Life after the Last Frontier

CSA Weeks #9 & #10

2009-08-04T09:55:00.002-08:00

I was so swamped catching up on just about everything last week that I didn't get the posts up for week #9 or even take pics for week #10.

Week #9 brought more of the same summer veggies we've been getting:

Kale
Leeks
New potates (red & yukon gold)
Green Beans
Cucumbers
Kholrabi
Green Onions
Cabbage
Sweet Corn (Bodacious)
Lettuce
Beets
Carrots (orange, white, and purple)

I've been making hand cut potato chips with the new potatoes, though this isn't quite enough to keep up! I think there will be potato salad sometime in the near future. The sweet corn was pretty good - growing up on a farm, my family and I are pretty picky about corn varieties - this one was very similar the the Early Sun Glow we used to grow back in the day.

Week #10 saw the first appearance of tomatoes and other goodies:

Tomatoes (red in baskets, green avail on request)
Onions (Cippolini)
Green Beans
New Potatoes
Cucumbers
Zucchini
Sweet Corn
Lettuce
Carrots
Summer Rambo Apples

I made a small batch of apple butter with the apples and we've been putting vegetables in just about everything this week.

BBA Challenge & more!

2009-08-04T09:36:00.005-08:00

The last part of July was hectic, alas, I was not able to participate in this month's Daring Bakers or Daring Cooks challenges. This month I'll have more time, and the challenges are too tempting to pass on!

One thing I was able to squeeze in this month was Greek Celebration Bread the next recipe in the BBA Challenge. I admit, I always admired this bread each time I pulled the book of the shelf, but never had any motivation to try it, as too many other breads are on my list of 'regulars'.

I loved the feel of the dough, though it was a little more wet than I expected it to be. The addition of the spices really made me look forward to the final product! I added bourbon soaked golden raisins and cranberries. Because I didn't think to set aside a portion of the dough for the decorative element of the Christomophos, I formed the dough into a boule.

I have to admit, the bread smelled AWESOME, it looked AWESOME. The taste and texture where disappointing. The aroma of the spices was misleading, there wasn't a lot of flavor to the bread. The bread was surprisingly dry - even with butter or jam spread on slices, it seemed like eating cardboard.

This is the first recipe of PH's that I've not liked.

CSA Week #8

2009-07-23T07:08:00.002-08:00

I've been a slacker, I should have posted this a few days ago! Week #8's CSA basket was overflowing this week:

Chard
Leeks
Zucchini
New potatoes
Green beans
Cucumbers
Green Onions
Garlic
Radishes
Sweet Corn (white)

I made delicious stuffed zucchini with it this week - made a quinoa and turkey sausage stuffing that was pretty good on its own. The hubs said it was the best dinner he had in a while since it was both incredibly tasty AND healthy lol). The chard, cukes and radishes have been great in salads. I also somehow took the time to hand-cut a dozen of the new potatoes into potato chips.

CSA Week #7

2009-07-13T05:11:00.004-08:00

This week's basket was overflowing with more summer vegetables! Included was:

Sugar Snap Peas

Lettuce

Rainbow Chard

Leeks

Zucchini

Broccoli

New Potatoes

Green Beans

Sweet Annie

Homemade Gooseberry Jam

The peas have been great chopped up in salads, I am sad these are the last we'll get of the growing season. I made potato and leek soup with the last batch of new potatoes, I am still thinking about what I'll make this time. The Sweet Annie was amazingly fragrant and very relaxing. I had never heard of it before this week, its like a cross between french lavender and eucalyptus!

BBA Challenge - Anadama Bread

2009-07-06T05:12:00.005-08:00

One of my favorite cooking books is Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I recently discovered a group who was baking their way through this amazing compilation of bread and decided to give it a try! The BBA Challenge was brought to us by Nicole of Pinch My Salt.

Anadama Bread is the first recipe of the book. It's an old New England Bread that appears in many books on bread. I've tried it in the past and didn't care for the consistency or taste, so passed on making this when I initially bought The BBA. I believe that previous attempts with different recipes went south because the soaker of corn meal was only a few hours and/or an overwhelming amount of molasses was used. After letting the soaker rest overnight, the cornmeal had an appealing fragrance and was fluffy.

The recipe was very easy and straight forward, no unusual ingredients or instruments needed to make this. The dough was amazing, supple and easy to knead by hand (since the hubs has yet to come through on his "I'll buy you a new KA mixer" proclamation which convinced me to sell my trusty mixer back in AK, LOL).

Since I couldn't find my normal sized bread pans, I split the dough into 5 small loafs. The finished bread definitely turned my opinion of this bread around. It wasn't dense, dry, or overpowered by the molasses.

My only complaint was that I couldn't remember what the heck I did with my stupid bread pans so that we could enjoy this with the BLTs we made for dinner last night!

Artfully Delicious 2009

2009-07-04T09:47:00.004-08:00

Friday night me, the hubs, and our friend Mike went to Wooster's First Annual Artfully Delicious Festival. Located on the square in downtown Wooster, it consisted of thirteen local restaurants and beverage companies.

We tried many, many different things, and our faves were: Broken Rocks Cafe's Shrimp & Artichoke pasta (had 2 servings, the picture below is the cajun chicken pasta the hubs disappointedly brought back after his third visit to their tent, LOL) and the BBQ from Omahoma Bob's BBQ.

There was quite a turn out from the community and the weather turned from crummy in the morning to perfect in time for the festival to begin. The event was sponsored by Wayne Center for the Arts and Main Street Wooster. Can't wait to see what next year has to offer!

CSA Week #6

2009-07-04T09:21:00.003-08:00

This week's basket was overflowing with goodies - so much so that it took two trips to get the stuff in the car! We got:

Sugar Snap Peas

Broccoli

Lettuce

Beets

Leeks

Zucchini

New Potatoes

Watermelon Radishes

Kohlrabi

Green Beans ("Dragons Tongue")

Parsley

Rosemary

Good Shepherd Farms is also at Wooster's Farmer's Market on Wednesdays at Fisher Auditorium from 3-6. Check them out if you are in that area!

CSA Week #5

2009-06-27T15:59:00.003-08:00

I am going to miss spinach :). I used last week's portion to make some tasty spinach pies. I also made my parents some awesome mullberry muffins last weekend. I am glad to see some new additions to this week's basket:

Sugar Snap Peas

Squash

Strawberries

Baby Lettuce

Baby Chard

Flax & Roses

Leeks

Thyme

Nasturtium Leaves

Broccoli (in the full share baskets - we didn't get any)

I can't wait to get started on the chard... I'm thinking it will end up being in a sweet/sour pickle. Also, Marion was kind enough to give me a 'free sample' of one of their chickens. We'll be eating that tomorrow, and if its as good as I think it will be, I'm sure we'll be ordering several to stock our freezer up!

June Daring Bakers - Bakewell Tarts

2009-06-27T15:16:00.007-08:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I don't do tarts very often, mostly because its been easier to accomplish the same thing as pies, bars, etc. This month's challenge was surprisingly easy and very versatile. Regardless of the 'controversy' related to what these actually are and where they came from, mine couldn't be mistaken for anything but a tart.

We had the freedom to choose fillings and size, so long as we used the sweet shortcrust pastry and frangipane.

Shortcrust Pastry

225g all purpose flour

30g sugar

1/2 tsp salt

one stick cold unsalted butter

2 egg yolks

1/2 stp almond extract

1-2 Tbsp cold water

Sift together flour, sugar, and salt. I processed the butter and flour mixture in the food processor and set aside. Lightly beat egg yolks, and almond extract and add to dough, processing will adding. Keep mixing while adding water a little at a time just until the dough starts to come together.

Frangipane

125g unsalted butter, softened

125g icing sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp almond extract

125g ground almonds

30g all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together until the mixture is fluffy. Scrape down bowl and add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle, this is okay. After the three eggs are added, pour in the extract, then add nuts and flour. Mix well. I loved how yellow the farm raised eggs made the filling :).

To assemble, roll chilled dough disc out on a lightly floured surface, rolling in one direction and turning a quarter until the disc is about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Place dough in pan, and freeze for at least 15 minutes before using. Pull out of freezer and spread jam filling. Then add the frangipane and bake in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes. At 5 minutes left, pull out the tarts and sprinkle slivered almonds on top of each tart.

I made apricot jam and cherry jam for fillings, however the cherry filling ended up in a mediterranean cherry pie for last night's dessert to use up some dough I had left over from making spinach pies and meat pies earlier in the day. So I used up some store bought raspberry jam and also made some nutella ones.

They turned out pretty good. I was initially disappointed that the shortcrust wasn't sweet enough, but it balanced well with the sweet jam and the frangipane filling. The hubs loved the apricot the best. He' not a big fan of apricots normally, but said it was the best flavor combination of the three.

CSA Week #4

2009-06-20T15:33:00.004-08:00

This week's CSA share included:

Spinach
Baby Lettuce (Romaine)
Baby Kale
Baby Leeks
Garlic Scapes (the last of this season's)
Mulberries

Chamomile

This week I have enough spinach to make a few spinach pies, and I hung the chamomile to dry so I can use it in tea and cookies later in the year.

Greek sauce from childhood and more...

2009-06-17T11:24:00.006-08:00

We try to eat healthy, yet from time to time, usually related to daring bakers, we splurge on the not-so healthy. Earlier this week, I'd been thinking about what to do with some ground chuck I thawed out the other day and got an idea from childhood - Hot dogs with Greek Sauce.

Now I'm not so enterprising that I would make my own hot dogs... I took help from the supermarket there :). What I did make, was the Greek Sauce. Growing up in northwestern PA, Greek Sauce was one of those things that was part of life. I remember going to the hotdog shop somewhere on the west side of Erie with my grandparents, sitting in the booth, and marvelling at the tabletop juke box that was at the end of the booth. Greek sauce isn't one of those things that is easily found. It's not the same as coney sauce, and doesn't have beans in it like a chili sauce.

I decided to make this, since the hubs is a big fan of hotdogs and likes meat sauces on them, if he could he'd eat at Skyline, or our local drive up joint - The Corral, everyday. I followed the general recipe that my mom uses for greek sauce:

1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, diced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp oregano (greek oregano - if you have it in your garden!)
S & P to taste
1 1/2 cups water

Brown the beef, breaking up as fine as possible during cooking. When most of the water has cooked of, push the meat aside, tilt the pan and sop up the grease as much as possible with a paper towel. Add the onion and cook with the beef until transparent, then add the remaining spices and water. Simmer until the sauce thickens - serve on top of a hotdog, preferrably garnished with mustard and topped with chopped onion!

