Author Archives for Renea Myers

Amish-Style Soft Pretzels were a hit at my house.

I learned how to make these yummy pretzels at Culinary School. My family gobbled them up! These taste a little different from “regular” German-style pretzels which are often dipped in a lye bath prior to baking. This Amish-style is brushed in a simple baking soda solution. They are soft, buttery and so delicious. Enough talk.. let’s start making pretzels!

Note: When you are baking, it is recommended to measure ingredients by weight but if that’s just too far out of your comfort zone, I have estimated the volume measure equivalents)

Amish-Style Pretzels

15 oz. water (a little more than 1 3/4 cups)
1/2 oz. active dry yeast (about 4.75 tsp.)
1 lb. 2 oz. bread flour (4 cups)
6 oz. pastry flour (rounded 1 cup plus 1/3 cup)
** all purpose flour will work for both amounts if you can’t find the other kinds. The texture may not be as chewy
1/4 oz. salt (1/2 Tbsp)
1/2 oz. sugar. (about 1 Tbsp)
Soda Wash:
12 oz. water (1 1/2 cups)
1.5 oz. baking soda (3 Tbsp)

Course Sea salt for sprinkling and melted butter for dipping

Place the yeast in a mixing bowl and add 2 ounces of 110 degree water. Use a thermometer and get the water to 110 degrees before adding to the yeast. Whisk the yeast and water to dissolve. Let it sit in the bowl for 3-5 minutes. Add flours, salt, sugar and the rest of the water to the bowl. Using a dough hook on your mixer, mix on medium speed 9 minutes. Dough should be firm but pliable. If dough is really soft, add a little more flour and mix for a couple more minutes. Remove dough from the mixing bowl and place in a shallow bowl, turning top of dough down towards the bottom of bowl. Cover with a towel and let it ferment in a warm place until it is doubled in size and the dough springs back slowly when touched. I like to put my dough bowl in a cold oven over a bowl of hot steaming water to simulate a proof box environment. After fermentation, fold the dough in from each side to expel gas and distribute gluten. Cut dough into 5 oz. pieces and roll each piece into a ball, letting sit on the counter under parchment paper as you work. Wait 5 minutes after you’re done rolling to start working with the dough again. Starting with the first dough pieces you rolled, use the palms of your hands to roll a 30 inch long strip. Twist into a pretzel shape and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Stretch the pretzel out a little when it gets on the pan. Brush pretzels thoroughly with the soda wash. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake at 500 degrees for 8-9 minutes until well-browned. Dip in melted butter after baking and drain on cooling racks. Makes 10-12 pretzels.

Baking Tips

Here are some tips I’ve collected from texts, trials and favorite chefs that might get a rise out of you!

When baking cookies, Chef P says if you’re not serving them that day, store them in the freezer (after cooling) and let them thaw before serving. You can ice, decorate, sprinkle or whatever once they are thawed. Cookies start to stale almost immediately and freezing keeps them fresher longer.
Always refrigerate opened yeast.
When making yeast bread, activate the dry yeast in 110 degree F. water. It makes a difference!
Don’t add the salt directly on top of the yeast, put it on top of the flour. Salt kills yeast.
You know your yeast bread is done when you thump the bottom of the bread and it sounds hollow. If you can’t thump it, check the temperature and it’s done at 210 degrees.
Be sure to adhere to mixing, fermentation and proofing instructions. Most yeast doughs should be mixed with the dough hook for 8-10 minutes to develop the gluten.
Before baking yeast breads, consider washing the dough with egg white and water for a shiny, crisp crust or whole egg and milk for a golden, soft crust.
Don’t adjust dry ingredient amounts in baking formulas. It’s a science!
When baking with chocolate chips, nuts, berries, etc. toss them in flour before adding to mixture. It will keep them from sinking to the bottom.
For the best baked product end-result, consider weighing ingredients instead of using measuring cups. Only water, egg and milk is measured by volume in a real bake shop.
Move baked breads and muffins to a cooling rack as soon as possible to keep the bottoms from getting soggy.
Never submerge a rolling pin in water. It can get inside the well and leak out onto later batches of dough.
When baking bread loaves, make small cuts or “score” the top of the dough to keep loaf from splitting when baked.
If you’re using a shortening-based cake icing, add a little lemon juice to improve the “mouthfeel” of the icing.
Don’t store your bread and muffins in the refrigerator. Keep lightly covered at room temperature for a day or just bake and freeze, wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and inside a freezer bag. Let thaw at room temp and refresh in the oven. Refrigerate only baked goods containing cream fillings. The fridge dries out baked goods.
When bread is properly proofed and ready to bake, it springs back slowly when touched.
Use cake flour only for cakes and pasty flour only for pastries. Bread flour is a high-gluten flour you can use for making yeast breads. All-purpose flour is a cross between pastry and bread flour so you can use for many types of baked goods. Cake flour makes cakes tender and fine-crumbed.
Only use your mixer whip attachment for foaming egg whites and cream. The paddle should be used for everything else, except mixing dough! That’s for the dough hook.

