Beginning of the Year in the Kitchen

The kitchen has been somewhat busy lately, with a focus on baking I must say. Nothing like starting the new year off with some fresh loaves...

Let's take a look at what's been happening on that checkerboard floor lately...

On New Years Eve I made skagen toasts for appetizer. For those who haven't had this shrimp and crab salad with dill, I say: try it right away. It's wonderful on toast, in a baguette, in a baked potato!

I also figured that it might be nice to switch it up a bit on the bread front. Here we have whole wheat loaves with added sunflower seeds, flaxseeds and raisins. Nice for toast and sandwiches...

Oh granola! I usually make this apple sauce granola which is really good, however since I didn't have any apple sauce on hand, and being a bit tired of cinnamon after Christmas, I figured I would create a new type of granola. A basic kind, one that isn't overly sweet and that is shock full of seeds and nuts with some dried fruit. And this honey vanilla granola was the result - it turned out great, I think this might be my new favorite...

I'm also determined to finally get my sourdough going. I dried my sourdough last year and have been trying to revive it a couple of times now since getting back to baking. However it never really took off and became active enough, ready for baking that is - so I lost interest half way through the process a couple of times now and just put it back in the fridge. And there it's been sitting, looking a bit sad and deflated. But now - I'm determined to not give up and lovingly feed my starter every day until it bubbles and shows clear signs of life. Because when comparing bread baked with sourdough and bread baked with yeast, there really is no comparison, sourdough is so much richer, fuller and more interesting. However, until my sourdough is ready, I'll have to make do with yeast, so I made this pugliese with rye the other day which turned out quite nice.

Classic beef stew with potatoes, carrots, onions and tomatoes. Simmered for hours, enjoyed with crusty bread. Perfect winter food.