PRICELESS!
I think I may have mentioned at one time or another that I prefer cookbooks that read more like memoirs over cookbooks that are strictly about technique and recipes. I'm especially attracted to those books that give voice to the older, sometimes forgotten generations of our grandparents and great grandparents. I am even more captivated by a book if those stories and recipes come from people with backgrounds and traditions as diverse and multicultural as my own background and upbringing. I am a softie for tradition and doing things the old fashioned way so you can see why I would be attracted to a book like "Larissa's Bread Book-Baking Bread & Telling Tales With Women of the American South" by Lorraine Johnson-Coleman and why, after flipping through the book and finding out that it humbly began as a school fund-raising project assigned to Johnson-Coleman’s 13 year old daughter Larissa that I had to read this book. This is actually Larissa’s story, a story of how she met ten remarkable women and was able to get them to open up to her and share their lives and how they also gave her a recipe or ten along the way. Hi, I’m Deb, and this is my story about how much I adored this book and just had to make Sister Friday’s “Peanut Butter Bread.”
I was attracted to this bread recipe for two reasons, the peanut butter, and how incredibly easy it seemed. I kept looking over the list of ingredients and the instructions and thinking “is it really that simple and how can I make it better” Well, as I found out, it really was THAT simple and I definitely think I made it better or, at least made it something more special by adding a generous amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips and a large pinch of instant espresso powder to the batter. I think you really have to like peanut butter (luckily I do) if you want to make this bread because the peanut flavor really stands out, which was a pleasant surprise because I was convinced the peanut flavor wouldn't assert itself enough after the addition of the chocolate but it did. The whole thing was very good, moist and sweet but not too sweet with just the right peanut flavor and aroma. I didn’t actually do this (yet) but I imagine a variation on Elvis’s famous peanut butter and banana sandwich would be to grill 2 slices of this bread, top it with some honey and mashed banana and dig in . Mmmmm
ETA: Well, I'm a little embarassed. I might be the only person around who didn't realize that "Larissa's Bread Book" was a work of fiction according to this interview. I guess lack of adequate sleep and too many late nights reading when I should be getting rest somehow clouded my perception of what the book was about, it sure read like it was fact and not a work of fiction. I'll have to go back and reread. I'm at work right now but will check the book when I get home. ETA again! OK! I'm even more embarassed now. I linked to this same blurb in a post I did a while back when I bought this book. Boy, I'm REALLY not retaining anything in my brain these days-duh!
Adapted from "Larissa's Bread Book-Baking Bread & Telling Tales With Women of the American South" by Lorraine Johnson-Coleman. Notes in parenthesis are mine.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Combine dry ingredients. Add milk and peanut butter and chocolate chips and stir gently until well combined. Pour into a greased 8x4x3-inch loaf pan. Bake for approximately 50 minutes (oven times may vary).
Yields 1 loaf.
Lately, my co-workers, the locusts have been dropping not-so-subtle-hints at me stating that they would not turn down any of my recent cooking experiments, successes or even failures (as long as they were still edible) should I like to unburden our household of extra or unwanted food. Their cries of "you don't love us anymore" and "boy do we wish we had some home baked goodness" have been haunting me at night. I do so want to accommodate them, really I do, but right now I have too many things going on at home and as usual never enough time. (Sheesh, that’s becoming my theme song isn’t it?) My pleas for patience and understanding have fallen on deaf ears. These days, with an extremely active toddler who by the way has learned to put on her own shoes and point to the door demanding "out," I find that there is no time for what I call “hobby cooking” anymore. I look for recipes I can prepare quickly and that will allow me to put fresh and wholesome meals on the table in hopes that the wee child will eat. She hardly eats anything anymore having become suddenly picky except for meat, cheesy poofs and "ize keam"
Luckily for my co-workers we have had some really hot weather recently, so the girl and I have not been venturing out as much as we normally do. Summers here in NYC have always been rough; ninety-plus degree weather with one thousand percent humidity brings new meaning to the phrase “melting pot”
Anyway, I had some time to bake a little something for the guys at work and I found this recipe on the Epicurious Website. It's actually a recipe that appears in "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone" by Deborah Madison and one that I had wanted to try for some time. I especially wanted to try some of the suggested variations but I decided to keep things simple this time and followed the recipe as is, except for the topping. I used a coarse sugar (turbinado) and that was a mistake. It never really melted and made the texture of the topping crunchy-gritty in an unpleasant way, so next time I'll just use regular sugar or maybe even superfine. The "cake" was tasty although the first few bites left me disappointed because it was crunchy in a weird way (my fault) and I was also expecting the texture to be more like cake but it wasn't. Is it cake or is it bread? I don't know! It does have yeast in it which makes me think it might be bread but then, it is sweet like a cake too. The "crumb" is much closer in texture to that of bread, and to me this is definitely bread. No matter really, it was pretty darn edible, it was so edible in fact that I never did bring it in for the locusts, Ellie and I ate almost half of it before we realized we should stop...oops!
I have just finished reading the 6th Harry Potter book. The book got off to a very slow start and wasn't the tightest of stories but I thought that in the end the payoff for sticking with the book was good. Over the years I've read many criticisms of Rowling's work, some of it sometimes too harsh in my opinion. I think the books are good for what they are, fun, easy reads. I appreciate the escapism they provide and I look forward to reading them again with Ellie one day. I won't give away the plot or discuss the book any further in case you haven’t read it, I'll just end by saying that all in all I enjoyed reading it am looking forward to the 7th book.
Horatio Street, New York City- 2005
I may have mentioned once or twice before that I have an intense fascination for what I think is a strange phenomenon, lost shoes. I can't for the life of me understand how people can become separated from their shoes and not realize it and yet throughout the course of my life and in my travels I have come across more than my fair share of lost shoes. Sometimes I see a single shoe looking lonely and sad and sometimes I come across a pair, a pair may be less lonely because it’s with its mate but still, it’s a sad thing to see. I’ve decided to do a photo essay on these lost shoes. Pictured above is the first photo in a series I might call “Found! Lost Shoe(s)”
ETA: I just thought of the perfect name for my photo essay, "Lost Soles" HA!
Covered with a cracked sugar crust, this cake is fragrant with butter — yet it uses far less than most cakes. And although it's made with yeast, the rising time is brief. I love this cake at any time of day, with raspberries, with fruit compotes of all kinds, and in place of shortcake with strawberries and cream.
The Cake:
The Topping:
Stir the yeast and 1 teaspoon of the sugar into 1/4 cup warm water in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Combine the flour, remaining sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add the yeast, milk, and eggs and beat until smooth. Add the butter and beat vigorously until the batter is silky. Scrape down the sides, then cover and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes
Lightly butter a 9-inch tart pan or cake pan. Stir down the dough, turn it onto a lightly floured counter and gently shape it into a disk. Set it in the pan and flatten it with your hands. Rub the softened butter all over the top, then cover with the sugar, using all of it. Let rise for 30 minutes. during the last 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Bake the cake in the center of the oven until well risen and the sugar has begun to melt and brown, about 25 minutes. The surface should be covered with cracks. When done, let it cool briefly, then unmold and serve, still a little warm, with fruit and softly whipped cream.
Variations: Add 1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest to the batter along with 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1/2 teaspoon crushed anise seeds. A half cup of finely ground almonds and a drop of almond extract are also good additions.
Serves 10 to 12.
Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone Broadway Books October 1997 Deborah Madison
Cinnamon is mixed in with the dough rather than sprinkled on top, giving the bread a beautiful light-brown hue.
(ETA: Due to gentle prodding through the comments and via email I will be adding the recipe in the next day or two. I need some time to figure out my scribble notes and write it into the post. Only one major factor that might be hindering this is my internet connection at home. It seems to have caught a cold and is acting very loopy; repairmen repairpeople have been alerted but are not scheduled to arrive until Mon. *sigh*)
I'm becoming quite good at starting baking projects at the most inappropriate times, I'm not sure why I can't get my act together lately (BAH! Who am I kidding, I cant get my act together period) but it seems like every time I start a baking project it has to be put on hold so that I can go take care of something else or we have to go out. I've been so inspired and so excited about this Vietnamese cinnamon that I spent all week planning a big Sunday baking extravaganza, which was for naught since we had plans. I really wanted to try making brioche again, enough time has passed since my first attempt that I felt another try would be fun. (Can you believe that was almost two years ago, so much in my life has changed since then; both my beloved little cats are gone, we bought a house, I had a baby, I passed two kidney stones in an excruciating but spectacular display of emergency room drama and I've learned so much about who I really am) Ack! I’m getting off topic Anyway—I had been hankering to make a cinnamon raisin brioche with the Vietnamese cinnamon that was recently purchased and that I subsequently fell in love with but I was forced to scrap that idea after the hubby reminded me that we had a one year old’s birthday party to attend Sunday. bleh!
In the split second of time that passed between when Tom reminded me about the party and the baby went insane and became a needy, clinging, crying crank-toddler (a new stage in her development please kill me) I reached over and pulled out my treasured copy of James Beard's classic "Beard on Bread". This was my first ever eBAY book purchase and it came to me from a very lovely woman in California who had become widowed and was going to be moving in with her son. Some of the things she was parting with, like her cookbooks, meant a lot to her and so I had to assure her via email that the book would be coming to a loving home where people liked to cook and that a place of honor had already been reserved on our bookshelf. She seemed to like that idea. (Don’t people who tell you their life stories in the first five minutes of meeting you whether its on the bus, or train, or, in an "you are the winning bidder" email just fascinate you...me too! Two weeks later my package arrived and inside was an almost mint first edition copy of Beard's book. What really made the book so special, what endeared it to me forever was that she included some of her favorite clippings; various recipes for breads and pies from around the world. The majority of the recipes came from the LA Times and McCall’s magazines from 1973 till about 1979. It may seem like such an insignificant thing to some people but for me those clippings represent an intimate look into someone’s life in the kitchen. I think the modern day equivalent of that is what I've tried to set up here on the web by keeping this blog, but I digress.
So Sunday morning, five hours before the party, chaos had broken out in our little kitchen. My husband was on the brink of being angry with me, the baby was running around in just a diaper and socks with no intentions of getting dressed AT ALL and I was frantically buzzing around in my kitchen (<----hey, that’s a great title for a blog!) trying to make cinnamon bread. There was way too much going on and with all the crying and tension in the air I was having trouble concentrating and so I goofed up the recipe.
Beard has a recipe in the book called "Cinnamon Bread", a lovely little recipe that incorporates the cinnamon directly into the dough, an idea I really liked and with the addition of raisins (the husband bought a huge box of them and so now we are more than set for raisins, probably for life even) Anyway, I liked Beards recipe and started making it, but at some point during all the crying and throwing herself on the floor that the baby was doing I lost the page and when I found it again it had somehow morphed into a recipe called "Mother's Raisin Bread" arghhh. I had to stop what I was doing and compare recipes to see how bad I messed up and after 20 minutes and 100 or so read-throughs I decided to throw caution to the wind and wing it. I really liked the results I got even though I can't remember what I did. The bread was so fragrant, the cinnamon made our kitchen smell so good you just wanted to lie down and hug the floor, or maybe even lick the walls. The bread was delicious, with a capital D, sweet but not too sweet, yeasty but mellow and the raisins were good, very complimentary to the cinnamon actually. I apologize for not providing a recipe this time, but in trying to remember what it was that I did I realize I have forgotten quite a bit if it since Sunday. I do not want to provide a recipe that I know has the potential of failing, so I won’t this one time. I will be making cinnamon raisin bread again, Tom and Ellie have shown great appreciation for this as a breakfast item and a snack spread with cream cheese, or, as French toast, and when I do get another chance to make a second batch I'll post the recipe here. I promise.
I have one Martha Stewart cookbook and I swear, every time I make something from it I find myself holding my breath and crossing my fingers because I'm never sure if the recipe is going to actually work out. So far, of the dozen or so recipes I've tried from The Martha Stewart Cookbook only two have turned out successfully and without needing some sort of major adjustment. The book is so inconsistent its annoying, and I've found the same to be true with recipes from her website and magazine too. I have often wondered if these recipes are tested for accuracy before being published because it doesn't appear so to me, I can follow the recipe to the letter and yet somehow it just doesn't work.
I'm not Martha bashing here, I'm not going to jump on that bandwagon, I liked watching her television show, and I like her magazine, but as a consumer of her products (magazines, cookbooks) I feel like I have a right to tell it like it is, especially when my time and my money are being wasted. What I find interesting is the irony of it, Martha Stewart; a woman who built her reputation and entire empire with rigid determination, anal retentive attention to detail, and who prided herself on making sure everything was done with the upmost perfection and yet, her cookbook is filled with recipes that lack any clear direction and have some major discrepancies. It boggles my mind. (however, it doesn't keep me up at night so don't worry my bunnies.)
Now, having said all that, I will say this, although the bread practically took over my entire kitchen because of the enormous size of it, it was really quite delicious!
The recipe claimed a yield of 1 large loaf. What I actually ended up with was enough dough and filling for TWO large loaves and possibly enough filling for me to have snuck off to a dark corner somewhere and eaten the filling with my fingers until I passed out have used it for something else. I don't want to mislead anyone with my complaints though, my issue with this particular recipe is because of the misleading quantities and not with the taste. I modified the recipe to fit better with the ingredients I had on hand. I can't take issue with Martha or her cookbook and be fair about it if the recipe had failed because of taste, that would have happened because of my modifications and not because something was amiss with the recipe. It was cold, I was in my pj's, it was New Year's day and I didn't want to go out. I had poppy seeds on hand, just not 1 and 1/2 pounds of them, so I compensated with pecans. I had raisins, not currents on hand, and then not enough raisins, so I made up the difference with dried cranberries. What I did like about this recipe was that it used ALL of the egg whites and yolks evenly, so I didn't end up with a stray yolk or a couple of whites that I had to figure out what to do with, that kind of thing will always earn points with me, what can I say, I groove on symmetry.
