Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• Dash of hot pepper sauce
• Salt
• 1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon white truffle oil
• 10 slices day-old white bread, crusts removed

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a food processor or blender, blend the egg and lemon juice together for 10 seconds.
3. With the processor running, slowly pour in the vegetable oil through the feed tube. The mixture with thicken.
4. Add the mustard, hot pepper sauce and salt, and pulse one or twice to blend well.
5. Spoon the mixture into a small bowl and add the cheese, pepper, and truffle oil. Mix well.
6. Cut each slice of bread diagonally into two triangles.
7. Spread about 1 tablespoon of the mayonnaise mixture on each triangle.
8. Place the triangles on the baking sheet and bake until lightly golden, about 15 minutes.

Serve warm.

The night before making bread, take the sourdough starter from the refrigerator. Put it in a large mixing bowl and mix it with 3 cups of flour (I always use King Arthur white flour…) and 2 cups of lukewarm water. Cover the mixture tightly and set it in a draft-free place for the night. Room temperature is fine.

Next morning, before doing anything else, remove one cup of the mixture in the bowl and return it to your sourdough storage container. Close the container tightly and put it back in the refrigerator. This is your starter for your next batch of bread.

To the starter remaining in the bowl—and there will be quite a bit of it—add:

• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• scant teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup of sugar*

mix as well as you can and then add gradually:

flour—enough to make a bread dough, about 3-5 cups. Knead thoroughly, until all the flour is absorbed into the dough, and the ball of dough feels resilient and elastic. This takes 3-5 minutes.

Return the dough to the mixing bown and cover tightly. Let rise until doubled in bulk, about 2-3 hours. Then knead again, shape into loaves, cover, and let rise again, another 2 hours or so.

Back at 350º F for 45 minutes.

*Sometimes you can use honey or molasses to vary the flavor.

On the days you make the bread, for the sake of variety, you can use white flour, wheat flour, oatmeal, in various combinations. But it is important always to use plain white flour for the starter.

I usually make this in 2 5×8 greased loaf pans, but it works fine as a round loaf or loaves. It would be fun to try the traditional long sourdough shape, and/or baguettes etc.

I also use this dough for making sticky buns.

I find that making the bread once a week keeps the starter pretty spunky. I have gone as long as six weeks between uses, however. If you haven’t used it for awhile and it seems a little logy, you’ll probably find as I do that using it with renewed frequency revitalizes it. Enjoy.

Nancy Reagan’s Monkey Bread

Ingredients:

• 6 ounces butter, softenened, plus extra for greasing the pan
• 4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring pan and work area
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup lukewarm milk (~110 degrees)
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces melted butter

Directions:

1. Butter and flour a 1 quart or larger ring mold or tube pan and set aside. Whisk the yeast with the milk in a large bowl. Whisk in 2 of the eggs and then the sugar, salt and 4 cups of the flour, switching to a spoon when the dough gets stiff. Stir in the softened butter and knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together in a ball. turn out onto the work area and knead until it forms an elastic ball, sprinkling with and working in up to 1 cup more flour to keep dough from getting sticky. Place dough in a clan bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours.
2. Punch down dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work area. Roll dough into a log and cut into 28 equal size pieces. Shape each piece into a ball, dip in melted butter and place in the prepared pan, staggering pieces in 2 layers. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F. Beat the remaining egg and lightly brush over the top of the bread. Bake until top is nicely browned and dough is cooked through, 25 to 30 minutes. (Test by turning out the loat onto a rack; the bottom and sides should be nicely browned.) Turn upright on another rack to coll slightly before serving.

Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
Servings: Makes about 30 Gougéres

Ingredients
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
1 cup shredded Gruy?re cheese (3 ounces)

Directions:
Sprinkle 2 large rimmed baking sheets with flour. In a medium saucepan, combine the water with the butter and salt and bring to a boil over moderate heat until the butter melts. Add the 1 1/3 cups of flour and beat constantly with a wooden spoon until a smooth, thick paste forms. Continue beating until the dough pulls away from the side of the pan and forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove the pan from the heat and let the dough cool slightly, about 10 minutes. Add 4 of the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the cheese.

Drop rounded tablespoons of the dough onto the prepared sheets, about 1 inch apart. Beat the remaining egg in a small bowl. Brush the goug?res with the beaten egg and bake for about 30 minutes, or until puffed and browned. Transfer the goug?res to a platter and serve warm.

Banana Nut Bread: Bon Appétit

Preheat oven to 350º F.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 mashed ripe bananas
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Optional ingredients: dash of cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla and salt.

Directions:
Butter 9×5-inch loaf pan.
Combine sour creme and baking soda in small bowl.
Using electric mixer, cream butter and sugar in large bowl.
Beat in eggs, bananas and sour cream mixture.
Sift in flour and baking powder.
Stir in nuts.
Spoon mixture into prepared pan.

Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out mostly clean and loaf is golden brown, about 55 minutes. Cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn loaf out onto rack to cool. Great warm, or with a dab of butter.