The Half Cup...

Financiers

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 00:23:11 -0500

Gold nuggets ... no I have no words of financial wisdom, Financiers here are little sweet bites of goodness. As with so many of these pastry things, these come to us from ... France ... when can I return? I’ve never had a Financier in all my times in France. I’ve seen them in many French bakery windows.

When Pat (FeedingMyEnthusiasms) ask us to bake something for Peabody’s birthday from off her blog, these are what rose off the back of my brain as something I’ve always wanted to try. I also know that there are three bloggers - Peabody, Tartelette and Lynn - who really brought these all together for me.

I still remember walking into Lynn’s (CookieBakerLynn) kitchen and she practically popped with excitement waving a spoon aimed for my mouth and proclaiming “You’ve got to taste this.” Browned Butter. You think you know the taste of butter, fancy European butters and what not, trust me you don’t know butter until you’ve tasted browned butter.

Nothing to it. Just melt it on the stove and then let it brown. What browns are all the solid milk fats. Watch it like a hawk so that you don’t burn it the first few times. After I’d done it a few times, I stopped watching until it would announce it’s self as starting to really work - it really starts to sizzle and pot on the lowest flame you can get - that when you’d best not get distracted. Burnt butter ain’t no good. Brown Butter is divine.

These Financiers are from Gale Gand’s Just a Bite book and they really bring out the brown butter WOW taste, a perfect show case.

I pretty much followed the recipe from the book - pretty much Peabody’s Financiers here - except I cut the recipe in half and measured cups into metric, so that’s what I’m going to give you here. You won’t believe how easy and gloriously browned butter little cakes can be until you’ve tried some of these.

BlackBerry Brown-Butter Financiers
Gale Gand’s just a bite

64 g butter - browned as above
26 g ground almond meal
55 g confectioner’s sugar
45 g all-purpose flour
65 g egg whites (from two eggs)
1/2 teaspoon applesauce

Strain the solid brown bits out of the browned butter (cheese cloth lining a strainer).
Whisk together the dry ingredients - there is no salt in this recipe. Add the strained and cooled brown butter, egg whites and that small 1/2 teaspoon applesauce. Half the recipe is a fairly small amount and I found it very easy to whisk this altogether by hand with a whisk.

Now here’s something that I always LOVE to find in a recipe:
At this point you can refrigerate the recipe for up to 3 days!!! You know what that means: I should have made the whole recipe and baked six to ten for the next three nights - what a silly girl I am sometimes.

Spoon the batter into the pan/molds - filling about 3/4 full. I followed directions and cut the blackberry in half and placed half on top of each filled mold - next time I’ll use the whole berry.

Bake at 375° for 14 minutes - 14 minutes is longer than given in the recipe but I think the size of my mold was slightly larger than Gale or Peabody used.

I’m telling you these are beyond “I’m only going to have one ... oops ... two ...” Ahem, well maybe it’s better I only made half the recipe.

A very happy 37 years to Pea.

Coming along soon some BBA maybe by Friday, who knows maybe we’ll have more company and it’ll be longer.

DB Bakewell Tart

Sat, 27 Jun 2009 13:28:26 -0500

Just call me Ms Procrastination White Rabbit but I’m not late YET.

This just out of the oven but with company coming for dinner hardly time for a write up.

With our lovely hostesses Anna Marie Ambrosia and Nectar and Jasmine Confessions of a Cardamom Addict not one but both with blogs I read all the time I couldn’t not bake the challenge this month. Besides after seeing Bakewell Tarts around over the years, I’ve always wanted to try one.

Two pieces of kitchen gadgets made this a much simpler challenge than it might have been.

The first was these “silly” - well I always thought they were until I tried them - rings for my rolling pin.

I used them to roll out the Sweet Short-crust for the Pastry in the tart.

The second “gadget”, I’ve come to appreciate as an essential, I’ve written about already here but I think it deserves another call to your attention. This particular recipe called for repeated “stop the mixer and scrape down the sides”. I didn’t stop my mixer once while creaming the sugar and butter or adding the eggs or ground hazelnuts (right, I didn’t have the almond meal) and flour while mixing the Frangipane.

If you don’t have a beater with wings, you want them. It works.

I seriously appreciate the Douglas Adams words of warning: “Don’t panic” inserted into the recipe by Annemarie &/or Jasmine. It certainly looked like I should panic but I followed your words of wisdom and solider on.

Given my procrastination and time line today, I opt not to make my own jam for filling.

I used this combo.

The redder is the Adriatic Fig Spread (the sweetest of the two), the darker is the Confit of Figs and Balsamic Vinegar (just a hint of the vinegar).

