Kathleen's Irish Soda Bread

I have a friend named Katheleen. We met in Beijing in February 2011. It was both of our first times in China, neither of us had done any teaching and, as it turned out, we had a lot in common. We both love 80's movies, Muppets, Jim Henson and Mystery Science Theater 3000. We're both big nerds, and have a deep, abiding love for David Bowie. We're both occasionally, psychopathically indecisive, and we're both extremely laid back. After the first year was over, my boyfriend and I moved away across the country to Chengdu, and Kathleen stayed in Beijing. It was sad. I hadn't expected to find someone so great in a random suburb at a random private school in China I'd randomly decided to work in.

We've kept in touch and I miss getting to dork out daily with her. During the Chinese New Year festival break, which is about a month long, I went back to Beijing to visit for a week. We drank tea non stop during the day and night, and ate food I've been deprived of in the suburbs of Chengdu. The first day there, we went to her Chinese friend's house and made dumplings/potstickers, called jiaozi. It's a tradition to eat jiaozi during the festival because it promises good luck and prosperity in the new year. The jiaozi look like little purses, symbolizing wealth and good fortune. Well, that day, Kathleen made Irish soda bread and brought it to share with our Chinese friends. It was a big hit. The Chinese don't love overly sweet things, and this bread was only just verging on sweet. A month later, my boyfriend and I befriended an elderly Chinese couple living in our apartment complex. They invited us over for dinner, and I made some of this bread and some orange curd and brought it over to share. They loved it.

I'd only tried rosemary soda bread, and had never had sweet soda bread until Kathleen made it for us in January. I love it. It's not too sweet, it's extremely fast to put together, it stays entirely edible and not rock hard for at least 5 days, and it is not fussy at all. I've tinkered with it a little bit, but to me, it's still Kathleen's recipe. She got it from her mother, and I have no idea where she got it. 

Thank you Kathleen and thank you Kathleen's mom! I've made this so often since you first made it for me, I'm sure it will be a classic in my recipe book for years to come. I will always think of you when I make it and the unlikely friendship we formed in Beijing!

Kathleen's Irish Soda Bread
makes 1 small loaf, enough for 2 people over a few days, or 4-6 people as a light dessert/snack

As with many baking recipes here, I replace the butter with oil. I would highly recommend bringing this to an afternoon hang out session or a casual lunch or dinner with friends, old or new. Or just make it for yourself and enjoy it first thing in the in the morning or very late at night.

Ingredients:

The Cast of Characters (...minus eggs)

1 cup buttermilk OR sub. 1 cup milk + 1 tbsp white vinegar
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick of butter= 8 tbsp butter
 (OR sub. 6 tbsp neutral tasting vegetable oil)
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 egg
raisins and other add ins (not shown)

Directions:

1.Preheat your oven to 350 F or about 175 C. Mix together dry ingredients. I always do this when I bake because it makes sure to evenly incorporate things into the finished product and will make sure there are no big lumps of salt or baking soda. It also makes sure you don't overwork more delicate doughs, since overworking can lead to underdeveloped rises in anything from quick breads to pancakes.

Mix together the wet ingredients first

2. Now add the wet ingredients. It helps to mix all of the wet things, like oil, the egg and buttermilk together beforehand. If using melted butter, start with this first before adding the other wet ingredients. Stir until just combined and all the dry is incorporated. This will be a wet, sticky, shaggy dough. Don't be afraid.

Add your wet to the dry.

3. Gently mix in your add-ins. I usually use some type of raisin and snipped, dried apricots. I've also used some orange zest and marzipan. This is all of the above with small chunks of lightly sweetened marzipan infusing the bread with a light almond flavor, setting off the fruity, bright notes of the raisins and apricots. I especially like when the apricots poke out of the top because the sugars caramelize into a deep, tart, citrus flavor.

Almond paste, dried apricots and golden raisins.

4. Now, roughly shape this into a ball. It won't really hold its shape, but don't worry too much about it. I score an X on the top as is traditional. Put your dough blob onto a greased baking sheet, or into a greased cake pan.

Don't worry about it being gloopy

5. Bake for about 45 minutes or until lightly golden on the center rack. You're welcome to check its doneness with a thin, sharp knife inserted into the middle. It will continue to cook just a little when you take it out, and unless you want a crumble fest, don't bake it longer or you'll dry it out. Take out, cool on a wire rack, then dust with powdered sugar.

Serve warm or cold. Because it's only lightly sweetened (very lightly) it is really scrumptious with lemon or blood orange curd, or with homemade blackberry jam. I strongly recommend it paired alongside a large cup of black tea with a splash of milk. 

Super Secret Garlic Bread

Ssh. Is anyone looking over your shoulder? No? Good. Because this is my secret garlic bread.  This is not your everyday garlic bread, nor will it garner an everyday garlic bread response. I would suggest making this with 2 baguettes if you live with or plan to serve this to any carb or garlic lovers. It's a secret for many reasons. I never tell people at get-togethers what's in it because I don't want them to poo poo it before they try it. None of my friends know its secret, and even though it's obvious to me, they've never guessed it. Its also a secret because it is a weapon I use against others occasionally. 'Fine, but I won't make the garlic bread ever again!' 'Wait, wait, wait...okay fine, we can go to the yarn store...again'.

Do you know someone who's a little...picky? Do you know a mayonnaise phobic? Well, don't tell them what's in this. Because....there is mayonnaise involved. Not a lot, but just enough to make the topping more than just a toasted butter deal, and enough to give it just a little tangy that is unexpected and delicious. Alleged mayonnaise haters have gobbled this bread down like no tomorrow, trust me, they can't tell. But if you tell them, you will get an undesired reaction. So do yourself, and them a favor. What they don't know will make them so happy and will make you a garlic bread star.

