“Good things last”

Our Great Uncle Don lives by that mantra.  And he knows, having been, for almost four decades, a buyer of furniture and art.  From Louisville, Kentucky – home of the Mint Julip and a refined southern comfort – he travelled the world each year, from Asia to Africa and all the way across Europe.  He has a finely tuned eye.  And his mantra makes sense.

In his eighties now, he doesn’t travel with the same aplomb.  But he loves Peanut Butter Cookies and we baked and sent to him some treats: good things that won’t last.

This recipe for peanut butter sandwich cookies is an adaptation of “Not Nutter Butter” from Nancy Silverton’s  Sandwich Book.  It made 52 individual cookies, or 26 sandwich cookies.

In a medium skillet combine: 4 oz unsalted butter, 1 vanilla bean (or about 1 tsp vanilla extract), and 2 Cups rolled oats and toast them over a medium heat until they are becoming caramelized:

Meanwhile, cream together: 8 ounces unsalted butter, 2 tsp baking soda, and 2 tsp kosher salt until the butter is softened.  Then add 3/4 Cup white sugar and 3/4 Cup brown sugar and mix until light and fluffy.

Next add 3/4 cup peanut butter (we used Whole Foods No Salt bulk peanut butter, but you could use any other brand.  If using natural peanut butter pour off the excess oil before adding.)  And then mix in the toasted oats and 2 1/4 Cup unbleached all-purpose flour.  Blend until just combined.

Using a coffee scoop we portioned the cookies and then pressed them down, gently, to flatten them out:

You might add the cross-hatch marks with a fork.

Bake the cookies on parchment paper at 350 degrees for about 17 minutes, or until just beginning to darken on the edges; we like them best when still just chewy in the middle.  They will firm up as they cool.

For the filling, combine 3 ounces unsalted butter, 2 tsp kosher salt, 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp powdered sugar, 1/2 Cup bulk all natural no-salt peanut butter, and 1/2 Cup + 2 Tbsp almond butter, unsalted.  Blend until smooth and creamy, and then spread the filling between two cookies.

Stone Turtle

Went to a bread baking class today at the Stone Turtle Baking and Cooking School.  Michael and Sandy Jubinsky are two people who love what they do.  For 30+ years Michael was the spokesperson for King Arthur Flour and in 2011, he was voted one of the ten best bread bakers in America.  He knows his stuff.  www.stoneturtlebaking.com

Michael is retired, and in a typical fashion up here, going stronger than ever.  He and Sandy built a home, a classroom/bake shop and an awesome wood-fired Le Panyol Stone Oven from France. Stoking the fire with kiln-dried oak (4% moisture) and maple hewn from his property, the oven burns up to 1079 degrees at the dome, 982 degrees on the floor and and produces bread with crust and crumb to die for.

Today’s class was Italian-Style Hearth Breads: a biga pre-ferment, equal parts durum wheat and all-purpose flour (11.7% protein – less gluten than bread flour), some olive oil and slow-to-ferment gift you a tight textured, golden-hued piece de resistance.  Perfect for toast!  Great with a glass of wine!

There were ten students in the class.  We each made two loaves, 700 grams each with approx. 64% hydration (ratio of water to flour), proofed, stretched and folded three times, then ultimately shaped into a boule and placed upon a bread peel.  The oven had cooled to just below 600 degrees, and the bread baked for 16 minutes.

We each had a special marking pattern.  My two loaves are in the photo to the right, below.

The 64% hydration is somewhat “moderate”; Stephen Lanzalotta, a local baker, makes breads upwards of 85% + hydration – rather like pancake batter – that he kneads by hand, slowly forming the gluten strands that bind and form a superb crumb; his bread lines stretch out the door, buyers waiting up to an hour to purchase his breads.

Of late, wood-fired ovens are the vogue, but they have been around since at least 300 BC when the Greeks enclosed fire within a flame-resistant mortar shell.  But history here is moot; what matters today is crust and crumb: