No-Knead Dutch Oven Bread

If you didn't bake bread sometime in the last 10 months were you even living through a global pandemic? Back in March and April, yeast and flour were in short supply because everyone was suddenly making their own bread. I'll admit to jumping on that train for many of the same reasons everyone else had - I've always been afraid of yeast and now I had nothing but time to overcome that fear. 

My go-to recipe was the simple no-knead Dutch oven bread that comes out perfectly crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside every time. Honestly, what changed me from a person who feared yeast to someone who uses it regularly was my Thermapen. Being able to accurately measure the water temp so I didn't kill the yeast was a game-changed. Can't recommend it highly enough (and no, they didn't sponsor this). We've had many thermometers in our time but none hold a candle to this one.

One of these days I'll add herbs and/or garlic to this recipe.

No-Knead Bread
As seen on the Kitchn

1 pound all-purpose flour (be sure to actually weigh it) plus more for sprinkling
2 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water (110-115 degrees)

Place the flour, salt, and yeast in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Make a well in the center, and add the water into the well. Stir until it forms a shaggy dough. 

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Set aside in a warm place to rise until doubled in size and bubbly, 6 to 8 hours. 

Lightly flour a piece of parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto it, folding it over on itself at least once while you do so. Quickly shape the dough into a round ball. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise for 1 hour more.

About 30 minutes before the hour is up, arrange a rack in the middle of the oven. Place a large Dutch oven with its lid on the rack. Heat the oven to 450°F. 

Using the parchment paper as a sling, carefully transfer the loaf, still on the paper, to the Dutch oven. If desired, make a slash or shallow cut on the top of the dough with kitchen shears or a sharp knife so that the bread can expand while baking.

Place the lid on the pot and put it in the oven. (Careful, the lid is hot!) Bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for 15 minutes more. You can be extra-sure that the bread is done when an instant-read thermometer inserted in the top or side registers 210°F.

Remove the Dutch oven from the oven and use the parchment paper to transfer the bread to a wire rack. Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing the bread.

Yorkshire Pudding

Another staple on our Christmas table is Yorkshire Pudding. I'd never heard of it before my stepdad joined our family more than 25 years ago, but it's similar to popovers - crusty on the outside and custardy on the inside.

In the years when my stepgrandmother made Christmas dinner I always assumed the Yorkshire pudding was a difficult thing to make. The year I took over making dinner I was worried about getting it right. It turns out Yorkshire Pudding is very easy to make. I've never had enough beef drippings to make it with those so I just use melted butter. This year's version was especially beautiful.

Yorkshire Pudding
The Joy of Cooking

1 cup minus 1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/4 cup beef drippings or 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Whisk together the flour and salt in a small bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and milk. Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and beat until well blended.

Heat a 9 x 13-inch glass baking dish in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove the dish from the oven and add the drippings/butter, then add the batter all at once.

Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 15-20 minutes, until puffy and golden brown. Don't open the oven while the pudding is baking.

Remove from the oven and cut into squares. Serve immediately - this is best eaten piping hot.

Pesto Pasta with Peas

As you can see from my garden post, the basil plant is thriving. I wanted to use up some of the leaves so I made pesto. In order to make it more healthy I tossed in some frozen peas:


We had a loaf of ciabatta in the freezer. Garlic gives me serious heartburn these days so I try to avoid it if I can, so I just toasted and buttered the bread:


Simple and summery.

Broccoli Soup

It's been bitterly cold here lately so I thought soup seemed like the perfect dinner. I had a few leftover broccoli crowns and remembered that my buddy Melissa had posted a recipe for broccoli soup recently. I picked up the few ingredients I needed at the store and got to work.


Here's the broccoli, celery and leek cooking away in the pot:


And here's what that lovely mixture became with the addition of stock, salt, pepper, lemon juice, a splash of cream and a few whirrs of my immersion blender.


This was delicious. Absolutely delicious. A real winner. I love broccoli so I wasn't worried about that, but it's actually pretty healthy since it's all vegetables. I added a splash of cream per the recipe but it was completely unnecessary. After the immersion blender pureed most of the vegetables (I didn't bother keeping a cup of florets separate and blanching them for a garnish - too fussy) it was the perfect consistency. The lemon juice brightened everything up. Next time I'll definitely leave out the cream. I also garnished the bowl with a little grated cheddar cheese which was also unnecessary. Next time I won't bother; the soup is good enough on its own.

I rarely make soup since I'm not a fan of hot liquids, but recently I found myself thinking "I should do this more often." Turns out I love a good, hearty bowl of soup, especially with slices of buttered, crusty ciabatta to dip into the bowl. I used three slices as spoons and enjoyed every mouthful. Thanks for another winner, hon!

Broccoli Soup
Modified from Alosha's Kitchen

2 pounds broccoli, separated into florets, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 leek, white and green parts only, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 quarts chicken broth
Fresh lemon juice to taste
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, shredded

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, leek and broccoli with a pinch of salt and pepper, and saute until the onion is soft, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and stir to combine, then cook for 4 minutes. Add broth to the pot gradually, whisking to work out any lumps of flour. Bring soup to a summer and cook 45 minutes, stirring frequently.

Purée the soup using a stick or regular blender, or let it cool somewhat and pass it through a food mill.

Stir in the lemon juice and cheese then season to taste, and serve.

Roast Chicken Dinner

On Saturday our friends C & D came over for dinner. With all the cold weather and snow we've been having we thought a nice roast chicken dinner would be the perfect meal.


I coated the chicken in a mix of butter, oil, rosemary and thyme and stuffed the cavity with smashed garlic cloves, pieces of lemon and sprigs of rosemary and thyme. The smell coming from the oven as it was roasting was intoxicatingly delicious.

To round out the meal I made mashed potatoes, finally breaking out the potato ricer I bought ages ago. It takes a little elbow grease, but the potatoes come out super creamy. I also steamed some green beans and we had two kinds of crusty bread and butter.

C & D brought a variety of pastries for dessert:


I'm not sure what each one is, but we cut these into four pieces and all were great.

Baking with Brooke

My office was closed the week between Christmas and New Year's so Brooke and I decided to get together to tackle one of my biggest fears - baking bread. She thought Hawaiian rolls would be a good place to start. After a few minor mishaps involving an errant mixer and needing to run to the store for more yeast this is what we produced:


Delicious, sweet, pineapple-y rolls. SP loved these, especially with a pat of butter. We cheated and used her breadmaker, which gave us this huge ball of dough after an hour and a half:


We separated the dough into two pieces so we each got 9 rolls. We rolled the dough into balls and placed them in baking pans:


After the dough went into the pans it needed to rise another hour so we took the opportunity to make cookies. Since SP loves peanut butter cookies and we all love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate we decided to make these peanut butter cookies.


The cookies are a pretty basic recipe. We added copious amounts of chocolate and peanut butter chips:


... before rolling them in sugar and pressing them down with the tines of a fork. Here they are ready to be baked:


SP said these were the best peanut butter cookies he has ever had, and that says a lot because he loves peanut butter cookies. I have to say, they are truly amazing. We've been rationing them out because we could have eaten them all in one sitting if left to our own devices. Delicious!

Thanks for a fun day, Brooke! We have to do it again sometime. :)