Since I can’t very well cut into it before dinner, the taste report will have to wait for an update. I think with a touch of whip cream it’s a safe bet we’re going to enjoy this.

Update

I understand I put my jam on to thick now. It was good and now ‘tis all gone.

Many thanks Annemarie and Jasmine AND always Lis and Ivonne.

Sour Skons

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 11:36:12 -0500

I want to bake. I have a thousand recipes on my list to try but I’m aimless. -- Is this sounding familiar? -- I look through my two notebooks of recipes I’ve printed out thinking “I have to bake this, NOW.” That was a year ago. Yes, I still want to bake that ... just not today NOW. Another NOW. -- You’re getting the drift now right? -- I grab three bread books at random and go sit in the corner. I’m reading recipes in one and then another, back and forth ...

What grabbed me about this recipe? Not the immediacy: it required a simple 5 minutes prep and then 3 days before it was to be put in the oven. Maybe what attracted me was the fact that I love working healthy oatmeal into our diet and since I love buttermilk, I most always have it around. Maybe it was because the recipe comes from the Orkney Islands and I’ve always wanted to visit there. Why you ask? No more idea than it’s just been a hair under my shirt for over 30 years.

This recipe produces a very unique formed moist scone filled with oatmeal. Totally simple to put together.

Sour Skon
Adapted from Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Breads

1 cup oatmeal (not instant) 130 g
1 1/4 cup buttermilk 342 ml
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon crushed caraway seeds
1 cup white whole wheat flour

Mix oatmeal and buttermilk together. Cover and refrigerate for 2 to 3 days, stirring once a day. I got sidetracked and didn’t bake these until day 4.

Baking Day:
Stir oatmeal buttermilk mix. Stir together dry ingredients and pour the oatmeal buttermilk into the dry ingredients. Mix just until the flour is absorbed. Dough will be very firm and thick.

Pat the dough into a round disk about 8 inches and less than an inch thick. I used a round cake pan, you could do it on a cookie sheet. Score the dough into 8 wedge-shaped pie pieces.

Bake at 425° for about 30 minutes. Cake tester (tooth pick) should come out clean & dry when done. Mine baked 30 minutes. Break along the scored lines to serve.

Directions are also given for mixing in a food processor and baking immediately AND for cooking on top of the stove on a griddle but the above is what worked for me.

There is nothing mind blowing about this recipe ... well, wait ... the most mind blowing thing to me about this was the aroma of oatmeal and buttermilk baking. I’ve never been more impressed by a simple yet glorious heady aroma. Gorgeous.

The scone is delightfully moist and the caraway was fabulous flavor for me. It reminds a little of Irish soda bread but it’s not.

Are you a person who thinks: I should be eating oatmeal OR are you the person who thinks: it’s healthy, I have to eat oatmeal OR are you the person who thinks: I love oatmeal? No matter what you think of oatmeal, I think you should put your creative talents to this recipe if you ever thought you “should” or “must” or “want” to eat oatmeal. There are a few SUPER foods on this earth that have the distinct glory of being bland.

Some might look at these bland foods - tofu, flour...oatmeal - and think “boring”. I like to think of these bland foods as SUPER foods because I can choose what flavor and what character they take on.

I enjoyed this for breakfast several mornings ... with butter ... with blue brie cheese ... and for lunch with some lovely Cumin Black Beans.

My next batch of oatmeal buttermilk is mixed in the fridge. I’m going to try adding some walnuts and cardamon to it replacing the caraway. And then I’m going to try changing it all around and omit the baking soda and make it with sour dough starter but then maybe somebody will beat me to that one.

What will you do with it?

BBB Asparagus Bread

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 00:27:10 -0500

There are few green veggies that bring rapture to so many in the spring as do asparagus. I know there are a few of you foodies out there who don’t take kindly to this asparagus stalk but I enjoy them immensely and love finding new ways to present them at the table.

Our kitchen of the month, Lien, gave us an asparagus celebration. You’ll find the recipe at her kitchen table: RECIPE HERE. I enjoyed baking this bread twice using half whole wheat flour both times. I didn’t have rocket. Lien suggested spinach and some pepper to make up for the rocket. I used spinach and some Aleppo pepper - so spot on.

I think you’ll find this is in some ways a very simple and straightforward bread.

You won’t find yourself tied in knots or playing with starters.

You will find yourself with a kneading challenge when you start adding the asparagus to the dough.

The challenge and the learning that come with this dough are so worth the fresh loaf coming from your oven.

Learning to bake bread is so much about just that: Baking bread.

All kinds of breads. Over and over. Learning the touch.

Experiencing the dough coming together.