I was also prepping the scapes to make some pesto. I used the recipe provided by Marion in last week's CSA newsletter (adjusted for my quantities, but easily scales):

4 oz garlic scapes chopped
1/4 cup EVOO
1/2 cup grated parmesan
1/4 tsp lemon juice
1/4 cup pine nuts

Her recipe didn't call for pine nuts, but I had them on hand, and usually put them in basil pesto, so figured it couldn't hurt! Process the scapes to a fine grind with a food processor, then add the cheese and nuts. Continue processing until a coarse paste forms, then slowly add the EVOO until just combined. I mixed in the lemon juice after i pulled it out of the processor bowl then placed in an air tight container and refrigerated.

Used a few tablespoons the next night tossing it in with hot pasta and grilled chicken. It was very delicious!

Daring Cooks June 2009 - Chinese Dumplings

2009-06-15T05:35:00.010-08:00

I missed posting for the inaugural Daring Cooks Challenge last month. I made the gnocchi, but failed to post about it - yes, I am a slacker.

This month's WONDERFUL challenge was brought to us by the Jen of Use Real Butter. She chose Chinese dumplings for our second ever challenge. The only requirement was the dumplings needed to be made by hand, we had the freedom of choosing our filling, choosing our dough, and choosing our cooking process.

Chinese dumplings are so versatile. I love these buggers and would prefer eating a whole plate of them as my dinner when we go out for chinese with friends, except that I'd feel like a weirdo doing so and resist the urge.

I followed Jen's standard dumpling recipe:

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup warm water

I made the dough by hand, first by mixing the ingredients in a bowl, then transferring to the counter to knead the dough about 20 turns, then allowing to rest for at least 15 minutes before portioning out. It actually rested a little longer as I made the fillings.

When I saw what the challenge was in the middle of May, I knew I'd probably go crazy with the fillings. I chose to make a pork filling, a shrimp filling, and a sweet bean filling.

The pork filling:

1 pound ground pork

5 reconstituted shitake mushrooms, diced

1/2 pound napa cabbage, finely chopped

1 tsp ginger root, diced

2 tbsp chives, finely chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp MSG (can leave out if so desired)

The shrimp filling:

1 pound of shrimp

1/2 cup bamboo shoots, drained and diced

3 reconstituted shitake mushrooms, diced

2 tbsp chives, finely chopped

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp fish sauce, such as patis

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp red pepper powder

1 tsp MSG

The red bean filling:

1/3 cup sweet red bean paste

1/3 cup sweet mung bean paste

Dumpling dipping sauce:

6 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp fresh ginger, grated

3 tbsp rice vinegar (white vinegar can be substituted)

1 tsp red pepper flake (or a few dashes of red pepper powder)

1/3 tsp sugar

To make the dumplings, the dough was evenly divided and rolled into ropes approx. 3/4" in diameter then cut into 1-1.5 inch pieces. The pieces were rolled into a ball and set aside. I pressed each ball into a disk with my cleaver, then rolled each disk out to a very thin circle. Picking it up and placing it into my left hand, I added a heaping teaspoon of filling to the rolled dough, folded the dough together over the middle, then proceeded to pleat the dumpling on either side of the center.

Making the dough was a snap, and even with the added forming/rolling of the dough, it didn't take all that much longer than using wonton skins, as I have previously done (since to make the moon shaped dumplings I'd cut the square skins into circles with a biscuit cutter).

The longest part of the whole dumpling process was waiting for the buggers to cook. I chose to fry and steam both kinds of meat dumplings and I steamed the sweet bean ones. One other adjustment I made for the sweet ones was not rolling the dough as thin, I wanted to make sure that the bean filling didn't overwhelm the dumpling.

We had dumplings for 2 consecutive dinners and I had them for one lunch as well. The sweet bean dumplings were rolled in a mix of dried sweet coconut flakes, crushed roasted sesame seeds, and granulated sugar after they came out of the bamboo steamer. I only made 4 and they didn't make it to see the camera's lens :).

CSA Week #3

2009-06-15T05:05:00.004-08:00

I was hoping to post a little more about what I was making with the bounty from last week's CSA, but the week got out of my control thanks to the LSATs last monday, LOL. We had numerous salads, both as sides and entrees, as well as delicious sauteed greens with the salmon I grilled up (more on that later). I also used the scapes and some green onion tops to make garlic butter to use for grilling fish and poultry.

This weeks basket had the season's first spinach! Here's what else was in our baskets:

Spinach

Baby Lettuce

Green Onions

Garlic Scapes

Homemade Amish Noodles

Rue

Peonies

There was a wonderful recipe included in this week's CSA newsletter for garlic scape pesto. I am going to give that a try this week!

Grilled Alaskan Halibut

2009-06-09T05:20:00.007-08:00

Halibut is 'in season', and it's 'on sale' right now at the grocery store. Last Saturday, I bought a 1 lb fillet and grilled it up for dinner.

The thing I love about Halibut is you can do just about anything with it. The flesh holds up well to all kinds of seasoning combinations and cooking styles. Back in AK, we'd do just about anything to fresh fillets from making cerviche, or smoking them, to battering them up and frying them. The term fresh in AK = 'right off the boat' fresh.

Living in OH now, I've had to adjust my perception of 'fresh', instead of being right off the boat (or your hook!), it's more likely what you'll get here is within 36 hours of catch at the earliest, 48 hours on average, if your grocery store knows how to manage their fresh fish ordering. The only thing I won't make with the halibut that is shipped here fresh is cerviche, that is unless its 'sushi-grade'. I am too paranoid about making cerviche from fish I don't know the handling history of heh.

I seasoned the fillet with EVOO, McCormick's low sodium Montreal Steak seasoning (good on just about any meat/fish), and fresh orange zest. I usually add fresh lemon zest too, but had no lemons on hand. I will season the halibut about an hour before grilling, to let the spices and zest infuse to the oil.

I turn the grill to high to heat up and before putting the halibut on, turn it down to medium low. Since I am a complete grilling moron when it comes to fish, I cheat and grill the halibut (as well as other fish fillets that are skinless) on a piece of parchment. I tried planking... too much money for something that doesn't, to me anyways, add any notable flavor and accomplishes the same thing a 5 cent piece of parchment does - a non stick barrier.

I allow the halibut to cook until the center of the fillet is just starting to go from translucent to opaque, I add a half tablespoon slice of butter to the top, close the lid and cook for 2-3 more minutes or until the butter is melted and starts browning around the edge of the fillet. Thicker fillets may require additional time, I will press the thickest part of the fillet and if it isn't firm (has a little resistance when you gently press it), allow it to stay on another minute before I check again.

Served the halibut with a baby lettuce and herb chopped salad, dressed with a sweet orange vinagrette I made from cider vinegar, honey, orange zest, fresh squeezed OJ, and light olive oil.

The seasoning combination I used on this halibut works well with any seafood/fish and chicken. The fish (and the salad, surprisingly, as he isn't a fan of dressings that aren't italian) were gobbled right up by the hubs. I hint that he'd easily be able to cook this, but all I get is an eye roll. Ah well...

CSA week #2

2009-06-05T05:26:00.011-08:00

Last week we had a supply of fresh greens, eggs and veggies. We made several salads, a few frittatas, and a tasty pie! This week's basket consisted of:

Baby Lettuce

Escarole/Endive Mix

Homemade Honey Oatmeal Bread

Radishes

Garlic Scapes

Green Onions

Peppermint

Looks like we still have a healthy supply of greens for salads, which we've been favoring for dinner since they are easy to make and refreshing on warm evenings. I plan on grilling the fresh Alaskan halibut fillets I bought today to top tonight's salad! I season the halibut with fresh orange and lemon zest, garlic, black pepper, and EVOO, then "grill" it on parchment to ensure the fish doesn't stick to the grill (I totally suck at grilling fish straight on the grates heh). The parchment works as a thin non-stick barrier so the fish doesn't stick to the grates, making it impossible to flip.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

2009-06-05T05:01:00.005-08:00

Last year this time I could only dream about rhubarb. Spring had finally taken control of the weather in DH, but rhubarb was one of those things that never seemed to make it up to the grocery store. This year I've been lucky to have a over abundance of the stuff thanks to the plants in my back yard and as part of Week #1 of my CSA share.

This likely being the last rhubarb I'll get this season, I decided to make the hub's favorite, strawberry rhubarb pie! Because I was busy with another project you'll hear about later in the month, I just threw stuff together, not even following any recipe. I used pie crust I had frozen earlier in the year that I made from Zoe's recipe (truly, TRULY fantastic recipe!), mixed in cubed strawberries and chopped rhubarb (in approximately equal amounts, about a cup of white sugar, a quarter cup of brown sugar, a few tablespoons of flour, a few dashes of cinnamon, and a few shakes of tapioca out of its box.

Last rhubarb of the season, provided by the Shepherd's Fold Farm's Week #1 CSA share.

Choppin' strawberries... doesn't the pile of tops look like a cute bouquet of posies?

What you don't see is the hub's impatiently waiting in the background to eat this....

I made it tarter than normal, as the plan with this pie is to eat it warm with ice cream.... However it seems that something resides in our freezer that lives off of it because the vanilla bean Edy's I bought earlier in the week was no where to be found.... seems this monster likes root beer too, because a bottle of it showed up in my fridge some how!

Its CSA Time!

2009-05-27T08:44:00.005-08:00

All last year I envied everyone in the lower 48 who talked about their CSA bounty from week to week. Fresh veggies and fruit were hard to come by in AK, and when they did make an appearance, they weren't wallet friendly.

Now that we are back in Ohio, I debated on joining a CSA (community supported agriculture) or planting my own garden. Weighing the pros and cons of both, we decided our money was better spent supporting a local farmer and getting a varied array of fruits and vegetables throughout the year.

I researched local farms on the Local Harvest website and came down to two choices. I like the idea of Crown Point Farm but they already were waitlisting for next year. They were closer, but ended up being costlier and had a work requirement (not that I am opposed to that, but the demands on my time during the summer are unpredictable). Shepherd's Fold Farm was a close second, and after some research about their farm and CSA program, I would have likely chose them anyways, as they also sell their own honey, pastured beef, lamb, and poultry in addition to their CSA program. The hubs and I chose a half share, and this week was our first pick up of the season.