For the dough I dissolved 2 packages of active dry yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water letting it rest until it began to get foamy, about 7 minutes. In a large bowl, and with an electric mixer I combined the yeast mixture with 1 stick of melted, unsalted butter, 1/2 cup of sour cream, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks until everything was blended well. In another bowl I sifted together 41/2 cups all-purpose flour, 3/4 cups sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt, then added the ingredients to the yeast mixture and stirred/mixed with a rubber spatula/wooden spoon combo until everything was well blended. I turned the dough out onto a floured surface and kneaded until it was smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. I will say this for the dough; it was a pleasure to work with. It had a great feel to it and was very easy to manipulate and I wondered if it was the addition of the sour cream that made it so. In the past I’ve worked with some dough’s that were so stiff they practically had to be beat up, so this was a pleasant change. I would make the dough part of this recipe again in a minute and use it to make little bread knots for snacking just because it was so easy to work with and was so tasty. Anyway, after I kneaded the bread I placed it into a buttered bowl and covered it with saran wrap, then set it aside to rise in a warm place until it doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
For the filling, I first started by soaking a combination of raisins and dried cranberries equaling 1 cup with 1/4 cup cognac and set it aside until needed. I then took a large heavy skillet and melted 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter into it and added 11/2 pounds of the poppy seed/pecan mixture which I had previously ground in my handy dandy Krups coffee grinder. Note: to get the 11/2 pounds of filling, I used a 4 oz package of poppy seeds and a 12 ounce container of pecans, then relying on no math skills whatsoever I concluded that this proportion was equal to 11/2 pounds. Don't try this at home kids; it defies all common sense and logic. I was careful not to let the mixture burn while I was sautéing it and removed it from the heat when everything just started to become fragrant. I transferred to a large bowl and added 1/2 cup honey, the juice of 1 lemon and the raisin/cranberry/cognac mixture, then set aside.
To make the rest of the filling I had to start out by making what I called marshamllow fluff because that’s what this stuff reminded me of. I put 4 large egg whites into a bowl and with an electric mixer I beat them until frothy, then added 1 cup sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and continued to beat until the mixture was stiff and glossy. I folded the egg whites into the poppy seed/pecan mixture and ran off to the basement to secretly lick the bowl clean no, no no, I set it aside.
The instructions at this point called for rolling the dough on a floured board but I didn't have one, but since we were at our house and since I have a lot more room to work with there, I floured the countertop and continued. I rolled the dough into a rectangle that was approx. 26 x 17 inches.
I then spread the filling as evenly as I could onto the dough- taking care to leave a 1-inch margin on the two short sides and one long side. There was a lot of filling, the picture doesn't do any justice to just how much filling there was and I was skeptical and a little bit afraid by that. I mean, was this was going to be a failure? I shrugged off the thoughts and continued. I wet the margins of the dough with a pastry brush that I had dipped in water and began to try and roll this unwieldy looking mass into a log.
Things started to go downhill quickly at this point. The dough was WAY too soft and I also think the filling was too warm, both could have benefited from a little chilling, but this was something I couldn't have known until I started and there was no mention that this might happen in the book. It was very difficult to get the dough and filling to do anything but flop over and ooze.
I gave up trying to roll the thing into a log and basically tried my best to just enclose the dough around the mixture without too much of the filling seeping out or too much damage and tearing to the dough. I'll tell you, it was not easy. To seal it, I did a combination of pinching and tucking and a lot of wiping away of filling and to be honest, I never quite managed to get the thing to seal properly.
The book instructs to form this "log" into a crescent shape and to that I have to laugh, I mean really laugh, like a sidesplitting belly aching one. This was so hard to handle, what with the flopping and the oozing, the tearing and the leaking that at this stage I just threw my arms up and pushed/pulled/dragged and slung the mass onto the parchment lined baking sheet and gave up. I had originally planned on bringing this to our friends house as a super secret we love you treat, but what I thought was going to be this pretty little dainty goody was becoming a horrible out of control thing, and this thing was a mess! I had a massive mess. Tom said it looked more like a stocking than a rolled log and I responded to that by banning him from the kitchen. Anyway, I continued on and covered the thing with saran wrap and then left it to rise in a warm spot in our kitchen for about an hour. I went off to preheat the oven to 350 degrees and mix the egg wash which consisted of 2 large egg yolks and 1 tablespoon of water.
Just before baking I brushed on the egg wash and then took a serrated knife and made deep slashes onto the top of the dough. They were supposed to be decorative slashes, but come on, look what I had to work with here, taint nothing that was going to make that mass look pretty. I put the baking tray into the oven and left the dough to bake for 45-60 minutes. Nothing prepared me for the shock I had when I pulled this thing out of the oven, it had grown by leaps and bounds and was HUGE! Sadly though, the picture doesn't do that any justice, you'll have to just trust me on this one, it was huge.
We sliced into it while it was still warm and I have to tell you it was really good. It was slightly sweet and had a terrific aroma, a combination of yeast and nuts. I think I would have liked the poppy seeds to be a little less ground up but the nice surprise (for me) was the pecans. They gave a real nice nutty flavor to the bread and kind of reminded me of one of those terrible junky-but oh so yummy-coffee cake Danish’s from those street cart breakfast vendors. I was surprised by the filling, which had turned from a fluffy cloud to a crumbly but edible mass. Tom wasn’t too keen on the filling and I think it was because of the dried cranberries, they did have a more prominent flavor than I had wanted them too and I had the thought that if I ever made this bread again, I would leave out the dried cranberries. The bread itself was very good, even though it was way larger than we could handle between the two of us. I’d have a go at the recipe again just for the bread alone, I say to hell with that oozey filling.
I’m sorry about the delay in following up with the results of the Rosca de Reyes but we were out of town for the weekend and I didn't have access to the internet. Anyway, enough blabbering Deb, let's get to the results!
I spoke to Miguel on Friday morning before we left and his first response was "the bread was good" to which I have to admit I was a little disappointed at hearing, my ego wanted to hear "OMG! The bread was fantastic" but you know, I need to work on that ego thing. Anyway, I think what Miguel was politely trying to tell me without hurting my feelings was that this version of the rosca was a lot different than what his family are used to. Now that I think about it, it makes sense to me that a recipe for rosca might vary from town to town or region to region and to expect Miguel and his family to be familiar with my rosca was probably assuming too much. Miguel told me he had not expected the bread to have a filling and so at first, he thought the bread was raw in the center, but then when his sister told him that it was a filling and it was supposed to be that way he liked the bread a little more. Miguel's Dad is not crazy about nuts, and since this bread was filled with them, I can see why he wouldn't have been too thrilled with it. Miguel’s mom gave me some good advice, valuable advice really, and that was; wait until after the bread is baked to decorate it with the candied fruits otherwise the nuts and citron will burn, (like mine did, hee ). OH, and Miguel said that he didn't find any doll, but I told him to be patient, that it was in there, he was kind of surprised when I told him there was only one doll. Miguel claims that you can put several dolls into the bread, thus making the experience of who finds a doll first more exciting. Hmmm, I had not read that anywhere, but then I have no reason to doubt it either, so next time, I'll not only look for little porcelain dolls but I'll put more if them into the bread.
Overall I think Miguel’s family enjoyed the bread even if it wasn’t quite what they were used to. I was happy to make it for them anyway, so everything worked out well in the end. I do think I might have to revisit this recipe and bake the bread again, just so that I can taste it for myself. I can now see that it’s very hard to write about a recipe if I don’t have at least one little bite of the end product, I mean, making it is one thing, but tasting it makes all the difference when I’m trying to write about and share my experience of it with others. So for now, maybe not quite the successful kitchen story I was hoping for, but another lesson learned. Now, onto the next!
The hardest thing, and possibly what takes me the longest when I'm writing my blog entries is that I never know how to start them. For instance, I want to write about how I baked this Rosca de Reyes for my friend Miguel and his family for Día de los Reyes or, Three Kings Day, but I'm at a loss for how to begin. I think part of the problem is that I try to write these entries when I get home from work, which is at midnight, and by then I'm so beat, it’s hard to think, but I'll try to give it a shot.
A few years ago, I started what I hoped would turn into a tradition between myself and my friend Miguel and his family. I started baking a loaf of Pan de Muerto for them for the Mexican holiday of Día de los Muertos. I did it mainly because I wanted to try baking the bread but also because I wanted to do something nice for Miguel and his family, I'm crazy about them. The bread was a lot of fun to make and it was a hit with Miguel's parents and so a tradition was born. This year, (well, really last year now that its 2005, ) because of illness (Miguel, Ellie, me) and busy schedules (me) I never got around to making the bread, and I felt bad. I filed away the thought that somehow I would have to make it up to them but I was at a loss for what to make until a couple of weeks ago. I was flipping through all my cookbooks trying to decide on what panettone recipe I wanted to try when I came across a recipe for Rosca de Reyes. A light bulb lit up in my head and I decided right then and there that I would bake this bread for Miguel and his family. I was also secretly hoping this might even start a new tradition between me and them. I consulted with Miguel about the holiday and he told me that traditionally the bread is always served with hot chocolate, and that there is always a small doll baked into the sweet bread to symbolize the baby Jesus. The tradition states that whomever gets the slice of bread that contains the doll, is then obligated to host a dinner on Dia de la Candelaria . I grew up with the legend of La Befana and so, I was completely captivated by what Miguel was telling me. I LOVE learning about different cultural traditions and the foods associated with them and I was eager to try baking this bread.
I searched the web for some pictures of what the bread looked like just to get a general idea, and while I was at it I looked at a few recipes too. I didn't find any that really jumped out at me so I ended up going with the first recipe I came across which was from a book called Celebration Breads by Betsy Oppenneer. I've had the book for some time but have never made anything from it, so not only was this my first rosca, it was my first time with the book. The recipe was easy enough to follow, and Oppenneer gives instructions on how to make the bread using many methods (I like that), you could do it by hand, with a mixer, food processor or bread machine. I modified the recipe a little (I know, I know, how could I when this was my first time trying the recipe) mainly because I didn't have brandy (I used vanilla extract) and was out of almond extract (I used anise extract). I wasn't about to run to the store at 1 am in the rain, (the old me would have, but I'm such a worn out tired mommy now. Will you forgive me?) The biggest change I made to the recipe was in how I decorated the outside. Oppenneer doesn't show a picture, but I found her description on how to garnish the bread a little too plain. I wanted to make a pretty loaf of bread and so I tried doing my own things and winged it for a change. I used whole almonds and candied fruits to make the flowers. I wish, wish, wish, I had taken a before picture, it was soooo pretty. I liked the colors from the citron, (yes, yes! I broke down and bought some) the candied cherries and orange peel. The pattern really stood out against the cream colored background of the dough, it was really very pretty, but alas, that was lost when it baked. Don’t get me wrong, I think what I ended up with was equally pretty just not as stunningly as the other.
Had I planned this better, I would have tried to find a little porcelain doll to bake into the bread, but I didn't plan well and ended up having to make do with a plastic doll (above) that I found at the supermarket. I inserted this guy into the bread after it was baked because I wasn't keen on baking plastic into something that was going to be eaten. Miguel assured me that this method of inserting after the baking was done more often than not these days so I didn't feel too bad about not trying to be more traditional. Oppenneer also suggests using a bean as a replacement for a doll, but when I mentioned this to Miguel he sneered at me.
This was a good first try, I did have a little trouble with the dough being too soft, this made it hard to roll when it came time to shape the loaf but I refrigerated it for about 20 minutes and that seemed to help. I stuffed parchment into the hole to try and keep its shape rather than the suggested bowl. I think that made the bread bake somewhat lopsided, but oh well. I made a few real oopsey mistakes too; I let the dough rise in the fridge for 24 hours rather than the suggested 12, I had the oven on too hot when I first put the bread in, burning the tips of all the candied fruit. Oh well, this is why I keep this blog, to learn from my mistakes and not make them again next time around.
I have no idea as of this writing how this bread tasted. Miguel was supposed to call me and tell me what his parents thought of the bread but I have not yet heard from him.
Adapted from Celebration Breads by Betsy Oppenneer
makes 1 large loaf using the hand method
By Hand- In a large bowl, sprinkle the yeast in the water to soften. Heat the milk to 110 degrees F and add it to the yeast along with the butter, sugar, zest, salt, and 2 cups of the flour. In a small bowl, beat the eggs with the brandy and add to the yeast mixture. Beat vigorously for 2 minutes. Gradually add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time until incorporated. The dough will be very soft.
First Rise- put the dough in an oiled bowl and turn to coat the entire ball of dough with oil. (this was nearly impossible because the dough was so soft so I sprayed oil onto the dough surface with spritz bottle) Cover with plastic wrap and then a tightly woven towel. Let rise in the refrigerator for 8 to 12 hours.
Combine the sugar, ground almonds, orange juice and almond extract. (I covered this and refrigerated it overnight since there was no instruction on what to do with it until needed)
Shape-Turn the dough onto a lightly oiled work surface and roll into a 20 by 10-inch wide rectangle. Sprinkle the filling over the upper two-thirds of the rectangle, leaving a 1/2-inch border at the top. Add the bean or doll. Fold up the bottom third of dough, then fold the upper third, to within 1/2-inch of the bottom edge. Pinch the seam to seal. Bring the ends of the roll together and carefully place on a parchment-lined or well greased baking sheet. Reshape if necessary. Grease an ovenproof bowl and place it in the center of the loaf to help the loaf keeps its shape.
Second rise- Cover with a tightly woven towel and let rise for an hour.
Preheat oven- About 10 minutes before baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees F
Final preparation- Beat the egg with the cold water and brush over the loaf. Sprinkle liberally with sliced almonds.
Bake and cool Bake for 25 minutes until the internal temperature of the bread reaches 190 degrees F. Immediately remove the bread from the baking sheet and place on a rack to cool.
Note: This bread freezes nicely for up to 6 months. To serve, first thaw the bread, then reheat on a baking sheet or directly on the oven rack in a 375 degree F oven for 7 to 10 minutes.
I feel like I really dropped the ball with this panettone entry. I was so excited about it and wanted to get it posted before Christmas, but I never expected to get slammed so hard with mine and the babe's illnesses. That was something else, probably the sickest I've been in years, Ellie had fevers as high as 104, I had fever but not as high, and the chills, oh my, the chills, I just couldn't seem to make go away no matter how many blankets I threw on top of us. We spent Ellie's very first Christmas with Tom sick as anything and sprawled out on the couch, and me wheeling the bambina around the apt. in the stroller because it was the only thing that would calm her down. Thankfully, we are all better now, although we do have lingering coughs and runny noses.
So, let's finally talk about the panettone! I have always liked panettone, although maybe I have liked it more for sentimental reasons rather than culinary ones; it reminds me of the holidays and of Christmas's past. When I was growing up, it was a guarantee that every house I knew, whether it was that of a relative or a friend, had at least one of those panettone boxes sitting on a table among all the other holiday treats. I have always been the person at our house to be the first one to open one of those boxes and tear into the panettone, ripping off a hunk and picking out the citron pieces and flinging them at my brothers placing them daintily on a napkin in a ladylike manner to be tossed into the trash once I had finished eating my piece of slightly sweet and fragrant bread. Commercial panettone is good, but OMG (!) homemade is even better.
