Pretzel Bites with Beer Cheese

It's late.  As usual.  I might as well just start posting late at night instead of trying to get a post done during the day. 

Anyway, excuses aside - I think I've finally done it.  I've successfully made a beer cheese that resembles a local favorite.

Andy and I grew up in southern Indiana (of course in different eras - we do have a 7 year gap between us!), but we both loved Sportstime Pizza - now under the name The New Albanian Brewery.  They, of course, have beer - great microbrews (one should definitely check them out during 'Gravity Head' where they feature high-alcohol content and special season beers).  But the main reason we frequented the place was for their beer cheese.  It's one of a kind - spicy, cheesy, and absolutely perfect with some breadsticks.

So when I told Andy last week that I was making some pretzel bites to snack on while watching a pre-season football game, he eagerly suggested I make a beer cheese to go with them.  Always up for a challenge, I accepted, and boy am I glad I did.  I think I came pretty close (dare I say, maybe even better??) to our old time favorite from The New Albanian.

So if you're looking for a great Sunday snack - football lovers and non-football lovers alike - this is it!


Ingredients:
Adapted from Sunny Side Up in San Diego's Recipe

4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 & 1/4 cups warm water
5 cups flour
1/4 cup white sugar, plus 1 teaspoon
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons butter, melted and divided
1/2 cup baking soda
2 egg whites
Kosher salt, for topping
cooking spray


Beer Cheese:


1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup Indian Pale Ale (or whatever favorite beer you might have)
1 tablespoon horseradish sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup Velveeta, cut into small cubes (I swear I wanted to use some Chipotle Cheddar Cheese, but I'd run out, and this was all I had - but it worked out so well!)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Freshly ground black pepper

In a measuring cup dissolve the yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in warm water. Set aside for 10 minutes. If the mixture is foamy, you're good to go - if not, start over with new yeast.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, white and brown sugars, and salt.  Pour the water/yeast mixture and 2 tablespoons melted butter into the bowl. Knead for 6-8 minutes until the dough is smooth. Add extra water if dough is too dry, until you get your desired texture.

Lightly oil a large bowl. Shape dough into a ball. Place the dough ball in the bowl, cover with a clean towel, and allow to rise for one hour.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  Spray a large baking sheet with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine 4 cups of hot water and baking soda. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg whites and remaining 2 tablespoons of melted butter.

After the dough has risen, punch down the dough and then knead with hands for one minute. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and break off small chunks of dough - Roll the chunks into 1 inch diameter balls (I got about 20-25).

Dip the pieces in the baking soda water and place on the baking sheet.  Gently drying with a paper towel if they become too wet. Brush each pretzel ball with egg whites/melted butter then sprinkle with kosher salt.

Bake for 7-8 minutes, until browned.

To make beer cheese, place cream cheese in a microwave safe bowl and heat for about 30 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  Stir in beer, horseradish sauce, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.  Heat for another 30 seconds in the microwave.  Stir until smooth.  Add in Velveeta.  Heat another 30 seconds, and stir until cheese is melted and smooth. 

Pretzels and beer cheese.  Success at last!  And this beer cheese was so easy to whip up, that I will definitely be finding myself making it many many times over!  Even with Velveeta - I'm not ashamed!


Have a great weekend guys!  I just have to get through one more late shift at work and I've got 2 days of relaxation ahead of me!

Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread

The weekend just wasn't long enough, was it?  I can't believe it's already Monday!

We spent our weekend with friends - enjoying sushi... and not-so-much enjoying Cowboys & Aliens.  Seriously - worst way to spend $19. 

But this isn't a movie blog, it's a food blog.  And I thought I'd share with you the winner of the last bi-weekly poll - Cinnamon Pull-Apart Bread.

It's nothing new.  Tons of bloggers have done it.  But this last week was my first experience with it - and judging from the positive reaction of my co-workers and Andy - it won't be my last!  So here's to starting the week on a sweet note!


Ingredients:
Adapted from Zoomy Yummy's recipe 

Dough:

3 & 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 & 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:

1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs.

In another small bowl, melt 4 tablespoons of butter with milk.  Add water and vanilla and stir until combined. 

Pour milk mixture into bowl with flour.  Add eggs and stir until incorporated.  Add remaining flour, in 1/2 cup increments, until a ball of dough forms.  The dough should be somewhat sticky, but capable of holding shape.

