Just Catchin up

Internet problems kept us away, but we are back now and ready to rock!

 We are excited to collaborate with our next featured artist, Stacie Collins. Stacie is a bad-ass, kick your teeth in Rock-Country-Metal singer and harp blower from Nashville. She has agreed to work with us to develop a product that is just as fantastic as she is! I envy her husband, Al Collins, who not only is a member of her band, but also plays bass with Jason and The Scorchers. Speaking of JATS they are currently on tour in Europe, so if you are reading this from Europe go to http://www.jasonandthescorchers.com/tourdates.cfm and find a show near you in the next month or so. Trust me, I have seen them numerous times and they are the greatest live band I have ever seen.


 We are also finalizing our Focaccia bread inspired by the very talented Jamie Alimorad. Jamie is based in New York, so it presents a small challenge since we are on the West Coast. Until we have perfected our product, there will be a lot of bread shipments flying back and forth over the country for taste tests! Just like Jamie doesn’t compromise on his music, we won’t compromise our product. Once it is just as awesome as he is, we will post more about availability, etc.


 Lastly, I recently had the opportunity to meet Leon Hendrix, the younger brother of legendary guitarist Jimi Hendrix. Leon’s newly released book entitled “Jimi Hendrix: A Brother’s Story” is inspiring and enlightening. Leon is also an accomplished guitar player and recording artist….we just might have to do some baking inspired by both Hendrix brothers! Sweet and Savory?

Goodbye Sisters Doll-Hello Heat Brothers and Jaime Alimorad

Hey everyone!!!! Just wanted to drop in and let everyone know we are still alive and rocking here at Motorbread. We have been very busy doing several things with Sisters Doll including baking them a bunch of the Sisters Doll bread. They headed back to Australia today and we are sure gonna miss them. They are truly a part of the Motorbread family, we kinda view them as our Australian kids. Not only are they an amazing band, but they are amazing young men as well. We also saw a band called The Heat Brothers, fronting the band are Dallas Hodge and Ernie Rodriguez two former members of the legendary band Canned Heat. These guys lay down a brand of slick boogie blues that is guaranteed to make you sweat. Joining them on stage about halfway through the set was a lady named Lucinda Hatfield, Ms Hatfield, who used to be part of the Righteous Brothers Band, blows perhaps the meanest harmonica I have ever heard. She was simply amazing. If you get the opportunity to witness the blues spectacle that is The Heat Brothers don’t pass it up. Finally, on the bakery side of things we have been busy as well. As I previously stated we baked quite a bit for Sisters Doll and for good reason the CheesePuff Crusted Cheddar Cheesy Bread we created for them is simply out of this world good. We have been baking for a few local restaurant owners here in Long Beach trying to get them on board with us. Lastly, we are working with an amazing singer/songwriter by the name of Jaime Alimorad. I think I mentioned before, I met Jaime during the same Indie Entertainment Summit where I met SNEW and Sisters Doll. He performed several songs at the showcase at the Musicians Institute and I was floored. I won’t go into too much detail because he is going to be subject of our next review, but all I can say is WOW! Anyway we are working on a Focaccia with Jaime and I should have the recipe perfected in the next two days. So be on the lookout for his review and an overview of the bread we created for him. That’s all for now, Rockin’ Rolls Everyone!!!!

SISTERS DOLL and Cheetos Crusted Cheddar Cheesy Bread

Meeting the band Sisters Doll was a highlight of my weekend at the Indie Entertainment Summit as the guest of SNEW. Sisters Doll is a group of brothers from Australia who put on an amazing show.  Reminiscent of the glam rockers during the 1980s, these three brothers Brennan (lead vocal/Guitar), Bryce (Drums/Backing vocals) and Austin (Bass/Backing Vocals) do justice in honoring the Gods of Glam Metal and will no doubt be rewarded for the effort.  Besides looking like glam rock idols of the past, these boys’ killer song writing skills is what stands out the most.  Behind their look is pure talent! For such young buggers, these boys who are 19, 17 and 14 years old, sure know how to write a hit song. Styled in the same vein as Kiss, Bon Jovi and Poison, with a metal heritage and amazing pop sensibilities, their songs are fantastic. Listening to their debut album release "Welcome To the Dollhouse" I detect not a single filler song on it --- each song has the potential to be a hit. From the opening song "Dollhouse”, they captivate with infectious guitar riffs, pop-driven choruses and catchy hooks. "Isabella" is a hit of massive proportions just waiting for airplay to do it justice. Performing live, this band puts on a great show…it’s fun, interactive, and leaves you wanting it to never end.  Their interaction with the audience creates an experience, not just another show.  The audience walks away thoroughly entertained!