No one knows for sure what the origins of panettone are, although everyone seems to be in agreement that it did originate in Milan, Italy sometime around 1450. There are many romantic legends associated with this rich delicacy. There is even a children's book written by Tomie dePaola called Tony's Bread about a father whose dream is to be a famous baker and who thinks that no man is good enough for his daughter.
The recipe I chose to use for my first ever attempt came from Rose Levy Beranbaum's book The Bread Bible. I have many, many cookbooks with recipes for panettone, almost too many actually, the recipes are all different, they all claim to be authentic and they all range from the very simple to the very complicated, but in the end, I chose Beranbaum's recipe because it didn't call for candied citron pieces, (I am even less tolerant of candied citron than raisins, although I have been told that fresh candied citron IS pretty good...) and because it did include chestnuts, of which I am totally crazy for. I thought it was a good recipe for a first attempt; it was easy to follow, was written with the home baker in mind and gave alternatives to ingredients and equipment not easily available to an amateur baker. It was not an overly complicated recipe, nor was it labor intensive, but it did take a long time and needed quite a bit of babysitting. I chose to let the dough develop to the maximum times called for at each step, and just doing that made this more than a four day project. I was very happy with this first attempt, although now, I know a little more about baking a more authentic loaf then I did then. There seems to be several key steps when making an authentic panettone; the use of a sourdough starter, a special type of flour such as doppio zero, the addition of butter slowly and gradually, the kneading of the dough for a very long period of time, (the use of a mixer is a must) and then, a very long "aging" process after the bread is baked to allow the flavor of the bread to develop preferably done upside down and for 12 hours or more.
I definitely want to attempt this bread again, even using this particular recipe but with the doppio zero flour and some definite modifications. I didn't think the chestnuts added anything special to the panettone, the subtle flavor of them was lost by the strong aroma of the fiori di Sicilia (which is an aromatic essence of Sicilian flowers used to flavor Panettone and can be substituted with vanilla) and the heavy almost alcoholic taste of the yeast. The raisins were a pleasant surprise, they stayed plump and moist and had a nice flavor to them and I would definitely use them again. Who knows, I may even start baking with raisins again now that I have found these little gems that are the Sun-Maid Baking Raisins. Next time I will make the dough a bit sweeter too, Tom and I both found the bread to be a little too blah when it came to the sweetness, and we thought that the addition of some type of dried cherry or cranberry would be perfect, although probably not traditional, but still, maybe a nice addition. I did make one key mistake and that was at the final rising just before baking. Ideally, it should have taken no more than three hours, but I fell asleep while waiting and the dough ended up proofing for closer to 7 hours, as a result, I don't think the bread rose as high as it could have. I was hoping it would look more like a chef’s hat than it did, oh well...there is always next time.
One of the things I liked about this recipe is that it called for ingredients I had never used before, like these canned chestnuts (hello pretty can of chestnuts). The recipe called for 2/3 cup canned chestnuts in syrup, the syrup was to be drained and reserved and used in the recipe later, but these chestnuts weren't packed in a syrup, they were packed in water. Normally, I would have thought nothing about packing the little girl into her stroller and running all over town in search of the right canned chestnuts, but at that point I think I was just coming down with that killer cold I talked about earlier and the thought of schlepping around Manhattan with the baby, in the cold, during the season of Christmas shopper frenzy in search of chestnuts in syrup just hurt my head. I did taste the water and declared it unusable, luckily Beranbaum provided a substitute ingredient Lyle's Golden Syrup (more on that later).
This is what the chestnuts looked like in the can (arghhh! brains). They tasted okay, not great, and not like a fresh chestnut but they weren't awful either, just kind of wet and mushy. If you like that type of texture in your mouth then you will like these, although I can’t see the purpose of eating them straight out of the can. HEY! I wonder if you can use them to make chestnut soup?!.
This was the alternate syrup I used in lieu of the chestnut syrup and as was suggested by Beranbaum. I just so happened to have it on hand because I had purchased it a few months ago to use with another recipe, but never got around to it. Anyway, this was my first time using the product and I LOVED the way it tasted, it was sweet, but not sickeningly so and tasted like caramelized sugar. It was not overpowering in the way that corn syrup can be, which is what I though it was going to be like when I first opened the jar. I was surprised by its thickness too, or rather, the lack of thickness, it looked like it would pour thick, like honey but it moved and poured more like maple syrup, faster and less of a pain to get a measurement of. This is a nice little syrup to have around the house.
This is the filling for the panettone after it was combined and tossed together. The filling consisted of 2/3 cup drained chestnuts, crumbled and 1/4 cup raisins, (preferably the moist baking kind) and 2 tablespoons of unbleached all-purpose flour. Beranbaum suggests only using Gold Medal, King Arthur or Pillsbury. I put this into a container, sealed it and left it on the counter until I needed it. Well, actually I put it in the fridge first but then had second thoughts and took it out. I was worried that the filling might be too cold when the time came to use it for the dough, so I left it at room temperature in the end.
The night before I wanted to make the bread I made the sponge. Into a bowl I put 1/2 cup room temperature water, 1 tablespoon Lyle's Golden Syrup, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour and 2 egg yolks. I whisked everything until it was smooth and incorporated for about 2 minutes and stopped when it looked like a smooth batter (above). I scraped down the sides of the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and set it aside overnight. As a side note, I should have used a much larger bowl than I did, as you will see, this really expands, but also, later on in the recipe the rest of the ingredients need to be sprinkled on top of this starter, so its better to start out with a too big bowl, trust me, its better that way.
As you can see this was a very happy starter. I had drawn a line on the container when I first put the starter into it just because I wanted to see how far it would rise, I never expected it to get so bubbly so fast! This was only about an hour later.
This was the starter a full 24 hours later. As you can see it had calmed down a bit but it was still pretty bubbly and active.
The next day, in a bowl, I whisked together 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon of unbleached all-purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon instant yeast, then to that I added 1-1/2 tablespoons dry milk powder and 1/2 teaspoon salt. I did not add the optional 1 tablespoon of lecithin because it was optional and I didn't have any. I sprinkled this mixture over the sponge to cover it completely, this was after I had to transfer the sponge to a bigger bowl, covered it tightly and let it stand for 2 hours.
Luckily, Beranbaum mentions that the sponge will bubble up through the flour during the rising time, so I was more fascinated than surprised when it started to happen.
This is definitely a dough that is more like a batter than a traditional dough, and had I known that before I started, I would have actually made this mixture directly into the bowl of my food processor, as it was I had to do a lot of bowl transferring but that’s ok, next time I know better. Beranbaum talks about using different mixers in the book and she does mention that she likes to use different kinds for different jobs; clearly for this recipe she was using a stand mixer but I had to make do with what I had, so into the food processor everything went, and to that I added, 2 tablespoons of Lyle's Golden Syrup, 3 cold, large egg yolks, 1/2 teaspoon of the fiori di Sicilia, and 1 tablespoon grated orange zest. I pulsed everything for about a minute until the flour was moistened, then I let the food processor run for 5 minutes so that the dough would become smooth and shiny, yet still pull away from the sides of the bowl, but not completely. It was weird, it really was a wet sticky dough but it also pulled away from the sides of the food processor very easily too, not the kind of wet sticky dough I'm used to , that’s for sure. Anyway, after 5 minutes I scraped down the sides then added 10 tablespoons of very soft butter, one at a time, letting each one get thoroughly incorporated into the dough before adding the other. The dough becomes very soft and elastic but that’s okay, you want that. My only regret at this stage and really, the regret is more of a hindsight regret than anything else, is that I didn't knead the dough for a full hour or more, but I didn't know at the time that the panettone would benefit from a long kneading, so I can't be too hard on myself. After the last tablespoon of butter was incorporated I scraped down the side of the bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and then let the dough rest for about 10 minutes. After 10 minutes I scraped the dough onto a lightly floured surface, (a dough scraper is invaluable here), then patted it into a rectangle shape as best as I could, Beranbaum stresses that this doesn't have to be exact, which was kind of a relief since I wasn't exactly doing such a great job.
I sprinkled the chestnut raisin mixture on top of the dough, then drew up the sides of the dough to cover the mixture.
I was guessing that this is what it was supposed to look like with the sides drawn up and enclosed.
I briefly kneaded the dough to incorporate the chestnuts and raisins, and then put it into a lightly greased bowl, sprayed the top of the dough with cooking oil, then covered it with plastic. I used a rubber band (from a head of broccoli, aren’t those rubber bands great?) to mark off where the dough would be when it doubled in size and then set it aside to rest for 2 hours. After the dough had risen for 2 hours I chilled it for 1 hour to firm it and to prevent the butter from separating, then I gently deflated the dough by stirring it with a rubber spatula and returned it to the refrigerator for another hour.
After the hour was up I removed the dough from the fridge, deflated it and turned it out onto a lightly floured surface, then pressed it as best as I could into another rectangle. I gave the dough what Beranbaum calls "one business letter turn" (above) then again, pressed it into a rectangle.
I rotated it 45 degrees, and gave it another "business letter turn" then rounded the corners. I wrapped it loosely in oiled plastic wrap and then placeed that in a large Ziploc ® bag and refrigerated it for 2 days so that the dough could really develop a nice flavor.
Two days later, I greased a 1 lb formula can that I previously cleaned and saved just for this occasion. Years ago, panettone used to be baked in 1 lb coffee cans, but these days, there are very few manufacturers who sell coffee in one 1 lb tins, so I was greatly pleased when I noticed that Ellina's formula cans were 1 lb-er's even though they didn't meet the required 6 inches in height that Beranbaum mentions in her book. I fixed that problem with a paper collar made from parchment that I then greased just as liberally as I had greased the can. Oh! Before I forget, I also cut out and placed a piece of parchment on the bottom of the can so that the bread would not stick there either. Beranbaum doesn’t hold you to baking the bread in a 1 lb coffee can, she does mention many alternatives such as the 6-by- 4 in. paper panettone pan, that can be purchased from a baking supply, OR a 6-inch-high coffee can (but no mention that it HAS to be 1 lb.), Or a greased soufflé dish with a collar. I removed my lovely dough from the fridge placed it on a lightly floured surface and gently, so as not to deflate the dough too much, rounded it into a ball.
I set the ball into the makeshift panettone pan, which wasn't as easy as it sounded. It was fatter than the collar so I had to keep patting it tighter so that it would fit, but that meant losing the nice airiness that I was supposed to keep, then, the parchment kept getting dragged into the can as the dough caught it on the way to the bottom of the can...oi, it was frustrating, but it finally worked.
At this point, Beranbaum talks about setting the dough, can and all into a plastic box with a cup of hot water, sort of like a proofing box. Well, it was 3 am and I did not have a proofing box, or any other box that would do for that matter so I made something up. I set the can into one of my stock pots, then, because it was too narrow a fit in the pot to have the can AND a glass of water, I filled one of Ellie's bottles with warm water and placed it next to the can inside the stockpot, it fit perfectly!
Because the collar of the panettone can was too high for me to place the stockpot lid onto the box, I had to invert another one of my stock pots onto the first stockpot so that it would act as a lid. I set it aside to rise for 2-3 hours, but then I messed up by falling alseep and letting it rise for more like 7 hours. Oh well, next time I won't do that. Beranbaum does mention that because the dough came straight out of the fridge, it would take at least an hour to come to room temperature so, realistically, I'm thinking the dough should be in the proofing box for 3 hours to get the full benefit of that final proof.
Once I finally woke up and realized that I had totally screwed up the rising time, I almost gave up because I was so panicked and upset, but then I thought about how far I had come and I preheated the oven to 325 degrees anyway! I uncovered the dough, let it sit for 5 minutes so that the air could dry the humidity from the surface and crust it up a bit, then I took sharp, greased scissors and snipped a 1-inch deep cross into the top of the dough. Of course this only deflated the dough further since it had already over risen and had begun to shrink back, but I knew at that point this was not going to rise as high as a chef’s hat so I placed the can in the middle of the oven and baked it for 60-65 minutes. After the first 30 minutes I tented the bread with foil to prevent over browning.
Once the panettone was ready I removed it from the oven and let it cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then, as per Beranbaum's suggestion of a saran wrapped pillow, I un-molded the bread and let it finish cooling upside down on the pillow. When the bread was completely cool I covered it with plastic wrap, then foil and then into a zippered freezer bag where I left it alone to mellow for another 24 hours.
The end result was exciting if not exactly perfect. It looked and smelled exactly like a panettone but the texture and taste was far more wonderful than any store bought I have ever had. It was rich and fragrant and dense and moist. I do admit that a little tweaking is a MUST if I were to make this again because it was just slightly less sweet than I would have liked. Actually, I am going to attempt this again very soon, I'm just waiting for all the rush and bustle of this holiday season to settle a bit. It will be one of my 2005 baking goals, to make a panettone I am happy with and would be proud to give away as a gift. And there you have it, my very first panettone but not my last!
I’m turning the comments feature back on because I really do love having folks leave kind words, encouragement and advice, but I must warn you, I won’t be able to answer any comments left until after Jan 3 because prior to then I will be out of town. Happy New Year Everyone!
I thought up a baking plan the other morning. It probably wasn't such an original thought since Nancy Silverton talks about setting up a bread baking schedule in her book, Breads from the La Brea Bakery. I must have subconsciously taken some of her advice then modified it to fit my soon to be put into effect baking plan. The book is starting to grow on me by the way. I baked 2 more loaves of bread from it, this time to even better results than I think I got the last time and I'm starting to understand where some of Silverton's insistence for control comes in, however, if you ask me, I think it's less about control and more about patience when it comes to baking artisanal style bread at home. I certainly don't have access to some of the equipment Silverton talks about and I’m certainly not as precise as Silverton is with temperatures and times, weights and measurements and yet, with patience and a little practice, I think it's ok to say I'm getting some pretty decent results. ack! I've wandered off on a tangent and haven't told you my baking plan yet, I better remedy that
Since summertime, particularly summertime in NYC is quite unpleasant and humid, making for less than ideal conditions for baking and since we won't be at the house every weekend, not that that matters since I'm still not used to baking there, I thought I'd do my bread baking here, now, at the apt. where I'm used to the kitchen, (tiny as it may be) and where my starter is already established. I'll mass bake now, not limiting myself to just breads but some cake, cookie and pie goodness too, since that stuff freezes pretty well I'll freeze it all, then, when summer rolls around, the Little Girl and I are free to roam around outside and not be tied to a very hot and humid kitchen. We can come home, light the oven and pop a frozen pie, savory tart, hunk of bread or whatever into the oven for a quick heat up and yumm, homebkaed goodness without the heat and hassle of baking it the same day. Good plan, no? Well, at least in theory it seems so.
