Blog Archives

Meet Me in St. Louis II: Resale Shop Finds and Breadhead Bookshelf

7/29/2015

Regular readers of my bread blog and Facebook page know that I browse through flea markets and resale shops every chance I get, and this vacation is no exception. St. Louis has a large Goodwill store on Manchester Road, and I scored a pair of small appliances: two waffle irons, $6 apiece, both in excellent condition. Breadhead Breakfasts will have two or three waffle recipes in it, but I don't want them all to come from the same style of waffler. The waffles pictured above are from my current iron, which is designed to facilitate creating waffle sticks for kids to dip in their maple syrup. (My fellow monks are not given to such frivolity at the breakfast table, but the waffle iron was on sale.) One model I bought yesterday creates a pair of square Belgian waffles, the other a thinner, heart-shaped ones much like the Dutch stroopwafel. Stay tuned for photos when I get home to my kitchen.

At the "Savers"store on Watson Road I found a gently-used pizza stone for $5. New ones can cost as much as $30, so I'll be happy to give it to someone at my "Pizzas from the Garden" class at the Missouri Botanical Gardens this Saturday. I consider a pizza stone to be as essential as cookie sheets and oven mitts in my kitchen, and it's pretty tough to make a decent thin crust pizza without one. So when I see them at flea markets and garage sales I always snatch them up to give away to potential pizziaolos. One of the pizzas we'll be making this weekend is the "Four Cheese Tomato Top" from my book Thursday Night Pizza.

The other treasure I discovered was a copy of Mel London's Bread Winners (Rodale Press, 1979). Not a professional baker, London began baking bread to give as Christmas gifts and gradually developed a cadre of home bakers who traded recipes with him. He collected them into this book, which includes profiles of the bakers and over 200 recipes. Because none of the bakers are professionals, one has the sense in paging through the book that you, too, could manage Garden Cracked-Grain Bread, Cheese and Pepper Loaf, and Orange Oatmeal Muffins. There are a wide variety of recipes, with topics as diverse as sourdough, breads made with triticale, Minnesota State Fair winners, breads for camping trips and backpacking, and a fair share of ethnic breads from Indian fry bread to Panettone to fastnachts.

Bread Winners is one of my mom's favorite bread books, and I think she got me my copy at a parish used book sale. So I'm happy to get what appears to be an unused copy---the credit card receipt from 1982 was still in the book---to pass on to another Breadhead. That's what all this reporting on flea market finds is all about. Believe me, I'm not bragging on my shopping abilities---if you think I can find a bargain, you should go garage sale-ing with my sisters! But I do encourage you to keep your eyes open for unexpected treasures in ordinary places. Train your eye long enough, and you get good at finding valuable things not only in shops, but in every day life, in the people around you, and inside yourself.

God bless and happy baking---and shopping!

4 Comments

Meet me in St. Louis I

7/28/2015

0 Comments

Taking a week of vacation St. Louis, with a "bread gig" on Saturday at the Missouri Botanical Gardens. I'm staying with the Loretto Sisters in Webster Groves as I usually do. The image at left is from the stained glass in their chapel, an illustration of the verse, "As a lily among thorns, so is my beloved" (Song of Solomon 2:2). The text is sometimes interpreted as the voice of Christ professing his love for His bride the Church, and by extension, his love for those women who pledge their lives to his service. I love staying with the Loretto Sisters: they're down-to-earth and yet deeply spiritual, cheerful and funny, and are dedicated Cardinal fans! I earn my keep by offering mass for them every morning, plus a little baking.

Yesterday I visited Josh Allen at the Companion Bakery, one of St. Louis' premiere sources for artisan breads. They have an 11,000 square foot operation, but are soon going to be moving to a 41,ooo square foot facility in West St. Louis that will include bakery, cafe, retail outlet and education center. (We're in discussion about my getting to teach a couple baking classes in the spring). Josh and his operations manager Price took me around the facility and I got to sample a new bread they were developing for a particular client, a sizable baguette with a non-traditional recipe which included oil. I was impressed with how Josh emphasizes the relationships between his bakery and his clients, and his willingness to enter into conversation with them about new products his bakery doesn't make---yet.

