La Chandeleur - Let's Enjoy Crepes!

A French Holiday on February 2nd!

French Lessons

For the last sixteen months, I’ve been studying French via Skype. My French teacher lives in the south of France. She teaches for Verbal Planet, and online language school. Each week we meet for about an hour, talking about the past week, the current week, and anything interesting coming up. Then we review my lesson’s homework, and plan for the following week. Pascale, my teacher is great. She loves cinema, food, and is very interested in the world of pastry. It’s so fun to discuss traditional recipes and customs with her.

During the Christmas season, she shared several customs unique to the Provence. I was especially interested in the Provence Brioche des Rois. Rather than the traditional Galette des Rois made with puff pastry and almond paste/frangipane, the custom is to make a crown shaped brioche decorated with dried fruits and apricot glaze (nappage). This year on January 6th, I made the Provence version which was from a recipe Pascale had shared from her family.

La Chandeleur

A few weeks ago, we were discussing crepes and she mentioned I must really like Fête Chandeleur. I told her a had never heard of it. She explained it a crêpe holiday! Here’s the history.

La Chandeleur is a popular holiday in France. It is celebrated on February 2nd, 40 days after Christmas. The day that Jesus was presented to the temple of Jerusalem, 40 days after his birth.

History says, in the 5th century, Pope Gelasius offered crepes to pilgrims as a reward for coming to Rome to celebrate. It was also a way to use reserved excess wheat stores.

Even earlier, the pagen Candlelight Festival was celebrated with candles and torches where people celebrated the fertility of the land regained by the disappearance of the cold winter.

Why Crepes? (or Pancakes?)

The shape and color of the crepe symbolizes the sun and the return of Spring.

In preparation for La Chandeleur, I present my favorite crepe reicpe. I took the plunge and picked up a crepe maker with a flat surface and wooden turned/twister. You can use a small nonstick pan or a griddle.

I’ll add a link for buckwheat flour (Farine de Sarassin). Buckwheat is used for savory crepes. I use all purpose flour or Cup4Cup for sweet crepes.

I’ll link some the equipment for you:

Crepe Maker Crepe Spreader and Spatula

Buckwheat Flour (Yummly Bazaar is a great online shop!)

This recipe is perfect.  The crepes are beautiful.  Crispy edges, no spongy middle, and a fantastic taste.  The best part is you are able to prepare the batter and use it immediately rather than needing to wait for two or more hours for the batter to settle and develop.

If you celebrate Chandeleur, Buckwheat (of Sarassin) are the most traditional crepes for Chadeleur. Buckwheat is not wheat, and may be more easily tolerated by those with gluten intolerance.

crepe on plate

crepe maker

Crepes Batter (Sweet Crepes)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups milk (1-2 T more to thin batter if using Cup4Cup)

3 egg yolks

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

1  1/2 cups all-purpose flour or Cup4Cup

2 tablespoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

5 tablespoons melted butter

Favorite fillings such as Nutells, chocolate, fruit, whipped cream

Instructions:

1. In a blender, add together (in this order) the milk, egg yolks and vanilla, flour, sugar, salt and melted butter.   Whirl in the blender for about 30 seconds, until smooth, stopping to scape the sides.

2. Heat a crepe pan or griddle/crepe maker  over medium heat, until hot. Coat with vegetable oil or cooking spray. Pour about 1/4-1/3  cup of batter into the pan and tip or spread to move the batter to the edges in a thin layer.   When bubbles form on the top and the edges are dry, flip over and cook until lightly browned on the other side and edges are golden. Repeat with remaining batter.

3. Before folding, spread the crepe with Nutella or make it savory with ham, cheese, chives...  the options are endless!

Crêpes au Sarrassin

• 1 cup buckwheat flour

• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 3/4 cup milk

• 3/4 cup water

• 2 eggs

• 1 tablespoon oil

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• butter to cook the crepes

• Filling such as shredded cheese (Guryere or Comte), Ham, even egg. Salad/ Arugula mix for garnish

Whisk all of the ingredients together to make a smooth batter. Allow the batter to sit in the refrigerator several hours or overnight before cooking. I like to let the buckwheat rest to become tender.

