Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh bread in the oven? Often times it is easier to buy bread than to make it, but not in this case. Pão Caseiro, translated as house bread, is a typical staple in the Portuguese kitchen. Comprised of flour, yeast, water, salt, sugar and olive oil it is not only easy to make but it uses inexpensive ingredients that are staples in the kitchen. With some time and a little effort these ingredients combine to not only make delicious hearty bread but also fill your home with the sweet smell of home baked pão.

My father taught me this recipe a few years ago when I approached him about learning some traditional Portuguese dishes. He immediately jumped to pão caseiro telling me that this recipe is simple and inexpensive because it is a staple in the humble home. There are many variations of this recipe concerning not only the quantity of ingredients, but of the ingredients themselves. Our recipe was derived from some trial an error as my father recalled his childhood, remembering the times he helped his mother prepare the pão for the week.

Growing up through the war and living on a farm, he recounted that his family survived and thrived on this bread largely because it didn’t use costly ingredients such as cream, milk, lard and eggs. There was a shortage of these ingredients as the war waged on so it was more profitable to sell them than to use them.

While we were kneading the dough my father told me about his mischievous childhood days, like the time he snuck into his family’s chicken coop and ate some of the eggs. When his parents found out he was given double chores for a week, but he is thankful that he had to do more chores instead of losing out on the extra little loaf of pão his mother would make him. He told me some things are best when they are straight out of the oven, especially a little loaf of pão.

We love food not only for being delicious, nutritious and simply delightful, but also for the memories they hold and the history they carry with them. Páo caseiro for me gives me some insight into my family, my father, and my heritage. It is also just simply delicious with some olive oil, butter or all on its own warm from the oven. I invite you try this recipe to get a little taste of Portugal.

Bom proveito!

Pão Caseiro

Ingredients
4 cups unbleached flour (or 2 cups unbleached flour 2 cups whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons white sugar
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 – 1 ½ tablespoons yeast or 1 yeast packet
1 cup + warm water

Directions
1. In a bowl combine flour, salt, sugar, yeast and olive oil.
2. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients mixtures and add ¾ cup of water. Incorporate with flour mixture.
3. Continue mixing and adding water a little bit at a time until the dough separates from the sides of the bowl.
Tip: In a stand mixer, combine all ingredients except for water. On lowest speed add water a little bit at a time until dough separates from edges of bowl. Mix for up to 2 additional minutes to knead dough.
4. On a floured surface knead dough for 15 minutes until soft and pliable. Additional flour may be necessary.
Tip: If dough was made using a stand mixer, knead dough on a floured surface until it is no longer sticky, about two minutes. Additional flour may be necessary.
5. Set aside in an oiled bowl, covered, for an hour or until doubled in size.
Tip: Turn on the oven until it hits 105 F, or feels warm. Immediately turn off oven and place the bowl inside the oven for half an hour or until doubled in size.
6. In a preheated 400 F oven bake bread for 25-30 minutes or until golden and crisp on the outside.
Tip: Spray or brush tops of bread with olive oil before baking for a crisper shell.

Let cool a bit and enjoy!

You walk into the store and have to buy one. Which one is MORE FRANK to you?

There are certain things in life that evoke memories from your childhood.  The smell of your mother’s perfume as she tends to your scraped knee, the taste of holiday treats that were baked, unfailingly, each year until it turned into a tradition, and watching those old movies that you can remember from when they first came out.  For me, Christmas memories are filled with the smell of cinnamon and spice drifting through the house, and the sounds of “Oh Holy Night” and other Christmas hymns as the music softly strains through a winter evening.  I almost forgot.  It also, absolutely, without fail, includes the rich taste of Mince Pies.

These little pies are a Christmas & New Years staple in Wales, where I grew up amid rolling, patchwork hills dotted with woolly sheep, and winding roads lined with brick, row houses and the occasional thatched roof cottage.  While my mother continued to cook mainly American cuisine at home, she threw in the occasional British treat that we had grown to love.  Every Christmas she would go to a little bakery that sold the best mince pies, and the box she brought home would be received by us all in a hushed silence.  As the lid to this box full of treasure was lifted, you could almost see the lights from heaven shining down on this glorious concoction:) And if you listened really close, you might even hear the “Hallelujah Chorus” being sung.  O.K…I may be exaggerating just a little, but they were really that good.

These pies are a traditional British sweet pastry, that is usually eaten during Christmas and New Years. They can have a pastry top, or my favorite is a mince tart. The mincemeat filling is made from apple, raisins, sultanas, candied peel, spices and either suet or vegetable shortening. Mincemeat originally did contain meat in addition to the fruit, as the fruit, spices, and alcohol provided a means to preserve the meat. But nowadays the meat is usually left out. There are some that still make it with meat, but I prefer not to include it.

