I Wanna (Cinnamon) Roll You Up Into My Life

August 9th, 2009, breakfast, photos, Janaki, 2 Comments

What’s not to love about a cinnamon roll? Unless, of course, you hate deliciousness. You’re not a hater of deliciousness, are you? Good.
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Showing a Little Egg

November 7th, 2008, breakfast, photos, Janaki, 2 Comments

Adrift on a buttery sea of breakfasting delight

The old cliche holds that it’s always darkest just before the dawn.  But that’s OK, because that’s when we’re hungriest and set ourselves to the task of making something yummy for breakfast.

Yesterday, I made a simple swirl bread, which involved a lightly sweet basic bread dough that contained some melted butter, cinnamon, brown sugar, golden raisins, and toasted walnuts all rolled up inside.  With that bread in hand, when this morning came, it was high time for eggy-in-the-basket.¹

It's the swirl that does it, unfailingly pointing the way to a mouthful of yolky delight.

Using such a bread isn’t completely traditional, of course, but sometimes a change is awfully delicious.  Joe remarked that it smelled like french toast…which, well, makes a lot of sense when you consider it.

Oh, also, I used some delicious Kerrygold butter to make this.  It wasn’t actually an extravagance; I found it on super-sale not long ago and so I happen to have it around.  It’s fantastic here. :9

1. Thanks, Yoli! [↩]

Day Sixty-Seven: Pan de Yema Oaxaqueño

March 13th, 2008, breakfast, daily bread, photos, recipes, vegetarian, Janaki, 3 Comments

If you’re ever wondering what to do with an excess of leftover egg yolks, particularly if you’ve recently made a meringue or an angel food cake, this is the bread recipe for you.

Literally meaning “Oaxacan Yolk Bread,” pan de yema Oaxaqueño is kind of like the love child of challah and brioche. It’s full of eggs and butter and as such, is probably not the best idea to stuff yourself with for those of you watching your cholesterol.

But the taste! Oh, the taste is glorious. The anise seeds push this over the top and into the realm of glory, truly.

Now, traditionally, this would be made in a loaf form. And slashed in the top to let steam out, as so many breads are. Maybe it was my joy at making bread again, or maybe it was the fact that it seems spring is finally in the air here in Chicago, or maybe it was this recent post of Beijing Fi’s that did it. Who knows? In any case, I believe I’ve made it clear how I feel about playing with my food before, right? So, I made a happy octopus out of it. As you do.

As usual, I halved the recipe. I also used bread flour instead of all-purpose. This dough is rather sticky, and I’ve been reading Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible lately, so I decided to take her advice and use my bread machine to mix this bread, not just proof it. I still kneaded it by hand a bit later, but she advises usage of a bread machine or stand mixer for wetter, stickier doughs especially because then you’re less tempted to oversaturate them with flour. ¹

I didn’t use the sesame seeds (hey, the recipe said they were optional! ), but as you can see from the photos, I did use the egg wash. I should also have done something to restrict the interior of the smile so that it would have been a little less messy, but I still like his gap-toothed grin. ²

At last, an octopus even a vegetarian can love eating.   As of this writing, he’s only got the foreshortened tentacles left.  Still smiling, though…quite happily.  And quite deliciously.

1. More on this later; I’m actually adoring this book right now but am not quite done with it, so expect a full review in a few days. [↩]
2. Joe suggested I should put this bread on a dowel and walk around at Mitsuwa using it as a mask. [↩]