After the rest, you may need to add more milk. The batter should be pourable, but not runny.

To prepare, heat a non-stick skillet or crepe pan on medium heat until hot. Using a paper towel coat the bottom of the pan with a bit of butter. Pour in a scant 1/4 cup of batter (for about 9 inch crepes) and tilt and turn the pan to spread the batter evenly. Once the top of the crepe is just cooked, use a spatula to gently turn it and cook for 15 more seconds. You may have to adjust your heat to get the crepes just right - they should be lightly browned on both sides.

If you’re ready to eat the crepes, add filling - not too much-, and fold. A savory crepe is usually folded in from each side to make a square, with part of the center showing. Garnish with simple topping of salad or arugula.

As you cook each crepe, stack and wrap them in a clean tea towel. This will keep them warm. Or you can rewarm them by wrapping in aluminum foil and warming in the oven at about 200 degrees F.

Makes about 10 crepes. Adapted (from Easy French Food)

Bon fête!

Susan

BLT's Made Extra Special

This post is sponsored by Jones Dairy Farm

As summer winds down and children of family and friends begin heading off to school,  I'm amazed at the bounty of summer produce around us.  It's been hot, cool, dry and wet all in the matter of a few weeks leading to bumper crops of tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini and many other summer favorites. For as long as I can remember, summer suppers could be made of corn on the cob, tomatoes and lots of napkins (and butter!).  

Another favorite summer meal is a BLT (Bacon, Lettuce and Tomato Sandwich).  While we can find tomatoes in the grocery year round, nothing beat the taste of a garden fresh tomato fresh from the vine.  

I've got some huge, beautiful tomatoes and lettuce from our CSA growers (a shout out to Fox Line City Farm!)  I'm nearly half way to my BLT.   Perfect Sandwich Bread (from The Little French Bakery Cookbook) just begs to be made into toast.  A week ago, I made several loaves, so I pulled one from the freezer and it's ready to go.  Now for the fun part.  The bacon. Don't you LOVE bacon?  Crisp, perfectly cooked bacon. Jones Dairy Farm makes delicious Cherrywood Smoked Bacon, sliced thick and just what makes the sandwich complete.  Instead of using plain mayo, I've made it a bit spicy for a fun twist.  And one more twist... shaved turkey!  It's approaching Club sandwich status, but still fits the BLT bill.

The bacon smelled so good as I cooked it.  Sometimes I bake it in the oven.  This time I cooked it in a grill pan on the stovetop, and set it on a paper towel lined plate to drain.  

Next, using a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, I mixed about 1 tablespoon of the sauce into about 3 tablespoons of prepared mayonnaise.  If you don't like it too spice, add less and if you'd really like a kick, add more to taste.

The bread is toasted, the tomatoes sliced and I'm ready to assemble.  I know some people have a special order of assembly, I like to add mayo to both slices of bread and have the tomato closest to the bread so the juice gets soaked in the bread, and doesn't run down my wrists.  When I assemble, rather than breaking off the bacon to fit into the sandwich, I like to keep it hanging out.  those bacon end are my first bites.  And they're SO GOOD!

I'm sure you'll love Jones Dairy Farm bacon.  Give it a try the next time you're making a BLT or serving bacon for breakfast!

Are you looking for a great bread recipe for making sandwiches and toast?   My Perfect Sandwich Bread recipe makes four loaves.  One to eat now, and a few to eat later.  The bread freezes really well, so you could even tuck one in the freezer for another day.

I've got a few classes coming up this fall. There's still room in the November 7th Croissant and Pain au Chocolat class.  Hope you'll join me.  Or, gather a group of friends and schedule a class of your very own.  

