Inspirations....

“Find something you are passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
-Julia Child

Make your own bread....

Get back at the man. Make your own bread.: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Easy and Cheap Home-Made Bread

Easy and Cheap Home-Made Bread: "- Sent using Google Toolbar"

Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think

Over the last year, I’ve gradually moved more and more towards making my own food at home. There are several reasons for this: it tastes better, it reduces preservative intake, it’s more nutritious, and it’s often substantially cheaper than what you find in the store. It does take time, but once you get used to it, most food preparation doesn’t take much more time than going to the store, buying it, taking it home, popping it out of the package, and following the directions.

Read more....
The Simple Dollar » Homemade Bread: Cheap, Delicious, Healthy, and Easier Than You Think

Bread Dough: Second Rise (Proofing)

Bread Dough: First Rise (Fermenting)

Kneading Bread Dough

Fabrication du pain Max Poilâne à Lyon

Lionel Poilane: A Paris Legend

Lionel Poilane THE BAKER

"The Family that prays (and EATS ) together, stays together...."

I chanced upon this very good article. There are indeed many ways to enrich family life...and that includes cooking and baking together....A happy kitchen life makes a healthy, happy family. It is eating together, sharing the food, how much more if you make the food together. Go through the list and you will find food everywhere....sharing and enjoying the goodness of food together as a family. It is in sharing that our bonds get stronger....

I now say:
"The family the prays (and EATS and cooks and bakes) together stays together...."

30 Simple Family Pleasures

http://zenhabits.net/30-simple-family-pleasures/

Spending time with family can be lots of fun.
(Photo courtesy of Jeremy Barwick)

Do you remember to have fun every day?

I’m sure you remember to brush your teeth, to eat, and to go to work. I’m confident you have a handwritten or a technology-based to-do list that you carefully go through each day. But if you read this blog, it means you want more from your life. You want to de-stress, to be present, to enjoy the journey instead of rushing through it like a madman.

Having fun with your family, especially the simple kind of fun – the one that doesn’t drain you emotionally and financially, is a wonderful way to relax and enjoy life. And in times of economic uncertainty, it is especially important to enjoy family time that does not involve spending lots of money. Here are 30 ideas for high-quality, low-cost, stress-free family fun.

1. Play together in the snow or in the rain, then go inside for a cup of hot chocolate made with real chocolate and marshmallows.

2. Make a large bowl of popcorn and snuggle in front of the DVD to watch a family movie.

3. Have a picnic. In wintertime, it’s just as fun to have a picnic indoors.

4. Snuggle together in bed on a cold Sunday morning.

5. Go out for a leisurely Sunday brunch. Many restaurants offer great Sunday buffets, and prices these days are more reasonable than ever. Kids often eat free of charge. Although buffets can be challenging if you’re trying to lose weight, or maintain your goal weight, once in a while is probably OK. Since kids usually have very limited choices as far as food goes – they eat what we give them – they really appreciate the selection and choice a buffet offers.

6. Just talk. The older my kids are, the more interesting our conversations become.

7. Try tongue twisters. Last week when we waited forever for the check to arrive at a restaurant, my husband started a tongue twisters game. We laughed so hard, I nearly choked. My favorite tongue twister: “She sells seashells by the seashore.” Repeat three times, FAST!

8. During dinner, ask each family member to tell one good thing and one bad thing that happened to them that day. The good things are obviously fun to share. The “bad things” are a great opportunity for your kids to talk about things that bother them and for you to be more involved in their lives.

9. Create a story together. Each family member gets to add one sentence at a time. These stories can be seriously funny, especially if one of the kids happens to be in a silly mood.

10. Look at a picture album together and tell your kids the stories behind the pictures.

11. Make cookies or cupcakes together and decorate them. Try this fabulous recipe for chewy chocolate chip cookies.

12. Watch old family movies.

13. Visit the library. Browse the children’s books together. Read them a story or two. Listen to Story Time if the library offers it. Browse the grownups’ selection too: it’s good for your kids to see you’re interested in books.

14. Have a family make-your-own-pizza night. Prepare several topping options. Let each child decide what kind of pizza they want. More tips here.

15. Play a board game. I don’t know about you, but my husband and I play to win. We don’t believe in letting the kids win. After all, their friends won’t let them win. The good news (or bad news, depending on your point of view): they often win anyway!

16. Go for a hike. We love to go to a local park that has beautiful redwood trees in addition to a small playground and a shaded picnic area.

