Tibetan Flatbread

Normally, a hot summer is not sufficient incentive for me to give up baking bread.  But for some unknown reason, I found myself one day this summer in desperate need of bread, but completely unwilling to turn on my oven.  To top it off, I was too exhausted to want to spend the time it would take to make tortillas.

"There's got to be some kind of flatbread aside from tortillas I can bake on the stovetop!" I exclaimed and turned to the Internet.

Sure enough, I found several different recipes for stovetop breads, but the one which intrigued me enough to get me out of my chair and into the kitchen was a recipe for Tibetan flatbread.

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon olive oil (I've had even better results with 2 Tablespoons!)
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons water (This is divided.)

There are a few things I should note about the ingredients.  First, the olive oil should be pure olive oil, rather than extra virgin, as it can withstand high heat better without burning.  Also, this flour mixture is not set in stone.  If you only have all-purpose flour at home, feel free to use 1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour.  I have found my family enjoys this recipe best when I use 1/2 cup whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, and 1/2 cup flour ground from oat groats.  I'm curious what would happen if I tried this recipe with even more oat flour and less all-purpose flour:  how much of a role does gluten really play in this recipe?  But that's a question to be answered another day.

First, combine the dry ingredients--flours, baking powder, and salt--in a mixing bowl.  Add the 1 cup of water.  With more whole wheat flour, a little more water may be desired:  you want the result to look like more like a batter than a dough, nice and gooey.

Next, take a COLD 12-inch frying or saute pan (one which has a lid) and add the olive oil, spreading it around to ensure it covers the entire pan.

Pour the batter/dough into the pan and spread it around more or less evenly.  Then take the 2 Tablespoons of water and pour them in around the sides of the dough.  (I know you were wondering where they fit in!)

You may be looking at this and thinking, "Wow, that's a lot of oil and water just sitting around my cold dough.  Do I really want all this stuff in there?"

Yes, yes you do.  You see, as the bread cooks, all this stuff is going to be used to create steam and be absorbed into the bread, which gives it an absolutely luscious taste far beyond anything you thought you could create with flour, baking powder, and salt.

Put the lid on your pan and cook it over medium high heat for 10 minutes.  Then flip the bread over, cover it again, and cook it for 5 more minutes.

This is what it looks like after it's been flipped.

You can let it cool some in the skillet, which I think produces better results, but if you are really in a hurry, you can pull it out on a cutting board and let it cool there.

Cut it and serve!

The olive oil makes it so tasty that no butter is needed, in my opinion, but it does taste good with either honey or jam.

This has actually become a staple in our house this summer, as a fast bread I can make to serve with our summer garden vegetable soups or as a quick breakfast bread.  There are never any leftovers.

One day I hit upon something which we decided was sheer genius:  we call it Tibetan Flatbread, Pizza Style, although it is probably closer to focaccia style.  After the bread had cooked the first 10 minutes and was flipped, I sprinkled on some grated mozzarella cheese, some Parmesan cheese, and some Italian herbs before covering the pan and cooking for the last 5 minutes.  After it finished, I slightly tilted the lid to allow for some heat to escape and waited for 15 minutes or possibly even longer.  (I was waiting for people to come back in after morning chores.)  It was an instant hit--so much so that I made it twice in the same day!  I'm sure this could be expanded to make actual pizza, with sauce, etc.

I'm not sure making bread gets any simpler than this!

Tasty Flour Tortillas

Living in the desert southwest, everyone assumes you know how to make tortillas.  I was taught by one of my husband's cousins several years ago (a Texas girl, herself), but I didn't actually work out a recipe I liked until recently.

My biggest issue was the consistency.  No matter what I did, if the inside of the tortilla was cooked, the outside of the tortilla always seemed to come out crunchy, which is not what you want if you intend to use the tortillas in soft tacos or any other situation where they need to be folded.  I even tried increasing the amount of shortening in the recipe in the hopes it would soften the dough, but to no avail.  For a while, I completely gave up and refused to make them at all.

Fast forward several years later, when my husband and I discovered a tortilleria in Silver City, New Mexico, with the most heavenly flour tortillas.  We made special efforts to stop by every time we were in the area, and at least two tortillas never made it back home.  (Home?  I'm not sure those two tortillas made it to the next stoplight . . .)