Have a great summer supper, be safe and be kind.

Peace, Love and Dessert,

Susan

Food Freedom Radio Podcast & More!

It's Ground Hog's Day, and it looks like we'll have six more weeks of winter.  That's okay, because there is so much happening around The Little French Bakery

If you're got a copy of the cookbook and would like it signed, I'll be at Bekah Kate's on February 6th from 6-8 p.m. during the Chocolate and Wine event.  It's such a fun night.  What could be better than chocolate and wine?  I'll be bringing my thermal pumper filled with Sipping Chocolate.  Stop by and say hi!

Wow!  Last week was incredible  It was an exciting week of firsts.  My first TV appearance and first radio interview.   What fun!    I'll hopefully be able to share a link to the NBC 15 interview with you. 

If you'd like to listen to my interview with Laura and Karen from AM 950 in Minneapolis, here's the link:

http://am950ktnf.podbean.com/e/food-freedom-radio-january-31st-2015/#.VM2R84BkKD0.facebook

What else is new?  The BRAVA Salon on February 19, 2015 at Nonn's Flooring in Middleton, Wisconsin.

It's going to be a great evening!  I'll be demoing and talking with Kate Bast, the Editor-in-Chief of BRAVA.  There will be French inspired food and drinks, and very cool pop-up shops.  I'm so looking forward to seeing you there!

Click here to purchase tickets!

Last by not least, I'm working away adding classes to the schedule.  I've just added a few more today.  More classes will be coming, stayed tuned!  Feel free to add a comment and tell me what classes you'd like to see on the schedule.

We're shoveling out from yesterday's snow.  Hope you're having a nice sunny day wherever you may be.

Be safe and be kind,

Susan

Book Corrections and Updates

Hi everyone! The Little French Bakery Cookbook is finding its way to your homes. I'm having a wonderful time seeing you at signing events. It makes me so happy that you're reading the book and trying the recipes. Thank you! Oh how I wanted my book to be perfect. But guess what? Please say it isn't so. There are a few tweaks and corrections. If you've read the story, You're My Favorite Chicken, you've learned I'm from perfect. I tried, I really tried to get the recipes perfect. Lots and lots of eyes read and prepared the recipes and some goofs still snuck through. I'm trying to remain calm, and get you the corrections right way. It's so strange that many the corrections are related to flour.

Grab your copy (first edition.. Yay!) and here are some notes.

- On page 137, add 1 1/2 cups flour to the Kitchen Sink Cookie Recipe.

- On page 148, Perfect Birthday Cake. I transposed the numbers for the grams of flour. It should be 438 grams. This recipe make a lot of batter. Fill your three pans just over 1/2 full. If you have batter left over, you could make cupcakes!

- In the croissant recipe, the detremor should include 4 2/3 (595 gm) all-purpose flour

-On page 155, Marry Me Flourless Chocolate Cake, fold the flour ( or gluten free flour) into the chocolate mixture after you've stirred in the butter.

- Just a note about the Banana Cake. It's sweet, dense and similar to Banana Bread. It's very tasty, though some are finding the cake texture a surprise. Use yellow, not squishy ripe bananas and it won't be so sweet.

I'll keep you updated with any other changes. Thank you for your support and kindness.

A few readers have asked why there weren't any pictures of the resident pooches.  Mike and Heather Krakora of Krakora Studios took several when they were here.  Here are a few of my favorites.

Happy Thanksgiving to my USA readers!

Countdown to the Book Release!

It's been in the works for over a year, and I'm counting the days until The Little French Bakery Cookbook is released. I can't thank you all enough for your kind words of support, and interest. It's just over two weeks away, and there are some great venues available to stop by, and pick up a copy or bring your pre-ordered copy in for me to sign.

For my readers too far away to stop by in person, I'll have some bookplates available (SOON!) in my website's store. Just let me know in your order who you'd like the bookplate signed for, and it will go out in the mail.