Experiencing sticky turning to tacky and tacky to silky.

And kneading it again.

Try this one. There is a reward in learning and experiencing not just a loaf of bread.

If you want to be a Bread Baking Buddy and earn the badge for same, check out Lien’s post for dates and how to’s and tuck another loaf of experience under your belt.

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

I do hope that publishing this post will give you a comment box, if it doesn’t, feel free to drop me an email - you’ll find and e-mail stamp at the bottom of this page.

BBA Casatiello

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 15:16:54 -0500

Brioche, didn’t I just say I’d made brioche? Not this Brioche! Brioche with smoked Provolone, two kinds of salami AND walnuts. No, Peter Reinharts’s Castiello recipe doesn’t call for walnuts but I had to put them in. Why? They were just being so loud. Loud like even with the freezer door closed I could hear the clamoring “We want to play with Casatiello! PLEASE! We really want to play!” How many walnuts joined in on this party? Maybe two small handfuls.

First there’s a very simple buttermilk sponge. When the sponge is ready, knock the side of the bowl and it collapses.

Mise en place ...

Mixing sponge and eggs, adding flour, salt, sugar ...

forms a slightly tacky, not sticky dough ball. Before adding any butter, cheese, salami or nuts, allow the dough ball to sit out, covered 10 to 15 minutes. This allows for some development of gluten before it all gets coated with butter.

Then the salami is kneaded in. Finally, knead in the cheese ... and walnuts if you have a clamoring crowd like I did.

Start of rise

95 minutes later.
The directions said 90 minutes or one and one half times increase. Mine doubled. ... I cut it short, what can I say. I ran out of time.

End of rise after shaping.

Baked at 350° with three mistings in the first 6 minutes. The oven spring was not noticeable.

This brioche doesn’t ooze butter from every pore ... only every other pore.

Cut yourself a slice of this and your sandwich is made. Sandwich in a slice. Pizza in a slice. Breakfast in a slice. Lunch in a slice. You get the picture.

Read about Nicole’s the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge here.

A few others who’ve bake this one:

BuffaloBaker
TheOtherSideOf50
Beautiful Photos written in Chinese
Jennetcetera
JolensCulinaryAdventures
BarefootKitchen
AChefsDaughter

Tomorrow: The Babes are Baking again!!!! Spring green is good!! No it’s great!!

Pasta Primavera

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 23:56:55 -0500

How could I forget Katie hosting Presto Pasta Nights - Now, I feel like the White Rabbit! I’m late, I’m late for a very important date ....

Pesto Pasta Nights, haven’t seen that here before and that’s because it’s not high on my guy’s list of what’s for dinner. I’ve followed Presto Pasta Nights through several blogs I read, Katie is a long time regular and fabulous contributer to Pesto Pasta Nights AND she’s a Babe and I just let my mind go somewhere else when I should have done this pasta long ago.

I should have done this pasta long ago so we could have been enjoying it for years. This is like many pasta dishes, it comes together because you haven’t made a menu plan and/or there’s all kinds of miscellaneous veggies that need to find a new home. I bring you the late but very great

Last Night’s Pasta Primavera

1/2 a sunny yellow sweet Texas onion
8 juicy lovely button mushrooms
1 beautiful Japanese Eggplant, slice on slight diaganol
1 zippy poblano pepper sliced in circles
6 lush red patio tomatoes quartered
4 cloves succulent garlic confit mashed
12 gorgeous, fabulous green basil leaves

The onion I cut in half through the middle and then into slivers.

The mushrooms I cut twice on either side of the stem, turned them once and cut them again twice on either side of the stem.
Sauted in that order.

Served over thin whole wheat spaghetti and a fairy dusting of Smoky Romano cheese, even my guy was very happy and passed on any chicken - it was that good. It was so good I’ll even plan to make this again.

Little Bites Dinner

Thu, 11 Jun 2009 10:32:49 -0500

When I was 20, old was 40 and 60 was gone. When I was 30, old was maybe 40 or 45. When I was 40, I was prime 40, ran a marathon and old was 50. When I was in my 50’s, my parents where in their 80’s traveling with us. Then I was into my 60’s and I couldn’t really see old anymore (shhhh, except when I look at the skin on my forearms and thighs).

I’ve taken to heart the “When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple” poem. I am no longer overly concerned about what people may think of me. For the most part I try to do what feels right for me, what makes me feel good and balance it with the sometimes onerous tasks that life requires of me. I try to accept that I and others are not always perfect, don’t always say and do the right thing.

