Friday, November 19

It's that time of year - COOKIES!

I've started making cookies for the holiday season. Have you? Here's what I've got so far....

Of course, classic Chocolate Chip Cookies:

From November 2010

From November 2010

Some Spritz cookies, almond and chocolate:

From November 2010

From November 2010

From November 2010

And some classic Snickerdoodles...

From November 2010

From November 2010

More to come!

Monday, November 8

Busy Weekend

My first pumpkin pie:
From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

From SUGAR: A Bakehouse

Not perfect, but a solid, first attempt.


A loaf of whole wheat bread:
From SUGAR: A Bakehouse
From SUGAR: A Bakehouse


And some banana bread:
From November 2010
I used a recipe that I got from the King Arthur Flour's traveling baking demos that suggested adding coconut flakes...what a great idea!

Wednesday, November 3

Fougasse

After a ciabatta disaster over the weekend, I was determined to make a nice yeast bread.  I took a break from ciabatta, though, and decided to try fougasse.  I was really nervous since the giant, leafy pictures just look so incredible.  I was surprised how well it turned out and how easy it was!  Next time I think I'll add some spices for some extra flavor now that I've got the basic recipe under my belt.  Here are a couple of pictures...sorry, no pictures of the messed up ciabatta! 

I learned from Wikipedia that the leaf shapes are actually supposed to look like an "ear of wheat":
I can't really say mine is a perfect match, but you get the idea! 

The history of the bread (according to Wikipedia) says that fougasse was a provincial bread and there were different variations regionally in France.  Some versions included different savory ingredients (olives, anchovies) and were like pizza without sauce.  Eventually the recipe made its way over to Italy where fougasse evolved into focaccia.  Yum...focaccia may be the next bread recipe to try!