1st learned Skill in a Pandemic

Covid19 is making everyone learn what it is they would do if extra time just fell in their lap. What are you doing with this time? I decided to write, learn, and try to build on the things that I enjoy. This is just one of the ways I am growing… welcome to my 3 Photographs Project and this post my 1st learned Skill in a Pandemic

Bread – the only baking I will do.

Cinnamon Raisin Bread (No-Knead Recipe)

As long as I have been alive my family has been buying bread from the local supermarket. Stroman’s, Daves killer, Wonder are all names that have graced our table. That is until one day a friend said you bake your own bread and I will show you how to do it. That day I was taught how a no kneed dough would lead to some delicious nutrition that had 0 ingredients I couldn’t pronounce. Matter of fact it leads to a loaf consisting of only 4 ingredients. Flour, Yeast, Salt, and Water. Thank you, Matt.

Fast Forward to quarantine and this Cinnamon Raisin Bread recipe from Bigger Bolder Baking. There is something about making something so delicious and simple, for the most part. The only nagging issue with bread baking is the time it takes for perfection. I would have liked this loaf to be a little larger but I was in a hurry to get this in the dutch oven. At midnight this bread was removed from the cast iron cooking pot that has produced meals for my father, aunts, and uncles as well as my grandparents. Who would have thought that making food would remind me of my ancestry?

To remember the past only makes me think about the future and baking this bread made me think about the future generation of people this pot will feed. Know what I’m going to give away the food that I will not be able to eat. My neighbors are going to like me.

Drop Biscuits

I saw a post on Weckerly’s Ice Cream’s Instagram. In it, a friend (Justin Relkin) who I didn’t know was the kitchen manager at Weckerly’s was making scratch biscuits. Click for the recipe. This was the first time I have ever made biscuits. subsequently, thank you Justin and Weckerly’s. With the time I have under quarantine I decided to give it a go. The technique is key to cooking. Some people can just throw something in a pan and it turns out great, but there is a technique to what they are doing. I learned my cooking technique from my grandmother and grandfather. Its how I make the food I eat and feed my girlfriend and friends.

I want to refine my technique. I now know how to make biscuits, the ingredients, how to cut in butter, why you need to freeze the dough/batter before forming, and cooking. The finished product is why we prepare food… Egg Sammys.

Knowing that we were not going to eat (or want to eat) all 12 of these biscuits we gave 8 of them to our neighbors. Part of cooking is devoting the time to letting the ingredients come together and in the case of baking, grow. There is no yeast in this recipe. The lesson learned from the Raisin bread loaf is simple. Bread is like a pet, you need to feed it keep an eye on it and let it grow into the product that you would like to see. Be sure to give it the time it needs. You don’t need a Pandemic a learn this 1st learned Skill.

Banana Oatmeal Raisin Pecan Bread

Banana bread for me has always been something you buy at the supermarket that comes in a box. Recently I started to connect with a guy that I knew from a now-closed The Ugly Moose. This bar introduced me to a wide range of good food, good beer, good people including Matt Hall. Years later after a trail run with Chasing Trail Matt approached me and said: “how do we know each other?” A friendship began and I took on the challenge to bake my bread.

Now the dilemma… What happens when you desire to make Banana Oatmeal Raisin Pecan bread from scratch and your bread bake buddy is allergic to raisins? In steps Alton Brown and his Oatmeal Banana Recipe. Modification alert I added 1/2 a cup each of Pecans (crushed) and Raisins. There is just something about how the combination of crust, crunch, and chewy fruit in this recipe makes for some good eating. Recommend you put on a pot of coffee, we like the Trader Joes Bay Blend or Lacolombe Corsica Blend. Go for a sunrise walk with your quarantine companion (the one you live with) and enjoy the little things in life. Good food, good company, and the great outdoors.

So what is my 1st learned Skill in a Pandemic? Baking Bread! More to come so check out my other posts at GBJr78.com and my fundraising at donate.hillyphilly.com and my project at 3photographs.com.