Speaking of bread.…One of the delicacies they were really enjoying here in the States is Cheetos.  (Hey, I didn’t say a healthy delicacy!)  Therefore, I decided to do Cheetos bread just for them! Vegemite is optional for us Americans, but believe me, it really IS good!

Sisters Doll Cheddar Cheese/Cheetos Bread

2 Cups Warm Water

2 teaspoons Yeast

1 Tablespoon Sugar

2 Tablespoons Salt

5 Cups Flour

1 small bag of Cheetos crushed

3 Cups Cheddar Cheese grated

1 egg

 Put on your Sisters Doll CD and crank up the volume. Mix Water, Yeast and Sugar in your mixing bowl and let stand for about 10 minutes. Add salt and flour and mix with the dough hook for about 10 minutes or with a spoon and knead on the counter until silky smooth. Form dough into a ball and place in an oiled bowled until the dough has doubled in size. Remove dough from the bowl and cut into two equal pieces. Flatten each piece and fill with 1 cup of cheese each. Then roll and form into loaves. Beat the egg and brush the surface of each loaf with the egg. Pour crushed Cheetos onto the counter and roll each loaf into the Cheetos. Then cover each loaf with 1/2 cup cheese.Let loaves rise for about 30-45 minutes. Bake at 375 F for 40 minutes or until the internal temperature is about 205 degrees F. Slice while still warm put lots of butter and a thin layer of Vegemite on top and enjoy.

Check out the video for "Dollhouse"  

and a clip for "Isabella" 

at

IES, SNEW, Sisters Doll, Jamie Alimorad and Steven Adler

Hey everybody, I spent Monday recovering from my weekend with SNEW at the Indie Entertainment Summit. Wow, did we have a great time. Mark picked me up on Friday for the first show of the weekend at the Hard Rock Cafe. We picked up a roadie Derrick in downtown LA and then into Hollywood where we had dinner at Umami Burger. If you want to have a gastronomic orgasm then go to Umami and get a Truffle Burger with Truffle Cheese Fries. We then headed over to Andy Lux's place to get him. Then after a little problem regarding some forgotten B-12 vitamins we were finally off to the Hard Rock.  The Hard Rock here in LA is right on Hollywood Boulevard next to the world famous Chinese Theater. This first night we got there just as Sisters Doll was finishing. The next band up was a group from Canada called The Twitch. Interesting four piece, but nothing that really got me to excited. Last on that evening were my hosts SNEW who put on a great show even though the sound was a little off. Then we all headed over to the Rainbow and had a drink. All the years I have lived in and around Los Angeles and as many times as I have played down on the Sunset Strip I had never been inside the Rainbow. Lots of really cool rock-n-roll history in there that is for sure. We were hoping that Lemmy from Motorhead was going to be there, he's always there if he's not touring, but alas he was not. It would have been really great to get a photo of Motorhead and Motorbread together. Anyway, I finally made it home at about 3:30. The next day SNEW was supposed to play outside at the Federal in North Hollywood at 4 so Mark picked me up at 10 am and we were off  to pick up Derrick, Burbank to get more equipment, then Andy and then to North Hollywood. When we arrived the outdoor stage was nowhere to be found. We were told that they would be performing inside the Federal. As we walked inside we are directed into a room and were treated to about an hour talk by Mark Canter, Vicki Hamilton and Steven Adler of Guns and Roses on the formation of the band and the creation of Appetite For Destruction. After the talk we were informed that SNEW was not going to play the Federal after all, but instead was asked to play at the Musicians Institute in Hollywood that evening. I must say they put on one hellava show at MI. I also got to see Willie Basse perform and was amazing, as well as a singer named Jamie Alimorad and if you like power pop you will dig Jamie. http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/349580 We are going to be doing an individual write up on him later here at Motorbread. After the show, we all headed over to Canter's Deli for some late night Reuben Sandwich action. Sunday rolled around and Mark picked me up in the early afternoon and we were off to to OKI Dog on Fairfax. I had never been to Oki Dog, but I will tell you right now I'm hooked. An OKI Dog is two dogs, chili, cheese and pastrami wrapped up in a flour tortilla like a burrito. Holy shit your tongue will slap you brains out. Then we grabbed Andy and were off to pick up Curtis. Then to the final show of the weekend at The Back Door. Where my beautiful wife joined us. After seeing them all weekend, I finally got to see Sisters Doll perform and all I can say is WOW!! They are great.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ik2yCc8PfAY Three brothers from Australia ages 19, 16 and 14. Heidi and I ended up giving Brennan the lead singer/guitar player and his dad a ride back to their hotel and they are just the best folks. We found out from them that they don't have Cheetos in Australia, but they have fallen in love with Cheetos since being here, so Heidi and I are going to send them a care package full of Cheetos to Australia as well as we are going to work with them on a bread for the blog. If you live in the Los Angeles area they are going to being playing at The Whiskey on August 11th at 7:30 pm and on the 15th at 8:30 pm. We are going to be there for sure on the 11th and probably on the 15th. I can't wait to see them again. I also can't wait to see SNEW again. All in all what an amazing weekend filled with great music, great people and fun times. I feel like I have made some friends for life in the guys from SNEW, I really appreciate everything guys it was damn sure a blast and I hope there is more fun to come. That's all for now don't forget Sisters Doll on the 11th at 7:30 and the 15th at 8:30 both shows at The Whiskey on the world famous Sunset Strip. And finally the new SNEW album "What's It To You" is out so go here http://snewyou.com/ 

