Wine Country and Cooking Pics

A wine barrel on a hillside overlooking Seneca lake.


Vineyards overlooking the lake.


Finally we found an open winery.


These bottles are lined with small glitter lights so the whole tree sparkles.


Grape leaf door pulls.


Pure Americana....a John Deer tractor.








This is a seriously gorgeous area. I can't wait to go back in December.


So, I am bake home and cooking and baking.


I tried a new recipe for English muffins.


Perfect muffins....yum!


I know I post these often but they are so simple and delicious that I think everyone should try the recipe. Especially through the winter when we are stuck with waxy, bland store bought tomatoes. You can use any kind of tomato even cherry tomatoes. Just slice the tomatoes in half and place them in a pan. Drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle them with salt and pepper and oregano and thyme.


Bake them at 250 degrees for about 8 hours. The smell alone makes it worth trying these.


When they are done, place them in a container and refrigerate them. These are great in pasta dishes but they are spreadable and are terrific on sandwiches.


I make all kinds of bread but I did not have a recipe for sandwich bread that I was pleased with. I started researching different recipes and thought I would be at this for months. Several years ago, after a trip to Nashville, I went on a "perfect biscuit" quest that took me 3 months and over 2000 biscuits to perfect. I expected this to be similar.


The second recipe I tried turned out to be the one!


It calls for adding wheat gluten which I had never done before.


Oh boy...


A definite keeper.


Perfect loaves of white bread.



I made a second batch with whole wheat which was even better.


****Recipe:

3 cups water

2 T rapid rise yeast

1/3 cup honey

4 1/2 cups white bread flour

1/2 cup wheat gluten

3 T. butter melted

1 T. salt

3-4 cups whole wheat flour

melted butter for brushing


Place all the liquid ingredients in your mixer bowl. Add all the dry ingredients and mix. The dough should be a bit sticky. Knead for 10 minutes and cover and proof until double in bulk. Divide dough into 3 pieces and place each in a coated bread pan. Cover and let rise until it tops the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter. Remove from pans and cool on wire racks.