Here's the list on upcoming events and locations:

Thanks again!  I'll keep you posted on The Little French Bakery Facebook Page with additions, and more details for each location.

Travel safe, and be kind.

Susan

Summer Southern Biscuits

Happy Fourth of July weekend!  To celebrate, I've made all-American biscuits with Strawberry Jam. We don't eat a lot of biscuits here in the northern states, but we certainly enjoy them.  There are many not-so-good (think hockey puck) biscuits.   I think mine were pretty good.  They were light, fluffy and had a really nice flavor.

Early this Spring, Gary and I traveled to the South on a road trip.  One of our stops was Charleston, South Carolina.  We enjoyed a delicious dinner was at Poogin's Porch.  Upon arriving, we were presented with a basket of light, fluffy biscuits.  I became obsessed with biscuits and set off to find the secrets for making them, just right.

As luck would have it, our hotel had a Southern Living Magazine.  One of the articles was on making biscuits.  I've used those tips, with others, to make some pretty darn good biscuits.

Another one of our stops  was Chattanooga, Tennessee to see our friends, Jerry and Nancy.  I needed Martha White Flour, and my guess was I needed to pick it up before heading home if I wanted to find it.  Ta-da!  I quick trip to a market and I had just what I needed.  As an aside, downtown Chattanooga has some great new restaurants.

Back to business.  The biscuits are made with flour, cold shortening, sugar, baking powder and buttermilk.   To put the finishing touch on the biscuits, I'm topped them with homemade strawberry jam from my friend, Dana.  She picked the berries about 1/2 mile from my house.  It's SO pretty and delicious!

Dana's Strawberry Jam

Biscuit Ingredients

To make the flour as light and well-mixed as possible with the other dry ingredients, I used a tamis, or French sieve.  Any sifter will do.  I sifted three times.

tamis

Here the tips for making biscuits:

1.  Be sure all the ingredients are cold.

2. Handle the dough as little as possible.

3.  Make a claw shape with your fingers and use them to stir in the buttermilk.

4. Dip the biscuit cutter in flour, press straight down, and pull up.  Don't twist the cutter.

5.  Place the biscuits "shoulder to shoulder"on the baking sheet so they rise and don't spread out.

biscuit-dough

biscuits

Breakfast Tray

To print recipe click HERE

Recipe:  Southern Biscuits

5 cups self-rising flour (I used Martha White)

2 cups buttermilk

1/4 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons baking powder

1/4 pound (113 grams) cold shortening

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F.  Sift together the dry ingredients.   Add the shortening and crumble together with the flour mixture until the shortening is in pea to marble sized pieces.  Add the buttermilk in three additions, gently used your fingers to mix, until just combined.

Pat the dough on to a lightly floured surface.  Gently roll the dough to 1 inch thick.  Dip a 2 inch cutter into flour, then press into the dough to cut, pull straight up/out.  Repeat to cut the about 16 biscuits.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake 12-14 minutes until golden brown.  Brush with butter when just out of the over if desired.

I've got lots more to tell you about our trip.  Have a great holiday weekend. Be safe and be kind.

Happy Valentine's Day!

P.S.  Are you on Pinterest?  How about following The Little French Bakery? Just click here.

Birthday Week

It's Birthday Week!

Warm winter wishes from Wisconsin!  It's -10 degrees as I write this post.  The sun is shining, the birds are chirping away at the feeders and it's cold, really cold!  But enough about the weather.  It's been awhile since I've written a post.  It was late November to be exact.  I'm not sure why it's taken me so long, but I'm back and feeling really energized and ready for the new year. I know it's almost February but it's a new year for me.

You see, this is my birthday week.  I don't know about you, but I like to look back on the year's events and changes, then look ahead to the new year with goals, aspirations and plans.

