Beautiful Breads - Spicy White Pepper Jack Bread

               

The last four months have somewhat  erased any "regular routine" I thought I had.  After a few weeks restabilizing after India I took a 3-week trip to Boston to tend to family concerns. Now I'm back and although I started this post a few days ago I stopped when I heard the devasting news from Mumbai.  The new friends I made in Mumbai during my stay just a few weeks past are all  safe.  Needless to say it's left me a little tweaked and unsettled given that I sat in the lobby of the Taj--a maginficient old lady--just people watching and think how special Mumbai and its people really are. 

Image: Artist Unknown

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A few days ago anticipating leftovers I decided to try my hand once again with making filled breads.  I have had pretty good success over the years perfecting technique while making chocolate babka.  This is only made at the holidays elevating it's unique and special status to those that receive the tasty holiday gift.  Bread making, as much as everyone looks for a quick homemade route is time intensive.

However, my first attempt, about six months ago, with Cinnamon-Raisin Bread  from Margaux Sky's Beautiful Breads & Fabulous Fillings left my little cottage smoky and me fuming  angry to the point of tossing the whole lot--bread and pan out the door and into the bin followed by some cruse words.  You see, these breads are not for the meek.  I've been making bread for years. I go through cycles were I am experimenting with egg breads, sourdough starters and no-knead breads.  They are a serious but rewarding endeavor.  This particular cookbook has such strong components:  a creamy Viognier and pineapple sauce; coffee liqueur mushroom sauce and a quick honey-mustard-curry sauce.  Unfortunately it is just a tad weak on technique and the recipes are written loosely so this is not for anyone on their maiden voyage.  With these filled breads you need to prepare the fillings in advance of the bread.  The rising and kneading are relatively quick requiring two rises. 

Long before Oprah's name became synonymous with Ms. Sky's Curried Chicken Sandwich she ran a  popular San Luis Obispo sandwich shop. and that sandwich is now called the "O Special." The chicken-based filling is sandwiched between Spicy White Pepper-Jack Bread. This, I thought, would be an excellent compliment to a post-Thanksgiving turkey salad. 

The entire effort probably took about 4 hours. The curry sauce is really just a honey-mustard  with a ration of 2:1.  Next time I would decrease the amount of honey as it was a tad too sweet for me.  Also I might do a blend of Monterey jack and its zippy cousin--pepper Jack. I also used a yellow curry powder which I felt guilty about doing as my masala dabba sat there begging to be used from my travels to India.  Old habits die hard.   Also, what I can't figure out is Ms. Sky's portions there's no way the amount of curry sauce and jack cheese could be accommodated in this bread so I just did what I could.

The taste is good, especially when toasted and with the turkey salad and cranberry-quince chutney piled on top.    Also you would think Ms. Skye is a stock holder in Lawry's Lemon Pepper--it's used everywhere.  I forgot how tasty this blend actually is so it's back in the cupboard.

Next on the horizon is Peanut-Butter Fudge Bread.  The basic white bread is made and tucked in the fridge.  This weekend we'll see what lessons bloom from that effort.

Spicy White Pepper-Jack Bread

Makes 1 loaf - Adapted recipe from Beautiful Breads by Margaux Sky

Basic White Bread Dough (1/4 portion-see below)

2 tblspns olive oil

1 1/2 cups curry sauce (see below)

1 1/2 tblspns cayenne, 1 tblspn Lawry's lemon pepper, 1/4 tspn salt - Mix together

2 cups shreded Montery Jack cheese

1 egg

2 tablespons water

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Prepare the Basic White Dough.

Generously butter a 9-inch loaf pan.

Roll out  1/4 of the risen basic white dough into a 9" x 11" rectangle so that the long side is near you.

Spread the olive oil over the dough followed by the curry sauce.  Sprinkle the cayene-lemon pepper-salt blend over the curry sauce.  Sprinkle the cheese over the spcies.

Tightly roll the dough into a loaf, with the rolling action going away from your body. To hold in most of the filling, fold the outer edges of the dough in as you roll. When finished, pinch the seam together firmly.

Place the dough into the prepared loaf pan seam side down . Loosely cover with plastic wrap, place the pan in a warm, dry place and allow the dough to rise for 60 minutes.

Preheat over to 400 degrees. After rise bake for about 1 hour.  During the last 10 minutes of baking time sprinkle wome of the filing over the top of the loaf for color and taste.  Cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Basic White Dough
Ingredients: Makes 4 loaves  (but I cut the portions below in half and had success)

·       2 tablespoons yeast

·       4 cups warm milk

·       4 cups half-and-half (I used whole milk instead)

·       1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted

·       1/2 cup powdered sugar

·       16 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting

·       3 1/2 tablespoons salt

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the milk and half-and-half. Let stand for 5 minutes, until the yeast is foamy. Add the butter and mix with a whisk. Add the powdered sugar and mix well to break up any clumps.