In this week's basket we got:

Sorrel

Baby Lettuce

Radishes

Green Onions

1 Doz fresh eggs

Aloe

3 Cherry tomato plants

Rhubarb

Last night I mixed some of the baby lettuce, sorrel, and radish tops to some spinach we had. Topped the salad with chopped red pepper, cubed fresh mozz, radishes, and peppered turkey :D. This weekend I need to get a planter/pot for those tomatoes and get them planted!

May Daring Bakers - Oodlez of Strudels

2009-05-27T07:25:00.006-08:00

Boy did the month blow by fast, here we are again, time for the montly installment of Daring Bakers!

The May Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter and Courteny of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafes of Vienna, Budapeset and Prauge by Rick Rodgers. Because I'm in a rush, you can find the recipes for this month's challenge at the hosts' site(s).

Strudel dough is one of the few things I haven't dealt with in my varied baking past. Didn't seem that hard, considering there's only flour, water, oil, salt & vingar in the dough. I must say, my first attempt turned out the best, I forgot to oil the dough before resting, and the resultant texture of the strudel was crispy and flaky. The attempt I made yesterday afternoon/evening had a better dough feel, plus I oiled it this time, but after baking, the crust was crisp and tasty, yet the flakyness was gone. Granted there is a significant difference in the climatic conditions from the beginning of the month to now (its a lot warmer and humid), so maybe that has something to do with it.

Regardless the dough tasted the great both times and MY OH MY that apple filling recipe has to be one of the best I have ever tried! My first attempt I made a savory strudel with a mushroom filling. I reduced equal parts red wine and basalmic vinegar by half then added chopped mushrooms (used white, crimini, portabella, and oyster - both fresh and reconstituted dry) and cooked until all the liquid was gone and the shroomies were glazed. I topped with chives and gouda cheese wrapped and baked. (This topping is a total winner for putting on pizza or foccacia) The crust was perfect... I left it out to cool for pictures, and came back to an empty pan.... The hubs thought I already taken pics and ate it.

The apple filling was amazingly good. Usually I don't like raisins with apples, but it was a great combo. I let the raisins soak in the rum overnight.

Strudel is certainly as versitale as puff pastry, though without all the hassle of turning multiple times and with out the tons of butter! Stretching was fun, and i was surprised how elastic the dough actually was. I think I would default to studel vs danish for everyday recipes because of how easy it really is!

April Daring Bakers! Neapolitan cheesecake!

2009-04-27T15:01:00.004-08:00

It's that time again and this month is a tasty one!

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:
crust:
2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs (used half regular half chocolate)
1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:
3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature
1 cup / 210 g sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream
1 tbsp. lemon juice (used Limoncello)
1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)
1 tbsp liqueur, optional, (used spiced bourbon)

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath.

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

3(a). I split out 2 cup of batter and added 8 oz of melted dark chocolate, split out another 1 cup an added reduced strawberry mash (2 parts strawberry 1 part sugar) that I made, and left the remaining batter 'plain.'

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served. Please plan accordingly!

This was easy to make, the batter was fabulous, and though I was skeptical that lack of flour would make it lack the structure needed to have height, it turned out great!

I love my own recipe, but would I make this again? OH YEAH... let ingredients, little difference in taste!

Because I wasn't sure that the batter with the added chocolate would bake well with the less adulterated batter, i baked that seperately and then added the vanilla and strawberry when everything was done! Also, that's the only pic I have, the hubs helped himself to several of these single serving cheesecakes, needless to say, it ended up being dinner...

March Daring Bakers - The Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna

2009-03-28T09:25:00.012-08:00

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

March has been a busy month, and I've spent most of if it waging war against the flu and colds. Add to that my husband's skepticism about "pasta verde" and I almost didn't get this challenge done! To ensure that I didn't end up with more pasta verde than I could use, I halved the recipe and it worked out fabulous. I did end up using my own Bolognese sauce recipe, to add something the hubs couldn't resist to make up for the green noodles LOL.

Lasagne Verdi al Forno (from The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia-Romagna, the Heartland of Northern Italian Food by Lynne Rossetto Kasper -- William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1992).

10 quarts salted water

1 recipe Spinach Pasta

1 recipe Bechamel Sauce

1 recipe Bolognese Sauce (my recipe instead of Lynne's)

1 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

NOTE: All measurements for pasta and bechamel are half the original recipe! First I made the spinach pasta:

1 jumbo egg, slightly beaten

3 oz frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry

1 3/4 cups all purpose, unbleached flour

Because I was still battling a cold, I didn't completely "hand make" this pasta, rather I started it using my Cuisinart food processor. I processed the spinach to a coarse paste, then added the flour. After a few pulses, I added the egg and mixed it until the ingredients would hold together when pressed. At this time I transfered the contents to a floured surface and kneaded the dough for 10 minutes by hand. The dough was then allowed to rest for over 30 mintues, covered lightly with plastic wrap.

During this time I made the Bechamel Sauce:

2 tbsp unsalted butter

2 tbsp all purpose unbleached flour

1 1/3 cups milk

Salt & pepper to taste

Nutmeg to taste

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour and whisk until smooth, then stir, without stopping for 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time to keep the sauce smooth. When all milk is added, bring to a slow simmer and stir 3-4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.

Bolognese Sauce (this was made the day before - this recipe makes a lot and can be halved; I don't bother making less because the hubs will eat this sauce for days until its gone):

2 carrots, finely chopped

2 stalks celery, finely chopped

1/2 large onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped or run through a press

1 cup pancetta, finally chopped/cubed (can buy this pre-cubed in store - use 4 oz. pkg)

6 tbsp butter

2 tbsp olive oil

2 lbs. ground sirloin

1 lb. ground pork

1 small can tomato paste

1 cup red wine

4 cups beef or vegetable stock

2 cups of water

1/2 cup heavy cream

Salt & pepper to taste

Chop the carrots, onion, and celery. Heat oil and butter in a large pot over medium heat. When the butter starts to brown slightly, add the vegetables and cook until they are start turning brown on the edges. Add the pancetta, and cook until browned, about 10 minutes. Increase to high heat and add the sirloin and pork, breaking the meat up to the desired size as it cooks. Cook until the meat and vegetables have a deep golden, to brown color, about 12 to 15 mintues. Add the wine and scrape the bottom of the pot to deglaze as the wine cooks off. Add the tomato paste and stir into the meat and vegetable mixture to evenly distribute, then add the stock and water and let the mixture come to a boil. Once at a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer for 2-3 hours, or until the sauce thickens. Turn off heat and add heavy cream.

Here's a gallery of a few steps I managed to capture:

Veggies Chopped!

Meat ready to cook.

Pasta kneaded and ready to rest.

Some assembly required...

The finished lasagne!

The lasagne was really tasty, the filling was rich and very flavorful, and even the hubs conceded that the green sheets of spinach death weren't that bad in the end. I would definitely make it again, though I think my husband does prefer his recipe, so considering he's the lasa maker in the family, this recipe will only come out for special occasions!

January Daring Bakers - Tuiles of the Trade

2009-01-29T14:58:00.007-09:00

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

It's certainly been quiet here, the move back, and taking care of family monopolizing my time, but I am certainly excited to finally get my butt in gear and get this challenge finished! I was excited to try this recipe, as its a versatile canvas for many flavors:

Recipe:
Angelique Schmeinck: Het Chocolade Boek
Yields 20 small butterflies/6 large butterflies
Preparation time: batter 10 minutes, 30 min waiting time, 8-10 min to bake

65 grams softened butter
60 grams sifted confectioners sugar
caviar from one vanilla bean (or dash of vanilla extract)
whites from 2 large eggs slightly whisked
65 grams sifted all purpose flour
1 tablespoon cocoa powder or food coloring of choice (i did not use food color)
butter spray for baking sheet
Preheated oven at 350 degrees

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Since I wasn't making shapes, I spread the batter in a thin layer and baked.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable. At about 8 minutes I pulled mine out and used a cookie cutter to cut out the shape I wanted, I then shaped them and put them back in the oven for 5 more minutes to set.

Once cooled I smeared a teaspoon of lemon curd into each shaped tuile. For the square shapes I placed a blackberry in the center of each one, then wraped the blackberry with a lemon infused whipped cream. The fluted ones were filled with a teaspoon of lemon curd, topped with whipped cream, and a blackberry was placed at the end.

This recipe was easy, fast, and the mini desserts were a nice combination of sweet and tart!

Pan de Sal

2008-11-30T13:51:00.004-09:00

One of my mother's favorite breads is filipino pan de sal. As the name suggests, it means salted bread. Pan de sal today, is often more sweet than it is salty. This modern pan de sal seems to have made this evolution to make up for the lack of quality ingredients after WWII. My mother isn't fond of the 'new' pan de sal, so this weekend, after a conversation about it, I decided to have a go at making it her way.

Pan de Sal (courtesy of my mother)

1/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
2 packets of active dry yeast (fast rise won't work)
1 tbsp (yes, I did write tablespoon) of salt (we used coarse Korean sea salt, measured the 1 tbsp first, then crushed it with a rolling pin)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
3 extra large eggs
1 cup hot water (not quite boiling)
5 cups (or more - we used 5.5 cups) of bread flour (or any hard wheat flour)

Step 1 - in a small bowl dissolve the yeast and the sugar into the tepid water, allow to rest until the yeast becomes foamy.

Step 2 - in a mixing bowl, add the eggs, salt, and mix until combined with a whisk or an electric mixer. Using a pouring container, slowly add the hot water to the egg mixture and mix until all the water is added.

Step 3 - add the foamy yeast mixture to the egg mixture and blend. Then add 5 cups of flour adjusting with more if the dough mixture is sticky.

Step 4 - using a dough hook (or your hands), knead the dough until smooth, adding flour as necessary. The dough should be smooth to the touch.

Step 5 - transfer to a bowl and let raise until doubled, about 1.5 hours in our 72ºF kitchen.

Step 6 - after dough has doubled, roll out into a long rope and cut into 16 equal pieces. Form into rolls and place on a greased baking sheet. Allow rolls to proof for 45 minutes to and hour, to about 1.5 times their original size. Preheat oven to 450ºF.

