All this cold, wet weather we’ve been having in Boston has put me in a serious mood for comfort food. (I mean, really. Folks in the northeast: Are you ready for spring, or what?)

Freshly baked bread is always near the top of my list of yummy, carb-laden indulgences.

Much like homemade butter, once you make your own sandwich bread, it’s kind of hard to go back to regular ole grocery store white bread.

Making your own bread is also really easy to do. It takes a few hours to make bread from start to finish, but most of that is for the actual rising and baking. There’s very little real hands-on time.

This recipe makes two one-pound (i.e. standard size) loaves of bread. Bake them on Sunday night—along with, say, a Deli-Style Roast Beef—and you’ll have delicious sandwiches all week long.

The crumb is even and light in texture.

The crust is soft and just a little bit chewy.

And nothing makes your house smell as wonderful as freshly baked bread.

Not to mention, it makes amazing toast.

You don’t need any special equipment to make bread. Just a couple of regular loaf pans (you can get fancy ones, or pick a few up at a well-stocked hardware store).

I usually use my stand mixer (it’s faster) to knead the dough, but you can just as easily (well, almost) do it the old-fashioned way: With your hands and a little elbow grease. There’s actually something really satisfying about kneading bread dough by hand.

Three important things to know about yeast

1. Keep your yeast cold—It’s a living organism, and too much heat will kill it. (Dead yeast = dough that doesn’t rise.) The fridge or freezer is best.
2. Measure your yeast by hand—Especially if it comes in those little paper packets. (You know the ones I mean.) The amount in each envelope can vary a fair amount.
3. Always proof your yeast at the beginning of a recipe—Most recipes will start with something like, “Add your yeast to lukewarm water and let it sit for 10 minutes.” When it bubbles, you know it’s happy and alive. That way, you know if you have a problem with your yeast BEFORE you add all the other ingredients to the dough.

I’ve used SAF Instant Yeast for years. (The folks at King Arthur Flour swear by it for reliability.) I keep mine in the freezer in a mason jar.

Here you go.

Homemade Sandwich Bread

2 cups lukewarm water
2 Tbls. sugar
1 Tbls. dry active yeast
2 Tbls. butter, softened
5 1/2 cups all purpose flour + more for kneading the dough
1 Tbls. kosher salt

Yields 2 standard loaves

Proof the yeast

Put the water and sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk vigorously to dissolve the sugar. (Yeast eats sugar, so consider this its appetizer before you add the flour.)

Toss in the yeast.

Whisk again to dissolve. Walk away from the bowl for 5-10 minutes to give the yeast time to work.

After 5-10 minutes, there should be a thick, creamy layer on the surface of the water.

That means the yeast is alive and kicking, so you can keep right on going.

Make the dough

Toss the flour and salt into the bowl with the yeast.

Cut your soft butter up into a few pieces (to make it easier to work into the dough evenly).

Toss the butter in with the flour.

Mix well to combine the ingredients. If you’re using a stand mixer, use the dough hook. (I use a stand mixer to knead my dough, but I always get it started by hand to keep the flour from flying all over the place.)

Knead the dough for 3-5 minutes.

It’s ready when it’s formed a smooth ball that feels elastic-y when you touch it.

Other signs the dough has been kneaded enough: Very little of the dough will stick to the dough hook when you pull it out of the bowl…

…and there will be very little dough actually sticking to the sides of the bowl.

The first rise

Round the dough up into a ball. Put it in a large, lightly greased bowl.

Coat a piece of plastic wrap with a little oil. Loosely cover the bowl with it, oil side down.

Let it sit in a warm place for about an hour, or until it’s doubled in size. If you check it after about 15 minutes, you should notice that it’s started to grow:

After about an hour, your dough should be doubled in size.

Form the bread loaves

Punch the dough down. (Basically, just poke it a bunch and smoosh the air out of it.)

Knead it a couple of times (I do this in the bowl) and form it into a neat ball. It should be smooth and tacky, but not sticky.

Sprinkle a little flour on a board. Set the dough ball on the flour.

Whack the ball in half with a bencher or a large knife. Each half will become one loaf.

Grab one half of the dough.

Knead it a few times by folding it in thirds over and over.

The second rise

Lightly grease two one-pound loaf pans. Set the formed loaf in one of the pans. Repeat with the other ball of dough.

