One of TM's friends ended up with a bumper crop of quince this year, so they've been sharing the bounty. And we got extra bonus pears along with our quince!
I have plans for the quince that should hopefully appear on the blog shortly. I actually debated doing up a simple poached quince dessert after dinner tonight. But the pears needed to be used more urgently, so I decided to start there.

I have a lot of pear recipes awaiting testing. But this one had the virtue of being very quick and easy to put together and only needing three pears, which, conveniently, was the exact number we were given. It is also delicious!

The original recipe acutally went for an almond theme. The pears were drizzled with amaretto and topped with toasted sliced almonds after roasting. I didn't have any amaretto, but I did have a bottle of Frangelico in the pantry. And I figured that pear and hazelnut is also a good combo. So I just swapped out the liqueur and replaced the almonds with chopped toasted hazelnuts. It worked very well, if I do say so myself!

Roasted Pears with Honey, Hazelnuts, and Greek Yogurt

Slightly adapted from Dessert of the Day by Kim Laidlaw

Ingredients

• 3 pears¹
• 1/3 c. honey
• 4 bay leaves
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
• 2 Tbsp. Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
• 1 1/2 c. plain Greek yogurt
• 1/4 c. hazelnuts, toasted and chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Peel, halve, and core the pears.
3. Bring the honey and bay leaves to a boil over medium heat.
4. Reduce heat slightly and simmer for 3-4 minutes.
5. Place the butter pieces evenly spaced in the pan and place a pear half, cut-side-down, on top of each one.
6. Cover and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 12 minutes.
7. Carefully flip pears over and baste with sauce.
8. Drizzle with Frangelico and return to oven.
9. Roast, uncovered, at 190°C (375°F) until pears are tender (~10 minutes).
10. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly (10-15 minutes).
11. Place two pear halves in a bowl and drizzle with a little sauce.
12. Top with ~1/2 c. of yogurt, ~1 Tbsp. of hazelnuts, and a bit more sauce and serve.

---

¹ The original recipe called for 3 "ripe but firm" bosc pears. I'm not sure what variety we were given, but they definitely weren't bosc. They looked a bit like anjou, but I don't know my pears well enough to say for sure. Specifics aside, they were excellent in this application! So, personally, I wouldn't worry too much about what specific type of pears you have as long as they're good ones. ^Back

Asian Noodle Bowl (Breakfast Bible)

Personally, I don't really feel that this recipe... works as written. It calls for 1 1/2 pounds of fresh noodles (either udon, soba, or spaghetti), which works out to ~1 pound of dried. I opted for a scant pound of ramen for my take on this. And it was okay, but I really felt that there were way too many noodles for the amount of other stuff. And I even doubled the bacon and increased the eggs by 50%! (Plus, I added some toasted sesame seeds and pickled veggies.) So yeah, while I'm fine with this breakfast as a concept I think this particular implementation could use some work.

The recipe below reflects the rebalanced version. Which, to be fair, is largely the same as what I made today, just with less noodles.

Asian Noodle Bowl

Adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4-6 slices bacon or 100g smoked tofu, sliced
• 250g dried noodles (ramen, soba, spaghetti, etc.)
• 2 Tbsp. light soy sauce
• 2 tsp. mirin
• 1 tsp. rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 4-6 large eggs, beaten
• 2 green onions, chopped, greens and whites separated
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds
• pickled veggies, to taste
• black pepper, to taste

Directions

1. If using bacon, fry until crisp. If using tofu, add a little bacon grease or oil to the pan and fry until browned on both sides. Chop and set aside.
2. Cook the noodles to desired doneness. Drain and set aside.
3. Combine soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, and sugar.
4. Drain all but 1 Tbsp. of fat from the pan used to cook the bacon.
5. Add the noodles, the sauce, and the white parts of the green onions and toss to combine.
6. Push the noodles to the sides of the pan and pour in the eggs.
7. Cook, without stirring, for 3-4 minutes.
8. Stir the eggs to allow some of the uncooked egg to run underneath.
9. Continue stirring ever few minutes until eggs are mostly cooked, then stir into the noodles and continue cooking until eggs are fully set.
10. Top with green parts of green onions, sesame seeds, and pickled veggies, season to taste with pepper, and serve.

