cinnamon rolls

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pagan tree

Some readers have requested a photo of our Christmas tree. Here it is:

(price: $10.60).
Yes, the star is made of aluminum foil.

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Kürbiskernbrot

Regular readers will remember that we recently made the New York Times recipe for no-knead bread and that the dough was too wet. This weekend, we followed the same recipe but measured the ingredients by weight:

430 grams of flour
345 grams of water
1 gram of yeast
8 grams of salt

The dough is a much better consestency when measured by weight than by volume. If you make this bread, measure your ingredients by weight.

We mixed all the ingredients in a bowl and let them sit for 18 hours. Then we removed the dough from its bowl, folded the dough twice, and placed it on a towel covered with raw pumpkin seeds. After letting it rise for 2 1/2 hours, we dumped the dough into a preheated cast iron skillet, topped the dough with more pumpkin seed, and baked at 450 degrees for 30 minutes. Finally, we removed the lid and baked 20 more minutes. Viola: Kürbiskernbrot.

The result is one of the best breads I have ever eaten. The crust is fantastic. Yum! The pumpkin seeds to tend to go all over the place when you cut the bread, but then you can still gather up the roasted seeds and eat them.

N.b. This is not really Kürbiskernbrot because the seeds are only on the outside.

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no-knead bread

Like everyone and their brother and their brother's dog, we made the "no-knead bread" recently described in the New York Times. It is indeed easy and creates a fantastic crust. The dough was a little too wet -- next time we will use more flour than the recipe calls for.

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white bean, kale, batternut squash, and kalamata stew

This recipe comes from Epicurious. I have made it many times, and it is very easy and tastes great. It is good for cold winter days when the only vegetables available are kale and sqaush. Go read the recipe on the Epicurious website.

The nice thing about this recipe is that each ingredient cooks while you are preparing the next. The onions cook while you peel and chop the squash. The squash cooks while you wash and chop the kale. The kale cooks while you chop the olives and you open, drain, and rinse the beans. By the time you are finished with your prep work, the stew is ready to eat.

The stew actually tastes better the second day as leftovers. As it sits, the flavors combine and become more complex. It can taste slightly bland the first day, since the only spice used is sage. I sometimes make the stew after we've eaten dinner and use it for lunches during the week.

Five cans of white beans is too many. I use three cans. Dried beans do taste better, but you have to cook them completely before making the stew. Canned beans are much easier.

Buy pitted kalamated olives if you can find them. Pitting the olives is the most difficult part of making this stew.

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