And what does this have to do with anything in the kitchen? I think it means, I take more chances. I still get frantic when I think I’ve got a disaster brewing but it doesn’t seem to make me think twice the next time I look at a recipe - which somebody thinks is perfect or at least excellent - and change it up. I don’t care if everybody says you can’t mix x with y, I try it anyway.

We have appetizers. The French have amuse-bouche. The Spanish have tapas. I have Little Bites Dinners. When I have a Little Bites Dinner, often it seems I spin the globe and then take a whisk to it.

Our Little Bites Dinners seem to be getting more frequent. Is it summer time and the living is easy or is it just me being old and lazy?

My Portuguese neighbor brought her tuna bean dip which she knows I go crazy for and some toasts which I added to as well. Her dip or spread is one she enjoyed long ago at a deli here in Dallas and then went home and made up.

Ilda’s Tuna Bean Dip
1 can drained tuna
14 oz can white beans (cannelloni or great northern)
olive oil
teaspoon or a little more wine or apple cider vinegar
small red onion (1/4 to 1/3 cup)
a happy amount of basil
salt & pepper

Drain the beans - rinse or not - mash a little. Mix all. Chill and serve. Flavors develop over several hours. I wash the beans lightly but sometimes not because Ilda doesn’t. I add a little clove of garlic.

I saw an outrageously colored Beet dip at Alanna’s Veggie Venture that used cream cheese and I replaced half of it with half cannelloni beans and added a little garlic confit I had made.

My Grandmother’s Pickled Beets
Gorn’s special request always

2 16 oz cans small whole or sliced beets
(Grandmother used fresh)
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
3 cinnamon sticks

Add sugar, vinegar and cinnamon sticks to the drained liquid from the beets and bring to a boil. Stir some, when the sugar is dissolved and it’s boiling, it’s ready. Pour over the beets in a jar. Allow to cool. Cover and refrigerate at least 8 hours, overnight is best.

Alanna’s Pickled Beet Dip w Cannelloni Beans
see her original here, hers used jared pickled beets

12 oz homemade pickled beets
2 thick slice red onion chopped
4 ounces low-fat cream cheese (also called Neufchatel)
3/4 cup cannelloni beans
Horseradish to taste (I used 6 tablespoons of two kinds that were in the fridge - neither very strong)
pay attention to tasting here
garlic confit, roasted garlic or fresh garlic or leave it out

Chop the beets and onion in a food processor until very small. Add the cream cheese, garlic if you want and beans and process until smooth. Add the horseradish: taste it. It should taste slightly milder than you ultimately want as there will likely be some increase after it cools. Spread over crostini, crackers, carrot sticks and celery sticks. This made 3.5 cups, I’ll probably cut it in half next time especially if it’s just the two of us. Next time I make it, I’ll use all beans and no cream cheese.

I did the prep work for Spring Rolls and Ilda & I filled them when she came over (ah yes, there was wine at this point). While we were rolling them, the boys were well entertained by the huge storm rolling in. There is no recipe here really I just look at what is in the fridge and pantry.

Southwestern BBQ Bean Spring Rolls

roasted chicken sliced
canned BBQ beans drained and washed
poblano pepper sliced long & thin (moderate heat)

Thai Chili pepper sliced long & thin (almost sweet)
guacamole with lime juice

Soak the rice paper in warm water till pliable and lay on whatever and roll up. The favorite dipping sauce was some Sweet Chili Sauce (bottled).

A Spring Roll perhaps but how Asian? Do I care? You guess.

When the Spring Rolls were filled we sat down to wonderful little bites and wham bang thunder and rain and wine and good company.

A little bite of sweet.

So now you won’t be shocked or surprised if when you meet me I’m wearing purple, red and pink. I probably won’t have any of those colors in my hair but a hat would be good. Gorn likes me in hats.

BBA Brioche

Mon, 8 Jun 2009 14:40:35 -0500

Want to go to France as a Rich Man for less than $10? Read on...

I’ve made brioche.

I’ve made Southwestern Brioche that was absolutely fabulous (read about that one HERE). When I look back at that recipe, it seems most like Peter’s Poor Man’s Brioche. I loved the moistness, the buttery flavor and and I really loved all the Poblano peppers I used in it.

I poked fun at those loaves for maybe not being French Brioche because of the poblano peppers in them but then asked if you put jam on it like the French do with their Brioche, maybe that would make it French - did I fail to say that jam was pepper jam? OK, and I did really give a nod to true French and put Black Cherry Confit on several of the little ones.

Whether that Brioche was French or not, one thing is for sure: The Rich Man’s Brioche in Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice is just like the wonderful Brioche I’ve had in France with or without jam ... except it came hot and aromatic out of my oven. Every loaf I gave away, I told people “This doesn’t need any butter when you toast it.” Just incase they were somehow oblivious to all the butter that came away on their hands when they cut it.