Another notable practice at Companion Bakery is that instead having an employee do one assembly line job in the process (e.g., load flour or divide dough) each baker follows his/her batch from start to finish, and is involved with every aspect of its production. The result is more consistent product, better trained employees, and, I would think, bakers with a well-developed sense of pride in their work and personal engagement in the company.

Josh was generous in sending me back to the Loretto Sisters with samples of bread, dipping sauces, and granola. Be sure to check out Companion's full line of available breads and find out where you can get them. If you're out and about in St. Louis, check out their cafe/bakeries in LaDue and Clayton.

0 Comments

Food photography lesson

7/20/2015

1 Comment

My food photography work for the Simply Divine Bakery continues. This morning I shot ginger snaps using antique china from our Abbot Lawrence's family. Ginger snaps are such an old-fashioned cookie that I thought vintage was the was to go. The crochet tablecloth is actually a remnant of a larger cloth that was badly damaged, but a relatively intact corner of it can be used for close-ups.

Speaking of close-ups, this afternoon I switched to lemon cookies, and I had a bit of an epiphany as I reviewed the images I got. Two are posted below. Photo #1 is more artistic, with dramatic shadows and curved lines. Photo #2, however, is the one that you want for marketing, because it has a greater emphasis on the product, the cookies. The first photo says, "Look what a good photographer I am!" and the second says, "Look how yummy these cookies are!"

I'm almost entirely self-taught as a photographer, so I try to learn something new with every project. Today's lesson: when you are calculating how to photograph food, remove yourself from the equation. Next up, butter mint cookies. This time I think I'm going to shoot from directly above . . .but then again, who knows what I'll do ?

1 Comment

Christmas in July with Simply Divine Bakery

7/20/2015

0 Comments

Retailers everywhere are advertising with the headline "
Christmas in July!" an expression which pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with our culture of consumption: the co-opting of religious celebrations for profit, the inability to wait for anything, the trivialization of Christianity---OK, I'd better stop before a rant develops. Besides, I had a little Christmas cheer yesterday when I did some food photography for Simply Divine Bakery at Immaculate Conception Monastery in Ferdinand, Indiana. I was there for the Monastic Worship Forum earlier in the month and got a tour of the Benedictine Sisters' baking operation.

You really need to visit their site, because they have a lovely selection of gourmet cookies. Thanks to Sr. Madonna's generosity, I sampled most of them and I can say that they are exquisite. The Buttermint cookies with the chocolate coating are especially yummy, and their Springerle (anise flavored) and Almerle (almond flavored) are the best I've tasted. They offer a selection of assortment and custom gift boxes, too.

The church at the monastery is magnificent and has beautiful stained glass windows of every monastic saint you can imagine, including St. Hildegarde, the medieval abbess and mystic who also left us a cookie recipe. The sisters offer their version, of course,and I'm told they are especially good with ice cream. All of these goodies, plus a wide range of religious goods are available at the monastery's "For Heaven's Sake" Gift Shop. The monastery isn't far off of I-64 between Evansville IN and Louisville KY, 10 minutes from Saint Meinrad Archabbey (another church with glorious stained glass), and close by Holiday World . . . .where you can visit Santa all year long.

<Sigh>

0 Comments

Oh, did you need a cake? Ding!

7/19/2015

6 Comments

This is a bread blog post without any photos, but when you find out why, you'll be as delighted as I am.

Tonight I decided I needed to get back to my wood/scene shop and get some work done on some projects I abandoned. A few days ago, they re-finished the gym floor and the out-gasses were unbearable, so I fled to the kitchen and my laptop. Yesterday I ventured back and decided that with some ventilation I could work there safely. But earlier in the day I found some spiced peach preserves from last year and realized they needed to be used up. So I thought, I'll whip up a sour cream coffeecake and then get backstage.

We were low on sour cream so I combined it with ricotta cheese and a squeeze of lemon juice and used a brand new batter whisk to mix it (more on that new addition to the toolbox in a future blog). I was pretty casual about measurements, so don't ask for a recipe! This improvised confection had about 10 minutes of baking left to go when a couple of staff members came into the kitchen looking for a small sheet cake that was supposed to be ready. The school has a three week camp for Mexican students going on, and one little girl was celebrating a birthday.

No cake. Not in any of the four fridges, not in the storeroom, not in the dining room, not in the giant walk-in cooler. Communication breakdown, evidently, between management and labor. I could tell they were dreading having to go back to the boarding house and tell the youngster there was no cake.

Except for the one in the oven.

This dilemma was too coincidental to be anything but Divine Providence, as evidenced by what happened next. I said, "How about a fresh, warm, rich coffee cake with a spiced peach filling? You could serve it with a dollop of ice cream." And that EXACT MOMENT, the oven timer's buzzer went off. A few minutes later, they were headed to a party with a homemade treat.

This sort of thing happens to me way too often for me to believe that it's caused by anything I'M doing personally. I'm in just the right place to help the guy in the parking lot, to find the expensive chef's knife for two bucks so I can give it to a culinary student, to hand somebody a random loaf of bread on the day they really need something to go right. I'm just putting myself in the path of God's grace and trying to stay open to the moment.

My experience tonight was another “ding” (you can read the full explanation my Bread Blog of July 7). Every once in awhile, God’s bell goes off, and He draws out a name and gives that person a prize, like a warm cake when you expected to leave empty-handed. Or better yet, He draws your name out and you get the chance to be a "ding" for someone else.

Never did get backstage tonight, but when I do, I have very expectation that something good will happen.

God bless and happy baking!

6 Comments

Bread and memories

7/16/2015

11 Comments

The last year that Br. Anthony was in the abbey, before his injuries and other complications sent him to the nursing home, he suffered from insomnia. If I worked late in the kitchen, I would often find him shuffling into the coffee klatch in his slippers and a bathrobe, where he would sit and have some warm milk or a bowl of cereal. He was obviously suffering but he rarely complained, or if he did it was brief and utterly without self-pity. Engineer that he was, he simply stated the problem and set about solving it with the tools at hand, and if I were around, that would be warm homemade bread with butter. I started making small sample loaves whenever I baked, because he never wanted to me to cut into a big loaf just for him.

Tonight I mixed up some whole wheat potato bread to serve at the fellowship meal following the funeral, and one of his teenage grand-daughters hung out in the kitchen with me as I worked. She's a theatre geek like me, and if she hadn't been in her best outfit I'm sure she would have rolled up her sleeves and pitched in. But we talked about shows she'd been in and I told stories about her grandpa as I added ingredients to the mid-size mixer for a batch big enough for eight or nine loaves. Br. Anthony's daughter Marie has determined that since her father was a Brother, then his brother monks must be her "monkles." I shared this with Br. Anthony's grand-daughter and we laughed. "Does that mean I can call you 'Monkle Dom'?" she asked before she left. I'd say that's just about the nicest thing anybody has called me this week!

Once the dough was mixed her uncle took her back to the hotel to join the rest of the family and I let the dough rise. Then I weighed out eight loaves (about 20 oz. each) and put them in a ganged pan. With the leftover dough I decided to do a little bread sculpture for my new theatre buddy. I found a larger crescent moon cookie cutter for the mouths but couldn't find a smaller one for the eyes, so I had to bend a small biscuit cutter into shape. I think I'll start look for a small moon cutter for the next time I try this, but I'm pretty satisfied and I'm sure she'll like it.

