TWD: Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf

Here we are, over 3 years later, with me getting to pick for Tuesdays with Dorie again. And what do I do? Oh, the ways I screw up - let me count the ways! One, I again pick something cornmeal-based. Two, there's (again!) fruit in it. Three, I don't post until well into Tuesday, with more than a slight chance of not even posting on Tuesday. There are reasons, I promise - the start of classes, the gearing up of my fellowship, the re-invigorated pressure on publishing my research... Oh, and by some freak accident, my internet was out last night. And this morning. The luck, huh? I mean, we didn't lose internet this weekend when Irene skirted by us, but we lost it due to some randomness involving signal towers and messiness. I disapprove.

I don't, however, actually feel bad about the first two of the aforementioned screw-ups. I like cornmeal. Scratch that. I love cornmeal. And cornbread. And fruit in baked goods? I'm there too! Especially with the addition of freshly grated nutmeg and the re-shaping into twee little muffins. Oh, and the use of the fun little muffin liners my mom gave me for my birthday last month. That's a nice touch too. So I guess this was a good choice for me, especially because they were then re-purposed for J's breakfast this week. Given that he never remembers breakfast, that's a very good thing.

Also a good thing? Having multiple things to work on at once. After a summer that was so one-dimensional that I might have thrown a few fits along the way, the addition of coursework and reading and organizing seminars and such makes me happy. I'm even gearing back up to having people over, kicking off (quite spectacularly) with a regional party for the A Practical Wedding-sponsored Yay New York event. Any party revolving around doing good is worth having, and the addition of cake, champagne, amazing people, and lots of laughter? A million times yes. Especially after J decides to make a champagne flute tower, just because.

Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf

1 cup buttermilk
5 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 apple or pear, peeled, cored, and cut in small dice
1/2 cup dried apple or pear

Preheat oven to 375F. Butter a 9x5 loaf pan, dust the inside with flour, and tap out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, making sure they're evenly combined. Switch to a large rubber spatula and stir in the wet ingredients, stirring just until everything is moistened -- as with muffins, less mixing is better than more. Gently stir in the fresh and dried fruit, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for about 1 hour, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for 10 minutes before running a knife around the sides of the pan and unmolding. Invert and cool right side up.

Last Week: Golden Brioche Loaves
Next Week: Chocolate Spice Quickies

TWD: Golden Brioche Loaves

 

The past two weeks have been. That's all I can really say about them. I'm exhausted, with the sort of bone-deep exhaustion that makes it difficult to get through the day sometimes. The time I spent last week in New York with family was purgative; it was dearly needed but incredibly difficult. It was made worse by the fact that August seems to have it out for too many people I know. But knowing there are others out there going through the same thing has, in a small way, made losing my grandmother tolerable. Not better, not easy, just tolerable - what more can you say when your last grandparent passes away? I keep getting that tickle in my sinuses that tells me that I could start tearing up at any moment, and keep shoving it down. I let it go when we were at the cemetery; somehow, that was the most joyful part of the entire week. We told stories, read poems, had a friend singing Ave Maria and a cousin playing his bagpipes. It was beautiful, and that little sinus tickle didn't go away all day.

Since then, I've been thrown headlong back into the beginning of the school year. UNC's campus is packed with people asking how to get to such-and-such building - you'd think after a year I'd be able to answer them, but I only know a small fraction of the different buildings on campus. I grin, shake my head, and tell them I'm a graduate student. They understand. I'm taking two classes this fall, leading the fellowship I was a part of last year, and TAing for one course. Busy busy.

As for Tuesdays with Dorie, we're getting close to the end - not too many recipes left to go, not many more weeks either. My commitment is still probably 90% there. I bake everything, but sometimes struggle to blog interestingly about any of it. The tropical crumble from last week? Well, while I could use the funeral as an excuse, I have to admit - I just didn't like it enough to share it. It was slimy in the way only baked bananas can be, it was too saccharine, and the crumble topping was too greasy and buttery. So thank goodness this week was brioche. We had made it a few years back for a couple of the other recipes, but I remember thinking it was just too buttery. So I backed down on the butter, still leaving in ~60% of what was called for. And yes, it was delicious. Soft downy crumb. Crispy flaky crust. Good stuff, people. Good stuff.

Last Week: Tropical Crumble
Next Week: Cornmeal and Fruit Loaf (I got to pick again! And picked something cornmeal related... again - whoops!)

