The bread board and bread box in our kitchen on a Sunday morning is a sad junkyard of bits and pieces of loaves from the week.  Everyone has their favorite, so you can’t go throwing away any little bit without getting in trouble.  Paul has all his “experiments” that I need to try, no matter how long ago they were baked, so I can’t touch those.  He mostly makes new breads on a Friday night, so by Sunday they are still plenty good.  On the other hand, he always likes to see how long they stay fresh, so we could have bread from the week before mixed in the pile too.  My rule of thumb is, if any bit of bread gives a high pitch when tapped on our stainless steel kitchen table, out it goes!

The Buttermilk Oat was from Tuesday and the Challah from Friday, so these are perfect subjects for French Toast this morning.  Sunday is the best time to make the kids French Toast, and the best time to think about all those school lunches coming up this week.

French Toast has been a popular mid-morning lunch box snack for my kids, and I think I can get away with it again this week, if you know what I mean!  So, instead of making just a few slices for everyone this morning, I cut up all the loaves, beat up all the fresh farm eggs left in the frig., and made a huge pile of French Toast.

I always slice the challah thick and the Buttermilk Oat medium or thin.  I add fresh grated nutmeg to the custard of eggs and lowfat milk (I forgo the richer custard, as my family is used to my low-fat version) and a pinch of brown sugar.  I sprinkle cinnamon sugar on the top side of the toast while the first side is cooking.  When you flip it over, the sugar kind of melts into the custard as it cooks, and it gives a nice sweetness and a cinnamon flavor to the toast.  For good reason, I do not pack maple syrup in the lunch box and this cinnamon sugar on the outside does the trick.

After the slices cool, I put each one in its own sandwich bag and freeze all together in another large Ziploc bag.

So instead of the usual Cheddar Bunnies or pretzels, my kids this week will get a protein and carb. rich snack to give them the energy they need to get through until lunch.  Now, what to pack for lunch?

We are so pleased to have brand new paintings by Bryan Brems hanging in the Crossroads Cafe.   His work is graceful and emotional.  It has a unique perspective of Bucks County that embraces both the people and towns, as well as the landscape.  I am a proud owner of  one of his landscapes, and more and more people in the area are as well.  My personal favorite in this show is Finney’s.  I hope to see more work of his in the future, showing the “interiors” of life in bucks county.

A bit about Bryan: Bryan Works as a professional art handler for several prestigious art institutions in the area, and so has had the unique opportunity to work closely with world-class works of art. Bryan has been involved in significant projects for the Barnes Foundation, The Philadelphia Museum of Art, and currently works for the Michener Art Museum in Doylestown where he currently resides.  He is also responsible for repairing and restoring all the Mule statues in the area that are hit by cars or otherwise damaged as they bide their time in Bucks County.

Bryan’s paintings are also on display at Chapman Gallery in Doylestown.  Please take a good look at them when you come to the bakery, and go see what else of his might be still hanging at Chapman.  He is regularly replacing his pieces there.

Bryans show will be up through December 31st.

http://www.thechapmangallery.com/bryan_brems.htm

http://bryanbremsart.com

http://lindaguenste.com/index.php

http://knowgraffitidesign.com/

CLICK ON THE IMAGES TO SEE THEM LARGER

We are very lucky to have John’s work grace the walls at Crossroads.  But personally, I think to own one of his originals would be luckier!  John is an established artist and good friend of Karry, our pastry chef.   I have copied his bio here from his website, but be sure to visit it yourself for more up-to-date information on John and his paintings.  John’s work will be on display at the bakery through July.

http://www.johnspaintings.com/index.php

John Schmidtberger is a contemporary artist (painter) from Upper Black Eddy, PA. He works plein-air style, both in the Bucks/Hunterdon area and in mid-coast Maine. He also accepts commissions, and does decorative painting.

John was recently written about in Fine Art Connoisseur Magazine, in an article about contemporary children’s portraiture. His work has also been reviewed in the New York Times. Prominent collectors include Kate White, author and editor-in-chief at Cosmopolitan, and Charles Cawley, former CEO at MBNA.

From 1984 to 1987 John studied with painter Neil Welliver (1929-2005), sculptor Robert Engman, and printmaker Hitoshi Nakazato (1936-2010) earning a BFA and MFA from the University of Pennsylvania.

John’s work has been exhibited at the James A. Michener Museum, Doylestown, PA; The Prince Street Gallery, New York, NY; Elan Fine Arts, Rockland, ME; Camden Falls Gallery, Camden, Me; The Quiet Life, Lambertville, NJ; and many other venues.

john schmidtberger
1462 river road
upper black eddy, pa 18972
908.268.1700
john@johnspaintings.com

LEFTOVER PIZZA is quite a common food item in our house.  As you know from other blog posts, we make it a LOT at home and at the bakery.  I had better clarify, truthfully, it is Paul who makes the pizza.   Working the Friday night shift at the bakery, he often finds time to experiment with new toppings.