I love a good pandesal. Especially the lovely, purple, ube-flavoured ones! I've never tried making it myself though. And, arguably, I should have started with a more traditional, non-sourdough recipe for my first attempt. But I had starter that needed used, so I figured I'd give it a go.

I think this recipe was largely fine, but I was distracted and in a hurry when making it, so I didn't give it as much attention as I should have and ended up with slightly subpar results.

I didn't quite catch the starter at its peak, so it had already started to sink back by the time I was mixing the dough. I also absent-mindedly started scooping whole wheat flour into the bowl instead of the all-purpose flour that I'd been intending to use. So, instead of 300g of all-purpose flour, the final dough ended up with ~100g of whole wheat flour and 200g of all-purpose flour. This made the dough slightly drier than it was meant to be, which meant that I had trouble getting it to take up all of the flour. And, since I didn't have time to stay there and keep kneading it, I just covered it and let it sit for a couple hours while I attended to other things. This resulted in some obstinate lumps of mostly dry flour that were very difficult to properly smooth out and incorporate later. I was having enough trouble with these lumps and getting everything evenly mixed, that I decided to add a little more water. Now, what I should have done was wet my hands and work a bit of water in that way. Instead I decided to pour a little water in. And ended up adding 30g instead of the 5-10 it likely needed. So then the dough was much too wet. Which required trying to correct it with a little more flour (~40g). Not the end of the world, to be sure, but not exactly ideal either.

And then there was the shaping...

The recipe recommended rolling the dough into a log and then cutting the log into 12 discs and placing the discs cut-side-up for proofing and baking. So I did that. But I'm not really happy with the results that that gave. I think next time I'd pinch off balls of dough and round them in the usual way, placing them seam-side down on the baking sheet. Still... I'm glad that I tried it this way the first time, just to see how it worked out.

As I said, this is not a bad recipe overall. I just need to take a little more care with it next time around.

Sourdough Pandesal

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 120g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 150g water
• 300g all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1/4 c. canola (or other neutral) oil
• breadcrumbs, for coating

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is very well-fed and active.
2. Combine starter, water, flour, salt, and sugar and mix well.
3. Knead by hand or hook until dough is smooth and elastic (2-10 minutes depending on your technique).
4. Gradually work in the oil.
5. Cover and allow to ferment at room temperature for 4-8 hours.
6. Once the dough is fully risen, knock it back and allow to rest for a few minutes.
7. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions and round each one.
8. Roll each dough ball in breadcrumbs and place on a greased baking sheet.
9. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours.
10. Rolls may either be baked now or held in the fridge and baked off first thing in the morning.
11. Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
12. Uncover rolls and bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~25 minutes.
13. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

I took the Kidlet to the grocery store with me the other day and she wanted to get an apple pie. I told her that I usually find the budget grocery store apple pies somewhat disappointing and that we'd probably be better off making our own. And, as luck would have it, when TF and I went to the grocery store a few days later, they had bags of apples on the discount produce rack: 8 apples for $2!

Now, the catch with getting discount apples is that you don't get to choose (or even know) what variety you're getting. They looked like maybe macs or galas, but I'm not certain. I know they weren't red delicious, Granny Smith, or golden delicious, but that's about all I can say. I usually hear relatively tart apples (like Granny Smiths) recommended for baking, so this probably wasn't ideal. But they were cheap and I'm still quite happy with how the pie turned out and, most importantly, so is the Kidlet.

