I found it! I thought I'd share CHERRY BREAD PUDDING with Brandied Cherry Compote For the Bread Pudding: 4 Eggs 3/4 cup sugar 2 tsp vanilla pinch of salt 1 tsp cinnamon 3 cups milk 12 slices white bread cut into cubes In a medium bowl, beat eggs,sugar,vanilla,salt, cinnamon, & milk. Add bread cubes to mixture. Let soak for 45 minutes turning occasionally. Pour into a medium size buttered casserole or baking dish. FOR THE CHERRY FILLING 4 cups fresh or frozen cherries(pitted) 1 cup sugar 1 vanilla bean(optional) 1/2 c water 2 T cornstarch mixed with 2 T cold water In a saucepan, combine all ingredients except cornstarch mix. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 mins. Remove vanilla bean. Add cornstarch mixture and cook until thickened. Remove from heat. Reserve 2 cups, let cool. FOR THE BRANDIED SAUCE 2 cups reserved cherry filling 1 tsp lemon juice 1/4 cup brandy Mix ingredients together. Serve warm FOR THE CREAM CHEESE TOPPING 8 oz cream cheese at room temp. 1/2 cup sugar 1 egg 1 tsp vanilla Beat cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Add egg and vanilla. Mix well FOR THE STREUSEL 1/2 c flour 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1/4 tsp ginger 2 oz butter Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Mix until the consistency of small peas. Reserve TO ASSEMBLE Using a spoon, dot the top of the bread pudding with the cherry compote. Repeat procedure using crean cheese mixture. Sprinkle with streusel. Bake for 30-40 mins. Remove from oven. Let stand 15-20 mins before serving. Can be served warm or cold. Serve with brandied cherry sauce and vanilla ice cream, if desired.

Gardenlad, I'm not sure what you mean by peasant bread either. I'm assuming that you mean one of the . I've been making bread recently with just a sour dough starter using Julia Child's basic French bread recipe. To get a more peasant or artisan loaf I make it over a two day period giving the dough a slow cold rise to develop the flavour. I have a batch of this dough rising now made with 4 cups of flour, plus a sour dough levain made with 1 1/2 cups of flour. I made the sour dough starter following the instructions in Amy's Bread Cookbook. You might also try the no knead bread recipe that was posted on the Cooking forum recently. Quite a few of us made it. I'd definitely call it a peasant bread. You will find a lot of pictures on this Cooking Forum thread. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Sourdough starter - Amy's bread =============================== copied from: http://countrylife.net/pages/recipes/672.html Amy Scherber's Sourdough Starter RYE STARTER From AMY'S BREAD, copyrighted. Amy's bread This starter is begun with rye flour because rye just LOVES to ferment and is an easier starter to get going than a wheat starter. When I first made it, it had a bubble or two within a couple hours. The procedure is to start it with rye flour, then transform it by changing what you feed it. The original rye will dilute to nothing over time and you'll end up with a white flour (or whatever other grain you choose, it could be whole wheat or pumpermickel, or you could leave it as a rye starter) and water based starter, but it had the advantage of beginning it's life from highly fermentable rye flour. Start it with organic rye flour and spring water. Once you have it going well you can switch to all-purpose white (or other) flour as you choose. The use of spring water is recommended for maintenance, however, as tap water may contain elements (such as chlorine) which may be detrimental to the health of your starter. I also recommend that you use a container that you can mark the volume levels of starter each time, so that you will know when it has doubled. Use a marking pen or tape or any other means to indicate on the container the starter levels each time you feed. Phase 1 - Combine 2 oz organic rye flour (room temp) with 4 oz spring water in a clear container. The batter should be about the consistency of very thick pancake batter, add more water or flour if necessary. Cover & let it sit for 36 - 48 hours at 75 - 77 degrees (a little cooler is okay but over 80 you will incubate the wrong kind of bacteria and your culture will have an unpleasant bitter taste). You should start to see tiny bubbles forming after about 24 hours. By the time it has doubled, there will be a noticeable network of small bubbles throughout the batter & it will be foaming & bubbling on top. (If the batter has not doubled within 48 hours, feed with 2 oz water & 2 oz flour (add more of either if necessary for the consistency) and let it sit another 24 hours or until you see some definite activity.) Phase 2 - Stir the culture down, notice how soupy it's become. The batter should have a noticeable sour smell & a mildly tangy taste at this point. Add 2 oz water & 2 oz flour and stir vigorously until well-combined. Let it sit for 12 hours. It should be showing a fair amount of activity at this point. You should see lots of foaming & bubbling through the sides as well as on the top. Don't be concerned if the culture deflates & loses volume. This means the yeast has exhausted its food supply, but it will continue to increase in acidity. Don't worry if your culture isn't dramatically active yet. As long as there is some noticeable activity going on and the mixture smells & tastes sour, you're on the right track. Phase 3 - The culture should now have a pronounced, sour, fruity taste and smell, it should not taste musty or bitter (if it does, discard and start again, paying close attention to the temp of the culture at all times). Now you can start "transforming" it into a white (or other) flour based starter. Use 6 oz of the starter, add 3 oz water & 3 oz flour, stir vigorously. Let it sit for 12 hrs at 75 - 77 degrees F. Refresh it again, setting up a maintenance level of 12 oz of starter. This will be your "mother" starter that you use to build the sourdough starters/sponges needed in individual recipes. Each time you take part of the mother out to build a starter, you must refresh it with equal weights of flour and water to bring it back up to its maintenance level. To maintain - Use 6 oz of the mother culture (discard the rest), add 3 oz water & 3 oz flour, stir vigorously, let it sit at room temp until doubled in volume. A strong mother will double in 8-12 hours. If yours doesn't do that, let it continue to sit out until it has a nice tangy taste and smell; discard all but 6 oz and repeat this procedure. Repeat this procedure as many times as necessary until the mother doubles within 8-12 hrs. It may take several days. Don't get discouraged, it's worth the effort. To use for recipes - Combine 1/2 c (5 oz) Mother from the refrigerator, add 3 oz flour and 2.5 oz warm water (85 - 90 degrees). The mixture will be stiffer than the mother. Let it sit, covered, until doubled in volume (if it doesn't do so go back to maintenance procedure). When the starter has doubled, it is ready to use in a recipe. Measure the amount needed and discard any that remains. Home Cookin Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table =============== Julia Child 1 package dry active yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons) 3 1/2 cups unbleached flour (bread flour) (I use 4 cups) 2 1/4 tsp salt 1 1/3 cups cold water plus 1/3 or so additional water Place the flour, yeast and salt in the bowl of the food process. Pulse to mix. Add 1 1/3 cups of water and process until the dough comes together. If the dough doesn't form a ball, add a little of the extra water. Process for about 60 seconds, turn off machine and let dough rest for 5 minutes. Turn on the machine again and rotate the dough about 30 times under the cover, and then remove it to a lightly floured work surface. it should be fairly smooth and quite firm. Let the dough rest for 2 minutes and then knead roughly and vigourously. The final dough should not stick to your hands as you knead (although it will stick if you pinch and hold a piece); it should be smooth and elastic and, when you hold it up between your hands and stretch it down, it should hold together smoothly. Preliminary rise - 40 to 60 minutes at around 75F. Place the dough into a clean dry bowl, (do not grease the bowl), cover with plastic wrap, and set in a warm place free from drafts. (note the French do not grease the bowl because they believe the dough needs a seat to push up from). This first rise is sufficient when the dough has definitely started to rise and is about 1 1/2 times its original volume. Deflating: Turn the dough onto your lightly floured work surface roughly and firmly pat and push it out into a 14 inch rectangle. Fold one of the long sides over toward the middle, and the other long side over to cover it, making a 3 layer cushion. Repeat the operation. This important step redistributes the yeast throughout