TWD: Carrot Spice Muffins

These muffins. I opened to the page for them late last week, only to realize that this might be the second most splattered and sticky page out of the entire book. (The cream scone recipe wins for dirtiest and most well loved.) There are actually two reasons for this - one is that I love carrot cake, and the other is that the facing page feature my favorite muffin recipe in the book. And it's those coffee break muffins that gave me an idea, three years ago, for how to make carrot spice muffins even more morning glory-ish. Coffee.

Now, I have to be honest. The reason for this substitution? I barely ever have milk in my fridge. We just don't drink it. I'll buy little 8 oz bottles for baking, but the only dairy that's always in the fridge is cream. And I'm not quite brazen enough to make my muffins with cream. But I'm a mere five minutes from good, hot, strong coffee at all times. So for the last three years, I've been making these carrot spice muffins with coffee in them. And guess what? No one ever realizes it. So for those of you who are dairy-averse, that's my suggestion. I mean, you could always use orange juice instead of milk too, but I'm much more of a coffee person than a juice person. Basically, coffee is god for me. Not because of the caffeine, more because I just absolutely love the taste of coffee. I love the smell. I love the ritual of grinding the beans, weighing them out, and carefully steeping.

What, I haven't mentioned my overwhelming addiction to one particular roaster? It's true. One fateful day, five years ago, I was walking around downtown Chicago waiting for the Art Institute to open. I needed a place to sit and read, maybe have a cup of coffee. And god forbid if it was Starbucks, because that stuff tastes like burnt tar. Shitty, shitty burnt tar. Lucky me, I chanced upon one particular Intelligentsia outpost. At that time, they only have their roasting location and two cafes. I was hooked. The baristas were friendly and knowledgeable, and the coffee? There are no words.

So for the next four years, I would stop into their coffee shops to pick up my coffee, developing a love for Ethiopian Yirgacheffe and Honduran La Tortuga. Even now, half a country away, I send friends and acquaintances bean orders whenever they happen to pass through Chicago. And let me tell you - it is so worth it. So have a muffin. Develop an expensive coffee habit. And start the day off right.

Last Week: Cocoa Almond Meringues
Next Week: Tropical Crumble (this... did not go well.)

TWD: Cocoa Almond Meringues

So. Tuesdays with Dorie are occasionally inevitably sliding into Thursdays with Dorie, thanks to a rather confusing summer schedule. I'm not feeling to guilty about this, since after 3.5 years in the group I'm still baking everything. Posting on time? Yeah, I was really good about that for the first three years. Now? Probably not so much. It's enough for me to continue baking, photographing, and talking about all of the recipes as they're chosen.

And hey! I have a very good reason! I just spent a frenetic, crazy, awesome four days in Baltimore visiting my best friend from college and her fiance. Having only been to Baltimore once before for a wedding, I never had the chance to spend much time bopping around the city. But this time was full of excitement - there was a walk around the touristy section of the inner harbor, where great people-watching was to be had thanks to Otakon. Then on to Fort McHenry, a wonderful lunch on the rooftop of a restaurant (my first time using a hammer to take apart crab!), a walk back around the harbor to a wonderful frozen yogurt place (red velvet froyo = amazing), and then back to their apartment. With a quick run out for dinner supplies, we figure we covered 12-13 miles walking on Saturday. Sunday was a bit less overwhelming, with a trip to the farmers market, a walk around Johns Hopkins (they're both doing PhDs there), and a lunch which featured a veggie sandwich containing pickled ginger. Seriously people, I'm putting pickled ginger on every sandwich from now on. It was that good. A trip to an Italian bakery finished out the day. Lots of chatting and catching up throughout and an amazing time was had.

So take that as my excuse for making this more of a ThWD than a TWD. I made these meringues (sans chopped chocolate) a couple weeks ago, causing me to make a certain discovery. My oven tends to run hot, so the hour of baking at a lower temperature still managed to burn the bottoms of some of my meringues. Given that, if your oven runs hot, I would suggest only baking one tray at a time or making sure to switch trays around during baking to avoid burning. Other than that, they were wonderful - the almost burnt ones were crispy, and the top tray was full of meringues with the most beguiling chewy center topped with an airy crisp. Like I said, wonderful.


Last Week: Chocolate Sorbet (upon reflection, this should not have been halved. don't make my mistake.)
Next Week: Carrot Spice Muffins (so, so good. I'm excited to make these again!)