This year, I had a craving for these little pies that I couldn’t get rid of.  So I determined I would make my own – because really, where was I going to find Mince Pies in my little Missouri town?  Well, my hopes of making some from scratch were dashed, since I couldn’t find half of the ingredients I needed, so I settled for a jar of mincemeat filling that I found.  After tasting the filling from the jar, I realized it needed some doctoring.  So I added a little orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon and rum flavoring, and pronounced it decent enough.  The Brandy Glaze was an experiment of random ingredients, but the end result was very tasty.  The ingredients for the glaze are a rough estimate, but it should be fairly close.

Mince Pies with Brandy Glaze
Filling:
1 jar mincemeat filling (or whatever homemade mincemeat filling you like)
1 orange, zested and juiced
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp rum flavoring

Shortcrust:
1 1/2 cups + scant 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
7 Tbsp unsalted butter
3-4 Tbsp ice water

Brandy Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
1-2 Tbsp Brandy
1 Tbsp butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
milk

For the shortcrust pastry:
Combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour, lifting the mixture up and dropping it back into the bowl – you want to keep the mixture light and airy. Keep mixing until the texture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Sprinkle the ice water into the bowl, a little at a time, and mix through with a fork. Use your fingers to bring the pastry together; it’s ready when and the sides of the bowl are clean and it’s formed a solid ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the pastry to rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

For the mince pies:
Heat oven to 400F. In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix your jar of mincemeat together with the orange zest, orange juice, cinnamon and rum flavoring. Bring to a simmer and cook for about 5 minutes. Lightly grease your tart pans

Flour your work surface and roll out the pastry as thinly as possible (about 1/8 inch). Cut out approximately 12 rounds with a pastry cutter, and place them in the base of your mini tart pans. Prick all the pie bases with a fork to stop them rising. Fill each case with about 3 tablespoons of the mincemeat mix – don’t overfill your cases or the mixture will leak through the pastry when cooking. Place the tart pans on a baking sheet, and bake for approx 20 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

For the glaze:
In a small microwavable bowl, combine the powdered sugar, brandy, butter, vanilla, and enough milk to reach your desired consistency. Microwave in 10 second intervals until the alcohol has cooked off, but the brandy flavor remains. Drizzle the brandy glaze over the tart filling. Store in the refrigerator and serve cold, with a dollop of whipped cream if desired.

If you want to make mini pies instead of tarts. Brush the edges of the bottom pastry with a little milk. Cut out another 12 rounds for the tops, and place over the filling. Pinch the pie edges together to seal. Brush over with egg wash and pierce the tops with a fork. Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 1 minute before placing on a wire rack to cool. Sprinkle the pastry tops with powdered sugar and serve warm or cold.

Pop quiz #2: What is azodicarbonamide?

If you eat at fast food restaurants, then you should know that the bread you’re eating is probably made with azodicarbonamide.

Don’t know what that is? Keep reading.

The last couple weeks, we introduced Label Thursday. We know. It doesn’t have pretty pictures. It’s lots of tiny words. So why keep encouraging you to read it?

Because I want to know what it is in my food.

Because I want to get into the habit of reading food labels.

Because I want you to care, too.

Starting today, once a month, we will talk food labels and we want YOU TO PARTICIPATE! The point is to start paying closer attention to our food.

And if you’re the best guesser of the month, we invite you to be featured writer on Zomppa!

So did you guess last week’s label?

It was…

Merita Hamburger Buns!

Elyssa – another winner!

Azodicarbonamide is a listed ingredient. And I thought bread was just flour, water and a bit of yeast and salt.

According to Foodfacts, azodicarbonamide is a chemical that’s used in foamed plastics. Yup. Foamed plastics. Most bread – especially in fast food places – have it. In fact, they are 20 or more chemicals in a typical fast food bun.

It’s a possible cause of asthma, and who knows what else.

Now it’s this month’s label. Can you guess? Guess right, and we will be delighted to feature your post!

asd

Source: Hot Bread Kitchen

A great organization called Hot Bread Kitchen works with low-income women and their families to preserve baking traditions from all over the world. From Mexico to Morocco, this  unique social entrepreneurs distributes its breads all over New York City.

Their breads range from hand-made tortillas to lavash to focaccia to challah to m’smen (Moroccan flatbread). Check them out!

I’ve never been greeted by the sweet smell of breads or pastries being pulled from the oven. It’s an experience that always seemed unreal, something you might see in a Norman Rockwell painting. Nobody in my family baked when I was younger; at most, my sister made Rice Krispie Treats or brownies, which seemed to me unattainably complicated.

The strange thing is that I actually love bread, possibly even obsessed with it. Perhaps the stranger fact is that the first bread with which I remember falling in love was Home Pride: mass-manufactured and preservative-filled but soft and oh-so-tasty. I would go to the supermarket and squeeze those yellow bags of carbohydrate happiness to see which one was the softest and therefore the best (my apologies if you were one of those unwitting folks who bought a pre-squeezed loaf). As I grew older, I expanded my horizons. I’d always loved Chinese dinner rolls; soon I was trying English country breads, challah, and ciabatta. Bread became exciting and bakeries, by extension, havens of bliss.