Set the pans in a warm place, uncovered.

Let the loaves rise like this for about an hour, or until they’ve doubled in size.

About 15 minutes before your hour is up, preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the bread

When your loaves have doubled in size, pop them into your preheated 350-degree oven for 35-40 minutes.

When they’re done, the tops should be a nice light brown.

Yank the pans out of the oven.

Let them cool for 5 minutes in the pans. Then, with potholders, tip the loaves out of the pans and let them finish cooling on a rack.

(A good tip for checking if your bread is cooked through? Thump on the bottom of the loaf. If it makes a hollow sound, you’re bread is baked through.)

If you can bear it, let them cool to room temperature before slicing. When you slice bread that’s hot out of the oven like this, the remaining loaf can get a little gummy.

Bread will keep well, tightly wrapped on the counter or the fridge, for about 4 days. If, of course, it lasts that long.

Enjoy!

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I could eat bowls of buttery mashed potatoes for dinner—which is probably why I don’t make them too often. (Hello, carb coma!) There are a zillion recipes out there for making mashed potatoes. Here’s how I make mine. They’re simple and creamy—and just a wee bit tangy from the addition of a little sour cream.

The secret is in the potato…or is it?

Truth be told, I like all kinds of potatoes for mashed potatoes. Call me a savage, but it’s true. (I know a lot of folks will say that this is blasphemy…that there is one—and only one—definitive type of potato that’s right for mashed potatoes.)

So, there are two basic types of potatoes: Floury and waxy. Floury potatoes are high in starch and include such old standbys as the Russet. Waxy potatoes have less starch and a thinner skin, like red and yellow potatoes.

Me? I love Russet and/or Yukon Gold potatoes.

How do you like your mashed potatoes?

I know a lot of folks who make mashed potatoes in a lot of different ways.

Some swear by starting their potatoes in cold water. Others use a ricer, not a masher—or a stand mixer, let’s not forget those folks. I know people who prefer rustic, skin-on “smashed” potatoes—and those who will wax poetic about aligot, a heavenly mixture of creme fraiche, cheese, garlic, and potatoes that’s beaten until it forms smooth ribbons.

Sigh. So many potatoes. So little time. How about you…what’s your secret?

Flavor, ahoy!

This recipe is just a starting point. Make your mashed potatoes extra fabulous by stirring in some:

+Wasabi powder
+Freshly grated Parmesan cheese
+Crumbled bacon and shredded cheddar cheese
+Minced green herbs and garlic
+Goat cheese and lavender
+Caramelized onions and chopped Fontina cheese

Perfect Mashed Potatoes

3-4 big Russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
kosher salt
1/2 stick butter
1 Tbls. chives, chopped + more for garnish
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup sour cream
ground white pepper

Serves 4 as a side dish

Cook the potatoes

Set a large pot of water to boil on the stove over high heat. While the water’s heating, peel your potatoes.

Chop your potatoes up into small-ish chunks.

When your water has come up to a boil, toss in some kosher salt and drop your potatoes into the pot. Boil uncovered for about 15 minutes, depending on the size of your potato chunks.

To test them for doneness, fish a potato chunk out of the pot and press on it with a fork. It should break apart easily, like this:

When your potatoes are cooked through, drain them.

Season your potatoes

Put the cooked potato chunks back into your empty, hot pot.

Toss in the butter and chives.

With a potato masher, smoosh the potatoes up to break them apart and mix in the butter.

Add the sour cream to the potatoes.

Pour in the cream.

Mix the sour cream and heavy cream in with a spoon until it’s well blended. Season with kosher salt and ground white pepper to taste.

Serve & enjoy!

Serve garnished with chopped chives.

Enjoy!

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There are a lot of methods for making chicken stock. Some folks make it in the slow cooker. Some folks make it in the oven. This is one of the ways that I make mine on top of the stove. It’s a good, basic method and yields a richly flavored, golden chicken stock that’s a good base for soups and sauces.

Roasting all the ingredients before simmering them is one key to a deeply chicken-y flavored stock.

Customize this recipe to create your own unique stock. Some ideas for add-ins:

+More garlic + fresh ginger + fresh chili peppers
+Fennel + fresh thyme + celery root
+Smoked pork hock + rosemary + parsnip

One of my favorite things to do with this is make good, old-fashioned chicken noodle soup, with alphabet noodles.