17. Go to the museum. If your kids are younger than 5, take them to the children’s museum. If they are older, they can probably handle an hour or two in a “real” museum. A natural history museum is great, but many kids enjoy modern art museums as well. Many museums are free of charge for kids under 12, and many offer free admission for the entire family on monthly “family days.”

18. Go ice-skating.

19. Go to the movies. While going to the movies is not as cheap as it used to be, matinee tickets are usually reasonably priced. It’s entirely possible to find PG-rated movies that are appropriate for elementary school kids yet are fun (or at least not mind-numbingly boring) for the grownups. During winter break we took the kids to see “Marley and Me” and “Bedtime Stories.”

20. Make breakfast foods for dinner, together. It never fails to make the kids happy. We like to make pancakes together. When they’re ready, we decorate them with berries to make fun “faces.” If your kids have milk and fruit with those homemade pancakes, it’s a pretty balanced meal. And if you’re really brave, try making whole-wheat pancakes.

21. Go to the beach. The beaches here in Northern California are cold and windy, even in summertime, and very rocky. But even though they don’t provide the classic beach experience, we love to go tidepooling. We often manage to spot interesting sea creatures and shells.

22. On a warm summer night, it’s fun to go camping in your own backyard and sleep in sleeping bags, under the stars.

23. Jump rope.  We do it outside in the yard in summer and inside during the winter. My kids are already experts. I’m still learning, or rather relearning.

24. Make the most of power outages. During a recent power outage, we all sat together in the kitchen. Since we were bored (no technology!) and had to use candlelight to light the kitchen, we used the candles to make s’mores. Seriously. It was one of our best nights ever. More tips for making indoor s’mores here.

25. Exercise together. I exercise at home using a yoga mat. My kids love to watch me exercise and they love even more trying to imitate what I’m doing on our extra mat.

26. Dance together. Play some loud music and go crazy with the moves. Don’t tell anyone, but I love to dance to ABBA music.

27. Bake homemade bread. You can use a bread machine if you have one, or you can knead the dough by hand. This takes time and is great for a winter day when you’re inside anyway. There’s nothing like the smell of bread as it’s baking, and there’s nothing like eating it fresh with homemade butter on top. Try this bread recipe. To make homemade butter, simply whip heavy cream with a pinch of salt until it turns into butter. Separate it from the remaining liquid (buttermilk) and spread on the freshly baked bread.

28. Write letters to the grandparents. Even if they live nearby, they will love getting letters from their grandchildren. If you join your kids and write a few words too, you will not only set a great example for your kids but will also make your parents very happy.

29. Read a book together. You can read to your child, or she can read to you, or you can simply snuggle together, each of you reading her own book.

30. Watch TV together. TV is not just a convenient babysitter: it can be an opportunity to share an experience with your kids. Once in a while I join my kids when they watch one of their favorite TV shows. They snuggle close to me, and whenever something funny happens on the show, they watch me closely to make sure I get it. When we’re done watching, we talk about what we saw. I often use it as an opportunity to talk about advertising, since there’s so much of it these days aimed at children.

To read more from Vered, see her blog: mommy blogger.
http://momgrind.com /hire-me/
(Photos by links as provided)

                                     Photo by Alexander Shalamov                              

The Wonderful World of Pastries!

PASTRY

(Photo by flickr.com)
[http://www.reference.com/browse/pastry]

pastry,  general name for baked articles of food made of paste or having paste as a necessary ingredient. The name is also used for the paste itself. The essential elements of paste are flour, liquid (usually milk or water, sometimes beaten egg), and shortening. The making of pastry was known to the ancient Greeks and Romans, but its modern development in the Western world dates from the late 18th cent. Pastry is classed according to the amount of shortening used and the method of blending it with the flour as plain, flaky, and puff pastry. Plain pastry is used to cover meat or fruit pies; flaky pastry, which requires more shortening than plain, is used in strudels and the Turkish baklava. Puff pastry is used in the making of cream puffs and éclairs.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

(Photo by flickr.com) [http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pastry] pastry - any of various baked foods made of dough or batter flour - fine powdery foodstuff obtained by grinding and sifting the meal of a cereal grain baked goods - foods (like breads and cakes and pastries) that are cooked in an oven pie crust, pie shell - pastry used to hold pie fillings pandowdy, dowdy - deep-dish apple dessert covered with a rich crust frangipane - pastry with a creamy almond-flavored filling streusel - pastry with a topping of streusel tart - a pastry cup with a filling of fruit or custard and no top crust timbale case, timbale - small pastry shell for creamy mixtures of minced foods pie - dish baked in pastry-lined pan often with a pastry top French pastry - sweet filled pastry made of especially puff paste bouchee, patty shell - shell of puff paste sausage roll - sausage meat rolled and baked in pastry toad-in-the-hole - sausage baked in batter vol-au-vent - puff paste shell filled with a savory meat mixture usually with a sauce strudel - thin sheet of filled dough rolled and baked baklava - rich Middle Eastern cake made of thin layers of flaky pastry filled with nuts and honey profiterole - a small hollow pastry that is typically filled with cream and covered with chocolate puff - a light inflated pastry or puff shell rugelach, ruggelach, rugulah - pastry made with a cream cheese dough and different fillings (as raisins and walnuts and cinnamon or chocolate and walnut and apricot preserves)

Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2008 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.

