http://www.harpercollins.com/books/9780060891510/Mediterranean_Street_Food/excerpt.aspx [Read more]

This was an experiment partly based on the success of the focaccia. 1 cup active sourdough starter, at room temperature 3 cups bread flour, or unbleached all-purpose flour approximately 1 cup water 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 2 tablespoons sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons salt 1 cup pimiento-stuffed green olives, drained, left whole or halved as you wish Water in a spray bottle In a large bowl (or the bowl of your mixer), combine sourdough starter, 2 cups of the flour, 1 cup water, oil, sugar and salt. Stir with a wooden spoon or turn machine on. When combined, turn onto work surface and knead in the remaining 1 cup flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until dough is still a bit sticky but no longer wet. You should be able to form it into a ball.... [Read more]

This month’s extra-special recipe was supposed to be one I’ve been itching to try. Like Anita of Dessert First, I thought of Dorie Greenspan’s Black and White Cake as the perfect choice for a special occasion. We had friends celebrating their anniversary one day and the hubby’s birthday the next, and I volunteered to make the surprise birthday cake. Unlike Anita though, I had to put things off ’til the last minute because of other things that came up that week. NOT a good thing at all. What I SHOULD have done was change gears at the last minute and picked a different recipe, but since I already had all the ingredients, I thought I’d give it a try anyway. Big mistake. The cakes turned out great, but... [Read more]

I fed my starter a bit too much, and had to do something with the overflow, so it went into feeding this delightful treat — so delightful, in fact, that my 5-yo had the brilliant idea of shaping them into hearts! My original plan was the traditional shape, and I was just getting ready to open a couple of tins of tuna which is how I made it years and years ago… not English Muffins with Tuna, silly, I used the tins to shape the muffins! But I had to admit using a heart shaped cutter would be so much easier, and would please my little princess. And so I acquiesced. The recipe comes from baking queen Nic over at Baking Bites, who in turn got it from this little book here: I just got it from the library and will be trying other things,... [Read more]

Presenting our sourdough no-knead foccacia! No knead bread has been making the rounds all over the ‘net, blogs and otherwise, since the Jim Lahey story and video appeared in the New York Times back in November ‘06. Do a google search for “no knead bread” and you’ll see what I mean. Of course, bread enthusiasts, and especially sourdough enthusiasts, have known the benefits of “letting time do the work”. When working with sourdough you really don’t have much choice anyway. The starter does the work for you. You just have to wait for it! My starter has been happily growing for six months now, so I’ve also begun to get to know its moods and temperament quite well. Though by no means... [Read more]