The Charmed Kitchen

Turkey Rueben Loaf

Whether you are using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving or sliced deli turkey this is a fun and easy bread to make. By using quick-rising yeast you can make this sandwich loaf in about 1 hour. Quick enough for any day of the week. I made mine with turkey and Swiss cheese but you can make all kinds of variations, including using corned beef in place of the turkey for a traditional Rueben.

Turkey Rueben Loaf

3 ¼ c. flour

1 T. sugar

1 t. salt

1 package quick-rising yeast

1 c. hot water

1 T. oil

¼ c. thousand island dressing*

6-8 oz. thin sliced turkey- regular or smoked

4 oz. sliced Swiss cheese

1 c. sauerkraut, rinsed and squeezed dry

1 egg white, beaten

Caraway seeds

Set aside 1 cup of the flour. Combine remaining flour with the other dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Stir in water and oil and gradually stir in enough flour to make a soft dough. Turn onto lightly floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Roll dough into a rectangle about 16 x 8. Spread dressing down center middle of dough. Top with meat slices, cheese and sauerkraut. Cut one-inch wide strips of dough from filling to edge on both sides. It will sort of look like fringe.  Alternating sides, fold strips up and over the filling at an angle.  Carefully lift loaf onto greased baking sheet and place at an angle. Cover with a towel and place sheet on top of a roasting pan half-filled with simmering water for 15 minutes. Brush with egg white and top with seeds. Bake in a preheated 400-degree for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool slightly before slicing. Serve warm and refrigerate leftovers.

* You can make your own Thousand Island Dressing by combining equal parts of ketchup, mayo and sweet pickle relish.

Note: The variations for this bread are almost endless. Some favorite combinations are ham and Swiss with mustard, roast beef and cheddar, chicken, broccoli and cheese, Spinach with ricotta or feta and onions, pizza, assorted fillings. You get the idea. Use your imagination and have fun. Just be careful not to overfill, or the bread will be hard to move, use fillings that aren’t too runny and always use cold fillings.

If you want to use regular yeast use warm, rather than hot water. Also, don’t let dough rise over boiling water. After kneading cover dough and let rise 45 minutes. Punch down and assemble as in original recipe. Cover with a towel and let rise until dough looks puffy, about 40 minutes. Bake as directed above. These breads can also be frozen. 

Roll out dough and spread dressing down the center

After adding remaining fillings cut strips along both sides of the dough

Ready for folding

Pull strips over the filling overlapping them as you go

Let rise before baking

Brush with egg white and sprinkle with caraway seeds- then bake

Fresh from the oven

Challah Bread

I posted pictures yesterday of the bread in progress. Here is the recipe. Pretty basic and a really easy bread to make. This is the recipe my Mom always made. I must admit to sometimes adding some raisins to the dough- about a cup added in near the end of the kneading. This time I just did the classic recipe. Crunchy crust. Great sandwich bread and a nice texture for French toast, too.

Challah

2 c. hot water

1 T. each sugar, salt and oil

1 package active dry yeast

¼ c. warm water

About 8 cups flour

2 beaten eggs

Poppy or sesame seeds, optional

In large bowl combine hot water, salt, sugar and oil. Dissolve yeast in warm water in small bowl and add to oil/water mix. Stir in 1 cup of the flour and eggs, reserving 2 tablespoons of the eggs for later. Gradually stir in enough of the flour to make soft dough. When dough pulls away from sides of bowl remove to floured surface. Knead dough, adding flour as necessary about 8-10 minutes. Dough should be smooth and elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to grease top, cover with a towel and allow to rise in a warm, draft free place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and divide into 8 equal pieces. Roll three of the pieces into 12- inch ropes. Place in a greased 9×5-inch loaf pan. Take one of the remaining pieces of dough and divide into thirds. Roll the pieces into 3-nine inch ropes and place on top of the braid already in the pan. Repeat with remaining dough and cover. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Brush loaves with reserved eggs and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, if desired. Bake 40-45 minutes. When done loaves will be nicely browned and sound hollow when tapped. Makes 2 loaves.       

Note: Bread dough can also be placed on greased baking sheets instead of in loaf pans. The result will be longer and flatter, but very pretty.

Starting to rise

Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds right before baking

Warm from the oven

Spelt Bread

Since I was already baking bread I decided to make a batch of spelt bread. Spelt is related to wheat but handles quite easily and makes light loaves of bread that are still whole grain. If you haven’t tried it you might want to. I have a bread baking class tomorrow night and with only 2 hours for class had to make some ahead of time.

