Sourdough Sandwich Bread

I've been looking for a nice sandwich loaf for my "Wilton Recipe Right 2 Piece Long Loaf Pan". The last couple of times the loaf was too short. From some reading on the Internet, I think I need a recipe with about 550 grams of flour to get a nicely domed loaf.  That would be about 3.5 to 3.75 cups of flour. So I tried out a new recipe today.

Apple Cinnamon Flatbread

I had my eye on a apple cinnamon sourdough flatbread recipe, so I decided to make dessert for a cookout planned for today. (I do try out new recipes that 'read well' on friends and social occasions -- do you?)

Strawberry Spinach Salad

We had fresh strawberries and fresh baby spinach, so I thought it was time for a strawberry spinach salad. Pretty basic - I also added some slices of hard boiled eggs and some toasted pecans with a little brown sugar cinnamon glaze.

Sourdough Challah (no added yeast)

I wanted to make a four braid sourdough challah. I started baking Saturday morning basically following the Sourdough Challah recipe from Sourdough Home.



For some reason, I forgot that most of my sourdough recipes have added yeast. With this only sourdough yeast recipe, I found adding yeast REALLY helps the speed of the rise. (There will be more discussion of this point later...)

I found the dough rose very slowly, I was only able to braid it after about 12 hours after initial kneading. This ended up having to be an overnight recipe, I put the loaf and pan in the refrigerator, and baked it this morning.

Loquat-Cherry Pie with Sourdough Pate Brisee

This is mostly about the sourdough pie crust. I happened to make a loquat cherry filling to go in it.

Frosted Mini Chocolate Cakes (with Loquat and Cherries)

I was trying to use some frozen loquats. I had about 10 cups frozen. I thawed them in 1 cup of water in a large pot for a few minutes, and then pitted them (just by cutting of blossom end and squishing out seeds). I mixed in 2 cups of frozen sweet cherries, and about 1/2 cup of sugar. I cooked the fruit up a bit to reduce it - still seemed very thin. I decided to use it as a glaze on some mini chocolate cakes.

Steak with Pan Seared Cherry Tomatoes and Bell Peppers

Cooking with my mom - tenderloin steak with pan seared cherry tomatoes and bell peppers.
Mom wanted to use a cooking method that quickly seared a steak, and then finished it in a hot oven for a few minutes. I wanted to use up some leftover basil, so we searched and found this recipe.

 
   

Vietnamese Summer Rolls

I saw a recipe for Summer Rolls that I knew my dad would like. So I assembled ingredients and made a test batch last week. I brought the uncommon ingredients (spring roll rice paper wrappers, rice noodles, hoisin sauce) up to West Virginia, so mom and I could make these for lunch.
   

Lasagna Cups

I felt like making Italian food for my dad tonight. Mom and I decided to make the Lasagna Cups recipe that I saw a couple of months ago on BuzzFeed. (Thanks RoseEllen!)