Peanut Butter Porter Bread

I do this thing where I go to people's houses and imagine what it would look like if I lived there. Almost in a creepy way, where within fifteen minutes of walking through the door, my plans for the place are fully mapped out. In older houses, I like to imagine what it looked like when the very first owners lived there. 

A few months ago we ended up this house party, in an awesome giant home built in the 50s, mid-century modern design at it's finest–huge wooden double door entrance, split level where you go up just a few steps to the living room. I didn't even care about socializing, I just wanted to explore that house. "No, I'm fine here alone in the dark sitting room, don't mind me." I can totally picture Betty Draper hosting a swanky little shindig there, passing around a tray of rumaki or some other retro cocktail snack (ps. I LOVE rumaki!).

I also like to do that at furniture stores. Yesterday Evan and I walked to a new consignment store in our neighborhood. The place is two floors with little rooms, which the consignment shop had fully decked out like living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms. Looking for a late 1991 style bedroom, complete with gold bed frame and pastel water color painting? Look no further! Would you like a drink? Step up to my 1970s home-bar, I'll mix you up a martini! There were even a few pieces that could have come straight out of Downton Abbey. I pulled Evan into my little fantasy world, and we wandered around for awhile, pretending to live in the little rooms. Imagining where that furniture had been when it was new. Who's homes it had been in. 

By the time we got home, it was pretty chilly out. Evan cozied up to a video game, and I cozied up to the oven to make peanut butter bread. I've made Fannie Farmer's peanut butter quick bread a bunch of times, but this time decided to do something a little different. I had one can of coconut porter in the fridge that Amanda brought back from Maui recently, so I decided to swap out the milk in the recipe for beer. I had been saving it for a special I-need-a-really-delicious-beer-right-now occasion, but then I saw that my local grocery store is carrying it (!!).  That coconut porter is SO good. Rich and dark but not too heavy, slightly sweet and coconutty. 

And, add it to peanut butter bread? Perfection. This bread is great–dense, slightly sweet, and peanutty, with just a touch of beer-tang. The best part about this recipe–aside from the fact that it's a breeze to make–is that while it's baking, you can drink the remaining half of the beer. My kind of bread! 

Peanut Butter Porter Bread

Adapted from Fannie Farmer

2 cups flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 egg, beaten

1 cup dark beer (like coconut porter)

Preheat oven to 350, and grease a loaf pan (or line with parchment paper). Add dry ingredients to a large bowl (I used my stand mixer) and whisk/mix together. Add in peanut butter, egg, and beer, and mix until incorporated. Spoon into loaf pan, and bake for 50 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. 

Rise and Shine

I decided that this will be the fall and winter that I learn how to bake bread. I'm not talkin' quick breads like banana, zucchini, and peanut butter (yum). I have those down. I'm talkin' the real deal: yeast bread.

I'm a carb-o-maniac. I love bread, a lot, but have never actually made anything using yeast (with the exception of frozen bread rolls). When the weather turns cold and it's time to start making pots of soups, stews, and chilies- nothing is better than fresh, warm hunks of bread and butter to soak up the broth and mop up your plate. This year when the crock pot and stock pot come out, I'll be prepared with yummy homemade rolls and loaves of bread...which might also save me some money!

I told a few friends that I was interested in taking on yeast-breads, and got a lot of help! Now, along with the gooey dough on my counter, I'm ready to rise to the challenge. Kat helped by giving me a few of her special time-tested Artisan bread recipes that she bakes in a cast iron skillet, along with a few tips! Before I got that far though, I needed to learn the basics of yeast. Who better to teach me than my friend M.Anne- a bread lover who is going back to school to become a chemistry teacher? Yesterday, Amanda and I headed up to M.Anne's for a lesson in baking. We prepared three recipes- cinnamon rolls with sticky sweet 'goo,' Gourmet's Parmesan Pull-Aparts (in memory of Gourmet, of course), and dough for Five-Minute Artisan Bread.

While Amanda and I kneaded and mixed, M.Anne taught us the science behind yeast, explaining what makes the bread rise, and how to make it work every time. With bowls of dough rising, we gossiped, drank tea, laughed at the recipes and suggestions in her retro cookbooks, and played with her curious kitties that wanted in on the fun. It was a really fun fall day, the perfect way to get out of the cold and the rain. It was also delicious.

The cinnamon rolls were gooey and sweet, with the perfect soft crumb and sticky sauce. I brought a dish of 15 cinnamon rolls home to Evan, Mike, and Mark. I have about 3 left. The Five-Minute Artisan bread is a really cool recipe that involves making the dough, then keeping it in the fridge, allowing you to pull off hunks to bake when you need (or want) it. The perfect thing to make on a weekend, and have around during the week. I haven't baked a loaf yet, but the dough is all ready for me. The Parmesan Rolls were amazing- soft, buttery, flakey, and cheesy- tender on the inside with a lightly browned top. We ate them with M.Anne's homemade cream cheese (she makes bread, she makes cheese...the two things I need to survive). These pull-apart rolls are for sure going to join my Thanksgiving line-up from now on (ya hear that, Mel and John, we're having these rolls this year, and I won't take no for an answer)!

All in all, it was a great day in the kitchen- I spent time with friends, learned a few valuable lessons, and only gained about 5 pounds. And I have some delicious new recipes to add to my collection- and these ones really rise and shine.

Parmesan Pull-Aparts

From the late, great Gourmet Magazine

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)

1 teaspoon mild honey or sugar

2/3 cup warm milk (105–115°F), divided

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp for sprinkling
1 1/4 cups grated (with a rasp) Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/3 oz)
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into Tbsp pieces and softened
1 tablespoon water

Stir together yeast, honey, and 1/3 cup warm milk in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.) Whisk together flour (2 1/2 cups), cheese, and salt, then mix into yeast mixture along with remaining 1/3 cup warm milk at low speed. (You can also do this by hand, as we did). Increase speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, until a very soft dough forms, about 3 minutes. Beat in butter, 1 Tbsp at a time, until dough is elastic, about 2 minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.)

Scrape dough into center of bowl and sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead) and turn out onto a floured surface. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Arrange rolls 1 inch apart in a buttered 9- by 2-inch round cake pan and cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and dough fills pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together remaining egg with water and brush on tops of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash.) Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Loosen edges of rolls from pan with a sharp knife and invert rolls onto a rack, then reinvert and cool at least 20 minutes.