One day, I was speaking with a co-worker about these wonderful tortillas.  "You know why their tortillas are so good?" he asked me.  "It's because they use lard."

Lard?  Well, I knew the Mexican ladies I worked with used a lot of lard, but I personally couldn't stand the idea of stocking the stuff, myself.  Then one day, when I had a daughter shopping for me, a glorious mistake happened.

Instead of buying all-vegetable shortening, which is what I normally pick up, she grabbed regular shortening off the shelf and brought it home.  An idea pinged in my mind.  If the lard was what made those tortillas so wonderful, then maybe using the shortening with both animal and vegetable fats, rather than all-vegetable shortening, would make the difference.

The secret ingredient!!

It did.  It really did!  I couldn't believe how easy it was to have soft, pliable, fluffy tortillas with just this one simple ingredient change.  I think the people in the tortilleria still make them better than I do, but you wouldn't guess it by how quickly they disappear off the table.

Ingredients for about a dozen tortillas:

2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons salt (Reduce this if you think they come out too salty.)
4 Tablespoons shortening
Hot tap water to make the dough--a little over 2/3 a cup is about right.

Mix the dry ingredients together, then cut in the shortening.

Add hot water and mix the dough with a fork until it gathers and forms a ball around the fork.  If you add a touch too much water, I as I did in the following picture, it isn't the end of the world.  It will just be a little sticky until the flour from your hands or from the rolling process incorporates into it a little.

With lightly floured hands, divide the dough and roll into balls about 2 inches in diameter.  (Smaller if you want smaller tortillas.)  I was told when I first learned that it is better to work quickly, while the dough is still a bit warm from the hot water.  I think she was right; if you wait too long, bits of the dough will dry out and it will be difficult to get a smooth tortilla.

Heat a skillet or griddle on the stove on medium heat.

I tend to use a normal rolling pin to roll out the tortillas, but many people use one looking more like the one on the left, which is made from a piece of sanded dowel.  I haven't practiced with it enough to be able to roll things out at a consistent level.  (By the time I'm done with rolling a tortilla using the dowel, it has wave patterns or something . . .)

It is very easy to get too much flour on tortillas in the rolling process, making them taste more like . . . well, flour.  But if there is not enough flour on the tortillas as they are rolled, they will stick to the board and end up forming very interesting shapes.  I remembered a trick the ladies from showmethecurry.com had used when making parathas--dipping the dough into a bowl (or pie plate) of flour as they went--and so decided to try it out this time.  I found it really did help to keep just the right amount of flour involved in the rolling process.

I probably shouild have slightly flattened the ball before dipping it.

Roll the tortilla, dipping into the flour lightly if necessary, until it is round and very thin.  (I confess not all mine are quite this round . . .)

If you have rolled out a tortilla and your pan is not ready to bake it yet, you can hang it on the side of your bowl or something while you roll out another tortilla--but not too long, or it will dry out.

Place the tortilla on the skillet or griddle (no oil necessary), spinning it around as it cooks if you are worried about it sticking.  (I've never had them stick.)  The surface will get bubbles on it as it cooks.  If a bubble gets too big, lightly press it down with your turner.

You can see toward the top left where I pressed down a large bubble.

After the surface has bubbles and the underside has lightly browned spots, flip the tortilla.

Cook until the next side has lightly browned spots, then remove and keep warm.

Continue with other tortillas until they are all cooked.  If flour starts to accumulate on the skillet or griddle, use a paper towel or kitchen towel to wipe it away.  (Otherwise, it will burn and you'll end up with burned flour on the next tortilla you cook.)


Yummy!  These are good for soft tacos, quesadillas, or just eating with butter.  (Or, as the Kitchen Artiste In Training likes to do, eating with butter and cinnamon-sugar.)

Aloo Paratha

I have cilantro!!

This is only significant because every single recipe I have found for any paratha whatsoever seems to require cilantro.  Unfortunately, it is one herb I do not have growing on my windowsill.  (I'm not sure it could be grown on a windowsill, as it tends to get very large.)  And as our nearest decent grocery store is about 70 miles away, I can't just drive around the corner and pick it up anytime I want it.

