Naan, No Fuss

Naan is a traditional Middle Eastern Bread...

We have naan every night with dinner. I pull the dough bowl out of the fridge and pull off a couple apple sized pieces of dough with floured hands. Roll them out and "bake" them on my cast iron griddle on top of the stove with the lid on. My husband has fallen in love with this bread. There are many variations of flours and additives.
Sometimes I  make it with all unbleached white flour, sometimes with combinations of flour and grains like oats, buckwheat, barley flour, rye flour cracked grainery flour etc. Just make sure that at least half of it is unbleached white or white whole wheat for the right taste and texture.

What you will need...

3 cups lukewarm water
1 Tablespoon sea salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons granulated yeast
2 pounds of flour (6 to 6 1/2 cups)                      
*you can mix different flours and grains.

*note: I use King Arthur flour and usually end up having to add 1/4 to 1/2 cup more water to get the right consistency.

Put the water, salt and yeast in a bowl and stir to mix.
Add about a 1/3 of the flour and stir till smooth
Keep adding the flour till you have a wet dough.
Put in a tall cylindrical container to rise.
I use a stock pot....

Cover and let rise till it falls or flattens out on top.

Put in refrigerator to get cold.
I usually just scrape the dough out of the pot into a large
plastic container that has a lid. Cover it and put it in the
fridge. 2 to 3 hours is usually enough time to chill the
dough, although the longer it sets the better it tastes.

To make the Naan
Flour your hands and pull off about an apple sized piece of dough for each piece of bread you want to make.
Roll into a ball and roll out into a circle with a rolling pin. About 8" is good.

(You don't have to wait for the dough to warm up or rise)

Lay on a hot griddle that has been oiled with a little olive oil and butter. Put a lid over the bread and let steam bake for a few minutes, turn over and let cook the rest of the way.

My husband and  I like to dip our bread in various vineagery things like marinated vegetables or beans, and I make a fruit sour dip by taking dried figs, dates, cranberries, raisins and maybe other dried fruit and mix it with half cup vinegar half cup olive oil, half cup sugar and/or honey to taste. After it sets a few days I will grind it all together in the food processor, of course you can leave the fruits whole if you wish.





*adapted from recipe in Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a day.

Red Velvet Cupcakes

Directions

For the cake:

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups sifted cake flour

2 tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

2 large eggs

1 cup buttermilk

Either 2 ounces red food coloring for deep red color.

or 1 ounce for lighter red, which is what I use.

1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Cake:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Line cupcake pans with 24 liners.

2. In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. In a large bowl, cream together sugar and butter.

4. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time.

5. Alternately add flour mixture and buttermilk.

6. Beat in food coloring and vinegar, then add vanilla.

Divide batter evenly in the cupcake pans.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.

For the Frosting:

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine, softened

1 pound box confectioners' sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese and butter. Beat in confectioners' sugar until fluffy. About 8 minutes. Beat in vanilla.

Place frosting in a pastry bag or plastic bag with small corner cut out and ice half the cupcakes.

On the other cupcakes take a sharp knife and cut a cone shape out of the center of each cupcake. Take the underside and reserve for crumbs. Fill each cavity with frosting and top with the cap. Dust with powderd sugar. Use the crumbs to top the iced cupcakes.

Place in refridgerator for a few hours before serving.

Butter-Buttermilk Biscuits

I cut these using a sharp knife into 9 or more pieces and bake on a sheet spacing them about 1 inch apart.

click on image to enlarge, then print for your own recipe box.

Dumplings

Click on the image and save to your computer to print for your cookbook.

Use this dumpling recipe for Chicken n' Dumplings or for Pinto Beans. These are the puffy dumplings. I'll get Mom's strip dumpling recipe up too.

Baked Pineapple

Click on image and save to your computer and print for your cookbook.

This is Mom's recipe. It's better than the one in the Family Cookbook.

Grandma Callie's Favorite Christmas Candy

Click on the image to enlarge and make a copy for your own cookbook.
Grandma didn't use a candy thermometer. She could tell by the bubbles when the syrup had cooked enough.

Christmas Cookies, Chewy Ginger Cookies

These are one of my favorite cookies. Chewy Ginger Cookies! Spicy and Sweet! Click on image to enlarge, then save or print for your own recipe box.

Christmas Cookies, Magic Cookie Bars

This is one of Eli's favorite Christmas cookies. My aunt Alma made these. Click on the image to enlarge and then save or print for you own recipe box.

Grandma has jumped on the "No Knead Bread" Bandwagon!

After years of carefully prepping and kneading tons of bread dough finally someone came up with a way to make bread without kneading it, and I'll have to tell ya its GREAT! (Bold print in the recipe are MY notes and are not part of the original recipe.)

No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting. You may use white, whole wheat or a combination of the two. (Grandma's note: if you use whole wheat or any whole grain flour you need to add extra gluten to the recipe to make it rise and taste good. You can order this online or some groceries have it. )
1 1/2 tsp salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran for dusting

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in water. Add the flour and salt, stirring until blended. The dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let the dough rest at least 8 hours, preferably 12 to 18, (overnight) at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. The dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it. Sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest for about 15 minutes.
(Grandma's note: you can put this dough in the fridge and let it get cold before shaping into a loaf. It makes it way more easy to handle.) You can also speed up the process and add 1/2 t. yeast let rise till doubled, 1 to 3 hours, put in fridge till cold then shape and let rise. Then bake.
3. Using just enough flour to keep the dough from sticking to the work surface or to your fingers, gently shape it into a ball. Generously coat a clean dish towel with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal. Put the seam side of the dough down on the towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another towel and let rise for about 1 to 2 hours. When it’s ready, the dough will have doubled in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.
4. At least 20 minutes before the dough is ready, heat oven to 475 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in the oven as it heats. When the dough is ready, carefully remove the pot from the oven and lift off the lid. Slide your hand under the towel and turn the dough over into the pot, seam side up. The dough will lose its shape a bit in the process, but that’s OK. Give the pan a firm shake or two to help distribute the dough evenly, but don’t worry if it’s not perfect; it will straighten out as it bakes.
5. Cover and bake for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake another 15 to 20 minutes, until the loaf is beautifully browned. You can be really sure that the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted into the side of the loaf reads 210-220°F. Remove the bread from the Dutch oven and let it cool on a rack for at least 1 hour before slicing.
(Another Grandma note: You can bake this bread with a pan of lava rock in the bottom of the oven. Shape your dough and put it on a piece of parchment paper. Heat an unglazed tile or pizza stone in the oven 450 degrees. Slide the dough still on the parchment onto the stone and quickly and carefully pour 1 cup of very hot water on the lava rock and close the oven door quickly. PLEASE BE CAREFUL you can get steam burns if you don't do this quick. bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with an instant read thermometer. This recipe can be doubled/ tripled and you can take out of the fridge what you want for a loaf and leave the rest in the fridge for up to two weeks.)

Fried Green Tomatoes

This is one of the cards from the family cook book, and all of my Grandchildren will get a copy of all the recipes. I thought I would share it with others.