Breads/Pastries | Jaden's Steamy Kitchen

No Knead Pizza Dough: Pear and Gorgonzola Flatbread with Baby Arugula and Shaved Parmesan

Opportunity Cost...Revised...

I've written about opportunity cost of eating out last year, and re-wrote the post with a brand new recipe for my newspaper food column this week...

Before we had children, my husband and I used to eat out no fewer than 3 times a week. Our evenings wouldn't even start until Seinfeld ended, and it wouldn't be uncommon for us to have dinner reservations at 10pm. We'd easily spend $300 in an evening for just the two of us, because that’s just the kind of thing that irresponsible yuppies living large during the dot-com boom did. I’m not ashamed of the thousands of dollars that we threw in the entertainment bucket, because short of stumbling upon a long lost millionaire father, this kind of lavishness won’t come around for another 15 years, 4 months and 27 days. And that’s only if my youngest graduates high school on time.

I love my 2 chubby-cheeked dumplings very much, but the truth is, the financial responsibilities of parenthood suck. Date night with husband is now a very different reality. It’s the expense of dinner plus gas plus cost of babysitter. Cha-ching! $190 is easily spent in just a few hours, and really, was the trio of fancy flatbreads, gelato, so-so service and 2 glasses of house wine really worth it?

In case you recall high school economics, let’s calculate my opportunity cost: For $190 I could have bought: each kid a pair of new sneakers, 2 killer shredded pork burritos from the Burrito Stand, a frozen CPK barbeque chicken pizza, a pair of summer flip flops for each of us, a quart of pistachio gelato, fresh roasted coffee beans shipped from Caffe Roma in SF, a trip to the library, giant bottle of Bariani olive oil, a week’s supply of organic vegetables from the farmer’s market, gummy bear vitamins, 2 McDonald’s Happy Meals, a day pass to Sarasota’s Jungle Gardens and a bucket of worms. These are all favorite things that we cherish, make us giggle with delight and gladly fork over hard-earned money for.

As for the fancy flatbreads that I had ordered at the restaurant, it was easily duplicated at home. Sure, I didn’t have an inattentive waiter at my beck and call, but the joy of a spontaneous pizza dough sling-fest in the middle of the kitchen with the kids was definitely priceless.

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February 19th, 2008 in Uncategorized |

No-Knead Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah

No Knead Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah

Wow, I can't believe how many of you made the No Knead Sticky Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Rolls! As promised, I'm not going to leave you hanging with extra dough in the refrigerator. Here's your recipe for No-Knead Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut Challah from the book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois. By the way, if you haven't entered the contest to win a copy of their book, make sure you do!

Ok, I love their basic Challah recipe, but thought I'd be a bit fancy and make a Nutella and Roasted Hazelnut version. Screw the diet - just for a day, ok? Hey, don't look at me like that - I've been testing the book's recipes all week long JUST FOR YOU and I took ~~one~~ 3 lbs for the team!

Damn. I need to review a diet book next. Anyone have a good diet book that needs reviewing?

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January 13th, 2008 in Uncategorized |

No-Knead Sticky Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Rolls

Do you know what I call smart? Taking something from "works awesome" (No-Knead Bread) to the level of "KICK-ASS." Which is exactly what authors of the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois have done.

Oh yeah, and I hold them both directly responsible for the extra 3lbs I've just gained testing their recipes.

Keep reading for the recipe and a free cookbook drawing!

So, they've taken the basic No Knead Bread recipe and added 2 big concepts to it:

1) Make enough dough to store in the refrigerator for 2 weeks. Pinch off what you need and bake. Return the rest to refrig. This allows you to bake a loaf of artisan bread in as little as 20 minutes rest + 25 minute bake any day of the week. Perfect for spontaneous cooks like myself. Want dinner rolls for just 2 tonight? Pinch off a smaller chunk of dough. Plus, the "aging" of the dough produces the most amazing flavor, something that was lacking in the original No Knead bread.

2) Create over 100 different bread/pastry recipes, all no-knead. Um. Let me see if I can whet your appetite (I love the ones in red)

PEASANT LOAVES: Baguette, Batard, Pain d'Epi, Ciabatta, Crusty White Sandwich Loaf, Olive Bread, Caraway Swirl Rye, Limpa (Scandinavian bread wit honey and orange zest), Portuguese Corn Bread, English Granary Style, Oatmeal-Pumpkin, Raisin Walnut Oatmeal, Vermont Cheddar Bread, Caramelized Onion & Herb Dinner Rolls, Spinach Feta, Sun-Dried Tomato & Parmesan, Granola Bread, Roasted Garlic Potato Bread, Eastern European Potato Rye, Bagels, Bialys, Soft Pretzels, Montreal Bagels

