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See You at the Fair!
On March 31, 1713, Lexington was incorporated as a town. Up until that time, it was known as Cambridge Farms and was part of the city of Cambridge, 8 miles away. Now it’s 2012. In celebration of the 300th anniversary f the town, opening ceremonies and other festivities were held this weekend to kickoff a 9 month celebration that will end Memorial Day 2013.
The opening ceremonies were held in two locations with a high-tech simulcast between the two locales. There were speeches and music and dancing and singing. It was a morning filled with civic pride. It was a little bit corny, but fun to part of the enthusiasm and spirit of the day.
Next on the day’s agenda was an all-town photo. I’m not sure how many people participated, but there were a lot of people on the town track. Again, high technology made this possible. I’m not quite sure how it worked, but click here to see the photo.
Finally, there was an old-fashioned country fair. Many local businesses and organizations were there to promote their merchandise, services, or mission. And, there was a blue ribbon contest. There were both food and gardening categories. Food categories were Jams and Jellies, Family Favorite Corn Dish, or Quick Breads. Gardening categories were Widest Sunflower Head, Tastiest Tomato, or Oddest Vegetable.
My friend Laury and I both entered in the Quick Bread category. She baked a Sweet Potato Bread, and I made an Apple Bread. As much as I loved my own bread, with its pieces of apples, crystallized ginger, and chopped almonds, I came up empty-handed. However, I pleased to report that Laury took the blue ribbon! It was quite exciting!
Laury proudly showing off her ribbon
In honor of her award, here’s her recipe:
Laury’s Sweet Potato Bread
1 cup mashed cooked sweet potato
¾ cup granulated sugar
½ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
½ cup vegetable oil
¼ cup orange juice
1¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground allspice
¼ tsp ground cloves
1 cup pecans
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan and dust it with flour, tapping out the excess.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sweet potato just enough to lighten it. Add both sugars, eggs, oil, and orange juice. Beat for 1 minute.
Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, allspices, and cloves. Remove the beaters and use a rubber spatula to stir in the pecans.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan. Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
Let the loaf rest in the pan for 30 minutes. Remove from the pan, and let it cool completely on a rack. Slice thickly to serve.
tuesdays with dorie / baking with julia: whole wheat loaves
Time again for Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia. I seem to only manage one recipe each month, but I do enjoy staying in the game. This week’s assignment was Whole Wheat Loaves. I always want to make more bread, and this was a good recipe to hone the skills.
These loaves were mostly simple to put together, though locating malt extract or an appropriate substitute produced a bit of angst. The guy at Whole Foods had no idea what I was asking for. I hadn’t checked out the P&Q post for the recipe first. Thank goodness for SmartPhones. A quick scan of the comments while standing in the grocery store aisle indicated that the barley malt syrup would do the trick.
For the whole wheat flour, I used white whole wheat flour. I know it’s a whole grain, but from what I read, it has less gluten and protein than regular whole wheat from red wheat. Higher gluten is supposed to be better for bread, but I used what I had on hand. In the end, my loaf rose as expected and tasted good, so it worked out.
The yeast proofs with a boost of honey (not my own yet for anyone whose wondering). Then, a blend of all-purpose and whole wheat flour is mixed in along with that pesky malt syrup, oil, and salt. I let my stand mixer do the work, until the engine seized, that is. I finished the kneading by hand for the last 5 minutes. It reminded me that manual kneading is so tactile, and satisfying. And now I have a new project to figure out how to repair the mixer…
I took advantage of the bread proofing setting on my oven (I do love high tech for some things). It keeps the temperature at an even 100 degrees. Because room temperature is never all that warm at my house, especially on a brisk fall day before I’ve turned the heat on, the cozy oven works well.
One of the things I enjoy about making homemade bread is how each step is typically simple with long stretches in between to get things done. While the dough did its first rise, I started day 1 of a “Couch to 5K in 9 weeks” program, going for a run. Once the dough doubled in size, I shaped it into flat loaf-shaped patties. While the loaves rose, I spackled nail holes on a window installed 3 years ago and never painted. Once the loaves rose above the rim of the loaf pan (I had my doubts, it starts out so flat), it was time to bake them while I took a shower. What a productive afternoon!
This bread is lovely toasted for breakfast with a bit of butter and marmalade. It seems sturdy enough for a sandwich, though I haven’t sampled that yet. The recipe makes two loaves, so I stashed one in the freezer for next week.
For the recipe, check out this week’s hosts: Teresa (a friend from FFwD) of The Family That Bakes Together and Michele of Veggie Num Nums. The recipe can also be found in Dorie Greenspan’s book, written with Julia Child, Baking with Julia.
And to see how the other bakers made out, you can follow their links here to read all about it.
A Plateful of Happiness 