Donuts are a rare treat and one that we typically save for trips to our favorite bakery in New Jersey. If you’re ever in Morristown, NJ, we highly recommend stopping at the Swiss Chalet Bakery & Café (swisschaletbakery.com). They sell the most delicious donuts! Regardless of the special treat you pick, you will not be disappointed. When we moved to North Carolina over 20 years ago, we searched for a local bakery, like the ones we remembered from our childhood. Unfortunately, we were disappointed to find that our options were limited. This motivated us to try making some of the treats we remembered from our childhood. Over the years, we have made countless batches of cookies, bars, brownies, muffins, cupcakes, breads and special occasion cakes, but we had never attempted making a donut… until recently. There are two basic types of donuts: yeast and cake-based donuts. Within these two categories, there are endless varieties of donuts. we are sharing one of each, a glazed donut made from a yeast dough and an apple cider donut which has a cake-like dough. Making donuts is a labor of love that requires patience and time. We have included the a link to the Food Network’s Apple Cider Donut recipe that we like to use. Then below is a copy of our own Glazed Donut recipe. Apple Cider Donut Recipe In the past few years, options for high quality baked goods have certainly increased throughout the Charlotte area, but for us, there is something special about a homemade dessert. We hope you try making your own treats and see how rewarding it is to make these delicious donuts for your family and friends.
Cooking
Baking Bread…
The ability to make a delicious and beautiful loaf of bread from scratch is a skill that I have admired for years. Learning to bake a good loaf of bread requires practice. Taking simple ingredients like flour, water, yeast and salt and turning them into a quality loaf of bread, is not a simple skill to master. This past year was the perfect opportunity to test out recipes. With the entire family living and eating at home, we were able to bake loaves of bread that the entire family would enjoy. After watching videos of bread making enthusiasts, practicing in our kitchen and then adjusting the recipes to meet our own tastes, we have learned how create a high quality product at home in our own kitchen. For sourdough, it’s all about the cultured starter. We began cultivating a sourdough starter over a year ago. We continue to feed it regularly, so that we are able to bake our favorite Shookhill sourdough bread at any time. A strong sourdough culture is the key to making delicious tasting sourdough bread. We have happily shared the starter and many loaves of bread with friends and family. In addition to sourdough, we have made whole grain bread, baguettes, dinner rolls, pizza dough, calzones, cinnamon raisin bread and focaccia. This has certainly been a uplifting baking journey in the midst a challenging year. I now understand better, why we say, “bread is the staff of life.” Bread, in moderation, can be a delicious part of a healthy diet. Whether it’s a quick bread, yeasted dough or dinner rolls, the smell of bread baking is always a welcome aroma to come home to.