To my dear Creative Loafing....
We’ve had a whirlwind of a romance these past 6 months. You’ve been a wonderful partner but, sadly, I must go. I’ve found someone else. And no, I’m not fucking Matt Damon.
There’s no easy way to break up, except to just tell the truth. He’s older, more mature and…sigh…has a bigger masthead. I’d be lying if I told you that size doesn’t matter, because right now at this stage in my life and career, it does.
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
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!
With a photo like that, do I really need any words?!
I firmly believe that in order to start off the New Year properly, one must have chocolate. And lots of it.
Janet, wonderful customer of my husband's company brought these Chocolate & Toffee Barks into the office a few months ago. While totally intended for Russ, one of Digital Doctor's helpful techs, I snuck a piece.
Crunchy. Chocolatey, Nutty. Toffeeeey.
And then snagged another.
And shhhhh....another.
Crap. I was addicted, and had to email Janet for her recipe, partly because I needed to feed my new addiction...but mostly because I had to replenish the stash that I snuck. Surprisingly, it was no more than a handful of ingredients that I already had on hand and the only skill needed was stirring, spreading, chilling and eating.
Christmas Eve, as I was spreading the melted dark chocolate for these treats, I had an epiphany. As defined by Websters with my edit in red:
"a sudden, intuitive perception of or insight into the reality or essential meaning of something, usually initiated by some simple, homely, or commonplace occurrence or experience or SPREADING CHOCOLATE."
Suddenly, the motion of spreading gooey heavenly chocolate was much more than just Step 3 of a recipe. IT WAS THE ANSWER.
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...
(more...)
The moment my toes met carpet this morning, I could feel 12,035 pounds of heavy clouds whoosh towards my home, settling just above my tangled mess of hair. I should have just made myself a bloody mary, grabbed a bag of peanut M&M’s and surrendered back to bed, as there was no way that I would come out ahead at the end of this day. I knew it was over. I had an out of control problem and needed to address it head-on.
(sigh) “I’m sorry, Emeril. I’ve got to give you up, sweetie....continued...
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