Breadbreadbread

Amanda,

I finally got my hands on some new yeast. To prove to myself that I hadn't lost my bread magic I decided to make this French-style country bread. I also used the Silpat you gave me for Christmas--I don't know if that was a proper usage or not, but I wanted to try it out.

The bread came out alright, but not nearly as crusty or hole-ridden as the recipe claimed. I am not sure if I went wrong somewhere or if they were simply exaggerating. It might be better if you leave the starter overnight--I only waited 2-1/2 hours. And I didn't use bread flour, because I didn't have any. Hmm. Now I sound like a bad baker. The knife I used to slash the top also was not sharp enough.

Well, it was good to dip in my soup. And eat with cheese. And dip in olive oil and seasonings...

I am going to try some cinnamon rolls again tonight.

Much love,

Celia

Return of the Undergraduate

Amanda,

I live! I have made so many goodies since my last post, but unfortunately failed to obtain documentation. But now I'm back. I bought a new pan on a whim yesterday and couldn't resist immediately trying it out. So I present: miniature bunt cakes in three forms. Normal bunt cake? Eh, ok. Mini bunts? Adorable. And much more versatile.

I started with a Martha Stewart recipe for Strawberry Jam Cakes. The cakes to the left are obviously not strawberry jam cakes. I used the recipe for the batter and then altered it by rolling them in cinnamon sugar.

Cinnamon-sugar mini bunts.

For the bunts on the right, I piped strawberry jam into their centers after baking and topped them with real whipped cream. (One can never get enough real whipped cream. I was caught in the act of piping the remaining cream directly into my mouth.) The bunts on the left I baked with the filling inside and then topped with cream.


Left: Closed strawberry jam filled bunts. Right: Open jam bunts.

Yum! I brought them into work this morning to ease the transition back into 8:30 AM meetings. They made it into the office tour Kassel gave our new employee:
Kassel gesturing to shelves in the office and explaining procedures, turns to main table: "Celia bakes things. They go here." Interrupts tour to microwave herself a jammy bunt.

Much love!

Celia