the dough, for a strong second rise. Return the dough smooth side up the bowl; cover with plastic wrap and again set to rise. Final rise in the bowl - about 1 to 1 1/2 hours or longer. The bread should be 2 1/2 to 3 times its original bulk. It is the amount of rise that is important here, not the timing. To Shape, Cut the dough in half. Set one piece aside and cover with a towel. On a lightly floured work surface pat the dough into a 14 inch rectangle, squaring it up as evenly as you can. Fold the rectangle of dough in half lengthwise and using the heel of your hand, firmly press the edges together whether they meet. Seat well. Pound the dough flat. Now repeat - patting the dough out again and folding it over and sealing the edges. Pinch the edges well and Rotate the dough so that the sealed edge in on the bottom. Repeat with second piece of dough. Cover with plastic wrap or loosely with a towel and let rise to more than double again at about 75°f. Place stone in oven and Preheat oven to 450°F. Slash three long cuts into the loaves and place on the hot stone. Immediately toss a number of ice cubes on to the bottom on the oven to create steam. Bake until bread is golden and has an interior temp of 200°F. Takes about 30 minutes. Making Dough in a Mixer or by Hand When you are making dough in an electric mixer with a dough hook, proceed in the same general way with the rests indicated, and finish by hand. or mix the dough by hand in a bowl, turn out on a work surface, and start the kneading by lifing it up with a sraper and slapping it down roughly for several minutes until it has body. Let it rest several minutes and then proceed to knead. Recipe: No-Knead Bread Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours rising 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting ¼ teaspoon instant yeast 1¼ teaspoons salt Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed. 1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees. 2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes. 3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger. 4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack. Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

My maternal grandparents lived in Arvika, Sweden on the Norwegian border which is why we call these Swedish/ Norwegian Meatballs. In the summer I make them w/out gravy and serve them with potato salad, pickled beets and cucumber salad. In the winter I serve them with a modified version of Jannsen's Temptation (potatoes baked with onions and Half & Half) or rutemuss, pickled beets and the cucumber salad. If you can get lingonberries, that's a nice extra Svenska touch! Swedish/Norwegian Meatballs 2 Tbsps chopped mild onion (finely minced) 2/3 cup bread crumbs 10 ounces milk 2 lb ground beef (I use extra lean ground beef) 1/4 tsp allspice 1/4 tsp ginger 1/4 tsp nutmeg 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp white pepper Saute onion in butter. Soak breadcrumbs in milk. Add remaining ingredients. Shape into ¾" size meatballs. Place meatballs on baking sheet & bake at 425 degrees until brown (15 minutes). Drain off any liquid and return to oven to bake an additional 5 minutes. These meatballs do not have a sourcream gravy. Good with pickled beets, rutemuss (combination of whipped potatoes and rutabagas) and pickled sliced cucumbers. If you want gravy with the meatballs: Gravy: 2 packages low sodium gravy mix 1 cup water a couple spoons of regular sour cream a few shakes of Allspice Place gravy mix in 2 qt saucepan. Whisk in 1 cup water and bring to a low boil. Let simmer a few minutes then turn off heat. Whisk in sour cream and add the Allspice. Pour over meatballs and serve. Ann

Pumpkin Pudding Ingredients: 3 cups canned or fresh cooked Pumpkin. 3 cups Apple Juice. 1/2 cup Cornstarch. 2 teaspoon ground Cinnamon. 1 teaspoon ground Ginger. 1/2 teaspoon ground Cloves. On stove top: Place in a 2-3 quart lined or glass pot the on the burner over low to medium heat the Apple Juice and Cornstarch, and mix until smooth. Stir in the Pumpkin, Cinnamon, Ginger and Cloves. Continue to stir the pudding until thick and creamy. Make sure the pudding does not boil or stick to the bottom of the pot. Lower heat if necessary. Pour the pudding into serving cups or dished or into a bulk storage container, and place in the refrigerator until the pudding gels (about 3 hours). I have not made this but it sounds interesting.