Irish Soda Bread
Shiny, Silky, Sweet Jam
I have a history of making rather mediocre jam. Usually I make raspberry and usually it doesn't set and I have to "re-jam" it, with more cooking and commercial pectin. Of course any homemade jam tastes good on a thick slice of buttered Como toast, but my jam is often too firm and doesn't have the silky mouth feel that blue ribbon jam should have.
Although it's mid-summer, it feels like June (or January) and berries are just really hitting their stride.
Read more...Dutch or Deutsch? Either way it's a yummy pie!
If you have ever had apple pie served to you in the Netherlands by actual Dutch people, you know a Dutch apple pie is not at all like Dutch Apple Pie. The real Dutch apple pie is more like a torte or tart baked in a deep spring-form pan with a sweet cookie-like crust and a heavily spiced apple filling with raisins (and sometimes even custard). In the United States, a Dutch Apple Pie is a single crust apple pie topped with crunchy, buttery streusel.
Read more...Pie crust surprise: It's whole wheat
Fabulous pie crust made with whole wheat flour? Impossible. Or so I thought. Whole grains might have the upper hand nutrition-wise, but most everyone in the professional baking world knows that the refined stuff simply makes a flakier croissant, a light, fluffy biscuit and the most delicate pie crust.
So color me shocked when last week, GCB Cuisine Director Piper Davis returned from Kneading Conference West - an artisan baking confab in Mount Vernon, Wash.
Read more...NEW U-Bake Whole Wheat Pizza Dough!
After receiving lots of requests we are finally unveiling our U-Bake Whole Wheat Pizza Dough! With the various low- carb diets of the past several years, whole grains have captured the culinary imagination of this country. Grains and seeds that have long been forgotten are returning to the spotlight. We're eating them for health benefits, certainly, but we've also been rewarded with great flavors and texture. These grains and seeds can be sweet and nutty and complex.
Read more...Farmers Market Miracles
As you stroll through your favorite local Farmers Market, it may seem as though all of these wonderful farmers and food producers have magically convened to supply you with a bounty of local produce and foodstuffs. At least, that's how it should feel if you're patronizing a well-managed market. In reality, this "magical" convention is nothing short of a logistical miracle months in the making by the time you step foot inside to pick up your local spring fruits and veggies...
Read more...Diary of a Cook's Week
My assignment was to write about how I do or try to "eat local" - locally grown produce, locally raised meats, etc. I think often people talk about a special project when they want to talk about eating locally - a once per year 150 mile challenge, or a special locavore dinner party. I wanted to examine my day-to-day, real life cooking habits.
Read more...The Joys of a Winter CSA
When I walked into the Chiles Center at University of Portland last Saturday it was packed. I wasn't there for a basketball tournament or a rock show; I was there to hear Michael Pollan speak. In fact, maybe Michael Pollan is a rock star. Consider this: an academic journalist who writes about the food system drew over 4,000 people on a Saturday night. I'm feeling hopeful. It seems people care about fixing our broken food system.
Read more...100% Local Corn Levain
When we started talking early this spring about a rotating seasonal loaf, I asked myself, "Why not bring back the Yeasted Corn?" It is only the most requested, most beloved retired Grand Central loaf of all time. Well, maybe we don't want exactly the old Yeasted Corn, but an updated version - made with natural leavening, more water (to combat the "horse-food" dryness of the old loaf) and a new look. All in all, a total overhaul.
Read more...Locavore Baby
A few weekends ago, I snuck out to my neighborhood farmers market. Why was I sneaking? Well, I was taking advantage of my son's naptime - a golden opportunity for some "me time." Without Zach in tow, I could casually stroll the entire market, stop and talk to growers, take in some yummy samples and mull over what I wanted to bring home for a week of home-cooked meals.
When he was born a year and a half ago, a close friend said to me, "Zach is such a lucky boy to have a foodie chef for his Mom.
Popover Nostalgia
I have a large extended family - like cartoonishly-Catholic large. My grandparents Gloria & Gerald Eddy were brave enough to raise 12 children: Jim, Linda, Keith, Colleen, Carrie, Dick, Kevin, Brenda, Bob, Mark, Irene and Kathleen. I am 99% sure that's the right order, and I'm certain I'll get a phone call if it's not.
Read more...Time for Pie
Last night I baked my first apple pie of the fall because my mother, and bakery founder, Gwen Bassetti made her annual trip to town yesterday with a truckload of her big bumpy "Basssetti" apples.
Grand Central Bakers will use these unique apples in pies, tarts and cakes but I could not resist taking a few home to make dessert.
