I always knew these pancakes were good, but I was totally convinced after a snowshoe adventure with Josh’s sis and a friend. We clomped through the Sierra Madres which were covered in feet of snow, our poor hound dog having to force herself to either swim in front, or succumb to following our deep tracks behind. Needless to say, we were worn out and hungry, satisfied with the work and ready to soak in some hot springs. That’s when I realized that I had grabbed all kinds of random goods from the fridge before we left the ranch, fully aware of what the cold outdoor air can do to a woman. Josh had made multigrain pancakes that morning, and I had packed up the leftovers. Sadie and Diane couldn’t have been more impressed.

It’s hard to say if they thought these were the best things in the world, well, because they are, or if they were speaking from their famished bellies. Regardless, here’s the recipe, great for a cold Sunday morning before heading out to feed the cows. Or watching cartoons. Or going to church. Or, preferably, going back to bed.

Josh’s Multigrain Pancakes

Dry ingredients

• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour

• 1/4 cup ground buckwheat

• 2 tablespoons cornmeal

• 2 tablespoons red quinoa

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs

• 1/2 cup milk

• 1/2 cup yogurt

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Last ingredients

• 1/4 cup melted butter

• 2 generous tablespoons honey

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.

In a separate medium mixing bowl, beat the eggs; add milk, yogurt, and vanilla. Mix well. Pour these wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Stir well. Meanwhile, melt honey and butter. Drizzle the honey and butter into batter. Stir with a fork.

Heat a flat skillet or stone; melt a bit of butter on the skillet. Once the skillet is hot and butter is melted, ladle the pancake batter to form 3 or 4 inch pancakes. The batter will start to bubble. At this point, check the other side and flip when browned.

You’ll have a beautiful and fluffy bunch of pancakes, approximately 10 or so.

Variations:

• Replace milk and yogurt with 3/4 cup buttermilk.

• Make batter the night before, excluding the butter and the honey, replacing the baking soda with 1/4 cup or so live sourdough culture.

• Highly recommend sprouting your quinoa the evening before. Eventually I’ll post simple directions on sprouting grains.

We had an Apple Bake Off at work a week or so ago. I was extremely pleased when the announcement arrived in my inbox, taunting all employees to compete. I had 45 pounds of organic Colorado apples sitting in the old stone house at the ranch, and I wanted nothing more than to have some form of motivation outside of myself to make an unusual and delicious apple concoction.

Well, instead of sharing something delicious (like this apple, onion and bacon galette), I made two things that I normally don’t like anyway, and boy oh boy, they were so not delicious. Maybe one of the two had a chance, but not my apple pie a la mode drink, mixed in the parking lot, floating with clumps of nutmeg. Yuk. The coleslaw was probably really good, but I’m not so fond of such things. And tell me this, my friends: why would anyone bring coleslaw to an apple bake off? Number one, this is a completely raw side dish, never baked for a moment. And number two, no one will eat your raw mixture, reeking with caraway, when it’s sitting next to warm apple pie and calorie doused apple cheesecake. Lost cause.

I hate to say it, but on this very same day I made a third dish. I was too embarrassed to bring three things, so I saved the truly delicious one, the galette, for family and only my immediate co-workers. Yes, this will be made again! The galette dough puffs up after only brief kneading and resting. The sweet and salty mix in flavor brings such satisfaction, erasing all need for seconds.

Yes, I felt really guilty not taking this offering to the competition, but it also felt so good to be able to have this for dinner with Josh and Gramma that very night, apple pie and cheesecake still sitting in my belly. Needless to say, with all the preparations in the early hours of the day, few pictures were taken. Just believe that as that bacon crisped up in those lovely morsel pieces, and the onions caramelized, there was nothing better than the finale of apples being added to the richly colored and flavored food in that skillet.

Apple, Onion, and Bacon Galette

First, the dough:
1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour, or as needed

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in a medium size bowl.

Add the beaten egg, oil and salt. Stir in the flour slowly, a 1/2 cup at a time. When the dough is stiff and difficult to stir, turn out onto a floured surface (use some of the flour that is still left from the original amount). Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 4 minutes. Add flour if the dough is sticky.

Set the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a towel, and rise in a warm place until the dough as almost doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

The Savory Filling:
1/4 pound local and naturally raised pork bacon, roughly chopped
4 cups thinly sliced onions
4 cups not too sweet apples (I used a mix of Gala and Jonagolds), peeled, cored and sliced
pinch of salt
A couple sprigs of fresh rosemary, chopped
1/4 cup of blue cheese or gruyere, optional

After you’ve chopped the bacon, fry it in a large skillet. After the bacon is just crispy, remove the skillet from the heat, and use a slotted spoon to scoop the bacon pieces onto a plate covered with a paper towel.