I took the cut-out pieces of dough from my sculpture and rolled them into a little round loaf to bake with the rest of the batch. It's pictured above, and I enjoyed it with butter and a glass a milk to honor Br. Anthony's memory. The kitchen was quiet, and the aroma of fresh bread reminded me of my mom, and of the many happy hours I've spent baking for my family and friends. But most of all, it reminded me of the confrere for whom I grieve, and I look forward to the day when we can once again break bread together at the Eternal Wedding Feast.

11 Comments

Br. Anthony and Cinnamon

7/14/2015

7 Comments

Br. Anthony in 2008

Our Br. Anthony died on Saturday, the feast of St. Benedict and the eleventh anniversary of his solemn vows. He had been married for 45 years and had ten children. After the sudden death of his beloved wife in 1997, he began to consider religious life, and he joined the community in 2001. You can read his full obituary HERE, which is well worth your time.

Br. Anthony loved anything flavored with cinnamon, and occasionally even lamented that I was a bit stingy with that spice. If a recipe called for a teaspoon of cinnamon, a tablespoon was what I'd be expected to use. I tried to make sure that the cinnamon sugar container on the breakfast table was kept full, as he sprinkled it liberally on toast, cereal, and just about anything else short of scrambled eggs! In his memory, I post this recipe for cinnamon biscuits twists, a sweet treat you can make in about 30 minutes. If you have someone as special in your life as out Br. Anthony was to us, it will be worth it to get up a little earlier give them a treat. Now I just wish I'd made them more often.

The photos below are from a version of the recipe that uses orange-flavored sugar, but I'm sure you get the idea!

Cinnamon Biscuit Twists
Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
1 Tbs. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter
½ cup milk
1 egg

Filling
2 tbs. butter, melted
3 Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. ground cinnamon

Glaze
½ cup powdered sugar
2 to 3 tsp. milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In a medium size bowl, stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt until thoroughly mixed. Using a pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter until mixture looks like coarse crumbs. Beat egg together with milk in a separate bowl, then add to dry mixture. Stir until dough clings together, then beat for about 1 minute by hand.

On a floured surface, pat dough into a rectangle 8 x 15 inches. Brushed dough with melted butter; sprinkle on brown sugar and cinnamon (add more cinnamon to taste). Fold dough in half lengthwise, making a 4 x 15-inch rectangle. Using a rotary pizza cutter, cut into 1-inch strips (you may also use a sharp knife but wipe the blade clean between cuts to keep it from sticking). Twist strips two or three times, then place on a lightly greased 12 x 15-inch baking sheet. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Combine powdered sugar with milk and vanilla and stir until smooth. Place in microwave on high for 30 seconds. Brush as a glaze on top of twists; serve twists warm.

7 Comments

Toolbox

7/8/2015

3 Comments

While I was at the cabin last week I decided it would be a good idea to re-organize and wash out my baker’s toolbox. As you can see, I have a lot of utensils to carry around, and a DeWalt tool box seemed to be the best solution (Debo’s Ace Hardware, Black Friday, $20). The top section lifts out, which is handy if I don’t need my full kit for a “gig”.

I tell people you don’t need a lot of specialized tools for baking, which is true: a bowl, a big spoon, a pan, and an oven will do the job if you have a good eye for measurements. But once you get beyond basic white bread you find yourself needing a bit more. Cinnamon rolls require a rolling pin, making biscuits begs for a decent cutter and maybe a pastry blender, and the next thing you know you’re shopping for a potato ricer, a nutmeg grater, and a microplane.

There are two sides to this issue of multiplying utensils. One is the pleasure of having just the right tool for the job at hand. I know I can use an ordinary rubber spatula to spread frosting, but an offset spatula that can be held level with the cake is so much easier to use and yields better results. I can make do with three knives—chef’s knife, paring knife and bread knife with a wavy blade—and I don’t need copper-bottomed saucepans in every possible size. Yet the array of baking pans I have acquired is staggering—and so is the variety of breads I can make in them.

