Apple Pie

It is hot, hot, HOT here. Thankfully today it has cooled down to the 80s.

Oh yes, you read me right. 80s!

This is not a normal thing for the Central Coast. Do not the weather gods know that we wee mortals melt above 85?

Apparently not.

At least I'm getting a sweet tan so at least I won't look like the Pillsbury Dough Girl when I ditch CA for FL in 6 weeks.

Obviously when it's this hot out I am less than interested in turning on the oven for any reason whatsoever. I made this last week when it was a much more normal 65 degrees. Because even in the Spring we need a little bit of comfort food.

...or I can tell the truth, which is that I was plodding away on the treadmill for the second hour in the day and I was like, "You know what sounds good, self?"

And I replied, "Apple pie!"

Thankfully we were in agreement, and apple pie was made that night.



I'm not posting a recipe because I was totally lame and used my favorite store bought crust and I don't think combining a couple pounds of apples with 1/3 cup sugar, 1 tablespoon cinnamon, a sprinkle of cloves and allspice, and some fresh ground nutmeg qualifies as a real recipe. Unless of course I also add that you should bake it at 400 degrees for the first 20 minutes, reduce heat to 350 and bake 20 minutes further, tent with foil and cook ten minutes further.

Oh, and egg wash the pastry.

Voila!

That is so not a recipe.

Cinnamon French Toast

When I made the Cinnamon Bread the other day I knew it would make some stellar French toast. And did it, you ask. Oh god yes it did. There's two trick to make this outstanding:

1. Soak the bread in the egg, really soak it in. It'll take several minutes for the egg to permeate the density of the bread.

2. Fry it in bacon fat. My mom told me about this once, but my ass can't handle cooking a whole lot in bacon grease. But, I was cooking bacon at the same time I was soaking the bread and...well, you see what happened. And folks, let me tell you, it's friggin' tasty.

P.S. The picture looks like garbage, but the taste really stands out. I can't recommend this enough if you love French toast.

Cinnamon Bread

Continuing on with my cravings for sweets that aren't really all that sweet I decided to make some cinnamon bread today. I've been experimenting with yeast breads lately, and been having a marginal amount of success. The dinner rolls went well, so I opted to manipulate that recipe instead of trying a whole new one. I'm a creature of habit, I can't help it. Once I find something that works for me, I very rarely change my ways. This isn't so great being married to someone in the military, though. There are many things that get changed with very little notice and we have little to (more often) no control over it at all. But hey, at least I've got some bread that I can control the heck out of, right?

I was going for a little bit more swirl action when I constructed this in my mind's eye, not so much the giant "C" I did achieve. I guess I should just be clever and tell everyone it's "C" for cinnamon, eh? I'm really not that clever. And what would happen is I ever made a Pecan bread? I'd be screwed.

This actually turned out much better than I thought it was going to. The bread is light and fluffy with just a hint of cinnamon, with a tasty cinnamon sugar streak right through it. This is so destined to be made into French toast in the morning. Or get toasted with some butter. Or be used to make a PB & J. Or, or, or...



Cinnamon Bread

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 egg, beaten

In a mixing bowl combine warm (110 F) water with the yeast and let bloom for 10-15 minutes. When yeast is foamy add sugar oil, salt, and cinnamon. Stir well. Add 2 cups flour, mix well. Add remaining flour, ½ cup at a time. You may not need all the flour depending on the day, sometimes it uses it all and it’s still damp, other days I only need about 3 2/3 cups. Add enough to get it to form into a ball and turn out onto a floured surface. Knead the dough for ten minutes, until smooth and elastic. Try to knead in as little flour as possible, remember – the more flour you knead in the dryer and denser it will be. When dough is smooth and elastic, place in oiled bowl and allow to rise until tripled in size, about 90 minutes to 2 hours. Punch down the dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle about 10 by 8 inches. Brush surface with beaten egg. Mix together the brown sugar and cinnamon and spread evenly over the dough, leaving a ¾ inch border around all sides. Roll up the dough, jelly roll style and pinch the ends and seam. Place into a 9x5 bread loaf pan and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm area and allow to rise until dough crests 1 ½ inches over the rim of the pan. Heat the oven to 400 F. Place loaf into the oven, turn down to 350 degrees. After 15 minutes, cover with tented tin foil and bake for a further 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes before removing from pan. Let cool near to room temperature before slicing.