Friday, March 9, 2012

What I REALLY want to learn to do...

Is make candy.  Seriously.  Candymakers should rule the universe.

I made some caramel sauce from scratch for Thanksgiving, and let me tell you, I thought I was pretty dang hot stuff.  I could tell my husband was impressed too, because I caught him telling people I'd made it from scratch a few times when he thought I was out of earshot.  LOL! 

Candy making is super delicate though, and I'm a wuss. 
 
I found a recipe I'd love to try though, one of these days.  Here's hoping I stumble upon some guts.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Pocket Sandwiches

Do you know the phrase "Couldn't boil a pot of water"?

Maybe, in baking terms, that would be "Couldn't bake a potato."

That's me... oh boy. 

So what, you may ask, is someone who can't bake a potato doing here giving baking advice?  Who knows... but I *did* say I was a beginner, so maybe I get a little slack, huh?

Last night, I was making these pocket sandwiches, and thought baked potatoes would go nicely alongside them.

I had the potatoes in early (because goodness knows they take a while), and was going about my evening when I heard a pop.   I thought "That's weird," but sometimes things make funny noises settling in my oven, at different temperatures, so I didn't think TOO much about it.  A few minutes later, I smelled something funny, so I went to check it out.  Any guesses?  Yeah, you probably know what happened.  I EXPLODED my potato.   It literally popped OUT of its skin.  They were sitting there side-by-side, pretending like nothing had ever happened.  I have never been so thankful for the foil liner we put on the bottom of our oven!  I pulled that out, wrapped the potato back up in its skin and went on about the rest of my evening.  And then, with *my* dinner, I had a 'smashed' potato instead of a regular old baked one ;)

Today, of course, my oven got a real good hose-down inside, but that's a whole different story.


I've been meaning to do a post on these sandwiches for a while.  They're a staple in our menu here at home because they're pretty flexible.  I probably make them every 2 weeks or so.

I got the idea from an old family recipe called Kraut Runza.  I'll do a post on those some day, but need to have someone to make them for first.  They're basically hamburger and cabbage rolled up in bread dough and baked.  Sounds... eh... not so appetizing, I know... but until you've had them, you have no idea what you've been missing out on.

Anyways, I was craving them last fall, and looking for a recipe so I could make the bread dough on my own, instead of buying it pre-made.

I finally found the recipe for "Basic White Bread" in my Kitchenaid Mixer cook book.  It works pretty well.

Then, I had the brilliant idea that I could wrap up just about anything in bread dough and it would taste awesome, so that's what I do.

Bread dough first:

1/3 cup low-fat milk
3T sugar
2t salt
3T butter or margarine
2 pkg active dry yeast (that's 4 1/2 t)
1 1/2 cups warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
5-6 cups all-purpose flour





Heat milk, sugar, salt, and butter in a small saucepan on low-med-low heat until the butter's melted.  At the same time, put your water and yeast in the bowl of your mixer, to get the yeast going.

After about 5 minutes, your yeast should be nice and foamy on the top of your water, and your butter should be melted in to your milk.  Add the milk mixture and 4 1/2 cups of flower into the bowl of your mixer and let your dough hook go to work.  (If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, I'm sure that you can mix it by hand in a large mixing bowl, and then knead by hand on your counter.)

Add the rest of the flour, 1/2 cup at a time... your dough should be slightly sticky to the tough, but pulling away from (and cleaning) the sides of your bowl.  Depending on the weather (temperature and humidity), you may not need all 6 cups of the flour.

Grease the bowl (I use my mixer bowl, to cut down on dishes), and turn the dough to cover it with oil... Then cover with plastic wrap and set aside to rise.  Give it about an hour in a warm dry place, away from drafts.  I like to heat my oven to about 150 and then turn it off, and leave my dough in the oven to rise.  Give it about an hour, until it's about doubled in size.

Towards the end of the dough's rising time, I'll get together my fillings.  This is where you can get creative, and a big part of why I like this meal.

I'm a lot more food-adventurous than my husband and son, so everyone can have this the way they like it.

My son usually likes ham in his... for my husband and myself I'll usually pan-fry up some chicken.  I'll add some Swiss cheese and ham to his to make it kind of a Cordon Bleu thing... and I'll vary what I put in with mine.  Last night was barbeque sauce, cheddar cheese, sauteed onions, and bacon bits.  It was way yummy.

Other variations we've done: marinara sauce and pizza fillings, taco meat, other lunchmeat (like turkey), and lots of variations on the chicken (ranch dressing, teriyaki, you name it).

Once the fillings are done and the bread's done rising, it's time to put these bad boys together.

I pull off a small chunk of  the dough (a little less than palm size) and roll it out real thin.


Add whatever toppings you're looking for and then pull and pinch the edges together.

This seems to be the best shape for us:


Throw them onto a cookie sheet and pop them into the oven at 350.  They'll bake up to a golden brown in 10-12 minutes.  So yummy!


This recipe will make 10-12 sandwiches... or, if you're like me, I'll make one for each of us, and then use the rest of the dough to make rolls.  We love to eat those warm with a bit of butter and honey.  Mmm.

Happy filling... I'd love to hear what you put in yours!