The Savory Baking Topic

[ElsieD]

@Anna N  Thanks for this.  Love the fact that one recipe has all those variations.  

[kayb]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

I have searched and searched and searched and cannot come up with where I put the recipe.  Hate myself when I lose a recipe.

 

Edited to add:

 

Never give up!

 

Here it is!   I made the jalapeño variation using chipotle chilli powder. (Now I will be able to sleep tonight.)

 

Saved that one, too. Loving the idea of sun-dried tomato/cheese bread. May do that tonight.

[Anna N]

5 minutes ago, kayb said:

Saved that one, too. Loving the idea of sun-dried tomato/cheese bread. May do that tonight.

Every once in a while I earn my keep.

[Tri2Cook]

7 hours ago, Anna N said:

I have searched and searched and searched and cannot come up with where I put the recipe.  Hate myself when I lose a recipe.

 

Edited to add:

 

Never give up!

 

Here it is!   I made the jalapeño variation using chipotle chilli powder. (Now I will be able to sleep tonight.)

 

Thanks for the diligence! I'll definitely be trying the jalapeno cheese version... and now I'll probably be trying a few of the other variations as well.

[Tri2Cook]

It's in the oven. And, because I apparently hate myself, I did a 50/50 split of jalapenos and habaneros for the peppers. I omitted the chili powder. A final tweak wasn't intentional. In a moment of brilliance, I completely failed to grab the flour that was on my list when I was at the grocery store this morning. So I dumped what I had in the house on the scale without much hope. It was about an ounce and a half short. So I made up the difference with semolina flour.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Tri2Cook said:

It's in the oven. And, because I apparently hate myself, I did a 50/50 split of jalapenos and habaneros for the peppers. I omitted the chili powder. A final tweak wasn't intentional. In a moment of brilliance, I completely failed to grab the flour that was on my list when I was at the grocery store this morning. So I dumped what I had in the house on the scale without much hope. It was about an ounce and a half short. So I made up the difference with semolina flour.

Good for you.  I am slowly learning to make do when I can't make up!   Sometimes the end result is even better.   Sometimes the birds thank me.

[Tri2Cook]

21 minutes ago, Anna N said:

Good for you.  I am slowly learning to make do when I can't make up!   Sometimes the end result is even better.   Sometimes the birds thank me.

It's tasty. Not as hot as I thought it was going to be after tasting the habs and jalapenos while cutting them. We get some pretty wimpy jalapenos here sometimes but these actually had decent heat. And of course the habs are hot. The semolina flour didn't do any actual harm. There's a slightly gritty crunch that doesn't bother me at all but wouldn't bother me if it wasn't there either. Still gonna have to remember to pick up more flour though... and after it was already in the oven I remembered that I have a large amount of whole wheat flour on hand that needs to be used.

[blue_dolphin]

I was curious to try a savory quick bread so I also used the recipe that @Anna N linked to and @Tri2Cook made with jalapeño and habanero peppers.  I diced up some of the roasted onions with sage that I made yesterday, minced some more fresh sage leaves and added half a cup of grated parm.  I used the same olive oil that I used in roasting the onions, reduced the sugar to 1T and baked up 3 little loaves. 

I'd like to try the pepper version but this was nice.  I'll wrap 2 of the loaves and freeze them.  They are calling out for a bowl of soup so I should make that happen one of these days.  Maybe this evening as it's supposed to rain.

 

 

Edited November 20, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Tri2Cook]

Sounds tasty, might have to give sage/onion/parmesan a try myself. I'm liking the texture of this for a quick bread. I'm able to slice it ridiculously thin without it crumbling or breaking.

[Okanagancook]

Probably be good toasted in the CSO

[Toliver]

On 11/19/2016 at 2:55 PM, Tri2Cook said:

It's tasty. Not as hot as I thought it was going to be after tasting the habs and jalapenos while cutting them. We get some pretty wimpy jalapenos here sometimes but these actually had decent heat....

You could try serrano peppers instead of jalapeños...they tend to be dependably hotter.

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, Toliver said:

You could try serrano peppers instead of jalapeños...they tend to be dependably hotter.

Not sure about Tri2Cook's likelihood of finding serranos but they are pretty scarce in these parts. Jalapenos are much easier to find. 

[Tri2Cook]

1 hour ago, Anna N said:

Not sure about Tri2Cook's likelihood of finding serranos but they are pretty scarce in these parts. Jalapenos are much easier to find. 