The darker side of our urge to acquire better kitchen equipment is our obsession with possession, the most prevalent form of addiction in the age of consumerism. Food television compels us not only to keep up with the Joneses, but with Bobby Flay, Martha Stewart and the Next Food Network Star. Those show place kitchens (one of them “stadium” sized) can make us be a bit downcast about our tiny counter top, the meager storage, having “only” four burners and no built-in grill.

I’m just as susceptible as this as any dedicated foodie. I know there is a part of me that enjoys the hunt for bargains (not a bad thing in a monk) but another part of me just wants more STUFF (not a good thing for a monk!). Envy and fear of not having “enough” play a part here, too. But MTV had a tagline years ago: “Too much is never enough.” HSN should see if they can obtain the rights to it.

I’m not making any accusations here—I don’t know what’s in your kitchen—but I do think it’s good every now and again to empty out the drawers, the cabinets and the closets, and take stock not of our stuff but of ourselves. I looked at my pile of tools last week and thought, “What possible reason do I have for owning two pastry blenders, three pizza cutters, and six wooden spoons I don’t even use?”

During my travels this summer I’ve spent a lot of time at flea markets and resale shops. Most of what I acquire is for door prizes at my demos. But when I get home I think I’ll take a day to go through a few drawers and cabinets and decide what I really need and what might make a nice gift for a budding Breadhead.

God bless and happy baking!

3 Comments

Breadhead Breakfast Countdown 7/120

7/4/2015

1 Comment

Day #7

A House in Order

Last day at the cabin—tonight I return to the abbey and tomorrow I leave for a monastic worship conference. Not much baking today. Mostly cleaning up the kitchen area, running the vacuum, packing up. Abbot Philip and Br. Robert will be using the cabin after me, so I don’t want to leave a mess. But just to keep my hand in I mixed up a batch of honey multi-grain bread to leave in the freezer—a little treat for my confreres.

Today is the 4th of July, a day on which I always take time to write letters of support for military personnel. These aren’t people I know: I get the names through anysoldier.com. I do this throughout the year, and try to send a donation to the Paralyzed Veterans Association every now and then. I can’t say I agree with every aspect of U.S. foreign policy and practice, but I can say that I respect those who serve our country so generously, and at such a cost.

I realized earlier in the week that we had a brand new American flag still in the package at the cabin, but no way to fly it. There was a bracket for a flagpole on the front deck, but no metal or wooden pole to be found. But I went out into the shed and found an old section of a bamboo fishing pole that happened to be the right height and fit the bracket perfectly. I attached with flag with some bread ties (it just seemed right) and it went up yesterday morning, just in time for the holiday weekend. I’ve been saying the pledge of allegiance every morning, like we do at school. In the classroom it’s routine, but out here all by myself, with the flag aglow in the early morning light, it always makes me tear up.

You’ll see from the photo that our curb appeal is a little lacking because we have scaffolding up for repairs and painting next week. Originally I wasn’t going to post the picture for that reason, but it occurred to me that it was aptly symbolic in its own way. Our nation is always being rebuilt, always under construction, constantly in need of repairs and a fresh coat of paint. “A house divided cannot stand,” declared Abraham Lincoln, but neither can a house neglected; complacency is as dangerous as division.

Today when we reflect on the many blessings of living in a land of abundance and freedom, let’s all ask ourselves: what am I doing to build up the house of our nation? What is the legacy I am leaving to future generations? What am I doing to support those who protect those freedoms, whether they serve in a branch of government or a branch of the military? How can we ensure that all citizens enjoy a fuller share in that abundance, a greater share in those freedoms which we treasure?

If I were a better writer (or a better politician) I might offer more specific suggestions or a call to action. For me, I’m writing a few letters to soldiers overseas, and baking a little bread to share. Later today I’ll visit Br. Anthony in the nursing home, and figure out how to help an older couple of my acquaintance who need some help with groceries. Little things, and I hope I can do greater things tomorrow. I pray we will all do greater things tomorrow.

God bless and happy baking!