Drain bacon grease just until there is 3 tablespoons remaining. Saute the onions along with a pinch or so of salt in the 3 tablespoons of bacon grease until the onions are loosened up and a bit transparent.

Toss in the chopped rosemary with the onions. Add the apples and another tablespoon or so of the bacon fat. Stir until the apples are tender. Add the bacon back into the mixture. Sprinkle salt and sugar into the filling to taste. Set aside this mixture to cool while you roll out the galette dough.

Next!
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is thin and about 14-inches in diameter. There will probably be more dough than you need. Cut away whatever is more than the 14 inches and save for another use. Fold the dough into quarters, then transfer to the back of a cookie sheet or sheet pan. Unfold the dough, allowing it to fall over the edges of the pan.

Once the filling is cool, scoop it into the center of this dough. Leave a border of 2 to 4 inches around the edge. Fold the edges over the filling, loosely pleating and overlapping the dough. The center of the galette will remain open and not covered.

Brush the dough with a beaten egg mixed with some milk or cream, or melted butter. Sprinkle the entire thing with an equal mixture of salt and sugar. Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is browned, about 40 minutes. About 10 minutes before the galette is done, top the filling with gruyere or blue cheese if you feel like it! Let that melt and meld its flavors into the galette. Could be just fabulous, I’m sure!

I think it’s reasonable to want to make pizza every day of the week. It’s so versatile, and can be as eclectic as your fridge and cupboards allow. You know those crazy Chicago style pizzas, stuffed to an overflowing and greasy pillow of calories? Hmm. I’m not so into those these days. I like the Italian pizza, the one without drippy sauces and doughy crusts. The crust can be mistaken for a flaky cracker and the toppings are not ruled by cheese and cheese alone. Sitting atop a pizza Italian style can be tomatoes, potatoes, anchovies, pears, bleu cheese, mozzarella, eggs, asparagus, and whatever is locally available. It really does transcribe to so many different cultures.

Our pizza the other night for all intensive purposes was a sausage pizza, with a thin crust, less flaky and more crunchy actually. I’m thinking that maybe the flour we used was less than ideal, maybe lacking proteins that bread flours need, as opposed to cake flours. But delicious nonetheless, and really entertaining. We used the pizza crust recipe from the most amazing encyclopedia of Italian cooking, The Silver Spoon. The recipe has you mound your flour and salt into a volcano, and then into a space created in the middle, pour half a cup of water with dissolved yeast. all this happens directly on your kitchen counter. It takes strategy, planning ahead for how you will deal with the river of yeasty water running across your non-level counters. But once you figure it out, damming the river with flour from the volcano, the whole concoction becomes smooth and cohered with a kneading shoulder work-out.

We chose sausage because we had some ground beef that needed to be used. Here’s the fantastic and simple recipe for that, from The Art of Simple Food by Alice Waters:
using your hands, lightly mix together:
1 lb. ground pork
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
2 tsp fresh or 1 tsp dried sage
a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
a pinch of cayenne
Mix well enough to distribute the seasonings evenly, but avoid mashing the meat. Make a small patty of meat, fry it ina small skillet, and taste. Adjust.
OR replace the sage, nutmeg, and cayenne with 2 tsp fennel seeds, toasted and lightly pounded; 2 garlic cloves, pounded to a puree; 3 TB red wine; and optional 2 tsp chopped parsley and 1/2 tsp dried chile flakes.

After forming our pizza crust, we gently distributed some sliced cherry tomatoes and chopped garlic on the crust, drizzling olive oil over the top of these. We baked the pizza at 425 for 18 minutes, and then added our homemade pre-cooked sausage, cheese, and dried basil for 7 or 8 more minutes. The crust really was cracker-like on the edges, but still really good. Next time I’ll try a change in flour and see what happens.

The basic pizza dough recipe from Silver Spoon cookbook (You’ve never heard of Silver Spoon? I want a semester of my life to be spent dwelling in this book, so many more recipes to explore!):

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 ounce yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
olive oil for brushing

Sift the flour and salt into a mound on a counter and make a well in the center. Mash the yeast in the water with a fork until very smooth and pour into the well. Incorporate the flour with your fingers to make a soft dough. Knead well, pulling and stretching until it becomes smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball, cut a cross in the top, place in a bowl and cover. Let rise in a warm place for about 3 hours until almost doubled in size. Flatten the dough with the palm of your hand and roll out on a lightly floured surface to a round about 1/4 inch thick. Brush a cookie sheet with oil or line it with baking parchment. Put the dough round on it and press out until it covers the area. Make sure the rim is thicker than the center. Sprinkle with the topping ingredients, leaving a 3/4 inch margin around the edge.