This is really not difficult to do. Alright let me qualify that. This is not difficult to make with a stand mixer. This is one I didn’t try to do by hand. A pound of butter, get serious, I knew I kneaded to spend hours in the gym for every day this spent retarding in the fridge, rising on the counter and going into the toaster ... because every slice that went into the toaster seemed to wind up in my mouth except for the ones Gorn ate or I the loaves I gave away.

Some time ago I saw James Peterson’s beautifully shaped Brioche Loaf in his Cooking and this seemed the opportune time to do that.

So today I’m baking the Middle-Class Brioche. Yes, yesterday I mixed together the sponge and the dough. I figured it would keep me motivated to keep going to the gym. Yes, I know you love my logic.

Since I gave away all my little traditional knots, I think that’s how most of the Middle-Class will get shaped.

Tomorrow after my trip to the gym, I’d better stop and get some paper bags for the Casatiello which is the next recipe ... perhaps I’d best make a second trip to the gym before I return home.

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

And thanks to Nicole at Pinch My Salt for another wonderful bread as part of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge.

Seven-Grain Honey Bread

Mon, 1 Jun 2009 19:52:10 -0500

Every month I go through the same routine. I’m going to bake for Bread Baking Day. I have from time to time but not enough. At least I baked one this month but can I get a post up in time: doubtful. I’ll send it to Rachel at Tangerine’s Kitchen as she is hosting this month but I’m really late.

I’ll try to be brief.

This is really one lovely bread and for multigrain it’s got to be in some very top grouping. Bake it.

Seven-Grain Honey Bread
adapted from
Beth Hensperger’s The Bread Bible

336 ml boiling water
160 g seven grain cereal

70ml warm whey
70ml warm buttermilk
100 g honey
45 ml grapeseed oil
30g unsalted butter very soft
3 eggs room temp

1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast
505 g King Arthur bread flour
150 King Arthur whole wheat flour

30 g walnuts chopped - use 60g next time
20g ground flax seeds

30 g bread flour extra used in kneading

The recipe is written for hand and standing mixer. I’m in a hand kneading/mixing phase and that’s what I did.

Pour boiling water over the uncooked cereal grains, cover and allow to sit and cool for about an hour and a half. This results in almost a cement like glob - I’m just telling you what to expect and that that’s what you get.

Whisk the flours together. Remove about a cup of the flour and whisk it with the yeast.
Mix the liquids together: whey, buttermilk, honey, oil, butter and eggs. You could melt the butter but I just let it soften and mixed.
Mix (beat with a spoon) the liquids and the yeasted cup of flour, mix till smooth. Add & mix the cooled cereal water mix. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time.

When you can no longer comfortably mix with a spoon, turn the dough out onto the counter and knead. Total mixing and kneading time for me was probably about 12 to 15 minutes.

The dough will be nubby with all the cereal grains and slightly tacky.

Allow the dough to double. Mine took about 90 minutes.

I shaped the dough into two loaf pans and ...

they rose then for another 40 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 375° and bake for 35 to 40 minutes. My loaf measured 205° at 38 minutes.

The spots are the walnuts which tend to purple around them.

Last night we did the best summer sandwich I just happened to have the ingredients for.

This morning I had what was a bit unorthodox of a breakfast.

Toasted with roasted garlic ... not a fancy photo but just look what goes on next ...

three lettuce basil leaves ...

and last the tomato!

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

Oh, the seven cereal grains: Wheat, rye, triticale, oats, oat bran, barley, rice and flaxseed.

BBA #3 Bagels

Sat, 30 May 2009 10:36:43 -0500

Oh, I’ve boiled and baked bagels. I made bagels with the Daring Bakers (Jenny was one of our Hostesses) and Karen across the pond in the Netherlands. And I can tell it was more fun in the kitchen with the four of us together than it was with me just by myself in my kitchen.

Bagels is the third recipe in Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and so bagels again I baked.

I now have the flours and water measurements in my book in grams. That makes me happy because I know I’ll do these again and everything is so much easier and these less dirty dishes with my scale. I used bread flour in the sponge and as you can see the King’s Sir Lancelot flour in the dough.

I used barley malt syrup. It tastes a little like molasses to me.

The dough balls make me think of a flying saucer factory. I made some about 90 grams and another batch about 70. Liked the 70 gram size the best.

This dough was lovely and worked very well with the poke the hole in the middle. A very interesting feel when you stretched the hole because everyone felt like there was a tight rubber band around the hole to start with. The holes want to close up because of that tight band so I go back and stretch each hole about 3 times until it starts to relax some.

