Halloween

I love Halloween! From when I was a kid to now. Throughout the years with my kids, making costumes, decorating the front yard. Getting and giving out candy. I love Halloween.

First Workshop.

As many of you know, I love baking! I also love to talk about what I am passionate about and I love to teach. I have always felt incredibly lucky to have the quality and kind of customers that the bakery seems to attract. Sunday afternoon was a prime example of that.

There were six participants for the pizza, foccacia and pita workshop. The energy of the six women who spent Sunday afternoon with me was delightful. I am often amazed at how I have gotten to know so many of the customers over the last twelve years. One of our customers has told us that we are like family and that is exactly how I felt on Sunday afternoon, like I had family over to spend the afternoon baking with me and they all wanted to learn the same thing.

Really we did orchestrate the whole event and at the same time, having it turn out to be such an enjoyable experience as the teacher made my day. Christine and I had gone out the night before to our first halloween party of the season and then got up about five hours after going to bed to bake and teach the workshop.

As Christine said the workshop was a great way to end a fantastic week. I am a lucky woman indeed to be able to do what I love and be able to teach people what I can do.

Next weekend is the pasta workshop and I LOVE RAVIOLI!!!!

My favourite stuffing!

One year I was making the stuffing for a big family Turkey Dinner and amongst the many special diets was my vegetarian son and my mother who asked me to make the stuffing with just some poultry seasoning. I asked her if she meant that powdered stuff that comes in a glass jar?

It was the first year that Christine and I were together. A Chef and A Baker and we were doing the Turkey dinner. There was going to be no poultry seasoning in my stuffing, however, I knew what my mom meant. Don't put fancy things in, no sausage and nothing that might cause reactions for her or her wife, my other mother. So, I decided to go with a nice clean and simple stuffing made with fresh and good quality ingredients... so here is the recipe:

1 onion
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 or 2 loaves of spelt french bread, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
1 package of fresh sage, chopped, approximately 1 ounce or 28 grams
1/2 package of fresh thyme, pulled of the branch and crushed between your fingers. Save the other half of the package for decoration.
1 963 ml container of organic vegetable broth.
1/2 cup white wine.

Sautee the onion in the olive oil over medium heat until slightly golden on the edges. Add bread crumbs, prepared sage and thyme and stir, slowly pour in half of the vegetable broth stirring constantly and then the wine, the second half of the vegetable broth until bread has all become moist. If the stuffing is too wet, add more bread cubes. Place finished stuffing inside Turkey or chicken and roast.

For vegetarian stuffing, grease an oven safe pan and place stuffing in pan. drizzle approximately 1/4 cup of olive oil over the top of the stuffing and bake in the oven at 350F for approximately 1 hour. Serve in pan with sprigs of fresh thyme on top.

This is now my favourite stuffing and is incredible with cranberry sauce.

Happy eating!

Spelt Tortillas

Spelt Tortillas

4 cups organic white Spelt flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon oil
1 1/4 cup water.

mix together all ingredients and knead by hand for about ten minutes. Weigh out into 60 gram balls and with a rolling pin, roll to a ten inch round.

Bake at 450 degrees for 3 to 5 minutes until tortilla is baked through. Use immediately for making burritos, Quesadiilas, whatever you want.

You can also cook them on a large cast iron skillet on the stove top. Frying on both sides, a couple minutes each side.

Please tell me your suggestions of what you would make with them.

I Love SPELT!