Yep, no serranos here. The only fresh peppers of the hot variety available here are jalapenos (very hit and miss on the heat), habaneros and Thai chiles. The habs and Thais are reliably hot. The fresh Thai chiles are kinda surprising for here but somebody besides me likes them because they keep stocking them.

[blue_dolphin]

On 11/20/2016 at 1:57 PM, Tri2Cook said:

Sounds tasty, might have to give sage/onion/parmesan a try myself. I'm liking the texture of this for a quick bread. I'm able to slice it ridiculously thin without it crumbling or breaking.

 

I have to say that the sage might not be the very best choice.  I do love it in the roasted onions that I used for the recipe and I didn't want to add yet another flavor.  I've enjoyed the bread but it makes me think of turkey stuffing a bit more more than I would like.  Maybe it's the season !

 

Edited to add:  maybe I should try it with a bit of cranberry sauce on top to complete the effect!

Edited November 22, 2016 by blue_dolphin (log)

[chromedome]

On 21/11/2016 at 5:11 PM, Tri2Cook said:

Yep, no serranos here. The only fresh peppers of the hot variety available here are jalapenos (very hit and miss on the heat), habaneros and Thai chiles. The habs and Thais are reliably hot. The fresh Thai chiles are kinda surprising for here but somebody besides me likes them because they keep stocking them.

 

I find serranos pretty regularly at Sobey's. They seem to have a better selection of fresh peppers than Superstore, as a rule, though Superstore is now carrying more dried peppers (no more trips to Maine for anchos, hurray!). 

 

I live in a different part of the country, of course, but I have to guess if they're available in small-town New Brunswick (I've bought them in St. Stephen) you should be able to find them pretty much anywhere in Ontario as well. 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

 

I find serranos pretty regularly at Sobey's. They seem to have a better selection of fresh peppers than Superstore, as a rule, though Superstore is now carrying more dried peppers (no more trips to Maine for anchos, hurray!). 

 

I live in a different part of the country, of course, but I have to guess if they're available in small-town New Brunswick (I've bought them in St. Stephen) you should be able to find them pretty much anywhere in Ontario as well. 

Doesn't seem to work quite that way. Until very recently the produce in our Sobey store would not even qualify for the reduced rack in most other supermarkets!  The quality was poor and the selection abysmal. I used to walk around the store saying under my breath  "I hate this place.  I hate this place. I hate this place."   I understand things have improved but I have not been back. I can remember seeing Serranos in one super market once.   The nice thing about peppers is that if they do appear they are worth grabbing and freezing.  I don't get to very many supermarkets very often so there may be others who are having different experiences in the same area where I live.  I am quite sure there is little that could not be found in downtown Toronto or perhaps even downtown Hamilton. Even Mississauga a neighbouring town has an extremely diverse population and a good selection of specialty grocery stores.  Ontario is a huge province and things vary from north to south and east to west. Everything should not be judged on Toronto. 

Edited November 24, 2016 by Anna N (log)

[Tri2Cook]

6 hours ago, chromedome said:

 

I find serranos pretty regularly at Sobey's. They seem to have a better selection of fresh peppers than Superstore, as a rule, though Superstore is now carrying more dried peppers (no more trips to Maine for anchos, hurray!). 

 

I live in a different part of the country, of course, but I have to guess if they're available in small-town New Brunswick (I've bought them in St. Stephen) you should be able to find them pretty much anywhere in Ontario as well. 

If you have a Sobey's and a Superstore, you are in a different level of small town than I am. We have a single small independent grocery store. It's over an hour's drive to the nearest larger town. They have a couple of slightly bigger grocery stores but not much more selection-wise than the local store, just slightly better prices. In between that town and the town where I live, there are trees... and not much else.

[chromedome]

Well, St. Stephen is a pretty small place but it's the shopping hub for a large area. I guess that makes a difference. I do understand that there are plenty of remote, far-flung places in Ontario. I once spent 14 hours with my thumb out at the Pickle Lake turnoff, before getting a lift from just the third (!!) vehicle to pass me all day.

 

I guess as a Maritimer I have the usual engrained belief that Ontario gets all the good stuff, and we get the leftovers.

 

I can't fault Sobeys as a chain on cleanliness or selection. I do little of my shopping there, except for specials, but that's a function of cost. Superstore, No Frills and various local stores all have better pricing, and I'm a cheap bas frugal.

[Kerry Beal]

1 hour ago, chromedome said:

Well, St. Stephen is a pretty small place but it's the shopping hub for a large area. I guess that makes a difference. I do understand that there are plenty of remote, far-flung places in Ontario. I once spent 14 hours with my thumb out at the Pickle Lake turnoff, before getting a lift from just the third (!!) vehicle to pass me all day.