What kind of chicken should you use for chicken stock?

I’ll typically whip up a batch of this whenever I find a good sale on chicken parts. This time, I got a huge package of chicken necks. I usually prefer the mix of chicken wings, necks, and backs that my mom uses, but just didn’t like the way they looked this time.

All that said, you can do this with a leftover roasted chicken carcass. If you can find ‘em (and are brave enough to deal with them), chicken feet also make fabulously velvety stock because of all the gelatin in them.

The basic technique for homemade chicken stock

This stock takes a few hours to cook, but actually requires very little active time on your part. I like to make stock on the weekend, when I can get it cooking and keep an eye on it while I get other stuff done.

Roast your chicken and veggies (skins and all) to brown them and start developing flavor. Toss them in a pot with water and simmer for a few hours. Skim off the fat, strain the stock, and freeze.

The onion skin helps give the stock a deep, golden color.

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock: A note on stock pots

I use a pasta pot with a built in strainer to make this stock, because I like how easy the insert makes it to remove all the big ingredients. Just be careful not to fill it to the top, or the stock may boil out between the strainer and the pot and make a huge mess.

If you don’t have a pasta pot, just use any big pot you have. Be sure that it has a tight-fitting lid.

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock

3 lbs. assorted chicken necks, backs & wings
1 large sweet onion, cut up into large pieces
15 baby carrots (or 2-3 regular carrots, chopped roughly)
4 ribs celery, cut up into large pieces
1 head garlic, sliced in half
water
1 bay leaf
kosher salt
freshly cracked black pepper
olive oil
fresh parsley

Yields about 8 cups of stock

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock: Roast the chicken and veggies

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Line 2 sheet pans with foil and parchment paper and set aside.

Like I said, I had big package of chicken necks. Give them a rinse and pat them dry.

Cut up your veggies and spread them out on one of your prepared pans. Sprinkle with a little kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Toss to coat.

Spread the chicken out on the second pan. Sprinkle with kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.

Pop both pans into your preheated 425 degree oven.

Roast for about an hour, until the chicken and veggies are nicely browned.

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock: Simmer the stock

When your chicken and veggies are browned, yank them out of the oven. Transfer the veggies to your stock pot.

Be sure to get all that juice and those brown bits.

Toss in a handful of fresh parsley if you have it on hand.

Toss the chicken into the pot with the veggies.

Again, scrape in all the juice and brown bits.

Fill the pot about 3/4 of the way full with cold water.

Give it a stir.

Toss in a little kosher salt.

Drop in a fresh bay leaf.

Set the pot on the stove over high heat. Bring it to a boil. When it starts to boil, drop the heat to low and simmer it.

When it’s been simmering for a few minutes, skim some of the fat off the surface and discard.

Drop the heat to low and cover the pot tightly. Simmer for about 1 1/2 hours. Peek at it every once and a while and skim more fat off if needed. Your stock should look about like this:

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock: Strain the stock

When the stock is ready, strain the solids out of it.

Discard the solids. (They’ll pretty much have given up all their goodness and flavor to the stock.)

Once I’ve removed the solids, I like to strain it one more time, to get all the tiny little bits out of it. Sometimes I use my chinois for this, but honestly, I hate washing the thing. Set a strainer over a large bowl. Line it with a paper towel or some cheese cloth.

Ladle the stock through the cloth into the bowl.

Repeat until you’ve strained all the stock.

You should wind up with a bunch of gunk in the strainer:

And a bunch of beautiful stock in the bowl:

You probably strained most of the fat off when it was simmering, but if you didn’t, skim most of the rest off now.

Let the stock cool to room temperature, then stick it in the fridge for 2-3 days, or split up among smaller containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

Basic Homemade Chicken Stock: Serve and enjoy!

Like I said, there are a zillion ways to use chicken stock, but my all-time favorite has to be chicken noodle soup.

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Forget the deli. Make your own roast beef at home. It’s simple and typically way more economical than hitting the deli counter every week—plus, you can personalize your roast beast with whatever flavors you like. All you need is a piece of meat, a few spices, and a really sharp knife.

