avocado & bravado : a food blog » bread

pita chips

Rose — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 02:07:17 +0000

Do you buy certain foods even though you don’t like them very much? That’s the sort of relationship I have with store bought pita bread. Supermarket pita pales in comparison to its restaurant and freshly baked counterparts. It’s often stale, dry, and cardboard-y. Still, I buy it anyway because I rarely bake bread and I don’t have a Lebanese grandmother. Store bought pita is good for one thing, though – pita chips. They’re crispy and addictive. Adding a little bit of salt and pepper to them is a must, but from there the spice combinations are endless. They’re a cinch to make, too.

Pita chips
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4 pita breads
2-3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
salt & freshly ground black pepper, to taste
a few pinches other spices (optional)

Preheat oven to 325F.

Meanwhile, cut each pita into 8 to 12 triangles. Place the triangles on a cookie sheet.

Pour 2 tablespoons of oil into a small bowl. Dip a pastry brush into the bowl and brush each triangle lightly with oil. Add another tablespoon of oil to the bowl, if needed. Add a few pinches of salt over the triangles and add freshly ground black pepper.

Transfer the cookie sheet to an oven and bake for 15-20 minutes, or until lightly browned and crispy.

Serve with hummus or your favorite dip. And go ahead, eat them all a couple of days. Your secret is safe with me.

Makes 32-48 chips

Try the recipe index for more ideas.

naan

Rose — Thu, 20 May 2010 23:43:01 +0000

I’ve been givin’ my oven some lovin’ lately and experimenting with bread making. I’ve made a few loaves of sourdough, sourdough pizza crust, and pita bread. They’ve been moderate successes, but I haven’t been able to master any of them just yet. The problem lies with my ancient oven, which never gets very hot. I’m not ready to give up bread making until we move into another apartment just yet, though. I remembered that I saved a recipe for pan-fried naan a couple weeks ago and I thought I might have more success with that. I was so right. The fact that naan is so ridiculously easy to make is not a good thing. Now I don’t want to eat anything else ever again.

In case you’re unfamiliar, naan (which means “bread” in many languages, by the way) is a teardrop shaped leavened flat bread that is typically cooked in a clay oven called a tandoor. It is a staple food in Central and South Asia. Of course, I don’t have a tandoor, so pan frying naan is the next best thing for me. And so ridiculously easy. If you can make pancakes, you can make naan. Try to eat just one, I dare you.

Naan
(adapted from The Little Red House)
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1/2 cup warm water
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting and rolling
1/4 cup olive oil (the recipe called for canola oil, but we usually only ever buy olive, peanut, and coconut oil)
1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 egg, beaten
oil or ghee, for frying

In a large bowl, mix together water, yeast, and sugar. Let stand for 5 minutes, or until foamy.

Add flour, salt, oil, yogurt, and beaten egg. Stir until you have a dough that’s easy to work with, add more flour if needed. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough rise until it has doubled in size, or about an hour.

On a floured surface, divide the dough into 6-8 pieces. Roll out each piece very thinly and set aside.

Heat oil or ghee (not too much! Just a little for each piece) in a large skillet. When hot, add the naan and cook until blistered and golden brown. Flip and cook until golden on the other side. Repeat with remaining naan. Serve with your favorite curry.

Makes 6-8 naan

Not quite what you had in mind? Try the recipe index.

medjool date and pistachio spice bread

Rose — Wed, 19 May 2010 06:45:24 +0000

During my last trip to a Russian grocery store a couple weeks ago, I picked up a jar of rose petal preserves. I had no real use for the rose petal preserves, but I suddenly decided that I needed to make a quick bread to eat with the preserve. I wasn’t entirely sure what kind of quick bread I was going to make until I opened up the pantry and gathered together all my favorite ingredients and spices. Medjool dates are treasures in dried fruit form and pistachios are my nut of choice for desserts. I initially didn’t think the bread would be “blog worthy”, since this was my first attempt at making a quick bread in many years. I changed my mind after the first bite. The bread is moist, fluffy, and bursting with flavor. My only regret is that I didn’t make two loaves.

Tip: Orange blossom water can be found at Middle Eastern grocery stores and specialty shops. If unavailable in your area, substitute with vanilla extract, rose water, or orange zest.

Medjool Date and Pistachio Spice Bread
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1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1 cup yogurt (I used whole)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons orange blossom water
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon clove
1/4 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 cups medjool dates, pitted and chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 cup pistachios, chopped

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, mix together the beaten egg, butter, sugar, honey, orange blossom water, and yogurt. In another large bowl, mix together salt, flours, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and nutmeg. In small batches, add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Fold in the pistachios and medjool dates. Spoon in the batter into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 45-60 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean (check to see if the bread is done after about 45 minutes, my oven is old and often unreliable. Baking time for this loaf was about 62 minutes). Cool before serving.

Yields 8-12 slices

Not quite what you had in mind? Try the recipe index.

southern-style cornbread

Rose — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 04:51:53 +0000

I was born in the South, but I’m not a Southerner. My parents were carnies (they had all their teeth at the time, in case you were wondering) and I just so happened to be thought of, conceived, and born in the South. However, most of my life was spent in Michigan. When I think of traditional food of the American Midwest things like casseroles, Jell-O salad, meatloaf, and coney dogs come to mind. Those are all foods I have spent my life avoiding. Luckily, there are large populations of Greeks and Arabs in Michigan, who brought their food with them. If you serve me green bean casserole or a Cool Whip fruit salad, just don’t expect me to do anything but frown.

When it comes to traditional and comforting American food, I look to the South for inspiration. This recipe comes from Elise over at Simply Recipes, who I believe is a native of California, so I can’t vouch for the authenticity of this bread. If any of my Southern readers out there have any other cornbread recipes they’d like to share, then by all means! I poked around on the web a bit before deciding on a recipe, but the addition of the shredded cheese in this recipe was too hard to pass up. Cory and I both enjoyed this with last week’s turkey chili.

Southern-style cornbread
(adapted from Simply Recipes)
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1 c cornmeal
1 T baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
1 c milk or buttermilk
3 T bacon fat
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 c sharp cheddar cheese, shredded
1 small onion, chopped
3/4 c frozen corn, defrosted

- Preheat oven to 350F.

- Mix together cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the milk, bacon fat, and beatened eggs into the mix. Fold in the cheese, onion, and corn.

- Pour the mix into a greased cast-iron skillet and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden.

Serves 6-8

Not quite what you had in mind? Try the recipe index.