I started “the plan” this past weekend, baking 2 loaves of Rosemary~ Olive Oil Bread from Silverton's book. I was quite pleased with the results. I got two nice, fragrant loaves of bread, tangy, but not sour with just the barest hint of olive oil flavor and a lovely scent of rosemary. Crusty outside but not too crusty since the olive oil helps soften the dough a bit, and a moist yet firm crumb on the inside. One of the loaves is already in the freezer and the other we'll eat this week. yee-ha!
I made a few observations while baking the bread that I'd like to share; I like Silverton's method of letting the dough rest for 20 minutes just after mixing and before kneading. I think the rest period helps relax the gluten in the dough and that makes it easier to knead. I like that although she uses a standing mixer in a lot of the recipes, if you are like me and don't own one, you can still make the bread in a bowl, mixing and kneading the dough the old fashioned way...with a little love and elbow grease. I like her aggressive approach to kneading bread; she suggests one-handed kneading, slamming down and turning, SLAMMING down and turning, SLAMMING DOWN AND TURNING! I think it helps get out the aggression and tension I sometimes feel, and yeah, I do believe that when you're angry or stressed that translates into your cooking, so it's important to be as stress free as you can be when you are in the kitchen. I like the way Silverton breaks the kneading into two parts, kneading first for 5 minutes, then, again, kneading salt into the dough, for another five minutes. I think the sea salt has less of a chance of dissolving this way, thereby ensuring that the bread has more flavor. maybe on that last point I'm talking out of my hat, I'm not sure I can put into words why I like that step precisely. I think those steps I just mentioned really contributed to my getting such a lovely proofed dough as you can see below.
I may have mentioned that I'm not using Silverton's starter because I have my own, and I'm quite happy with it. I would one day like to try hers though, I think it would be interesting to see how the different starters alter the flavor of the bread. I also discovered that I really need to turn the loaves halfway through baking or else, the baking is uneven. I end up with perfectly cooked bottoms on one side and burnt crustiness on the other side. Hmmm, (it's 2:30 am) I'm drifting in and out of sleep so I think I'll wrap this up by just saying I highly recommend Silverton's book if you're into baking breads from scratch. For the beginning baker, there’s a wealth of advice, and quidelines to help get the reader into baking bread the La Brea way, and that's worth the price of the book...I think.
I never got a chance to make the dill bread before that large bunch of dill that was wilting away in my fridge passed on to that big herb garden in the sky. It did go out most spectacularly though, I was proud, and you Dear Reader, would have been proud too! It turned a blackish green and liquefied, creating a little pool of pond scum where it had seeped out of the bag and onto the bottom of the crisper. I could tell by feeling it through the plastic that it was really slimy too, parts of it still looked like dill, somewhat wilted and sad looking, but I could still tell that dill had once been what it was originally. I couldn't tell if there was an odor and to tell you the truth I really didn't put my nose up to it and smell. It was kind of neat, in a science project sort of way, I decided to have some fun with it and smeared it on the kitchen wall writing out my name in big cursive letters...
NO, no, no, I tossed it immediately and was very proud of myself for not gagging while I cleaned the slime out of the fridge. So, with no dill to make the dill bread, and ok, I admit, I never did pick up the cream cheese for the recipe either, I was left with no baking project on Sunday and feeling quite unsatisfied by that. I wanted to bake bread, and with another storm blowing through the city, it was a good day for baking, so I decided to try out a recipe I found on the back of a bag of flour.
A few weeks ago I had purchased a bag of "Bread Flour" to use with a recipe I had found in a magazine. The recipe specifically asked for bread flour and since I'd never used that type of flour before, I thought I'd give it a try. I was tempted to try the recipe not because of the use of bread flour but because it would have resulted in a tri-color loaf of bread that looked really neat when sliced into. While reading through the recipe after I had purchased the flour, I decided that the recipe was too labor intensive and too involved for anything I was in the mood to do anytime soon, so I stored the bread flour in the fridge and forgot it. Yesterday, I decided it was taking up too much precious room in my fridge, so after inspecting the package to see what the heck bread flour was anyway, I came across the recipe and decided to try the "Rustic Italian Bread."
According to Pillsbury, their bread flour is made from hard spring wheat and contains a higher percentage of protein. Ok, but that didn't tell me much and didn't satisfy my curiosity, so I did a quick search on the internet found a better and more satisfying explanation here, (scroll down a bit for the bread flour part if you don't want to read the whole thing).
I don't own a bread machine and was glad to see that they (Pillsbury) provided conventional oven directions too. I found the package directions to be unusual and I was a little skeptical as I began, but decided to just let everything play out and see what happened.
Into a large bowl I combined 3 cups of bread flour, 2 teaspoons of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and 1 package of active dry yeast; I mixed well and then added 1 cup of warm water and 2 tablespoons of olive oil and mixed again. Hmmm, what about proofing the yeast first? I couldn't find anything on the package that said to proof the yeast first, and that made me think I was headed for disaster. I've never followed a bread recipe that used yeast and didn't ask for it to be proofed first, and the thought of not doing that step added to my feelings of doubt as I turned the dough onto a lightly floured surface and began kneading for 10 minutes. The kneading was tough, I felt like the dough was much stiffer than what I'm used to working with, but that could also have just been my imagination, I think I was secretly hoping to find something wrong with this recipe. I finished kneading, placed the ball of dough into a bowl, covered it with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and put it aside to rise for 40 minutes.
When 40 minutes was about up, I sprinkled an un-greased cookie sheet with cornmeal and set it aside. I removed the kitchen towel and saran wrap from the bowl and was actually surprised that the dough had risen! I really expected it to just stay like a flat round ball at the bottom of the bowl. I punched the dough down and then inverted the bowl and let the dough rest, upside down, inside the bowl for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes passed, I shaped the bread into a baguette style loaf about 12 inches long and placed it onto the cornmeal coated cookie sheet, covered it and let it rise for another 40 minutes.
I preheated the oven to 375 degrees and when the bread had finished proofing for the 40 minutes I removed the towel and was again surprised that it had actually doubled in bulk. I took my kitchen scissors and made three diagonal slashes in the dough. The recipe said to make one slash but I was feeling rebellious towards the recipe and made three. I brushed the bread with egg white and in another rebellious not following the recipe move, I sprinkled some sesame seeds onto a plate, wet my hand with water, dipped my wet hand into the seeds and then patted the seeds onto the egg washed bread. I decided to turn my generic loaf of "Rustic Italian Bread" into something a little more aesthetically pleasing and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself about it. I'll show that Pillsbury company I tossed the bread into the oven for 45 minutes (the recipe said 30-35 mins but my oven varies greatly), said a silent prayer to the gods of baked goods asking that the seeds didn't burn before the bread was done baking and hoped for the best .
The bread looked far better than I expected it to when it came out of the oven. I let it cool for a bit and then sliced into it. The crumb looked good but the real test, the taste test was ahead. I sliced off a piece and took a bite. I thought it was a little flavorless. At this point I had stopped hoping it would fail and wanted the bread to turn out well, but the bread needed more salt and there was no way to correct that now. The crust was also a bit disappointing. Not really crusty at all, it felt like it would be crisp when I first bit into it but then it sort of crumbled away and lost it's oomph. I think the egg wash was a mistake and contributed to the crust not fully forming a drier crisper seal around the dough. I was sorry I added that step. Don't get me wrong, the bread is not inedible, with some butter and some preserves or dipped into some really dark extra virgin olive oil and kosher salt, it can be a tasty snack, but eaten alone, it doesn't make the grade, at least for Tom and me. Tom exclaimed it tasted like prison food, I told him to add some butter or dip it in oil but he said he'd rather pretend he was traveling with Frodo, eating hardtack.
What do you do with a large, and I mean very large bunch of dill that you used only 1 tablespoon of for making Fresh Herb, Leek and Potato Soup?
Why, you make dill bread, or, at least you think about making dill bread. Then you realize that you have to shower and get dressed in order to go out and buy cream cheese, then you realize you will then have to wait for the cream cheese to get to room temperature before you can use it. Then you read through the recipe again and realize there isn't enough time to do all that and let the bread properly rise, proof and bake before you really do have to shower and go to work. You get a little sad. You make a silent promise to pick up the cream cheese on your way home from work later that evening so that you can make the bread before the large bunch of dill becomes a large pool of wet slimey greenish/black liquid in your fridge. You finish your morning coffee while flipping through the book to find something else to bake in the meantime. You find the recipe for Fougasse interesting, the picture appeals to you, and you are pleased because it is a bread that is traditionally baked around this time of year. You are cheering up again. You realise you won't have to shower and run out for any ingredients before you really do have to shower for the day (not that you're that dirty, but you know what I mean), you already have everything on hand. You can see that you will be able to complete the baking with enough time for cleanup, and, you can bring one of the loaves to work for the locusts co-workers to try. You are pleased.
You do the happy dance.
I can't wait to try my hand at growing things in the dirt once spring arrives. Not that I'm trying to rush through the rest of this fall and winter but I'm really looking forward to starting my first garden. Judging by the condition that my spider plants are in, I can already predict that I lack a green thumb, but I will try anyway. I really want to start an herb garden first; just to see if gardening is for me and also, an herb garden would solve the problem of having to buy large bunches of expensive herbs just for a tablespoon of earth's goodness. I hate how these herbs just end up rotting away in the fridge before I can use all of them up, with a little herb garden I could pinch off what I need, give away what I don't and basically feel less like I'm wasting the herbs and money and more like I'm getting exactly the amount I need when I need it. Speaking of gardening, my friend Cathy (Hi Cathy!) sent me a super secret surprise-some really neat gardening books which I just so happened to receive in the mail while I was baking the bread, so now I have even more reason and am more eager to start a garden soon. So, because I was too lazy to shower and run out early in the morning I ended up not making the dill bread, which I intended to be the project for using up the large bunch of dill that is currently dying in my fridge. I will try to make it later this week, In the meantime, let's talk about the Fougasse.
I've seen loaves of this bread on occasion, at the artisan bakeries here in the city and in Brooklyn. I've always thought they were pretty but never bought one and never paid attention to what time of year I saw them in the shops. According to the authors of the book Ultimate Bread Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno claim this is a holiday bread, traditional to Christmas Eve celebrations in the Provencal region of France;
The branch-shaped bread forms the centerpiece of the famous thirteen desserts of Provence, which are traditional to the Reveillon (Christmas Eve) celebrations of the region. After Midnight Mass, families return home for a glass of vin chaud and a selection of twelve fruits, nuts, and sweets arranged around the fougasse, symbolizing Christ and his apostles. Unsweetened and un-perfumed, although often flavored with savory ingredients, Fougasse is now baked throughout the year.
I almost messed the dough up from the beginning by adding too much water, but I refuse to say that it was my fault. The instructions were actually a little vague. Overall the recipe uses 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons of water as needed but it's written in a way that made me think it was 3/4 cups water for the yeast AND an additional 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons for the dough. Luckily, I was suspicious of the wetness of the dough before adding all the water, I re-read the instructions and realized my boo-boo before ending up with dough that was like batter, so beware that confusing step. I was also tempted from the start, to add more sugar and the zest of an orange to the mixture but then decided to follow the recipe the way it was written since I'd never tried this bread before. I can always tweak once I have something to gage my preferences by, in the end I decided it was best not to mess with the recipe before I knew what the bread tasted like. My experiences with the breads in this book have been that the flavors tend to be a little on the conservative side, but then again, I'm also pregnant and everything kind of needs to be overly seasoned for me right now. Speaking of pregnant, for some reason, the baby found the time I was kneading the bread to be a good opportunity to wiggle and squirm and tickle me for the whole 10 minutes... maybe she likes kneading bread too! heh.
Shaping the bread was not easy, but it wasn't overly difficult either. The authors suggest letting the bread rest for a minute or 2 if you have trouble with it and I'm here to tell you that the advice works. I think the best way to approach the shaping is with calm and patience, I could see myself getting easily freaked out and would have ended up smashing the dough into a ball and flinging it down the toilet or across the room if I had not decided to try and be Zen about it. Being Zen makes all the difference (wax on, wax off), my shaping wasn't perfect but at least it kind of resembled something close to the tear shape the authors described. I think shaping bread takes practice, especially if you don't have a master baker standing next to you teaching you, so don't become frustrated, just let the dough rest and walk away for a few minutes before you try again. It works.
There's a tool that bakers use to slash dough, which for the life of me I cannot remember the name of. I guess it doesn't matter right now because I don't have one but if anyone knows the name of it please tell me because it's driving me crazy. To slash my dough, I used kitchen scissors and it worked rather well, actually making the slashes and spreading the dough was kind of fun, with some practice shaping the bread I think I could one day actually make a nice looking loaf.
I stopped off at the market on the way to work and bought some orange marmalade to go with the bread. I ended up bringing in both loaves and the locusts loved it. Almost everyone preferred the bread without the marmalade so now I have a nice jar of marmalade sitting in the fridge. You know, it's amazing how something as simple as baking a couple of loaves of bread can be so inexpensive and yet make so many people happy. The bread looked like it would be hard to bite into but it wasn't! It was soft and fragrant and tasted of anise and wasn't sweet even though there was sugar in the dough. The crust was to die for, sort of soft but crispy at the same time and reminded me a little of focaccia crust. It was great!
from Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno;
1.Sprinkle the yeast into 3/4 cup (175 ml) of the water in a bowl. Leave for 5 minutes; stir to dissolve. Mix the flour, salt, sugar and anise seeds in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the mixture, then pour in the dissolved yeast.
2.Use a wooden spoon to draw enough of the flour into the dissolved yeast to form a soft paste. Cover the bowl with a dish towel and "sponge" until frothy and risen, about 20 minutes.
3.Add the oil and orange flower water to the flour well. Mix in the flour. Stir in the reamining water, as needed, to form a soft dough.
4.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
5.Put the dough in a clean, oiled bowl, turning it to coat evenly with the oil, then cover it with a dish towel. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours. Punch down, then let rest for 10 minutes.
6. Divide the dough into two pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, use th palms of your hands to flatten each piece into a tear shape, about 14in (35cm) long and 3/4in (11/2cm) thick. If the dough resists shaping, let rest for 1-2 minutes, then continue.
7.Put the shaped dough on two oiled baking sheets. To form the dough into a leaf shape, make three diagonal slashes across each opiece of the dough. Poen out each slash gently with your fingers.