Step 7 - place baking sheet in lower third of oven and spritz the rolls and walls of the oven with water. After a minute passes, open and spritz the rolls and oven again, allow rolls to bake at high temperature for 7-10 minutes, until they are starting to turn brown.

Step 8 - reduce the temperature to 375ºF and bake until golden brown, approximately 10-15 minutes more. Rolls will be golden brown on the bottoms and feel somewhat light rather than heavy.

Step 9 - remove from the oven and allow to cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

Mom indicated the rolls were extremely close to what she had remembered getting from her neighbor when she was a little girl in Manila. She did say many people like to roll the pan de sal in old bread crumbs after forming rolls, but she preferred them plain, with just melted butter. They were pretty good - saltier than any other bread I have ever made, but not so salty that it was overwhelming.

A time to be thankful

2008-11-29T13:40:00.002-09:00

This time last year, I was celebrating Thanksgiving with some people from work. My husband was still in Ohio and the rest of my family in North Carolina. I didn't think so much would change these past 12 months, I realize there is so much to be thankful for. My mother recovered 99% from a serious illness that almost took her life this past May. My husband finished his engineering degree, after 10 long years of going part time - a great accomplishment for him! Though we did so separately, we safely travelled back from Alaska, to settle back in Ohio since my husband found a really great job there when none could be found in AK (go figure in today's current economic climate.

I am thankful to be close to family again, to have the opportunity to interact with them in and out of the kitchen. I didn't realize until yesterday, that I truly missed being in charge of the family meals, and being able to stand beside my mother and cook this year, made it all the better.

Though my sister and her family couldn't make it to western NC for this holiday, they were with us in spirit. We enjoyed the traditional dishes of thanksgiving: Roasted turkey, stuffing with chestnuts and sausage, carmelized (overly so) yams, honey-glazed carrots, mashed potatoes and gravy, and for dessert, pumpkin roll!

I certainly hope everyone had a happy, joyous, entertaining Thanksgiving Day!

I have returned, but will be away for a few more weeks

2008-10-25T06:50:00.003-08:00

After flying (with delays) for nearly 12 hours, driving for 6, and outsmarting the dog twice, I made it back to Ohio on Tuesday!

I love having an extremely smart dog, though sometimes it can be inconvenient. He used to love his kennel, until he made the trip to AK. Then he took the approach of "HELL NO, YOU AIN'T GONNA GET ME IN THAT AGAIN!!!" After some work, and several pounds of liver treats, he seemed to forget about his aversion to the kennel, and got suckered into making a trip to Anchorage several months ago. Needless to say, he wasnt going anywhere near the kennel again when he got back.

Fast forward to Monday... He sees the kennel, at the airport, and instantly decides to lay down limp in front of it. With the flight 20 minutes away, I did what any self-respecting dog owner in a crowd would do... take apart the thing. With it apart, Kramer was like "ooh, let me go sit in the bottom half, maybe I'll get a treat!" With him sniffing about - I speedily trapped him, refastened the door and lid, much to his disgruntlement but just in time for the plane.

Three hours later we're in Anchorage, and since where we came from has no TSA, I needed to take Kramer through luggage check-in again. Again, I tried to coax him back to the built kennel. No Go. After taking it apart again, to the amusement of TSA, Kramer gave a "F-you" look and plopped down in protest in front of the bottom of the kennel. Feeling somewhat frustrated, I spotted a counter a few yards away. Since I can't pick up his 76 lbs butt up from the floor, I figured get him on the counter and I'll carry him to the bottom. He was so excited to be away from the kennel that he complied with my command to hop on the counter. I scooped him up, carried him to the kennel bottom, and as I was setting him in it, hear him sigh in resignation as I once again built the kennel around him. YAY! We both made it in one piece, meeting my husband at O'hare. Both me and the dog were so happy to see him!

After the 6 hour drive to NE Ohio, it was nice to be home again. I didn't realize until that night, how much I missed listening to the wind rustle the leaves, it was so relaxing. I'll miss AK and all the friends I made there, but I now know how being back home truly feels.

I'll be spending a few weeks at my parents in NC. I may post, but won't make any promises. In November, I'll be back in full swing! I'll also need to decide if I'll keep this blog name or find a new one - any ideas/suggestions would be helpful!

First Snow of the Year!

2008-10-04T14:44:00.003-08:00

Yesterday was dreary and chilly, last night was rainy and cold. Today I come out of the office at lunch (since its dark when I walk to work in the mornings now) and see this:

Last year the first snow arrived October 13th. Though it is quite brisk, I am glad to see snow arrive before I departed.

Regression isn't a bad thing!

2008-10-01T09:55:00.007-08:00

This past weekend was the local blueberry festival. Wild blueberrys hit the height of the tartly sweet goodness right about now, along with the salmonberries waning as we proceed into autumn quickly followed by winter.

As the recipient of a few quarts of wild blueberries, and the need to bake away as much of my 'pantry' as possible, I went all out. On this weekends menu:

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Blueberry Danish Braid

Cardamom Blueberry Sourdough Bagels

Blueberry Mirror Cake

Some of you will recognize two of these as DB re-runs. I wasn't around for the Strawberry Mirror Cake in July of 2007, but being up to my elbows in blueberries, it seemed a good candidate to attempt!

The menu is challenging for a weekend (especially since I started Saturday afternoon - so really 24 hours!), but considering I sold my KA mixer, my food processor, and several baking implements, it seemed near impossible!

I had the sourdough starter already brewing in the fridge, so that was a big help. I took it out Saturday morning and fed it before I went to work. At lunch I threw half of it out and fed it again. By the time I got home from work at 4, I make firm starter and allowed it to proof in a warm draft-free place for 8 hours. After that was done, I washed some blueberries, coated them in sugar, sprinkled some cardamom on them, spread them on a parchment lined baking sheet and put them in the oven at 200 degrees to dehydrate them.

Next on the list was making danish dough. Sans KA mixer, I used the well method. It has been a while since I did any kind of "manual labor" in the kitchen. Add to this that I had a mental midget moment and for some reason decided to double that recipe.... I have no clue why... So I minced up lemon zest, de-seeded vanilla beans, got everthing ready and got started. It was a bit unruly, so there aren't any photos - I didn't want to risk flouring/doughing up the camera - but eventually everything came together :).

With the dough resting in the fridge for 30 min, I pulled out the butter, rolled the sticks in flour then, using a plastic bench scraper, I folded the flour into the butter. Granted, the butter was not as cold as it was when I did this with my KA mixer, but I saw no significant ill-effects from this. I did put it into the fridge for about 10 min to firm it up. When the dough had rested enough, I proceeded to make the pastry dough.

By the time the pastry dough had been turned 4 times, the blueberries were ready to come out of the oven and come to temperature. At the same time, I threw more blueberries into a saucepot and made the filling for my danish.

At 10pm, I was ready to start the cake portion of the mirror cake. About a minute into whisking the eggs and sugar together, my arm was killing me! "WHAT THE H*#$& WERE YOU THINKING????" was going through my head, as I was scouring the steps, coming to the realization that I still would need to whisk up egg whites AND cream... Oy vey...

The cake was easy to make - because I was whisking by hand I don't think the whites were as stiff as they would have been with my trusty KA, so the cake didn't rise as much as I had hoped.

By the time the cake came out of the oven to cool, I pulled out the firm starter for the bagels and proceeded making the bagel dough. At around 11:30 I had the dough finshed as was kneading in my mostly dehydrated blueberries. Since the bagel dough needed another hour or so to raise before forming the bagels themselves, I fould a movie on TV and watched that. Yes, so in the very, very, very early morning, I was up forming bagels. All I know, is I made it to bed around 2 am.

I figured at some point my ambition would be punished. Thankfully my sister, who rarely calls me at home (she usually catches me at work), decided facilitate that by calling at 10 am her time....

Me: "Hello?" (barely audible)
Her: "Where you sleeping?? Oh, isn't it 7 am there???"
Me: "Ummm no - theres FOUR hours difference between you and me...."

So rather than sleep in an extra hour or two, I was put back to work after talking to my sis and then my mom for about an hour total. Good thing too, because there was still a lot to do!

I pulled out the pastry dough, cut it, rolled it, trimmed, filled, and braided it, then let it proof. I also pulled out the bagels and let them come to room temperature (about a hour or so). While waiting, I mixed up my cream cheese mixture and made the muffins. Total this takes about 20 minutes of prep time and 16 or so minutes to bake, depending on how hot I happen to have the oven. You keep the cheese batter and the muffin batter separate and then sandwich the cheese batter inbetween muffin batter in a muffin pan. The cream cheese mixture melts into the muffin batter during baking, giving the muffin a rich creamy taste!

Muffins were done by 9, water was boiling ready to go for bagels. The key to knowing if bagels are ready is if they float in cold water. If they don't float, they need a little more time proofing, just leave them out covered in plastic, until one floats when tested. I boil my bagels in water that's had malt syrup and baking soda added. They boil for 2 minutes (one per side) and drain a few minutes on a rack, are topped with a cardamom-sugar before being placed back on the baking sheet and thrown into the oven. Bagels take about 10-15 minutes to bake at 500 degrees.

Bagels done by 10am, so now the mirror cake. Mashing blueberries by hand to make puree was the worst part - blueberry juice is persistent! I managed to whip up the cream, though i did have a boo-boo and accidentally brought the custart to a boil, which did cause it to curdle a bit. Not to be discouraged, I did finish the cake. Because the steps were a little more time consuming than I had estimated, I have no pictures of the cake. I wish I had - the blueberry puree imparted a lovely violet color to the bavarian cream, and the juice make a deep amethyst mirror. It was absolutely stunning!

So here's a picture of the baked bounty:

I didn't win anything, but that wasn't the point for me. Everyone enjoyed my entries and lucky for me I was one of the few who didn't have to take anything home! I did manage to bake through all my flour, eggs, sugar, and cream which makes me happy. I also felt more relaxed afterward than I had for a while. There is something about baking from scratch BY HAND that is theraputic. Granted, dearest hubby has already told me that my new KA mixer is already waiting for me to come home, so I don't think I'll be signing up for this type of therapy again anytime soon!

Crackerin' it Up - Daring Bakers September 2008

2008-09-27T10:27:00.005-08:00

Hi folks,

Yes its been a while! My husband is off in Ohio-land working hard and enjoying the perks of civilization once again. I am here, in the Last Frontier, toiling away at packing up essential, trying to sell non-essentials, and working feverishly to get as much done for my department at work as I can!

