Breads

Homemade Whole Wheat English Muffins

September 29, 2012 by Charles 6 Comments

I love baking breads. There is a unique pleasure in stirring the yeast, watching it foam, and then kneading the tough flour in and out of your hands and across the cutting board. There is a certain magic to leaving the room and, returning an hour later, discovering that the small ball of dough has doubled in size, the yeast breathing life into the round.

One of the additional pleasures of baking bread is in the anticipation, as the smell of baking break slowly fills the kitchen, before settling over the entire apartment, building a sense of eagerness in the room’s occupants.

For better or worse, there is…

Cinnamon-Sugar Pull-Apart Bread

May 24, 2012 by Charles 5 Comments

A few weeks ago, my boss came into my office with questions about a case that I was working on. After I gave him the run-down, he got up to leave, at which point, I asked him to take a seat and to close the door. I was leaving the job, I said, having accepted a new position.

The news did not come as a surprise, and he offered his sincere congratulations. He also encouraged me to make the most of my time-off. There are few instances, he noted, where you are truly off the clock. In this line of work, weekends get truncated and vacations get interrupted. There is always another case to read and another motion to file. There are few moments of true respite.

That time between jobs, however, was one of those truly serene periods, where there are no unanswered emails and waiting voicemails. There are no blinking red light while you are between jobs.

During my time-off, …

Homemade Yeast Doughnuts

August 19, 2011 by Charles 13 Comments

This has been quite the whirlwind week.

Once again, I’m preparing to move: this time from Cincinnati, Ohio to Silver Spring, Maryland. This past week has been devoted to finishing up my projects at work and cleaning and packing up my apartment. But in between those two activities, I have been doing my best to take advantage of my last few days in Cincinnati.

Last Tuesday night, I drove to Mt. Adams, the neighborhood overlooking downtown Cincinnati from its eastern perch. I got lost navigating the winding one-way streets, as always, but eventually found a narrow street sandwiched between two apartment buildings and leading up to the edge of the Mount.

I unpacked my camera, set up my tripod, and took in the lights…

Jalapeno-Cheddar Cornbread

August 7, 2011 by Charles 9 Comments

Cornbread is a so-called quick bread, because it doesn’t contain yeast and doesn’t require any rising or kneading. All of which makes it ready to bake in a flash!

Another great thing about cornbread is that no two recipes need be alike. You can mix and match ingredients as you see fit. Play with the type of cornmeal (coarse or medium), the flour (whole wheat or not), the cheese (cheddar or monterey) and the acid (buttermilk, sour cream, or yogurt). Add corn or jalapeno slices . . . or both . . . or neither.

I made this particular recipe twice, …

Whole Wheat Banana Oat Yeast Bread

May 28, 2011 by Charles 10 Comments

Over the last few days, I’ve watched my bananas go from a bright yellow, worthy of wearing the leader’s jersey in the Tour de France, to a soft brown, like a tattered and mud-splashed elementary school bus.

Banana bread and banana muffins are always easy options for an overripe bunch. But banana bread is – let’s be honest – closer to cake than either bread or a trip to the bottom of the food pyramid. For that reason, I took my overripe bananas and turned them into real banana bread – not the quick kind. Indeed, if you know me, you know that I often enjoy taking the long and meandering route, passing through several culinary steps and preparation detours over what might have otherwise been a one-step, ten-minute trip, down the intercity highway (see curried couscous).

While this banana bread requires kneading and resting, rather than mixing and pouring, it is …