8.Cover the shaped dough, then proof until an imprint of your finger springs back slowly, about 45 minutes.
9.Bake the the preheated 350 degree oven for 40-46 minutes, until crisp, golden brown, and hollow sounding when gently tapped underneath.
I made my first batch of biscuits on Monday. So exciting! Who knew that there were so many variations for making biscuits? Some recipes ask for butter, some don't, some ask for butter and shortening, some call for no fat at all, some use baking powder, others don't, some use milk, others use cream...the list is endless. Talk about easy to make! I had no idea, I mean, I knew that you're not supposed to over-handle the dough, I had read that, and also watched a recent episode of America's Test Kitchen in which they made biscuits and mentioned that. ( I wasn't keen on how their biscuits turned out), but I never knew that the amount of labor required was minimal and that you could have fresh hot homemade biscuits in about an hour or less, assuming you don't stop, like me, to photograph the process!
The biscuits were a craving. I haven't had too many cravings with my pregnancy, and the ones I've had, so far, have been pretty run of the mill, chicken livers, ice cream, pumpkin soup, Indian food, biscuits. Nothing has been too hard to find or make, just yet. I had gone to the Dr. for a checkup visit on Monday and did not eat breakfast before going. The visit went well, I passed the glucose test I had taken 3 weeks earlier with flying colors, even coming out a little on the low side of normal. By the time I left the Drs. office I was pretty hungry, and that's when the “I HAVE to have biscuits" feeling kicked in. I ran home, looked up biscuit recipes in my various cookbooks and online, then realized I'd need to eat something else while I figured out which biscuit recipe was right for me. It turns out none of them quite fit what I wanted, so I tweaked a basic recipe and made up my own, I thought it turned out pretty well.
I combined 4 cups of all-purpose flour with 2 tablespoons of baking powder, 1 teaspoon of salt, and a tablespoon of granulated sugar. I mixed the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon to make sure they were incorporated, then added 1 tablespoon of Tasmanian Leatherwood Honey, 2 tablspoons of softened butter and 21/2 cups of heavy cream. I mixed until the ingredients were just incorporated but the dough remained somewhat wet. I turned out the dough onto a well floured work surface and using the lightest touch kneaded the dough until it just came together. The idea is not to overwork the dough because you don't want to develop the gluten-that would lead to hard discs that resemble hockey pucks rather than soft flakey yumminess. Using a rolling pin, I then flattened the dough to a thickness of about 1/2 inch. I dusted the biscuit cutter with flour and using light pressure I made a press and turn motion to cut out the dough. I repeated this until I was left with nothing but holes. I placed the cut-out discs onto a lightly buttered cookie sheet, topped them off with a glaze made up of 2 tablspoons melted butter and a tablespoon of honey and placed them into a 425 degree oven to bake until golden brown. I scooped up the leftover dough and gently formed it, rolled it out and repeated until I was out of dough.
I was pretty happy with the results. Some of the biscuits rose really nicely and others didn't, but I didn't let that bother me too much. The biscuit itself was not sweet, although the honey-glaze did provide a little sweetness, I wouldn't consider this a "sweet" bread. They were very tasty and flakey, just what I was craving. The recipe made an unbelievable 21/2 dozen so I wrapped up most of them once they were cool and froze them for later eating.
A long time ago, we’re talking way more than ten years ago, Tom and I lived in the Garment District. It was our first apartment in Manhattan, a tiny one bedroom with one window that faced out onto the brick wall of a nearby office building. The kitchen was barely big enough to hold myself let alone another person. I could wash dishes, cook, look in the fridge and pack groceries away just by turning my upper body, ugh I really hated that apt. The neighborhood or lack of, was a little odd too. During the week it was the bustling epicenter of the Fashion Industry, on the weekends it was a ghost town. The only exciting thing around was Macy’s (and really, how exciting is that). As for food, well the choices were slim, there was the usual fast food, very few of the delis were open on the weekend and there was no grocery shopping to be had until well past Lexington Ave. There was one little shop that I had grown to like very much and because of Macy’s and its close proximity it was also open on the weekend. It was a brioche shop, I think it may have even been called La Brioche.
The goods were baked fresh daily, offering dozens of choices in personal sized brioche from plain, to chocolate, to ham and cheese, and many more. I liked the shop very much and I liked the brioche they sold even more. They might have even been a chain, although I had never run into another shop like it. I doubt the brioche was being made by hand… to offer that kind of variation and to make the quantity that they sold daily, I’m sure it was more of an automated process using big machines rather than a small hand made operation, but still, the product was good. Tom and I moved out of that neighborhood after about 2 years but I still had access to the shop because I worked no more than three blocks away. I was sad when they went out of business, especially when the business that eventually moved into that space was a fast food chain. I guess La Brioche, like so many other places, fell victim to the fickle industry that is the food business here in NYC.
This weekend, something reminded me of the time I lived in that neighborhood, which got me thinking about that store and then I got a hankering for some brioche. Since I enjoy baking and am teaching myself how, the urge to try making my very first brioche was strong, and so I made that my weekend baking project.
Armed with my book, Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Cesaria Evora's Cabo Verde on the cd player, and my cat Charlie underfoot by my side, we entered the kitchen with anticipation and determination...we were about to learn something new!
I picked Clayton's recipe for Brioche Dough With Starter because I wanted to make something as close to authentic brioche as I could. According to Clayton:
”The classic Brioche is made in 2 steps. It begins with the preparation of a starter or levain which grows active and puffy in 2 or 3 hours. Meanwhile the dough is prepared separately. The two come together when the starter is spread over the dough and folded in.”
He wasn't kidding about the starter growing puffy after 2 or 3 hours, heck after 30 minutes I was shocked at how much it had grown! I know, I know, I shouldn't have peeked, but I couldn't help myself. Tom thinks that if the way I can't leave my starters alone is any indication, then I'm going to be the kind of mother who stands over the crib watching the baby sleep. pffft I say he's going to be standing right there with me.
To make the starter, Clayton had me begin by dissolving 1 package of yeast into a half a cup of warm milk. He didn’t say if I should let the yeast rest for 5 minutes or so and the way the book is written it wasn’t clearly obvious, so I left if for 5 minutes to kind of bubble and gurgle and get to know the warm milk. I then added 1 cup of flour, and spent about 3 minutes stirring and making sure everything was blended. I ended up with a small rough looking ball of dough. I covered it with plastic wrap and left it on the counter to rise. As I said, I did peek at the dough after 30 minutes and I was surprised at how it had already started to grow. Clayton suggests leaving the starter for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight if that’s more convenient. I decided to go out for a while, I didn’t want to spent the next 90 minutes peeking at the dough and possibly ruining it by introducing contaminants, it was a gorgeous day Saturday and spending all of it inside would have been a crime. So out I went.
I returned about 2 hours later, consulted the book and realized that I needed to start moving to get the dough ready! Into a large mixing bowl went 2 cups of flour. I made a well, (a much better one this time, no?) then began adding 4 of the 6 eggs the recipe called for. Clayton writes:
"Break in one egg at a time, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula or with a mixer flat beater to pull in the flour from the sides."
Adding the eggs and mixing in the flour was not as easy as it sounds. It was kind of awkward actually. I kept worrying that the sides of the well were going to collapse AND to add to that, the eggs weren't easily breaking apart, even at room temperature. I finally got it all done and to the mixture I added 1/4 cup warm water, 3 tablespoons of sugar, and 2 teaspoons of salt. I blended well and was left with a thick batter.
Clayton then instructs me to spread the 3 sticks of room temperature butter onto a work surface and "work the butter" with a dough scraper to make it pliable and soft. I wasn't sure what he meant, so I interpreted it to mean that I had to take my three sticks and SMASH them onto a cookie sheet spreading them out with a pastry scaper. It was actually kind of fun, the butter was already soft and gave away under pressure quite easily. I added the butter to the batter in stages, blending well and making sure all of it was mixed in before adding more. After all the butter was incorporated, I added the remaining 2 eggs, (oops! good thing I had backup) and beat those into the mixture as well.
At this point I was instructed to add the remaining 2 cups of flour a half cup at a time, mixing well until I was left with a
"soft elastic ball and can be worked with your hands or that pulls away from the work bowl or mixer. Do not make it a hard ball of dough."
Let me tell you, my confidence in the dough being elastic and workable was not high after I mixed in the last of the 2 cups of flour. The dough was still quite wet, too wet, it didn't even come close to pulling away from the sides of the bowl. I stood there for a minute or two wondering if I should add more flour, Clayton's warnings not to make the dough hard were ringing through my ears. Finally, I made up my mind, I'd add more flour a half cup a time until the dough just started to pull away. This worked fairly well, after the 5th cup of flour, I had a dough I could work with.
I spread the dough out onto a floured work surface, pressed it into a flat oval shape and then placed the starter dough on top. I began the kneading by first coating my hands well with flour and then folding the dough over the starter, pressing and folding, turning and pressing over and over for 10 minutes making sure that the dough and starter were blending together evenly. I ended up having to use a pastry scraper to knead for the whole 10 minutes. I was leery of adding more flour to the dough although Clayton mentions using light sprinklings of flour and a scraper if the dough is too wet and tacky. I just dealt with it, I had already added more than a cup of extra flour at this point and was scared that I was going to ruin the outcome of the final, which should be a light airy crumb. When the dough was finally smooth and elastic I placed it in a butter greased bowl, then covered it with plastic wrap and set it on the counter to rise for 2 hours. At this point, with 2 hours to kill and Tom not being home, I decided to run through my building with a pot on my head knocking on doors and hiding. HA! no I didn't, I went for a another walk because really, the day was too beautiful. When I got back and walked into the kitchen I was greeted by this fresh hell, Holy Cow! and as a bonus, here's a side view of the overflow. Clayton had mentioned that the dough would be "light and puffy" under the plastic but this was insane. I removed the plastic, folded the dough back into the bowl, punched everything down and turned the dough over as per Clayton's instructions. I covered it again with plastic wrap and this time it went into the fridge to rise for another 2-3 hours.
Tom had come home at this point and since it was nearing dinnertime, we went out to our favorite dive for some burgers and TATER TOTS! shout out the love for the tater tots, yo! By the time we got home, the dough was ready and upon opening the fridge I found myself facing this beast. Okay, maybe not as bad as the first explosion, but sheesh, this was some active yeast. I was now ready to shape the loaves. Excitedly I flipped through the pages of the book to the part where we shape the loaves and found Clayton talking about his 2 favorite brioche shapes and where they come from. He had this to say:
"Two favorites, made with the same dough, are Brioche Nanterre and Brioche Parisienne. They are full-size loaves shaped in different ways. The Nanterre is made by placing 6 or 8 balls of brioche dough in a zigzag pattern along the bottom of a loaf pan. They rise to fill out the pan in the same overall pattern. The Parisienne is made by placing 9 or 10 short lengths of brioche dough side by side across the pan. They rise in identical sections as do the Nanterre"
Okay, so I had a little problem. I don't own two loaf pans. I decided, out of necessity really, to make the Nanterre in a bundt pan. I placed the chilled dough onto a floured work surface and divided it in two. I then took the one half of dough and divided it into 12 or 14 pieces and rolled them into balls, placing them in the bundt pan. For the Parisienne, I took the remaining dough and rolled it into long ropes, placing the ropes into the loaf pan in two layers. I covered the pans with wax paper, and left them on the counter to rise, (OMG, again?!) until doubled in volume, for 2 and 1/2 hours. Did I mention that making brioche is an all day affair?
At 1/2 hour from being ready to bake, I preheated the oven to 375 degrees. I then beat an egg with a tablespoon of milk and brushed the egg wash over both the loaves coating the tops well. I popped the bread into the oven and let them bake until light brown, about 35 minutes. Halfway through baking, I turned the pans once for even browning. I removed the pans from the oven when a cake tester (my ice pick) inserted into the middle came out clean. I set them aside and let them cool on racks before removing them from the pans. It was close to midnight at this point!
Once the bread was cool enough I sliced into the Parisienne. I was quite happy with the texture of the crumb. Not too dense and airy enough to give the bread a fine texture, if you know what I mean. The brioche I remember from La Brioche was even lighter and flakier than mine, but for a first try I was satisfied with the results. Even though it was well after midnight Tom and I tasted a slice. We were kind of disappointed. The bread was lacking flavor. Oh sure, it tasted and smelled wonderfully of yeast, but it needed either more salt or more sugar to make it really have character. I spread some apricot preserves on my piece and it was a great improvement. Tom and I both agreed that the next time, if I use this recipe it would need to be tweaked.
I had some brioche for breakfast on Sunday morning with apricot preserves and Tom made a few slices into French toast. He said the bread itself was perfect for French toast, it soaked up the egg well and didn't fall apart. To give it more flavor he beat some cinnamon and vanilla into the batter. He ate the cooked slices with real maple syrup, and declared it a good breakfst. Brioche is something I'd make again, just not right away. It was too time consuming for something that turned out average tasting. Perhaps if I try a different recipe next time, for comparison, I might change my mind and make it more often. As always, I don't consider it a complete waste of time. I really learned alot, AND I enjoyed myself despite how time consuming it was.
Last year, as I was beginning to teach myself how to bake, I got into a lively discussion with a co-worker about what Pan de Muerto looked and tasted like. According to Miguel, who is originally from Mexico, pan de muerto are little yeast buns that are sweet and covered with colored red sugar, shaped to look like fat little skeletons, or other similar shapes. (photo courtesy of Miquel) No, no, NO, I argued. According to the book Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno, Pan de Muerto is a round shaped loaf of rich yeast bread flavored with orange zest and anise seed and decorated to look like there are crossbones on it. Holding open the book (am I crazy because I bring cookbooks to work?) I made Miguel read the recipe, and yet he was still not convinced. To anyone listening and watching, it must have sounded like I had a lot of nerve to argue with a Mexican about his culture, but Miguel and I are good friends and it was all in good fun. I was honestly trying to learn more about the day, the custom and the wonderful sounding bread. Even with the book in front of him, I could not convince Miguel that he was wrong and he could not convince me that I was wrong, so to settle it, I decided to bake Miguel and his family a couple of loaves of the bread for Dia de los Muertos.
A few days later and coincidentally on Dia de los Muertos, I brought in 2 fresh baked loaves. We shared one loaf with our co-workers and the other, Miguel brought home for his family. The next time I spoke to Miguel, he told me that according to his parents I had been correct. yay! I was right, I was right, ha ha ha The bread that I had baked was the more traditional bread. The bread that Miguel had come to know and love was the commercial version of the bread, a version marketed more towards children than adults. Miguel’s parents really enjoyed the loaf I baked for them and so I decided that every year, as long as I was able, I would make it a tradition to bake a couple of loaves of pan de muerto for Miguel and his family. This year, I had to bake them a few days earlier because I wouldn't be seeing Miguel again until Monday, the day after the holiday.