I haven't had a lot of time to document my culinary adventures. However, lucky for you, as a committed DB-er, I present this month's challenge - Lavash Crackers and Hummus Dip. Shel of Musings From The Fishbowl and Natalie from Gluten A Go Go were this month's hosts!

You all have seen my Hummus previously. Its so easy to make, and since it helps me use up food from my pantry, I figured why not!

The lavash cracker recipe chosen was out of Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice - one of my all-time favorite cookbooks! I had been eyeing this recipe for some time! It turned out fabulous :D. You can find the recipe and other details of the challenge HERE.

If I hadn't been on the verge of moving back to the states, I would have tried out this challenge going gluten free. This is the perfect recipe for testing out 'alternative' ingredients. I certainly will try it when I get settled in back in Ohio! The best thing I LOVED about this recipe was playing with flavor combintations. The lavash is a blank canvas for flavors. On its own its a great cracker - crunchy, slightly sour (i left my to ferment over 24 hours in the fridge) - better than the mass produced unsalted saltines I buy! But MAN O MAN, playing with flavor combinations produces spectacular cracker unlimited potential!

The dough isn't too difficult ot work with. I mixed up a single batch by hand, as I had sent my KA mixer to its new home earlier in the week. I was sad to see it go, but my hubby has been trying to bribe me with a new one for years now - and put his foot down about shipping it back. How can I be mad at a man trying to buy me a new one - at least he was resourceful enough to use the move back to his advantage!

I decided on the following flavors:

Pesto/Garlic - Using some left over store-bought pesto (trust me its cheaper than paying through the nose for the basil and pinenuts!) and a tablespoon of chopped garlic, I slathered the pesto on the outside thirds of the dough, and slathered the garlic (with a little EVOO) in the middle third.

Black and White Sesame Seeds - I alternated black and white sesame seeds on the dough. I also sprinkled a wee bit of kosher salt to brighten up the sesame flavor a bit.

Salted Spicy Red Pepper - I mixed up a tbsp of cayenne pepper, 1 tsp of paprika and 1 tsp of kosher salt and sprinkled it over the top of the dough.

Italian-inspired - using dried italian herb seasoning, chopped garlic, and some parmesean cheese, springled each over prepared dough.

In each case - I sprayed the dough before and after the seasonings were placed. The first spray helps it stick, but I have found, after dealing with bread toppings in the past, that the spray after helps it stay put even better.

The crackers were great! I really loved the salted spicy pepper ones! Using the Hummus I made and a jar of spicy mediterranean eggplant spread I had in my pantry from a friend, I took the bounty to work. The comments were quite positive, along with many "who's going to bake for us when you go?" style comments, which made me kind of sad :*(.

Check out the DB Blogroll to see what the other DBers came up with this month! I am going to have a few more posts here before I end up a 'real' American again - I promise you. The local blueberry festival is tomorrow - and as of right now I am working on three entries! Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

August Daring Bakers - Chocolate Eclairs!

2008-09-01T09:06:00.005-08:00

This post will be short and sweet, literally and figuratively! I've been super busy as I mentioned a few posts below. Things haven't slowed down with all the planning and preparing for the big move back to civilization.

I did find time to cram a few rounds of these wonderful pockets of delectable goodness in, however. This month's Daring Bakers Challenge is courtesy of Meeta @ What's For Lunch Honey and Tony @ Tony Tahhan. In special homage to one of pastry's demigods, they chose chocolate ecliars from Dorie Greenspan's Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.

I love eclairs, I love cream puffs, I love them probably a bit to much for the vanity of my waistline, but how could I resist making these delectable goodies? I made these twice this month, once following the recipe as written, and the second time experimenting with the choux dough and trying my hand at different fillings.

My first attempt generated a choux that was a little eggy. After some discussion with fellow DB-ers, I ended up beating the eggs into the warm flour mixture longer between each addition. That seemed to do the trick!

The other thing I did on the second go round was cut the flour back by a quarter, and add double that amount in cocoa powder. I adjusted the liquid only a little. This created a chocolate choux dough that I proceeded to fill with vanilla and chocolate diplomat creams. I have to say, I really enjoyed the chocolate choux, the only adjustment I might make next time is add a bit more sugar OR roll/sprinkle the dough with sugar before baking to sweeten it up a bit. Even with the sweetness of the filling, the chocolate choux could have been a little sweeter :).

Here's some pictures. I slacked horribly this month. I was hoping to find a day where I could dedicate the time to make this for a post, but that never came to fruition. Made both eclairs and small cream puffs! They were delectable and my co-workers couldn't believe I could throw down and make something like this! They liked the eclairs better from an eatability perspective than the puffs...

The recipe can be found on Meeta's blog (or many DBer's pages), so I'll refrain from posting it again. I will certainly be making this many many more times in the future!

What do you mean you've eaten that?

2008-08-27T01:01:00.001-08:00

Though I haven't been posting much, I still continue to diligently read many foodie blogs out there. I've seen the Omnivore and Vegetarian 100 lists going around and figured "Hey, why not see what I've eaten". Even though my mom is from the Philippines, I was surprised to find that my exposure to food puts me in an 'omnivore' category. I have tried 93/100 of these items! I truly feel that trying baalut gives me at least 1 of those 7 back

Here goes, courtesy of Very Good Taste:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at Very Good Taste linking to your results.

The VGT Omnivore’s Hundred:

1. Venison - two of my faves growing up were venison chili and venison jerky!
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile - yeah, like gamey stringy chicken.... it was on a stick...
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp - didn't know it was carp until after I ate it
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi - loved this recipe since trying it after watching Bend it Like Beckham
15. Hot dog from a street cart
16. Epoisses - I was skeptical, but it was a great tasting cheese!
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes - plum wine my dad made and kept in the cellar for 20 years before bottling, boy was it FANTASTIC! (It's older than me)
19. Steamed pork buns
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries - just had wild salmonberry and wild blueberry pancakes on Sunday!
23. Foie gras
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese - i believe its also called souse... I ate it before I knew all the cool kids didn't...
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper - technically I ate it... does it count if I threw it back up 15 minutes later?
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar - does it still count if I don't smoke?
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects - sorry I don't think I could bring myself to
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut - the best one is the one they give you off the line while waiting....
50. Sea urchin - once - didn't really like the texture
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal
56. Spaetzle - a must with chicken paprikash!
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips -
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads - beef thymus sweetbreads, not brains
63. Kaolin - umm yeah, I'm a geologist.... ate some Kaolinite on a bet....
64. Currywurst - love curry, love sausages... how can I not love the is combo?
65. Durian
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe - someday
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill - does a wild goose the neighbor hit with his car count?
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict - once, I liked it, but my sister puking hers up all over the car likely put me off of it for life...
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant
85. Kobe beef - wasn't that impressed, Nebraska corn-fed beef so much tastier!
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee - it wasn't a religious experience, I've had better coffee
100. Snake

WOW, its been a LONG time

2008-08-26T09:10:00.004-08:00

I've been scarce lately, I know. Things have been BUSY here. Several due dates at work lined themselves up, keeping me chained to my desk rather than to my oven and stove! I see the light at the end of the tunnel (for many reasons as I'll go further into below), and have found time, on occasion to get into the kitchen to create something tasty. Usually though, having come off a 12 hour shift, I find no energy to pull out the camera and take pictures. Yes I know, I am a slacker....

As I mentioned, things are starting to lighten up here. The main reason is due to our pending departure from the last frontier. I have to say that I am truly sad that G. and I are going to be leaving. This area is wonderful, if you enjoy nature and experiencing the elements in their raw, unfettered, form. Unfortunately, he ran into many road blocks trying to find employment here, surprisingly. A year ago, neither one of us figured he'd spend 6 months here not coming up with anything (yes, even stocking shelves at the grocery store). He just finished his B.S. in Mechanical Engineering after 9 years of going part time. He knew he may not find work specific to that particular field, but he didn't think he'd be thwarted at every turn:

Applies to municipality for engineering tech position, that has been 'open' for 3 years - told that they want a civil, even though he had all but the surveying experience the JD indicated. What you need to realize, is civil engineer or civil engineering techs don't wake up one day and decide to move to where we are.... This place is an endpoint in travel, not a waypoint to destinations elsewhere. I can't believe that the beggars here actually want to be choosers, but hey enjoy not having an engineering tech for 3 more years! (Yes, I am bitter..)

Applies to municipality for union-wastewater technician trainee - told they decided to not hire the position due to revenue cut backs. OK, I can accept the logic of this.

Applies to local branch of a national banking institution for open teller position. Told that he wasn't qualified, yet the person filling the position is just as 'unqualified' as G....

Applies to municipality for public utilities storekeeper position, only to be told they weren't sure they were going to fill the position (even though its still being advertised as open...).

So... in a moment of frustration, knowing his degree conferral was 2 weeks awa, he send resumes to openings at a few select companies back in Ohio. He had to go back right before graduation to present his final project on last time and while he was there interviewedat a few places. It was meant to be cathartic, it ended up being the catalyst for our departure. G. accepted an offer with a large company back in Ohio. He leaves the end of this week; I am here for a few more months.

There's a lot of changes coming up stay tuned!

Daring Bakers July - Filbert Gateau

2008-07-30T07:08:00.008-08:00

Here we are again - its the end of yet another month this year - I can't believe how fast it goes by. This month's Daring Bakers challenge comes to us courtesy of Chris at Mele Cotte. She chose this fantabulous cake from Great Cakes by Carol Walter.

This cake is more than just a cake but we'll get to that in a bit. I was very excited about this challenge. I had been quite a while since I had made a cake of this caliber, and it would be interesting to see if I could pull it off here in AK, without the aid of my cake decorating and construction tools!

I ordered filberts (hazelnuts) from Barry Farm's Amazon store. They were not too badly priced and shipping was fairly quick. I've ordered from them before for bread baking ingredients and had no issues with the turnaround or quality of the item. He does charge an additional fee, to cover his packing cost, but at the end of the transaction, I paid less to get 1.5 pounds of shelled raw filberts here than from other outlets, so I can't complain. I was considering substituting another nut for the filberts, but all bulk raw nuts were sold out here.