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: Stretch your grocery dollars

These days, I don’t know anyone who isn’t pinching at least a few pennies. This is a great way to save on your deli bill—and your lunch tab—without spending a ton of extra time in the kitchen. Once you season the meat, your oven does all the work.

For a price comparison, my eye round roast was $3.69/lb. When I checked the deli case at my local grocery store last night, they were selling their store-brand roast beef for $9.49/lb. Not a bad savings, eh? (That said, these are Boston prices. I’d love to know if the story is different in your neck of the woods.)

Make this with an eye round roast. You might also find this cut labeled “round eye roast” or “round eye pot roast.” You can substitute bottom round and top round as well. You’ll just need to mess around with the timing a little.

Now, the eye round is a relatively tough piece of meat. Not a problem. You can fix that quickly by slicing it paper thin (or as thin as you can get it), against the grain.

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: How to slice a roast against the grain

Wait, against the grain? Mouse, what do you mean? Here you go:

The thinner you slice your meat, the more tender it will be.

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: A note on method and timing

I follow Chris Schlesinger & John Willoughby’s roast beef technique from their fabulous book, How to Cook Meat.

Get your copy for $17.96 at Amazon—that’s more than 25% off the $24.95 list price.
(Pricing is accurate as of this posting and is subject to change.)

These guys have a great theory about cooking meat: Cooking time depends more on meat shape than it does on weight.

Which makes a lot of sense. If you think about it, you could have a roast and a steak that are exactly the same weight, but their cooking times will vary greatly based on their different shapes. The roast will take longer because it’s rounder and thicker. The steak’s weight is distributed across a flatter, thinner shape, so it’ll cook faster.

They explain that since eye round roasts are always about the same shape (that of a small-ish football), they always cook them for about 50 minutes, regardless of weight. I’ve used this method for years, and I couldn’t agree more.

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: Customize your roast beef

My recipe makes a simple, fairly traditional roast beef. Because it’s blasted at 500 degrees for 20 minutes, I use ground spices. I’m fairly sure that fresh garlic, etc., would burn in that time. For the same reason, I don’t use anything with sugar in it.

Customize your roast with different spices. Here are a few ideas:

+Five spice powder + ground garlic + ground ginger
+Cayenne + celery salt + powdered rosemary
+Cumin + chili flakes + ground garlic

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef: How do I know when it’s done?

One thing to note. The eye round is a pretty lean cut of meat, so the longer you cook it, the drier it can become. Just a good thing to know. It will be at its juiciest at rare or medium rare. This is one of the rare cases where I actually do use a meat thermometer.

120 F = rare
126 F = medium-rare
134 F = medium
150 F = medium-well
160 F = well done

My roast came out medium-rare. I yanked it out of the oven after 50 minutes, when it was about 126 degrees.

Deli-Style Homemade Roast Beef

1 beef eye round roast
olive oil
freshly cracked black pepper
kosher salt
garlic powder
onion powder

Season the meat

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Line a sheet pan or roasting pan with foil. Put a roasting rack in the pan on top of the foil. Set aside.

Grab your roast out of the fridge. Give it a quick rinse under cold water. Pat it completely dry.

Drizzle the meat with a little olive oil. This is imprecise. Use enough oil to coat your roast completely.

With your hands, rub the meat on all sides to coat with oil. Sprinkle evenly with freshly cracked black pepper.

I like my roast beef peppery, so I used a lot. But like I said, the seasoning is totally up to you.

Be sure to get underneath and on the ends, too.

Sprinkle all sides with kosher salt, to taste.

If you’re concerned about sodium in deli meats, this is a great way to control your intake. We tend to like a fair amount of salt on our roast beef, so I was generous.

Dust all sides with garlic powder and onion powder.

When your roast is completely seasoned, pat it down with your hands to help the spices adhere.

My seasoned roast looked like this:

Roast & tent your beast!

When your roast is seasoned, place it on the rack in your prepared pan.

Pop the pan into your preheated 500 degree oven.

Roast at 500 degrees for 20 minutes. Then drop temperature to 300 degrees for another 30 minutes.

For a medium rare roast, your meat should be in the oven for a total of 50 minutes cooking time. If you’d like it rare, pull it out sooner. If you’d like it more well done, leave it in a little longer.