Some of our favorite wine brands

A friend called today to ask advice on purchasing wine for party. I am certainly no expert on wine, but I do have a Go To list. So, I decided to write up some of our favorite wine choices… I’d love to know your favorites. Just leave in comments section. Here’s to Vino!

Menage a Trois California Table Wine- a wonderfully smooth red blend that is so very drinkable!

Menage a Trois also has a great Chardonnay, fruity and clean.

Kendall Jackson Vintner’s Reserve Chardonnay is our absolute favorite for a buttery smooth treat

Cupcake Red Velvet is also a nice, inexpensive red blend.

Conundrum Red is my top choice for a red blend. A little pricier than Menage, but worth it on special nights.

Liberty School Cabernet Sauvignon is quite wonderful… tastes like velvet.

Dreaming Tree Cabernet Sauvignon is the Dave Matthews wine we have recently fallen in love with.

Grilled Chicken Salad Bar for a Ladies Lunch

I co-hosted a lunch meeting for a group of twenty women at my son’s school this week. My cohort and I decided to present a Grilled Chicken Salad Bar and it was a big hit. Plus, assembling the whole meal was relatively easy and didn’t require a great deal of prep time. We did it all from baking to location set-up in just a few hours the morning before the lunch. Be sure to feature at least one really special salad dressing. Our star was the Braswell’s. We coordinated the tablecloths, serving dishes and flowers for a simple seasonal presentation. Next time you have to host a lunch for the gals, give this menu a whirl!

Here’s the plan
-Fill two big salad bowls with mixed greens (include some spinach and purple lettuce)
-Marinate, grill and slice boneless chicken breasts; keep warm on a covered platter on the “salad bar”
-Set out bowls of all your favorite toppings with spoons. We served candied walnuts, sliced strawberries, dried cranberries, feta cheese crumbles, gorgonzola cheese crumbles, and diced red onion. You could also add apples and croutons.
-Braswell’s Raspberry Vinaigrette Dressing, Olde Cape Cod Wasabi Soy & Ginger dressing, Wishbone Light Balsamic Vinaigrette
-Gourmet Crackers
-Pasta Salad
-Extra fruit (we had a plate of grapes)
-Homemade Pound Cake

Here’s the Pound Cake Recipe

Heavenly Pound Cake
3 cups sugar
2 sticks butter
5 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
8 oz sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp lemon extract
½ tsp dark rum or rum extract
Glaze (1/2 tsp lemon juice, 1/4 tsp. rum extract and enough powdered sugar to make a thick drizzling consistency)
Garnish: Toasted sliced almonds, optional

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature (set out for 30 minutes). Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Add to the batter mixture, alternating with sour cream, starting and ending with flour. Don’t overbeat. Stir in vanilla, almond, lemon and rum. Pour into prepared Bundt pan and bake at 325 degrees 60-70 minutes or until center is done. Cool 45 min. in the pan on a wire rack. Turn out onto cake plate. Drizzle glaze over top of cake, letting it run down the inside and outside of Bundt shape. Top with toasted almonds.

Chicken Cordon Something on the fly… inspirations from last weekend at the lake.

My whole family loves spending as much time as possible at Smith Mountain Lake in the summer. We swim, boat, sleep, play cards, read, gossip and of course we EAT like there’s no tomorrow. The lake is a great place to test out my latest culinary creations because I have a captive, hungry audience and most of what I make is at least better than the food at the Dairy Queen down the road. I cook for the hubby, the kids, the in-laws, the rents, the sibs, the dog, some of the neighbors and occasionally the random strangers in the nearest boat. My mom and sisters take their turn at the stove too. My van is usually running over with twice as many groceries as suitcases. However, this past weekend was probably the last weekend at the lake for a while so I was trying to use up what food we had and not go out and buy a lot of extra groceries. By Labor Day Monday, the cupboards were pretty bare. So, like the enterprising family that we are, we pooled our resources to make the final dinner. Turned out pretty good. Here’s what happened.