But after last week's excursion to . . . well, I'm not going to say where I went, but it was on business . . . I was able to stop by a store on the way home and pick some up.

The first time I heard of paratha was through the showmethecurry.com ladies, while browsing potential Indian bread recipes.  But I ran into a problem when I started seriously thinking about making paratha:  they wanted chaat masala in their fillings.  I don't have chaat masala, and while I recognize I could order it on the Internet, and probably will, eventually, I wanted to stick with ingredients I could easily pick up locally.  (Yes, around here, 70 miles is considered local shopping.)  I finally stumbled on vahrehvah.com, after discovering this video on YouTube.  In this chef's recipe, garam masala is used instead of chaat masala. And garam masala was in my cupboard, purchased some time ago as a "just in case" spice.

But Vahrehvah.com's recipe is a little ambiguous on the quantity of ingredients for the dough or how it is to be made.  (I think he depends on his videos.)  So I turned back to showmethecurry.com for the dough.  In their aloo paratha recipe, they refer readers to their chapatti recipe for the dough.  (Wow, the effort it takes, sometimes, to get a recipe put together . . .)

After a little juggling, I finally had my working recipe, consisting of the dough from showmethecurry.com and the filling from Vahrehvah.com.  I ended up reducing some of the spices because my kids aren't used to something quite that full-flavored.  (And, sadly enough, my tongue won't handle extra-spicy things anymore.)

Ingredients:

Dough:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (good thing I just ground some)
3 teaspoons oil
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons warm water (In case anyone is interested, this makes 5/8 cup of water.)
1/2 cup whole wheat flour in which to dip the dough while rolling
Oil for pan frying

Filling:
3 Tablespoons fresh coriander leaves (This is cilantro.)
3/4 teaspoon garam masala (I used 1/2 teaspoon.)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoon cumin/coriander powder (This can be either/or or blended to taste. I ended up with a touch over a 1/2 Tablespoon cumin.)
Hot red pepper powder to taste (I put about 1/16 teaspoon.)
3 cups large potatoes, boiled and grated or mashed (Grated is recommended.  I wonder if riced would be even better.)
3/4 cup onion

First, the dough!

In a large bowl, mix the flour and the salt.  Add the oil and mix again.  Slowly add warm water and knead to form a dough.  (You might not need all the water.)

Shape the dough into a ball and rub a little oil on it to coat the outside.  Then cover it and let it stand for at least 15 minutes.

While the dough rests, it is time for the filling.

I learned something about grating potatoes right after cooking them . . . After boiling the potatoes, I put them into some cold water to cool them to the point where I could handle them.  This happened surprisingly quickly, or so I thought.  As I grated the potatoes, I realized that while the exterior was cool enough to touch, the interior was still very hot.  It was kind of amusing to see the grated potato steaming beneath my grater, but it was not so amusing when the potato became small enough I kept accidentally touching the hot part.  Note to self:  next time, prepare the potatoes a little earlier.
 

The recipes I had read emphasized that everything in the filling needed to be chopped very fine, or minced.  If you have a chopper similar to this, finely chopping onions becomes a snap.

In his video, the chef at Vahrehvah.com states the ingredients can be either mixed uncooked or cooked.  But, he said, the cooked version "always turns out tastier."  So I decided mine would be cooked.

As the potatoes were already cooked, the only things which really needed to be cooked were the onions and spices.  First, I added just enough oil to the pan to prevent sticking, then added the onions.  I cooked for a minute or two over medium heat, then added the spices, stirring to make sure they were evenly cooked.

Once everything was nicely cooked, it was time to add the potatoes, just to mix them in.  Since they did not need to be cooked, I took an alterate tack, adding the cooked ingredients to the bowl where I had the potatoes waiting, then mixing.

The filling definitely does not look like it is rocket science.  The chef even said you could add pretty much whatever spices--or even green chilis--you want to the filling.  This is reassuring, as it seems it will be difficult to completely mess it up by any method except, perhaps, over-spicing it.

Divide the filling into 8 equal size parts.  You will be rolling/smushing these parts into balls.

Now that the filling is ready, back to the dough!