What a year it was.  Here's the quick recap.  In February, I lost my mom to complications of MS.  It's a loss no one can prepare you for.  Then in April, my dad moved in with us.  Another change, and one I won't trade for anything.  He's a wonderful additional to our household.  An avid gardener and golfer, he's got a contagious joy for life. Later in April, Skyhouse Publishing offered me the book contract and I spent the rest of the year writing, testing, and photography the recipes for my book. (I don't have an exact release date yet, but it will be sometime in September 2014.  I promise to keep you posted.)

The year was sprinkled with travel and the pleasure of meeting many new friends.  In September, I traveled to Ireland to participate in Angela Ritchie's ACE Camp to learn more about photography and food styling from Beatrice Peltre.  Gary, my dad and I made a trip to Las Vegas early this month. And, I've just returned from Salt Lake City where I attended ALT Summit.

What's that, you ask?  It's a conference for the blogging community filled with workshops, parties and the opportunity to learn more about this crazy blogging world and social media.  I have to admit, I was very nervous.  World famous lifestyle, fashion, and craft/DIY bloggers?  The experts on nail polish, hair, shoes and just the perfect outfit?  Yikes!  As it turned out, it was a wonderful group of mostly women. They were kind, intelligent, generous and enthusiastic about the internet blogging world.

One of the highlights was a dinner hosted by one of the sponsors Gygi.  It's a family owned SLC kitchen/restaurant supply store with a beautiful space for cooking classes.  Kelsey Nixon, from the Food Network and Cooking Channel lead us through a few of her recipes.  She has a new book, and the recipes are great.  In the photo below, it looks like we're the same height.  I'm actually crouching down about 12 inches!  She's tiny and just as lovely in person as her TV persona.  The kitchen was decorated in a birthday party theme (perfect for me!).

As you can see in the photo above, we made a Brussels Sprouts side dish.  It included maple syrup and pecans.  It was one of my favorite parts of the meal.  If you've interested in her book, you can find it on Amazon, or your favorite source.

To view to recipe online, you can find it here on Scribd.

What's new for my next year?  Book editing and release, and more frequent and diverse blog posts.  If you've made it this far, I'd like to ask a favor.  What you would like to see in my posts?  Any recipes or topics you're looking to learn more about?  Just leave a comment and let me know.   I'm trying to add more posts to my Pinterest boards, and Little French Bakery Facebook page.  I hope you'll check them out and follow along.

Last year I posted my Confetti Angel Food Cake Recipe on my birthday.  If you're looking to celebrate with a fun cake, I think you'll enjoy the recipe.

Thank you for your support over the last year, and here's to the next chapter!

Frankenfood is Coming to Madison!

Attention Madison area cooks, chefs and bakers!

Earlier this week I got a call from a producer from Spike Network.  They produce Man vs. Food and other fun shows.   They're kicking off the first season on Frankenfood and will be coming to Madison to film the show.

The best part?

They're looking for cook amateur or professional chefs to compete.   Any skill level.  How cool!

If you have recipe that uses ingredients in unusual combinations, you should apply to be on the show.  Let's put Madison on the map! Casting is coming up very soon on December 7, 2013.  Here's the poster:

The winnings?   BIG!  And, your recipe on the menu of the restaurant where the show is filmed.  The scouts are out looking for a venue now.

Let's do this!

Just fill out the application, and find that crazy recipe.

https://sharpentertainment.com/casting/frankenfood

Hope to see you on TV!  Please share this with anyone you think would be a good contestant for the show.

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

Food Styling and Photography in Ireland

Last week I had the great fortune of attending an Angela Ritchie Ace Camp, in East County Clare, Ireland.  Our instructor was Béatrice Peltre.  This was my first trip to Ireland.   It's a beautiful, beautiful country.  The landscapes, the people and feelings you get as you travel are like no other.   I don't want to bore you with 900 photos, but I'd love to share a sampling of my week. I flew into Shannon, and stayed one night to shake off my jet lag.  The Carrygerry guest house not too far from the airport.  As I stepped out of the cab, this was my view.  The answer to the question, is Ireland really green?

