The New Egg Salad Sandwich

I am inspired and reminded by Alexis' New Tuna Salad Sandwich Recipe post. I personally love egg salad sandwiches slightly better than tuna salad, but that may be due to the fact I always have eggs lying around, and never tuna. They make a great lunch to bring to work as well.

As Alexis indicated, there are several ways not to make a tuna or egg salad sandwich, with a very fine line separating good from bad. I consider a not so tasty egg salad sandwich to look like a heap of yellow mayonnaise looking mush between two pieces of white bread. It gives me shivers just thinking about it.

A great egg salad sandwich would look very much like one they serve at The Bagelry Co-op in Santa Cruz. The key is to treat your hard boiled egg whites separate from the yolks, and add a very tasty ingredients to spice it up. Egg salad is great between to pieces of toasted wheat-style bread, or toasted bagels. Yum.

The New Egg Salad Sandwich

~Print Recipe~

What's in it (all approximates)

4 eggs

1 Tbl homemade spicy mustard

1-2 Tbl mayo or plain greek yogurt

2 tsp dill

1 stalk finely chopped celery

1-2 Tbl poppy seeds

salt and pepper to taste

optional: 1 Tbl pickle relish

optional: curry powder

optional: 1/4 C shredded carrot

optional: 1 small can diced olives

How it's made

Begin by setting your eggs out so they come close to room temperature, or run them under warm water to bring their temp. down. The less cold they are when they go into the hot pot, the less likely they will crack. Bring a small pot of water to boil. Place the eggs gently in the pot and bring it to a simmer. Simmer on low for 10-12 minutes. Immediately put the eggs in an ice bath to cool them off. This will ensure they are easy to peel.

Peel your eggs and put the yolks in one small bowl, and the whites on a cutting board. Chop your whites coarsely, to about 1/4"-1/2". Add the mustard and mayo/yogurt to your yolks and mix until fluffy. Add in the rest of your ingredients, except for the egg whites, and mix well. Gently fold in your chopped egg whites.

Toast a bagel or bread, and enjoy your egg salad!

Sweet Braided Breads

For Christmas everyone I know is getting bread. My little experiment with French Bread led me to a recipe for Sweet Yeasty Bread. They are easy, lovely and SO tasty!

Braided Sweet Bread

~Print Recipe~

Sponge:
1 ½ Tb yeast
1 Tb sugar
¼ c. warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 ¼ c. warm milk (105-115 degrees F)
2 c. unbleached flour

Dough:
2 large eggs
zest from 1 orange
2 t. salt
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. each dried fruits: apricots, raisins, cranberries. Chopped fine.
2 ½ to 3 c. unbleached flour
Sponge
1 ½ sticks butter (3/4 c.) cut into small pieces

Rich Egg Glaze:
1 egg
1 Tb. Milk

Makes 3 loaves.

1. Sponge: in mixer using the paddle, combine ingredients, and beat hard until smooth about 1 min. Cover and let rest for about 30 min.
2. Add eggs, zest, salt, sugar, dried fruits and 1 cup more flour. Beat until smooth. Add butter a few pieces at a time and beat until incorporated.
3. Change to dough hook. Add the remaining flour ¼ cup at a time to form a soft dough. Dough should be very soft but just starting to come away from the side of bowl.
4. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Kneed until smooth, shiny and soft, about 10 turns. Place in a greased bowl, let rise about 2 hours. Gently deflate, recover and let rise for 12-24 hrs in refrigerator.
5. Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and divide into 9 equal portions. Roll each section into a strip with your hands and lay 3 strips side by side. Braid the dough and pinch each end to hold together and tuck under. Place on a pan lined with parchment. Cover and let rise until almost doubled. About 40 minutes. It will finish rising in the oven. Preheat oven to 350.
5. Brush with rich egg glaze. Bake until hollow sounding when tapped, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

The images above are from my first two loaves. I've since made about 12 more and they are soo much better looking! Also, I added the dried fruit during the braiding step in these. Having them in the dough makes the whole thing much easier and results in a more uniform loaf.

French Bread

I decided recently that I would learn how to make French Bread. This can be a lift-long learning challenge and I knew that from the get-go. What I didn't know is that after only 4 batches I've really started to enjoy the process and the results.

It started with a little online research and reading from a few books on bread. Since I didn't want to invest in anything here is my recipe and directions with ingredient and tools in your home.

French Bread

~Print Recipe~

Dough:
1 ½ Tb. Dry yeast
1 Tb. Sugar
2 c. warm water (105-115 degrees F)
5-6 c. unbleached flour
1 Tb salt or more (I like more, up to 2 Tb. but usually 1 1/2 Tb.)
Cornmeal for sprinkling (or parchment paper, not wax paper)

Egg Wash:
1 egg white
splash of water
1 t. salt


1. Create a sponge or pre-ferment with 1 c. water, 1 c. flour, yeast, and sugar. Combine well and let rest for 30 minutes.
2. In a heavy duty mixer combine 4 c. flour, salt and sponge. Using a dough hook, mix and kneed for about 5 min. Adjust water and flour to create soft, silky, and resilient dough.
3. Turn onto lightly floured surface and kneed a few more times to create a nice ball. Place in a greased bowl, cover and let rise for about 2 hours.
4. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and kneed a few more times (about 10-20 turns). Divide into portions for separate loaves. Let rest for a few minutes.
5. Shape into loaves. And place on a pan that was dusted with corn meal.
6. Score top, brush with Egg Wash.
7. Bake for 20-40 minutes at 400. Place a small heat proof baking dish with at least 1 inch of water in the oven on the rack below the bread.

Here is a helpful link: The Fresh Loaf

Good visual and pictures here: Artisan Bread Making