Rockin' Rolls Everybody!!!

Click Here!

ROCK-N-ROLL WEEKEND with SNEW!!!

Okay folks the time has finally come, I get to make some of the bread I dedicate to a particular band for the band. That's right this Friday I will be baking my rear-end off during the morning because I am off to spend the weekend with the band SNEW. If you will recall I profiled SNEW a few blogs back and after learning that they ate a lot of Thai food while in the studio recording their newest record "What's It To Ya", created Motorbread's Thai Spiced Peanut Bread. So, anyway I will be baking a lot of the bread for the guys and then we are off to Hollywood for three days of partying and concerts. We will kick things off on Friday night with dinner and a SNEW concert at the Hard Rock, then a SNEW concert on Saturday in North Hollywood and finally a SNEW concert in Burbank on Sunday. We are gonna be partying, drinking and just generally having a rock-n-roll weekend. If any of you live in the Los Angeles area come out and join us. We are going to be all over town throughout the weekend. The most exciting part for me is actually being able to bake for the band and have them get to eat some of the bread that was inspired by them. I'm also hoping that Lemmy is at the Rainbow when we go so I can get my picture taken with him to blow up, frame and hang in the bakery. How cool would that be Motorbread and Motorhead!!!!! Anyway I probably won't be posting again until after the weekend is over so glasses up, pants down and let's get ready to rock-n-roll!!!!!

SNEW Thai Spiced Peanut Bread!!!

That's all for now Rock-n-Rolls Everybody!!!

Inspiration comes in many different forms....

