Rachel's Bread Co.

My original title for this post was going to be "Yeast Infection". I also tossed around the idea of "I've Got A Yeast Infection." But I could already hear the voice of my mom saying, "Oh Rachel, I don't like that." So I chickened and went with the safe title.

Anyways. Like I mentioned before, the Resident Taste Tester got me a pizza stone for my birthday. She also got me this book, Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

I'm not going to lie to you, yeast scares me. I mean, anything that is going to double in size and then needs to be punched down is a little intimidating to me.
My only previous experience with yeast was some bread dough that I had left in the oven to rise. I'll never know if it worked or not because a roommate came home and turned the oven on to make some cookies. FYI - a plastic bowl with bread dough in it will melt in a pre-heating oven. Just a helpful little tip for my friends.

Anyways. This little guy is my first ever loaf of bread! Isn't he cute? Yes, I see that he's a little lopsided and uneven. But so are babies when they're born. The point is, I made bread and I'm darn proud of it!


And then I cut it.

And here I am like a proud mama, cutting her... bread? I don't know. I just remember saying, "I made bread! And it even looks like bread, and it smells like bread, and I'm going to eat it!"


And then I ate it! I put some of the blackberry jam that I made on it. It was delightful! My whole apartment smelled like freshly baked bread!

The best part: it was so incredibly easy! The book is based on the concept of mixing a large batch of dough once, and then using portions of it when you want it. There's a lot of rising time involved, but the actual hands-on part of it is very minimal. I've since been practicing my shaping and stretching of the dough to get it more even, but the overall idea is very simple.

The bottom line is that there will definitely be more bread coming in the near future!

On a completely different topic, I've officially left the glamorous life of a staff accountant for a public accounting firm. This past Monday, the 15th, I started my new life in private accounting as a Senior Tax Analyst. Doesn't the title sound sexy? I feel more important already!

To say that I'm excited about this is an understatement, but I'm looking forward to it as being an overall healthy move for me. As an added bonus, the accounting staff is roughly 6 times bigger than my previous office, so I'll have a way bigger audience to bake for!

Why I Like My Boyfriend

Well, there are many reasons why I like my boyfriend. But pretty darn close to the top of list is his cooking. Get this: he knows how to cook and he likes to cook. And he doesn't just make the same old boring things for me. He comes up with crazy ideas and we try them out.

Take Exhibit A: A grilled cheese bacon cheeseburger.

Oh yeah! It's like the KFC Double Down of grilled cheese and burgers! Let's examine the evidence a little closer in Exhibit B:

Ok, so we have a grilled cheese sandwich. Followed by a moist and flavorful all beef patty. Topped with bacon and more melted cheese. Finished off by, wait, what's that you say? Yes, another grilled cheese!

Clearly this was a day where I fell off the diet wagon.

A Discussion on Bacon

Can we chat for a second about bacon? I think that we should. I feel like this is an important topic that we really need to discuss.


Bacon is amazing!


That's all. I mean, seriously, what more could I tell you about it? It's good stuff.

Oh! You wanted me to tell you what to do with it? Gotcha. Well friends, I like to put it in chocolate chip cookies!


Do you see that? Yup! That's what we in the biz like to call a "bacon chocolate chip cookie." Let's take a closer look at this.

Uh huh. Those big chunks of goodness are none other than crispy pieces of bacon. I just cooked about 5 or 6 slices of thick bacon and then crumbled it into my usual chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Bacon Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Pillsbury Best Desserts

5-6 slices of bacon
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 12 oz. pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cook bacon until crisp. Cool and crumble into pieces.
2. Heat oven to 375 degrees F. In large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar, and margarine; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs; blend well. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix well. Fold in chocolate chips and bacon pieces.
3. Drop dough by rounded tablesppoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Be careful not to overbake them.
   

That's How I Roll!

They see me rollin'
They hatin'
Patrollin' trying to catch me riding dirty!

Ok, just one more, I swear.

A little rock and roll!

Do you get it yet?

I'm in a fondant class!

Cause we roll out the fondant!?

Well I thought it was funny.

Anyhow, my adventures in cake continue with my awesome teacher, The Gum Paste Lady, and my new cake making friend, The "Other" Martha (which was her choice of nickname).

So for our first class, we learned how to cover a round cake and make gum paste daisies and leaves. Maybe it was having the Gum Paste Lady standing next to me while I was putting the fondant on, but it really wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be.