Frankly, I think he has a hidden passion for the day old pizza, and perhaps these experiments are an excuse so we can have cold pizza hanging around the house.  Cold pizza, Paul loves it, and that is one of those things that I never understood about him!  But then again, he doesn’t get peanut butter, lettuce and mayonnaise sandwiches either.

But Paul grew up in the Pizza business.  His dad Started Rizzo’s in Glenside 50 some years ago.  Paul’s cousins did their time there, as well as his aunts and uncles.  His grandparents lived upstairs, plastic covered couch and all!  So, of course, I need to be understanding about the cold pizza.  After all, during his formative years, it would be on the kitchen table many a morning, brought home by his dad after work.  And guess what?  You guessed it, now my kids like cold pizza too.

So back to the reason for this post!  I can agree that leftover pizza does has some great re-uses!  This week Paul used the mandoline slicer to make paper thin veggie toppings.  He layered them, thoughtfully overlapping, so the whole pizza was still very thin and in the end VERY useful as a wrap for our next nights meal, lets call it a ” Sausage Pizzawrap”.  Oh, no – it will probably be Domino’s next big thing!

And in the picture, check out the addition of all the sautéed onions.  That is another Rizzo thing, probably from all those leftover cheesesteaks that came home from Rizzo’s of Glenside.

We were very pleased at the bakery to get a call from Gourmet Magazine, asking if we would be interested in publishing our Ricotta Pie recipe.  A Gourmet reader had requested the recipe, and we were happy to oblige.  We talked a few times with the test kitchen as they worked out the details of putting together this pie, and formatting the recipe to make in a home kitchen.  Now YOU can make it too, enjoy!

Ricotta Polenta Pie

Adapted from Crossroads Bake Shop

Serves 8-12

Active time: 35 minutes, Start to finish: 1 day

For DOUGH

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 tsp. cold water

2 3/4 cups AP Flour

scant 1/8 tsp. salt

For the FILLING

Make Dough:

Soak fruit while dough chills:

Soak cherries and apricots in wine 8 hours or overnight, then drain and discard liquid.

For another look at our Ricotta Pie, check out this local food bloggers post titled “Worth The Wait – Ricotta Polenta Pie”.

Peter’s Food Adventures

Cooking and Eating in bucks County, PA

By Peter Justason

http://petersfoodadventure.wordpress.com/2009/04/19/worth-the-wait-ricotta-polenta-pie/

Early American Toaster Bread & Muffins

made from the historical recipe for

SALT-RISING BREAD

After many tries (a few good batches, and a few not so good ones) we finally sent head bread baker Mike King, to a bakery in Western PA to learn the art of making this uniquely American bread.

I grew up in Binghamton, NY where in the 60′s and 70′s, a few bakeries still made Salt-Rising. By the 90′s my parents were driving to Owego, NY to get it.  After that bakery closed, my father succeeded in nagging me enough to go back to making it at Crossroads.

We did make it in the early years at the bakery, and a few customers would remind us about it, and like my dad, kindly nudged us along to make it again.   But it is such pain-in-the-neck bread to make!  We soon stopped bothering with it.  At Crossroads we are very used to monitoring starters, feeding sourdough moms 3 times a day and basically being a slave to many different fermentations going on around us.  But this particular starter is just so finicky!

After I asked Mike to attempt another batch (my dad was visiting in a few days…), he proposed that I send him to a bakery that makes it commercially.  He said he would be willing to stay a few days and bake with them to learn the craft.   What a brilliant idea, why didn’t I think of that!   So I called Rising Creek Bakery in Mt. Morris, PA, and they were thrilled to have a baker from Crossroads work with them a few days as well.  So, we set up and exchange.  We taught them our method of making croissant, and they taught us how the heck to make Salt-Rising Bread perfect every time!  They were lovely people and we thank them for the opportunity for the exchange.

Salt-Rising is a generally considered a dense white bread.  I wanted to make our version unique, and in doing so, I decided to alter the flour in our version for a few reasons.  First, I like a bit of whole wheat or grain in my breakfast toast, but also, I wanted to replicate what might be found in the original bread the Early Americans would have made.  They didn’t have the high tech refining facilities we have now, so their white flour would have been a “dirty” flour.  In other words, there might have been specks of rye, or buckwheat and some bran in it.  So you will find that our Salt-Rising is not perfectly white, we made up our own “dirty” flour to add more flavor, nutrition and texture.

If you are here on the day we are growing the starter, you will unfortunately observe how badly it smells – like a nasty ripe cheese.  Well, that is what makes it so good as well!  Salt-Rising Bread is also know as a “mock” cheese bread because of the taste it has when you toast it.  And toasting it is what it is all about (read in “your comments” a post about salt rising from a mail order customer in California).