Read more...Yolanda's Torta
"And these are the turkeys I'm raising for a Grand Central Bakery special!" announced Mark Anderson, proud owner of Champoeg Farms, during a festive Plate & Pitchfork tour this past August.
Read more...The Turkey Diaries
Thanksgiving at her family’s farm in Goldendale, WA is a tradition for GCB Cuisine Director Piper Davis. Surrounded by siblings and a mother who are all excellent cooks, Piper took charge of the turkey for last year’s Thanksgiving feast…
October 25th, 2009
From… Mark@Champoegfarms.com ..subject Thanksgiving Turkey.
Read more...Chanterelle Handpies
My friend Mia Yang gave me a bagful of delicious Chanterelles and sang the praises of turning them into handpies with GCB Puff Pastry. I asked her to tell me all about it for this Baker's Blog -please see below. Claire Randall, General Manager/Co-owner, Portland.
Presidential Visit!
President Obama graced Grand Central's Pioneer Square location with a visit this summer. We asked Cafe Manager Sarah Lucey to give us her first hand account.
Sarah shakes hands with President Obama
I was trying to wrestle my groceries into a cab home when my cell phone rang. It was Bridget, one of my baristas, and she was freaking out.
Read more...Pastel de Limon
Gordon told us Roselba was a great cook and he was right. My good friends, Jill, Claire and I had a hard time choosing between a chili relleno served with a rich red chili and a bright egg on top or a chicken braised in green sauce, both served with white rice and lemon agua fresca. I went for the chicken. I'm sure the long walk did its part to season that meal, but it really was yummy.
Read more...The Joy of Prunes
I love prunes. I love prunes the way some people love chocolate. I love their deep, dark complex flavor, the way they soak up bourbon, brandy or tea and their lush, slightly sticky chew when baked in a cake, tart or custard.
It is a maligned fruit, better known for its digestive properties than for its taste, which is too bad. If anything, the prune is romantic-think Agen prune, Armagnac and pruneaux. Aren't those lovely words that evoke a wintery French countryside? Keep your dried plums-I'm sticking with prunes.
Read more...Chocolate Cream Pie
I'm not really the cream pie type, and I blame it on JP Patches, the early morning clown of my Seattle childhood.
Scary!
He'd hear a knock on the door and open it only to get a pie in the face. See for yourself on YouTube! I never thought it was funny and I still don't.
Read more...January Baking
The holidays are over, and with them the requisite baking projects - Bûche de noel, pumpkin and pecan pies, stollen, gingerbread. These are all excellent baked goods that I somehow can't get through November and December without making and/or eating - but seem out of place come January. And except for citrus, seasonal fruit is gone, too. This is the season to call upon your larder.
Read more...Holiday Panettone
Every year at Grand Central Bakery we try to outdo ourselves with our Panettone. Mel Darbyshire, GCB Portland Head Baker, shares her thoughts and methods for her version of this amazing holiday treat.
Panettone Queen, Mel Darbyshire
First, a little history. Panettone is classic Italian bread produced for Christmas and New Year originating from Milan.
Read more...Holiday Pumpernickel
So it's that time of year, everyone is thinking "holidays" - what to eat, where to go. As head baker of Portland's Grand Central Bakery, when I think "holidays" I think "Pumpernickel!" It has become one of our main holiday breads. For the last 2-3 years when we're debating what holiday breads to make, the "Pump" (my nickname for it) comes up and we always come around to making it.
Cranberry Pear Galette
Everybody has their favorite go to procrastination activity...cleaning, paying bills, matching socks... Me? I bake. I had deleted about 20 opening sentences to this blog before I started to think about dessert, the bowl of ripe pears attracting fruit flies on my counter and the big bag of fresh cranberries in my fridge.
Read more...Fresh Dried Shell Beans
David and I have the best visits with my brother Sam and his family, when we just drop in on them. They live and farm in Underwood, Washington. Sam spreads a vibe of pleasant productivity and there is a pattern of work, chatter and eating that feels nourishing to be around. Last weekend when we dropped by Sam was busy shelling beans from his garden. His patio was covered with wire racks full of different kinds of fresh dried shell beans.
Read more...Good Eggs
I don't care which came first, I'm just glad we have eggs. I love eggs and while I have suffered through the dismal pallor of conventionally raised eggs, I feel blessed that I have a steady supply of "good eggs". I buy the same eggs from Mark and Catherine Anderson at Champoeg Farm that our lucky Grand Central customers enjoy on all of our breakfast sandwiches at the bakery.
My mother spoiled us on farm fresh eggs.
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