​    My son baked some focaccia Bread, and then his SIL did as well.  The pictures looked so delicious.  I had never made focaccia bread myself and decided to give it a try.  I have a number of herbs that I have been growing and this was the perfect opportunity to use them in a new way.  

    ​Focaccia Bread is very easy to make and is a lot of fun!  You really get to put your hands in the dough.  The outcome is so delicious because the olive oil is definitely the star of the show.  In addition, there are so many topping choices that a variety of flavors are possible if you are making more than one loaf.  Wouldn’t that be nice on a luncheon table?  Many people use focaccia for sandwiches or for pizza, and of course, just to eat all by itself. 

​    As I mentioned, focaccia bread is very easy to make.  My first attempt came out so good!  I was nervous because there was so much olive oil!  But, when it came out of the oven that was all incorporated into a bread that was crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  The olive oil and the herbs with that sprinkle of salt were an explosion of flavor in my mouth.  

​    One tip to get the most flavor from the herbs is to make sure that they are coated with the olive oil.  I watched some Italian You Tubers who gave that suggestion.  I guess the oil helps to bring out the flavor and convey it to the bread dough.  So, you will notice in the recipe that I soaked my herbs in the olive oil that I used in the bread dough and also drizzled over the bread. 

​    Another tip is about the kneading technique for this bread.  Not everyone does this method, but a number of bakers do and I decided to try it.  It is the stretching and pulling method.  I like it because the dough is pretty sticky and needs to be in order to get the texture that you want in focaccia bread.  With ​the stretch and pull method of kneading, you are elongating the gluten without adding too much flour to the mix as you would with a regular kneading method.  Here is how you do it:

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• Put your ball of dough onto a medium floured board.
• Think of the dough as being in 4 sections, or quarters like this:

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• Starting at one of the quarters, take the edge in your hand and stretch it out away from the ball of dough, then fold it over the top of the ball. Then, move to the next quarter and do that stretch and pull all of the way around the ball until you have done all 4 quarters.
• Flip the ball of dough over and repeat the process.  Flour your fingers and under the dough as needed.  I did this process 4 times, twice on each side of the ball.

After 4 or 5 times, your ball of dough should be looking nice and smooth.  Now you will place it in a well oiled bowl and allow it to rise. 

​    My final tip pertains to dimpling the top of the bread.  Focaccia is supposed to have lots of lumps, bumps and crannies where the oil and toppings can gather.  Adding the dimples also keeps the bread from rising too quickly.  Focaccia is a flat bread and this is a way of keeping it that way! Putting water on your fingers helps them not to stick in the dough.  Then, use those fingers to push into the dough to form the dimples. It is the fun part of making this bread! Don’t be afraid to push in until you feel the bottom of the pan. 

    My recipe is a conglomeration of various recipes and videos that I watched as I tried to glean information about making focaccia.  Some of the videos weren’t even in English! But, my main source was probably from Immaculate Bites who also gave me the instruction to infuse the oil with the herb flavor, although she did it differently than I did.  You may want to go to her site to see how she did it.  She used her machine to do the kneading and didn’t do the stretching and pulling method, so you can choose to do it whichever way you prefer.  Focaccia seems to be a hands on bread though.  Many people mixed all of it by hand from start to finish!   But, here is the recipe that I ended up adapting to my preferences.  I hope you enjoy it!

    One last tip!  Focaccia Bread tastes the very best when it is still warm on the first day it is made, so have some friends over or get all of your kids to the table and eat it all up!  You can warm up the leftovers in the microwave, but I still think the first moments after it cools slightly out of the oven is the best time to gobble it down! 

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     There are 2 things about this recipe that are perfect for me! First, I have been trying to learn more about Danish cooking.  Second, I love salmon! 
     In my search for Danish recipes, I came across this website, International Cuisine.  Of all the recipes that I found to make cured salmon, this one was by far the most simple and it worked fantastically!  So, I am referring you to that website for the recipe and just sharing a bit about what I learned as I made Gravlax, or Cured Salmon for the first time. 

    I lined a glass baking dish with the plastic wrap that I was going to used to wrap the salmon, then I placed the salmon skin side down on it.  Next, I rubbed on the salt and sugar curing mixture and then placed on some fresh dill sprigs.  Now, most of the other recipes I had read also used a bit of wine or cider vinegar or mustard in their recipes.  This recipe doesn't call for any of that, so it made me nervous. So, I poured about 1/2 a cup of cider vinegar around the edge of the salmon.  I don't know if it did anything.  I couldn't taste it later on, so you don't have to use it.  After I had done it I worried that I shouldn't have, but everything came out great in the end. 
     Finally, wrap the plastic wrap tightly around your salmon and put the whole thing into the refrigerator for 3 DAYS!  That made me really nervous because I didn't want it to go bad.  But, all of the recipes required at least 3 days to cure the fish, so I crossed my fingers and did it.  I wondered if I would be brave enough to eat it when it finally was all done. 

     After 3 days, I pulled the salmon out of the refrigerator.  There was liquid in the pan that leaks out during the curing process.  I drained that off, removed the dill and threw that away and rinsed off all of the salt and sugar mixture.  I was pleased to see that the salmon was darker in color and looked just like cured smoked salmon that I have purchased in the store.  Except mine wasn't smoked.  Now for the moment of truth! Tasting it!  

