On The Addictive Nature of Breakfast Cereal.

I live a moderate life. I usually insist upon whole, from scratch foods (especially in my own home), but I will stop for an ice cream cone once in a while. I will eat greasy pizza that I know has dough conditioners, and I will eat canned "baked" beans - but those are all occasional indulgences, part of the philosophy I grew up with to "do what we can, and trust God with the rest".

I also read a whole lot about health and diet, but am slow to jump on the latest trend. I never was sold on Atkins, The Zone, South Beach or other low carb or carb-free diets. I can, however, see valid points to "real food" diets such as GAPS, Paleo and what is usually referred to as the NT or Nourishing Traditions diet. Nourishing Traditions ("The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats") is a book I've had on the shelf for several years now. I got my copy after running into an old boyfriend's parents in the health food store. His mom saw the canola oil in my cart and said innocently, "You are still eating canola oil?" Within the month, a copy of that book found its way from her generous zeal to my hands. I opened it and scoffed at the shear ridiculousness of the length of it, the unbelievable attention to detail, the amount of information also crammed into into the margins, and the simplicity of the numerous recipes.

To that point, I had never heard that canola oil may not be good for you, that whole milk and full fat dairy were not actually the things that clogged arteries were made of. I couldn't be bothered with crazy, time consuming diet ideas when I had a 2 year old kid to chase around. But little by little I read that book, and found supporting information in many other places around the Internet. Gradually, I became one of the crazy people who actually think that what we put into our bodies has a huge outcome on our general health - from skin and hair to dental and digestion. My moderate lifestyle was altered even more by gradually cutting back on sugar and caffeine, and especially changing the way I think about whole grains.

In particular, I no longer buy breakfast cereal. What? But breakfast cereal is the staple of my generation, the stuff we all learned to get ourselves in the mornings before school. I'll bet the vast majority of Americans still choose a box from a shelf to validate themselves as a "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" type. Breakfast cereal is still my Kiddo's most favorite thing, and given the opportunity, he will eat huge amounts of it and request it for every meal. That alone could be why I just stopped buying it. Now I get him a single box for special occasions and limit him to one smallish bowl per sitting. Even though boxes haven't been entering my house for at least 2 years now, he still loves the stuff - and I'll admit that I still occasionally long for the crunchy, quick staple too.

But why are the health food nuts like me demonizing breakfast cereal? It all boils down to processing. Any quick Google search will show you in a number of places that all grains contain phytic acid, a naturally occurring acid that prevents the minerals in grain from absorption into you body. You can unlock the nutrition in whole grain by giving it the time to soak in acidulated liquid (like buttermilk, yogurt, or whey), or by first sprouting the grain and then dehydrating it and grinding it into flour.

Just typing that last sentence in seems like a lot of work, but consider how fast paced our lives are now. Traditional foods dictate traditional time, and when you have no t.v. show or Facebook to get to, gobs of time suddenly appear. This is the opening paragraph of Sally Fallon's Nourishing Traditions book:

Technology is a generous benefactor. To those who have wisely used his gifts, he has bestowed freedom from drudgery; freedom to travel; freedom from the discomforts of cold, heat and dirt; and freedom from ignorance, boredom and oppression. But father technology has not brought us freedom from disease. Chronic illness in industrialized nations has reached epic proportions because we have been dazzled by his stepchildren - fast foods, fractionated foods, convenience foods, packaged foods, fake foods, embalmed foods, ersatz foods - all the bright baubles that fill up the shelves at our grocery stores, convenience markets, vending machines and even health food stores.

Breakfast cereal is the definition of fractionated food: it is made from grain that is treated harshly with heat and pressure, coatings to keep it crunchy and artificial colors and flavors. Even the added vitamins are from suspicious sources - most of which are not even viable after the heat and pressure treatments. Grains are reduced to liquid form and extruded into shapes, and as Fallon mentions in this article, it costs pennies to produce and sells for $4-$5 a box, making it one of the highest profit margins in the food industry. Skeptical as I can be about the latest health crazes and claims, it seems fairly logical to me that something that makes so much money for so many involved is hiding and harboring all kinds of things that consumers don't want to know about. (Like the recent reveal of GMO's in Kashi...)