It took about two weeks to get the nuts here, so I stewed looking at my fellow DB'ers provide sneak peaks, trials, and tribulations of their experiences with this month's challenge. Once my filberts arrived, I tried skinning them using a roasting method, but the skins were too stubborn. I ended up blanching them off and then putting the skinned nuts back into the oven to drive of any excess moisture.

I divided off the portion of the skinned nuts for the cake and made the praline and praline paste the same day I skinned the nuts. I have no pictures of this... in fact, I got so focused on not messing up that I have absolutely no pictures of the cake or buttercream part of the process! Sorry folks. The praline was good. I never carmalized sugar on an electric range before, so it was darker than I wanted, but since it wasn't burned, I went ahead and added the nuts.

The next day I processed the nuts with the flour and sieved it 4 times to try and get the finest grind possible. I probably could have not done this with similar results, but I wanted to make sure that I didn't have too many coarse pieces of filbert in the cake. The cake wasn't too difficult to pull together. You don't want to over-fold it, yet want to fold it enough to incorporate the ingredients well. I did think I over did it, but my cake rose perfectly :).

Making the swiss meringue was interesting. I can say that my I followed the spirit of the swiss merignue, but it may not have truly been one. I don't have a hand mixer, and heating the eggwhites while beating them is kind of difficult with a stand mixer. I did manage to place a bowl of boiling water under neat the mixer bowl, and the egg whites did 'warm' a bit, but I would venture to say it didn't achieve the temperature it needed to. There were moments while adding the butter and praline paste, where I thought that it was going to go badly, but perserverance and a high speed beating brought it back in line LOL. I added rose water to my buttercream to accentuate the flavor of the filberts and the praline. I have to admit - the addition of this flavor was pretty good, but I wasn't certain how it would go with the cake and chocolate.

I sliced the cake into three layers, and assembled the cake as directed. I added a vanilla bean to the simple syrup I made and made my glaze using homemade apricot preserves and spiced rum. The assembly of the cake came together pretty well. Here's a picture of part of that process:

The ganache coating wasn't too difficult. I did substitute sourwood honey for the corn syrup. I did do one booboo - I doubled the recipe to make sure I had enough (and to make some truffles afterward) and didn't double the honey portion so my ganche wasn't as shiny as it should have been.

To decorate I bought a plastic cake decorating set (you know, the one with 4 tips), and used that to deocrate. I also peeled some extra filberts and carmelized them for decoration. Here's the gallery of the finished cake!

The cake smelled amazing. I was concerned that even though every part individually tasted great on its own, that it wouldn't marry well together. I took the cake to work, and people were in awe of my creation. We managed to save it for our afternoon break. People were floored - some of the comments circulating the break room

"Oh My God, this cake is heaven!"

"I think I am having a sugar plum orgasm..."

"This is the best cake I have ever had."

"Please excuse me while I collect myself..."

I guess they liked it... and if I still wasn't sure after that:

The cake was amazing, the rose flavor matched perfectly with the filberts and dark chocolate ganache. I expected the nuts to make the genoise heavy and dense, but the cake was light in flavor and texture. All in all I loved it. Granted, the rest of the month seemed empty, since this type of recipe isn't something you can make over and over again (unlike Dainsh Braids!).

Thanks Chris for a great challenge!!! Please check out the DB Blogroll to see how my fellow DBers did this month!

Here's the recipe (I didn't include decorating instructions, as I did my own decorating scheme):

Filbert Genoise (I followed this exactly as written with the exception of a 9" pan)
Because of the amount of nuts in the recipe, this preparation is different from a classic genoise.
1 ½ cups hazelnuts, toasted/skinned
2/3 cup cake flour, unsifted
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
7 large egg yolks
1 cup sugar, divided ¼ & ¾ cups
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. grated lemon rind
5 lg. egg whites
¼ cup warm, clarified butter (100 – 110 degrees)

Position rack in the lower 3rd of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10” X 2” inch round cake pan. Using a food processor, process nuts, cake flour, and cornstarch for about 30 seconds. Then, pulse the mixture about 10 times to get a fine, powdery mixture. You’ll know the nuts are ready when they begin to gather together around the sides of the bowl. While you want to make sure there aren’t any large pieces, don’t over-process. Set aside. Put the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, and beat until thick and light in color, about 3-4 minutes on med-high speed. Slowly, add ¾ cup of sugar. It is best to do so by adding a tablespoon at a time, taking about 3 minutes for this step. When finished, the mixture should be ribbony. Blend in the vanilla and grated lemon rind. Remove and set aside.

Place egg whites in a large, clean bowl of the electric mixer with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed, until soft peaks. Increase to med-high speed and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup of sugar, over 15-20 seconds or so. Continue to beat for another ½ minute. Add the yolk mixture to the whites and whisk for 1 minute. Pour the warm butter in a liquid measure cup (or a spouted container). * It must be a deep bottom bowl and work must be fast.* Put the nut meal in a mesh strainer (or use your hand – working quickly) and sprinkle it in about 2 tablespoons at a time – folding it carefully for about 40 folds. Be sure to exclude any large chunks/pieces of nuts. Again, work quickly and carefully as to not deflate the mixture. When all but about 2 Tbsp. of nut meal remain, quickly and steadily pour the warm butter over the batter. Then, with the remaining nut meal, fold the batter to incorporate, about 13 or so folds. With a rubber spatula, transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with the spatula or back of a spoon. **If collected butter remains at the bottom of the bowl, do not add it to the batter! It will impede the cake rising while baking. Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes.

You’ll know the cake is done when it is springy to the touch and it separates itself from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack sprayed with nonstick coating, removing the pan. Cool the cake completely. *If not using the cake right away, wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap, then in a plastic bag, then in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. If freezing, wrap in foil, then the bag and use within 2-3 months.

Sugar Syrup (I added a split vanilla bean to mine and let it steep for added flavor)
Makes 1 cup, good for one 10-inch cake – split into 3 layers

1 cup water
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsp. dark rum or orange flavored liqueur

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the liqueur. Cool slightly before using on the cake. *Can be made in advance.

Praline Buttercream
1 recipe Swiss Buttercream
1/3 cup praline paste
1 ½ - 2 Tbsp. Jamaican rum (optional)

Blend ½ cup buttercream into the paste, then add to the remaining buttercream. Whip briefly on med-low speed to combine. Blend in rum.

Swiss Buttercream (I used rose water instead of liquor)

4 lg. egg whites
¾ cup sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 ½ -2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or liqueur of your choice
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the egg whites in a lg/ bowl of a elevtric mixer and beat with the whisk attachment until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage). Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time. Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.

Remove from pan and with either the paddle or whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. *Do not over beat*. Set aside. Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and, using the paddle attachment, cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. *Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.* On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy. Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using.

Wait! My buttercream won’t come together! Reheat the buttercream briefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

Wait! My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. If freezing, store in 2 16-oz. plastic containers and thaw in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

Praline Paste
1 cup (4 ½ oz.) Hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 cup Sugar

Line a jelly roll pan with parchment and lightly butter. Put the sugar in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 min until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning. Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat. Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. **Remember – extremely hot mixture.** Then onto the parchment lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible. As it cools, it will harden into brittle.

Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make paste, process for several minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cook dry place. Do not refrigerate.

Apricot Glaze (I used rum instead of water)
Good for one 10-inch cake

2/3 cup thick apricot preserves
1 Tbsp. water

In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and preserves to a slow boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add water as needed. Remove from heat and, using a strainer, press the mixture through the mesh and discard any remnants. With a pastry brush, apply the glaze onto the cake while the cake is still warm. If the glaze is too thick, thin to a preferred consistency with drops of water.

Ganache Glaze (I used honey instead of corn syrup)
Makes about 1 cup, enough to cover the top and sides of a 9 or 10 inch layer or tube cake

**Ganache can take on many forms. While warm – great fudge sauce. While cool or lukewarm – semisweet glaze. Slightly chilled – can be whipped into a filling/frosting. Cold & solid – the base of candied chocolate truffles.

6 oz. (good) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, like Lindt
6 oz. (¾ cup heavy cream
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier, Cointreay, or dark Jamaican rum (optional)
¾ tsp. vanilla
½ - 1 tsp. hot water, if needed

Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside. Break the chocolate into 1-inch pieces and place in the basket of a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer into a medium sized bowl and set aside. Heat the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan, on low, until it reached a gentle boil. Once to the gently boil, immediately and carefully pour over the chocolate. Leave it alone for one minute, then slowly stir and mix the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in vanilla mixture. If the surface seems oily, add ½ - 1 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn’t thicken, refrigerate for about 5 minutes, but make sure it doesn’t get too cold!

Assembling Cake

Cut a cardboard disk slightly smaller than the cake. Divide the cake into 3 layers and place the first layer top-side down on the disk. Using a pastry brush, moisten the layer with 3-4 Tbsp. of warm sugar syrup. Measure out 1 cup of praline buttercream and set aside. Spread the bottom layer with a ¼-inch thickness of the remaining buttercream. Cover with ½ of the whipped cream, leaving ¼-inch border around the edge of the cake. Place the middle layer over the first, brush with sugar syrup, spreading with buttercream. Cover with the remaining whipped cream. Moisten the cut side of the third layer with additional sugar syrup and place cut side down on the cake.

Gently, press the sides of the cake to align the layers. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 minutes. Lift the cake by sliding your palm under the cardboard. Holding a serrated or very sharp night with an 8-ich blade held parallel to the sides of the cake, trim the sides so that they are perfectly straight. Cut a slight bevel at the top to help the glaze drip over the edge.

Brush the top and sides of the cake with warm apricot glaze, sealing the cut areas completely. Chill while you prepare the ganache. Place a rack over a large shallow pan to catch the ganache drippings. Remove the gateau from the refrigerator and put it the rack. With a metal spatula in hand, and holding the saucepan about 10 inches above the cake, pour the ganache onto the cake’s center. Move the spatula over the top of the ganache about 4 times to get a smooth and mirror-like appearance. The ganache should cover the top and run down the sides of the cake. When the ganache has been poured and is coating the cake, lift one side of the rack and bang it once on the counter to help spread the ganache evenly and break any air bubbles. (Work fast before setting starts.) Patch any bare spots on the sides with a smaller spatula, but do not touch the top after the “bang”.

Let the cake stand at least 15 minutes to set after glazing. Leftover cake can be covered with foil and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Shopping is supposed to be fun!