I dipped mine in blue poppy seeds and sesame seeds and really wanted to use some Maldon Salt and forgot ... need to make more. Didn’t really like those cinnamon sugar dusted.

Maybe these could have been denser.

Glorious Toast ... cream cheese & peanut butter oh yeah ...

Thanks to Nicole at Pinch My Salt, today I’ll be starting on Brioche! Nicole is how I got into this challenge ... any more weak moments like this one and well, it’s not a good thought.

Here’s a few of us who’ve done bagels in the challenge:

Paul at Yamarama
David at Baking Mad Dad
Gaaarp at Cabbages & Kings
Nico at Nico’s Blog
Oggi at I Can Do That
Diane at It’s All About the Bread
Jenni at Something to Savor
Tricarolyn at 2 Skinny Jenkins
The Studious Cook at The Studious Cook
Dianne at Stoveria

What will you enjoy on your bagel?

Savory Sweet Onion Strudel

Fri, 29 May 2009 14:04:52 -0500

With company and extra family members coming for dinners on a rather spontaneous schedule (read that unplanned) you wouldn’t think I’d be venturing into unknown territory and certainly nothing as intimidating as strudel. But, when it’s the Daring Bakers breathing down your neck and my Adoptee Heather telling the world how easy and good it was, well the fire sort of warms up and you throw caution to the winds and jump in.

The apple strudel was really excellent and it would have really been enough. But, well, on Wednesday when I was stretching the dough out, I kept thinking how much more fun and I thought even how much easier this would be to have another pair or two of opposing hands pulling and stretching this dough.

So when it turned out we’d be doing dinner on Thursday night again my mind, twisted as always, started thinking on that strudel dough again. Then it twisted onto an onion dip I did a week ago and even served with crackers on Wednesday evening and had left over in the fridge ready for action.

You wouldn’t normally serve the same company the same dish two nights in a row now would you? The onion dip/spread is really good enough to do that and people do say “I want this again.”

BUT then enter into your head how easy, fun, good that strudel was. Everybody wants that again as well.

Twisted. Twist onion dip into strudel and you get

Twisted Rolled
Savory Sweet
Onion Strudel

baked onion dip leftover
recipe strudel dough

This is actually very simple and somehow I’m working it out to be very complicated. The onion dip is a very old standby, I saw several versions on allrecipes.com. I took the mayo out and added beans. I’m aware of three sweet onions: Texas Sweet 1015, Vidallia and Walla Walla. Do you know others?

Sweet Onion Dip Baked

1 can (14 oz) cannelloni beans
1 to 2 cups parmesan cheese grated finely
1 large Texas sweet onion chopped medium or even large
1 block (8 oz) low fat cream cheese room temp
2 clove garlic minced finely

The beans & cream cheese could be mashed with a fork, I made them nearly smooth in a food processor. Mix in the chopped onion, parmesan and garlic. Place in a shallow baking dish.
Bake at 350° for 45 minutes to an hour until the mix is bubbly and brown on top.

DB Strudel Dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

200 g unbleached AP flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
106 ml water, plus more if needed 30 ml vegetable oil, more for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

Whisk the dry ingredients (flour & salt).
Mix liquids (water, oil & apple cider vinegar).
Pour liquids into dry ingredients and mix. Knead about 5 minutes till smooth. Oil the dough ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Leave at room temperature for at least 2 hours. I mix mine in the morning and leave it until the very last minute before I’m wanting it to go into the oven.

I used my linen heavily floured to roll it out. When I did this for the DB Apple strudel, I stretched it by myself. When I did it for the onion appetizer, I had Gorn & my Dad come help. Now people, that is really pretty fun. Gorn is really not a foodie. Dad is 93 for another month and worked in a bakery when he was 18 but never touched strudel dough. It was a fabulous circle of three stretchers. I really wish I had photos but all six hands were under the dough. Oh my we got beautiful thin strudel dough with those six hands.

To Assemble the Onion Strudel:
I mixed to break up the cold left over baked onion dip.
Buttered the rolled out strudel dough. I’ve now used my hands to spread the butter, a very fine pastry brush and a plastic teflon pastry brush. The plastic teflon worked the best for me. My hands and the fine pastry brushed tended to want to pull and break the dough.

I ground up some almond silvers and mixed those with some panko to spread over the buttered dough. Spread the onion dip mix at one end of the dough and rolled up.

Bake at 400° for 35 minutes.

Everybody was wild for this.

I haven’t forgotten I am going to do a give away ... soon ... but not yet.

DB May Strudel

Wed, 27 May 2009 22:37:01 -0500

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.
If I had to time to really write this up . . . but there is just too much wild fun, too many people and too many dinners to fix.

