I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that for this week, there will be a lot of substitutions – namely… home made white bread for the brioche suggested in the recipe. Just sayin’.
Of course, that’s what I did. The Tuesdays with Dorie/Baking with Julia group has just started, so like many of our Doristas, I’ve joined in on the fun. Tuesday’s challenge was “White Loaves”. I suspect that others, like me, have had a few of them around the house over the last week or two. So, the fact is – I didn’t need another loaf of bread in the house!
My other twist on this challenge was that I made some grapefruit marmalade. I had never really bonded with orange marmalade, but when I lived in Australia and the UK, I fell in love with lime marmalade and it’s cousin, ginger. I have some friends that have a couple of trees, and bring me fresh grapefruit, so I thought it would be fun to try making some.
The process itself isn’t difficult, though admittedly more so than crushing some berries. But not difficult. I used pink grapefruit, though I’m suspecting that ruby red would be even prettier. The recipe requires a couple of lemons – what I had on hand were Meyer lemons, which can’t be a bad thing. The peel is removed, then simmered in water. While that happens, supremes are cut from the fruit itself and then blended.
Once that’s been cooked together for a bit, the sugar is added, and it’s cooked until set, or it forms a gel. This is a bit trickier than using pectin, and it can take several days for the marmalade to set. I’m thinking that mine wasn’t cooked quite long enough, but still a nice (if soft) consistency, and delicious. I really like using French jelly jars if I don’t plan on giving something away, or if I’ll be able to use it shortly.
But now – on to the tartine!
I’ve made a couple of Dorie’s tartines before. The one thing that didn’t appeal to me as much was the “one-sided toast”. For whatever reason, it’s just not that appetizing. So essentially, this became a fancy slice of toast. I did toast my slice in the toaster, buttered it. And then added my grapefruit marmalade. Then the drizzle of nutella. Dorie offers a choice of chopped hazelnuts, or a few grains of fleur de sel. I chose some gray salt that I had available to add that final touch.
For me, this was good, but not great. I like all of the flavors – and I’ve been known to throw down some pretty great nutella paninis (even taking my press to Coronado Island on vacation, just to do that!). I think that I mostly like one or the other, just not together. And that’s a little disappointing, because I was really expecting to like this a lot. I know that many (many!) others will. But this was a fun challenge – particularly because it spurred me on to try something truly new.
If you’d like to see how others fared with the challenge, check them out here.
dulceshome 
I’m not a fan of orange marmalade either, but I also don’t like grapefruit (though I’ve never had grapefruit marmalade.) There’s just no pleasing me. hehe. Nice job making your own marmalade!
1) Agree with you on the one sided toast 🙂
2) I didn’t use my white loaves for this one (they were long gone before this came up) – although I am sure they would have been perfect.
3) I love grapefruit – so YUM!
I’d love to hear more about your nutella paninis, do tell!
I am not a fan of orange marmalade but I bet I would love grapefruit or lime. I just ordered Baking with Julia on Wednesday and I am planning on joining the Baking with Dorie Tuesday group AND getting back on track with French Fridays! I have been missing all the fun!
PS – Thanks for the NOLA tips – we found some great shops to meander through!!!
I’m so glad you had fun in NOLA!!! I miss going there – and need to go back!
Excited that you’re going to be back cooking and baking with us! It will be fun. PLUS, you have that gorgeous new kitchen!!
I had my own adventure with orange marmalade which I love but it didn’t work out for me. We actually enjoyed this simple treat more than I thought we would. And yes, I also used TwD bread:)
Wish I’d saved a couple slices of my bread…oh well…it’s all good. And, yes, Nutella paninis…Hubby’s favorite is peanut butter and jelly and we’ve added chunks of chocolate, so why didn’t I think of Nutella? Now I will.
I like your grapefruit marmalade! I have a tree in the back and am always looking for new ways to use it, though my last attempt with a marmalade was a complete disaster.
I agree with you one the one sided toast so I too simply put my second slice in the toaster. But that was really my only issue with the recipe as written, otherwise I enjoyed this one.
Lime marmalade – intriguing! And I’m sorry, one sided toast is just wrong. 😉 I toasted mine in the toaster.
Oooh, lime marmalade AND ginger marmalade?!? I’m missing so many things! 🙂 Sorry this wasn’t a huge hit for you; your tartine looks yummy, though!
I am amazed at the marmalade flavors you described. The grapefruit/Meyer lemon sounds too good to even pair up with Nutella. A bit of cream cheese on double sided toast with the marmalade and nuts and sea salt would have been WONDERFUL.
Oh, your idea sounds even better! Now I need to try THAT!!
Candy, I think I would love the grapefruit marmalade but I don’t think I would like it with the Nutella. Agree with you about the bread – too much of a good thing. I also am a TWJ girl but since I am in a Winter rental on the California coast and didn’t know I was going to NEED a heavy-duty mixer, I didn’t make bread this week. I will come in strong with the chocolate tarts. Your bread looks delicious, by the way.
Nice work on baking the bread and making grapefruit marmalade from scratch! The white loaf must be such a nice base for the tartine. Too bad I’m not in the fun for TWD. I totally agree that I love to use my “fancy jars” for preserves that I don’t intend to give away. Makes me happy just to look at them at my breakfast table. 🙂
Now I really really want some lime marmalade. Not sure I even heard of that before but I know I will love it. I have been so impressed reading the posts where folks made their own marmalade- how cool. And yours sounded just amazing as I am a big grapefruit fan- truly yummy. I think I would have had to hold myself back from just grabbing a spoon and eating it all up:) Lovely ~
I found I wasn’t a fan of Nutella on bread, though I am enjoying it on top of ice cream. I do like marmalade, and the grapefruit sounds wonderful. I have half a grapefruit for breakfast every morning in winter, so I wonder if I could save the peels and try it. Though you said you need the fruit too. Hmmm. Something to think about. Sounds lovely!
Haha, I love seeing the TWD-ers using their white bread 🙂 I love the sound of your marmalade, I have heard some rumblings about Meyer lemon-grapefruit marmalade lately that I would love to make except there are no meyer lemons to be found here! glad you tried this and loved it too!