It's a Keck!

So last week I posted about all the baking I was doing as the result of it being a snow day. Today I have the results of that! All in all, over Thursday and Friday last week I made eight sandwich loaves (three wheat, three white, one herb, one rye), four round loaves (two each wheat and basil-garlic), two cinnamon coffee cakes, three small loaves of cranberry oatmeal bread, two large and one small loaf of pumpkin bread, and one killer chocolate bundt cake. Not too shabby for just hanging around the house watching it snow, right?

First off, all the bread turned out well, except for the rye. I don't know why, but I cannot find a good rye bread recipe. I can almost never get the darned stuff to rise! This loaf was no exception. All of the other bread was beautiful, but the rye was sad-looking. The coffee cakes turned out beautifully, as well, and the the quick breads all did nicely (and were devoured at church on Sunday!).

Then came the cake. The cake was a success--but with reservations! I tried the recipe I found over at Joy the Baker's blog. It was wonderful--rich, moist, and delectable. I mixed it up, popped it in the oven, then went and put my feet up. When I checked on it after 45 minutes, I found a beautiful, if not yet fully baked cake. Finally, after an hour and 15 minutes or so, I had my cake: beautiful, no? Then I saw the oven. Arrrgh!

The scraps didn't go to waste, however, as I sampled them (quality control, don't you know;)). After making myself about half-sick from the rich stuff, I decided to share the rest of the scraps with the birds.

As directed, I let the cake cool for a while, then turned it over on my largest plate. Finally, I came to the glaze. Hey, you can't go wrong with chocolate, butter, sour cream, and powdered sugar. But as I read the recipe, I HAD to make some changes. First, I don't do double boilers. For the normal person, I'm sure they work beautifully, but for me, I always want to fling the darned thing out the window. Besides, I do just as well with a well-regulated gas range and a heavy saucepan. Second, the recipe said to melt the chocolate and butter separately, then stir them together. This struck me as insane. I melt chocolate and butter together all the time when making my brownies. After that, I followed the recipe. All went well, until I went to pour it over the cake . . . It started running over the edges a bit, but I wasn't worried. So I kept pouring.
Oops! What you can't see in either pic is the fact that the inner hole of the cake was completely filled with chocolate! I didn't let it go to waste, however, as I scooped it into a container, and Friday night some friends and I spread it on graham crackers and added mini marshmallows to make s'mores! Yum!

Maybe I should try writing more?

I mean, after all, I am a writing instructor! Anyway, it's a snow day, so I'm chilling out, baking some bread, and taking it easy. I'm really good at check other people's blogs, but I don't do much with my own. So maybe I should start.

What am I cooking today? Well, to start with, I'm making some bread, some for the family, and some for a meal we're having at church Sunday (I always volunteer to bring bread/baked goods!). So far I've got a new recipe for rye started, two loaves of wheat (one for me, one for church), and a loaf of Italian herb/cheese (for church) begun. When these go for their second rise, I'll make three loaves of white (two for the family, one for church). Let's just hope the rye turns out!

I'm also supposed to make quick bread for church. Someone else said they'd do banana or pumpkin, so I'm thinking maybe date-walnut and cranberry-oatmeal.

I also need to bake something special for my dad, as it's his birthday. I may do a tried-and-true recipe, or I may try something new.

As for myself, I tried something different, but not too different for lunch today. I made an egg in a nest. I took a slice of Italian herb/cheese bread, cut a circle out of the middle with my scone cutter, and then buttered both sides and then popped it (as well as the circle from the middle) in my favorite blue circulon skillet. After it started browning, I broke an egg into the hole, then lightly salted and peppered it. After the egg had set well, I flipped the whole thing over (the circle of bread, too), and sprinkled a little of my Italian cheese blend on the egg. Loving fried eggs as I do, I didn't time the cooking, but guessing when the white would be cooked and the yolk still runny, I placed the bread circle over the cheese to help it melt, slid the whole thing onto a plate, and noshed out!

I will have to say, it was good but nowhere near as good as my special grilled cheese, egg, and salami sandwich!