Making strudel is very very difficult and should only be done by the experts. ... and you would be so very wrong.

To Heather, my adoptee: A super big Thank You for the idea of using Panko bread crumbs and making this look really possible on the post day when I’d really crossed it off.

I used golden raisins in one made with bread flour ...

and mixed cherries and brown sugar instead of white in one made with AP flour.

I think the AP flour was flakier. I also sprinkled it with sparkling sugar and it had much prettier color.

Honest this was really GOOOOOOOD.

Thank you so much to Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks for this really wonderful and simple recipe. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

I will be making this again ... I will be making this again tonight because my Dad requested it.

And always and forever, Thank You Lisa and Ivonne! for all the Daring Baker craziness and fun and another one done.

BBA #2 Christopsomos Celebration Bread

Mon, 25 May 2009 00:00:47 -0500

I’m not sure why I still am surprised when I bake a loaf of bread. It’s really a mix of surprise and pleasure when I put that first bite into my mouth: where my physical mouth wants to smile and shout WOW at the same time it’s closed in chewing comfort around that beautiful bite. This is one of those breads. If you love a spice cake as much as I do, this is the perfect bread and I see no reason to wait for Christmas.

The recipe calls for barm (page 230) or poolish (page 106), I used my barm.

Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves: I didn’t double the amounts called for but I didn’t use level them either. Meaning? I used more than called for.

Anytime you add so much solid material to dough (1.5 cups), it’s a challenge to knead it into the dough and get it past the point where it’s incorcorated and not ripping things apart.

It takes time but you do get there.

Allow to rise to double.

When doubled the dough is divided into unequal pieces 2/3’s and 1/3. The 2/3’s piece is shaped into a boule or ball and left rise until doubled.

That took 90 minutes for mine. The other 1/3 of the dough is refrigerated while the boule is rising.

The 1/2 chilled dough is divided into two equal pieces and rolled into ropes (snakes) about 10 inces long. Lay one rope across the boule with the ends equally hanging over on either side.

Cut the rope in half up to the edge of the boule ...

and then roll up as above. Do the same with the other rope crossing it on top of the first rope.

Bake at 350° on a baking stone on parchment paper. Bake for 20 minutes and rotate in oven. Continue baking another 20 to 25 minutes. At a total of 40 minutes my loaf was 198° ( this loaf is done at 190°).

Can you see my underneath rope broke?

It looks wonderfully elaborate but is very easy to shape.

Don’t skip the glaze. It does seem sticky for several hours but then the sticky disappears and is just beautiful.

This is one I might never have bake except for telling you I’m baking all the recipes in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.

Yes, I used that pepper jam again with a little cream cheese this time.

Really, you should have the book and bake this bread.

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

Are you ready for Bagels? Coming soon a give away and more beets.

BBB Italian Knot Bread

Wed, 20 May 2009 00:11:22 -0500

In yoga classes I often have thought that all I really need to do is turn everything in the direction it’s not intended to go and that’s the way the pose is suppose to take you . . . when actually the idea is to just breath and stay calm.

When we first gathered ‘round Ilva’s kitchen table this month there was a lot of laughing and twisting going on as we tried to imagine tying snaky bread dough ropes into lovely uniform knot rolls. Then I believe there were some snarky remarks about different fats as in lard, crisco, duck fat and I don’t remember what all others were covered. Considering that I have never had lard in my kitchen, I determined that was the fat I should seek out for making these.

So shopping for lard: I went to the Texas brand of Whole Foods, Central Market. What I learned there was they do not carry lard (because nobody buys it because it’s so unhealthy . . . ok) and fresh yeast is a “seasonal” item (now there they totally lost me; what can possibly be “seasonal” about fresh yeast. I mean it grows all year and everywhere, come on.) Alright, no lard, what about duck fat? “Yes, we have duck fat.” And that is how I ended up using duck fat and embarking upon my latest love affair (just don’t you be tattling to Dr J, I’m sure he’ll see it soon enough when he does my next cholesterol lab.) Fresh yeast is not seasonal at Kroger and they also carry lard but I already had duck fat.

This is a seemingly simple bread. You may look at it and see nothing special in it. That would be a mistake. This is one of those classic examples that I love so very much about flour, yeast and water and the alchemy that can take place between your kneading and the heat of the oven. I’m sure that duck fat played some big part in the very tender crispness that is the crust on these and the very tender crumb inside.