Or maybe it was just beginner's luck and my next cake will be a cracking mess of a cake worthy of Kerry Vincent judgment. But seriously, much love and shout-outs go to the Biggest Little Cake Shoppe. Without them, I couldn't have made my own birthday cake!

Truthfully, I can't even remember what kind of cake this was. I'm fairly certain that it was a plain yellow cake with plain old canned frosting. It's easy enough that I can throw a cake together when I get home from work. I'll get more creative when work slows down.

Not too shabby for my first fondant cake! I know you've been seeing a lot of cakes lately, but that's really all I have time for these days. But I've got plenty of cool stuff on the way for you!

The Great Pizza Stone Fiasco

The following exchange occurred between the Resident Taste Tester and myself after a commercial for Pizza Hut:

RTT: I love pizza.

Me: I bought us a pizza stone and peel! It should be coming next week.

RTT: No!

Me: Yes?

RTT: No!!

Me: Yes?!

RTT: No!!!

Me: Seriously, yes!

RTT: I bought you a pizza stone and peel for your birthday. I'm just waiting for the stone to arrive next week.

Me: No!

RTT: Yes!

Me: No!!

RTT: Yes!!

Moral of the story: I'll be reviewing Amazon's return policy this week when I send the ones I bought back! Also, apparently my roommate and I don't like to use complete sentences when repeatedly saying "yes" and "no" can be used instead.

Happy Birthday to Me!!

Happy belated birthday post! Well, I'm officially over the hill now that I'm the big 24. In fact, I just told my financial advisor that I'm just waiting on him to give me the ok for retirement. His laugh leads me to believe that he thinks I'm only kidding. Ron, I'm not.

For my big 24th, my darling Quantity Control Expert threw me a fabulous pizza potluck party! I was surrounded my some of the best people I know: people that come over bearing food and drink for my party!

The QCE had the brilliant idea of buying pizza dough and having people bring over different toppings to throw on the pizzas. We had sausage and chicken and artichokes and pine nuts and sauces and cheese and veggies of all kinds! The man-tern (man intern) lent us his pizza stone and peel, which turned out pizza so well that I felt the need to get my own afterwards. But those pizzas definitely went much smoother with the Designated Bowl Licker's pizza making expertise!

I was so busy in the kitchen, I hardly got to see the pizzas before they were snatched up! This one had pesto sauce, chicken, peppers, onions, pine nuts, and artichokes, and that's just what I can easily identify. Plus, the man-tern recommended that we mix up olive oil with minced garlic and Parmesan cheese, and then brush it onto the crust straight out of the oven. Oh dear lord, was that ever tasty!

Here's my Director of Food Output, hard at work on a slice of pizza! Sadly, my Director will be working remotely since he's moving to fabulous New York City for work. This just means more care packages!

My fellow food friend Mike brought over a trout dip that was amazing! He also introduce us to an incredibly simple but fabulous appetizer: fresh radishes dipped in butter and sprinkled with fleur de sel. This guy is so awesome, he even left the rest of the appetizers for the QCE and I to munch at work the next day!

There was so much food! We made five pizzas with all sorts of different toppings. There was salad and appetizers and all sorts of wines and beers that my dear friends brought!

And, of course, there was cake! The QCE pointed out no one could make a cake that lived up to my standards, so I should therefore make my own cake. Since I took the day off work, I had plenty of time to make my very first birthday cake!

You may be thinking how weird it is to make your own cake. But I figured that if I'm going to screw up someone's birthday cake, I should probably do it on my own cake instead of someone else's! Maybe I should say practice. I should practice on my own instead of someone else's!

But I was really happy with how it turned out. It was really clean and not covered in crumbs like they usually end up. And, bonus, I had tons of fun slacking off from work and making a cake!

Oh no! Cake on fire!!!!

And look at how much better that writing is!

Blowing out the candles and making a wish that 24 is even better than 23!

My Royal Icing Final Exam

For five weeks, I spent my Thursday nights at the Biggest Little Cake Shoppe learning how to make royal icing flowers. I showed you my first attempts at flowers and how poorly they started. But I am actually rather proud to show you the end product of those five weeks.

That's right friends, I made that cake. All by myself.

I know there's still plenty for me to work on and lots of things I need to practice, but look at how much better it is from my very first cake!

There's basket weave on that cake! A little crooked and a little runny at times due to my experimenting with canned frosting, but at least it wasn't more of that buttercream stuff.



My favorite flowers are the yellow ones above and the purple heather below. But those purple flowers are god-awful time consuming to make. I kept trying to count how many stars went into one flowers, but I kept going cross-eyed.