When I was deciding on a topic for my documentary photo class a few years ago, I knew I had to take this opportunity to uncover the secrets contained in the behind-the-scenes of a bakery. I wanted a place that made baked goods from scratch, somewhere that matched my mental image of splattering flour over your face and hands and strewing eggshells and butter wrappings around you as you whip up something delectable. I also wanted to see some baker’s hats.

So off I went to Petsi Pies, a cozy bakery & pastry shop a short walk from the Porter Square T stop in Somerville, Massachusetts. No baker’s hats, but plenty to look at, smell, and savor – greasy cookie sheets and stacks of muffins and crumbs and special pie-making machines and oh my!

I would have loved to see the place as it opened, but bakers get up when it’s dark outside and when I’m busy REM-cycling. Nevertheless, I loved the thrill of going behind the counter and peering at shelves, watching a sale, even passing by the dishes being washed. Seeing that the process of baking was messy (but still hygienic, of course) – as opposed to the neat and orderly displays that I often see in large supermarkets – comforted me. I responded to the flourishes of flour, the art of it all.

The entire experience made me feel closer to the food. Overly reverential? Perhaps. But cherishing the process helps me cherish the food. Though I still haven’t tried baking myself…

Ok so in the U.S. we are pretty much familiar with pancakes, scones, and “English” muffins.  I should add that muffins in the UK kind of look like the U.S. “English Muffin” but the texture and taste is quite different.  In addition what we call a muffin in the U.S. is what the Brits/Irish call an American muffin on this side of the pond

So here are some other bread which you have probably heard about but perhaps never tasted, and they are my favorites!

• Crumpets: they look a bit like a cross between a pancake and a muffin. The butter just melts down inside the little holes along with the jam. Another yummy way to eat them is to melt cheese on the top.
• Soda bread: well as the name implies, sodium bicarbonate is the raising agent used in this bread. This is just good toasted with melted Irish butter. Oh and it can be fried up to be included in an Ulster Fry (which basically includes every breakfast food you can think of only fried!!!)
• Potato bread: well, I should specify Irish Potato farl as there are other types of potato bread out in the world. This is one that most people who leave Ireland say they miss the most. It’s a very simple recipe involving mashed potatoes, butter, flour, and a pinch of salt.  I have to admit that potato bread is rather delicious when fried, but it’s also great just toasted and covered in Irish butter.

For bread recipes and other traditional Irish recipes, check out: Irish Recipes and Baking

Rameses is in the Ten Commandments with Rameses every Easter, and Easter is time for eggs and large family brunches….

Sandy Duncan was in The Hogan Family, the 80s family sitcom, but I don’t think she is part of the Duncan Hines family….

And the Hulk is in The Hogan Family. Big muscles, big protein….

No. I’m talking the fabulous Hogan Family of Carrboro, NC. THIS Hogan Family has farmed Hogan’s Magnolia View Farm for over 240 years. It started in 1757 (yes, before there was even a United States of America).

Rob Hogan is a 9th generation farmer (read that, 9 generations!!) and his wife Ann Leonard operate this farm which raises cattle for grass-fed beef and locally raised wheat without the use of herbicides or pesticides.

I volunteered one spring day during the Piedmont Farm Tour and met these gracious, down-to-earth people and their lovely children. The Hogan Family is truly a part of the community–neighbors, friends, family dropped by all day, chatting, sharing, laughing. It was obvious that people are drawn to the Hogans for their warmth and for their genuine concern and stewardship of the land and protecting the rights of family farms. Beyond selling their beef and wheat, they also take care in supporting healthy eating. On their website are recipes and articles on the health benefits of grass-fed meat and grains.

They also support local businesses, such as partnering with and sourcing locally-sourced wheat for a new bakery, Box Turtle Bakery. I met Abraham Palmer, the founder and owner and baker of Box Turtle, a kind-hearted entrepreneur who works in IT by day and out of his passion for baking, understanding the science behind wheat and supporting local movements, has started to build an in-ground wood-fired oven in his backyard to bake his venture. Box Turtle specializes in wheat products and Abe has a nuanced understanding of what wheat works with what product (hard red winter wheat for honey-wheat yeast bread versus hard red spring wheat for sourdough pretzels). I tried his unleavened flatbread made of the Hogan’s soft-wheat and…oh…wow…I didn’t know unleavened flatbread could taste so good.

Wherever you live, support your local farmers and bakers! If only we could have more generations of people like the Hogans and Abe Palmer.

Oh, and Rameses? Since 1924, the UNC mascot, Rameses has lived with the Hogan Family. (Rameses is in blue; on the right is his wife, Tulip).

Everything DOES have to do with food.