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Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Pita Bread

Inspiration: In my quest to make a homemade chicken gyro it was time to focus on the bread….which turned out with mixed results.

Using the recipe from my Ankarsrum mixer cookbook I set about making pita. However, due to not adding quite enough flour when mixing (I think) — on the second rise they turned rather light and delicate. Which normally would be great, but proved problematic when trying to move them seamlessly from the counter to the baking sheet as they stretched out and tore.

Rendering my nice round and fluffy dough into odd alien shapes and quite a bit thicker and tougher than one is looking for pita.

Though still tasty.

The next time I make these, I’m going to lay the pita dough directly on the parchment paper liners for the second rise – then slide it onto the cookie sheet to bake. Thus avoiding the need to handle the dough.

Then perhaps my pita will resemble the pictures more closely…

Christie: Perhaps, Miss Marple, Tommy & Tuppence, Race, and Battle would try this bread whilst on vacation? Otherwise, I can’t really see any of the detectives would necessarily eat this otherwise.

Cooking With Christie!

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This Week’s Recipe: Hamburger Buns!

So this particular recipe came about thanks to my husband, who bought me a new mixer for Valentine’s Day. Some girls like diamonds. Others enjoy candy. But this one loves books and small appliances – especially since I’ve managed to wear out my fancy Kitchen Aid mixer!

In any case, said mixer, made by Ankarsrum (a Swedish company whose design I am totally in love with), came with a hardback cookbook. Which included a hamburger bun recipe that turned out perfectly on the first try! Which, considering how many I’ve attempted over the years, was downright astonishing!

(Now, Ankarsrum does have a blog with a bun recipe on it – but it’s not the one I used.)

The only changes I made to the recipe were using honey rather than white sugar (as I invariably get better results). And rather than dumping everything into the mixing bowl all at once, I add the honey, yeast, and warm milk (110-115 degrees F), stir it together – then let it froth up for six minutes – then I slowly add the flour, then the salt, then the rest of the flour.

Christie: I think Colonel Race, our detective in Sparkling Cyanide, would on occasion enjoy a burger and chips!