But enough on boxes of processed cereal. We can eat real breakfasts! We can even eat real breakfast cereal once again. I just finished making a big batch of this cereal I recently read about on The Healthy Home Economist. It's good. It's really good. And even the Kiddo liked it.

The best thing about this recipe is that it is basically a cake that is crumbled up and dehydrated. Not only can you just enjoy it as a cake the possibilities are endless for cereal flavor variations. I'm thinking even a chocolate version could easily appear sometime in the near future. I dehydrated this because I have a dehydrator, but Sarah bakes hers at a low temperature until crisp and dry.

Real Cold Breakfast Cereal (the Healthy Home Economist)

(my yield was 2 half gallon jars of cereal)

• 6 c. freshly ground organic flour (I used about 3 cups each of soft wheat and spelt)
• 3 T. whey added to enough water to make up 3 cups

• 3/4 c. coconut oil, melted prior to measuring
• 1 c. maple syrup
• 1 t. maple extract
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 T. cinnamon
• 2 t. baking soda

In a very large bowl, mix the flour with the whey/water until it is smooth and well combined. Cover with a clean towel (I like to also top it with a lid from a large pot to prevent a skin from forming on the top), and let soak at room temperature for 24 hours. (I have read elsewhere that as long as you soak 7 hours or longer, the enzymatic change has taken place in the grain. I let mine soak for about 20 hours.)

After soaking, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir very well until well mixed. Batter will be very sticky will kind of form a single mass. Divide the batter into 2 9x13 glass pans (no need to grease them, and no need to be exact), and bake for 20-30 minutes until a tester comes out clean.

Cool the cakes in their pans, then crumble them into small pieces. Spread onto dehydrator trays and dehydrate at 147 degrees (or as hot as your dehydrator goes) until fully dry and crisp - this was just overnight for me. Time will vary with heat and the size of the cake pieces. When dry, you can crumble the pieces further if you like. Store in glass jars or a zip top bag - it's recommended to store in the fridge, but I have some space so I may pop my jars into the freezer for optimum crunch preservation. I would recommend storing without dried add-ins, and adding them directly to your cereal bowl.

This cereal tastes exactly like a raisin or "All-Bran" type cereal, and was especially great with raisins. I'd recommend storing it out of sight quickly, because it's really easy to keep on munching on it dry. If you eat at a moderate pace, it keeps fairly crunchy in milk too. I'd really like to sneak some ginger into the batter, but may have to settle for a few cubes of crystallized ginger in my own bowl since the Kiddo doesn't share my taste for it.

Also, earmark this recipe as a really great cake in its own right: it reminded me of the soaked and sourdoughized applesauce cake I've made in the past. Add in some raisins and nuts prior to baking, and you're in business! (I may recommend using half the recipe, unless you need 2 9x13 cakes...)

It's easy to want to grab a quick breakfast before running out to start our harried, modern days, so it's easy to see just why marketed boxes invade our homes. My challenge to myself was just not to buy any cereal, and then I was forced to make and eat real food for breakfast. I usually just have a smoothie fortified with chia, but it's definitely more of a challenge to satisfy a child without the aid of the almighty cereal box. But time has passed enough now that we don't miss cereal as frequently as we once did. Now with the revelation of "dehydrated cake as breakfast", the upcoming school year may have one more breakfast option on the menu. I'll take the long waiting times to produce my own convenience food, it's definitely worth it!

Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Bread.

It almost felt too good to be true, when I woke up this morning two hours before anyone else even started to stir. Even the accidental clanging of loaf pans as I tried to quietly dislodge them from their slumbering place didn't bring any little feet running to see what the noise was. Better still was the cool breeze blowing in the windows, gorgeous dark grey storm clouds ominously layered across the sky, just waiting for the cue to empty themselves over my depressed and wilty tomato plants.

Yesterday, the new King Arthur Flour catalog came in the mail. I perused it before bed, as I always do when a new one comes. Rarely do I order, but there is some solid information in the King Arthur catalog, and they always include a few recipes that are worth the time and effort. One for Chocolate Chip Banana Bread caught my eye, and I started to scheme in my dreams of a gluten-free version. When I bounced from my bed, I got right to work - happy with my end result and feeling quite productive all before 7 a.m.

The last GF quick bread I made was so delicious it was difficult to keep around more than 2 days. This one will also meet that same fate. My loaf pans are wider, leaving me with (in my opinion, not as attractive loaves) a shallower bread, but the texture and flavor is so wonderful it's hard for that visual afterthought to matter. It's a deep chocolate flavor, not too sweet because I slashed the sugar content and didn't add any chocolate chips, but fully ripe with banana and a touch of cinnamon. A future note will be to add a little espresso powder or perhaps even ground coffee. A java jolt may be a very good addition.

I always feel the need to stress that I am not gluten-free myself, or in need of keeping to a gluten-free diet. But more often than not, I wish I was. Everything baking experiment ends up enchanting me far more than the conventional glutened counterpart. Maybe it's the thrill of a new challenge, or the appreciation of a tender crumb. Maybe, it's because it is a truly healthful alternative to traditional baked goods. This bread just feels healthy, like you are doing yourself a favor by enjoying a slice.

You may wish to up the sugar content. I am fully reformed in my sugar consumptions for the most part, and have taken to preferring things decidedly unsweet. I tested this out on the Kiddo, who loved it as it was. I also ate a slice augmented by soft butter and sprinkled with additional cinnamon sugar, which wasn't a bad way to go either. I have a feeling the texture of this bread gained some density as the day wore on. I'll know for certain tomorrow, but either way I don't think a bit of fudge-like intensity is a bad thing.

Gluten-Free Chocolate Banana Bread (adapted from King Arthur Flour's August 2012 catalog)

• 2 c. gluten-free all purpose flour (I used this method and mixed my own)
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1 t. xanthan gum
• 1/4 t. salt
• 1/2 t. cinnamon
• 1/4 c. cocoa powder
• 3 1/2 oz. coconut oil (I used room temp, just softened oil, not melted)
• 1/4 c. sugar (up this to 1/2 c. if you prefer it sweeter)
• 1 large egg
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 2 bananas (8 oz.)
• 1/2 c. plain yogurt (4 oz.)
• up to 1 c. or so of optionals (nuts, chocolate chips, seeds, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 330. (Yes, it's lower than 350 and not a typo. I read here that perhaps baking at a slightly lower temperature is good for helping maintain the integrity of the loaf. That link is also a great resource template for vegan GF quick bread baking!) Line a loaf pan with a crumpled sheet of parchment paper. (You can use reused parchment for this, and may be able to get a couple of bakings out of the sheet you crumble as well.)

In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda, xanthan gum, salt, cinnamon, and cocoa powder.

In a larger bowl, mash bananas and add the coconut oil, sugar, egg, and yogurt. Mix well to combine thoroughly.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and use a spatula to make sure everything is well mixed. Add in any optionals, and spread evenly into prepared loaf pan. (I sprinkled the parchment lined pan first with cinnamon sugar, and then sprinkled a little more on top of the unbaked batter as well. It adds a little extra sweetness and crunch.)

Bake for 45-55 minutes, until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Today was such a departure, weatherwise, from the whole of our Summer that I finally cleaned my oven. The little bit of residual warmth actually felt good in context of the cool breeze and overcast sky. Just like that, I felt the pang of Autumn, the way I do every year and somehow still feel surprised by it. Just a few weeks remain until the calendar turns and school begins for an eager 1st grader, and I gain an official year on my life. Just this evening, I was considering that my birthday is the perfect excuse to make whatever sweet I desire, and I wonder if this year it may just be gluten free? We'll all have to wait until September to find out.

Postscript:
Just so you know, King Arthur is a deep love of mine. Their website and on-demand staff is just plain amazing, and they never would ask me to tell you so. I am able to find their flour locally, and it consistently performs so well and tastes so good that I make excuses that I don't source more local or organic flour. I haven't yet tried their gluten-free flour, but I'm sure it is also consistently good.

Daring Baker's Challenge July 2012: Crackers

Our July 2012 Daring Bakers’ Host was Dana McFarland and she challenged us to make homemade crackers! Dana showed us some techniques for making crackers and encouraged to use our creativity to make each cracker our own by using ingredients we love.

I was happy with the challenge type this month, since I am still trying (trying hard) not eat so many sweets after a very sweet beginning to July. (You might have noticed that I bowed out of the challenge last month, which was the Battenberg Cake.) I have made thousands of crackers of different types over the past few years, even helping to test a recipe book of them that will be coming out next Spring, so I decided to pluck a type of recipe from our challenge that I usually don't make: icebox crackers. I made it as written, unaltered, and they were delicious.

Like the cookies of the same name, icebox dough is formed into logs, chilled in the fridge or frozen, and then baked off on demand. I actually need to revisit this type of butter-based cookie, since I had forgotten how nice it is to simply slice, bake and serve. I served these as the appetizer to the dinner I've written about in the last two posts, the dinner that seems to continually keep on giving, since I stashed one of the two logs of this cracker dough in the freezer for another day as well.

I got a 2-year aged white cheddar for these crackers, from Wisconsin of course, and the flavor was very good - especially with an array of jams and jellies spread thickly over the tops of them. My favorite preserves with this cracker were the tart cherry jam and concord grape with rosemary. For some reason, I can not have enough rosemary! The 3 of us polished off all but 2 of the 26 crackers I baked just before dinner (and just before baking my dessert). I would suspect if you fancy a salty, elegant cracker, you would find them disappearing quickly as well.

I had to bake the crackers at least 10 minutes longer than the recipe suggested. (I baked them one tray at a time in the center of the oven, and found the time to be consistently longer with both trials.) You might try turning up the oven heat by 25 degrees and keeping an eye on them. Aim for just browned crackers around the edges that don't feel soft at all in the middle.

I also made these by metric weight.

Rosemary Walnut Crackers (Garde Manger: The Art and Craft of the Cold Kitchen)
about 48 crackers

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) (115 g/4 oz) butter, well softened
• 2 1/4 cups (225 g/8 oz) grated aged cheddar cheese, firmly packed
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (190 g/6oz) ap flour
• 1 t. (5 ml) (6 g) salt (you may be able to omit if the cheese is very salty)
• 1/2 cup (60 g/2 oz) finely chopped walnuts
• 1 T. (1 3/4 g) finely chopped rosemary

Combine butter, rosemary and cheese in a large bowl and beat well by hand (or with hand mixer, or in a stand mixer). Add flour, salt and nuts, and stir to combine. (If the dough is much too crumbly, add a tablespoon or two of water.)

Form the dough into two logs, wrap tightly in cling wrap, and refrigerate for at least one hour and up to several days. (Can freeze for several months.)

Preheat oven to 325, and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Slice the crackers to 1/5 of an inch (5 mm - and yes, I did measure them), and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown, and eat immediately. Store any leftovers in a glass, air-tight container in the refrigerator, where they will taste good for a few days. They are best just after baking, however.

The Daring Kitchen site will have the other recipes from the challenge this month. Alton Brown's Seedy Crisps made the list; they remain one of my favorites. A few other favorites from my own kitchen experimenting are the Gluten Free Multigrain Cracker, the slightly time consuming Sprouted Grain and Poppy Seed Crackers, perfectly grahamy Vegan Graham Crackers, and ultra crisp Ivy's Swedish Rye Crackers.

I do really love making crackers, and I know I've said it before that nothing made at home makes people as impressed as them. For such a small time investment, you can enjoy something really singular in flavor and texture, and so many of them pair so well with things culled from the canning shelves!

Find the other Daring Baker Cracker Challenge recipes here, and the blogroll of other bakers here. Thank you to Dana for great challenge, and the inspiration to make more things icebox!

"Cooking with Economy and Grace".

I must have told 20 people about the book I'm reading, An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler. I usually don't mention that books take me ridiculously long amounts of time to read - I trudge through them so slovenly because I'm exhausted most nights when I finally lay down to read. I usually wake up some time after I've fallen asleep with a book open over my chest, to turn off the light and think to myself briefly that I'll try to get to bed earlier the next night. But no matter what time I manage to get to bed, the same scenario follows me.