Knead the dough and divide it into 8 parts, rolling each part into a ball.  Keep a bowl with some whole wheat flour handy for dipping the dough if it should start to stick.  Slightly flatten the dough a little and dip it briefly in the flour.

 

Using a rolling pin, roll out the ball to about 4 inches diameter.  Take one of the balls of filling and place it on the dough.

Gather the dough around the ball to cover it, pinching at the top to hold the dough closed.

Slightly flatten the stuffed ball and dip it into the whole wheat flour on both sides.

 

 Using a rolling pin, roll out the stuffed ball into a disk.  Don't make it too thin.  (You still want your potato filling to be surrounded by bread dough.)

See?  You can see the cilantro through the dough.  (Isn't that cool?)  The hope is to be able to roll this out without any potato sticking out.  I did not completely succeed in this:  every one of the 8 parathas I rolled ended up with a tiny bit of potato sticking out somewhere, usually along the edge or at the pinched seam.  I may be able to prevent this by putting in less filling, but I'd rather not do that.  I suspect that a little practice will go a long way.

I found this rolling out process worked better if I did not attack the paratha as I would have attacked a tortilla or a pie crust.  (Seriously, I get violent with tortillas.)  Rolling by gently rocking back and forth, changing directions as I went, seemed to be more effective than trying to pick up my rolling pin, place it in the center, and roll out each time.  (I think people who are really good at tortillas actually roll back and forth, too . . .)

Place the paratha on a skillet preheated to medium or medium high.  When bubbles start to appear, it is time to turn it over.

Hard to see, but it is puffing up in some places around the edges.

I actually didn't follow the directions here, because I forgot to reread them as I was working.  Instead of spraying it lightly with cooking oil after turning it over, then turning and spraying with oil again every 30 seconds, I just turned it over and let it cook.  It would probably have had more crispy results if it had been sprayed with oil, but as it was, it still cooked and browned nicely.  (See the little golden/brown spots?)

Nicely puffed!

I did remember to roll out the next paratha as the previous one was cooking, just to save time.

And here they are!

I had some daughters who were very dubious about this whole "potato-filled unleavened bread" thing.  At least, they were dubious until I started tearing one into pieces for tasting . . .

In the end, all four of the daughters at home ended up loving it.  The reduction in the spices seemed to be about the perfect blend for us, although the heat built up over time to the point where the two youngest weren't sure they wanted to finish their halves of aloo paratha.  (Now we know why the Indians would most likely eat this with chutney or yogurt . . . I gave the girls pineapple rings, as I was out of yogurt.)  I've been told these freeze well, when separated by waxed paper, so the three I had left over after dinner will find their way there until the Senior Master Kitchen Helper is ready to have some in her lunchbox, as she requested.

I'm looking forward to trying paratha stuffed with other fillings.

Turkish Flat Bread

Turkey!  The name conjures up images of Crusaders, ancient warriors, and exotic spices.  (Along with, I'm afraid, a catchy little ditty . . . "Istanbul was Constantinople . . .")

Not too long ago, I received an e-mail from my sister, who had moved to Turkey about a week or so earlier.  She expressed surprise at not finding pita bread in the stores, but also mentioned she was having a hard time finding the traditional flat bread of Turkey.  (Hadn't had time to do enough exploring yet.)  Naturally, I was intrigued.

After a certain amount of Internet research, I found what seemed to be a few different kinds of basic flatbread from Turkey.  One seems to be an awful lot like a tortilla, with olive oil instead of lard or shortening.  Another is also cooked on the stovetop, but includes yeast and yogurt.  But the one I tried first was this one, baked on my baking stone and producing more of a flat loaf, instead of individual portions.

I'll be frank:  we didn't like it.  But I figured I'd made enough mistakes in the process, it might well be attributed to my errors.  I timed things incorrectly, resulting in some of the risen dough drying out in spots.  I also, against my better judgement, actually followed the directions which said to put all the flour in a bowl, then pour in the liquids, then mix.  (Yes, I was mixing by hand.)  The resulting dough was supposed to be sticky, but instead, was about as dry as a biscuit dough which hasn't had that last required tablespoon of milk added.  It took a lot of kneading to get the dough anywhere near pliable.  The final product was rather dense (although the dough had risen), and thicker than I really thought it should be.


