape of a ravioli.   My apprentice would want to get some bourbon in there somewhere but sometimes you just have to do some tough love and say no - but this isn't one of them :-)

You could also insert the jam where the stone used to be and keep the spherical shape intact while getting that little extra surprise.   Maybe something else should be inserted in the stone cavity for some variety? Maybe a walnut or almond paste of some kind or a rolled up leaf of sage around the paste?

breadsong's picture
breadsong

Hello dabrownman,
Those are some amazing apricots, and an adorable assistant :^) 
Found some apricots at the market that looked nice and colorful like yours & picked a few up, thinking of your jam
(made a quick apricot and lemon jam this a.m.; enjoyed it *so much* at breakfast! Thanks for the idea).
Your apricot, nectarine and ginger jam sounds absolutely incredible and I'll try making some
when I can get ripe summer fruit here.
:^) breadsong

dabrownman's picture
dabrownman

anything is one of our favorites.  You just have to have the jam to glaze those fruit tarts, galettes, pastries and toasts from those fine breads you bake!   Seems like all of our jam around here, regardless of flavor, has a little lemon, butter, honey and ginger in it.   Lemon to brighten, butter to cut the foam, honey because of its unique natural preservative and sweetness and ginger because of its taste enhancing and remarkable health benefits.  Many have some hot peppers in them too, especially pineapple.  We love odd combos, in bread and jam especially, around here :-)  Time for some Toast and Apricot Jam!

hanseata's picture
hanseata

I prefer my homemade jams and marmalade to most store bought, because this lemony brightness is missing from them. I never tried adding ginger, though.

Just baking "Hamburger Rundstücke" (the typical roll from my hometown Hamburg), we will have them with Dalemain's 3-Fruit Marmalade and rose hip jam.

Karin