Local Places: B.K. Bakery

Saturday morning in Autumn. Abbey, Olivia and I decided to celebrate by piling in the car early and checking out the new bakery in town.  Called B.K. Bakery, it's named after head chef Brendan Kelly.  B.K. impressed us the minute we walked in: two glass cases sitting perpendicular to each other provided the side and front of the service area that faces the entrance, and they were already full of amazing looking treats. One case was full of the stuff continental breakfast dreams are made of: cinnamon rolls, artfully painted with icing; sticky rolls heavily coated with glossy pecans; reasonably sized muffins (that is, on the small side compared to the cake mountains that pass for "muffins" nowadays),  chock full of nuts and oats or poppyseed and lemon zest or blueberries or essence of coffee and chocolate chips; perfectly conceived scones, savory and sweet; and what has to be the most capably made croissants in the state.  I chose one stuffed with ham; Abbey chose one of the delectable fruit pastries (available in apricot, Abbey's choice, or pear); Olivia went with a classic, a blueberry muffin. Meanwhile, the second case was being filled with different, but equally appealing, items; we admired them from afar and greatly enjoyed what we had chosen. Abbey and I had ours with capably made cappucinos using beans from my favorite Missouri roastery: Kaldi's.

After the initial shock of enjoying our genuinely delicious breakfast, we perused the other case, which the people behind the counter were busy filling with delightfully decorated cupcakes and sumptuous looking mini cheesecakes. Before we left we couldn't help taking some items to go, including two of the fifty-cent pop-in-your-mouth cream puffs, which are absolutely fabulous, by the way. Oh, I hope and pray they attract the traffic they'll need to stay in business forever.  I'm feeling confident as I ran into an old friend while there and he enthused that the offerings were "like crack." I agreed. I was already deciding in my mind when I would be returning for more croissants.

Jefferson City just gained a pile of excellence points now that we have two functioning bakeries. It's newest addition is nothing short of world class and makes good coffee to boot!
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Pancakes

Oh magic electric skillet, is there anything you can't do?

Pancakes are a great opportunity to get some healthy grains down your kids' gullets. Most normal pancake recipes call for white flour; I substitute whole grain oat flour 1:1. Of all the whole grain flours I have tried, it's the most palatable substitute for white flour. Granted, one kid did comment "these taste like oatmeal" before devouring his pile. Otherwise, no one has really noticed.

I find oat flour works best with a buttermilk-based batter. I also would like to dispel some myths that are propagated via some recipes, and to draw attention to a flub of my own of which Abbey had to break me, finally. Firstly, when you make a buttermilk pancake batter, it's not good to wait until the last possible minute to combine the wet and dry ingredients until the last minute. The alkaline baking soda combines with the acid buttermilk to form pockets of air, giving it a light, fluffy texture.

But it is possible to overwork, and the worst thing of all is to mix ingredients lightly, then discover pockets of unblended dry ingredients, then try to smooth it out with whisk or fork- that takes all of your hard earned air bubbles right out. Thanks for helping me discover this, Abbey, and I'm not going to make this mistake again!

So, the pancakes were actually pretty easy to make in this plain steel skillet. A little butter helps them brown and keep from sticking. While Abbey made the pancakes, I took the breakfast sausage links to the gas grill. I fired it up, sprayed the top half of a standard broiler pan (one comes with every oven, practically) with olive oil and let it get up to temp, then let the sausages rest in the slits. every minute or so I turned them five-ish degrees. Abbey doesn't like breakfast sausage much, and she said this was the best she's ever eaten. Even with the applicances back in place I may have to make sausage on the grill a weekend ritual.

What do you do with leftover pancakes? This is my current idea- break into similar pieces and layer in a desert dish with warm strawberry jam and whipped cream!

In Praise of Electric Skillets

Thanks to Lowe's inept flooring department, we are heading into week four of our kitchen reflooring saga. We selected our tile (Armstrong Excelon) and placed our order. Assured it would arrive in the middle of the following week, we spent the better part of three days ripping the existing layers of flooring out of our kitchen- four layers of linoleum. The eldest layer was rather handsome, a mid-century pattern with stars and gold flecks. The three most recent, including what was in evidence when we moved in, were ugly as sin.

The week came and went, and we were informed there would be a delay. Fine. When it did come in, we took the two boxes home and only found when they were opened that they ordered the wrong color. So, I hauled it back in and reordered. That is where things stand, four weeks later.

All of the kitchen appliances were moved into the dining room. As we have an electric oven with a 220 plug, it's out of commission. We're making due with a crock pot, toaster, microwave and a vintage electric skillet. The skillet has performed admirably; we've used it practically every day this month, and for the most amazing things: boiling corn and pasta, poaching eggs, frying falafel, browning roasts, popping popcorn(!), and perhaps its most successful and most appropriate use, serving as a hotpot for Sukiyaki.

This morning, I've fried a rasher of bacon, and near the end, fried eggs sunny side up in the grease. Not exactly health food, but incredibly satisfying! Even if I did break some of the yolks.