(Photo by wildyeastblog.com)

[http://www.thefreedictionary.com/pastry]
 pastry
noun tart, Danish (pastry), pasty, tartlet high fat foods such as cakes and pastries see cakes and pastries

Types of pastry
choux pastry, filo pastry, flaky pastry, hot water pastry, pâte brisée, pâte feuilletée, pâte sucrée, puff pastry, rough puff pastry, shortcrust pastry, suet pastry

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Pastry

[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastry]
(Photo by flickr.com and today.ucla.edu.com)

Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked goods made from ingredients such as flour, butter, shortening, baking powder or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked goods are called "pastries".
Pastry may also refer to the dough from which such baked goods are made. Pastry dough is rolled out thinly and used as a base for baked goods. Common pastry dishes include pies, tarts and quiches.
Pastry is distinguished from bread by having a higher fat content, which contributes to a flaky or crumbly texture. A good pastry is light and airy and fatty, but firm enough to support the weight of the filling. When making a shortcrust pastry, care must be taken to blend the fat and flour thoroughly before adding any liquid. This ensures that the flour granules are adequately coated with fat and less likely to develop gluten. On the other hand, overmixing results in long gluten strands that toughen the pastry. In other types of pastry, such as Danish pastry and croissants, the characteristic flaky texture is achieved by repeatedly rolling out a dough similar to that for yeast bread, spreading it with butter, and folding it to produce many thin layers of folds. Many pie recipes involve blind-baking the pastry before the filling is added. Pastry dough may be sweetened or perhaps unsweetened.

Main types of pastry:

(Photos by howstuffswork.com, en.wikipedia.org,  Ian Shortman)

Shortcrust pastry Shortcrust, or short, pastry is the simplest and most common pastry. It is made with flour, fat, salt, and water. The process of making pastry includes mixing of the fat and flour, adding water, and rolling out the paste. It is cooked at 180°C and the result is a soft, tender pastry. A related type is the sweetened sweetcrust pastry.

Flaky (or rough puff) pastry Flaky pastry is a simple pastry that expands when cooked due to the number of layers. This is perfect if you are looking for a crisp, buttery pastry. The “puff” is obtained by beginning the baking process with a high temperature and lowering the temperature to finish. 

Puff pastry Puff pastry has many layers that cause it to expand or “puff” when baked. Pastries are made using flour, butter, salt, and water. Pastry rises up due to the combination and reaction of the four ingredients and also from the air that gets between the layers. Puff pastries come out of the oven light, flaky, and tender. 

Choux pastry Choux pastry is a very light pastry that is filled with cream. The pastry is filled with various flavors of cream and is often topped with chocolate. Choux pastries can also be filled with things like cheese, tuna, or chicken to be used as appetizers. 

Phyllo (filo) pastry Phyllo pastries are usually paper-thin and greatly stretched. They involve several stretched out layers and are wrapped around a filling and brushed with butter. These pastries are very delicate and can break easily.

Background and History:

(Photos by en.wikipedia.org, bakingbites.com, flickr.com)

Pastries go back to the ancient Mediterranean almost paper-thin multi-layered baklava and filo. Medieval Europe took on pastry making after the Crusaders brought it back. French and Italian Renaissance chefs eventually perfected the Puff and Choux pastries, while 17th and 18th century chefs brought new recipes to the table. These new pastries included brioche, Napoleons, cream puffs, and éclairs. French chef Antonin Careme reportedly was the first to incorporate art in pastry making.