After looking at different versions of the recipe online and comparing the recipe to one I found in a recently purchased cookbook, I decided to stick with last year's recipe. I figured it hadn't failed me then, so why fix something that wasn't broken. I will now say, that having baked the bread from this recipe twice, the next time, I'd tweak it to better suit my own tastes. For instance, I think the recipe from Ultimate Bread uses too little flour, the dough is supposed to be wet, but not so wet you can't handle it and sadly, following the recipe to a T results in some very wet, hard to handle dough. I had to use so much extra flour, it makes more sense to just incorporate it into the dough from the start. I would also add more sugar than the half a cup the recipe asks for. Normally, I'll be the first to admit that I am not a fan of overly sweet breads and pastries, however, this was a little under sweet, if you know what I mean. I would add more butter, for a richer moister crumb AND I would add more orange zest. The flavor of the orange zest and orange flower water got lost by the anise seed and it would be nice to have the orange flavor stand out a bit more than it does. I'll also need to practice making bones, because mine are seriously lacking.
"The staple flour in Mexico is cornmeal. Pan de Muerto, which is baked specially for the Mexican Day of the Dead festival, which takes place on All Souls' Day, is made instead with a highly prized ingredient: wheat flour. The bread is flavored with orange water and anise seeds and is decorated with pieces of dough that have been formed into the shape of bones. The bread is taken to the cemetary with other gifts, including chocolate, candy, and the symbolic flowers of the dead, yellow marigolds."
Sprinkle 2 teaspoons of dry yeast into 4 tablspoons of water (warm water works well) and leave in the bowl for 5 minutes, then stir to disslove. Mix 3 and 1/2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour (aww, my well was a little lacking) and pour in the dissolved yeast.
Use a wooden spoon to draw enough of the flour into the dissolved yeast (it was a little awkward getting the flour not to collapse) to form a soft paste. Cover with a dish towel and "sponge" until frothy, about 20 minutes.
Add 6 eggs, 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, 1/2 cup of sugar, 2 teaspoons of anise seed, 1 tablespoon of orange flower water, and the zest of 1 orange to the flour well. (eek! mine overflowed). Mix in the flour from the sides to form a soft, sticky dough.
Turn out onto a lightly floured work surface. (as you can see my floured work surface wasn't so lightly floured). Knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (I'll just say that I added ALOT of flour in order to be able to handle the dough enough to knead it to the smooth and elastic stage, so don't be scared if you should try this and end up adding more flour then the recipe asks for)
Put the dough in a clean, buttered bowl, turning it to coat evenly with the butter. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
Divide the dough into two equal pieces and pinch off a quarter of each piece. Divide one of these small pieces in half and shape each one into a ball, 1in (2.5cm) across. Divide the other small piece in 14 equal pieces, and shape each of them into a cylinder, 1/2 in (1cm) thick. Shape each cylinder into a small bone.
Shape the two remaining large pieces of dough into two round loaves. Place on a buttered baking sheet and stick one of the small balls on top of each loaf. Arrange the bones to form four crosses on the sides of each loaf. (heres a close up of my sorry looking bones).
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Cover the shaped loaves with a dish towel and proof until risen, about 30 minutes. Brush the loaves with the egg glaze (1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tablespoon of water) and sprinkle the loaves with sugar. (Let me tell you, my egg was runny, runnier than I remembered. It made a mess on the cookie sheets but was fairly easy to clean off even after baking). Bake in the preheated oven for 35 minutes, until golden brown and hollow sounding when tapped underneath. Cool on a wire rack, then sprinkle with more sugar before serving. Makes 2 loaves.
So why so much Indian food lately? I’m not sure really. I do know I’m fascinated by the spices. I love the seemingly endless combinations of spice mixtures that make the foundation of almost all the dishes. I like the contrasts of the hot with the mild, the savory with the sweet, the color and smell of the spices, both pleasant and pungent. I love finding new gadgets to play with, gadgets that make me feel that using them in preparing the meal makes the meal seem much more authentic. The last time I was at the store I bought a cast-iron Karhai Balti pan, which is kind of like a wok in shape and function. This time I bought a small rolling pin. The rolling pin is going to help me make some homemade Chapatis, something I’ve been eager to try for quite some time. I suppose I’m going through an Indian food phase, its not uncommon for me to concentrate on one cuisine for long periods of time, but instead of trying to read too much into it, I'm just going to relax and enjoy the learning experience and the food. Sometimes its best not to over analyze things.
Now, Let’s make some Chapatis!
Madhur Jaffrey’s recipe, from her book World Vegetarian won out over all the other recipes I came across simply because her instructions seemed like the least complicated, and they were. I can now say I made chapatis and survived! One thing I didn’t like was that she didn’t give an alternate to use in the event that one couldn’t get Chapati Flour. I did find an alternate in another cookbook, the food of India. The authors of that book suggest using 100g each of whole meal and plain flour. If anyone would like to try this at home and and want to use but can’t get Chapati flour, I do highly recommend Kalustyan’s, its really a great place to shop, especially on Fridays.
Put two cups of Chapati flour into a bowl, if you wish you can add a ½ teaspoon of salt to the flour, I did, although according to Jaffrey this is not really traditionally done. To the salt/flour mixture, slowly pour ¾ cups of water PLUS 2 tablespoons into the bowl, pouring just enough water so that you can gather the dough and make it into a ball. I used all the water, so don’t be surprised if you do too. Knead well for 10 minutes*. Make a smooth ball and place into a bowl, cover with a damp towel and let sit for 30 minutes.
*I’ve come to learn the importance of kneading dough for the time given. 10 minutes is the ideal time for the gluten to develop, this makes for better, more uniform results. Anything less would not be good and anything more would overdevelop the gluten, which can also lead to problems when cooking. So, if a recipe says knead for 10 minutes then 10 minutes it should be.
I’m also starting to notice a pattern to my kneading technique. I use the heel of my palm and I push the dough away from me in a sort of rhythm. push push, turn, fold, pause, push push, turn, fold, pause, and so on… There was a discussion about kneading technique in the comments over at Blue’s a few days ago, the entry is titled "One mustn't fear the rising of the yeast". This got me thinking and I started paying more attention to what my technique was and that's when I noticed the pattern. Pretty neat, eh?
After 30 minutes, (I admit I left mine for 60 minutes because I was making the rest of dinner, which was meant to be eaten with the chapatis) take the dough which will have turned kind of soft and divide into 12 balls. To make even-ish balls, I had to sneak some dough off the other ones, that’s why some of them look kind of weird. Keep them covered while you work otherwise they will dry out. Set a cast-iron frying pan or griddle on the stove over medium-high heat and let the pan get nice and hot. Set aside a dish with some paper towels or a tea towel, just so that you have something to cover and keep the chapatis warm while you’re making the others. Crumple a paper towel into a small wad and set aside.
Dust your work surface well with flour, then take a ball and roll it into a 5-1/2 inch disc on the floured surface. My first attempts were kind of lame, the dough was wet, not sopping, but just enough to be tacky, so I needed A LOT of flour to be able to handle it. I got progressively better as I went, by the 12th ball I was an old pro. yeah right Once you have your disc, lift it and shake it out to get rid of the excess flour. The dough is surprisingly sturdy and if you use a firm but gentle hand (does that make sense?) it won’t tear. SLAP that chapatti onto the hot griddle. Let it cook for about 45 seconds, turn it over and cook the other side for another 35 to 45 seconds. Turn again, cook another 6 seconds, this time pushing down on it with the wad of paper towel, rotating it a little with each push*. Be careful not to burn yourself, like I did.
*You have to do this step kind of fast and it’s not really easy, I found that if you just let the chapatti stay on the griddle and push it around a bit, it will still sort of puff up which is what you are trying to achieve. Some worked well, others didn't. It was really hit or miss, I’m not sure why, but I didn’t let it bother me either.
Once it’s puffed and cooked, it will turn slightly darker in color, the dough will feel stiffer and you will have some char burns, transfer it to a plate and keep it covered while you make the rest of the batch. Before putting the next chapati on the pan, wipe or brush the excess flour from the pan, otherwise it will burn. I was able to roll out a disc while 1 disc was cooking. Surprisingly soon I got the "groove" down and I was able to whip out the 12 chapatis without much mishap.
Jaffrey says they taste best when freshly made and she’s right, but if you have leftovers, like we did, she says they can be kept in a plastic bag in the fridge or freezer. To reheat, just wrap a bunch in foil and put them in a medium oven for 15 minutes. She also says you can sprinkle a little water on individual ones and reheat in the microwave for 30 to 45 seconds or slap onto a hot, lightly greased griddle for a few seconds on each side too.
We ate ours with Kheema Matar which is a lamb and pea minced dish that I will write about at some point in the next few days. The chapatis were good, I’m sure there were little mistakes I made along the way, for a first attempt they weren’t perfect, but since they get eaten and not framed for wall hanging, who cares, right.
I baked two loaves of bread yesterday. I really surprised myself by how well they turned out too. A year ago, if anyone would have told me that I would become very interested in bread baking, that I would actually enjoy kneading bread by hand, that I would spend the end of 2002 and all of 2003 and hopefully all of 2004 and beyond feeding and caring for the same sourdough starter, I would have doubted them highly, and yet there I was in my kitchen Sunday evening just before bed, preparing the starter recipe for some Ciabatta bread, and loving every minute of it.
According to Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno the author’s of Ultimate Bread, Ciabatta was...
given its name because the bread resembles a well worn slipper. It is the prolonged rising and high liquid content that produce this very light bread, with its uniquely open and porous texture. An authentic Ciabatta requires a very wet dough that can be tricky to handle and must be started a day in advance. Do not be tempted to add extra flour to make the dough more manageable, and avoid over handling the dough at all costs. After its long rise, the dough must be handled with a very light touch (“like a baby,” as they say in Italy), so that all the precious air bubbles are not broken.
Okay, so I made a few mistakes, maybe I handled the dough a little too much, but being that this was my first attempt, I’m not going to get down on myself about it. I’ll be making this bread again and I definitely won’t be making those mistakes next time, I’ll be making new ones! HA, just kidding.
To make the starter I combined ¾ cups warm (not hot) water, and 3 tablespoons of milk into a bowl then sprinkled ½ teaspoon of dry yeast onto the milk/water mix. I left it for 5 minutes, then added ¼ teaspoon of honey and stirred to dissolve everything. I mixed in 1 cup of flour so that I had a loose batter, then covered the bowl with a piece of Saran Wrap and a kitchen towel and let the whole thing rise on my counter overnight. I am learning to be more Zen with this step. Last year, when I first started, I could hardly get sleep knowing that there was science happening on my kitchen counter and I’d be peeking at the starter every chance I got. This year, I went to bed and managed to not even glance in the direction of the starter as I passed it on my 47,000 nightly runs to the loo.
The next day, to make the dough I sprinkled ½ teaspoon of dry yeast into 1 cup of warm (not hot) water and left it for 5 minutes, at the end of 5 minutes I stirred to dissolve the yeast. I added the dissolved yeast and ½ tablespoon of olive oil to the starter that had been prepared the night before and mixed well. To this I added 1-1/2 teaspoons of salt and 2-1/2 cups of flour and stirred until I had wet sticky dough. With a wooden spoon I then stirred and beat the dough by hand for 5 minutes so that the dough would become springy and pull away from the sides of the bowl but be too soft to knead. OMG! Let me tell you, this is not an easy thing to do. Rather then stirring its really more like wrestling, while you try to maintain your control over the mixing, your hand is screaming out in sheer agony. Once 5 minutes was up, I covered the bowl with a piece of Saran Wrap and a kitchen towel and let it rise until it had tripled in volume and was full of air bubbles. The book says this would take about 3 hours and this is where I think I made my first mistake. At 2 hours into the rising, I peeked under the towel and all looked really good, bubbles forming and dough bulking up so I decided to do an errand that I had been putting off for too long. Thinking I could make it to the Village and back within an hour I hopped on the subway and went to do my chore. On the way back, I decided to get off the train earlier than my stop and walk to this groovy new fruit stand/gourmet market and pick up some stuff because I was craving olives and salami. I ending up wandering the aisles for much longer than I should have, spent $38.00 on more than just olives and salami and got home to find that I was gone for an hour and 45 minutes and the dough had started to deflate. Damn
I quickly put the groceries away and washed my hands, then generously floured 2 baking sheets and preheated the oven to 425 degrees. Keeping the tin of flour close by because I’d need to flour my hands well to handle the dough, I separated the dough while it was still in the bowl using a dough scraper. Even though the book specifically states not to punch the dough down, I found it impossible to separate it with the dough scraper without completely deflating it. I wonder if I had let it rise for the correct 3 hours if I would have gotten better results…
Scooping one half of the dough onto the well floured baking sheet I then floured my hands and started to gently pull and stretch the dough to form a long rectangular loaf, about 12 inches to be more exact. Dusting the loaf and my hands with more flour I neatly plumped up the loaf and tucked the rough edges under the dough. Let me say this, cold, slightly wet dough, feels SO GOOD! I think I may have over primped and handled it because it just felt so nice in my hands. I repeated the above with the remaining dough and then set both baking sheets aside, uncovered, to proof for 20 minutes. Of coarse this turned into 35 minutes because I got distracted by the new cooking magazine that had arrived earlier with the mail. Just before I set the sheets into the oven to bake, I sprit-zed the bottom of my oven with water to create steam, then slipped the baking sheets in and closed the door for 30 minutes so the bread could bake. My oven temp varies so it ended up taking about 45 minutes to get the crust to look browned and golden, but I didn’t burn the bottoms so that made me very happy.
The bread was tasty, although I was a little disappointed with the crumb, I wanted it to be more light and airy looking and have bigger bubbles like in the book, but I guess that takes practice. I was thinking it might have needed a touch more salt, but Tom said it was delicious as is, so maybe it's my loopy pregnancy taste buds that's making me think it needed more salt. We both agreed it was a little too crusty (like break your teeth crusty) so I need to research how to correct for that next time. Overall, this was a great first try if I do say so myself.
I've come to discover that one of the best activities for when world affairs weigh heavily on my mind, when family politics become strange and complicated, when too many things crowd my head, that baking, specifically bread baking is good therapy.
