Pita Bread

I made bread. And no, not in a bread maker. Like real bread. Like roll it with a rolling pin, kind of bread! Who would've thought? 

I always drool over the pitas at the store. So light and fluffy and perfect for sandwiches or hummus, but so expensive. I on,y get four for the price of a whole loaf of sandwich bread. But now, I can make my own! I mean, I doubt I will do it regularly, but now I know I can.

Pita Bread

1 1/4 cup lukewarm water

1 tbsp dry active yeast

2 tsp honey

3 to 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

In my stand mixer with the dough hook, I mixed water, honey and yeast. Then I let it rest for 5 minutes. Add  2 and 3/4 cup flour, salt and oil to the water and mix until a ball forms in the mixer and it does not stick to the walls of the bowl. 

Sprinkle the remaining flour onto a flat surface and put dough on floured surface. Split dough into 8 even sections and roll each section into a ball. Cover rolling pin in flour. Roll all 8 balls into 1/4 inch thick disks. Let rest for 30 minutes to puff. 

Rolling the dough

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place pizza stone in oven to heat up. Once oven is at 450, place the disks onto the stone and bake for 10-15 minutes. Sit back and watch the magic. Puff time!

Flat

Puffed

Finished product

Pocket

I basically ate nothing pt pitas for a day straight. I was obsessed. Dip, ranch dress, salads, sandwiches, just pita with honey drizzled on it. I love it. Now I know my pitas came out a little more dough-ier than I wanted, but it still tasted good. I might try to make the disks thinner. But either way it'll be more than edible. 

Enjoy!

-Akemichan

November December Randoms

These past few months have been difficult in our family. But family gets through things together. 2015 has gone by and a brand new year is upon us. Here are a few last moments of 2015.

Chamoyada 

Tights and tweet

Pure new garden

Inspired by Mad Men 

Packed lunch

Stop by the food truck for some morning energy

Pumpkin croissants

Pumpkin bread

Beautiful pastries from Mirabelle's

Tomato, basil, goat cheese salad with balsamic dressing

Yellow cauliflower

Newf babies

Chicken thigh, green beans and Swiss chard

Date night at Wedge. 10 tacos for two

Butternut squash soup

Office time

Winter outfit

Herb Drop Biscuits

Whenever bryan goes away, I tend to over snack. My instinct to munch on little things and bake increases due to boredom. We have a lovely herb garden that helps with such occasions. I was going to make regular biscuits, but I didn't want to roll them out. Drop biscuits are easier. 

Herb Drop Biscuits

2 cups of all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

2 tbsp baking powder

1 tbsp fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary, thyme and a little bit of chives)

7 tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

3/4 cup almond milk

Preheat one to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. 

In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar, baking powder and herbs. Add cold butter and pinch with fingers until the butter is evenly incorporated into mixture. It should resemble small pearls. Add milk to mixture and gently stir until the dough is evenly wetted. Try not to over mix.

Drop the dough onto parchment paper using a spoon. Make 10 biscuits. Put into oven for 15-17 minutes or until biscuits are light golden brown on the edges. Serve immediately with honey or butter. 

If only I had some breakfast sausages, I could make so kick butt breakfast sandwiches with scrambled eggs. Drooling just thinking about it. Next time. But in the meantime, I'll just drench these in honey. Enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

Muffin Tin Cinnamon Rolls

I can't stop baking. I don't know what has come over me, but I've. Had quite the sweet tooth lately. It's beginning to be a problem. Late at night I think about doughnuts and pies and ice cream when I should be thinking about going to bed. You would probably catch me at 1 am by the light of the freezer, spoon in hand, if we actually kept ice cream in our house. Dangerous. 

I decided to give in and bake something. Nothing beats a baked good in a time of need. And this is a time of need.

Yeast-free Cinnamon Rolls

Filling:

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tbsp cane syrup or molasses

3 tbsp cinnamon

4 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

Dough:

2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsp granulated sugar

3 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup almond milk

1 large egg, beaten

Icing:

2/3 cup powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 tbsp almond milk

Make sure to have a clean flat surface, a rolling pin and lots of space. 

Preheat oven for 400 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk flour, granulated sugar, baking powder and salt together. Add room temperature butter and mix with hands until the butter is evenly distributed into the dry mix. Add almond milk and beaten egg. Mix until dough comes together into a ball. Use the wrapper from the butter to grease the muffin tin. In a medium bowl, mix filling ingredients.

When dough and filling are ready, dust flat surface with flour. Place dough onto surface and roll into a rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Use flour on top and bottom of dough. Do not be stingy, the dough will stick if you don't put enough. When rectangle is ready, spread the filling into the middle, leaving a 1/2 inch border of dough on the outside. Roll dough into a log and cut dough into 12 (or more) equal pieces.

Place individual rolls into muffin tin and bake in oven for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, assemble icing by whisking icing ingredients together. When rolls are done, top with icing.

