Author Cami Checketts Shares Homemade Wheat Bread

Cami is a part-time author, part-time exercise consultant, part-time housekeeper, full-time wife, and overtime mother of four adorable boys. Sleep and relaxation are fond memories. She's never been happier. For more information on Cami's books: www.camichecketts.com http://camicheckettsbooks.blogspot.com.

Cami's latest release is The Sister Pact

Savannah Compton finds her sister, Allison, unconscious. Blood is spurting from Allison’s head and her toddler is screeching for Mommy. The handsome detective at the door believes Savannah is to blame.

Is there a food you’d love to learn how to cook or a different genre or type of book you’d love to try to write?
I'd love to learn how to make sugar cookies. Mine are always hard or falling apart. It's a sad situation when young boys never get the chance to decorate sugar cookies because their Momma is too cheap to buy them from the bakery and too lazy to master them.

I would love to write historical fiction but it's kind of like sugar cookies - too lazy to do the research. I'm sure if I tried historical fiction the readers would have to correct me often and it would be horribly embarrassing.

What’s your favorite kitchen accessory or appliance? How about a favorite writing accessory or reference?
Favorite kitchen appliance is the dishwasher. I throw things in dirty and they come out clean - fabulous!

Favorite writing reference is the internet. When I started writing I didn't have internet access. Imagine anything you needed to research (agents, publishers, the layout of New York City's subway so you can blow it up in your book) instead of just typing a few words and clicking you had to go to the library and actually read a book.

What inspired your latest book, and what ingredients do you hope make it a tasty treat for readers?
I had a nightmare that I was playing with my boys in the backyard and a man walked up and shot me. I started thinking, What would make someone do that to a sweet little Mom?

I hope it's a treat they can't get enough of. I hope it's so intriguing they want to keep reading and reading and then go and tell all their friends about it. (I like to dream big.)

What’s your go-to meal when you need to serve something quick and easy?

Spaghetti. We bottle our own sauce straight from the garden. It's amazing. I used Ragu once and none of my boys would eat it. (They're cute but definitely spoiled.)

Oh, do I understand wasting a perfeclty good plate of pasta. My husband hates spaghetti and will only eat it if I use a certain sauce. Picky Picky!

Tell about a time when food inspired your writing or a book inspired your cooking.
I love Josi Kilpack's culinary mysteries. I cannot read one of those without trying at least a couple of the recipes. The only time I didn't like all the yummy food references was when I tried to read Key Lime Pie while in labor with my fourth son. Contractions and thoughts of food do not work well together!

If you were marooned on an island, and Pots 'N Pens granted your wish for only one book and one food, what would you choose?

Wow. Thanks for the easy question. Hmm, the food would be my homemade bread (though I'd likely perish without Extreme Mouse Tracks ice cream).

The book would have to be The Book of Mormon. There are a lot of amazing books out there but The Book of Mormon is my all-time favorite.

Cami's homemade wheat bread

3/4 cup applesauce

2/3 cup oil

1/2 cup honey

2 Tbsp. salt

Mix together

Add:

5 1/2 cups warm water

10-12 cups finely ground wheat flour

1/3 cup vital wheat gluten

Mix for five minutes.

While you wait, mix 1/2 cup warm water with 2 1/2 Tbsp. yeast.

Add yeast mixture and 1-3 cups white flour or until dough pulls away from the edges of pan.

Shape into loaves, let raise.

Bake 350 for 20 – 40 minutes (I’m obviously not good at timing things. I wait for mine to smell good and pull them out when they’re brown.)

Thanks Cami, it was a joy to talk to you. I LOVE fresh baked bread and can't wait to try baking (I should really say murder 'cause I tend to burn my bread *sigh*) this.  Check out what Cami is up to over on her site by clicking on the links by her picture above.

Interview with Author Kristine Carlson Asselin

Today I'd like to welcome my wonderful critique partner Kristine Asselin, represented by Vickie Motter, whose novel Sweet Spot is currently out on submission.

Kris, tell us a bit about your book and what foods play a role, if any?

My book is called THE SWEET SPOT. It’s a contemporary realistic young adult novel loosely based on bits and pieces of my life growing up on a golf course. Here’s the synopsis:

With the family golf course on the verge of bankruptcy, Kate Anderson decides she's going to be the first girl to win the Junior State Championship to draw the crowds back, but her plans are derailed when her best friend and crush is accused of vandalizing the course with a blowtorch.

I’m not sure my characters eat at all in the book! Actually, a couple of the boys munch on Snickers bars during a stake out to catch the bad guys. The fact that Kate, my MC, drinks diet soda is particularly important during one pivotal scene.

You’d think that with a title like THE SWEET SPOT there would be some tasty treats! But no, actually the sweet spot refers to the middle of the golf club face. Hit the ball squarely on that spot and you’ll have a great shot! Of course, it’s not that easy.

What's your favorite snack while writing?

I love snacks. But I try really hard not to snack while writing. When I sit in the Barnes and Noble coffee shop, I do like a nice mochachino.

Do you have a go-to meal when you're strapped for time and need to feed the family?

I actually chuckled when Ansha invited me to participate in Pots and Pens, since I am not known for my cooking. Having two picky eaters (spouse and child) makes it a bit hard to be creative. My go-to meal would definitely have to be angel hair pasta, sauce, and garlic bread (see my recipe for homemade no-knead bread). Throw in a salad to make mom (me!) happy, and voila.

Let’s say a couple of your characters are raiding your fridge right now, what are they most likely to eat? Are they disappointed or excited about what they find?

Hmm. My book is populated with teenaged-boys, and a fifteen-year-old girl. The boys would probably be looking for junk food. And volume. I’m embarrassed to admit they’d probably be okay. They’d find half gallons of ice cream and a stock pile of girl scout cookies right now. No Snickers bars, though. Kate would be okay too, I think. Plenty of Diet Coke.

If you were marooned on an island, and Pots & Pens granted your wish for only one book and one food, what would you choose?

This is a hard one! I think I’d be content for a while with HARRY POTTER AND THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN by JK Rowling. Though, I’d really want the whole series. If I couldn’t have a series, I think I’d choose ENDER’s GAME by Orson Scott Card. I get so bored with one food, but I think I’d probably take a Cinnamon Raisin bagel with peanut butter. Actually, to survive? All I really need is coffee.

We writers may be able to subsist on coffee and craft alone, but the family inevitably comes calling for food.

Here is a recipe for no knead bread that is super yummy if not super fast. It certainly fills out a pasta and salad dinner into a fit-for-a-king meal.

Speedy No-Knead Bread

3 cups bread flour

1 packet ( 1/4 ounce) instant yeast

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

Oil as needed

1. Combine flour, yeast and salt in a large bowl (I sometimes use garlic salt rather than regular salt to add a bit of baked-in flavor). Add 1 1/2 cups water and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest about 4 hours at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Lightly oil a work surface and place dough on it; fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest 30 minutes more.

3. 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 dough and put it into pot, seam side up. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.

4. 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: 1 big loaf.

This bread comes out awesome—the picture is one I took myself of a loaf baked earlier this year.