You can see the poor bread looks like the dough didn't manage to get very smooth . . . It was very dense.


I suppose I should have tried the recipe again (preferably with my stand mixer and not adding all the flour at once), but I decided to try a different recipe, instead.  (At least this author talked about mixing the dough in a mixer . . .)  When I saw the temperature at which the bread was to be baked, I decided to try the baking stone again, instead of following the directions to use a baking sheet.  (Hey, I followed the directions on that other one, and look what it got me!)

The results?  Well, I don't know if it is authentic, but I sure liked it!  (I'm not sure anyone can go wrong if there are sesame seeds involved . . .)  My kids even asked for seconds, which they certainly didn't do last time, so it wasn't just me.

Soooo, here's how it went.  <rubbing hands together>

Ingredients:
2.5 cups flour (I think I ended up using only about 2 cups, actually)
2 packages dry yeast (a little over a Tablespoon, with the yeast I use)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup warm water

Have ready:

1/4 cup warm milk
Sesame seeds

The preparation of the dough in a stand mixer is very similar to most yeast doughs.  But there are a few differences.  For one, after the yeast and water are mixed, it should be allowed to sit for about 20 minutes before it is added to the mixer.  (No idea why, but, hey, it worked.)

For another, when the dough is ready to rise, instead of just covering the bowl with a paper towel, it should be covered with a wet towel or cheesecloth, or covered with plastic wrap.  (I had accidentally purchased inferior plastic wrap, so I ended up going with the wet towel.)  Why?  Well, this dough rises a long time, and we really don't want that problem I ended up with the previous time, ie., the dried dough parts.

The first rise is about an hour, at which point the dough is very nice and fluffy.  Punch down the dough and allow it to rise for another half hour.  (Counting?  We're up to an hour and a half of rising time.  Now you know why we need that wet towel.)

Turn on the oven and preheat it to 475 degrees Fahrenheit.

In the mean time, divide the dough into two portions and roll each into balls.  Allow the balls to set on a floured surface for about 15-20 minutes.  (Nice time . . . just enough time for my oven to finish preheating, actually.)

After the dough has risen . . .

Flatten the balls with your hands and start stretching them into a round or oval shape.  (I picked round.  I probably should have picked oval, as I ended up not being able to fit both rounds on my baking stone at the same time.)  If you are using a baking sheet, instead of a baking stone, shape them on the baking sheet, with a little flour beneath them.  I shaped them on my pizza paddle, even though I ended up picking them up to put them on the stone, instead of sliding them.

I was a little puzzled as to exactly how I was supposed to shape this dough until I remembered my extremely bad form in making pizza dough.  Suddenly, it all became clear, especially as the author of the blog instructs the baker to press fingers in places in the dough to make it uneven.  Hey, with the way I shape pizza dough, it's automatically uneven!  I've got this down!

After the bread is shaped, if it is on a baking sheet, it can be immediately brushed with milk and sprinkled with sesame seeds, then placed in the oven.  As I was using the baking stone, I waited until the bread was placed on the stone before brushing it with milk and sprinkling the seeds.

Bake on a baking sheet for 20-25 minutes, brushing again with warm milk every 5 minutes, until golden brown.  I found that on the baking stone, 15 minutes was closer to the mark.

At any rate, the bread ended up crispy/chewy on the outside, fluffy on the inside, and very delicious.  (Seconds?  My kids asked for thirds . . . The recipe says it is best enjoyed warm, so I indulged them.)

I'm looking forward to trying the Turkish loaf recipe posted by the same blogger.

Pita pita party!

I love pita bread.  Who wouldn't love chewy goodness you can stuff with whatever filling your heart desires?  But when I have purchased it in the store, it hasn't always lived up to expectations.

I remember being part of a group preparing a themed supper one night, and the pita delivered by our supplier was woefully lacking in pockets.  My part of the preparation was to carefully split every one of the defective pita with a knife, while trying not to split my hand in the process.  (My co-worker and I decided pita was really an acronym . . P.I.T.A. . . . Need I say more?)

