Photo du Jour - Chèvre Drizzled with Honey

Locally made, fresh chèvre, drizzled with delicately flavored acacia honey.
This is one of the most sublime mélange of flavors that I have ever tasted.



Don't Forget! Get your entries for December's La Fête du Fromage to me by the end of today. (If you're running a bit late, I'll happily accept them tomorrow, too!) Pin It

Photo du Jour - Beekeeping

Our friend's beekeeping equipment. His bees make the most flavorful, succulent honey!

miel de romarin - rosemary honey - my favorite!
miel de garrigue - garrigue honey - the hives are kept near Minerve
miel de montagne - rich, dark mountain honey from the Montagne Noire
miel de bruyère - heather honey - lovely and rich Pin It

Photo du Jour

A big, fat bumblebee - taken near the beach in California.

Our neighbor, the beekeeper, was telling me that our early spring-like weather is confusing our local honeybees. C'est catastrophe, he said. Pin It

Photo du Jour - Miel

"Honey Here"
Our local beekeeper's triangle-shaped house. Pin It

Saturday Bread

Since the middle of April I've been following three blogger/bakers who started an admirable project they call A Year in Bread.
But I haven't been baking any of my own! Finally, this morning I felt the need to knead.

Looking back at what they've been up to, I see they've been busy with pizza dough, no-knead bread variations and fluffy, white sandwich bread. All great recipes but not what I was craving this morning. The weather is unseasonably cold and I felt like something with more texture and flavor and bite.

So, back to one of my favorite's, adapted from this recipe.
We always have extra bits cheese lying around and this is a great way to use it up. Today the bread dough was infused with fresh thyme and the rest of the Tomme Noir de Pyrénées from last Tuesday.



Herb, Honey and Cheese Bread

• 3 cups/500 grams flour
• packet of yeast
  
• 1 cup/250 mls warm water
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• big pinch of sea salt
  
• 3 ounces/100g finely grated cheese
• 1 tablespoon flavorful honey
• 2 tablespoons of your favorite herb, chopped

1. Dissolve the yeast in the water
2. Mix the flour, yeast & water mixture, olive oil, sugar and sea salt together in a bowl until combined
3. Dump out onto a floured surface and knead about 10 minutes, sprinkling with flour as needed to make a nice, springy dough
   
4. Cover with a towel and put in a warm place and let rise for 1 hour. I usually leave the dough to rise on the board I've been kneading it on
   
5. Punch down and knead in the cheese, honey and chopped herbs
6. Shape dough into a loaf, slash the top several times with a knife, place dough on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and let rise again, covered, 30 minutes
7. Heat oven 400 degrees F/200 degrees C
8. Bake about 35 minutes

A few notes: Sometimes I drizzle olive oil over the dough just before it goes in the oven
Freshly ground black pepper is wonderful to add to the dough for a bit of a bite
Experiment with cheese and herb combinations Pin It

Tuesday's Fête du Fromage - Bleu d'Auvergne and Saint-Félicien

Bleu d'Auvergne and Saint-Félicien

Saint-Félicien is a luscious, creamy cow's milk cheese with a high fat content (60%), made in the Rhône-Alpes region.
I adore this cheese! The texture is very soft and the flavor is mildly sour and tangy. I think Saint-Félicien is perfect in the morning, spread on toast and drizzled with honey.

Buttery, moist and smoky tasting, Bleu d'Auvergne is named for its place of origin, the volcanic, remote Auvergne region of south-central France. It was discovered in 1850 by a farmer and was granted AOC status in 1975.
Try it with a sweet white wine and dried figs or with gutsy reds such as Côtes du Rhône or Cahors.


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