pizza, Guinness & snow!

my joy was returned to me yesterday about 4:30. it started SNOWING! snowing! in Columbia! and then, the unthinkable happened - it KEPT snowing. and then I watched the snow start sticking to trees! and then to cars! and then to city pavement! there is something so sweet about watching snow fall through a window. you can only imagine what it might feel like, taste like, how cold it might be, and you get to be just above the ground and see it in action. it's the perfect bird's eye view. but then you do all of those things you imagined, touch it taste it play in it, and it is everything you wanted it to be and you can't even express it.

so I opted to delay playing or traveling for awhile to huddle up in my cozy little apartment. I flipped through recipe books and landed on homemade pizza to make - Austin and Megan went off to a movie, Andrew was working, Lydia and Carley are gone for the weekend - the perfect occasion for solitude, scavenging for toppings and looking out a snowy window while rolling out dough.

about 8:00 I realized I did not, in fact, have all of the ingredients I needed. I was missing a crucial ingredient for pizza, beer. that's right, I decided to go to the grocery store. about 4 inches of snow had already accumulated on my car - after 10 minutes of improvising I finally got my car cleared off and headed for the grocery (let me just say, I love Stick Shifts), picked up some Guinness, PBR and chocolate (duh), and headed back home to be welcomed by my friends, finish off the pizza process, and settle in to a cozy, warm, cold, playful, wet, exhilarating, rare night in the snow.
and then this morning i (accidentally) rose at 6:45, went outside to take pictures with my Canon (coming soon), and made buttermilk biscuits with maple syrup!

Tonight I am looking forward to a St. Valentines Massacre party with some friends - attire is 1920s/gangster. I am going for a cross between these 1920s beauties:













well that has absolutely nothing to do with food, so adieu.

honey & buttermilk bread

Mmm. I found this recipe via Rosa's Yummy Yums, who found it in Beth Hensperger's The Bread Bible. I made this last week to keep one loaf and give one loaf away- everyone loved it and it was easy to make. Yum, homemade bread. Braid it and wash it with an egg glaze to make it beautiful! I am the proud new owner of an old Canon AE-1 as of this past weekend; I am going to be making this bread often so I will snap some shots as I experiment with my new camera.

Honey & Buttermilk Bread

3/4 c warm water
1 package active dry yeast
1 t sugar
1 1/2 c buttermilk, warmed to take off the chill
2 T unsalted butter, melted
3 T honey, runny
1 T salt
6 1/4 c unbleached all-purpose flour*

for egg glaze:
1 egg
2 T heavy cream

Pour warm water into a small bowl. Sprinkle the top of the water with the yeast and the sugar. Stir to dissolve; cover with a dish towel for about ten minutes or until the mixture is foamy.

In a large bowl (with a wooden spatula- or if using a stand mixer, with the paddle attached), mix buttermilk, honey, butter, and yeast mixture. Beat to combine. Add salt and 2 c of flour. Combine well.

Add in remaining flour, 1/2 c at a time, beating to combine well after each mixture. A shaggy dough should form. At about 4 1/2 c I dropped my dough out onto a lightly floured wooden cutting board surface and from there worked in about 1 to 1 1/2 more cups of flour (I did not use all 6 or 6 1/4 c as the original recipe calls for..just feel it).

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface, kneading about 5 minutes until the dough is satiny and shiny. Place dough in a greased bowl (I grease with butter), then turn dough once to make sure both sides are greased. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise 60-75 minutes (I say closer to 90 minutes) until dough is doubled in bulk.

Once doubled, gently deflate bread by lightly punching down in the middle with your fist. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Grease 2 standard loaf pans (rectangular loaves) or a baking sheet (free round loaves)- if braiding, divide dough into 2 batches then each batch divide into three sections. Braid dough as you are braiding hair, tucking in edges underneath the loaf.

Let dough, covered with dish cloth, to rise in prep'd bakeware for 40 minutes (again, until doubled in bulk). *About 20 minutes into this, preheat your oven to 375.

Brush the tops of the loaves with egg glaze- if you want, sprinkle with your favorite nut or seed (I love sesame seeds).

Bake about 45 minutes (should pull away from sides easily and sound hollow when thumped). Cool completely on cooling rack.