I've been in some sort of a blogging slump lately. I've been baking, and even taking some pictures, but haven't been writing much. I've even been having a hard time participating in the blogging events that I usually enjoy a lot. So I'm trying to shake myself out of it. Work has been crazy, but I don't want that to bring me down anymore. Kids have been crazy, but hey, what else is new? =) The holidays are here, bringing with them lots of fabulous cooking magazines, both regular November and December issues and some holiday newsstand specials. This is the perfect time of year for blogging--in fact, I'm coming up on my second blogiversary very soon. Hard to believe I've been at this that long!!
It's also been a while since I participated in Magazine Mondays. But the above mentioned stack of magazines has inspired me. In particular, something from the December 2009 issue of Bon Appetit caught my eye. I used to subscribe to Bon Appetit, but stopped several years ago because I wasn't enjoying the magazine all that much anymore. But that was before I started blogging and talking to other bakers via Twitter. A couple months ago, I picked up an issue, based on comments from some of my tweeting friends. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it (the October 2009 issue). For one thing, some of the articles are by authors I recognize and like a lot, such as the wonderful Dorie Greenspan. And Peter Reinhart (breads in the November issue). In fact, I decided to start subscribing again to save myself some money. =)
I decided to play around. I ended up using the dough to make something similar to a Danish braid, like I made here. I took half of the dough and rolled it out into a rectangle. I spread cream cheese filling down the middle third of the dough and cut the sides into strips for braiding. (Check out some great how-to pics from Kelly at Sass & Veracity here.) After braiding, I let the dough proof until puffy (maybe about an hour?) and then baked it for about 25 minutes at 350 degrees F. For the other half of the dough, I used cream cheese filling and also some raspberry fruit butter. I drizzled the still-warm bread with a simple glaze of powdered sugar and milk.
You can find the recipe for the dough here. I'm sure there are lots of other fun things that can be made with it. And besides sending this over to Ivonne for Magazine Mondays, I'm submitting this to Yeastspotting. Oh, and my TWD post will be coming in the next day or two, since Laurie said it was okay to post late this week due to the holiday.
That looks great! Wonderful job playing around!
ReplyDeleteI think I'm going through the same bake/blog slump. I'm doing stuff, but I don't feel like launching into writing the posts. Ah well, it will subside.
I stopped subscribing to Bon Appetit because I had too many magazine subscriptions and wasn't reading them much any more. But I kind of miss Bon Appetit...and you're making me want to subscribe again!
That looks luscious. Fantastic
ReplyDeleteSo pretty! Can I have a slice? Pretty please? :)
ReplyDeleteVery beautiful and tasty looking!
ReplyDeleteI love the way you describe the dough, and the fact that it is so versatile. Your danish braid is so creative - I'd love a slice for breakfast tomorrow. I'll bet it will be delicious with cranberry.
ReplyDeleteThat looks really delicious Di! I think I'll give the chocolate-cranberry version a try eventually. I'm also a huge fan of the chocolate/cranberry combo!
ReplyDeletethis looks delicious and so nice!
ReplyDeleteI want to crawl into the middle of that dough and live there forever! Beautiful!
ReplyDeleteYour dough (and the rest) looks great. I'd love to try making my own danish.
ReplyDeleteMmmmm...That looks so good! I want some.
ReplyDelete