But even so, I love the stuff.  So, naturally, I decided I should learn to make it.  I searched the Internet and found a delightfully simple recipe at About.com.  And--oh, boy--my family was hooked.  (That night, I tried to serve spoon tacos for dinner, which is basically taco fillings on broken tortilla chips.  I had a revolt on my hands and ended up serving taco-filled pitas.)

Since then, I've made pita several times, and we've enjoyed them with a variety of fillings.  Our standard, of course, is homemade hummus, flaked canned chicken, and salad fixings or Tabouli, but we'll also fill them with whatever we've got waiting around at the moment. (Taco meat is still a good one!)  We've also discovered the absolutely sinful delight of spreading Nutella inside a pita . . . yum . . . Bet you didn't know pita could be a dessert.

The one thing I did differently than the recipe specified was to use a baking stone instead of a preheated cookie sheet on which to bake the pita.  A baking stone maintains a more consistent heat, which I hope provides a result closer to baking in a brick oven, especially as there is a lot of opening and closing the oven in this recipe.

The ingredients are very simple:  yeast, flour, salt, sugar, and water.  (No oil, which makes it an ideal recipe for a baking stone, which can get stained when oil does touch it.  When you see mine, you'll see there has been a certain amount of staining, mostly from pizzas.)  It can be made with part whole wheat flour, as well, but this time, I just used white.

As usual when I'm making yeast breads, I mix the recipe in my stand mixer, so I alter the directions slightly.

1 package of yeast, or quick rising yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water (not too hot . . . remember, yeast likes it around 105-110 degrees Fahrenheit)

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon granulated sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the 1 1/2 cups warm water in the stand mixer bowl and add the sugar.  Stir until it is dissolved and let it sit for about 5-10 minutes.  Add the salt and stir in the flour until the dough is no longer sticky and is smooth and elastic.  More thorough directions on mixing up a yeast dough in a stand mixer can be found here: Mixing a Yeast Bread In a Stand Mixer.

When the mixing process is complete, cover and allow to rise in a bowl greased with vegetable oil.  Turn the dough upside down in the bowl so there is a coating of oil on the top of the dough, to prevent it drying out as it rises.  (OK, so there is a small amount of oil in the process, but not much.)

After an hour or so of rising in a reasonably warm location, the dough will be about doubled in size, and it will be time to prepare the work surface.  In this recipe, I actually end up using both my wooden boards--one to hold the portioned dough, and one on which to roll out the pita.

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.  If you have a baking stone, position it toward the bottom of the oven.  If no baking stone is available, position the oven rack at the very bottom of the oven and place a baking sheet on it during the preheating process.

Roll the dough out in a kind of rope (mine is a very thick rope) and pinch or cut off 10-12 small pieces.  (I usually go for 12, and I cut it with a sharp knife.)  Form the pieces into balls, similar to making rolls, and place them on a floured surface.  Cover them and allow them to sit for 10 minutes.  Because there is ample opportunity for the balls to dry out in the next part of the process, I keep them covered in plastic wrap.

Roll out each ball into a 5-6-inch circle with a lightly-floured rolling pin.  The circles should be about a quarter inch thick.

Place the pita on the preheated baking stone or baking sheet.  (I can actually fit four at a time, but this go-round, I only put on three.)

Bake the pita for 4 minutes until the bread puffs up, then flip and bake for another 2 minutes.

Doesn't that look wonderful?!!

A certain amount of flour will accumulate on the baking stone, so when it starts to look too toasty, brush it gently off with a paper towel on to something else . . . another paper towel, a plate, etc.  (What matters is not to brush it into the oven . . . gets messy and starts to really smell toasty.)

Remove the pita from the oven with a turner/spatula and press lightly down on each puffed pita with that spatula.  Place in a plastic zipper bag.

I confess I blinked a lot when I first read to place the pita in a plastic bag.  But I've since found it actually works.  If the pita is left out to cool, the outside may get sort of crunchy, which makes it less pliable.  If it is placed in an open plastic bag, the heat and steam coming off the bread helps to soften it.  Keep it partly open, however, until it really is cool, or the bread will get soggy (which is what I would have expected and why all the blinking . . .)

 

Love those pockets!  With my family, I double the recipe every time I make it, or there won't be any left the next day.  (Especially if I have Nutella . . .)