Rolling in Dough

The 2009 Bake Your Own Bread Challenge

I happened across The Baker's Bench the other day. It seems that Sandy has taken a stand and decided to bake all of her own bread this year. ALL OF IT - including bagels, hamburger buns and bread sticks, as well as everyday sandwich bread. Wow.

I am a bread baker, but I'm a lazy one. I usually start with wonderful intentions of a house filled with the sweet aroma of freshly baked bread, but then I get busy and end up picking up a baguette on the way home. I have baked hamburger buns and bread sticks (the latter with unimpressive results), but I generally buy these, too. I have never actually made a bagel.

But let's be honest, no store-bought bread can hold a candle to homemade. So I considered the possibility of accepting the challenge. Could I really bake all of my bread this year? Well, yeah, I can. So I'm in. I have joined the ranks of the BYOB bakers. Hooray!

Please check back for many bread recipes and follow me as I learn how to make bread sticks worth eating, perfect a "real" French baguette, discover some fun new grains and sprinkle sesame seeds on hamburger buns. I'll probably take another stab at nurturing a sourdough starter. Who knows, I might even try to make bagels.

Sandy hosts a roundup of bread recipes contributed by all of the BYOB bakers on the 1st and the 15th of each month. Visit The Baker's Bench to meet the others and see all of the bread recipes. Maybe you'll be inspired to join us.

Let's Bake!

E-Z Peanut Butter Cookies

from Bakewise by Shirley O. Corriher

Have you read Bakewise? This is my new favorite cookbook! Shirley Corriher's new bible of baking science explains all of the ins and outs of baking ingredients and how to use them to your advantage to vastly improve your own results. Gorgeous pictures and recipes that benefit from her years of experience fill the pages and best of all, it's written in Shirley's soft, Southern down home voice - I can hear the words coming out of her mouth when I'm reading the pages.

So I've been baking and reading like crazy and learning all kinds of things that I never knew - like that you can make amazing peanut butter cookies without adding any flour. Who knew? I have a dozen peanut butter cookies recipes and I don't love any of them. Some of them spread out too much in the oven, some get hard too quickly and the rest are just uninspiring. Well, that's all changed now. Shirley has brightened my cookie jar with my new favorite peanut butter cookie recipe. 

The weather has been chilly and just right for an afternoon of cookie making. Thumbing through the pages, I came across Shirley's recipe for E-Z Delicious Peanut Butter Cookies. While the oven preheated, I dutifully read through the paragraphs on flourless cookies so I could understand this brave new world, and got to mixing. The recipe only has 3 ingredients in it! Peanut butter, brown sugar and an egg. Unbelievable!  I was done with the whole project in less than an hour and could get down to the really important part - knocking back three or four cookies with a warm cup of tea. Ahhhhh.... perfect afternoon.     

E-Z Delicious Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup (258 grams) extra crunchy peanut butter
3/4 cup (162 grams) light brown sugar
1 large egg

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray.

Stir together the peanut butter, brown sugar and egg.

Use a teaspoon to scoop dough into heaping mounds on the baking sheet at least 1 inch apart. Grease the bottom of a for with baking spray and press down on cookies to make a criss cross pattern.

Bake one sheet at a time until the edges start to color, 9 to 10 minutes. Do not overcook. Cool 2 minutes on the pan and remove to a cooling rack.

Note: Shirley's recipe called for 1/2 cup of English toffee baking chips to be stirred in after the egg, but I didn't have any, so I added 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract instead.

Roasted Apple Strudel

We have a tradition in our house of celebrating the New Year with a Money or Three King's Cake. Of all of the various crazy things people do to ensure good luck and prosperity in the New Year - wearing red or yellow underwear, burning their regrets, cleansing the house with burning sage or eating black-eyed peas (full disclosure: I have tried most of these), eating something sweet and delicious with a coin baked into it seems to make the most sense. This began in our house as a way to nudge my husband out of a financial slump. I told him that if he found the coin he would certainly have a good year. Of course he found it (do you think I'm silly?) and it re-energized his career. The money cake has evolved into something more than just hopes for prosperity. I now also make a cake based on someplace I'd like to travel to in the coming year, and bake a euro in it, rather than just a penny. This year by popular consent, we made an Apple Strudel, because everyone agrees that it would be lovely to go to Germany or Austria again.