1 Comment

Breadhead Breakfast Testing Countdown 6/120

7/3/2015

3 Comments

Missed a day of posting, because yesterday was not particularly productive from a recipe standpoint. The WiFi in the lake clubhouse was not working, and I don’t know of any place in nearby Henry with free WiFi so I had to drive to Chillicothe (about 20 miles) to use the signal at MacDonald’s. I discovered that their wireless wasn’t working either. What to do? No-one seemed to know of another place in town with free WiFi.

Since I’m a monk, I tend to look at these things through a spiritual lens, so asked myself, “Do you suppose this setback is diabolical or providential?” I decided to assume the latter, and set off in search of a local coffee shop in the hopes that Chillicothe hipsters or 20-somethings had a place to gather and ignore each other as they played with their devices. (That sounds unnecessarily snarky, now that I reread it—electronic addiction is pretty widespread among “grown-ups, too!)

I remembered that Chilli had a small downtown area, so I set off in that direction, but took a wrong turn and ended up near the Marina, which confirmed that Divine Providence had orchestrated my predicament. I discovered a sizable patch that some civic minded person or group had planted with wildflowers: a patchwork of coreopsis, painted daisies, black-eyed Susans, cone flowers, and bachelor buttons. Since I love photography as much as baking, I parked the Tracker and got out my camera. The resulting images are nowhere near as lovely as the reality, but I share some of them nonetheless.

After a half hour of snapping away and patiently waiting for the red admiral butterflies to light on the cone flowers, I went off in search of electronica again, only to pass by a garage sale—irresistible to a bargain hunter like myself. In conversation with the home owner about what I was searching for (vintage kitchenware and interesting plates for food styling), I asked if there were someplace nearby I could access the internet, she said, “Oh, I have it here in the house—bring your computer in!” Divine Providence in the form of good old-fashioned Midwestern generosity.

In short order, I posted the previous day’s blog and checked my messages, and left with five charming bread plates and a vintage potato peeler. I came dangerously close to buying an embroidered tablecloth as well, but monastic frugality prevented me—it was worth what she wanted, but still out of range of my meager vacation fund. I set off again for the cabin, after promising that if I came back into town, she’d get some coffee cake!

Back at the Lake I got to work on a recipe to share with the Lake Thunderbird monthly newsletter, The Chair Tree; the lake manager Chris asked if I’d share an article for the August issue. Since I’m always at the lake around the Fourth of July, I combined blueberries, raspberries and white chocolate morsels as the filling for a “Red, White and Blue” sour cream coffee cake. Perfect for a breakfast alfresco on the deck. Get the recipe HERE.

My experience yesterday was what I refer to as a “ding”. As many Breadheads know, when I give a bread demo I like to give away door prizes, most of which are the result of my bargain hunting. For example, this week I found a like-new Springform pan for $3, a $60 Mac chef’s knife for $2, and a vintage rolling pin for a buck! I give away cutting boards, bread knives, handmade beeswax candles and cookbooks, too. Everyone who comes to my demos gets a free raffle ticket. I set my kitchen timer for a random time under 10 minutes, and when the bell goes “ding!” I stop what I’m doing and draw a number for a prize.

So every once in awhile, God’s bell goes off, and He draws out a name and gives that person a prize: an unexpected wrong turn that leads to a beautiful patch of flowers, a random encounter with kindness, a sunset or rainbow or shooting star that only you get to see. Not every setback is meant to test our patience; some of them are meant to increase our trust and our joy.

God bless and happy baking!

3 Comments

<<Previous

Meet Me in St. Louis II: Resale Shop Finds and Breadhead Bookshelf

Meet me in St. Louis I

Food photography lesson

Christmas in July with Simply Divine Bakery

Oh, did you need a cake? Ding!

Bread and memories

Br. Anthony and Cinnamon

Toolbox

Breadhead Breakfast Countdown 7/120

Breadhead Breakfast Testing Countdown 6/120

Author

Categories

Archives