There’s a new web series,  Peter Arthur Stories, launching May 14th as part of a Pennsylvania tourism initiative.   From the trailer, it looks like it’s going to follow a young man on a romantic and food-filled (Shoo-Fly pie!) adventure through Pennsylvania, and it got me thinking about some of the great Pennsylvania foods.  So, of course, I made this Scrapple Hoagie.  If you’re not familiar with Scrapple, think of it as the meatatarian’s tofu, and it makes a damn fine sandwich, if I do say so myself:

I know, I know.  Week-old bagels don’t sound like anything you’d want to go near unless you’re looking for a paperweight or a christmas ornament.  (?!)  But hear me out, and consider how much store-bought croutons cost, and more importantly, how much they suck, before you dismiss this idea out of hand.  

When fresh, bagels typically cost at least 50 cents each, but my local grocer sells day-old bagels by the bag-ful at the end of the day for just 99 cents.  As it turns out, you can still get a few more days out of these rejects if you keep them bagged, refrigerate them, and don’t mind toasting them when you’re ready to eat.  But I almost always end up with 6 or 8 bagels that are too stale even for my accommodating standards.  These I convert to croutons.

Cut it as you would if you were going to eat in the usual manner.
 

Cut in half vertically, and then cut in a radius to create small wedge-shaped pieces.  Note that I am carving up a cinnamon raisin bagel here.  I find that the sweet bagels add a nice variety to the croutons.  To some, of course, the non-savory bagel is best left to a temporary flirtation, and I’m not about to get all partisan about it. 

 

Once you’ve reduced the bagel to wedges, douse them with pretty much whatever you’ve got for herbs and spices.  Salt and pepper are key, but garlic powder, terragon, and rosemary usually make an appearance.  And if it’s good for nothing else, powdered parmesan cheese–the cheaper the better I’d say–goes very nicely on these croutons.

Next, oil them up with anything edible.  Olive oil is nicest if you can afford it, but I’ve made them with canola, vegetable, even peanut oil, to delicious effect.  Make sure you toss them thoroughly in a large bowl so each wedge gets a taste of the oil and spices.  Spread them out on a tray or cookie sheet and toast the hell out of them.  No precise numbers here.  I usually drop them for 30 minutes in the middle of a 375 degree oven and if needed finish them for a couple of minutes under a high broil, as I did here: 
 

Once they’ve cooled, you can seal them in plastic bags or tupperware and they’ll pretty much keep for ever.  I eat them on salads, for late night snacks, and, on very special occasions treat my dog to one or two.  They’re also a great addition to a hasty panzanella salad should you happen to stumble across a little fresh mozzarella, tomatoes and basil.

So there: Week-old Bagel Croutons.

I used my Philadelphia Collard Greens and a heapin’ helpin’ of bacon for these savory scones.  I judge them a success, though I don’t think I could reconstruct the recipe exactly, and it involved a great deal of finger-in-the-wind on-the-fly estimates, if I may mix those metaphors.  As almost always, the Joy of Cooking is a good place to start.

Video proof that you can bake and talk on the phone at the same time.  ”Oh really? Awesome!”

The beats are by Aeon, about whom you can read and hear more at Aggregate Dope.

What the hell is this?  Does this look appetizing to anyone as a cake?

This is a wheat loaf froma Trinidadian bakery on 52nd Street in West Philadelphia (Brown Sugar Bakery).  It has a fairly dense crumb.  I forgot to ask exactly what it’s called.  It’s not quite large enough to make a decent sandwich, but it’s delicious and makes a great toast.  

Once again, I’ve been a bit disappointed by my sourdough efforts, but there’s progress to report as well. Here was the first loaf I raised:

I think it did actually double in volume during the second rise, but I probably should have let it go longer. The crumb is too tight and dense and there are parts of the interior of the loaf that saw no rise at all. The crust is another disappointment, and part of the problem is clearly that I have not created a moist enough environment for the bake. James Beard’s sourdough recipe calls for a pan of water on the lower rack (though it also calls for the use of commercial yeast, which I understand arouses a scoff from the purist). I may try that next–the water, not the yeast (yet). Other recipes demand that you spray water into the oven periodically. I’ll try variations on those techniques presently. Here was the second loaf. This one used the non-PYNK starter:

This was evidently a wetter dough, since it ‘rose’ horizontally rather than in a dome. Its rise *was* more robust, however, and the crumb had a little more air in it. I’m not ready just yet for a brotform, but I think that may be on the horizon. The crust was just as disappointing, however. The biggest failure of both breads was their flavor. They just aren’t sour enough! Neither loaf has the distinctive tang of sourdough despite the overpoweringly sour aroma of the starter. I’m going to try addressing that problem by allowing the sponge to proof longer in a warmer environment. More reports soon!

Not a lot of liveliness to my Sourdough starter these days. There was a brief period when the starter puffed up and seemed to be doing its starter-y thing, but those days are gone, and now it bubbles with a malicious sloth. I’ve now split it into two colonies of yeast. The original ambient yeast from the flour, my skin, the air, wherever, theoretically populates the original starter:

But I’ve seeded an additional starter using a little leftover Yards Brewing Company Pynk:

PYNK is a beautiful, light, effervescent ale brewed with belgian Lambic yeast and loads of fresh raspberries. The raspberries give this beer a deep pink color while the Lambic yeast makes this beer’s flavor tart and complex. Slipping some Pynk onto your tongue is like gliding into that old poodle skirt that you know you love. We don’t make this very often so if you see it, try it!! Available occasionally (on special years) – Draught Only. Alcohol by Volume varies by batch but is generally around 6%.

No idea what’ll happen with that one (or either of them, with my track record), but that’s why this is an experimental food blog. Anyway, the new location for Yards Brewing Company is under construction. It used to be a skate park. Check the photos here.

I am not a lab scientist. Sourdough is lab science. I failed at dozens of attempts to raise a sourdough starter last summer, and I’ve overcome that early frustration just in time to launch my new starter into the teeth of winter. Since most sourdough starter recipes seem to require a consistently warm temperature (about 85 degrees), this is not ideal. My previous failures were with this recipe, so this time around I’m going to give this one a shot. Technically though, this effort is merely inspired by that recipe, since contra his suggestions I’m using plain bleached white flour. Instead of using a ceramic or glass crock as suggested, I’m using Tupperware. And I’m solving the temperature problem with my oven light. Not sure where that leaves this project’s carbon footprint.