People isn’t it pathetic, here we are 13 days into this new 2009 and this is my first post with a recipe.  I know we all have those times when even though we’re cooking and baking (I mean we do keep eating) there’s just nothing we can get up the energy to write about.  Well, incase you haven’t noticed that’s where I’ve been. 

An e-mail and a question from Natashya (LivingInTheKitchenWithPuppies).  Several e-mails later and   just in passing she inquired what was I baking for Bread Baking Day . . . and well, you know it hadn’t crossed my mind.  Why?  Mostly because I’ve been thinking and scheduling other stuff way out there.  But, sometimes it’s that passing comment that energizes and her simple question put me in the game.

The theme this month for bread baking day is . . . CHEESE, now what could be nicer than that.  I made a mental list of cheese in the fridge: several goat cheeses, feta, Emmenthaler, cheddar, mozzarella, cream cheese, pepper jack, Maytag Blue, Brie  . . . and I went dreaming through a number (a lot) of bread and baking books. 

Cambozola Cheese Buns

Baking in America

by  Greg Patent

I can highly recommend this book and have written about it HERE. 

The buns sounded lovely but you need soup with buns don’t you?  I’d just been reading Joanna (Joanna’s Food) making stock and something about doing it in a crock-pot.  I only have a little one and a half quart little crock-pot.  Keep it really simple: a carrot, an onion, one celery stalk, two chicken wings and a tough of pepper, a tiny pinch of salt.  Strain it.  Saute some chicken sausage.  Bring the stock back to a boil and then simmer a couple hands full barley; then a couple hands full lentils when the barley’s mostly done; a few red potato quarters.  When all thats done: fresh thyme leaves, a can of tomatoes and the chicken sausage.  It’ll be soup when the buns are ready.

Well, I didn’t have the Cambozola Italian cheese called for in the recipe but I did have some excellent Maytag Blue and so we get

Maytag Blue Buns

adapted from Baking in America

by  Greg Patent

130 g sourdough starter

1/4 cup skim milk

1/4 cup water

5 oz crumbled blue cheese

1 teaspoon instant yeast

1 tablespoon sugar

60 ml egg beaters OR 1 large egg

40 g butter softened to room temp

1/2 teaspoon salt

130 g white whole wheat flour

136 g all-purpose organic flour

Whisk together the white whole wheat flour, sugar, yeast and salt.

Mix together the sourdough starter, milk, water, blue cheese crumbles, and egg (beaters).

Mix together the above flour mix and the liquid mix and then the softened butter (Thank You to Mimi at DelectableTidbits for pointing out I had forgotten where to add this ingredient).

Add the additional AP flour to make a very thick, smooth and elastic batter.

Cover and allow to rest 25 minutes.

Divide (cut) the dough into 12 (per the recipe) or 15 (I wanted smaller buns) pieces and place in well buttered muffin cups.

Cover and allow rise to fill the muffin cups.  I used starter (not called for) and less yeast called by the recipe.  Recipe called for rising about an hour to fill cups, mine took about 90 minutes.

Bake at 375° for 16 minutes.

And so we had lovely fresh stock soup with fabulous Bread Baking Day Maytag Blue Buns.

Now that’s what friends are for!!  Thank you all.

This is my entry for Susan’s WildYeast Yeast Spotting this week.  Thank you always Susan!  I love drooling over weekly bread offerings at your place and always find new bread lovers there.

If you enjoy whimsy in the kitchen you might enjoy THIS.

Updated

As crazy as it may seem, I toasted the last three of this this morning.

And that looked so good and so easy that I cubed them and put them back under the broiler to make croutons.

And then had soup with croutons for my breakfast.