Gourmet's Apple Strudel recipe boasts of being the real Viennese deal and it sounded delicious. Making strudel is time consuming but so worth it! I had always taken the easy route of using phyllo dough, but in the interest of improving my baking techniques, I decided to go for the Full Monty. The apples are peeled, sliced and roasted, tossed with chopped walnuts and golden raisins and rolled in a paper thin, butter basted dough that covered my entire countertop, hanging off three sides halfway to the floor. My kitchen was filled with the drool-inducing smells of cinnamon, apples and Calvados, as I danced around singing "Cream colored ponies and crisp apple strudel, doorbells and sleighbells and schintzel with noodles..."

When it finally came out of the oven, we all gathered around and chose what we hoped was THE piece that contained the cherished euro. The first bite transported me right back to Salzberg, where I was lucky enough to enjoy several warm world class strudels, sigh... The strudel was terrific - crispy dough surrounding soft, warm cinnamon apple filling, dusted with powdered sugar. Tiny bits of dough flaked off under the fork as I cut into it. Mmmmmmm. But no euro the first night. Early New Year's Day morning we each had another piece and this time Lovie found the coin.

It's funny, when Mike or I find it (actually I've never found it on New Year's Eve night), it portends good luck and prosperity. When Lovie finds it, I'm just as excited for her, but I tend to just write it off as a fun New Year's tradition. Maybe this is a defense mechanism. She's found it twice in the last three years - how much luck and prosperity does a six year old need?

Gourmet's Roasted Apple Strudel

for filling:
2 pounds Gala apples, peeled, cored ad cut into 3/4 inch pieces
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon          
 dash salt
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 tablespoon Calvados
1 oz. walnuts
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs

for dough:
1 cup bread flour
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 large egg yolk
3 oz. lukewarm water
1/4 cup flour for dusting
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Toss apples with butter, 1/8 cup sugar, lemon zest, 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and salt on a baking sheet with sides until well coated, then spread apples out. Roast, stirring occasionally until apples are very tender and any liquid has evaporated, about 1 1/4 hours. Transfer to a bowl and stir in raisins and Calvados and let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 375 degrees.

Meanwhile, make the dough. Stir together the bread flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a mixer. Make a well in the center and add 2 tablespoons butter, egg yolk and water. Mix at medium low speed with paddle attachment until dough becomes a soft, sticky ball and comes away from the sides of the bowl, 8 to 10 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and form into a ball. Lightly brush with some butter and let stand, covered with an inverted bowl, for 40 minutes.

Stretch the dough. Line a baking sheet with sides with parchment paper. Take off any rings, bracelets or watches. Cover a work table with a sheet and rub flour into it. Put the dough in the center and stretch it into a 12 inch round with your fingers. Using the backs of your hands and wrists, reach under the dough and begin gently stretching and thinning dough from center to edges, moving around the table as you work. Gradually stretch the dough into a 36 inch square, letting it rest for a few minutes when it resists. This will take about 20 minutes. Let the dough dry for 5 minutes.

Assemble the strudel. Combine walnuts, bread crumbs, 1/8 cup sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a food processor and process until nuts are finely chopped.

Very gently brush dough with butter and sprinkle evenly with walnut mixture. Mound apple filling in an 11x3 inch strip along the side of the dough that is closet to you, leaving a 4 inch border. Fold side borders over filling and holding the sheet taut, roll the strudel up, starting with the bottom flap.

With a long metal spatula, transfer the studel to the baking sheet. Brush with remaining butter and dust generously with powdered sugar. Cut 3 or 4 steam vents in the top.

Bake strudel until golden, 40-45 minutes. Cool 10 minutes on bakiing sheet, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

This is my entry into "Make Your Own King Cake", hosted by Zorra at 1x unruhren bitte. Please join her to see how bloggers around the world celebrate the Epiphany with their own King's Cakes.  

 
 

Perfect Blueberry Muffins

from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook

                                   

Is anything nicer than a blueberry muffin? Torn apart with a melting pat of butter smeared across them, blueberry muffins are soft and homey, full of berries bursting with warm juice. Paired with a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice, there is no better breakfast to wake up to on a weekend morning.

Pulled from the King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion, this is a lovely recipe for the quintessential blueberry muffin. Soft, with a cake-like texture, these muffins are what all muffins should aspire to. Sunny and flavorful with a hint of lemony brightness, these are sure to get your morning of to a great start.

As an aside: Muffins taste best the day they are made, but who needs to eat 12 muffins at one sitting? After breakfast, I freeze the leftover muffins in pairs in a Ziploc bag. The frozen muffins are great to toss into Lovie's lunch box. By the time lunch rolls around, they have thawed back into their original soft, fresh, doughy goodness and combined with a cheese stick and some fruit, they are the perfect mid day snack. She is always thrilled to find a sweet muffin surprise in her lunch.