I decided to bake a couple of loaves of bread today and although the weather (in my opinion) was a bit too humid for baking, I went ahead and baked anyway. It was just the thing I needed, to be creative with my hands yet allowing me to free my mind enough to sort out my thoughts and think about a whole bunch of stuff as my life begins to take new and interesting paths.
I opted to channel the spirit of James Beard for this project, mainly because I find his writing and teaching techniques comforting, and comforting was just what I needed today. I find it funny to think that only last year I was intimidated by his books and felt too inexperienced as a cook to try his recipes. I've sure come a long way baby! I was originally going to bake a Challah bread, I could use some dough braiding practice and since it is Rosh Hashanah, Challah seemed like a good project, but I changed my mind when I came across Beard's recipe for Portuguese Sweet Bread from his Beard On Bread cookbook. It sounded just like what I was in the mood for, something sweet and yeasty to go with tea, and the recipe looked simple enough even for me. As a bonus and much to my great pleasure I had everything on hand, saving myself a run to the market too. Yay me!
Still channeling Beard, he instructed me to combine 2 packages of active dry yeast with 1 teaspoon of sugar and 1/2 cup of water in a large bowl and allow it to proof. Now, he didn't say how long this process would take and not wanting to mess up before I even got started I "guesstimated" a time somewhere between 5 and ten minutes for the yeast, sugar and water to react with each other and start bubbling up. I was pleased to find that after about 7 minutes the mixture was indeed doing its thang! To this mixture, I added another mixture that consisted of 1/2 cup of warm milk, 1 stick of softened unsalted butter, and 1 cup of granulated sugar that I had pre- blended with my handy mini whisk, not beating the mixture to death mind you, but just enough to incorporate everything and dissolve the sugar. To the yeast, sugar, milk, butter, and water mixture, I then added 3 eggs that had been lightly beaten and 1 tablespoon of salt, I mixed well, then moved on to adding 4 cups of all purpose flour, one cup at a time. Now, here's where things got a little strange. Beard's recipe calls for 4 to 4-1/2 cups of flour but doesn't say how to measure the flour. I've read that it's best to weigh flour for the best accuracy in recipes but I don't have a kitchen scale… well, I don’t have one that works correctly is a better way to say it. I know you're never supposed to dip your measuring cup in and just scoop out flour so I've always used the scoop and tap method. Beard suggests mixing the dough by hand as you add each cup of flour until you make a soft dough, but I found that after adding each cup and mixing well before each addtion of the next cup of flour, the dough was still frighteningly wet. Even after 4 cups of flour I had a very wet dough, so I added another 1/2 cup of flour which made the dough manageable enough to turn out onto my floured board but was still way too wet to knead without making a big mess and needing to use a dough scraper to handle the dough. I didn't panic though, the way I saw it, I had taken on the baking project to help me get my thoughts in order and now the baking project needed me to be more focused and tune out all the other stuff. I was ready for the challenge! Very slowly and carefully I added more flour to the dough in small handfuls, kneading with the dough scraper until all was incorporated before adding additional flour. This was beginning to work at making the dough a lot less wet and easier to handle and I wondered more than a few times if perhaps my scooping and tapping method might be too off, that perhaps it's not the best way to go about measuring flour. *shrug* All told, the dough took an additional 1/3 cup more flour than Beard suggested, but the end result was a good manageable dough that didn't stick and was a pleasure to handle. I was surprised that my growing belly didn't seem to get in the way when I was kneading, at 24 weeks I'm sticking out big time, but not enough to hinder kneading yet woohoo. I like kneading dough by hand; I may have mentioned that here a few times before, so forgive me if I sound like a broken record. I find the repetition of kneading relaxing, I like how a crude mass of mainly flour and some liquid can be transformed into a smooth supple elastic mass after only 10-15 minutes of vigorous pounding, like I mentioned earlier, baking is good therapy. SO! Once the dough came back from the brink of disaster I formed it into a ball and placed it into a buttered bowl, tossing it around a few times to coat the mass and then covered it with cling wrap (have I ever mentioned that I really hate cling wrap) and set it in a warm dark place to double in size. "Uncle" James didn't say how long this would take so I guessed 2 hours would be a good amount of time to wait. Well, it ended up being more like 3 hours because Tom wanted to go check out some sale stuff at Macy's, and who am I to deprive the hubby (and myself) of some good quality time browsing and dreaming over kitchen gadgets and appliances?
Home again, I took the now doubled dough and punched it down (love that step), then divided it into half and reshaped the 2 halves into balls placing 1 half in a buttered loaf pan and the other in a buttered round cast iron pan. Beard says to use 2 round pans but it's ok if you don't have 2 round pans, loaf pans are just fine too. I covered the 2 loaves with kitchen towels and placed them in a cold oven leaving the oven light on to create a little warmth, and let the dough double in bulk yet again. At this point I tied a pillowcase around my neck, placed a pot upside down on my head, grabbed a wooden spoon and proceeded to play the "drums" on the bottom of an overturned pot to pass the time. NO, NO NO! I cleaned up a little and then sat calmly, with my hands folded on my lap in a very ladylike manner until it was time to come back and finish the recipe. no really, I did.
After preheating my oven to 350 degrees I brushed the top of each loaf with an egg that I had vigorously beaten and then popped the loaves into the oven for 30 minutes to bake. Beard states that the end results should be;
a rich, dark, shining color and sounds hollow when rapped on top and bottom.
As you can see from the pic above, I think I may have achieved just what Beard had ordered, if not, it doesn't matter because I was pleased with the results anyway. The taste was fantastic, just a hint of sweetness with a fine textured crumb, a good bread to have with a cup of tea and some apricot preserves.
I made my first ever pizza on Sunday! The fact that these were my first ever pizzas is, in and of itself something of a surprise since my mother, who would be the first to admit she was not the cook in our family, really enjoyed making one particular dish, and that was pizza. Let me tell you this my friends, my Mom can make some killer, damn good pizza. With those kinds of genes running through me, you'd think that all I ever did was whip out the pizza, yet before Sunday I never actually tried making any myself. All that has changed now, for I am the newly crowned QUEEN of PIZZA!
ok, ok, let me stop.
So what gives? Why did I suddenly, after all these years feel the urge to try making pizza?
Well, I was wandering through the freezer section of the supermarket the other day and came across a package of frozen pizza dough and was curious. Is frozen pizza dough any good? I had no idea; so naturally, I picked up a package and brought some home to try. I do know that making pizza dough is not easy and can even be considered an art form, especially to some pizza purists. I've read that true Italian style pizza dough uses a special 00 grade flour and that proportions of flour to other ingredients must be exact and never substituted. This has always intimidated me and kept me from trying my own. My mother never made her own pizza dough, she was lucky because in the neighborhood were I grew up in Brooklyn, folks could buy freshly made pizza dough from the local bread bakeries 6 days a week (call ahead please for orders over 10 pounds). This dough, along with whatever magic and special touches my mother added made the pizza that I knew and loved as a kid so very very good. This frozen block of doughy ice had big shoes to fill, let me tell you.
The instructions on the package were quite simple, "rub dough lightly with olive oil, place in a bowl and cover with a towel for 4 or more hours". Ok, easy enough. The package DID give a recipe for pizza, but I was set on trying to make a Pizza Margherita, pizza made with buffalo mozzarella, smothered in sauce and sprinkled with fresh basil, oh yes! The sausage pizza came out of a request from Tom, who, upon hearing that traditional pizza Margherita contains no meat went into panic mode imagining a meal without meat and so, in an effort not to deprive Tom of meat WHATSOEVER, I made a sausage version just for him. (I know, I’m such a saint).
The sauce was my own homemade recipe. Take enough olive oil to coat the bottom of a saucepan with a thin layer, then, add 6 cloves or more of crushed garlic, sauté until just beginning to turn brown, then add 2 cans of peeled imported Italian plum tomatoes, use a potato masher to break up the whole tomatoes, add salt and pepper, a pinch of crushed red pepper flakes, a healthy dash each of dried oregano, parsley flakes and marjoram and lots of fresh basil leaves that have been washed and torn, stir and let simmer uncovered on the lowest possible heat setting for 2 or more hours. Here's a secret, if the sauce tastes too acidic add a little bit of sugar to cut the acid down. The goal is NOT to make a sweet sauce but just to take the bite out of the acid that sometimes makes a sauce taste bitter.
While the sauce was cooking I had taken the ball of buffalo mozzarella and wrapped it in paper towels, placed it in a dish, placed another dish on top and weighed the whole thing down in an effort to extract as much of the moisture from the cheese that I could. I have read that buffalo mozzarella can ruin a pizza if it’s too fresh. Ideally it’s best used on pizza when it is at least 2 days old because some of the moisture would have evaporated by then. The mozzarella I picked up on Sunday was pretty fresh and therefore pretty moist so my weighing down method worked out really well. The sausage was sweet Italian with anise and fennel, I removed the casings and pre-cooked the meat then set it aside to cool and be ready to crumble over the top of the pizza.
At the four hour point, I removed the balls of dough from the bowls and kneaded them with some flour for 10 minutes, then lightly covered them with olive oil and set them back into the bowls, covered, for another hour. I got a little nervous in that last hour because I was expecting the dough to double in bulk but it never really got any higher than let's say an inch over it's original size. Hmmm, frozen pizza dough so far, did not impress me. After the hour was up, I rolled out the dough and did my best to simulate what I used to see my mother doing to her dough to help it get a round shape, but of course being that it was me, I had no such luck. Then I tried to simulate what I've seen the pizza guys doing in the pizza joints, you know the tossing and stretching thing they do, then the tossing into the air in such a way that the dough spins as it comes back to earth and you try catching it with your hands, THAT was proving to be too scary for my clumsy self so I did my best to get a sort of round-ish shape by doing a combination of moves that looked more like I was spastic than anything else, but HEY! It worked so who's complaining. Pizza number one was topped with a layer of sauce, shredded mozzarella, grated Parmesano Romano and a layer of sausage. Pizza number two was first topped with a layer of sliced mozzarella, then the sauce and 3 minutes before cooking was done a layer of fresh basil. Both pizzas were cooked in a 500 degree oven for 15 minutes then removed and cooled for 10 minutes before slicing.
The Verdict:
I was impressed. I thought the frozen dough wasn't bad at all. It made a nice crisp crust that was also pleasantly chewy in the thicker areas. Although I didn't have a proper pizza stone, the bottoms DID get cooked and the flavor of the dough wasn't bad at all either. Ask anyone that knows me, I detest the undercooked pizza that pizza parlors sell these days and so when I inspected the bottoms after 15 minutes of cooking and they weren’t raw I was in happiness overload. I was expecting a bland tasting crust, but much to my great pleasure it was not. The pizza themselves were fantastic too. My sauce came out really well, the mozzarella did not leak out any liquid that would have ruined the pizza and overall the whole experience, from start to finish was really great. Of course I'd like to make my own dough one day, but until that day comes, or if I'm ever in a pinch, this frozen stuff wasn't so bad after all.
I sneak kitchen equipment into the apartment.
I hide it away, then take it out and use it, feigning innocence and claiming we always had it when Tom asks "Where did that come from?" We really don't have the extra room in our kitchen for more toys but I can't help myself. He's onto me though, and knowing this I decided to fess up about the new steamed pudding mold. His reaction (to my total shock) was: "Oh cool, we can make bread pudding."
Joy!
And so I did...
My first steamed pudding. (*sniffle*...I'm so proud) definitely not my last. This was really good- I didn't expect that, actually I didn't expect it to turn out at all. The shape didn't hold as expected but I think that might be because this "pudding" had more of a custard consistency rather than a cake consistency. I'll also admit that in my excitement I unmolded before it had a chance to cool and set a bit. That's fine though, it still tasted very good.
Blaine, who often leaves great suggestions for me in the comments section of my entries, left a recipe earlier last week that I decided to try with this mold. Thanks Blaine! Modifying the recipe slightly, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees, then removed the crusts from 2 loaves of Italian bread (Blaine uses sourdough) and cubed it. Placing the cubes in an oven safe dish I toasted the cubes until they were dry and just starting to brown. In a large bowl I whisked 3 cups of heavy cream together with 9 egg-yolks, 1-1/2 cups of real dark amber maple syrup, a pinch of salt, a capful of vanilla extract, a little less than a capful of lemon extract, a healthy dash of cinnamon, fresh grated nutmeg and last but not least, 1 heaping tablespoon (with liquid) of currants that were soaked in some very potent white rum. By this time I had taken the bread cubes out of the oven, and decided to let them cool because I was afraid of cooking the egg if I added them to the wet ingredients too soon. So, while the cubed bread cooled I set a pot on the stove and added a rack for the pudding mold to sit on (this allows water to flow under the mold while cooking). I buttered the mold (you can't really tell but I did), to allow for easy pudding removal later, then sprinkled the inside of the buttered mold with nutmeg. Placing the now cooled bread cubes into the wet ingredients I let them soak for a while before pouring the whole mixture into the mold. I got a little nervous here, thinking that there wasn't enough liquid, I added some whole milk (I was out of heavy cream) just to cover the exposed cubes then capped the whole thing and put it in it's bath. Oops! Almost forgot to mention that I had let the "bath" water come to a boil before lowering the heat to a simmer and putting the mold in. I had read a lot of conflicting information about how long to steam for so I averaged it out to 2 hours.
While the pudding was slowly simmering on the stove it took everything I had not to keep lifting the lid off the pot and trying to peek at what was going on, so I decided to make a sauce. I originally wanted to make a vanilla bourbon sauce, but after realizing I had some fruit that needed to be used (and fast) I decided on a fruit sauce. Into a pot went 1 pint of strawberries, a handful of blueberries, 2 mangoes, (Paul cooked some unique and interesting dishes with mangoes last week as well as gave out some good tips and information on them) about 2 cups of water, 1/3 cup of sugar and the juice of 1 key lime. I boiled this until the fruit had become "bloated" (hmm...I think water-logged sounds better), then removed it from the heat and pushed the whole thing through a fine strainer. I discarded the fibers, and poured the strained liquid back into the pot and added 1 capful of vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of Tawny Port, 2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar. I boiled this down until it was a thick tasty syrup, then removed it from the heat and let it cool.
I had been periodically checking the water while the pudding was steaming to make sure that the water was halfway up the sides of the mold at all times. If it wasn't then I added some more boiling water to the pot from a tea kettle I was boiling water in for this purpose. You can imagine my surprise when I lifted the lid off the pot and found that the mold had flipped it's lid! I guessed at this point the pudding was done, so I turned off the heat, used a turkey baster to bail out enough water to get my hands and 2 potholders in there and removed the mold. I let it cool for about 20 minutes (I should have waited an hour at least) then unmolded it onto my boring white plate. I "sauced" it with the balsamic mango~berry reduction and then for lack of better decoration I used the peel of a lime to add some more color. I'm not crazy about the photo I used, lack of better planning on my part really, I should do what Blue does and sketch my idea's for plating.