I bridged that gap again, the one between all things domestically intimidating and all things inherently, clumsily me. I successfully employed this living yeast from our fridge to make a yummy, wheaty, and hearty bun. This living organism once again rose to the challenge of foaming and momentously gained that smell of beer even in its chilled and slightly dank abode, and despite my homely fears. These rolls are perfect accompaniments to vegetable tomato based soups, and we’re going to make some egg sandwiches for lunch with them. And not only that, they’re really fun! Tying knots with bread is revolutionary! It’s mischievous! It’s almost something you are afraid your grandma will refuse to condone, heaven forbid she catch you in the making!

To achieve the shape of these rolls, you first roll the dough out to about twelve inches in length. You then simply start the knot tying process like you would your sneakers, leaving space in the middle to continue the snake-like bread through that hole. They are satisfying and abundant, making about 24 rolls, just enough to please your those in the office that can’t take one more calorie in cupcake form.

There are two parts of these rolls that were devilishly pleasing to me. There is a flaky salt that you twinkle over the tops of the egg washed knots, and there is whole medium bulgur mixed into the bun batter. On an afternoon adventure last weekend, Josh and I ran over to a local Mediterranean shop just because. We found olives, french feta, cream cheese filled baklava, and lo and behold, four different grades of bulgur! I want to know what you do with all these different grades, but most importantly I do know what to do with the medium (grade 2) grain. We soaked the grain in water, drained the water, and it became part of the mix. It’s nice to have whole grains in your bread, you know? Just feels like you’re doing something good for yourself. Anyway, enjoy this recipe. It’s attainable, fun, and great to be able to share with those around you. From Gourmet’s February edition…

Cracked-Wheat Topknots

1 1/2 cups boiling hot water
1/2 cup medium bulgur (also called cracked wheat)
1 TB table salt, divided
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast, a 1/4 oz package
1/4 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 TB mild honey or sugar
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour plus more for kneading and dusting
1 large egg white beaten with 1 TB water for egg wash
1 1/2 TB flaky sea salt (Maldon)

Stir together boiling-hot water, bulgur, and 1/2 tsp table salt in a small bowl and let stand until bulgur is tender, about 40 minutes.

While bulgur soaks, heat milk with butter in a small saucepan over low heat just until butter is melted.

Stir together yeast, warm water, and honey in a large bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Start with new yeast if mixture doesn’t foam. Add flours and remaining 2 1/2 tsp table salt to yeast mixture.

Drain bulgur in a sieve, then mix bulgur and milk mixture into flour mixture with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula until a sticky dough forms.

Turn out dough onto a well-floured surface and knead, dusting surface and your hands with just enough flour to keep dough from sticking, until dough is elastic and almost smooth, 6 to 8 minutes. Form dough into a ball.

Put dough in an oiled large bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 2- 2 1/2 hours.

Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down dough (do not knead), then halve. Cut half of dough into 12 equal pieces (keep remaining half covered with plastic wrap). Roll each piece into a 12-inch-long rope with floured hands (flour surface only if dough is sticky). Make a loop with each rope, wrapping it around fingers of one hand, then knot dough twice through loop, leaving one end in center on top and tucking bottom end under. Transfer to a baking sheet, arranging rolls two inches apart.

Make more rolls with remaining dough, transferring to second sheet. Cover rolls with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and let rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 with racks in upper and lower thirds.

Brush rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake rolls, switching position of sheets halfway through, until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes total. Transfer rolls to a rack to cool at least 20 minutes.

For using leftover bulgur, gourmet suggests going here.

My friend Lisa has promised to teach me how to bake bread. It’s an intimidating notion, this prospect of baking with living yeasty organisms, shaking your spatula at them and asking them to grow. I decided to take the task in parts, starting with less of a bully, parmesan pull-aparts. They sound so playful, don’t they? Their picture in Gourmet magazine shows them as stately, golden, gazing up at the camera with a look of obstinate professionalism. For some reason I neglected to take after photos. So you’ll just have to believe me that they are quite gorgeous and glazed.

I was ecstatic when I mixed the warm milk with both the honey and the yeast, and in just a couple of minutes the yeast decided to break into action, foaming and frothing and proving to be alive. I always fear these tasks in a cold home, but if you give it just what it needs, like the right temperature of milk and maybe even heat your mixing bowl, it’ll feel the love and rise up to your every request. Probably a close second though, to seeing the yeast and then the dough rise is the satisfaction of punching that dough down and feeling the air poof and collapse the entire thing.

I made a double batch of these, mostly because I had lots of everything they needed, and took one portion to work. They disappeared, leaving traces of golden crumbs throughout the office desks and floor. They gave an extra sort of reason to persevere on a below zero winter day. Hm. These rolls are actually very similar to the rolls I grew with my mom making. The parmesan definitely is very evident and a good savory punch to accompany a nice winter bowl of soup.