I'm on my 6th week of this book; I know this because check-outs from the library run in 3 week cycles. I frequently keep books 9 weeks before forced to return them, and actually it's in the 8th week that I'll really buckle down and finish reading a book - feeling as if I'm under an important deadline. Some cookbooks are perpetual check-outs, lining the shelf in my kitchen like old friends that I've rescued from dusty corners of existence. When I check my account online to see about renewals, I'll feel a sense of dread that my friends need to go back, to become friends to someone else. When my best new friends cause this type of feeling in me, that is when they drop into my Amazon cart - which feels bottomless at times, especially since I'm not buying anything extra right now.

This feeling of thrift (which, for me right now, is an elegant term for "poorness") that I'm currently going through is overwhelmingly perked up by Adler's book. She is single-handedly making me appreciate every last scrap from my kitchen and garden, every dirty pan I reconsider before washing. She has validated me as a home cook, as someone who does pay attention to the sound of the sizzle in the pan, the change of a color, the scent of a crunchy onion as opposed to a cooked one. She makes me feel like I do have kitchen instinct, which she explains as coming from a combination of "in", meaning "toward", and "stinguere", meaning "to prick". "It doesn't mean knowing anything, but pricking your way toward the answer, " she says.

She talks at length about good bread and using it to make toast. That whole meals can be made of toast - and that they are the perfect foil for vegetables. I was overjoyed to read this. Most of my lunches are toasted "old" bread with some kind of vegetables and cheese. I often think to myself how Kingly I eat, knowing where each ingredient comes from, knowing the time and feeling of the dough I made to bake into bread.

toasted bread, "red wax" gouda, roasted beets with salt, pepper and oil, farm market tomato, tellicherry black pepper.

I recently read this post by Tigress, where she admits that she hasn't canned anything since June. I'm not far behind. I don't need to make dilly beans or pickles this year, and I shouldn't be making any more jam. Last Summer was one of gusto, and I'm still admiring the bounty. I do this sometimes, I hoard what is on the cellar shelf. That lemon marmalade I made one day in early Spring (2011)? I still have a jar left. I have 2 jars of preserved kumquats in the fridge, alongside so many "Woodwife Peppers" that are nearing a year old and I'm unsure if I should eat them (except that they are sooooo salty, I'm sure nothing bad could live in them).

The heat that has overwhelmed the Midwest this Summer found me neglecting my garden (though it is much smaller and less productive than the mighty Tigress's). The stifling heat made me intentionally forget a half dozen radishes in the ground, which grew surprisingly tall and bloomed in pretty white or purple flowers. Yesterday at breakfast, I was paging through Linda Ziedrich's Pickling book, and found a recipe for pickled radish pods. After clearing the dishes, I stepped out into the lung-filling heat and picked a small amount, enough for a quarter amount of Ziedrich's recipe. I packed them tenderly into a little glass yogurt jar, topped by the modest amount of brine, and twice as many dried cayenne peppers than called for that were from my garden last year.

radish pods.

If you plant some radish seeds now, and just forget about them for about them for 6 weeks or so, you should be able to harvest enough pods for a full batch of pickled radish pods. I got about a cup of pods from 2 radish plants, so I'd figure that 8 plants would give you enough for the pint called for.

Pickled Radish Pods (Linda Ziedrich, The Joy of Pickling)

• 1 pint "fully formed but still tender radish pods, stems trimmed to 1/4 inch)
• 1 small, fresh hot pepper like serrano, cut into rings (or 1 dried hot pepper) (I used 2 hot peppers for a 1/4 recipe)
• 1 sprig of tarragon
• 1 large garlic clove, sliced
• 1/2 c. cider vinegar
• 1/2 c. water
• 1 t. pickling salt
• 1 T. olive oil

Pack a clean jar with the radish pods, hot pepper(s), tarragon, and garlic. Stir the vinegar, water and salt together, and pour over the pods covering them and leaving about a 1/8 inch headspace. Add the olive oil, and cap with non-reactive lid. Store for 3 weeks in a cool, dark place before eating. After opening, store in the refrigerator.