 

I guess as a Maritimer I have the usual engrained belief that Ontario gets all the good stuff, and we get the leftovers.

 

I can't fault Sobeys as a chain on cleanliness or selection. I do little of my shopping there, except for specials, but that's a function of cost. Superstore, No Frills and various local stores all have better pricing, and I'm a cheap bas frugal.

Well you do have Ganong. 

[chromedome]

LOL Yeah, there's that. Not exactly fine chocolate work, but it *is* kinda cool to do the tour. 

[ElsieD]

I just made the jalapeno cheese bread from Anna_N's link.  I used Red Leicester cheddar, 1 large jalapeño and reduced the sugar to 1 tablespoon.  I haven't had any yet, but John scarfed two pieces before the loaf had cooled down.   He pronounced it very good but said it could use a bit more salt.

[blue_dolphin]

I wasn't sure where to put this but it's savory and baked so I'm going with this thread for these baked risotto balls and polenta balls.   

I wanted to try making some little appetizer items that I could make ahead, freeze and reheat as needed over the holidays rather than resorting to similar overpriced items from Trader Joe's so I played around with risotto and polenta appetizer balls. The risotto was leftover lemon, artichoke and shrimp risotto and I cooked up a fresh batch of polenta for the purpose. 

 

First, the risotto balls.  I scooped out balls of leftover risotto, dipped them in flour, then egg, then panko.  I sprayed them with a bit of olive oil and baked them.  This risotto was pretty flavorful so I just went with plain balls rather than trying to make cheese-stuffed, molten-center arancini.  I thought they were very good - crispy exterior and creamy risotto inside.  I'm not a huge fan of leftover risotto as I think the texture suffers from reheating but these are a fine reason to have leftover risotto. 

 

 

Next are the polenta balls.  The polenta had a little grated parmesan mixed in at the end but no other flavorings.   I made plain (on the top row), stuffed with sharp cheddar (black pepper) or blue cheese (black sesame seeds) and with a bit olive tapenade stirred in (bottom row).  They all got a spray of olive oil before going into the oven.

 

The cheddar cheese pretty much melted away but you can still see the blue cheese inside:

Flavor-wise, cheddar went better with crispy browned exterior than the blue cheese did.   These were cooked on convection for 20 min, turned and baked 15 min more. 

 

Here are the olive tapenade and plain balls.  

 Here, I cooked them on steam bake for the first 20 min, flipped them over and used convection for 15 min.  Still a nice crisp exterior but the interior is much moister and creamier.  

The tapenade version is my favorite, I wouldn't bother with stuffing them with the little cheese cubes.  The stuffing process compacts the polenta and smooths the surface while the unstuffed ones have a shaggy outer crust and looser interior. 

 

I par-baked and froze some of each of these as I'd like something I can heat up quickly.  I'll continue with my research when cocktail hour comes around 

[Okanagancook]

I love the idea of these little balls for goodness.  Thanks for sharing.  Could I ask what temperature you used:  steam bake and convection?

[blue_dolphin]

For the polenta balls, I used 425F for both steam bake and convection.

For the risotto balls, I used 375F, and just convection.  I may try using steam bake with the frozen ones as it seems to speed things up.

[Nancy in Pátzcuaro]

I make a scone recipe that can be either sweet or savory. I favor the savor most of the time--

 

6.75 oz. white flour

2.375 oz. whole wheat flour

1-2 Tbs. sugar (use the larger amount for sweet scones)

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp.salt

1/4 c. chilled unsalted butter

1/2 c. thinly sliced green onions or minced white onions (omit for sweet scones)

3/4 c. plain yogurt

1 egg, beaten

 

Possible variations:

1/4 c. chopped kalamata olives and 1-2 tsp. minced fresh rosemary

1/2 c. each coarsely chopped walnuts and dried cranberries; omit onion

1/2 c. chopped peeled poblanos (about one) and 1/2 c. grated cheese, and a small handful of pine nuts if desired

1/2 c. chopped rehydrated sun dried tomatoes and 1/2 c. feta

 

Cut the butter into the flour and leavenings and salt, add the liquid and then stir in the rest of the ingredients. Mix and gently knead--you know the drill. Either cut apart or cut partially into 8 pieces and bake whole. Bake at 425 for 12-15 minutes or until golden.

 

I make this very frequently for breakfast because it's a quick thing and everyone loves it. As I said, I usually make the savory variations, especially the rosemary-kalamata version, though we also really like the poblano-cheese one.

 

My contribution--

 

Nancy in Pátzcuaro