The book contains its own pastry recipe for the pie. Initially, I was going to use their recipe. But then I thought about how much sourdough starter I have going begging right now and figured that maybe going for a sourdough pastry would be better. I felt like it would complement the apples reasonably well and let me use up a little starter, so why not? I even managed to get a flakier, less bready result this time! I think the only change I'd make next time is to add slightly more sugar to the crust. Maybe a full tsp. rather than just half. It might also be fun to experiment with brushing the crust with a little egg or milk and then sprinkling on some turbinado sugar before baking. But I didn't want to mess around with that for this time. Possibly something to experiment with, but by no means necessary.

Apple Pie

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 recipe sourdough pastry
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch
• 8 apples, peeled and sliced
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter¹
• vanilla ice cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Prepare pastry, wrap, and chill for at least 30 minutes.
2. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
3. Combine sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cornstarch.
4. Add the apples and toss to mix.
5. Divide the pastry into two equal portions and roll out each one into a 30cm (12") round.
6. Use one pastry sheet to line a pie plate.
7. Dump the apples into the pie shell.
8. Dot the butter on top, then cover with remaining pastry sheet.
9. Trim edges and fold the edge of top crust under the bottom crust, then crimp to seal.
10. Cut a few slits in the top crust.
11. Bake until crust is golden and apples are tender (~60 minutes).
12. Transfer to wire rack to cool.
13. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.
14. Serve with ice cream and or whipped cream (if desired).

---

¹ I only just now realized that I forgot to add the butter. Whoops! ^Back

I've been continuing to try out sourdough recipes from the King Arthur Flour website. This one is full of inclusions and spices. And, between the starter and the oatmeal, doesn't actually contain all that much fresh flour. Which made it a bit difficult to work with initially. The dough seemed very loose and wet and had very little gluten development. I actually ended up adding ~50g of extra flour, just to try to adjust the consistency to something slightly more workable. After it had sat overnight in the cold room though, it had tightened up quite a bit and I found myself wishing that I hadn't added the extra flour after all. So, I guess next time I'll trust the recipe and go with the original amounts.

Walnut and Raisin Oatmeal Sourdough

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 120g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 250g cooked steel-cut oats¹, cooled
• 30g honey
• 30g water
• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1 Tbsp. orange zest
• 220g hard (strong/high grade/bread) whole wheat flour²
• 1/8 tsp. instant yeast (optional)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 65g walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 90g raisins

Directions

1. Make sure your starter is well-fed and active.
2. Combine starter, oatmeal, honey, water, butter, allspice, nutmeg, and orange zest and mix well. (Make sure the oatmeal isn't too hot or it will kill the yeast/starter.)
3. Add the flour and yeast and mix very well.
4. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 30-60 minutes.
5. Work in the salt and let stand for another hour or two.
6. Do a bowl fold and then let rest for another hour or so. Repeat until dough feels light and well-risen.
7. Work in the walnuts and raisins.
8. At this point, dough can be covered and stored in the fridge overnight or allowed to rest for one more hour before shaping.
9. Shape into a loaf and place in a banneton or prepared loaf pan. (If desired, dust the banneton/pan with some finely chopped steel-cut oats first to give the loaf a nice coating.)
10. Cover and allow to rise at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
11. If desired, loaf may be proofed in the fridge overnight.
12. Preheat oven to 230°C (450°F) and boil some water.
13. Bake bread at 230°C (450°F) over a pan of boiling water for 15 minutes.
14. Remove water pan and reduce heat to 190°C (375°F) and bake for another 20 minutes or so.
15. Turn off oven and let loaf stand in hot oven for 10 minutes.
16. Transfer to wire rack to cool.

---

¹ Oats should be cooked with a ratio of 1:4.1 oats to water by mass. I started with 100g of oats and 410g of water and cooked until the oats were somewhat tender with a decent tooth/chew to them and the oatmeal was reasonably thick. I then weighed out 250g of the cooked oatmeal and reserved the rest for another use. ^Back
2 The original recipe calls for 220g of all-purpose flour. I ended up using 120g of whole wheat flour and 160g of all-purpose flour. I think next time I'd try using entirely whole wheat flour, but sticking to the originally recommended quantity. ^Back

I got some lovely fresh herbs from my mom's garden at Thanksgiving. And I've been enjoying trying out different recipes to use them up. So far, I've been focusing on the parsley and rosemary. But I ran across this delicious-looking recipe for baked gnocchi with sage and decided to give that a try.

