White Bread

Meredith wanted to make bread for some friends who were coming over for dinner one evening, and she had all day to make it. It was pouring outside and Jeremy was feeling a bit under the weather as well.

For Christmas, Meredith's mother gave her a copy of the Five Roses cookbook, knowing it's the same book that her grandmother used (an earlier version, at least). In my opinion, the recipe for white bread is quite a task. There's lots of punching and kneading, and even more waiting. I guess that's why I don't bake.

The bread itself turned out great. We used it with our dinner that evening and shared some with the neighbours (who's going eat four loaves?!)

White Bread (makes 4 loaves)

1 package active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 cups milk (we used 3.5%)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp vegetable shortening
2 tbsp salt
2 cups water
10-12 cups flour

1. In a small bowl, dissolve 1 tsp sugar in 1/2 cup water. Sprinkle yeast on top and let stand for 30 minutes, then stir.
2. In a saucepan, scald the milk, add 1/4 cup sugar, 2 shortening and salt. Stir until the shortening melts and add 2 cups water. Make sure milk mixture is lukewarm.
3. Add yeast to milk mixture and using a standing mixer, mix in 6 cups flour until smooth.
4. Gradually add the remaining 5 or six cups until the mixture no longer sticks to the board or mixing paddle.
5. Remove dough from mixer and knead by hand for 8-10 minutes.
6. Grease a bowl with shortening and place the dough inside, turning it around so it's also covered in shortening. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm room (approximately 80 or 85-degrees Fahrenheit) for about an hour, until it doubles in size.
7. Punch the dough down and let it rise again for about 45 minutes.
8. Punch the dough down again and divide into four equal parts.
9. Cover the portions and let them rest for 10 minutes.
10. Shape into loaves and place in four 8.5" x 4.5" x 2.5" bread pans, cover, and let rise again for 1 hour.
11. Preheat oven to 400-degrees and bake loaves for 30-40 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack before removing from pan.

Mostly from the Five Roses Cookbook

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Secret Recipe Club: Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Jarlsberg Cheese and Sauteed Mushrooms

I'd been meaning to blog about grilled cheese for some time, but I'd never got around to it. The grilled cheese is an amazing sandwich, and according to The Encyclopedia of Sandwiches, first appeared in the 1930s - around the same time sliced bread made its debut.

Years earlier, in 1917, Kraft started selling canned cheese to the U.S. Army. They bought out Velveeta in the late 1920s. The individually-wrapped slices didn't appear until the mid-1960s - known as "square cheese," in our home. When Wonder's sliced bread hit the shelves, processed cheese quickly became the original filling for the grilled cheese sandwich.

So the original grilled cheese isn't something fancy - it's Wonderbread and Velveeta. Truth be told, I still think that processed cheese is a perfectly acceptable filling for grilled cheese. Jacob has graduated from plain sliced bread and now prefers his square cheese in between two slices of marble rye. I actually think it's quite good. On special occasions, I one-up it with this:

Jacob's double-decker barbecued-grilled cheese
sandwich with square cheese and marble rye.

I've also been meaning to visit a very special restaurant in Kensington Market for quite some time. The Grilled Cheese is dedicated to making (in what my opinion are) the best grilled cheese sandwiches I've ever tasted. The decor is very rustic, with wooden tables and benches and a wall full of preserved vegetables.

Jacob drinking his water with the wall of preserves
behind him.

I ordered the Blackjack that is served with Jalapeno Havarti, tomatoes, spinach and black olive pesto. The sandwich was served with a slice of pickles and potato chips. The bread was perfect - crunchy on the outside with a buttery flavour.

My Blackjack grilled cheese sandwich.

Secret Recipe Club

For the July edition of Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned Hoosier Homemade. Hoosier's grilled cheese really caught my eye. Sauteed mushrooms on Jarlsberg cheese all in between two slices of garlic-parmigiana French bread. That ain't no Velveeta on Wonderbread!

I definitely wanted to do a variation on it, but at the same time, too much variation is just another sandwich. I was sticking to the Jarlsberg cheese and mushrooms but I wanted to give a salute to Jacob's sandwich as well, so I'm sticking with the marble rye.