Next, before my lessons with Lisa begin, I want to make salt-speckled cracked-wheat topknots.

Parmesan Pull-Aparts
From Gourmet, February 2009 edition

2 tsp active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
1 tsp mild honey or sugar
2/3 cup warm milk (105-115 F), divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 TB for sprinkling
1 1/4 cups grated (with a rasp) Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/3 oz)
1 tsp salt
3 large eggs
5 TB unsalted butter, cut into TB pieces and softened
1 TB water

Stir together yeast, honey, and 1/3 cup warm milk in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. If mixture doesn’t form, start over with new yeast. Whisk together 2 1/2 cups flour, cheese, and salt, then mix into yeast mixture along with remaining 1/3 cup warm milk at low speed. Increase speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, until a very soft dough forms, about 3 minutes. Beat in butter, 1 TB at a time, until dough is elastic, about 2 minutes. Dough will be very sticky.)

Scrape dough into center of bowl and sprinkle with remaining 2 TB flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead) and turn out onto a floured surface. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Arrange rolls 1 inch apart in a buttered 9×2″ round cake pan and cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let dough rise in a draft-free place at room temperature until doubled and dough fills plan, 1- 1 1/2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees with rack in middle.

Whisk together remaining egg with water and brush on tops of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash.) Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Loosen edges of rolls from pan with a sharp knife and invert rolls onto a rack, then reinvert and cool at least 20 minutes.

NOTES: We keep our house quite cold, so I usually turn the oven on low, open it to release some of the heat, turn oven off and oven light on, then place rolls to rise in the oven. Also, if you make a double batch of these, you will only need five eggs, not six. They freeze fine, but are best fresh. Thaw them completely if you freeze a batch, then reheat on a baking sheet at 350 degrees for 5-10 minutes.
In retrospect, I would have cooked the rolls closer to 20 minute then 25. They continue to bake a little when they are removed from oven, and I love my bread a little less dry.

Lots of contrite worries these days, it seems. I’m in the process of making job changes. Our days are filled with unsettling financial news. And October 13th, I quiver just typing the date. But Alice Waters brings it home again with her recipe for Tortilla Soup, the scent of warmth wrapping my worries in it’s aromatic blanket. I didn’t think I was hungry last night after ferocious grazing all day, but once I smelled the chicken cooking down and the onions and garlic traipsing throughout the house, I couldn’t help but anticipate my very own bowl of Tortilla Soup.

At market on Saturday we picked up radishes, kohlrabi, an anaheim pepper, garlic and onions. I think we might need to go back, bundle all these ingredients together, and freeze them so we can make this soup any day that comfort is craved.

Simmer 1 1/2 quarts of chicken broth. Then add 1 chicken breast half, preferably with skin and bones. Continue to barely simmer for 20 minutes. Turn off the heat, transfer the breast to a plate, and let cool. Remove and discard the skin and bones and shred the meat.

Using an 8-inch heavy-bottomed skillet, heat on med-high 1/2 cup peanut or vegetable oil. Then add 4 corn tortillas, cut into 1/2 inch strips. Fry in small batches until golden brown and crispy. Drain on paper towels and season with salt.

In a large heavy pot, heat: 2 TB olive oil, add 1 Anaheim pepper, seeded and thinly sliced, 1/2 medium yellow onion thinly sliced, 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced, salt. Cook until soft about 5 minutes. Pour in the hot broth, then add: 2 tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and diced, or 3 small canned whole tomatoes dice and with juice.
Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook for 30 minutes.

Add the shredded chicken meat and heat through, but do not boil. Taste for salt and adjust as needed. Serve the soup with the crispy tortilla strips and bowls of these possible garnishes:
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
6 lime wedges
4 ounces crumbled queso fresco or grated monterey jack
1/2 cup peeled and shredded jicama (we substituted local kohl rabi peeled and cut into matchsticks)
1 cubed avocado (our avocado never made it to the table- it was one of the things I grazed on throughout the day).

We have plenty for lunch today, too.
We also made a Hopi Blue Cornbread to accompany the soup. The corn meal, which is truly a dynamic stormy sky blue color, came from Jennings Bros. Stone Ground Grains in Nashville, Michigan.

Here’s the recipe:
1 1/2 cups Hopi Blue Cornmeal
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup white flour
Combine these four ingredients in a large bowl. Then mix the following in a medium bowl:
2 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 TB olive oil
1/4 cup chopped jalapeno pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped green peppers
1/2 cup whole kernel corn
1/2 cup shredded cheddar
Mix these wet ingredients into large bowl of dry ingredients until moistened. Pour into pan and bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes.