Homemade Artisan Bread

I've been experimenting with baking rustic breads.  Here's a loaf of oatmeal sesame bread that I baked.
Meanwhile, here's a link to check.  Artisan-Bread-In-Five-Minutes-A-Day

Here's another link with videos.  Breadtopia

Quick Olallieberry Tart

This recipe came from Bon Appetit many years ago.  It originally called for apples, but since I had lots of olallieberries (a kind of blackberry), I used them.  If you have the puff pastry and some fruit around, it's pretty quick, and very yummy!   Don't try to serve more than 4 people with this, or you'll have people asking for more.  The pieces may appear large, but because it is very flat, it isn't really as "BIG" as it seems.  

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed (½ of 17.3 oz pkg)

2-3 cups of berries

2 T unsalted butter, melted

2-3T sugar mixed with ½ t cinnamon (depending on tartness of berries)

¼ C jam, melted (apricot, peach, apple, orange)

Preheat oven to 400^o.  Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.  (You can see that it can get juicy, so you do want sides on the sheet you use.)  Unfold pastry on parchment paper.  Using fork tines, pierce ½” border around edge of pastry, then pierce center all over. 

Arrange berries atop pastry until the entire sheet is covered, leaving border clear.  Brush with melted butter; sprinkle with sugar mixture.  Bake 30 minutes.

Brush melted jam over berries.  Bake until golden, about 8 minutes longer.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Serve with ice cream.                  

                                                                        Serves 4.

Candied Bacon

I really enjoy bacon, although now, I shouldn't eat so much.  Talk about tasty bacon!  Try this the next time you want to wow some guests. 

This was done in a frying pan, but for a crowd, it is easier to do in the oven.

* In the oven:  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Line a half-sheet pan with heavy duty foil to facilitate easier clean up of the pan.  Then put a cooling rack on the foil.  Lay out the bacon strips on the rack.  They can be next to each other, but should not overlap.  Then sprinkle about 1 teaspoon of brown sugar on each slice--or enough to cover most of the slice.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, then remove from the oven.

Turn each slice over and sprinkle with more brown sugar.  At this point, you can turn your oven down to 350, if desired.  Bake until done.  Watch carefully as it can burn easily with all that sugar.  If not done in another 5-10 minutes, you may want to turn again, but you don't need to add more sugar.

On the stove:  Lay bacon in cold NON-STICK pan.  Sprinkle with some brown sugar.  Cook until it starts to brown.  Turn over and sprinkle on more brown sugar.  Drain oil as it accumulates.  Turn as needed.  Cook until done to the crispness you desire.  (Do not try to drain on paper towel, as it will stick to the paper.)

* From  A Feast for the Eyes  The main recipe is about Olallieberry pancakes, but the recipe for candied bacon is here as well.  Thanks, Debbie!

Separating the yolk from the white

In case you haven't seen this video about an easy way to separate the yolk and white of an egg, watch this video.

Although you're not likely to understand the language, the video shows you how and the language doesn't matter.  Give it a try.  It really works!