TWD: Blueberry Nectarine Pie

This is the only pie that my husband will eat.  His uncle made this years ago and he remembers it fondly; I was a bit intimidated because of that but with great ingredients how could we go wrong.  We picked the blueberries about two weeks ago at a farm right down the road.  We froze lots of blueberries for the winter.  The nectarines were grown in New Jersey so they were about as local as we could get this time of year in Connecticut.  The pie crust is one of the best recipes that I've ever worked with.  I would use for any kind of pie and have even used for our family's holiday french meat pie.  The combination of the blueberries and nectarines is wonderful.  I might use a slight bit less sugar next time as our blueberries were incredibly sweet on their own.  


Short post this time.  I just found out tonight that all that gardening has one slight downside.  I have Lyme Disease so I'm a bit achy and sleeping.  More next time.  Sarah and I promise. Check out our soon-to-be onion harvest at the end of the post.


Warmly,
Broad Brook Bakers

TWD: Semolina Bread

I mentioned in an earlier post that we moved right before TWD: Rugelach.  One of the reasons we are so happy in our new home is that we have central air conditioning. It was very hot in Broad Brook, CT already when we began preparing the yeast, but so comfortable inside. Thanks to AC it was a great baking day.




I love the smell of yeast. It's also pretty fun to watch. In about 5 minutes the yeast was blooming.





The dough was soft and sticky.  Nathan enjoyed stretching it after the first rise.




We went blueberry picking early the same morning.  Combine that with zucchini my brother shared from his garden and behold - blueberry zucchini bread.   We froze over 10 lbs of blueberries for future baking.  Blueberries are so easy to freeze.  We just placed the cookie sheet with them (see above) right in the freezer.  Wait for the blueberries to be fully frozen which takes about 1 hour and then pop them in a freezer bag.




This bread was incredible.  We should have doubled the recipe.  My KitchenAid could have easily handled it and one loaf was not enough.  The semolina adds a wonderful nutty flavor and texture. We ate it right out of the oven with grilled chicken seasoned simply with herbs and lemon and local corn on the cob.  It was a wonderful summertime meal.  We had a little bit of the load left over and so we each had a slice the next day out of the toaster.  I'm not sure which was better!

TWD: Hazelnut Biscotti

With July 4th tomorrow I could not get in a hazelnut mood.  I do like them but the taste reminds me too much of the December holidays.   So I opted for what a co-worker said was as American-as-apple-pie...peanuts and chocolate.  I also added Kahlua and the vanilla extract. I only had a bag of Red Sox peanuts so it took a few minutes for us to shell about 2/3 of a cup.  I then roasted the peanuts in a 300 degree oven for about 10 minutes.




I like using my Kitchenaid mixer if I can.



Sarah and I ate the extra crunchy parts left on parchment paper.



Sarah thinks they are very hard and crunchy. She says they taste like chocolate and smell like fresh peanuts.


This is a great and easy recipe that we will do together again.  I almost did a trail mix version adding in raisins.  Next time.


Happy 4th of July!


Warmly,
Broad Brook Bakers