Inspiration comes in many different forms, whether you are songwriting, painting, drawing or engaged in any artistic endeavour. This same thing applies when I am making bread. Not all the breads I make are inspired by bands and I am damn sure not going to sit here and try to make you believe that a bread was inspired by a certain band when it simply was not. I believe that all of you would see right through that. This is why we have talked about a lot of different things here at Motorbread that are not music related. We did Bacon Cake that needed no inspiration, we have talked about Pegasus Bridge from WWII, we have talked about distractions and ear protection and we even talked about my brother's offense at the fact I used the F word on my Facebook page. (I deleted this blog entry out of respect for my parents) Today the inspiration came from a friend of mine Paul Carlson. I have known Paul now for about 15 years. We met when my boys went to the Dick Howser Center Daycare in Tallahassee Florida. His beautiful wife Angie was the director at the center and we formed a friendship that has lasted these many years after daycare has ended. Paul loves Jamaican Food and especially Jerk Chicken. In the past several weeks he has been posting about it on Facebook and showing pictures of the Coco Bread and Chicken he has made. I had never heard of Coco Bread before (yes a bread I had never heard of) so I got intrigued and started doing some research. At first I was finding recipes that only used water as the liquid and I was wondering why they call it "Coco" bread there is nothing "Coco" about it. Then I did some historical research and found that real Coco Bread uses Coconut Milk for the liquid and it all clicked island food-coconut milk. Off to the store I went to get Coconut Milk. Do you know how hard it is to find Coconut Milk in the store that has not had other junk added to it? Alas, eventually I did and skipped back to the Motorbread test kitchen to start baking. Now here is where I would usually say I put on some Bob Marley or other reggae artist and started baking. Only in reality I'm not a fan of reggae. I can handle it for about 20 minutes and then I start feeling as if I have been listening to the same song for the past 20 minutes and I have to turn it off. I guess I could have put on some Bad Brains. Anyway, I grabbed a Red Stripe and went to work. Here is what I did: Paul Carlson Inspired Coco Bread 4.5 Cups All purpose Flour 2 Cups Coconut Milk (warmed to 110 degrees F.) 2 Tablespoons Sugar 2 teaspoons yeast 1 tablespoon Coconut Extract 1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract I mixed the Coconut Milk, Sugar and Yeast in my mixing bowl and let it stand for 10 minutes, (you know the drill by now people) I used this time to drink another Red Stripe. Then I mixed the remaining ingredients in and using the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer I kneaded this for about 7 minutes, if you do not have a stand mixer then knead by han

My inspiration Paul Carlson's Coco Bread!!! Phot courtesy of Paul

d probably about 15 minutes (then you'll need to rest and drink about 6 more Red Stripes). I placed the dough in a lightly oiled bowl for about 1.5 hours or until the dough had about doubled in size. Then I separated the dough into 10 equal sized pieces and rolled them into little balls. These I let rest on the counter for about 10 minutes, then I squished them flat and threw them in the air like a pizza crust to make rounds. (You can also just roll them out flat with a rolling pin if you like) If they resist and want to spring back let them rest another 5 minutes. I placed them on a pan and lightly oiled 1/2 of each round and then folded them over creating a 1/2 round. I let them rise for about 45 more minutes and then baked them at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. When they come out of the oven they are perfect little pockets for holding the Jerk Chicken, but I'm not going to get into Jerk Chicken recipes you can find them all over the internet. I will say this, the coconut makes them very fragrant and the smell is a joy while they are baking. Oh I posted a picture of Paul's Coco Bread because A) It looks oh so delicious and B) All of mine got eaten so fast I didn't have a chance to shoot any photos. Well that's all for now, thanks Paul for the inspiration, this is really good bread. Rockin' Rolls Everybody!!!!

Coming up....

Things have been a little hectic around the Motorbread kitchens in the past few days. Hence the reason I haven't been posting. We lost our dear friend and neighbor Miss Odessa last week and attended her funeral this week, so it has been a very sad time for us here at Motorbread. I have made a few breads in the past week though that I just wanted to give you a heads up on as I will be profiling them here in the next few days, first we made traditional Jamaican Coco Bread with Jerk Chicken and then we followed it up with a jazzed up version and made Coconut Bread with Pineapple and fresh Cherries. I must say that the Jazzed up Coco Bread is my favorite. It is very "Beachy" tasting, lite and semi-sweet. Coconut milk used as the liquids in bread really gives it a unique texture and flavor as well as making both the dough and the final bread especially aromatic. We also shifted gears a little bit and made about 10 jars of Cherry Jam. Also I have a couple of loaves that I have promised to ship to people mainly my dear friend Gina, I have not forgotten just with everything else going on it just kind of got shifted to the back burner. Finally, I made some Cheesy Jalapeno Bread for our dear dear friends Suzie, Mike and Debbie last weekend, Debbie got so excited about eating it that she actually bit her finger, so I guess it was good. Well that's all for now, trying to get everything back on an even keel, Rockin' Rolls Everybody!!!