Chicken Cordon Something

-I took the last of my Sister’s boneless chicken breasts and pounded them thin between plastic wrap. I didn’t have a mallet, but a heavy ice cream scoop worked just fine.
-Applied salt, pepper, minced garlic, Italian seasoning, and onion powder to both sides of chicken. You can use whatever spice/herb mix you like.
-Collected everyone’s leftover lunch meat and layered the meat on the chicken.
-Layered slices of leftover cheese (swiss slices, grated Italian blend and what I think was shredded cheddar) Didn’t really try to make them all the same.. the chicken pieces just got what they got.
-Rolled up the chicken pieces and secured with a toothpick
-Coated each piece in a mixture of grated Parmesan cheese, club cracker crumbs, and seasoned salt. I used the club crackers because THAT’S ALL I HAD and they were starting to go stale.
-Drizzled a tiny bit of butter on top for some moisture and baked at 350 for 17 minutes or so until internal temp was 165 degrees. It’s a good idea to remove the toothpicks halfway through the cooking time.

We ate it just like this with some leftover green beans and pasta salad but a white wine cream sauce or a mushroom sauce would be a nice accompaniment.

This turned out to be one of the best meals of the weekend. I think the key to making this approach work for you is to consider the protein ingredients you have, think of a dish you like that includes that protein and then look around your kitchen for similar items. Don’t be afraid to improvise! Leftover lunch meat may be the sleeping star of your next dinner, too.

When your fruit needs a dress

Everyone in my family loves fruit salad but I’ll admit it can get kind of boring. One way to make it visually more interesting is to cut the fruit in different shapes and serve in pretty beverage glasses. To liven up the flavor, try this twist on a fruit salad dressing I learned in culinary school. A bonus: The dressing keeps the fruit from turning brown.

Fruit Salad Dressing
-Equal parts orange, lemon and lime juice
-Lime zest
-Chopped mint
-Honey or Maple syrup to taste

Mix all together and adjust sweetness to your liking and to fit the kind of fruit you’re serving. Toss with fruit and chill.

Wrapping up the summer with Fiesta Salad

Like it or not, our summer days are soon coming to an end. There are many things I love about summer including all the fresh fruits and vegetables. Summer salads are the best! But by mid August, you’ve probably worn out your salad repertoire. Here’s a little inspiration to get you over the finish line with bright and colorful good taste. I include this one in my Lake Salads. Don’t ask why, it’s just where I usually make it. Summer is not about logical choices, just go with it.

Straw-Melon Soup makes yummy use of leftover fruit

One of the most valuable things I’ve learned in culinary school is how to creatively use up leftover or extra food. It’s really cool to open the door of my fridge and behold all those little containers of miscellaneous food from a few days ago and AHA! I have an idea for something that will totally re-make the ingredients.

I bought a lot of fruit on sale last week and we have enjoyed having it as summer snacks and lunch add-ons. But… today I realized I had a pretty big bowl of watermelon balls and a container of organic strawberries that needed a quick rescue. Thinking back on some “use up” ideas from school, I decided to make a cold fruit soup. WOW was it good! Delicious and refreshing on this 90 degree day. It tastes like strawberries and watermelon in the same perfect moment. You could serve in a bowl with whipped cream, freeze into a popsicle or make a smoothie. We pretty much finished it off with a spoon before it could be transformed into anything else. You could change the ingredients in this soup to your taste or whatever leftover items are lurking in your fridge.

How about a Cable Car for tonight’s cocktail?

One of our favorite local restaurants is MJ’s Steak & Seafood on Dolley Madison Road in Greensboro. The ever-changing menu is always creative and delicious. We are some of those weird people that enjoy eating dinner in the bar. Don’t ask me why, but the food is just better there. Hubby and I can sit close beside each other without attracting giggles and stares, we usually meet interesting people, and it’s fun talking to the bartender. I love trying out new cocktails and one night at MJ’s I had this drink called the Cable Car. It was different and addictive! The bartender said it was an old timey drink and tried to tell me how to make it. I think I remembered most of the main ingredients. So, I went home and made a few versions until I found the proportions that I liked the best. Here it is! You gotta taste this one! Even my sister who doesn’t like a lot of mixed drinks loves this. Note: I usually make a big batch of simple syrup and keep it in the fridge since it’s the base for quite a few of my favorite drinks. To make it, just combine equal parts sugar and water, heat on low and stir until the sugar dissolves and chill.

Summer makes me think about Country Potato Salad

I think it’s fun to take food from my childhood and give the recipe a little twist of my own. I have wonderful memories of my great-grandmother and then my mother making our family’s potato salad. My Philadelphia-bred husband says it’s not really potato salad, but mashed potatoes with stuff in it. I disagree with him in my subtle Southern way. Here’s my version of the local classic.. you be the judge.

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