Love, empathy, tolerance--also puppies, flowers, and laundry

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

From Scratch

Nothing says loving like something from the oven (or any part of the kitchen)! 

My sweetie makes crackers--actually makes them from scratch!--with whole grains and lots of seeds and spices.  Just thinking about them makes my taste buds stand up and holler!  He's made cheese crackers and sesame rice crackers and an unusual soft rye cracker, but my favorite are the whole wheat/caraway  concoction that I dubbed Comstock Crackers.  Oh.  My.  Goodness!

Our son craves humus but it's a little expensive on a college student's frugal budget.  He found a tasty recipe on allrecipes dot com (our favorite cooking site for everything from baked ziti to roast asparagus) and now regularly whips up a batch for work as well as an occasional bowl for his two doting parents who provide garbanzo beans a la Costco.  Put some of his spicy humus on his dad's Comstock Cracker and you've got a gourmet treat that's impossible to beat.

I just make bread.  No breadmaking machines to come between me and the kneading process, thank-you-very-much.  I enjoy feeling the gluten strands gradually taking hold until the dough reaches the perfect consistency as I knead it on my dad's old pastry canvas.  I can feel that the loaf will rise perfectly with great texture. With lots of whole wheat flour and some molasses and good-for-us oat bran we've got a winner.

Here it is fresh and steaming hot out of the oven--ready for a bit of jam or butter...love in every bite.

3 comments:

  1. ok, I want all three recipes. Please ;).

    I just made a batch of crackers that I may actually make again, but they are plain. In fact, they are basically biscuits without the baking powder... so I am all over cracker recipes right now, but its so daunting to experiment.

    And I only have one bread recipe. I don't really know when to stop kneading - I time myself... wish I knew the tricks!

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  2. I'm drooling. As someone who is unable to master anything in the kitchen (although my recent Thanksgiving pie experience did go off well) I am in awe of people who can make things from scratch. I love breads and crackers so I think I would feel right at home with you. However, I have never had hummus. Am I missing out on something?

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  3. Hmmmm...maybe I need to post a bread-making guide?

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