It's definitely not health food by any means, but it is easy and tastes fantastic!

Baked Gnocchi with Fontina, Pancetta, and Sage

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 125-250g pancetta¹, chopped
• 2-3 Tbsp. chopped fresh sage
• 1kg gnocchi
• 1 1/2 c. half-and-half (10% MF)
• 250g fontina cheese², cut into 5mm cubes
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/3 c. panko breadcrumbs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F) and grease a 23x33cm (9x13") lasagne pan.
2. Cook the pancetta over medium heat until crisp.
3. Drain off as much of the fat as possible, add the sage, and set aside.
4. Cook the gnocchi according to the package directions (or slighlty less).
5. Drain the gnocchi and add it to the pan with the pancetta along with the half-and-half, cheese, and pepper.
6. Stir to combine and pour the mixture into the prepared pan.
7. Sprinkle with breadcrumbs and bake at 190°C (375°F) for 15-20 minutes.
8. It breadcrumbs are not sufficiently browned, place under the broiler for 2-3 minutes.

---

¹ The original recipe called for 125g of pancetta, but we all really like pancetta here, so I decided to double it. That said, I do think that the smaller quantity would have been sufficient -- even if the bumped up amount was delicious! ^Back
2 The original recipe called for taleggio cheese. I couldn't find any at the grocery store, so I substituted fontina. I think oka probably also would have been good, but the fontina was cheaper and I was able to find a piece that was exactly the amount I needed, so I just went with that. ^Back

I know I just made a chocolate sourdough, but this is a different chocolate sourdough. This one contains no sugar and no chocolate, but more than twice the amount of cocoa (proportionally). And the liquid is beer, rather than water. (I used a dark ale for mine.)

While the previous chocolate sourdough claimed to be a savoury bread, I actually found it relatively sweet. This one, however, is nothing like that. It is exceptionally dark and somewhat bitter. The recipe recommends pairing it with salty offerings like pickles, cheeses, and/or cured meats. And TF found it to be an excellent substrate for Vegemite. Meanwhile, the Kidlet thinks it will make an ideal bread for grilled cheese and has requested one tomorrow.

This bread also has some of the most impressively crisp, delightful crust that I've ever achieved. And it got great oven spring. (Despite me forgetting about it for an entire afternoon and generally being pretty lax with my care and timings when making it.) Very nice overall!

Chocolate Beer Bread

Slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients

• 350g hard (strong/high grade/bread) flour
• 40g Dutched (alkalized) cocoa
• 300g beer
• 80g ripe (fed) sourdough starter @ 100% hydration
• 1/2 Tbsp. coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Refresh your starter and make sure it's nice and active.
2. Combine the flour, cocoa, beer, starter, and salt and mix very well.
3. Let dough rest, covered, for 3-8 hours, stretching and folding every hour or so.
4. Once dough feels light and well-risen, shape it into a loaf and place it (seam-side-up) in a floured banneton.
5. Cover and let rest for 2-3 hours at room temperature (or 6-24 hours in the fridge).
6. When ready to bake: preheat oven to 250°C (475°F) and boil some water.
7. Grease a baking sheet and dust it with cornmeal.
8. Turn the loaf out onto the preapred baking sheet.
9. Gently rub or brush a little water onto the crust and then slash as desired.
10. Pour some boiling water into a roasting pan and place it on the bottom rack of the oven.
11. Place the bread on the rack above the water pan and bake at 250°C (475°F) for 15 minutes.
12. Reduce heat to 200°C (400°F), remove water pan, and bake for another 15-20 minutes.
13. Turn off oven and allow bread to rest in hot oven for 10 minutes.
14. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.