If for some ungodly reason you have extra topping leftover, save it in the fridge and find a reason to eat corn on the cob because it is dead delicious on a bright yellow, piping hot, grilled, boiled or steamed cob.


Super Secret Garlic Bread
covers 1 baguette

Ingredients:
1 baguette, cut lengthwise in half
**1 tbsp mayonnaise
2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp thyme
salt to taste

** if you are seriously, morally opposed to mayonnaise. Or, like me, can't find it very easily, you may beat 1 egg, then use 1 tablespoon of the beaten egg in the mix. It will be delicious, but not quite the same delicious as with the mayo. HOWEVER, do not add it until after Step 1 or spreadable it will not be.

Directions:
1. Melt the butter with the mayonnaise in the microwave. The mayo curdles a little, but it helps, trust me.

2. Mix in the rest of the ingredients.

3. With a spoon or brush, coat the cut sides of the baguette with the topping. Really get it all on there good.

4. Put your bread in the oven to bake at 350F until the top is toasted and a little bubbly. Maybe 10 minutes, but keep an eye on it.

5. When it's all bubble, take it out and let it sit for a minute or two. Cut into pieces and serve with pasta, chicken, soup, salad or anything!

The Banana Bread

Meet The Banana Bread

Yes, I do mean to imply that there is only one. That’s because there is only one banana bread recipe that will ever have my heart. The Banana Bread is the only banana bread I have eyes for. I have no recollection of where I originally found the base recipe for this. Likely on a large cooking database like allrecipes, which has its moments. It was my freshman year of college, and because I’m sometimes a kitchen klutz (this you will find out about me), I was not successful in putting in the required ingredients in their correct amounts. This is the first recipe I ever fiddled with, though accidentally.  I wrote it down immediately after the entire bread was gobbled up by deprived and hungry students at 11pm in under 10 minutes, while it was still hot even! So as my first post here, I think it’s appropriate to honor my first great success with culinary creative license.

I’m not sure what your banana bread standards are, but if you like a moist, dense, but not too dense, sweet, but not too sweet, super bananay, spicy, fiddle-able bread, this is it. I think it only gets more delicious with time, as the moisture from the bananas really saturates it. I’ve tried it with a cup of pineapple, which was a dead ringer for pineapple upside down cake. I’ve mixed in blackberries for a structurally sound loaf of what tasted like berry cobbler. It doesn't care if it's baked in a full fledged oven or my dinky toaster oven here in China. In my more desperate times, I’ve even healthed it up with flax seed and by replacing part of the butter with yogurt. When I’m feeling wild, I replace the vanilla with brandy, mix half a bar of melted dark chocolate with some cream cheese, spread it on while it’s hot and later have something that I have to hide from others. My boyfriend ate an entire loaf of that last incarnation by himself just yesterday. Now that I live in China, and butter is a magical unknown substance here, I use vegetable oil. 

Good to the last crumb!

The Banana Bread

Makes 1 lovely loaf

Ingredients:

1/2 cups softened, room temperature butter salted or unsalted, I use salted

(china-fied: or, you may substitute 6 tbsp vegetable oil)

1 1/3 cups sugar (white or brown is fine, or a combination, experiment!)

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp salt (or slightly less if using salted)

1/4 cup milk 

1 tbsp vanilla extract (or, you know, booze of some sort, like brandy)

3 or 4 mashed, old, spotted, left-for-dead bananas

1 cup of add-ins like chocolate chips, fruit, craisins, or nuts (optional)

Your choice of spices, to taste

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C), making sure your rack is in the middle position. Assemble your ingredients on the counter. Prepare your normal sized loaf pan, 12 muffin muffin pan, or 3-4 mini loaf pans by greasing, paper lining or greasing respectively.

Blend together the butter (or oil) and sugar. Once the butter is fluffy and creamy looking, add the banana, stir. Add the eggs, stir. Add the milk and vanilla (or booze), stir. 

In a separate bowl, (and I'm serious, there is nothing worse than getting a lump of baking soda in a bite of your delicious bread) mix the dry ingredients with a fork to combine and smooth out any little lumps. 

Add the dry ingredients to the wet. Stir until just combined, don't overwork it or you'll tire it out too much to rise in the oven. Here is where you will add your spices or orange zest, and can add your 1 cup fruit, nuts, chocolate chips, or anything else you want. Don't exceed one cup of extra material though, or it will cook funny. I regularly use about 3/4 tbsp of pumpkin pie spice, but nutmeg and cinnamon do the trick too, or just cinnamon, or nothing at all. It's a choose your own adventure sort of bread. 

Scrape all that goodness into your desired bread form, smooth it out a little. In a loaf pan, don't fill it up more than 3/4 of the way full. It rises, and you don't want sad burning banana goo on your oven floor. Likewise, don't fill up your muffin cups more than half way or so, or you'll have sad spilly outy muffins and sad crusty muffin pan.

Now, pop that bread into your preheated oven. Bake for around 35-45 minutes for a loaf, or 25-30 for mini loaves and cup cakes. It will turn a golden brown, and a thin, sharp knife will come out clean after being inserted in the middle of the loaf (or muffin). 

Take it out, and let it cool for 5 minutes in the pan (wait for it...). If you get too antsy, it'll stick to your pan and be sad. Just wait. Now, run a butter knife gently around the edges to release it from the pan, pushing very gently towards the center of the pan to really release the bottom. Put a plate on top, flip the whole thing over and gently shake your bread out of the pan (this step always makes me think of getting condensed soup or refried beans out of a can). Flip your bread right side up on its new plate home, and bask in the glory. Now, eat it. Toasted, frosted, buttered, warm, cold or as is, it's delicious. Enjoy! 

I'd love to hear what sort of combinations you come up with! Post them in the comments!