Classic Blueberry Muffins

8 tablespoons (4 oz) butter
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Zest of one lemon
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups (8 1/2 oz) all purpose flour
1/2 cup (4 oz) milk
2 cups frozen blueberries

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and salt together. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the lemon zest. Add the baking powder, and then add the flour, alternating with the milk, beating well after each addition. Stir in the blueberries.

Spoon the batter into 12 paper lined muffin cups.

Bake muffins for 30 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the muffins comes out clean. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then removing them from the pan to cool completely.

Notes: The original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of vanilla,  2 1/2 cups of fresh or dried blueberries and 2 teaspoons of sugar to top the muffins. I added the lemon zest, reduced the blueberries to 2 cups and skipped the sugar topping.

You could bake these in muffin cups without the papers, but I have found that blueberry muffins made with fresh or frozen berries tend to fall apart if not constrained by the paper cups. Too much fruit and not enough cakey part to hold it together to count on a good result.  

La Fete du Fromage - gres des vosges

Having stumbled across fellow cheese and France lover Chez Loulou's wonderful La Fete du Fromage last month, I am thrilled to have found a kindred soul in my passion for cheese. I think I mentioned in the  previous La Fete du Fromage post - A Love Letter to Comte',  that I have been keeping a cheese journal, seeking out wonderful and unusual new cheeses to try. But as I wandered through LouLou's blog, I discovered that she also keeps a cheese journal and was both delighted and dismayed to find that she has recorded 110 different cheeses! Dismayed because my own book is so paltry, but delighted at the world of cheese still to be tasted.

This brings me to December's La Fete du Fromage, a wonderful excuse to make a pilgrammage to the St. Killian's Cheese Shop to drool a little over all of the wonderful choices before purchasing a ridiculously expensive little bit of cheese heaven. This week's choice was Fromi gres des vosges, a creamy soft cheese from the Alsace. It's a fun little cheese with a fern pressed into the rind, wrapped in paper and tucked into it's own oval crate. It's aged at least three weeks, and the rind is washed in Kirsch to give it a unique flavor and a nice apricoty tinge. Hugo at the cheese shop advised me to let my little treasure come to room temperature to let the flavors develop and to enjoy it with a nice Gewurtztraminer and a baguette.Well, if I must...

The gres des vosges is creamy, rich, mild and deliciously smooth. Perfect for bread or crackers. It is attired in a soft edible rind and greets you with nice, faintly musty smell that lingers well after the cheese has been devoured. This is good, because I can still smell it on my hands and each whiff of fragrant cheese reminds me that I still half a gres des vosges to enjoy at happy hour with another glass or two of spicy Gewurtz. Yummm. Is it five o'clock yet?           

 

Creamy and Colorful Christmas Butter Cookies

I am a Butter Cookie Connoisseur. I love them in all of their incarnations, Spritz, Sables, Butter Pretzels and Shortbread. Plain, perfect, simple, crisp and crunchy - the perfect thing to enjoy with a cup of tea or a cold glass of milk. So browsing through the cookbooks at the library, (Does anyone else do this? I've got more than 100 cookbooks at home, surely I could find something to bake) I was excited to find a fun little book called Christmas Cookies from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Kay Hansen and Liv Hansen. It's a fabulous cookbook filled with amazing cookie recipes, including Creamy Christmas Butter Cookies. They are, like all Butter Cookies, a simple recipe of butter, flour and vanilla, but include the inspired addition of cream of tartar. I love cream of tartar in Snickerdoodles, elevating simple Sugar Cookies to something more interesting, slightly mouth-puckering and tangy. These Butter Cookies were also pressed with a fork, giving the colored sanding sugar sprinkled on top some little cookie ruts to nestle in. In the book, all of the sanding sugar was red and green - very Christmasy. I set to baking, already imagining the Christmas colored creations that would emerge from my oven.

As I mixed and sifted and rolled small balls of dough, I called to Lovie to bring a fork and the colored sugar. This is a perfect job for a 6 year old - what could be better that smashing cookie dough and sprinkling sugar? She loves to bake cookies, especially when there are sprinkles involoved. When I looked up again, the Butter Cookies were beautiful - their tiny cookie ruts resplendent in their orange and yellow and teal and purple and blue and pink sugar. Two or three of them did actually have red and green sugar on them, mixed in with the rainbow of colors. Oh well, I guess Christmas doesn't have to be all red and green. I sighed and put them in the oven to bake.

