A Breakfast Bruschetta

Let's face it I am not a morning person and never have been. I wake up early but I don't get on with my day until I have my second cup of coffee around 10 am! I wake up in a good mood now, but I wasn't always that way, I used to be a real grouch in the morning. When I was growing up, it was my Dad's job to wake us up for school but he would just enter my bedroom and wiggle my foot until I woke up. I think he was afraid to come any closer!

Sunday is a special day and we have an unwritten rule that Sundays are personal days. On Sundays every one gets to do whatever they want as long as it doesn't interfere with anyone else's personal Sunday plans. And I always wake up in a very good mood on Sunday! Sometimes I just work on my genealogy research, catch up on my reading or watch reruns of Bonanza or Gunsmoke. But once in a while I am ambitious and make Sunday Brunch.





Breakfast Bruschetta
Recipe by BigBlackDog

3 whole English Muffins, split
2 c. fresh Spinach, cleaned
1 small tomato, diced
1/3 c. fresh Sweet Red Pepper, diced
4 Green Onions, chopped
1 clove of Garlic, minced
2-3 slices of bacon, crispy fried
3 eggs, scrambled
1 TBL EVOO, (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)
1 c shredded Mozzarella cheese or any white cheese
Salt and freshly ground Pepper
Tad of Hot Hungarian Paprika, Basil or Tarragon

1. Break up the Crispy Bacon into 1/2" pieces
2. In a skillet heat the oil. Add spinach, bacon, garlic, sweet pepper, tomato, onions, Paprika and Tarragon or Basil and saute until spinach is wilted. Remove spinach mixture and set aside.
3. In the same skillet, scramble the eggs until just fluffy. Set aside.

To assemble the Breakfast Bruschetta:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the split muffins on the sheet.
2. Put 2-3 TBL of Spinach mix on each English Muffin
3. Place 2 TBL of Scrambled Eggs on top of Spinach.
4. Sprinkle with shredded Mozzarella
5. Pop the baking sheet under the Broiler until the cheese is melted, about 1-2 minutes.





Sourdough English Muffins
Recipe developed by BigBlackDog

Makes about 12 regular sized muffins

1/2 c. sourdough starter (You could use 1 pkg yeast)
1 c. scalded milk
2 3/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 TBL honey
1 tsp baking soda

Semolina or cornmeal, for dusting

In a small sauce pan scald milk and set aside to cool.

Combine sourdough starter and cooled milk in a large bowl. Gradually add 2 c. flour. Stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap, and leave out for at least 4 hours or you can make it the night before and let it rise over night. The longer the rise, the stronger the sourdough flavor.

After the rise add salt and baking soda and mix well.

I form my English muffins free hand. Just taking a slight 1/2 c. of dough, forming it into a muffin shape and flattening it with my hands. Or you can roll out to 3/4" and cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds.

Spray griddle or skillet lightly with spray oil and sprinkle with semolina or cornmeal. Heat to medium, 350 degrees, and cook muffins for about 6-10 minutes on each side depending on how large you made your muffins, or until browned on the top and bottom and cooked through.

The muffins will rise while on the griddle, after the first turn I flatten them a bit with a spatula.







All Rights Reserved 2008-10 © BigBlackDog

BBA -- English Muffins

The week for our Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge we made English Muffins. I've always loved English Muffins and prefer them over toast any day! I make English Muffins all the time and have two recipes on my blog both with excellent results. To see the recipes please click here and here.

I did change Reinhart's recipe and added about 1/2 c. sourdough starter and I used kefir instead of milk.







Chicken Salad is one of my favorite sandwiches and I can't think of anything better then a Chicken Salad and Tomato Sandwich on a toasted Sourdough English Muffin! And to make this sandwich even better, I used our first picking of tomatoes out of our garden! It was delicious!







Google Books has the entire book, "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread", by Peter Reinhart, scanned and you can find the recipe on Page 157 by clicking here.






Please feel free to visit some fellow BBA'ers and see their interpretation of this recipe.

Deb of Italian Food Forever
Oggie of I can do That!
Mags of The Other Side of Fifty
Susie of Susie's Home and Hobbies



All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

A Perfect Sunday Breakfast **Eggs Benedict

I love Eggs Benedict and whenever we are on vacation and staying at a big hotel I always order it for breakfast. Unfortunately some restaurants now have a cheese sauce instead of Hollandaise which is such a shame. Hollandaise is one sauce that should never be substituted. And lately I've noticed ham is replacing Canadian Bacon. Why? I like Canadian Bacon! Also the egg is supposed to be poached with a soft yolk! How and why perfectly good recipes morph into down right awful "food on a plate" is beyond me.

I also made a new English Muffin recipe. I wanted to try a different recipe but then just whipped up a recipe on my own. Hey sometimes it's best to just do what you want and not follow a set recipe. The muffins turned out great. I made them extra large because I knew I was going to be making Eggs Benedict for our Sunday Brunch and I wanted the muffin large enough to comfortably hold two poached eggs. So these were jumbo English Muffins. But you can make them any size you want.