Because Doylestown has no idea what this bread is all about, I decided to give it another name, “Early American Toasting Bread”.  I think it better describes the history of the bread, and how best to enjoy it.  We also decided to make Toaster Muffins out of them because then our customers would automatically toast them and find out what this bread is all about. We couldn’t call them English Muffins, for one because they are American, and also because they do not have the nooks and crannies you’ll find in an English muffin.  After all, I am not out looking for complaints!

Salt Rising is made about every two weeks at the bakery, but it is kept in the freezer for everyday availability. Please let us know how you like it!

To learn everything you need to know about this unique bread, visit this website!

http://home.comcast.net/~petsonk/

I received the package today and of course had to immediately slice, toast, and butter two slices. It’s definitely the best version I’ve had (and I’ve tried a lot of them) over a span of several years except for the several-years-closed Lawson’s Goodies Bakery in Leslie, Michigan; theirs was probably as good as yours. Whatever you’re doing, keep doing it. Yours is way better,  more aroma and flavor, than any other version I know of now.

(despite the 3 day shipping) There was no problem at all with it being too dry. In fact, the edges brown (using a toaster oven) before the larger surface of the bread because (I think) of the moisture. Not a problem; it’s just a bit that way. I put two of the loaves in the freezer and I think I’ll send one each to my sister and cousin, both with strong memories of the salt rising bread we grew up with in Jefferson City, Missouri, in the 40′s and 50′s. Then they can decide if they want to order some from you

Also, thanks for the gift-goodies. I ate the Russian Tea Cookies and they were also great.

Thanks again for the great-and-rare bread!

Malcolm Ruthven

This is an email I received after we shipped 3 loaves of Salt Rising Bread to California.

See the instructions for throwing these shortcakes on the grill after the meat and veggies are done and the grill is cleaned up.  The toasty flavor from the grill is the best for this perfect summer dessert.  And don’t worry about the presentation!  It is fine for these tender shortcakes to fall apart – they still taste amazing!

FILLING for STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE

Whip 10 oz. of heavy cream and set aside in refrigerator.

Meanwhile prepare fruit filling. Put 6-8 berries to the side for garnishing later.  Mash berries to equal one cupful, and slice another 3/4 of a cup.  Combine berries and add 3 Tab. of sugar and (optional) 2 Tab. of Kirsch or Grand Marnier.

Split cake in two layers and toast, or lay them cut side down on a BQ grill on low heat until lightly browned.  You can also warm in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes.

Put some berry mixture on the bottom layer of cake.   Spread a layer of the whipped cream over the berries and replace top of cake.  Place a dollop of cream on top with a whole strawberry for garnish.  Enjoy!

I met both Christopher and Melissa nearly 20 years ago, when Paul and I first started baking in the area.  Christopher frequented our stand at the farmers market in Doylestown, and is also the wonderful person who in 1994, got our bakery featured in Saveur Magazine.  No one had heard of the magazine then, as we were very lucky to be in the premier issue.  How cool is that!?

What the NY Times article (link below) portrays is a million times more informative than I can be, to describe the many talents and successes Christopher and Melissa have had in each of their careers.   We are fortunate that they have combined their talent to produce the cookbook series,  Canal House Cooking,  for our absolute pleasure!

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/02/dining/02canal.html

Turns out, I am guilty of turning that pleasure into profit, by ripping off one of their recipes.  What can I say, this cookie just really needed to be in our display case.  We have named it the “Canal House Cookie”.  I love them because they are spicy, but chewy and sweet from the added currants.

The recipe is from their “very hot” 2nd edition cookbook that has doubled in price on Amazon.  So go out and buy their new one, The Grocery Store,  in shops now (including mine…)  for the very reasonable price of  $19.95.

Canal House Cookies (Currant Gingersnaps)

Sift together the dry ingredients.

Flour                              4 1/2 cups

Baking Soda                4 teaspoons

Salt                                  2 teaspoons

Ground Ginger           2 teaspoons

Ground Cinnamon    1 teaspoon

Ground Cloves            1/2 teaspoon

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.

Butter                                 3/4 lb.

Granulated Sugar          1  1/2 cups

Dark Brown Sugar        1 cup

Add eggs one at a time until mixture is blended, then add the molasses.

Eggs                    2

Molasses          1/2 cup

Add dry ingredients carefully, without over mixing.  Add currants.

Currants          3 cups

Refrigerate or freeze the dough.  We like to scoop it first with a tiny ice cream style scooper, dish out onto trays to sit in the refrigerator or freezer.  We can make the cookie dough in huge batches this way, and bake off however many we need to have fresh cookies daily.

Roll in sugar before baking 1 inch apart, on parchment, at 375 deg.  They will slightly brown and be cracked on top.  Bake about 8-10 minutes.  They keep great, for about 2 weeks if you store in a tin.