After my chef/friend and neighbor/coworker/friend dinner (the one in which I served the Gâteau Basque), I was left a whole, stuffed pork tenderloin to make. I cooked it last night, thinking again about the kindness of friends, and the things that come to inspire me when I need it most. I watched my friend make a sauce for the pork (I would never have thought to make a sauce). She used beef broth that I had made from bones I carried back from a steak dinner we grilled out at the farm when I was on vacation. The beef broth made with 4 diners worth of bones was exceptional, and it made about a quart of richly flavored stock. I watched her adding and tasting; we found a bottle of apple cider syrup I made last year and never used on anything. Her sauce was delicious. I figured I'd try to make a sauce when I made the leftover pork - and I began mine in pan of leftover melted butter I had made the night before for our popcorn. I sliced the garlic in, brought up the heat and let it sizzle. I added beef stock and a sprig of rosemary, thickened it slightly with flour mixed with heavy cream, and baptized it after with a splash of cheap brandy (that I got from a friend, so that we could share in the bounty of another season of bachelor's jam).

The potatoes that I had insufficiently braised in the stock to begin with became homefries, because I had not cooked them long enough the first time, they gained momentum combined with onion and more rosemary, and the incomparable heat of a big cast iron skillet. I had just enough of them leftover from dinner to use for breakfast, alongside some perfectly fresh eggs, a gift of my Parents when back home.

All of these things add up. To the point sometimes that I have no words to describe them. I have enough leftover pork for several days of delicious sandwiches, I am making a new loaf of bread today to take us through the weekend. I have a fridge full of already roasted vegetables, marinated cucumbers from my struggling garden plot, and the validation that I am a good cook without credentials, that I can cook from what seems like nothing in the house so long as I remember not to throw anything away.

There is always something new to be learned, something more to be thankful for. Beyond everything else, I know I am being looked after by the Power on high, in gifts of cupfuls of peas and vacuum cleaner bags, in stuffed pork tenderloins and sincere new friendships. All of these things allow me to cook with economy and grace, just as Tamar Adler suggests. They allow me to "prick my way" forward, finding my way in uncertain time.

The story of Gâteau Basque, time alone, and friends to share it with.

This whole week I've spent nearly alone, my kiddo having stayed behind with his Nana and Papa for his first extended Summer sleep-away. I pulled out of the driveway last Monday feeling strangely solitary, and surrounded in my car by overwhelming silence. Until I am separated from my child, I don't realize how much the boy talks. I am told that this is repayment from my own childhood, when I would talk for hours on end. One famous story told by my Gram and retold for years to come by my Mom reminds me that I had gone to stay with her and in a long car ride I was talking non-stop. When sudden silence hit, she turned around to see why I had stopped talking and found I had fallen asleep mid-sentence...

I will admit that the quietness of my house is good for me once in a while. It was only periodically interrupted by long talks with my Husband, which felt good and strangely adult. With no schedule to keep I felt like I was on vacation. Really my home is like a vacation to me; most of the time there is nowhere else I'd rather be.

Amidst the organizing and some deep cleaning, a shift worked at the cafe and gentle, simple dinners, my new boss/friend and I decided that my being childless was a good excuse to have a collaborative dinner. She was bringing some pork that she had butchered in a class and had stashed in her freezer, and I was in charge of bread, dessert, and veggies. Her sister (/co-worker/neighbor) and I all sat together on the patio last night after our delicious dinner trying to pronounce "gâteau", which I thought ended up sounding more like the Spanish "gato".

But, the pronunciation doesn't matter much with this homey, easy dessert. Filled with last years tart cherry jam, I felt relieved that I had gone with a Dorie Greenspan recipe when trying to impress a chef-friend. It bears mentioning that any recipe Dorie Greenspan has ever written will turn out for me on the first try, no questions asked, making her one of my secret weapons when I am trying to make an impression. Gâteau is exactly the thing to make for simple dinner parties. It is lovely and French, it can be filled with whatever preserve on your shelf you need to show off or use up, and it isn't so big that you find yourself with enormous amounts of leftovers to contend with. It could be my new favorite dessert.