European traditions of pastry-making is often traced back to the short crust era flaky doughs that were in use throughout the Mediterranean in ancient times. These recipes were popularized in Western Europe by Crusaders returning home.
In the Mediterranean, the Romans, Greeks and Phoenicians all had filo-style pastries in their culinary traditions. There is also strong evidence that the ancient Egyptians produced pastry-like confections. It is very possible that Egyptians made and ate pastries. They had professional bakers that surely had the skills to do so, and they also had needed materials like flour oil and honey. In the plays of Aristophanes, in 5th century BC, there are mentions of sweetmeats including small pastries filled with fruit. The Romans used flour, oil and water to make pastries that were used to cover meats and fowls. They did this during baking to keep in the juices, but this was not meant to be eaten by people. A pastry that was meant to be eaten was a richer pastry that was made into small pastries and contained eggs or little birds. It was often served at banquets. Greeks and Roman both struggled in making a good pastry because of the fact that they both used oil in the cooking process and oil causes the pastry to lose its stiffness.
In medieval North Europe they were able to produce nice, stiff pastries because they cooked with lard and butter. There were some incomplete lists of ingredients found in medieval cookbooks, but no full, detailed versions. There were stiff, empty pastries called coffins or 'huff paste', that were eaten by servants only and included an egg yolk glaze to help make them more enjoyable to consume. Medieval pastries also included small tarts to add richness to the snack. It was not until about the Mid 16th century until actual pastry recipes showed up. These recipes were adopted and adapted over time in various European countries, resulting in the myriad of pastry traditions known to the region, from Portuguese "pastéis de nata" in the west to Russian "pirozhky" in the east. The use of chocolate in pastry-making in the West, so commonplace today, arose only after Spanish and Portuguese traders brought chocolate to Europe from the New World starting in the 1500s. Many culinary historians consider French pastry chef Antonin Carème (1784–1833) to have been the first great master of pastry making in modern times.
Pastry-making also has a strong tradition in many parts of Asia. Chinese pastry is made from rice, or different types of flour, with fruit, sweet bean paste or sesame-based fillings. Beginning in the 19th century, the British brought western-style pastry to the far east, though it would be the French influenced Maxim in the 1950s that made western pastry popular in Chinese-speaking regions starting with Hong Kong. Still, the term "Western Cake" (西餅) is used to differentiate between the automatically assumed Chinese pastry. Other Asian countries such as Korea have traditionally prepared pastry-confections such as tteok, hangwa, and yaksi with flour, rice, fruits, and regional specific ingredients to make unique type desserts. And Japan also has specialized pastry-confections better known as mochi and manju. Pastry-confection that originate in Asia are clearly distinct from those that originate in the West that are generally much sweeter.

Definitions of Terms:

(Photos by slamchowder.com,  mccormick.com, flickr.com)
 

Pastry A mixture of flour, fat, possibly egg and sugar, the fat usually dispersed as small solid globules coated with flour and the whole brought together with liquid prior to shaping and baking. There are many types of pastry.
Pastry bag or Piping bag An often cone shaped bag that is used to make an even stream of dough, frosting, or flavored substance, to form a structure, decorate a baked good, or fill a pastry with a custard, cream, jelly, or other filling.
Pastry board A square or oblong board preferably marble but usually wood on which pastry is rolled out.
Pastry brake Opposed and contra-rotating rollers with a variable gap through which pastry can be worked and reduced in thickness for commercial production. A very small version is used domestically for pasta production.
Pastry case An uncooked or blind baked pastry container used to hold savory or sweet mixtures.
Pastry cream Confectioner's custard. An egg and flour thickened custard made with sweetened milk flavored with vanilla. Used as a filling for flans, cakes, pastries, tarts, etc. The flour prevents the egg from curdling.
Pastry cutters Various metal or plastic outlines of shapes, e.g. circles fluted circles, diamonds, ginger bread men, etc. Sharpened on one edge and used to cut out corresponding shapes from biscuit, scone, pastry, or cakes mixtures.
Pastry blender A kitchen implement used to properly combine the fat and flour. Usually constructed of wire or plastic, with multiple wires or small blades connected to a handle.

Pastry chef

(Photo by blackberrycool.com, flickr.com, pillsbury.com, wilyeastblog.com, Palladian.com)

Those who make pastries professionally are known as either bakerspastry chefs, depending on whether they produce pastries for a bakery or a restaurant. Pastry chefs use a combination of culinary ability and creativity in baking, decoration, and flavoring with ingredients. Many baked goods require a lot of time and focus. Presentation is an important part of pastry and dessert preparation. The job is often physically demanding; requiring attention to detail and long hours. They are also responsible for creating new recipes to put on the menu. Pastry chefs work in restaurants, bistros, large hotels, casinos and bakeries. Pastry baking is usually held in a slightly separate part from the main kitchen. This section of the kitchen is in charge of making pastries, desserts, and other baked goods.

 

(Photos by http://en.wikipedia.org, Simon Lee Bakery)

More interesting information via :
http://www.pfisterconsulting.com/history.htm

CADBURY Eyebrows