apple time

A library friend gave me a big bag of Rhode Island Greening apples from her tree. I've made apple crostata, a recipe from Barefoot Contessa. I like how you just heap the sliced apples onto the dough, toss on the crumb topping and fold up the edge. No pan to fit the dough into, no pre-baking, just easy and delicious.

cheesy rolls

A mixed-up weather day, rain then sun then rain again, perfect to stay in and make a yummy snack. That's Parmesan cheese on top.

Thursday we leave for 2+ weeks in Copenhagen! We're doing a home exchange and are so very excited! I've xeroxed lots of guide book suggestions of places to visit and of course places to eat...the Rough Guide has a section on the best bakeries in the city, bring them on! It will be fantastic to live like a local in our city apartment, riding bikes everywhere (or where we don't ride, using the excellent Danish transit system). Next to Amsterdam, Copenhagen is Mecca for cyclists. Check out the site copenhagencyclechic and you will see one of the big reasons we decided this is a city were crazy about before we even packed out bags. Oh and the fabulous Danish design that awaits...Thursday, roll on!

best in Seattle area

We go there to visit our kids...and go to a couple of great bakeries. Macrina has three bakeries and cafes in Seattle. Just take a look at the fantastic cookies in the window of the 1st Avenue location. There is always bunching up of people at the counter, waiting a turn to buy to take away or to eat at the cafe. In my carry-on coming home yesterday I had a crusty loaf of Apricot Bread, also Olive bread and a sweet streusel-topped fruit bar. The macaroons got eaten well before flight time.

We had breakfast at the Bread Peddler in Olympia. This bakery-cafe is another busy place so picture-taking has to be very quick. Fruit tarts, brioche, "chocolate shots", scones, bread pudding, muffins, however to decide? And beautiful breads too, we grabbed a baguette and whole wheat/rye loaf. Oh my, I love to eat in and around Seattle!

what's inside??

It's Swedish cardamom buns, wrapped up for co-workers...I keep increasing the amount of freshly ground cardamom I use in the Vetebrod (Swedish coffee bread) I make. At our house we love this distinctive spice. The uninitiated wonder what is the flavoring in the bread. Today someone asked, after a sampling, if it was Fiori Di Sicilia which is a heavenly citrus-vanilla extract used in panettone. Oh, that's another bread I hope to make this week!

biscotti baking

Biscotti are my favorite cookies and now I don't make any other kinds. I love how they don't get stale unlike most other cookies. I have tinkered with these Almond Anise Biscotti and for my taste they are just right. This year I cut back on the eggs and refrigerated the dough overnight before baking and solved my problem of dough spreading out too much when baking.

The other photo is Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti from the SoNo Baking Company Cookbook. Two concerns here: the recipe doesn't call for vanilla or other flavoring (I added some vanilla); and it's a little tricky figuring out when they are done when you don't have the visual cue of golden brown tops.

Holiday baking

We love Swedish vetebrod, a yeast bread full of butter eggs and cardamom seeds. The recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom seeds but I use lots more because our family is a big fan of this aromatic spice. Here are two braids but little individual S-shape rolls are also typical. Making vetebrod means the Christmas season has begun in our house.

Today I tried two new bread recipes. One is from the gorgeous new book "Sarabeth's Bakery" and the recipe is "House Bread." When I saw the full page photo of this bread in the book I knew I had to try it. It just came out of the oven so I haven't tried it yet...The other recipe is "Amy Scherber's Whole Wheat Walnut Bread." This bread is made with a biga or pre-ferment which is a mixture of a tiny bit of yeast, some flour and water all stirred together and allowed to sit for 8 hrs or more. Then this very elastic "pre dough" is added along with more yeast and the rest of the ingredients. That loaf came out of the oven earlier and I did have a slice, thickly spread with butter oh so good!

These two bakers have shops in NYC. For me, a good reason to plan a trip!

On the weekends I've been making bread. The recipe I've been using is Coarse Grained Whole Wheat with Toasted Walnuts from the book "Amy's Bread" which I keep modifying. The loaf you see here has no walnuts and is partly whole wheat flour and partly a blend of rye and whole wheat flour that I brought back from Stockholm. When I saw this 50/50 blend of wheat and rye in the grocery store I had to try it and so packed home a 2 kilo bag. Also a bag of rye flour (and envelopes of Swedish yeast--and yes, I did get nailed for extra baggage charges at the airport!) I think I pretty much have the recipe I want now, maybe to be called Coarse Grained Whole Wheat Rye and Flax loaf.

Happy Easter!

Isn't this a pretty bread bag? A b-day gift from my lovely daughter, it is made of bamboo fabric and with a handy drawstring, it's perfect for keeping this loaf of whole wheat walnut bread fresh. She found this great bag at a favorite Berkeley foodie spot, the Cheese Board.