FLATBREADS/PIZZAS: Pizza, Spinach & Cheese Calzone, Philadelphia Stromboli with Sausage, Prosciutto & Olive Oil Flatbread, Pissaladiere, Focaccia with Onion & Rosemary, Olive Fougasse, Fougasse Stuffed with Roasted Red Pepper, Sweet Provencal Flatbread with Anise Seeds, Pine-Nut Studded Polenta Flatbread, Arabic Za'atar Flatbread, Pita, Amenian Lavash, Moroccan Anise and Barley Flatbread, Naan, Scandinavian Rye Crisp bread

ENRICHED: Challah, Turban Shaped Challah with Raisins, Onion Pletzel, Sticky Pecan Caramel Rolls, Brioche, Brioche a Tete, Almond Brioche "Bostock", Brioche Filled with Chocolate Ganache, Beignets, Chocolate or Jam Filled Beignets, Panettone, Soft-Style American White, Buttermilk Bread, Cinnamon Raisin Bread, Chocolate Bread, Swiss Muesli Breakfast Bread, Sunflower Seed Breakfast Loaf, Chocolate Prune, Chocolate Raisin Babka, Apple & Pear Coffee Cake, Sunny Side up Apricot Pastry, Blueberry Lemon Curd Ring, Braided Raspberry Almond Cream Pastry, Cinnamon Twists

Wipe that drool off the keyboard!

The first recipe I tried was to satisfy my sweet tooth. I love the No-Knead Bread from Lahey, but after an entire year of spoiling myself with crusty, homemade round loaves, I yearned for a sweet bread. This Sticky Pecan Caramel Cinnamon Roll truly is a no-knead, no-brainer! Read the recipe first, then the free cookbook contest!

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January 12th, 2008 in Uncategorized |

MiMi's Shortbread Cookies + Bribing for Votes

When I married my husband, I knew I was also marrying into generations of family holiday traditions. In fact, I think it was written in the marriage contract, squeezed right between not touching his BBQ grill and promising to love him even when he’s 80 years old and I still look 35. The first Christmas together was a little stressful, but I kept notes of all the little things I needed to remember – like what kind of candles to buy for the German pyramids (skinny, small), the placement of hand blown glass ornaments on the tree (big ones on bottom), and what kind of cookies are served Xmas morning (shortbread).

I did ok when both kids were too young to really understand the holidays, so I mostly winged my way through it. I mean, would they really remember that I spaced out opening their chocolate Avent calendar the first 2 weeks of December? Oh, and that I ate all their chocolate for them because pediatric dental visits are expensive?

Last year though, both kids were of speaking age, meaning that they could rat me out if I forgot something or did something wrong. There’s nothing more embarrassing than a 2 year old shrieking to Grandma, “SANTA DOESN’T LIKE US!” ...continued...
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December 12th, 2007 in Uncategorized |

No Knead Bread, Revisited

It's been almost a year since NY Times unveiled the secret to the uber-simple No-Knead Bread. And while fads come and go, this certainly is a recipe that has transcended the fickleness of foodies. It's time to revisit the bread.... as many of us have been brainwashed by this summer's ice cream! We've made close to 60 loaves since last November and I've got to tell you, it is still one of our family's favorite things to eat.

I firmly believe that every person should bake a loaf of bread at least once in their lifetime. Granted, it's easy to just drive to your local bakery to pick up a loaf, but have you ever experienced the intense joy of smelling freshly baked bread coming from your very own oven?! Foodgasmic eyes-roll-to-back-of-head, soul softly moaning as you tug a piece of warm, pillowy mound gently with your teeth.....

By the way, No-Knead Bread is such a dumb name. Can't we come up with a better-sounding, sexier name than NKB?

In case you'd not heard of NKB....let me tell you about it. Baking bread does sound intimidating...all that kneading and loaf-shaping business is best left to pros. But what if I told you that you don't even have to knead or shape, that it is so easy my little son makes it. This bread recipe so insanely brilliant - no sticky fingers, no doughy mess, no intricate measuring, no complicated kneading. Totally hands-off. The crust is thin, crisp and snaps as you cut into the loaf. The interior of the bread holey, chewy, airy and light.

If bread could sing, this would be an angelic choir. in Dolby digital surround sound.

Now, with that, how could you not try NKB? It only takes 3 minutes to mix and a wooden spoon. You can't even boil spaghetti in 3 minutes!

So, without further blabbering, I've pimped out my son to demonstrate that baking bread is so simple a ~~caveman~~ 4-year old can do it.

Of course I had to bribe him with 2 temporary tattoos. Cheap labor. 10 cents apiece. There is nothing that says, "I'm a kick-ass bread baker" more than a tattoo of a killer whale. Move over Bourdain, here comes someone younger...