Knead dough on a floured work surface for about 10 minutes.

Grease a large bowl and place dough inside.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 hour.

Deflate dough and knead on a floured work surface for a couple of minutes.

Roll dough out to 1/4 to 1/2 inch thickness (you should get a large rectangle - about 12x20).

To make filling, melt remaining 4 tablespoons of butter.  In a separate small bowl, combine sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. 

Brush the butter onto the rectangle of dough and sprinkle cinnamon-sugar mixture over top. 

Using a pizza cutter, slice the dough into 1 to 1 & 1/2 inch strips.  Then cut across to make squares.  Stack dough in groups of 6's (I had 8 stacks). 

Grease and flour a loaf pan and place as may stacks as possible (I fit about 6 stacks).  I had 2 leftover stacks that I just put it individual ramekins.  Cover with a kitchen towel and let rest for about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Bake bread for 30 minutes, or until golden brown (If you do individual ramekins, decrease time about 5-8 minutes).  Let bread rest for 20 minutes before digging in.

This was definitely some really good bread!  Not to mention it looks stunning!  I think there was the perfect ratio of cinnamon to sugar, and I just couldn't stop eating it.  The individual portions were gone within an hour - and it took a lot of will power not to devour the loaf pan that I was taking to work!

Hope you all have a great Monday!

Semi-Wheat Bread

Happy Wednesday guys!  I'm glad you guys liked my wedding bouquet idea! 

I'm pretty excited because tonight is our first sand volleyball game of the season.  It's just the start of more "active" nights.  During the winter, it's so hard to get motivated to do anything, but once spring hits - it's volleyball and softball season so I'm outside all the time!

It's actually a big weekend coming up too.  It's Thunder Over Louisville (one of the largest fireworks shows in the US!) and it pretty much signifies the start of 'Derby Season' (I don't think that's really a season, but everyone does start talking about Kentucky Derby this and Kentucky Derby that).  So looking forward to posting pics from the weekend to come!

Anyway, Andy's favorite type of bread is wheat bread, so when Sunday rolls around (my usual bread baking day) he's always begging for wheat bread.  I've got to give in to him every now and then, right? 

Ingredients:

1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons active dry yeast

In a large bowl, combine the water, milk, olive oil, honey, and brown sugar.  Add in both flours, yeast, and salt.

Knead dough for about 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic.  Whole wheat flour always requires a little more elbow grease, so be prepared!

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and knead for a couple more minutes and form into a loaf.  Please in a greased loaf pan and cover with a kitchen towel.  Allow to rise for another hour, or until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350F.  Bake bread for 35-40 minutes.

Allow to cool for a couple minutes and turn onto wire rack to finish cooling.  Or if you can't hold back (like us), slice it up while it's still warm and serve with a pat of butter!

This was really great bread!  I'm actually using it tonight to make some Vietnamese Shrimp Toasts (hopefully a recipe is sure to come if all goes well!).

Well, I've got some last minute studying to do before my volleyball game tonight!  Wish me luck!

Have a great rest of your Wednesday guys!

Homemade Naan Bread

Happy Friday everyone!  This particular Friday is a very special one.  Not only is it April's Fools (don't worry, I'm not going to try any trickery on you guys!), but as of 8:30pm tonight, I'm officially on vacation! 

It's definitely more of a "stay"-cation, but hey, I won't have to work for a full 11 days.  So it's going to be amazing.

What will I be doing? 

SPRING CLEANING.  There's so much I want to throw out and do over, it's not even funny.  Will I get to it all done in one week?  Umm... no.  I highly doubt it.  I'll probably only get through 3, maybe 4 rooms out of the house, but hey, it's a start.

Anyway, let's get on with some naan!

Ingredients:
Adapted from Food for my Family's recipe

3/4 cup warm water
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 cups flour, plus more if needed
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch baking powder
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 & 1/2 tablespoons sour cream
cornmeal, for dusting
unsalted butter, optional

In a small bowl, add the water and sprinkle yeast over top.  Allow to sit for about 10 minutes until foamy. 

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder.  Mix in olive oil and sour cream until mixture is crumbly.  Slowly stir in the yeast and water mixture until a ball of dough forms.  My mixture was still a tad wet, so I added maybe 1/2 to 1 cup extra flour to get a desired consistency.