Final Thoughts: I served it a little prematurely as it still wasn't set completely, next time I will wait, that should ease the slicing a bit. I thought it was delicious, but in all honestly I only had a few bites. The berry sauce was a nice tart but not too tart contrast to the sweet and eggy taste and texture of the pudding. I would use a bit less maple syrup next time, but this is a preference issue, I just don't like sweet sweet things, although this wasn't overly sweet, I would just prefer it less sweet (does that makes sense?). Otherwise it was damn tasty just the way it was. In terms of fun, this cooking project was off the scale, it was a lot of fun. A definite keeper and now in my "make this recipe again pile".
I underestimated my Nonna, and I shouldn't have, for she is wise in the ways of the kitchen and I am not. I have so much to learn, and without trying to sound morbid, I feel like I don't have much time left to learn things from her, and so I try to rush them out of her. Time is something that Nonna knows about, and somehow she can sense when it is time to teach me something and when it is not. Her refusal to give me the recipe for Cuddiruni (pretty sure I'm still spelling that wrong) had nothing to do with guarding a cooking secret, but had everything to do with whether I was ready to learn it.
Clearly I was not ready.
Dinner did not turn out to be a homemade stuffed focaccia like I had originally planned, but a delicious pasta dish that I made at the last minute because the focaccia was taking too long. I admit I planned it all rather poorly. I should have had all the ingredients for the focaccia pre-cooked and ready but I didn't. At the last minute I realized I forgot to buy sausage, and halfway through making the focaccia we ran out of olive oil. So Tom...good ole Tom, ran to the store for me and bought more olive oil and sausage. For what may be the first time ever, I didn't double the recipe and this was the one time I should have. Tom was quite amused by that, he's always teasing me about my tendency to double recipes, get overwhelmed and then need rescuing. (In my defense-that only happens at Christmas time...um...yeah... only at Christmas time).
Things always have a way of working out and I'm kind of glad the focaccia took longer to make than expected because I learned another lesson. Nonna used all that olive oil for a reason, it helped make the bread crumbly and moist, perfect for biting into and not breaking ones teeth. My focaccia turned out crusty but hard and not in the least bit like Nonnas. I won't skimp on the olive oil next time, the few calories I thought I was saving wasn't worth sacrificing the texture, texture, I am learning is just as important as flavor.
Allow yourself plenty of time because this dough needs to go through several rises. Place the yeast and the sugar in a bowl and add the 1 and 1/3 cup of water, let rest for 10 minutes or until it starts to foam. Stir in the olive oil and then add the yeast mixture to the flour a little at a time, mixing well until a rough, sticky dough forms. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured board and knead for approximately 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. Place the dough into a bowl that you've pre-oiled, give a few turns, coating the ball of dough with oil. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm draft- free area for 2 hours or until it doubles in size.
This is the point where I should have started getting the other ingredients ready, but somehow I ended up on the computer too long...oops!
Once the dough has doubled in bulk, punch it down and turn it out onto a lightly floured board, kneading it for 5 minutes. Coat the dough with more olive oil and place back in the bowl, cover and let rise again, until doubled, about 2 hours.
Oil the baking pan. (I used a 9x13 inch rectangular pan). After the dough has doubled again, punch it down, turn it out onto a board and knead for about 2 minutes, then using a rolling implement, roll the dough into your desired shape. This step is easier said than done, the dough kept springing back and losing the shape I was trying to achieve, and so I had to resort to Pizzeria tactics...don don don DAH! it's Pizza Chick!. I was going to have to do some stretching of the dough to get it to work with me. I tried a combination of rolling the dough a bit and then stretching it in my hands until I had a reasonably loose piece of dough that I could drape into the pan. Once in the pan, I pulled the dough over the sides so that it overlapped a bit, giving it a chance to fit back into the pan once it tried to re-shape itself. Brush the surface generously with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise again in a draft-free warm spot for another 45 minutes.
After 45 minutes, pour a generous amount of olive oil over the dough and then using a pastry brush spread it evenly on the surface, using your fingers (it's fun!) poke holes into the surface of the dough, pushing in while you're poking. Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm draft-free spot and let rise for 2 more hours.
At this stage, I realized that we wouldn't be eating stuffed focaccia for dinner, so I decided to make a pasta dish using the broccoli rabe and sausage that was supposed to go in the focaccia. The focaccia would just have to be doctored up with herbs instead and eaten as a tasty snack rather than a meal. Cutting off the ends and removing any bad leaves from the broccoli rabe I washed it and set it aside while I sauteed 5 cloves of roughly chopped garlic in some olive oil. When the garlic began to brown, I threw the broccoli rabe into the pan and covered it with a lid, letting the whole thing sort of sautee/steam until it had almost completely wilted. After letting a pot get very hot, I threw the sausage into the pot, letting it sear and cook on one side for about 10 minutes, letting it form a nice crust...mmm crust . I Turned the sausage, and let it cook on the other side, until crusty and cooked through, about 10 more minutes, then removed it from the pan and let it rest about 10 minutes before slicing it into chunks. I put a pot of salted water on to boil, and when it was boiling I dumped in about a half pound of spaghetti. Charlie had lost interest with the cooking about an hour before and so when the spaghetti came out of the cupboard he bolted into the kitchen from his hiding place (between the wall and the steam pipe in the spare bedroom)and demanded his spaghetti tax. I let the spaghetti cook until Al Dente then drained it, placed it back in the pot and tossed in the sausage and broccoli rabe, salt and pepper to taste and a little Pecorino Romano cheese, and that was dinner.
While we ate dinner, the dough was still rising, in it's warm draft-free spot in the oven. After cleaning up the dinner mess in the kitchen I went back to making the focaccia, which at this point had doubled again and needed to be poked down, covered, and set aside to rise, one last time for 2 hours.
At 1 and 1/2 hours into the last rise I moved the dough from it's spot in the oven so that I could pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. I brushed yet more olive oil on the surface of the dough. I just can't believe how much olive oil is used in making this bread, I was being conservative with it, but I can remember Nonna "going to town" with the oil-can, liberally spreading olive oil all over her dough, no dainty pastry brush for my Nonna, she used her hands to spread around the olive oil love. Since I wasn't going to be stuffing this bread after all, I compensated by sprinkling salt, dried oregano, dried marjoram, and dried basil over the surface of the dough. I would have also sprinkled rosemary on it but I was out of that too. So, into the now hot oven with the bread, where I let it bake until it was golden brown. I forgot to time how long it took to bake...doh!
Some final observations about the bread. As I mentioned above, I thought that the texture was off, and I now believe that olive oil is the essential ingredient to getting a more crumbly yet moist dough. The use of the herbs was a nice idea, and the bread smelled incredible because of it. I thought it tasted ok, in my opinion I found it lacked salt. I think next time I would sift about a tablespoon of salt in with the flour, just to see if that enhances the flavor a little more. Although nothing turned out the way I had envisioned it, the whole thing was a success in my opinion. We ate a pasta dish I haven't made in many years, the combination of sweet sausage and bitter broccoli rabe over pasta is superb, and something I should make more often. I also learned a lot about the type of dough focaccia is, and next time, I'll know what to tweak to try to get better results...overall, it was a good day in my kitchen.
The Sept./Oct. 2002 issue of Saveur magazine ran an article on Challah bread and included a diagram showing how to make a six-braid loaf. The article ran right around the time I was becoming interested in baking bread and so, being that I love a challenge I tried making their version of Challah Bread. The result was 2 golden loaves of crusty bread, awkwardly braided ( 6 braids is not easy) but quite tasty with butter and apricot preserves. I brought one of the loaves to work where it was devoured in less than 30 minutes (to date: the Chocolate Bread holds the record of being eaten in the least amount of time by the locusts umm...my co-workers - 15 minutes). More important than making the bread look pretty or pleasing my co-workers was what I learned- baking was something I was really beginning to enjoy, and something I wanted to pursue further.
I recently purchased a used copy of the 1973 book Beard On Bread written by (go on, take a guess...) James Beard. I was sitting at the table flipping through the book this morning and it occurred to me that I had been silly for thinking that the book was intimidating. Beard presents the information in very easy to understand terms, he takes care with his explanations and it's quite clear bread baking was a subject he had studied extensively.
Looking at Beard's version of Challah it struck me as very odd that he was asking for THREE packages of active dry yeast, not that I'm any expert but I didn't remember using that much yeast with the Saveur version. I got out the issue of Saveur and compared the 2 recipes. Beard calls for 3 packages of yeast, and 5 and 1/2 cups of flour, Saveur calls for 2 TBS. of yeast and an amazing 9 and 1/4 cups of flour. I didn't think to measure the three packages into a measuring spoon but it just occurred to me that maybe 3 packages equals 2 tablespoons. Beard is quite clear about his preference for butter, but he is not so militant that he doesn't suggest the use of other fats in baking. The Saveur recipe uses vegetable oil. Intrigued by the differences in the 2 recipes and being that I was not about to go out of my house in 14 degree weather, I decided to make the Beard version of the Challah bread.
A couple of things to note here: I don't own a kitchen scale, we just don't have the room, so I use the "Scoop and Tap" method of measuring flour. Scoop flour into a measuring cup with a spoon and tap, letting it settle then, level off with a knife. Beard does not specify salted or unsalted butter but I concluded that unsalted would be best since most pastry and bread recipes I've come across call for unsalted.
Grease a large bowl with butter and set aside.
Beard wants you to proof the yeast in 1 and 1/3 cups of lukewarm water. He doesn't say for how long so I waited 5 minutes and then to the yeast mixture I added 1 tablespoon of sugar, 1 tablespoon of salt, 3 tablespoons of softened butter, 3 eggs, and the flour, (1 cup at a time for a total of 5 and 1/2 cups). Mix until you get a stiff dough.
Saveur wants you to proof the yeast in 2 and 1/4 cups of water, with a teaspoon of sugar for 10 minutes. Saveur calls for 4 eggs to be beaten in a separate bowl, to that, add 1 tablespoon of salt, the remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, add the yeast mixture- mix well, gradually adding the 9 and 1/2 cups of flour until the dough is stiff.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic for approx. 10 minutes. Put the dough into the large buttered bowl turning to coat the outside evenly and cover placing in a warm draft free spot about 2 hours or until doubled in bulk. Butter and set aside 2 large cookie sheets.
From this point on the recipes are pretty much the same, only slight differences that I don't think need to be mentioned.
After 2 hours punch down the dough (I let it rest for 5 minutes, something I learned from other recipes but neither Beard or Saveur required) then divide into 12, equal-ish pieces. ( maybe one day in my ballroom sized dream kitchen I will have a scale). Roll each portion of dough into a rope about 8 inches long and attach the ends to one another. Ok, this is where I ran into problems and had to get Tom and our friend GH to help, even with the great diagram provided in Saveur it still got pretty confusing. I'm not even going to try to explain how to make a 6 braid loaf (sorry). We did manage to eventually braid it-and it didn't look that bad. That's the better looking one in the picture. Place the loaves diagonally on the buttered cookie sheets, cover-let rise in a draft free place until doubled in bulk (about 1 hour). Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees, beat 1 egg yolk with 1 teaspoon of cold water and brush over the loaf, you can add seeds at this point (we didn't have any) place in the oven and bake for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown.
To be fair-I should have made the Saveur bread recipe again so that we could compare the 2 loaves side by side. I do remember the Saveur loaf being a little richer and HUGE, they were Gigantaur loaves. My thoughts on the Beard version: next time I'd add a bit more salt, neither loaf was sweet and from what I understand traditional Challahs aren't sweet. Both loaves had a lovely golden crust that was crunchy, the inner crumb was soft and the combination of soft and crusty was terrific.
This was the loaf of bread (well...not this exact loaf) that got me interested in further experimenting with baking breads and baking in general. This is the 5th time I've tried this particular recipe and this is the first time it looks remotely similar to the picture in the book I'm using as my guide. It's also the first time I've achieved a light airy texture inside while maintaining a good crusty outside. Back in September, I purchased "Ultimate Bread" by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno and decided to try their recipe for Pain de Campagne-which is a classic French Sourdough Bread.
This has become one of my favorite books on baking breads. The first few chapters are devoted to the foundations of bread making, from the differant types of breads, to ingredients, utensils, how to knead, punch, roll, and shape to starting and caring for sourdoughs and so on. The information is presented in a clear, easy to understand manner and every page is filled with photographs illustrating the more difficult steps. Having this book has helped ease my anxiety over getting involved with baking, which I believe is an art in and of itself. I own many books on cooking, I adore my Julia Child and James Beard books, but I'm intimidated by them too. I have more than a casual interest in cooking, (perhaps bordering on obsession) but no real training, having this book has made me feel more confident in myself, makes me feel like I can tackle Julia and James, learn from them, be one with them and still come out with something tasty. Maybe it has nothing to do with the book but just where I am in at this stage of my cooking journey. I might have just have been ready to make the move into baking, and if that was the case then any book would have done. Whatever it was (is), it's been fun, and I can't help but notice (and be proud of) the improvements with each loaf of bread I bake.
So decadent, yet so delicious, this bread tastes best when eaten warm, but cold is yummy too, just don't go there with ham and cheese!!
Sprinkle the yeast into a bowl filled with a ½ cup of the water. Wait 5 minutes, then stir to dissolve. In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt, make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Mixing the flour, stir in the remaining water, as needed, to form a soft sticky dough. If the dough gets too wet to work with, then add more flour sparingly until you have a soft sticky dough, it should not be a wet globby mess, like mine was the first time. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for at least 10 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a dish towel. Let it rise for about an hour or until it has doubled in size. Grease your 9inx5inx3in bread loaf pan with butter and set aside. After about an hour, punch down the dough, then let it rest for 10 minutes(it's tired, lol). After 10 minutes add the currents, hazelnuts, white chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, butter and egg to the bowl and massage the ingredients in- working them into the dough until somewhat incorporated then turning out onto a lightly floured work surface and kneading until firm enough to handle and shape, about 3 minutes. Shape the dough into a fat log, tucking the edges under, and place in your greased loaf pan (you did grease your pan didn't you?). Cover with a dish towel and let proof until it has risen, about 30 minutes. It should rise so that it's about an inch over the rim of the pan.
Preheat the oven to 350° F
Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, until it is golden brown looking. Remove from oven, let rest in pan for 5 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack and cool.
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