But Lovie must have known what she was doing. When I opened the oven, I was met with a gorgeous array of small, round, sparkling cookies that looked for all the world like Christmas ornaments. And they were delicious - crisp, simple and slightly sweet. Everything a proper Butter Cookie should be. Enjoy!

                             

Creamy Christmas Butter Cookies
from Christmas Cookies from the Whimsical Bakehouse

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 cookie sheets.

In a large bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed, mix just until blended:
8 oz. unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Add and mix well:
1 large egg

In a separate bowl, mix together:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teapoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add to the butter mixture and mix at low speed until well combined.

Shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls. Arrange the balls 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork. (To prevent the dough from sticking to the fork, dip it occasionally in confectioners' sugar) Sprinkle the tops with many colors of sanding sugar. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly colored around the edges. Let the cookies cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

This is my entry into the Holiday Cookie Baking Event hosted by Sharmi at Neivedyam. Check back after the December 28th to feast your eyes on all of the delicious cookie creations.

       

The Saga of the Eel, Part 1

Mike's family is Italian and has celebrated Christmas Eve with the traditional Southern Italian dinner of the Seven Fishes since the dawn of civilization. It's a family event attended by members of the family ranging in age from 4 to 90, and depending on who is in town, we often have more than 25 people sitting down to dinner together. This holiday event moved to our house three years ago, after being hosted my Mike's Grandmother, Tweetie, for the last 65 years. Around 2:00, people start converging on my kitchen, and a flurry of activity begins. Bread is baked, fish is cleaned and the smell of garlic roasted in olive oil fills the house.

Something, however, is missing. Each year, in the midst of the fishy commotion, somebody begins to wax poetic about the baked eel that used to be part of the dinner routine. When Mike was young, eel was always part of the dinner, but rising prices and limited availability have made the eel something of an urban legend. Every year Tweetie tells us how Poppy would bring home the whole sacrificial eel, nail it to the wall and skin the poor thing. This remembrance is followed by Mike vowing that THIS IS THE YEAR that we will again have eel for the Christmas Eve feast. He will find one, he will, HE WILL!!!

I have to admit to being not a lover of fish. At the first Christmas Eve fish dinner I attended, nearly twenty years ago, I was so afraid of the scaly guys that I brought my own dinner, Chicken Nuggets from KFC. As the years have passed, I have come to enjoy and appreciate all of the family traditions that the fish dinner embraces. I even participate, making bread, appetizers and dessert. But every year, as the eel again raises it's slimy head, I begin to worry. What if this IS the year Mike finds an eel?

It's not the SAME old cafe...

                            

I spent yesterday afternoon volunteering at the SAME Cafe here in Denver. An acronym for So All May Eat, SAME is the brainchild of Brian and Libby Birky. After years of volunteering in soup kitchens, they were dismayed to see the poor quality of food that many places serve, but appreciated the sense of dignity and respect that was shown to people from all walks of life. They had a different idea, noble, radical, revolutionary and on the surface - completely financially crazy, to open a cafe that would serve organic, healthy, gourmet food to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay. There would be no posted prices, no cash register, only a box for donations. SAME is not a soup kitchen and doesn't give handouts, instead everyone is asked to contribute what they can and if times are tough, customers can trade an hour of washing dishes or mopping the floor for their meal. And it's an idea that works. Run by Brian and a hardworking staff of volunteers, the restaurant is completely sustainable on it's own with no government funding. The donation box provides 90% of their income, and the remainder comes from corporate or individual gifts - a local Whole Foods store donated 5% of yesterday's sales to the cafe.  

The cafe takes it's mission of serving wonderful food seriously. It buys mostly organic ingredients from sources that include local farms, an elementary school garden and the Botanic Gardens. The menu is varied and diverse and changes according to what's in season and available. Yesterday's offerings included Pomegranate Arugula Salad with Raspberry Dressing, Couscous with sun-dried tomatoes, feta and artichokes, Cream of Mushroom Soup, Chicken Artichoke and Sun-dried tomato and Feta Cheese Pizzas, followed by Libby's legendary sugar cookies and Fair Trade Coffee that is ground as it's brewed. A great meal by anyone's standards. 

From my place behind the counter, I served lunch to a mother and her adult daughter on a girls' day out, several guys in suits, two women having a business meeting and an assortment of local characters - all who were unfailing polite, friendly and respectful. Tables with seating for 6 or 8 encourage diners to linger, relax and enjoy the experience together. And afterwards, they all cleared their own dishes. I had a great day, met some wonderful people and saw firsthand how well a crazy idea can work. 

