ginger chocolate pear bread cake

i was initially going to introduce some punctuation into the title of this post, but in fact i actually think of this as if it was all one word, like GingerChocolatePearBreadCake, so i decided to leave it punctuation-free. 

it's dangerous, though, if you already don't really use capital letters as you ought and then you start flouting the rules of punctuation. you could go off the rails really quickly, is what i'm saying. but. BUT. i was almost an english minor, so it's like one of those "learn the rules so you can break 'em" things. 

or not.

pears and i have a moderately complex relationship. i kind of dig fake pear flavoring (though it's uncommon to find in candies, etc., i like it when i do) and my favorite kind of skyr when i went to iceland was pear-flavored. too often when i buy pears, though, they start out hard, enjoy a brief 30 second interlude of flavor/texture perfection, and promptly melt into the crisper drawer.

that's essentially what happened with these pears mike bought, but i found them before they were quite destroyed and decided to put them to use in a sweet quick bread. there aren't a lot of pear bread recipes out there, but i found this one and modified it to my mental image of the pear bread-cake i sought.

to that end - chocolate. also much more pear and ginger, including a hefty dose of finely grated fresh ginger. nuts would be a good addition, too, but we didn't have any because we used the last of the pecans for the beet and blue cheese salad (aka Beets of the Southern Wild) we made for this year's oscar pun dinner (see previous offerings, Midnight in Pears and Precious: Based on the Liquor Gin by Bombay Sapphire, whose recipe has sadly been lost to the mists of glorious memory).

the great thing about quick breads is how quick they are (!). the main work involved in this is the messy (for me) peeling and cutting-up of the very-soft-at-this-point pears. as shown above, just cut them in half after peeling, get the core out, and chop them thinly one way and then the other. you don't have to be overly fastidious about this - they kind of meld with the rest of the bread anyway.

other than that, it's a typical one-to-one-and-1/2-bowl affair - the wet ingredients (including sugar. sugar usually counts as wet in baking) get mixed together and then you add the dry ingredients. probably the best thing would be to mix the dry ingredients separately and then add them, but i'm congenitally unable to dirty more dishes than necessary, so i always mix the leaveners in the measuring cup with part of the flour, add that, add the rest of the flour, and mix everything gently together. then fold in the pear and the chocolate. i used some dark chocolate discs, but you could also cut up a bar or use some chocolate chips.

i buttered the loaf pan (9"x5") and made a little liner out of parchment paper. you don't necessarily have to do this, but the paper or a liner of aluminum foil will make the bread easier to remove from the pan later. a stitch in time, etc.

then just bake it for 45-50 minutes or so, turning it around mid-way through. i let it cool in the pan for awhile before taking it out, which was a good move because this stuff is super moist (though not dense!) and it really wanted to fall apart at first. once it cooled down, though, it made for a rich, gingery afternoon treat that stayed lushly soft for several days. it's particularly good with a strong cup of tea, but would also work as a more dessert-y course with a scoop of ice cream.

ginger chocolate pear bread cake
(heavily adapted from this ginger pear bread recipe)

mix

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 packed teaspoon grated fresh ginger (i used a microplane over a cup to make sure to catch all of the ginger juice, which contributes a lot of flavor)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

zest of 1 lemon

add
1/3 cup vegetable oil

2 eggs, beaten

mix separately, then add

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

fold in
2 cups peeled, cored, and chopped pears

1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate

bake at 325 (although i actually started at 350 and turned it down to 325 after 10 minutes or so) for 45 minutes or until a toasty golden brown

listening to: yo la tengo

goat cheese, honey, black pepper, bread

you can use any kind of breadish thing - sandwich, ciabatta, one of those scandinavian rye crisps, or even a biscuit. maybe especially a biscuit.

then you need some nice soft chalkylicious goat cheese.

let it warm up a little out of the fridge, so you can spread it all over the bread or what-have-you.

then toast it, if you like. or stick it under the broiler for a minute or so. or leave it as is.

then spread it with lots of good honey. if you ever see meadowfoam honey anywhere, you owe it to yourself to try it. it's like vanilla beans making out with caramel in a field on a brilliant summer day.

one of the less florid floral, less sweet honeys would be good, too - like buckwheat or chestnut. or of course you can use just regular ol' honey out of a honey bear. you can't go too far wrong.

then grind lots of black pepper over. i like to use a fairly coarse grind level, so that you crunch into bits of pepper. but whatever. just make sure to grind it right over the honey and cheese - the pre-ground dust will not be anywhere close to as good.

if you make this with homemade bread and really fresh goat cheese and good honey, it is pretty much the best thing in the world.

simple cozy brown bread

so it's officially fall now. grey days may still be slightly outnumbered by sunnyish ones, but the ratio is definitely heading toward portland's traditional parade of grey from october to may.