The final sandwich turned out great. The thinly-sliced bread turned out crispp on the outside and helped the sandwich heat up quickly. The thinly sliced mushrooms didn't release much water (could be because I used cremini mushrooms). The cheese wrapped around the mushrooms perfectly. I was very happy.

Unfortunately, I had run out of pickles during the weekend and forgot to buy more, so I had to serve the sandwich with a side of carrot sticks instead. It's just not the same :-(

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches with Jarlsberg Cheese and Sauteed Mushrooms

• 1 + 2 tsp olive oil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 4 cremini mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 4 slices marble rye
• 4 slices Jarlsberg cheese

1. Heat one tsp oil on medium-low and saute garlic for one minute. Add mushrooms and saute until mushrooms are soft and slightly browned.
2. Assemble the sandwich using bread, cheese, mushroom mixture, cheese and bread. 
3. In a larger pan, heat remaining two teaspoons of olive oil and fry sandwiches for 2-3 minutes on each side until lightly browned. 

Makes two sandwiches.

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Rickard's Blonde Hot Chicken Roti

Beer Libre!

A couple weeks ago, I was contacted by my friends at Rickard's with a new set of recipes that really inspired. As regular readers know, I enjoy cooking with beer, and I've already made mustard, soup, and stew with various beers. The recipes are for a new beer, Rickard's Blonde, not yet available in Ontario. Rickard's Blonde is  a great-tasting pilsner. The bonus for us was the sample that would soon arrive in the mail.

When the package arrived by courier, I got a laugh out of the note that arrived in the box.

Clearly an attempt to slow you down from immediately cracking open (and likely spraying yourself with) a well-shaken can that spent the better part of a day bouncing around in a courier van!

In the package of recipes, one stuck out - it was a grilled chicken sandwich in an interesting marinade. I decided to modify the marinade to turn it into a a Caribbean chicken roti with potatoes. The original marinade recipe called for Scotch bonnet peppers. Unfortunately, the local grocery didn't have any in stock, so I used two jalapeno peppers.

The result was an awesome tasty chicken roti with potatoes in a thick sauce. There was just enough heat with the flavour that you felt the warmth for a short while after finishing the meal. Perfect.

Rickard's Blonde Hot Chicken Roti

• 3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 medium onion
• 1-2 chili peppers (Scotch bonnet, habanero or jalapeno), stem and seeds removed
• 1 cup Rickard's Blonde beer
• ½ cup water
• 2 tbsp oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 2 tsp garam masala or ground allspice
• ½ tsp ground nutmeg
• ½ tsp turmeric
• 1/2 kilo chicken thighs or breast (boneless, skinless) diced
• roti for serving

1. Boil potatoes in salted water for 5 minutes and drain.
2. Combine garlic, onion, pepper, beer, water, salt, brown sugar, thyme, garam masala, nutmeg and turmeric and puree using an immersion blender.
3. Heat oil on medium in a deep pan and brown chicken for 3 minutes. Add potatoes and sauce mixture, cover and bring to a boil.
4. Reduce to medium and let simmer uncovered for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve on roti. Makes 4 servings.

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Grilled Chicken Cheeseburgers

Note: This isn't one of my typical recipes. I usually don't publish recipes using prepared or partially prepared foods, however, this sandwich can be prepared using fresh ingredients if you choose. The version pictured below uses the prepared ingredients listed.

For each burger:

• 1 tsp oil
• 1 President's Choice thick & juicy chicken burger
• 2 slices Country Harvest Oat & Honey bread
• margarine
• 4 slices old Cheddar cheese

1. In a cast-iron pan, fry burgers according to directions (6 minutes on each side on medium-low) so they're crispy and cooked through.
2. Apply margarine lightly to one side of each slice. With the first slice margarine-side-down, put two slices of cheese, burger, 2 slices of cheese, bread (margarine-side up).
3. Fry sandwich on low for 2-3 minutes on each side.
4. Serve with a spinach salad to balance out all the greasy goodness.

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