{twd} oasis naan or we’re married

I wavered in my decision to make this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie selection–Oasis Naan. In the end I chose to bake a half a recipe. I love naan, the flat bread served in Indian restaurants, and have baked it before. Of course, I didn’t bake it in the traditional tandoor oven. It was still tasty and overall simple to bake. This recipe differed from others in that it is sprinkled with coarse salt, cumin seeds, and chopped scallion. We ate them with scrambled eggs for lunch.

No good pictures, though. The charger for Paul’s camera was left behind at his parent’s house after our wedding. Oh, yes. We’re married. 🙂 It was a perfect day. Gorgeous weather and great guests. We departed quickly for our beach honeymoon, hence the forgotten charger. I’ll share a few wedding pictures instead. I’m sure you won’t mind.

The ceremony. Barefoot!:

Nani #17, our dog, took the proceedings very seriously:

We had a doughnut cake instead of cake:

With my “sisters”:

We’re married 🙂 :

Back to the reason for this post…I took horrible pictures of the naan with my phone. So horrible, I’m embarrassed to share.  Please visit Maggie of Always Add More Butter and Phyl of Of Cabbages & King Cakes for the recipe and for great pictures. You can also find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Julia on page 149.

No Nut Sticky Buns

While I wouldn’t mind a pecan or two, Paul is not a fan of most nuts in baked goods. And I have a wedding dress to fit into in 4 days (!). Speaking of which, with last minute RSVPs, multiple calls to catering and the party rental people, and figuring out seating arrangements–I am very ready for our mini-moon to the beach. Until then, we have massages and facials on the calendar today and I’ve started physical therapy.

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie recipe is for Pecan Sticky Buns. Instead of pecans, I used white chocolate chunks and dried cherries. I made a full recipe of brioche (in my food processor–first time! as my stand mixer is dead and no way was I going to make brioche by hand with my bum knee) but only half recipe of the buns. I baked the buns in a cupcake tin which made them more like morning buns.

My gosh, these things were good. A flaky and tender, sweet breakfast treat worthy of a full batch when I’m back to cycling and running and training and working and moving. You can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan’s Baking with Juila or you can visit the blogs of this week’s hosts:  Lynn of Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat and Nicole of Cookies on Friday.

And this marks my 400th post! Cheers!

photo by paulrus

Pain de Campagne

In my search for information, I found a message board for people with knee injuries. The three to four weeks post-surgery, prior to the initiation of physical therapy are known as the dark days. It’s a hard time both physically and  emotionally. It involves going through withdrawal from a life full of activity, people, and adventure pre-injury to a life of home isolation, inactivity, and complete dependence on others. 

Suggestions for this time period include movie marathons, video games {I’m spookyzen if you want to play Words with Friends with me. 😉 }, browsing on the internet, reading, and starting a blog. Hey! I have a blog. As life happens, I now have loads of time to blog but can’t really bake or cook. Luckily, I have a couple of items I haven’t had time to blog.

I’m slowly baking my way through The Bread Baker’s Apprentice as part of the BBA Challenge. The next bread on my list was Pain de Campagne, a French bread known for its crazy shaping abilities. As I tend to be more rustic than artistic, I baked the loaves in basic crazy shapes. A boule with little peaks snipped up by kitchen scissors and the folded-over tabatière. In addition to looking semi-cool, the loaves were delicious. Crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside, just like good French bread.

I’m mid-way through my dark days and I’m starting to see the light. I’m able to tolerate more and more weight bearing on my injured leg, I’ve learned how to get in and out of bed on my own, and I think I should be able to get back to baking soon.

{twd} Irish Soda Bread

In less than two months, Paul and I are exchanging vows and rings in a simple, casual backyard ceremony. After a semi-meltdown over invitations, I’ve realized  our nonwedding-wedding is slowly turning into a wedding-wedding. Ack! Our guest list is expanding, mothers are coordinating their dresses, and I’m threatening elopement.

After taking a few deep breaths and focusing on peacelovehappiness , I’m back in my zen state of simple and casual. Invitations are en route, I’ve ordered my dress, and we’re still doing it barefoot.

On this note, I’m excited to report that this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie recipe–Irish Soda Bread–remained simple as promised.  In fact, it is so easy, I’ve made it twice.

The hosts for today are Cathy of My Culinary Mission  and Carla of Chocolate Moosey. Visit their blogs for the recipe or buy the book.

Orange-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls

Oh, magazine recipes.  In my quest to create order out of chaos and make recipes out of my magazine pile, I came across a recipe for Orange-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls. It hails from the November 2010 issue of Cooking Light and probably makes a lovely side for a Thanksgiving Dinner.

As it is, it’s barely March but still a very appropriate time for these rolls. As their name implies, the bread uses buttermilk and orange zest for flavor. They are delicious sliced in half, toasted, and served with an egg. They are also good plain.  The zest lends a fresh taste and the buttermilk it’s trademark tang. I  imagine they would be tasty with turkey and mashed potatoes too.

Orange-Buttermilk Dinner Rolls recipe

Photo by Paulrus