2008-07-21T08:09:00.008-08:00

Every few weeks, or as the mood to bake/cook strikes me, my loving husband and I head down to the local store to shop. Now back in Ohio, I would go to the store several times a week to pick up items on demand, as well as frequent the local farmer's market for seasonal fresh veggies. Here, shopping is a depressing experience, because priced can fluctuate at a moments notice (i.e., without apparent regard to 'demand'), the quality of fresh produce what you get compared to costs is somewhat borderline, but if you have to do it, there's no other option.

Here's a quick review of some of the things we bought for the next week or two:

Luckily I don't remember what Romaine costs in the lower 48

Looks like there will be no peppers for us

Yes, we bought it - man can not live by Romaine alone!

These actually smelled like tomatoes should, the alternative as only 50 cents cheaper... three made their way home with us

I spent $7.99 for a half a flat when I was back in NC in May, these were quite tasty, so in the end they were worth it.

I decided to pass.... they looked good but I couldn't bring myself, you'll note the regular price is 8.99/lb. (I am sure I will regret not getting any at some point - like when they are GONE.)

For my Daring Baker friends, here's those two pesky ingredients I talked about from the June Challenge. While the price fo the cardamom went up only a little, the price for vanilla beans is increasing at a faster rate than crude oil!

Back in Ohio, I would buy KA flours, here I have decided to go 'store brand'. I haven't found too many issues. There is a regional brand, but at this store its $2.50/bag more (this is a 10 lb bag btw). I order specialty flours from KA and eat the shipping cost.

I don't like soda, but I did tell my better half, if he ever saw his fave drink on sale, to go for it... yeah I should have factored what "on sale" really means!

I buy a lot of butter, even at this price.

Lucky for me, the price of eggs had dramatically decreased since we moved here. Last Aug, they were 7.98/18ct. I guess there's a silver lining on every grey cloud!

Used to buy by the gallon in OH. Here, I am only able to not go mental if I buy the half gallon. We have also cut back on our OJ intake.

I didnt' get a picture of it, but my hubby decided to sneak in two containers (the clear cubes about 5in x 5 in) of plain couscous. He didn't tell me what they cost until we made it to the check out and I found them in the cart.... they were 11.29 each. He's lucky I love him.

We made it out spending just over 120 bucks, we did have to buy laundry detergent (13.29 for the small jug of triple strength tide) as well. I get lunch for free at work, and dinner, if my hours let me get over to the cafeteria, and meals costs 5 bucks for my hubby. Sometimes, though, you can't beat the comfort of a home cooked meal.

Breadchick's Dark Onion Rye

2008-07-05T13:00:00.001-08:00

This was supposed to be Dark Onion Rye, courtesy of Breadchick from The Sour Dough - this month's Bread Baking Babes host, however, dark rye flour wasn’t available here, so I had to go with what they had which was just “rye flour.”

The idea of trying this rye bread (along with being bestowed the title of 'Bread Baking Buddy'!) excited me. I’ve been on the sourdough bandwagon for some time now. When I moved here, I retired my 11 year old starter that I had made during my first year of graduate school back in 1996 because I couldn't take it through security with me. Can you imagine trying to explain it to TSA? When I first moved to Akron that year, I had very little money for entertainment, so I bought myself “Bread Alone” by David Leader. The bread gods must have been smiling down at me, because the creation of my first rye starter was a complete success. I baked a loaf or two every week, freezing the starter when I’d be away for long periods like visiting family or doing field research.

It was sad to see such a great starter go into the annals of my baking history, but I told myself that this would give me the opportunity to try different starters. When I came to Alaska, I purchased Peter Reinhart’s “Crust and Crumb” after totally LOVING his “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.” I started with his wheat flour barm and never made it to the rye starters. His barm was consistent, lively, and had great flavor. I’ve been using it for nearly a year now for breads, bagels, and pancakes. It wasn’t until I saw what the Bread Baking Babes were doing this month that I decided to venture down the rye starter path once more.

I mixed up Breadchick’s sourdough starter, and diligently coddled to life this past week. There was a fine wine like aroma that was less acidic and more 'rich' than my wheat barm starter.

Yesterday morning I made the sponge and let it sit out for just over 10 hours. Last night I pulled together the dough. I did make one other substitution, I used malt barley syrup instead of molasses. The overall dough looked lighter than what Breadchick had pictured, but that could be the difference in the flours.

I let it proof until doubled which was less time than indicated, so I decided to throw it into a well-floured towel lined bowl and let it retard in the refrigerator overnight for the final proof. Not only would this let me have just-baked bread for lunch today, but the time in the refrigerator would probably let the flavor develop even more.

This morning I pulled out the boule, turned it out onto a parchment lined pan, slashed it and allowed it to come to room temperature (about 1.5 hours) while the oven was heating.

I sprayed it with water and put it into the 400º oven and followed Breadchick’s instruction of baking 20 minutes followed by 25 minutes at 375º. I rotated the pan a few times to make sure the baking was even. I left this to cool before going to work:

When I came back for lunch it was gone. All of it… Apparently the dog decided it was time to practice his ninja skills. I can assure you that he’s usually a well-behaved freak of nature, as well behaved as those can be anyways, but sometimes my creations excite him to the point where he forgoes all knowledge of politeness and obedience and decides stealing something tasty is worth dealing with my anger. Evolution is a funny thing, however, because it granted him the ultimate trump card – uber super cuteness (how can I be mad at that?):

Looks quite please with himself, doesn't he? Luckily he has the iron constitution, if you get my drift, and the onions in the loaf will only torment us with a bad case of gas instead of a vet visit. I have to take Kramer’s word for how good it was, there was nary a crumb left. So maybe next week we’ll try this again and actually get to sample how it tasted. Thanks for the recipe, it smelled fantastic throughout all stages, I’m sure it will taste just as fantastic when we finally get to try it!

What's my last frontier look like?

2008-07-02T20:24:00.006-08:00

I don't think the conclusion that I love cooking and baking is much of a surprise anymore. I love being in the kitchen, ANY kitchen. There's a sense of comfort and satisfaction I find there - which is why I can spend 12+ hours at work, only to come home and spend time working away at a loaf of bread, or making dinner.

However, since this blog IS called "Diary from the Last Frontier", I guess I should, from time to time go adventuring into said frontier!

Dear hubby and I took some time this weekend and explored our new home a little closer. Even through summer solstice has passed, things here are still just waking up from the long cold winter. Highs are in the mid-50's right now. I wanted to share some photos I took of our adventures!

A view of a snow-melt creek:

Mountians behind some type of willow like bush:

Caltha-leaf Avens (yellow) and Dwarf Dogwood:

Close-up of the dwarf dogwood (they were very VERY small):

Some cool patterns on wood washed up on the beach:

Salmonberry bud:

View of one of the many bays on the island:

View of the 'other side' of overland pass:

Some even tinier flowers:

Mountain Heather:

A picture I took while working today:

I was truly surprised at the variety of foliage and wildlife there is here. I didn't capture any wildlife this outing, but I promise to capture what I can on future adventures!

Croissants Revisited and a meme

2008-06-30T21:34:00.005-08:00

A few weeks ago, when I ventured into the world of croissants, I decided to put 4 into the freezer to see how well they'd freeze as well as any other complications that would arise from thawing and proofing them after freezing.

Yesterday after we got back from a late morning hike, I decided to pull them out and have a go at figuring out what would happen. When I worked at the bakery, we'd take out our IQF sandwich croissant dough out toss them on a parchment lined pan and thaw/proof them in a steam box. When they were 'jiggly' they were ready to go into the oven.

Keeping this knowledge in mind, I put the plug in my sink so that it would drain very slowly. I then put a rectangular cake pan in bottom side up, so that I had a platform in the middle of my sink I pulled the frozen criossants out of the freezer, plopped them onto a parchment lined pan and placed the pan on the 'platform.' I filled the sink with hot water about halfway up the side of the turned over pan and then covered the sink opening with a garbage bag that was pulled taut and anchored down at each corner.

After 20 minutes, I checked to see how the croissants were doing. They were definitely thawing and proofing, and the water was nearly gone, so I filled it up again, replaced the plastic and let them go another 20 minutes or so. When I pulled them out they looked like this:

I wasn't expecting so much better to weep out, but I wasn't overly concerned considering how much butter was actually in them. I imagine that the weeping was resultant from the 'heat' of the steam box, when I had somewhat limited control over. I washed them with an egg/cream mixture, and baked them for god knows how long as you can see here:

I blame WoW (world of warcraft for those of you lucky enough not to know).... I got distracted playing the game, but luckily caught the croissants before they were burnt to a crisp! Note to self.... (yes, I have a lot of these) - don't play WoW when doing any kind of cooking.

They weren't inedible, just extra dark, which I didn't mind. They had a yeastier smell than what I could remember of the original. Straight out of the oven they tasted okay, but as they cooled they definitely became the flavorful, light, buttery rolls of heavenly goodness their earlier siblings were:

My husband thought they were great, and considering how simple it was to take them from freezer to plate, whipping up a batch and freezing them is definitely on the list of must dos sometime in the next month of two.

Now to the meme - Ashley of Memoirs from My Kitchen graced me with a meme today! So first some rules:

#Link to the person who tagged you.
# Post the rules on the blog.
# Write six random things about yourself.
# Tag six people at the end of your post.
# Let each person know they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
# Let the tagger know when your entry is up.

Now that's out of the way - Six random things about me:

1. I play violin.
2. I have an Aussie named Kramer. He's probably smarter than me, but he can't cook nearly as well!
3. I love cheese, especially most varieties of blue cheese.
4. I have a secret obsession relating to all things macaron.
5. I gave the first boy who kissed me a black eye when we were in kindergarten.

Now for my victims! I tag fellow Daring Baker Freshmen:

Kelly from Another Baking Blog
Lauren from I'll Eat You
George from Culinary Travels of a Kitchen Goddess
Alexis from Baking to De-stress
Ruth at Adventures in Amateur Baking & Cooking
Temperance at High on the Hog

The meme is sent to y'all in good fun and I thought it would be cool to tag other newbies to the Daring Bakers ranks! Welcome guys and great job with the first challenge - hope we all can keep it up!

Daring Bakers June Challenge - Danish Braids!

2008-06-28T22:30:00.000-08:00

My first month as a Daring Baker and I find “Danish Braid” staring back at me on my computer screen on June 1st courtesy of Kelly at Sass & Veracity and Ben of What’s Cooking? I couldn’t believe it, I had been debating on buying one of the pastry textbooks from Friberg or the CIA just for this very dough recipe, but never pulled the trigger because there are other things that have higher priority (kitchen scale, in particular).