Here’s that temperature chart again:

120 F = rare
126 F = medium-rare
134 F = medium
150 F = medium-well
160 F = well done

After 50 minutes in the oven, my roast registered about 126 degrees or so. (To check the temperature, stick a meat thermometer into the center of your roast.)

When it comes out of the oven, it should have a nice brown crust.

Loosely tent a piece of foil over the meat for about 20 minutes when it comes out of the oven.

After it’s rested for 20 minutes, it’s ready to slice!

Slice it across the grain:

Slice it as thinly as you can with a very sharp knife.

The inside should be a lovely, rosy pink.

Wrap your roast beef tightly and keep it in the fridge. Use it within maybe 4 days or so.

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Now, I know that I’m treading on hallowed ground for some, discussing how to make espresso.

Like beer and good wine, espresso is one of those things that folks are very particular about. (Espresso afficionados out there, please be kind!)

I’m not an expert barista—or a super fussy coffee person—by a long shot. I’m just a girl who likes a strong cup of coffee. I drink my coffee and espresso black. And as long as I start with a quality ground espresso, I’m generally very happy.

This how I make espresso at home. (In fact, it’s how I made the espresso that went into my Gentlemen’s Brownies.)

It doesn’t yield quite the same brew that you get from a professional machine or coffeeshop, but this is the way that a lot of us know espresso: Made at home, by an aunt or a grandmother, on the stove, using what’s traditionally known as a moka pot.

I love my trusty stovetop espresso maker. I’ve had it for years and it never fails to make delicious espresso. Mine is made by Bialetti and looks like this:

The Moka Pot: What does it do and how do you use it?

This little guy is basically a stovetop percolator designed especially for espresso.

Simply fill the bottom with cold water, fill the filter with ground espresso, and set it on the stove to boil and bubble away. As the water heats, it’s forced up through the ground espresso in the filter, and into the empty pot above.

Stovetop espresso makers generally don’t make enough pressure to produce a thick, top layer of crema—that mocha-colored, foamy emulsion that you see at cafes. For homemade, that’s just fine with me. It’s still a mighty fine, strong cup of coffee.

One thing to note about this kind of pot. Depending on how hard your water is, this type of pot can develop a mineral buildup on the inside. Italian specialty stores sell little tablets meant specifically for getting that deposit off.

If you make your espresso differently, I’d love to what you do. (Do you only use spring water? What’s your favorite brand of espresso?)

Here’s my method.

A step-by-step guide to making espresso on the stove

Disassemble your pot. It’ll come in 3 pieces: the bottom chamber that holds the water (left), the filter basket that holds the ground espresso (center) and the top part which holds the brewed espresso (right).

Fill the bottom part with cold water.

Don’t fill it past the steam valve (that little round brass thingie):

Next, nestle the filter basket into its place on the bottom of the pot.

Fill the filter basket with ground espresso.

Fill it right to the top, then smooth the espresso down so it’s fairly level.

Set the top of the espresso pot on the body and screw it tightly into place.

Set the pot on the stove over high-ish heat. Because it’s a smaller pot, I turn the heat up high enough so that the gas flames cover the bottom of the pot, but don’t lick up the sides.

Keep the lid closed. (I opened mine a few times to snap these pics.) It will take a few minutes for your water to get hot enough to start brewing the espresso.

After a few minutes, the espresso will start to pour out of the center of the pot.

It will trickle out at first.

And then pick up in speed and volume.

When your pot is a little less than halfway brewed, it should be pretty much gushing.

Peek a little if you like, but do keep the lid closed as it brews. Once it gets going, the pot fills up very quickly and can spit, sputter and let off a fair amount of steam.

How to Make Espresso on the Stove: How do you know when the espresso is done?

Good question. Use your ears—then your eyes.

When the espresso is brewing, you’ll hear it bubbling and splashing about in the top of the pot. When those happy sounds taper off, lift the lid and take a peek. If the espresso has stopped pouring out of the center, your pot is done. It’s really that simple. Remove the pot from the heat immediately.

How to Make Espresso on the Stove: Serve and enjoy!

Now, what you do next depends entirely on how you want to serve your espresso. You can pour steamed milk into it for a cappuccino. You could add hot water to it for a cafe americano (one of my favorite things to do).

Or, you can serve it straight in demitasse cups.

Enjoy!

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