Wednesday, November 25, 2009

happy thanksgiving

happy thanksgiving

its about that time.
turkey, family, pie, and hunting.
This year I will be spending Thanksgiving in South Carolina with Charles and family.

I have a few updates from the baking scene.

oatmeal raisin cinnamon bread:

oatmeal cinnamon raisin roll

oatmeal cinnamon raisin bread


sourdough bread:

sourdough bread

i feel a particular affection for this bread because ive been feeding, watching, and nurturing this little sour starter for close to two weeks now and it was nice to taste the efforts of my labor.

sourdough bread rolls


and then weve been kinda feeling like italians.

stromboli:

stromboli

a classic stromboli filled with a ricotta white sauce, pepperoni, ground beef, herbs, garlic, onions, and parmesan cheese.

calzone:

calzone

a classic calzone filled with red sauce, peperoni, garlic gloves, caramelized onions, mozzarella, and parmesan cheese.


grisstini:

grisstini

a classic grisstini bread stick filled with herbs, salt, and parmesan cheese.

and we made more pizza today, no pictures though.

WHITE SAUCE:

ricotta cheese.
whole milk.
herbs.
garlic.

combine all the ingredients. mix.
viola. white sauce.


moving on.

soft pretzels.

classic salt & herbs:

pretzel

sweet pretzel:

sweet soft pretzel

topped with cinnamon, sugar, and brown sugar.

pretzel sticks:

topped with salt and parmesan cheese:

pretzel stick


opped with pink sea salt and ghram crackers:

pretzel stick two

topped with salt, herbs, and porcini powder:

short pretzel stick

inside pretzel



were also working with dead dough.
i went in early this morning because i was feeling inspired and i wanted to change my design.
so monday morning i will hopefully finish the design.

New Hair::




Next up! I want to make this:

Timpano

involves lots and lots of:

3 different cheeses.
meat.
hard boiled eggs.
pasta.
red sauce.


inspiration: the movie Big Night.


fin.
happy thanksgiving.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

finally.

im waiting to make breakfast for the husband. Because he works from home I have to be quiet when he has calls (tech support). That means, no blender, frying pan, or any other sort of kitchen noise. blast!at least its good motivation to upload my creations from last week.

i was reading this morning about the unhealthiest states: GEORGIA is in the 40's. How sad is that?
I do believe it though. Moving from Florida to Georgia I noticed people lived differently. I grew up in a small town in North Georgia and visiting I can remember thinking, "wow, it is a different lifestyle out here." Body image may not be a priority to everyone, I get this.

okay, first up: Parmesan Crackers.

I am most proud of this shot, one of the pastry chefs came up to me and inquired why I was shooting with my F-Stop at 5.0. Then he proceeded to tell me that my shot looked like it came out of a magazine.

stacked crackers

i made cracker bread, hand rolled the crackers, and sprinkled a little parmesan on top.

square parmesan cracker

round parmesan crackers


whole wheat pita, baked directly on the stone:

pita

this bread should come with a disclaimer:
WARNING WARNING, HIGHLY ADDICTIVE!!!!! :

naan closeup

its naan:

naan

a soft, doughy delight fried in a pan with clarified butter and then lathered with butter after they are pulled off the fire. However, I prefer mine not all the way cooked with no second butter dipping.

Lavosh:

lavoashone

cheddar cheese, s & p, and black sesame seeds


lavoshtwo

garlic, herb, & butter rub

lavoshthree

honey, cinnamon, sugar, and sesame seeds


lavoshfour

pumpkin, cloves, & sesame seeds


i have more to update, but this will suffice for now.

happy thanksgiving in two days!!


Tuesday, November 17, 2009

bread & such

bread is a way of life.

Challah.
Comes from the jewish word for "offering"
Special kind of bread used for holidays.
It is a very sweet, golden, eggy bread.
The sesame seeds represent the "manna" given to the Isrealites when they wandered in the desert for 40 years.

two braid:
challah two braid

three braid:
challah three braid

six braid:
challah six braid

after I braided, I have some extras dough.

I did the logical thing and made some challah rolls:

challah roll with seeds

challah roll



LOOK! its a tasteful blend of spices:

spices on flour

used to make chai bagels:

Plain Chai Bagel


with brown sugar and sugar on top:

Chai Bagel w. Brown Sugar Sugar

and with cinnamon sugar on top:

Chai Bagel w. Cinnamon Sugar


these bagels were an invention straight out of my head. I am proud of them!

and now the regular bagels:

Plain:

Plain Bagel

Sea Salt:

Sea Salt Bagel

Sea Salt Bagel airel

Everything:

Everything Bagel

Herb:

Herb Bagel

Poppyseed:

Poppyseed Bagel

Sesame Seeds:

Sesame Seed Bagel

and lastly, English Muffins:

English Muffins

A couple of nights ago, Charles and I enjoyed a tasty dinner.





Chicken stuffed with Thyme & Rosemary, garlic, lemon, and herb butter that I made prior.
Dried the chicken, sprinkled with salt and pepper & olive oil.
Placed carrots & brussel sprouts around the chicken and covered.
Baked for 2 hrs @ 350.




Boiled Squash in vegetable stock with Thyme.

And we paired it with a 2007 Steel Creek Pinot Nior:
this is what we had to say about it.


I find that my dinner photography is severely lacking. Why? because after prepping, cooking, placing, and garnishing I am hungry. I really just want to eat my food and not photograph it. However I am getting better about taking pictures of it, even if they are less than at least there is some sort of visual representation.


Last night, Charlie and I celebrated our FOUR MONTHS of marriage!

What did we do? SUSHI of course.

We went to Ru-Sans in Buckhead. Sushi was average, nothing special. There were loads of roll variations at a bargain price. The real treat though was the view from the second story windows.


I finally finished Kitchen Confidential - It was everything that I thought it was going to be and more. I feel like I inherited indispensable chef knowledge, something that because I have chosen to be, I am entitled.

:) oh happy morning.

- time for class.


Saturday, November 14, 2009

interests.

i have a lot of interests.

i like photography. music. baking. painting. traveling. writing. baking. cooking. walking. spending time with charlie, my family, and friends. eating. listening to jazz music. crosswords.

i feel at times that i struggle with ADD. I get to working on one thing and then in no time, I am on to the next thing, fully forgetting what the heck i was working on in the first place.

i am trying to break myself of this. slowly wittling down the urge to digress and scatter.

back on track i am focused. for a time.


first. I am proud to announce that I, SARAH BETH ELMORE, am the newest HOSTESS AT BABETTE'S CAFE!
check it out - http://www.babettescafe.com/

I am still unsure what I am going to do with my other job at Plato's Closet, but for now I shall keep working.


second. BREAD WEEK CONTINUES.
A series of tasty baked delights from the kitchen.

Pain Au Lait (milk bread) :

from this we made two different items.

Margaritas:

round margarita

round parm margarita

mini maragarita

three margaritas

margrita pizza roll

and

Cloverleaf Rolls:

cloverleaf rolls



Parker House Rolls:

from this we made three traditional designs.

Split Roll:

split roll

split roll dos

Square Rolls:

square roll

Star Rolls:

well apparently I didnt photograph these...hmm...ok then we move on

and! a couple custom creations:

twist roll

creation star roll

four pointed roll

mini epi

two eight
this may be my favorite.


I am really enjoying school - its nice to be in that environment.
now the people, hmmm...thats a different story.

today is a long day - nice to have the mornings free-ish however i do work nine hours today.
yeah.

k, thats all.