Thursday, June 2, 2011

A great smelling house is a happy house.

June is shaping up to be a really great month. Quite busy, yes, but also very promising. I'm probably most looking forward to Fishbowl Friday.. possibly Fridays. Bring it on; I am ready!

My house smelled lovely today. I made a delicious, pleasing to the nose and tummy feast. Dinner was spaghetti that I wrote about in this entry, a romaine lettuce, carrot, cucumber, sugar snap pea (how I love sugar snap peas!) salad and some fresh baked homemade baguettes. And then... we had dessert! I made a most scrumptious rhubarb crisp. I'm telling you - it smelled great in here!



~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Baguettes

4 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp dry active yeast
2 tsp salt
2 cups warm water
oil for the bowl

Mix together the flour and salt in a bowl. In another large bowl, combine the yeast and warm water and leave it for 5 minutes. Mix in half of the flour/salt mixture. Mix until a dough forms. Cover with a damp towel and let it rise at room temperature for 3 hours. It will triple in size.

Gently add the rest of the flour/salt mixture and mix using your hands.

Place on a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. It should be supple and elastic when you're done.

Lightly oil a large bowl and place the dough inside; coating it with oil. Cover with a damp towel and let it sit at room temperature for 1 hour. It should double in size.

Preheat oven to 400.

Knead the dough again. Cut into 3 equal parts and form each piece into a long baguette. Place on a baking sheet and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Place a bowl of water into the oven. Bake the baguettes for about 25 minutes; removing the bowl of water after 15 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



Rhubarb Crisp

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup flour
3/4 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tsp cinnamon
4 cups sliced rhubarb
1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup water
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350.

In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, flour, oats, melted butter and cinnamon. Mix until crumbly. Press half of the mixture into a greased 8x8 pan. Top with sliced rhubarb.

In a pot, combine the sugar, cornstarch, water and vanilla. Cook together until clear and pour over the rhubarb.

Top with remaining crumbly mixture. Bake for 45-55 minutes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~



While I was eating my dessert I casually asked the kids if they liked it... I looked up.. and this was what I saw! Both boys were licking their bowls clean. ;) Guess that answered my question!

2 comments:

  1. I'm jealous of both your baguettes and your crisp. Since we moved to FL I can't seem to get my breads to turn out right. It's either the humidity or the water but whatever, it's annoying. AND, I have not ONCE seen rhubarb at a grocery store or market. I miss it. Maybe there will be some in Manitoba when i'm there next week!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I can't imagine not having fresh baked bread or rhubarb crisp! Hopefully you get to have both this week. :)

    ReplyDelete