In a large bowl (or stand mixer bowl), combine the flour and salt. Slowly add the liquid mixture to the flour mixture and knead well. If you’re using a stand mixer, knead for 3 to 4 minutes. If you’re kneading by hand, knead for 4 to 7 minutes. Keep the dough moist for a soft, tender bread.

Place the kneaded dough in a generously buttered bowl, cover with a towel or loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm, dry place for 1 hour.

NOTE: {START THE FILLING}

Punch down the dough with your fist, and divide into 4 portions, one for each loaf.

Curry Sauce

1 1/2 cups honey

3/4 cup spicy mustard

1 tblspn Lawry's lemon pepper

1 tblspn curry powder

1/4 tspn salt

In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix well.   Makes 2 cups--you only need 1 1/2 cups for the bread--there's extra if you want to warm it up and blend with your chicken or turkey.

Comments

[Deepa]

I wish I'd learnt some baking from you when you were here! I am dreeeaming of warm bread and olive oil now.

[Pam]

One word : "Babka"

[Heather in SF]

Sounds delicious! Someday you should try Penzey's Sunny Spain (no salt) mix, I love lemon too and found this is stronger than Lawry's but not overwhelming.

[VB]

How did this turn out? I've been waiting and wondering ;-). I *am* a novice at breadmaking, but love the *looks* of recipes in this cookbook. Poor results do discourage me, though, as I tend to blame my inexperience rather than the recipe ... so would sure like to know how the basic white bread dough recipe turned out.

[VB]

Acht, please ignore my first comments. I misinterpreted. I'm battling cold brain not really working. So the white bread recipe did turn out okay! Yeaaa! I am going to try it, and think I too will use some monterey jack rather than all pepper jack.) Did you make the peanut butter fudge bread? I can't find it (which means nothing given how foggy I am right now). So many luscious-sounding recipes in that cookbook. Hope you decide to try more of them.

[raivo pommer]

US BIO

Die Investition in Biokraftstoffe kann sich, wie bei den meisten innovativen Technologien, als tückisch erweisen. Man muss nur jene Anleger fragen, die sich Aktien von Verasun Energy zugelegt haben, das kurzzeitig als Äthanol-Titan Furore machte. Mitte 2006 zahlten die Anleger bis zu 30 Cent pro Aktie, nur um mit anzusehen, wie sich ihre Bestände in Luft auflösten, als das Unternehmen im vergangenen Herbst angesichts fallender Äthanolpreise, Fehlspekulationen mit Mais-Futures und der Kreditkrise Gläubigerschutz beantragte.

Nun, da Giganten wie Dupont, BP, Weyerhaeuser, Chevron und Monsanto mit Hochdruck Nachfolgeprodukte für Äthanol auf Maisbasis entwickeln, könnte der klügste und sicherste Weg, auf alternative Kraftstoffe zu setzen, darin bestehen, Start-ups zu meiden und lang etablierten Unternehmen mit breiter Geschäftsbasis den Vorzug zu geben. In frühestens drei bis fünf Jahren, so hoffen diese Unternehmen, werden sie in wirtschaftlichen Mengen Kraftstoffe der nächsten Generation produzieren.

[raivo pommer.]

raivo pommer-www.google.ee
raimo1@hot.ee

IWF

- Die schwerste Wirtschaftskrise seit mehr als acht Jahrzehnten beschert der globalen Finanzbranche den gigantischen Verlust von vier Billionen Dollar oder knapp 3,1 Billionen Euro.

Der Internationale Währungsfonds IWF berechnete die Abschreibungen von Finanzinstituten auf Ramschpapiere und faule Kredite bis Ende 2010. Das ist beinahe doppelt so viel wie bislang angenommen. Zwei Drittel davon entfielen auf Banken, heißt es im jüngsten IWF-Bericht zur Finanzmarkt-Stabilität, der am Dienstag in Washington vorgelegt wurde. Der Rest treffe Versicherer und Pensionsfonds.

Diese Schätzungen umfassen laut IWF problematische Vermögenswerte aus den USA, Europa und Japan. Die Verluste alleine durch US-Papiere und Kredite bezifferte der Weltwährungsfonds auf 2,7 Billionen Dollar, rund 500 Milliarden mehr als noch im Januar. Ramschpapiere und faule Darlehen aus Europa machen demnach voraussichtlich Abschreibungen in Höhe von 1,2 Billionen Dollar nötig. Japan komme mit Vermögenswerten in Höhe von 149 Milliarden Dollar dazu.