Everyone I know loves cinnamon rolls. So these twelve barely made it past day two. Dessert, breakfast or afternoon snack. They're perfect and already portioned. Enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

Crunchy Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Sometimes you just have to go with the classics. I worked by butt off at the gym today and as counter productive as it seems, I felt I deserved a cookie. The downside of making homemade cookies is having the discipline to not eat them all. That's what coworkers are for, right?

I improvised a little since I didn't have any brown sugar. Luckily, our friend's family makes cane syrup so I made it work. 

Oatmeal Cookies

1 3/4 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup raisins 

1 1/4 stick butter, softened

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cane syrup or molasses 

1 large egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

Cane syrup, yum

In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients (oats, flour, cinnamon, baking powder, salt and raisins). In a medium bowl, mix together wet ingredients (butter, sugar, cane syrup, egg and vanilla). Pour wet ingredients into dry until well incorporated.

On a greased baking sheet, scoop a heaping tablespoon of mixture onto baking sheet. Place each cookie 2 inches apart, they will spread. Bake at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and cool.

This counts as one cookie in my book

My favorite kind of cookie. Not too sweet, not too small. Crunchy and chewy at the same time. Don't need ice cream, just a tall glass of milk. Enjoy!

Akemi-chan

December Randoms/ End of Year Wrap Up

2013 has been a wonderful year for me. I took so many incredible trips, like Tokyo, New York and Europe.  I got to spend a whole week at home. Flew to see some of my best friends in California. Not to mention, I got engaged in the City of Light to my best friend. It'll be hard to top this year, but who knows what will come in the future.

Here are some snapshots from this month as a wrap up for the last month of 2013.

Foggy night in Urbana

Sitara Indian restaurant in town

Mushroom and butternut squash risotto

Matching set: Red velvet cake and red velvet red wine

Making Christmas cookies

Taking a midnight Winter stroll

Make a wish

Frosty windshield 

New addition to our workout routine

Puppydog and his Christmas Seal

Christmas "elf" outfit

It's unfortunate that I'm writing this post on New Year's Eve at work. Winter storms are creeping into Chicago, making us work until the planes land. It's likely that I will be ringing in 2014 by the fluorescent lights of the airport. At least I have a job, right? Happy New Year!

-Akemi-chan

Peach Almond Crumble

It's been a long Summer and all I've wanted to do is bake. I don't want to make regular food, just cookies, pies, cobblers, biscuits and all that yummy good stuff that comes out golden brown and delicious. 

Since Boyfriend and I are heading out of town to meet friends at a Michigan beach house, I had to take extra precautions to limit grocery store spending. After all, what's the point in having a fully stocked fridge when you're going to be out of town?

I bought a few peaches a few days ago, hoping that they were going to become afternoon snacks or a fresh fruity dessert to my packed lunch for work. It didn't turn out that way. The peaches were getting ripe and I had no desire to just eat then as they were. But from this not so tragic incident, come opportunity. A small peach crumble for those with not enough peaches for a square pan, and only two mouths to feed.

Peach Almond Crumble

Topping:

1/4 cup old fashioned oats

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/8 cup chopped almonds, raw

1 1/2 tbsp butter, softened

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

Filling:

3 ripe peaches, pitted and cut into slices

1/8 cup packed brown sugar

1 tbsp corn starch

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of nutmeg

whipped cream (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a small bowl, combine all of topping ingredients and smash with a fork until combined. It should have the consistency of crumbs.

In a medium bowl, combine all of filling ingredients and stir to coat peaches. In a bread pan (like the banana bread kind) pour the filling and spread evenly over the bottom of pan. Then top with the crumb/ granola-like topping. 

Bake in oven until filling juices are bubbling and topping is crisp. About 25-35 minutes. 

After baking, let rest for a few minutes and scoop into a bowl with whipped cream. 

The whipped cream helps to add a little more decadence to the peaches, but ice cream is also highly recommended. Enjoy!

-Akemi-chan

Rosemary Drop Biscuits

Since Boyfriend is away at the lab, I've gone into my usual routine of baking. This time I didn't want dessert. It's quite dangerous to be alone at home with a pile of cookies, so I had to think of another way of occupying my hands.

My best friend, who is the person who helped me get over my fear of cooking, is a great cook. It's one of the things we grew to love together. She is the inspiration for this dish thanks to our weekly emails and her dishing on her thyme biscuits. Drool. I don't have a rolling pin or a biscuit cutter, so drop biscuits are baking away at midnight in my kitchen.

Rosemary Drop Biscuits

2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp white sugar
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup milk

Preheat at 450 degrees. In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar, cream of tartar, salt and rosemary. Stir in butter and milk just until moistened. Avoid over mixing. Use a tablespoon to drop 12 balls of dough onto two greased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until biscuits are golden on the edges.

Cuddle up with some warm biscuits and jelly with a cup of tea and my newest obsession, BBC's Sherlock.

No better way to get in the London mindset as far as I'm concerned. Don't even get me started on the sandwich possibilities.

-Akemi-chan