    The recipe says to slice it horizontally into thin strips.  I struggled with that.  It was hard to get a pretty thin slice, but that may have been my knife.  I did get a few good slices.  Of course, I tasted the very first slice.  It was fabulous!  This salmon is so flavorful and sweet!  I was thrilled with the result.
    Since many of the recipes called for mustard.  I first served mine on a sprouted wheat roll with a layer of mustard and the salmon on top.  I was trying to get that smorgasbord feel.  

Later, I boiled some eggs and served a light supper with sprouted wheat toast, slices of eggs topped with gravlax.  It was so tasty!  My husband loved it, too!  I felt so in touch with my Danish roots!  I can't wait to try another Danish recipe very soon! Let me know if you give this one a try! 

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     Lately I have been feeling an urge to get to know more about my Danish ancestry.  I've always known that it was part of who I am, but I feel like I know a lot more about my British ancestors than my Danish ones.  I've started looking up things about Denmark and finding out some fascinating things.  And, what better way to get a feel of a group of people than to learn about their food and why they ate the way they did.  
    Alicia did a series of recipes from her ancestry a couple of years ago and she shared an Æbleskiver recipe with you that she was given by a friend.  In order to make it, she purchased an actual cast iron æbleskiver pan that she ordered from Amazon. 

     I haven't yet purchased the correct pan, so I started wondering if I could make aebleskivers using a different method.  My granddaughter accidentally left her cake pop maker at my house, and while the molds are smaller, I thought some little pop in your mouth aebleskivers might be fun to try!  It worked out pretty well.  (My granddaughter found her cake pop maker at a thrift store at a fabulous price. Here is a similar one on Amazon.  There are many brands and varieties available.)

     I used this recipe from International Cuisine.  It is very similar to Alicia's recipe, except it is a smaller batch.  I was happy about that since it still made a ton and since the maker only made 6 at a time, it was time consuming.  Here are some tips that I figured out as I made the aebleskivers in a cake pop maker: 

• Historically, the Danish people would use a knitting needle to flip their aebleskiver in the pan.  Since I was using the mold with a lid, I didn't really need to flip them, but I did use a chop stick to pop them out of the mold.  I think a chop stick would also work great in the traditional type of pan. You can also purchase some special turners here. 
• I buttered each mold each time I made a new batch.  I would put a little butter on the end of the chop stick and just swirl in around in each mold, both top and bottom. 
• Fill the mold more full than you think.  Because there are whipped eggs in the recipe plus baking powder and baking soda, the batter will rise as you put it in the hot mold.  But that is okay because you want the batter to reach up into the top of the mold so that it will brown well on both sides of the ball. 

• Leave the aebleskivers in the maker longer than you think you might have to.  As I cooked them, I learned that the browner they got the better they would hold their shape and get a little crunch on the edge.  They just looked prettier over all. I got so that I could smell when they were ready to come out.  
• Try not to eat them all while the next batch is cooking.  ;)
• Try to cover the jam well with batter to try to keep it from leaking out.  Some will leak a bit, but it is okay.  Some jam stayed in and it was easy to clean up.
• When they are all baked, sprinkle them with powdered sugar.  You can dip them in more jam or cover them with Buttermilk Syrup or chocolate or whatever your heart desires!  I have even seen them filled with Nutella!  

    Although my great grandfather came to the USA from Denmark, I was never raised with any idea of the Danish traditions.  My grandmother, who was his daughter died before I could have known her.  But as I learn of the Danish culture and foods. I get an understanding of things that I like and feel that are part of my make-up that I have possibly inherited from the Danish side of my family.  (Seafood! Hello!)  And, LEGOs originated there!   
    Aebleskivers are my first try at a Danish recipe, but I have seen others that I am soon going to give a try!  So, keep your eyes open for those!  
     Have you tried Aebleskivers in one form or another?  What is your favorite filling?  I wish my granddaughter had been here to make these with me, I know she would have loved doing it.  Maybe next time! 

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Hey, Alicia here with another international recipe. Last year my family picked a country from our heritage every month and made one recipe a week from that country. It was really fun, educational, and delicious. This year we're not doing that same thing, but we still love experimenting with food from other cultures.

That's where bao, steamed Chinese dumplings, come in. My husband works at Pixar, and you may remember that short that played before Incredibles 2 called Bao. Bao (without giving anything away) is about a woman who makes bao and one of them comes to life and she basically treats this cute little dumpling as her son. The director of the short, Domee Shi, shared her mother's recipe for bao with her Pixar colleagues and an illustrated version with Time Magazine. 

My husband really wanted to make them because he loves Chinese food. So we did. It's a pretty simple recipe, though it can take a little time preparing the filling. The first time my husband minced everything by hand. The second time he decided to use the food processor and it was perfect. We also don't have ground pork so we used pork sausage. The dough is a very simple 3 ingredient yeast dough. The results were so wonderful. A favorite part was the fresh ginger used in the filling. Don't skip it as it really adds to the flavor. It's so good.

The hardest part of the recipe is folding the dough around the filling. I was not very good at it, so mine had a lot of extra dough at the top. If my bao had come to life, it would have been a completely different short, probably in the horror genre. But they still tasted delicious! My husband got the knack for it though and made some really cute bao. 

Another thing is you will need a way to steam the bao, as that's how they cook. we used the basket that came with our rice cooker.

I'm not sharing the recipe directly on our page because it is Domee Shi's but you can find the illustrated version on this page and a video of YouTuber, Emmy Made in Japan, following the recipe and making the dumplings. We found the video especially helpful.

​So go forth and enjoy bao. Let us know how you like it!