Etwa ein Drittel der auf 4,1 Billionen Dollar geschätzten Verlusten sei bereits abgeschrieben, der Rest stehe noch aus, sagte der Chef der IWF-Kapitalmarktabteilung, José Viñals. Der US-Markt sei weiter fortgeschritten als der europäische, weil die Krise in den USA begonnen habe. Sollte die wirtschaftliche Erholung besser vorankommen als erwartet, könnte sich die Zahl aber als zu hoch erweisen

[raivo pommer.]

raivo pommer-www.google.ee
raimo1@hot.ee

YAHOO

wies für das erste Quartal noch einen Nettogewinn von 118 Millionen Dollar aus. Beim Umsatz gab es binnen Jahresfrist einen Rückgang um 13 Prozent auf 1,58 Milliarden Dollar. Nach Abzug von Kommissionen für Werbepartner verblieben 1,16 Milliarden Dollar.

Abwärtstrend setzt sich fort

Für das zweite Quartal wird erwartet, dass sich der Abwärtstrend fortsetzt. Bartz sagte, sie wolle künftig einen Schwerpunkt auf Online-Nachrichten, E-Mail und die Internet-Suche legen

Obwohl Yahoo immer noch zu den meistbesuchten Seiten im Netz gehört, verschlechtert sich die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung seit 2005. Ursachen ist der heftige Wettbewerb mit Marktführer Google, der einen großen Teil der Online-Werbung aufsaugt.

In letzter Zeit leidet Yahoo zudem unter der zunehmenden Attraktivität von Social Networks wie Facebook und MySpace. Im vergangenen Jahr hatte das inzwischen abgelöste Management ein Kaufangebot von Microsoft abgelehnt. Zu den offenbar noch andauernden Gesprächen mit dem Software-Marktführer machte Bartz keine Angaben.

[raivo pommer.-www.google.ee]

raivo pommer.www.google.eee
raimo1@hot.ee

Welcome, stardust-seekers, and do feast your eyes on Chantal Biya - your new favourite presidential second wife. I'm sorry, Carla. But you had a good run.

The picture is datelined Beverly Hills, Tuesday, and we shall come to its breakout star's business with Paris Hilton shortly. But first, you should know that Chantal is married to Cameroonian president Paul Biya, 76, and that she always dresses as Chaka Khan by way of the Carrington mansion.

Yes, Paul is a little older than her - 38 years to be precise. And, yes, he is said to lack the charisma of Robert Mugabe, though he has been ranked the world's 19th most evil dictator.

And yes, there are those who carp that the second Mrs Biya does not possess the sainted grace of her husband's first wife, Jeanne-Irene. Lost in Showbiz has immersed itself in all things Chantal this week, and was quite agog at the Cameroonian blogger who whispered about all the goings-on up at the presidential palace.

But who are these shadowy underminers, if not the internet equivalent of Mrs Danvers, hellbent on terrorising sweet, innocent Chantal into thinking that she can never measure up?

[raivo pommer.-www.google.ee.]

EU: Deutschland wieder Defizitsünder
Europa in der Rezession

Deutschland wird in der Wirtschaftskrise wieder zum Defizitsünder. Entgegen früherer Prognosen bricht Berlin schon im laufenden Jahr mit einer Neuverschuldung von 3,9 Prozent den Euro-Stabilitätspakt, wie die EU-Kommission am Montag in Brüssel vorhersagte.

Im kommenden Jahr drohen 5,9 Prozent Defizit vom Bruttoinlandsprodukt. Europa steckt mitten in der tiefsten Rezession seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg. Das Heer der Arbeitslosen wächst. Ein leichter Hoffnungsschimmer zeichnet sich für 2010 ab.

Bundesfinanzminister Peer Steinbrück sagte in Brüssel zum europäischen Arbeitsmarkt: «Das macht mir Sorge.» Es sei kein Trost, dass die Lage in Deutschland wegen der Reformen der vergangenen Jahre besser aussehe. Laut Kommission werden 2009 und 2010 insgesamt 8,5 Millionen Jobs in der EU verschwinden. Die Arbeitslosenquote soll im kommenden Jahr im Eurogebiet auf 11,5 Prozent steigen nach 9,9 Prozent im laufenden Jahr. Deutschland schneidet mit 10,4 Prozent (2010) und 8,6 Prozent (2009) etwas besser ab.

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