I noticed all the blue and yellow banner flying in front of businesses and homes.   It's to celebrate the upcoming Hurling Championship game in a few weeks.  Country Clare is in the match, and it's not to be missed.  The Irish are crazy about Hurling.

After a warm, hearty dinner and a good sleep I was off the next morning to meet my classmates at the Caher House near Feakle.  Yes, after asking several locals, it's pronounced just the way it looks.  But with a nice brogue.

This grand home was my home away from home for the class.  We walked, talked, and learned so much about food styling, the ins and outs of food photography and many other tidbits.  If fact, we created a Sharing List, to document all the movies and odd & ends that came up in conversation, but we knew we might forget.  Thirteen women have a lot of conversations!

Our first morning we walked to see the chickens and horses, and explore the property. We discovered wild blackberries which would come in handy for our food styling exercises later in the day.

Our first styling exercise was styling a cute little jar of yogurt.  Sounds simple?  Add the spoon and the lighting with a pretty cloth and I had my work cut out for me.  Here's my final result.  We made a few more trips to the grocery store to pick up more jars.  They'll come in handy for other photos.  The best part is they all made it home in once piece.

Bea (pronouced Bay-ah) presented demonstrations and ideas for styling desserts, cheeses, meats and cooked foods.   Always natural light, and getting the food positioned just so.  Not too much, just right.

It was great fun working in pairs to style our own versions of the foods.  Sometimes the food and sun cooperated, sometimes the sun went behind a cloud and changed our plans.   Here are some of my shots.

One afternoon just before dinner a few of us piled in a car and were taken by the grounds/animal keeper to the other side of the lake.  The views were stunning.  As were drove down the single land road, we came upon a herd of wild horses.  They were as interested in us as we in them.

Our field trips included a trip to an organic goat cheese factory complete with goats.  It's a very small facility producing great cheese.

Normally, the goats are out grazing but the day of our visit it was raining.  The goats preferred to be inside so they were treated to fresh cut lush green grass.

After my week ended, I traveled back to the Carrygerry House joining my cab driver, Finbar, for an afternoon trip around County Clare.  He grew up in the area and had many ideas for things I should see before I left.  My first order of business was a pair of Wellies for home.  We had found several guest pairs in the basement of the Caher house and wore them into the woods and out and about on rainy days.  With my country life, I thought they'd come in handy here in Wisconsin too.

Finbar stopped to ask a friend where he thought would be a good spot to find Wellies.  They concurred it would be Dan, Mac & Ernies.   Sounded like a good spot.  They told me it has lots of farming equipment and would surely have authentic Wellies.   We drove into Ennis, and pulled into the farm supply store.  Silly me.  It wasn't Dan, Mac & Ernies.  It was Dan McInerney's!   I kept my phonetic spelling to myself.

We quickly found the boot section.  All the styles were lined up in a row.   I tried on a few pair to find my size, finding the perfect pair.  I was now the proud owner of real Wellies.  No, I didn't wear them out of the store, but I did put them on in my room to test them out before I packed them for the trip home!

After some gorgeous views, touring an Abbey, and seeing many ancient sites on the area, it was time for  a bite.  To accompany my seafood chowder, I had a hard cider.   I'm including a shot of my first Guiness too.  Delicious!

I'm looking forward to my next post where I'll make Seafood Chowder and Cheddar Scones for you.  The recipes are on their way from the Carrygerry House Chef and his wife, Gillian who own the Inn.

Finbar drove me to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most beautiful places I've seen.  The Atlantic is all its spendor.  The area is now a National Park with safety rails and a Visitors Center.   Finbar showed me the spot near the edges of the cliffs where he had picnics as a child.

It's great to be home and putting my new skills to work.  A special thanks to Angela Ritchie of Ace Camps, Allison our talented chef, and Beatrice Peltre for her talent and great teaching skills!