BBB Pane Di Pasta Tenera Condita
Italian Knot Bread
from Pane: Il piacere di preparare pane by Anna Gennari

half biga:
250 g normal bread flour
2 g fresh yeast
135 ml water

Mix the yeast in some of the water. Mix everything together then and place in your rising container, cover and leave for 15 to 24 hours.

half bread:
250g biga
500g King Arthur Italian 00 flour
(150g of the 500g was white whole wheat)
2 tablespoons ground flax seed
225-275 ml water, finger warm
(generally 30 seconds in microwave does that)
15 g fresh yeast
25 g extra-virgin olive oil
30 g duck fat
17 g chestnut honey
17 g salt

Crumble the duck fat into the flours (two flours in for me).
Dissolve yeast in water and mix into flour with duck fat.
Mix together salt, olive oil and chestnut honey and add to the flour mix. The dough should be mixed to hold together and then the biga added.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and no longer sticky. Took me about 12 minutes by hand.

Cover and allow to double in size.

Divide in half and divide each half into 6.

Roll each ball into a snake roll.

See Ilva for how to tie the knots. I’m still not sure.

If I could I come and beat you into trying these, they are just that excellent! Tying the knots may well tie you in a knot but the basic dough is straight forward. I made a half recipe twice and would have done them a third but the calendar caught up with me . . . well that and the fact that it’s time for bagels next (BBA Challenge you know) and I think Lien will be having us over for a sit down at her kitchen table next month.

Bake Bread

Tie it in Knots

Be Happy

This goes to Susan at WildYeast for her weekly Yeast Spotting. I’ve come to look at the weekly Yeast Spotting as a delightful trip to a Bakery Wonderland! If you’re not familiar with Susan and Yeast Spotting, it’s explained here.

ROASTED Beet Salad w Anise

Mon, 18 May 2009 23:05:41 -0500

I can not come up with a title or photo that will convince you to get in the kitchen with beets and put this on your table tonight. For starters, like you, I know roasted beets are good and I love them in salads. That’s all well and good. But this is one of those times when the sum of the parts comes together to be some thing more and enters another realm very out of the ordinary fabulous flavor.

Sometimes, like with Aleppo pepper, I’ll read about an ingredient on a blog I’ve never heard of before and I’ll start looking for it and it’ll turn up or not. If it turns up and remember what intrigued me, I give it a go.

Now, where does all that get us. It gets me to blame Kalyn for my addition to Aleppo pepper and my constant shopping now at Penzey’s for spices. I am just a total sucker when I go in there. I smell everything. They keep samples of every spice. And yes, I confess, I buy spices I do not know and haven’t a clue what I might ever need or want to make with them. Some have languished.

I saw beets in the store the other day. They were beautiful beets. I’m thinking balsamic roasted beets. I get them home and think “What would Deborah Madison do with these?”

There are only two roasted beet recipes in Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone. As soon as I have my next batch of beets in the house (make that today), I’m going to be trying her Roasted Beets with Lentils and Preserved Lemon.

At the time my choice was for the roasted beets with Anise vinaigrette because I thought “Oh, I have fennel seeds for this.” and my very next thought was “Didn’t I find/buy anise seeds at Penzey’s last week?” In fact I had and the two seeds while smelling a little alike as in licorice. All of this was followed quickly by “Ah-ah, this is what Lydia was talking about.”

The simple of it is this: anise is not fennel although they both share the taste of licorice.

While both produce seeds the anise seeds are much smaller than the fennel.
Think anise: member of the parsley family; seeds used to flavor sweets and alcoholic beverages (ouzo, anisette); used frequently in southeastern Asian cooking.
Think fennel: grows in a bulb just above ground; enjoyed fresh and cooked; associated more with Mediterranean cooking.

With what I had in my kitchen and a little tinkering, here’s how I did the salad.

Roasted Beet Salad with Anise Vinaigrette

4 medium size beets
olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 tablespoons Champagne vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon anise seeds
salt & pepper

Peel and cube the beets. Lightly toss in olive oil and light salt and pepper (I’ll use less olive oil next time).
Roast at 375°F. Roast means you must not have two layers of beets in the roasting pan or they will steam; use a pan big enough to spread the cubes in a single layer with space between. Aim for caramelized juices and tender beets. Mine took 30 minutes.

For the Vinaigrette: crush the anise seeds with garlic and some salt; then whisk together with the olive oil & vinegar.

With a small slice of goat cheese, sigh . . .

Yes, I know you think this is so easy and so simple it’s not worth doing and if you’re looking for a way to tie yourself in knots and jump through hoops, you’d be right. BUT, it you want easy and simple and fabulous flavors, this is one fabulous beet salad.

Really I should ask “What would Deborah Madison do with X-veggie?” more often. But, before that happens we’ll have another Babes Bread Baking to get up tomorrow!!