Kathy's Blog

Although it is warmer than it was earlier in January here, it is still good to have a nice hot breakfast. The following makes a moist, chewy quickbread which is good cold later with a cup of tea. It is easy to throw together, a modification of a favorite muffin recipe.

Here is my latest contribution to the gluten-free, whole grain lover, and cooking communities. It does contain dairy products.

Buckwheat Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Prepare a pan:

Generously butter an 8 inch pie pan (glass preferred) then sprinkle the bottom with 1 tablespoon sesame seeds (optional). Heat your oven or toaster oven to 350°F (175°C).

Next, assemble the dry ingredients:

1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda (sodium bicarbonate)
1/2 teaspoon double acting baking powder

Mix these dry ingredients together in a small bowl and set aside.

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats (oatmeal)
1/2 cup “all natural” sour cream (the kind is that is made of cream, milk, and enzymes, don’t waste your time and money with the “fat free” stuff)
1 large egg
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Stir these ingredients in a medium size bowl until the color from the brown sugar is fairly uniform.

Stir in the dry ingredients. Remember, this recipe is gluten-free, so you don’t have to be as careful about a tough product as with wheat flour. If you do substitute whole wheat flour for the buckwheat flour, make sure to use only a few strokes.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan, bake for about 20 minutes, until the top is slightly browned and the bread is firm. Let it cool a couple minutes, then slice into wedges.

Serve it with a hot beverage to feed two, four to six servings if it is a side dish.

Notes:

If you like a sweet coffee cake type bread, double the brown sugar.

Add chopped nuts and/or dried fruit stirring them in before you add the dry ingredients.

I have been considering adding a half cup of semisweet chocolate bits…

If you have a kitchen watch dog, like Bode, your barking timer will go off about 2 to 5 minutes before a mechanical or electronic timer. Bode gives this recipe five canine stars!

Sour cream

This is for those of the “sour cream — yuck!” persuasion.

I keep sour cream in the refrigerator in the winter because I eat a lot of baked potatoes. They are a real treat topped with a bit of sour cream or sour cream with some prepared horseradish stirred in just before serving. Sour cream with horseradish makes a good dip for chips and veggies too.

Like with baked potatoes, a cool topping on a hot and/or spicy dish is tasty, like on top a bowl of chili or cabbage roll soup.

I recommend trying a topping of sour cream on hot apple crisp or Indian Pudding too. It helps cut the sweetness and makes it richer.

Della at the winery suggested I try adding some of her delicious hot pepper butter to sour cream or cream cheese for a dip or topping baked potatoes.

In recipes that call for buttermilk, you can substitute the sour cream volume for volume and omit the fat (usually melted butter or oil). To substitute sour cream for milk, add about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (to the dry ingredients) per cup of milk and omit the fat or oil.