I've used the same Hollandaise recipe for years and I've never had one problem with curdling. In fact I never knew there was a problem with making Hollandaise until just a few years ago. So either I'm using a foolproof recipe or I've been darn lucky! I'm hoping it's the recipe!!

The Hollandaise Sauce recipe is from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Tested, Tried and True" by The Junior League of Flint, MI. I think this was my very first cookbook and my Mom gave it to me for Christmas one year. I've made probably close to half the recipes and have never been disappointed yet. It's out of print now but every once in a while I see a copy for sale on Ebay. I should get a new copy, one of my puppies chewed the back cover off! But this just adds to the charm...right?







Hollandaise Sauce
Recipe adapted from "Tested, Tried and True" by The Junior League of Flint, MI

3 to 4 egg yolks (I always use 3 yolks)
1/2 tsp salt
1 TBL lemon juice
1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
Dash of Tabasco (I usually skip the Tabasco)

Put yolks, lemon juice and seasoning in blender and blend for about 30 seconds. Melt butter in microwave. With the blender on, pour a thin, steady stream of melted butter into the blender. Viola...it's done and delicious!







Sourdough English Muffins
Recipe developed by Big-Black-Dog

Makes about 12 regular sized muffins

1/2 c. sourdough starter (You could use 1 pkg yeast)
1 c. scalded milk
2 3/4 c. flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 TBL honey
1 tsp baking soda

Semolina or cornmeal, for dusting

In a small sauce pan scald milk and set aside to cool.

Combine sourdough starter and cooled milk in a large bowl. Gradually add 2 c. flour. Stir to combine, cover with plastic wrap, and leave out for at least 4 hours or you can make it the night before and let it rise over night. The longer the rise, the stronger the sourdough flavor.

After the rise add salt and baking soda and mix well.

I form my English muffins free hand. Just taking a slight 1/2 c. of dough, forming it into a muffin shape and flattening it with my hands. Or you can roll out to 3/4" and cut with a biscuit cutter into rounds.

Spray griddle or skillet lightly with spray oil and sprinkle with semolina or cornmeal. Heat to medium, 350 degrees, and cook muffins for about 6-10 minutes on each side depending on how large you made your muffins, or until browned on the top and bottom and cooked through.

The muffins will rise while on the griddle, after the first turn I flatten them a bit with a spatula.







Eggs Benedict
Recipe adapted from "various sources"

2 eggs per person
English Muffin, 1 recipe
3-4 slices Canadian Bacon per person
Hollandaise Sauce, 1 recipe

Garnish: Fresh fruit and parsley sprigs

Lightly fry Canadian Bacon and set aside on paper towels to drain. And cover to keep warm.

Take a small frying pan and fill it about 2/3 full of water. Bring the water to a light boil. Crack an egg into a small bowl. While swirling the water around, gently slide the egg into the swirling water. For the next egg repeat. When the egg white is firm remove with a slotted spoon and drain. See note for Microwave Poaching.

Split the English Muffin with a fork and toast. Butter each slice and place on a plate butter side up. Place 1-2 pieces of Canadian Bacon on each muffin slice. Carefully slide egg on top of bacon and top generously with Hollandaise Sauce. Garnish and serve.

NOTE: Although I've never tried this, here's a method for Poaching an Egg in the Microwave. I think I might try this method next time I need poached eggs.







All Rights Reserved 2008-9 © Big Black Dog

English Muffins!

This week for Whisk Wednesdays we made Eggs Florentine and I decided to make some English Muffins as a compliment. And compliment they did! English Muffins are a snap to make and adding some sourdough starter makes all the difference.

I do use my griddle on my Wolf range but you can use a flat-bottomed frying pan and it works just as well. My griddle does take some time to heat so a frying pan is much quicker although you do need to be careful that the pan is thoroughly heated and it's not too hot.



English Muffins
Recipe adapted from "I don't have a clue"

Sponge Ingredients:

110 grams ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter
160 grams flour
100 grams whole wheat flour (I just used all white flour)
276 grams milk

Final Dough Ingredients:

75 grams flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp honey
all of the sponge

1. In a medium bowl, mix the sponge ingredients until just combined. Cover and let rest for 8 hours or overnight.
2. Add the final dough ingredients and mix to roughly combine. Turn the dough out onto the counter and hand mix for about 7 or 8 minutes, or until the surface becomes quite smooth. The dough will be very soft, and sticky at first. The recipe says to resist adding extra flour but the dough is way too sticky to knead without adding a little extra flour. The more you knead..the better the muffins!
3. Flour the counter and your hands well, and roll or pat the dough out to a thickness of about one-half inch. I just take a handful of dough and pat until it's about 1/4" thick and cut the 3" muffins individually. Place them on semolina-dusted parchment paper.
4. Cover and let proof for 45 – 60 minutes.

5. Lightly oil a griddle, I spay with Pam. Heat griddle to about 350 degrees or medium heat. Cook the muffins for a total of about 7 or 8 minutes on each side, until browned and the sides are firm. I find I get a better shape to the muffins if I flip them every couple of minutes for the first few minutes.
6. Cool on a wire rack. To get the best nooks and crannies for toasting, split the muffins with a fork rather than a knife.





All Rights Reserved 2008 © Big Black Dog