Spelt Bread

 3 ¼ c. whole spelt flour

1 pkt. Active dry yeast

1 c. water

1/3 c. honey

¼ c. oil

1 t. salt

1 egg

Place 2 c. flour, yeast and salt in a medium bowl. Heat together water, honey and oil until warm (120-130 degrees) Add water mixture to spelt mixture and beat on low speed of electric mixer for 30 seconds, or until moistened. Add egg and beat on high 3 minutes. Stir in enough spelt to make a soft dough. Cover bowl with towel and allow to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan and use a rubber scraper to transfer dough into prepared pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, another hour. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for 25-30 minutes. Cover top with foil during last 10 minutes of baking. Bread is done when it sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack. Makes 1 loaf. I brushed them with a little melted butter.

Pumpernickel Bread

There are few aromas I like more than freshly baked bread. I like to bake all sorts of bread. I tend to bake less during the hot summer months and look forward to cool Autumn days and fresh baked bread. Today I made Pumpernickel Bread. The dark color comes from a mixture of rye flour, strong coffee, cocoa powder and molasses. These ingredients also give this bread a richness and texture I adore. It’s hard for me to find a store bought Pumpernickel bread that comes close to this one. Many rely on caramel coloring for the color in the bread. For real flavor you need the real ingredients.

Pumpernickel Bread

2 Packages active dry yeast

½ c. warm water

2 c. lukewarm strong coffee

¼ c. each molasses and unsweetened cocoa

2 T. Caraway seeds

2 t. salt

5-6 c. flour- I use bread flour

2 c. rye flour

Cornmeal

1 egg white, slightly beaten

In large bowl dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in coffee, molasses, cocoa, seeds, salt and 3 cups of flour.  Beat with wooden spoon about 2 minutes. Stir in rye flour and enough of the remaining regular flour to make soft dough. Turn onto floured surface and knead until dough is smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease top, cover and let rest until doubled, about 1 hour.  Grease large baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. Set aside.   

Punch down dough, divide in 2, and form into balls. Place on baking sheet and cover. Let rise until double, brush with egg whites, slash tops and bake at 375 for 35-40 minutes. Makes 2 loaves. 

Dough rising

40 minutes later

Brush with egg white and slash the loaves before baking

Fresh out of the oven

Broccoli Dip

This was a big hit at the dinner at St. John’s Church Friday night. The dip is something I call “Broccomoli”. Basically similar ingredients of guacamole- except I use broccoli instead of avocados. Don’t get me wrong.  I love avocados, but “timing” them to be ripe when I needed them for parties makes me crazy. The broccoli dip is also easy to make and tastes good. Holidays are coming up. Its always nice to have more appetizer recipes.

Broccoli Dip – Broccomoli

2 c. broccoli, cooked and drained

2 T. chopped onion

1 clove garlic, minced

½ c. sour cream or Greek (strained) yogurt

3 T. mayonnaise

2 t. lemon juice

½ t. each paprika and cumin

Dash of hot sauce

Salt and pepper to taste

1 tomato, seeded and chopped, optional

Combine all ingredients in blender, except tomato, and blend until smooth. Chill. Stir tomato in before serving. Serve with tortilla chips or crackers.

Maple Pecan Candied Bacon

I did a class all about bacon and I have been posting recipes and pictures. I have also gotten some lovely feedback. Had to do at least one sweet recipe with bacon. You knew it was coming. This one is only 3 ingredients- bacon- maple syrup (no fake stuff, please) and pecans. The end result is amazing. The looks on people’s faces in class that night were priceless. Try some and let me know what you think.

                                         Candied Bacon
1 lb bacon
3/4 c – 1 c maple syrup
3/4 c – 1 c crushed pecans (or any nuts you like! I like to leave some
larger pieces and then mix in some more finely ground)

Preheat oven to 350. Put bacon in baking pan and bake about halfway through (about 5-7 minutes or so). Drain most of the grease and allow to cool slightly. Coat each piece in syrup, roll in nuts and put back on pan. You may need more nuts as you go along, though it’s up to you how much to cover them. Bake another 7-9 minutes, until desired crispness.  If you do like crisper bacon, just be sure to move the cooked bacon quickly off the baking sheet onto parchment paper, since the syrup will harden. Allow longer cooking times with thicker bacon.

Partially cook bacon

Coat with maple syrup 

Roll in crushed pecans

Bake until crisp

Bacon and Egg Wraps

This is a fun twist on bacon and eggs for breakfast. A cheesy bacon omelet wrapped in a soft tortilla.  For a crowd you can make them up ahead of time and keep warm in the oven.  Fun for brunch, too.

Bacon and Eggs Wraps

1 medium onion, chopped

¾ cup chopped sweet pepper

1 tablespoon butter

5 eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

1/2 pound sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled

4 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed

Salsa

In skillet sauté onion and pepper in butter until tender. In a bowl, beat the eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour over vegetables in the skillet. Sprinkle with cheese and bacon. Cook and stir gently over medium heat until the eggs are completely set. Spoon 1/2 cup down the center of each tortilla; fold sides over filling. Serve with salsa if desired.

Bacon Cornbread

Continuing with bacon-themed recipes, here is another one from class. While I like to bake this one in a large cast iron skillet I opted this time to use a baking pan. Mostly because I had to transport it to class and the cast iron is heavy. If you have a 12- inch cast iron skillet- or a couple of smaller ones- this recipe is always wonderful- extra tasty made in cast iron.

Bacon Cornbread

1 lb. sliced bacon, I like maple-cured

1 ¼ c. cornmeal

1 ¾ c. flour

¼ c. sugar

1 T. baking powder

1 t. salt

1 2/3 c. milk

3 eggs

¼ c. maple syrup

2 T. olive oil- you could use bacon fat instead

2 c. fresh or frozen corn

2 t. dried basil

Chop bacon into ¾ -inch pieces and cook in a 12-inch oven-proof pan until crispy. Remove bacon to paper towels to drain. Remove all but 2 T. of the bacon fat from the pan.  Set aside. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. In another bowl beat together the milk, eggs, syrup and olive oil. Combine with the dry ingredients and mix until smooth. Stir in corn and basil. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350–degrees. Place pan with bacon drippings in the oven until it gets really hot- about 10 minutes.  Remove pan from oven and pour in the cornbread batter. Sprinkle the reserved bacon over the top and bake until tester comes out clean- about 50 minutes. Cool half an hour before serving. It can be served right from the skillet. Serves 8-10. 

Note- This recipe is really best in a cast iron pan- but be sure whatever pan you are using is oven-proof.

Pasta with Spinach and Bacon

I taught a class the other night on cooking with bacon. This is one of the recipes that we made in class. Pasta with spinach and bacon. While bacon all alone is wonderful it can also be used to enhance the flavors of other foods with its smoky taste. While not listed in the recipe I have sometimes added fresh grated Parmesan cheese to the dish just before serving. You might even be able to get your family to eat spinach with this recipe. 

Pasta with Spinach and Bacon

1 (12 ounce) package pasta

6 slices bacon, chopped, I use thick-sliced bacon

2 tablespoons minced garlic

1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes

1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the pasta, and cook until tender. Meanwhile, place bacon in the skillet, and cook until browned and crisp. Add garlic, and cook for about 1 minute. Stir in the tomatoes, and cook until heated through.

Place the spinach into a colander, and drain the hot pasta over it so it is wilted. Transfer to a large serving bowl and toss with the bacon and tomato mixture. Serves 4.

Lobster Bisque

Found myself with a lovely dilemma the other day. I had been at a clambake at a cousin’s house and was able to bring an extra lobster home with me. Big thanks, Arlene. It was already cooked and  I could have just melted some butter and had at it. I wanted to do something more so I decided to make lobster bisque. It came out really good. I started by breaking down the lobster and getting out all the meat. I then made a stock from the shells and some veggies. I think that is the real secret- getting all the flavor out of the shells.  I often do the same thing with shrimp shells. I had about 3/4 cup of meat when I had removed it all. I chopped some of the larger pieces but left it in fairly large pieces for the most part. The rest was pretty simple. I had been cleaning leeks earlier that day so I just put a handful of leeks in a pot and sauteed them in butter until tender. I strained the lobster stock, but saved a carrot from it. I then added a couple of tablespoons of flour to the leeks and stirred until smooth. I added the strained stock- about 1 1/2 cups to the pot and brought the mixture to a simmer.  While it was simmering I added 1/4 cup of sherry as well and continued to cook it. I also added a dash of hot sauce and a little salt and pepper. I took the reserved carrot from the stock and sliced it and added it to the pot, too. Once I had the flavors where I wanted them I added the lobster meat and turned the heat off- allowing the already cooked meat to just warm up. The result was an amazing bowl of “yummy-ness”.

Making lobster stock

One yummy lobster