James Starmer - Food » bacon http://jamesstarmer.com/food Mon, 06 Sep 2010 22:02:32 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 No Knead Buns http://jamesstarmer.com/food/no-knead-buns/ http://jamesstarmer.com/food/no-knead-buns/#comments Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:09:19 +0000 James http://jamesstarmer.com/food/?p=393 Buns

No Knead Bread Dough

Ingredients

3 c. lukewarm water (about 100º F)
1 1/2 tbsp yeast
1 1/2 tbsp salt
6 1/2 c. all purpose flour

* for those of us without 1/2 tbsp measures .5 tbsp = 1.5 tsp

Preparation

Mix together all ingredients in a 5 quart container
Let rise at room temp for 2-3 hours
Keep in refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 2 weeks

Remove a chunk of dough from the container (amount depends on what you are going to bake)
Gently form it into whatever shape you are baking
Place dough onto parchment paper
Let rise for 40 minutes
While bread is rising prep your oven for baking

Place a pizza stone on the middle rack and a cast iron skillet on the bottom rack
Turn the oven to it’s highest setting
Heat up 1-2 cups of water
Once the rising is complete slide the parchment onto the pizza stone
Very carefully pour the water into the skillet (*** This can be dangerous, hot steam will come rushing out of the skillet ***)
Quickly close the oven to trap the steam inside
Reduce the heat to 450 degrees F
Bake for 30 min
Let cool on a wire rack

There has been a lot written about no knead bread at this point so I’m not really going to get into the history and details. I got the basic recipe here and it’s just the base recipe from this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking.

I have a lot of trouble baking bread. I don’t know if it’s some kind of bread A.D.D., but going through all of the steps to create a perfect traditional loaf of bread kind of has me stumped. After trying this recipe (I only did a half for my first two attempts) I’m a firm believer in this style of baking bread.

Just a few last thoughts, For the buns I removed slightly large than golf ball sized chunks and shaped them into little boules. The steam part might seem a little weird but it’s really what is going to produce the perfect crust. And let me reiterate, the steam part is dangerous, be careful. In the bread bible aka Bread Bakers Apprentice goes into a lot more detail about the whole steam process and they suggest opening the oven and spraying the sides of the oven at 30 second intervals to really get a lot of steam going.

Little Bacon Sandwich

Now what should you do with these fine buns? I did end up smearing some honey butter on one of them but my favorite was this little bacon sandwich.

Little Bacon Sandwich

Ingredients

Little bun
A lot of bacon
A lot of mayonnaise

Preparation

Bisect the bun with a sharp knife
Smear mayo on one side of the bun
Top with bacon and the other side of the bun

Here is a video showing how to shape the bread

]]> http://jamesstarmer.com/food/no-knead-buns/feed/ 20 Bacon and Blackberry Muffins http://jamesstarmer.com/food/bacon-and-blackberry-muffins/ http://jamesstarmer.com/food/bacon-and-blackberry-muffins/#comments Mon, 08 Sep 2008 09:30:38 +0000 James http://jamesstarmer.com/food/?p=31 candied bacon

I ran across these candied bacon recipes recently. So I wanted to do something with candied bacon but I don’t have an ice cream maker and the ice cream in a bag method is kind of a pain in the butt. I also had some blackberries left over from making jam so I figured muffins might be a good middle ground.

Candied Bacon

Ingredients

Bacon
Brown Sugar

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400F
Lay the bacon on a sheet pan on top of some aluminum foil.
Dust each strip of bacon with brown sugar (2 tbsp per strip)
Cook until they’re done (maybe 20 mins) and flip half way through.
Keep an eye on the bacon / sugar, they burn really easily.
Chop into bits if you are going to use this in muffins etc.

Bacon and Blackberry Muffins

For the muffins I just used this blackberry muffin recipe. The main difference is the addition of the bacon and how I prepared them. I like to use a food processor whenever I can and this recipe seemed to lend it self to that. So if you don’t have a food processor or you don’t want to use one just refer to the other recipe.

Bacon and Blackberry Muffins

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/8 cup sugar
3 cups flour, divided
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons salt
1 pinch baking soda
1 cup milk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups blackberries
1 cup candied bacon bits (add more if you want bacon in every bite)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 400F.
Grease 2 12 cup muffin pans or use liners.
In a food processor cream together the sugar, butter and eggs.
Add the milk and the vanilla extract and pulse until mixed.
In a separate bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.
Add the flour mixture to the processor and run until combined.
Pour into a large bowl and gently fold in the bacon and the blackberries.

Add the batter to the muffin tins. I like to fill them to the top instead of 3/4 full.
Bake for 15 – 20 minutes (until done).

]]> http://jamesstarmer.com/food/bacon-and-blackberry-muffins/feed/ 1