Playing with Star Bread

The finished lamb, mint, rosemary bread

We ran across a fun, dressy bread over at Food 52 before the holidays this year. This Cheese and Herb Star Bread is pretty straightforward in terms of what's in it. A little fancy dancy twisting and its quite a beauty.

Lloyd, the baker of the family, was intrigued. So he made it. We loved the fancy style but the flavor reminded us on some kind of pizza bread - underwhelming. And the recipe itself seemed to be over the top with butter (anytime you take something out of the oven and butter drenches the pan in a pool, you know something is off). But man was it pretty.

The second time, we made a few key changes and liked the results more.

Egg wash finish

We left the dough as it was. For the filling.we skipped creating a herb butter (using 1/2 c. of butter). Instead, we melted a tablespoon or two of butter and simply brushed a layer on the dough and sprinkled the herbs and cheese on each layer. Worked swell. It was a croissant-y bun - fluffy and flavorful - although still reminding us of pizza.

Our newest idea was to incorporate meat and see if we could create a little sandwich bun feeling. We browned 6 oz of ground lamb and chopped it finely. We thought about herbs we love with lamb and used mint, rosemary and garlic powder. We again just brushed each layer with butter.  It was a bit more challenging to twist but the results were delicious.

A salad on the side and half the loaf made a tasty winter meal!

Gotta Cook!

Whenever we are gone for four or five days, we are wild to start baking/stewing/souping/braising - and just plain making - again in the kitchen. Even if we have been staying places with kitchens so we can make some real food, we still come home raring to go.

I suppose part of this urge stems from how bare we leave our fridge when we head out. When we get home from a trip, the home made food "cupboard" is pretty bare. We are loath to grab something out at a restaurant. Didn't we just do that off and on for the past few days?

Today found us mad for making!

Lloyd with his fresh baked bread

Lloyd made his rustic whole wheat bread - a welcome all day project. A loaf for his mom, a loaf for a neighbor and two loaves for us to enjoy over the next few weeks.

And if you have fresh warm bread, what is better than soup? I got busy making a Scotch Oatmeal Soup - leeks, carrots, celeriac, a jar of our canned tomatoes, cabbage and a half cup of steel cut oats. It's hearty and tangy and perfect accompaniment for crusty bread! The recipe is from Dana Jacobi's 12 Best Foods Cookbook.

With the leftover celeriac from the soup, we made the Celery Root and Hash Brown Cake from Deborah Madison's Vegetable Literacy and paired it with some tasty leftover turkey and gravy for the family Thanksgiving yesterday.  We did like the celery pop but the greasiness of the hashbrowns - not so much!

Finally we had some pork shanks we wanted to braise today to use in another dish tomorrow. We find that the rich broth from the slow braised pork pairs perfectly with the winter root vegetable (leeks, fennel and cabbage) braise we make often. That recipe comes from Fine Cooking Magazine No. 18 from Dec 96/Jan 97. It's killer!

So that's our day of delectable makings.

Do ever feel that "gotta cook" urge after time away from the kitchen?