which is fine by me, actually. when it's grey and chilly out, there is nothing better than making yeasty brown bread. it fills the house with delicious smells and the joy of eating fresh homemade bread cannot be overstated.

this is a versatile little loaf, too. sometimes i make it with part rye flour, sometimes i use more molasses, sometimes i add some oats for part of the flour. i also like to set a little bit of dough aside in the fridge and add it to the next batch, like an ersatz sourdough starter.

the best thing about the bread, though, is that it is as simple as the proverbial pie (which, come on, is not that easy). you can let it rise for as little as 20 minutes, but i usually give it at least an hour or so. you could also mix it up the night before, leave it in the fridge for awhile, and let it warm up and rise for an hour or two the next afternoon and then bake it. whatever you want!

i got the initial recipe from the guardian. i've fiddled around with it a bit, but the recipe as is is plenty delicious. i do appreciate that english recipes tend to use weights for measurements - it makes it roughly 100% easier to switch things with no ill effects.

first, you bloom the yeast in warm water and molasses. i use one whole packet of that yellow-packaged active dry yeast. in the original recipe, it says that the water should be "at blood heat," which, while vaguely creepy, is probably about the temperature you want - lukewarmish. it also calls for black treacle, which is not something i normally come across here. so i used some blackstrap molasses (the strong molasses) and, because i like those really dark sort of sweet breads, i usually use at least a tablespoon or so instead of the meager teaspoon called for originally.

just mix 1/2 cup of warm water, the packet of yeast and the molasses and let it sit for 10 minutes or so. the yeast gets all excited and froths up, so don't mix them in something too small.

while you're waiting for the yeast to do its weird thing, mix up the rest of the ingredients - 1 pound of flour (either all whole wheat or part wheat and part other flour, like rye - experiment!) and a teaspoon (or a little more) of salt. i did one of those online conversion things that said that 1 pound of wheat flour is about 3 3/4 cups, but you'd really be better off just getting a scale. it's much easier and better for switching up flours, since it's more exact. but otherwise, i think you could go with a little under 4 cups of flour and be fine.

once the yeast has foamed nicely, add that mixture and another cup of warm water to the flour and salt. get it all mixed nicely and pour/scrape (it will be pretty wet, for bread dough) it into a greased loaf pan. i like to line the pan with some parchment paper - it makes it easier to get the finished loaf out. then let it sit for awhile in some warm place. the original recipe says just 20 minutes, but i think it should go for at least an hour.

this is also the point at which you could save a little knob of dough for the next batch. i don't know if it really makes a difference in the taste, but the idea appeals to me and i usually do this. i keep it in the fridge in an old olive jar and have used it 2 weeks after it was made with no ill effects. just add it to the new loaf when you stir the water and yeast mixture into the flour and salt.

it rises pretty well over the course of an hour, but this isn't one of those super-rising loaves. it's meant to be a more dense, thick-textured one, like the knobby wool sweater of breads. hmm, that doesn't sound as complimentary as it was meant to. but that's the kind of bread i want on chilly fall days.

preheat the oven to 450 and bake the bread for 20 minutes, then turn the oven down to 400 and let it bake for another 45 minutes + (it should sound sort of hollow when you tap the bottom of the pan). let it cool in the pan for a bit and then set it on a rack to cool fully. you can also take it out of the pan about 5-10 minutes early and set it back in the oven - it gets the crust crispy. but it is also kind of a hassle. so.

they always tell you not to cut warm bread because it something something ... whatever, i am not physically able to resist cutting warm bread. after you make homemade bread, it's an imperative. i mean, don't cut it straight out of the oven, sure, but i rarely wait more than 20 minutes or so before following the siren song of malty, yeasty goodness.

this bread's as good with tea and jam as it is with pimento cheese, salty butter and crisp radishes, or cream cheese, smoked salmon, and capers. in short, it is good with everything. when toasted and well-buttered, it makes a particularly fine accompaniment to soup.

i think i know what we're having for dinner...

*ingredients*

1 packet yeast (the original recipe has a measurement for fresh yeast, if you want to go that route)

1 1/2 cups water, divided

1 tablespoon blackstrap molasses (or you could use wuss molasses, if you like)

1 lb (450 grams, or ~ 3 3/4 cups) whole wheat flour (or mix of flours)

1 teaspoon or 2 salt

radishes, butter, salt, bread

this is a super quick snack or light lunch - bread, then some good quality butter, then thinly sliced radishes, then a goodish sprinkling of a nice flaky salt. that's all you need for a rather elegant little repast.

i used a salt called murray river apricot salt, which is australian for fancy salt. it does sound fancy, but it isn't that expensive when you just use it for sprinkling on things. they have it online at lots of places and in austin i got it at central market and here in portland at zupan's. so it's around and all.