Truth told, I am insanely insecure about cooking and entertaining for others, even more so when one guest is a professional. I re-washed all my silverware and towel dried the spots off of them, I re-folded all of the mismatched napkins to approximate the same size, I baked the gâteau at the last moment - when it had enough time to cool to room temperature, but not enough time to be called "old". The batter, which is really more of a dough or a cross between a batter and a dough, is rolled out into circles between plastic wrap, and then chilled for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Baking time is just over 45 minutes, allowing one to get herself cleaned up and presentable for company. Like I said, the perfect dessert for easy entertaining.

Gâteau Basque (Dorie Greenspan, Around my French Table)
makes one 7 or 8-inch cake, 8 servings

• 2 c. ap flour
• 3/4 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. salt
• 10 T. butter, room temperature
• 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 c. sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature (I soaked a cold egg in hot water for 10 minutes)
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 3/4 c. cherry jam or other thick preserves
• 1 egg, for eggwash
  

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment (or in a bowl with a handheld mixer), beat the butter with both sugars for 3 minutes, or until the butter is smooth and the sugar has started to dissolve. Add the egg, and beat for 2 more minutes. Scrape down the sides at least once, and the batter may look curdled, but this is normal. Reduce the speed to low, add the vanilla extract, and then add the dry ingredients in 2 or 3 additions, beating only until they are fully incorporated.

Divide the dough into 2 equal portions (yes, I weighed them), and form each into a circular disk. Working with one at a time, roll the dough out into a circle between two sheets of plastic wrap. Be sure that the circles will fit into your pan. I used my 7 inch springform pan, and used the base as a measure. Still in the plastic wrap, stack the disks on a flat plate and refrigerate at least 3 hours and up to 3 days.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and generously butter your baking pan (I used salted butter for this, just because). Remove the disks from the fridge, and let them sit for a few minutes at room temperature before peeling back the plastic wrap. Fit one disk into the prepared pan, and spoon the jam evenly on it, leaving a 1 inch border. Moisten the border with water, and place the other disk on top. Press gently, trying not to let too much jam escape the sides. Some jam will escape anyway - and this is okay.

Make an eggwash by beating an egg with a splash of water and brushing it over the top. (Reserve the beaten egg for tomorrow's breakfast.) Make an even crosshatch pattern with the tines of a fork, and the bake on the center rack of the preheated oven for 45 minutes or so until the top is golden brown.

Transfer the cake to a cooling rack and let it rest for 5 minutes. Run a thin knife between the cake and the pan to loosen it, and then unmold it. Let it cool, right side up, to room temperature, then cut into wedges and serve with vanilla ice cream. (I like this one, because it is Jeni's Splendid.)

(Update: I tried this cold out of the fridge the next day and didn't like the texture nearly as well. It still tasted good, but tasted more like dense pie crust. I left the last bit out overnight, covered well with a glass dome, and then tried it the next morning. It was much tastier, more like a tender pastry. If you want to store it for a couple of days, I'd recommend putting it in the fridge, but then allow enough time for slices to come back to room temperature before eating.)

What seems like a long time ago, I found packets of French baking powder in an Asian grocery that I bought because I loved the packaging. They were sold in cellophane, maybe 6 packets to the pouch. I couldn't wait to get home and Google to find out about it. What I remember is that it is single-action baking powder, powder that activates immediately when it hits liquid and not again when it hits the oven heat. I recall that it was recommended to be used in gâteau, though I'm not certain how it would fare with a long refrigeration time. I may try it sometime, I still have the pale pink packets in my baking pantry. They still make me happy when I see them in there.

So my vacation week is ended, my kiddo is on his way home, and I have just a few hours more of a quiet home. I am looking forward to hearing about all of his adventures away (especially because my Mom told me that he was eating all kinds of new foods this week), and I look forward to having my little family all together once again. I have a few pieces of gâteau left for everyone to taste after dinner tonight, and I will see how long the pretty little cake remains tasty.