If you would like more information about SAME, please visit their website at www.soallmayeat.org.

     

Comte' - A Love Letter

                                 

Ahhh Comte'. No cheese is closer to my heart. I love everything about it. It's nutty, slightly tangy flavor. It's firm texture. The gentle aroma of green fields and cows. But most of all, I love where Comte' takes me.

On my first trip to France, I fell in love. What an amazing place. The food, the wine, the architechture, the people, the landscape, the coffeee, the markets, and most of all, the cheese....... Growing up in America we had cheese, but mostly of the Velveeta and later, Cheddar varities. The cheeses I discovered in France were a revelation that changed my life. My two fondest food memories of that first trip are of  Chevre Chaud salad - warm goat cheese on toasts over a salad of greens with the most perfect simple vinagrette, and Comte' on Baguette - thin slices of tangy Comte' pressed into a split thin baguette, sometimes with butter. I even had an amazing Comte' baguette at the airport. (excuse me, I think I just drooled) So, because my eyes have been opened to the huge world of cheese, I make weekly trips to the cheese shop, trying all kinds of interesting cheeses, I keep a cheese journal and my cheese drawer often boasts 6 or 7 different cheeses in it. 

Which brings me back to the Comte'. When I bring home that paper wrapped block of cheese heaven, I feel like I'm buying cheese as the French do - from a small shop owner who has dedicated their life to selling cheese.  When I open the blue paper and take that first whiff of salty cows, I'm in a green French field surrounded by hairy cows that say "Le Moo". When I have thin slices of Comte' on Baguette for lunch, I'm in France. But Comte' really shines with enjoyed with some crusty bread and a glass of red wine. Simplicity defined - to me there isn't a better combination. 

For more information about Comte'. please visit Comte.com, a wonderful resource about all things Comte', including production, recipes and great Comte' cellars to visit if you are in thier neighborhood.

My love letter to Comte' is part of La Fete du Fromage, a homage to delicious cheeses the world over hosted by LouLou over at the gorgeous Chez LouLou - A Taste of Life in the South of France.

  

Almond Chai Panna Cotta

                         

Meeta over at "What's for Lunch, Honey?" is hosting her Monthly Mingle, and inviting everyone over to her place for coffee and tea, and of course, like a good guest, I'm bringing something along. Meeta's challenge was to create something special that contained either coffee or tea. Hmmm... what to bring.... I love both coffee and tea, but coffee flavored cold things and desserts are not for me. I missed the mocha loving gene that so many people have. So that leaves tea, a wonderful drink in all of its many incarnations, both hot and cold, as my muse to create a dish to bring to Meeta's.

Thumbing through the recipe books, I found a recipe for an Almond Panna Cotta. Creamy, delicious, nutty - this would be a great match for the spicy, earthy flavors of Chai tea. I had my dish. 

I wish I could tell you that I slaved over the Panna Cotta for hours, but it was amazingly easy. The recipe calls for a 30 minute steeping to let the toasted almonds flavor the cream and sugar, so I used this opportunity to let the Chai do it's magic by tossing a tea bag in with the almonds.  The fragrance almost brought a tear to my eye - I could tell that the toasted almonds, the heavy cream and my tea bag were coming together to create something really special. 

And wow did they. The finished Panna Cotta is terrific. The Chai is understated, but spicy, and it gives the Panna Cotta an exotic flavor, a creamy taste that almost warms you from the inside. My only regret is that I don't have a nice butter cookie to enjoy along with this. They would be great together. I'd better get baking before the Panna Cotta is gone.

Serve this to your guests at a dinner party. They'll be so impressed with you!

Almond Chai Panna Cotta

adapted from Dolce Italiana, by Gina DePalma

1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds

11/4 cups heavy cream

1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

5 grams gelatin

1 cup whole milk

1 Chai tea bag     

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast them until they are golden brown and aromatic, about 10 minutes.

Remove the almonds from the oven and place them in a heavy saucepan. Add the heavy cream, sugar and gelatin and stir to combine. Place the saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat, add the Chai tea bag and allow the mixture to sit for 30 minutes to infuse the liquid with the flavor of the almonds and Chai.

Return the saucepan to medium heat and bring the mixture to scalding, then take it off the heat again. Strain the liquid through a fine mesh sieve to remove the almonds and tea bag. Whisk in the milk. Pour into 6 dessert glasses and refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.  

For more fun with coffee and tea, please visit Meeta's at the Monthly Mingle.