Knead dough on a floured surface for a few minutes until smooth.  Place the dough ball in a clean and greased bowl.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 500F with a baking stone or an upside-down rimmed baking sheet (i don't have a baking stone, so this is the method I used). 

Flip dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple minutes.  Divide dough into about 5-6 equally sized balls.  Dip each ball into flour and roll out to about 1/4 inch thickness.

Dust preheated baking stone or baking sheet with a light layer of cornmeal.  Wet hands and gently wet each piece of dough before placing them on hot baking stone or sheet (I did batches of 3).

Bake for about 5-7 minutes, or until tops are starting to brown and get bubbly.

Transfer each piece of naan to a plate and top with a pat of unsalted butter.

This was my first attempt at making naan and I must say that it couldn't have been easier!  Or more delicious!  I had a 1/2 piece of naan with each of my dinners this week, and it was the perfect accompaniment to my curried lentil soup I had the other night!  It's even great by itself!

How about you guys... have you ever made naan at home? 

Have a great weekend guys!  I'll see you next week for some goodies (and maybe some before and after pictures of the rooms I clean out!)

Spelt Flour Bread

Happy Wednesday guys!  It's the middle of the week and I'm just counting down the weekend! 

I've got a bookclub meeting tonight with the girls to discuss this month's book - Pride & Prejudice & Zombies.  And honestly... I wasn't a fan.  I know Pride & Prejudice is a classic, but I just couldn't bring myself to be interested.  The other books we've read (The Help, Running with Scissors, Water for Elephants) all had me wanting to read more and more and not put the book down.  But this just had me yawning and not very interested.  Oh well... to each their own.  Have any of you ever read Pride & Prejudice?  Or this Zombie-infused version?  What did you think?

I'll tell you what is interesting to me though.  Spelt.  And spelt flour.  Perusing the Whole Foods bulk bins a couple weekends ago, I came across this little gem of a flour.  I'd honestly never heard of it before, and well, for $2.49/lb., I thought it was reasonable enough to experiment with.  So I took to the good old Internet and of course found a no-knead bread recipe to try!  The results were more than satisfying! And in case you wanted to know (as if I'm not going to tell you regardless), spelt is similar to wheat in it's appearance, but is a little bit nuttier and sweeter in flavor.  It's also higher in protein than wheat, so if you're trying to increase proteins, spelt is the way to go!  So if you're looking for something different, but not too different (really only some subtle, but delicious differences)... give it a go!


Ingredients:

Adapted from Prairie Table's Recipe

 

With only 4 ingredients, how can you go wrong?

3 cups white spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 & 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups water
 

In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, salt and water.  Stir until combined.  The dough will be quite sticky, but that's okay.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place for at least 10-12 hours (This is ideal for doing the night before, or in the morning before work).  

On a floured work surface, dust dough with flour and gently flatten into a rough square/rectangle.  Fold dough into thirds.  Gently flatten one more time, and fold into thirds one more time before shaping dough into a ball.  Place dough, seam side down, in a clean, lightly floured bowl.  Dust dough ball with flour and cover bowl with plastic wrap.  Leave in a warm, dry place to rise for about 1-2 hours, or until doubled in size.

At least 30 minutes before the end of this rise, preheat oven to 500 F.

Place a baking sheet on the center rack and another baking sheet on the bottom rack (this will help absorb some of the heat).  When dough is finished rising, carefully turn it out onto the hot baking sheet, seam side up.  It won't look too pretty, but seriously, it gives it some rustic beauty when it's all done.  Who wants an absolutely perfect shaped loaf anyway?  Not me.

Pour about a cup of water into the pan on the bottom rack and quickly close the oven door.  Turn the oven down to 450 F and bake loaf for about 45 minutes, or until crust is a deep golden brown.

Serve warm with some butter or jam, or you can make sandwiches, like we did!

 Seriously, this is probably my favorite loaf of bread I've made so far this year.  It's so good, that I made it 3 times!  In 1 week!  That good.  And I'm sure if you can't find spelt flour, regular all-purpose will do, but I highly suggest that if you get a chance to come across some spelt, you won't be sorry!  Enjoy your Wednesday guys!