I have to admit, my first attempt at puff pastry (un-yeasted) nearly a year ago was a failure. The folded block resides in the door of my freezer, taunting me as a reminder of my previous, somewhat cavalier attitude toward pastry dough. I mean, how hard could it be to turn butter into a flour-dough to create flaky buttery layers??? After all, I mastered sourdough starters and choux the first time I attempted them? I was quickly humbled, but I kept my disaster of a first try so that it could keep motivating me each time I opened the freezer until I gathered the inspiration to master the technique, after which time I could pitch it in honor of success (unless anyone can tell me what to do with it!).

After the initial shock, then joy, then worry, I reviewed the ingredients. Three of the ingredients were something I would have had in my pantry (or access to) in Ohio, but haven’t had a reason to restock in Alaska until now. First, I normally use salted butter for everything, cutting down salt requirements in the recipes I use to account for this. However, puff pastry dough recipes I have come across don’t usually have added salt. This means a dedicated butter purchase. Secondly, two spices in particular were not cooperating. The cardamom I found was odorless and tasteless, and the vanilla beans were $6.50 each – yes for normal bourbon beans – at that price they should be guilded. The $15.99 I spent for the cardamom was a bust, so I wasn’t willing to throw away more money on beans that may be the odorless and tasteless as well. Thanks to Kelly and Gabi for recommending two great vendors for baking ingredients – read HERE for more!

So how did I do? Well before June ends tommorow, I will have made 10, yes – TEN, Danish braids. (There's several posts that lay testament to my freak compulsive cooking nature - please don't be surprised!) My first two attempts were completed prior to my spice order arriving, they were potato, egg, ham, and cheese x 2 and strawberry almond x 2 (one each per attempt). The second time I tried it, I cut back on the sugar so that the savory Danish wasn’t so sweet.

Here's how the dough looked (rolled out with the butter mixture spread over 2/3):

First fold:

Second fold (aka full turn!):

The dough was allowed to rest for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. The turn process was repeated for a total of 4 turns before the dough was put to rest in the refrigerator for at least 5 hours.

The egg, ham, and potato filling:

Cutting the dough at an angle will help the braid not open up like a rib-cage during baking because each dough cut is held down by the another braided on top:

Strawberry Almond and Blue Berry filled braids - unbaked:

Here's a side view of the the blueberry before baking:

I followed the proportion of fruit to sugar from the Danish Braid Recipe from Cooking with Julia for the strawberry blueberry, and apricot fillings. I used frozen berries and fresh apricots, respectively. The recipe can be found courtesy of Mean Chef's site here for those interested. For the almond part I made almond paste following the 1 cup nuts, 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, and one egg white, lightly beaten recipe I learned as a little girl. Literally any nut can be made into a sweet nut paste using the proportions above.

The remaining 3 attempts (2 braids each) included 3 blueberry, 1 strawberry almond, 1 apricot, and 1 cheese. I made the cheese filling using a block of cream cheese, a cup of sour cream, one egg, vanilla, and enough sugar to taste, depending on how sweet you want it to be. The difference in the flavor of the dough with the cardamom and vanilla bean were amazing. Part of the reason for making so many was due to my addiction to how this dough smelled!

A gallery of finished Danish Braids!

Strawberry-Almond:

Top of a blueberry danish braid:

Apricot:

Close-up of the flaky-ness of a strawberry-almond:

A slice of egg, ham, and cheese:

A pair of braids! Blueberry and cheese:

A whole ham, egg, and cheese braid, great for lunch too:

One of the reasons I think my previous attempt at puff pastry failed was the butter oozed out and the turning never really came together. That method required wrapping the flour dough around the butter like an envelope then rolling out. This method put the butter on 2 thirds of the length of the rolled out dough and then called for folding it up like a business letter – I truly believe the difference facilitated success 100%! After three successful attempts at this recipe, I mustered up enough courage to go for broke and even try croissants! Maybe someday I will attempt the other turning method again, just to prove to myself that I can do it, but until that time, this recipe will be in my baking arsenal for years to come. The filling combinations are endless (check out the blogroll for what other fellow Daring Bakers did this month!).

Here's the recipe used (Danish Braid from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking):

DANISH DOUGH -- Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients -- For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

Ingredients --For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions - Detrempe:
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

Instructions - Beurrage

Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.

Instructions - Putting it all together

1. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

2. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

3. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Some suggestions to make things easier:

1. Don’t expect to be able to make this in one day, unless you are planning to make it for dessert after dinner.

2. Split the process into 2 days – make and turn the dough on Day 1 store in fridge for next day or freeze for several days later; roll, fill, braid, and bake on Day two (if you want it fresh from the oven in the morning, you’ll need to give yourself at least 3 hours, depending on the temperature available to proof.

3. We made our own fillings for this challenge, but you could save time by using pre-made fillings or mixing berry jams with ‘dry’ fruit like apples or pears. I even saw in the grocery store, pre-mixed cheesecake filling!

4. Don’t be afraid to make the braid the night before – warm Danishes are rarely available at a bakery (unless you are lucky enough to be the baker!) and are most often at warm room temperature when sold.

Thanks to this challenge, I can cross puff pastry off my ‘need to try’ list! I am totally sold on this recipe and truly believe if you take the time to read the recipe, break it into easy sections over several days, anyone can have success with it! Thank you Daring Bakers! THANK YOU!!!

CupCake Foolery - That's all you can call it!

2008-06-27T08:49:00.004-08:00

This post is long, but the end makes it all worth while! As I mentioned in an earlier post, I planned to make cupcakes at the end of this week. My intention was to only do Devil’s Food, but the compulsive baker in me somehow decided that I needed to offer variety… Cupcakes are never a BAD idea, but by the time I was putting the 4th DOZEN out of the oven, I started thinking that maybe, JUST MAYBE, I had gone overboard….

I love chocolate cake; I am not talking Chocolate Death type cakes either, though they are good. I am talking about a good old fashioned chocolate cake that even by itself, unadulterated tastes amazing. I have tried many recipes for German Chocolate, Chocolate, Devil’s Food, and never found a recipe I liked – I preferred to use boxed cake mix because it produced just as good results as all those scratch recipes I tried, with a lot less hassle.

I stumbled upon Zoë, from “Artisan Baking in 5 Minutes” fame and her site this past January. Her site is amazing, the pictures are gorgeous and the recipes she posts about blow me away. When I saw her Devil’s Food cupcakes and knew I had to try that recipe some day. Well a few weeks ago, I needed to provide dessert for a dinner I was going to and chocolate cupcakes seemed like the perfect thing. I gave this recipe a try and I was HOOOKED – Thank you Zoë!!! I followed her recipe exactly as she provided it, so I am not going to reproduce it here but you can find it on her site (link above), along with many other tempting ideas! I measured out and mixed the dry and wet ingredients:

As she indicates, the batter is ‘thinner’ than you’d expect:

I used a ¼ measuring cup to fill the lined cupcake pans. I didn’t take any pictures, because who doesn’t know what that looks like!

Her recipe makes three dozen cupcakes – I allowed them to cool then topped them with the icing recipe she provided. I did make one change – I added about ½ cup of chocolate ganache to her recipe. While waiting for the chocolate cupcakes to bake (I only trust my oven to one pan at a time) is when I came up with the fabulous idea of making a different ‘flavor’ of cupcake. At the time I didn’t factor exactly HOW MANY cupcakes I was going to bring into this world. My husband claims my simple math skills are non-existent, and laughed at me as the number of cupcakes increased at an exponential rate.

I decided my second flavor would be red velvet. I was looking at some of the past Daring Bakers challenges a few days ago and came across this from Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice. WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO MAKE THOSE???? HELLLOOO???? So while dozen #2 and #3 of the Devil’s Food were baking, I googled the recipe she used (Magnolia Bakery’s) and started down the path to cupcake oblivion…

The batter is completely different than the Devil’s food – it’s based on butter instead of oil, making the batter more stable and thick, which also results in a more sponge like cupcake. I didn’t take any pictures – whipping up a recipe I never made before, on top of trying to remember that I have to not burn my other cupcakes was enough for my brain to handle at 7pm.

I made it though! After the last of the red velvet cupcake batter was in the oven, I went into high gear making Zoë’s icing as well as the Magnolia Bakery Vanilla Cream icing I found. The dog was apparently aware of the cupcake foolery that was in progress, and tried to persuade me to convince one of the cupcakes to commit suicide, but I steeled myself against the Power of Cute:

By 11pm, the cupcakes, ALL 72 OF THEM, were happily resting in the fridge (please disregard the mess – I had to shove things around to fit all the cupcakes):

This morning, to the extreme I brought them into work, to the appreciation of my fellow co-workers!

Cupcakes for breakfast? It's the new breakfast of champions!

Halibut Cerviche

2008-06-25T08:16:00.003-08:00

One awesome thing about living here is access to wild, fresh caught seafood. Sockeye salmon are starting to run here, and halibut fishing is starting to become active. I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients of several pounds of fresh halibut.

Hmmm… what to make?? Cerviche of course!

I cut a hunk – yes very scientific (probably close to 6oz.) – of halibut off on of the fletches I received, and then cut it up into small cubes. I juiced 2 limes over it, mixed it up and put it in the refrigerator overnight. Yesterday, when I got home from work, it looked like this:

The acid from the lime juice chemically cooks the meat. Cutting the fish into small cubes enables this process to happen consistently and quickly.

I diced on tomato, chopped up some cilantro and a ¼ of a medium sized onion (prefer red, only had white), added it to the halibut and mixed with the juice of another half a lime – I normally add one jalapeno, but forgot I had it, no matter – I’ll probably make this again before the week is out! Salt the mixture to taste and serve with tortilla chips or fry up some corn tortillas and serve on top. Mmmm mmm good!

For dessert we had the bread pudding I made a few days ago. I had a left over whole grain baguette I had made so I cut it into cubes, dried them overnight in the oven and then mixed up a basic custard out of eggs, milk, sugar, and vanilla which was poured over and allowed to soak for several hours before baking.

I topped the slices with a bourbon (the whiskey, not the vanilla!) glaze. It was kinda like french toast on steroids!

Catching up & some vendor reviews

2008-06-23T10:15:00.003-08:00

It’s been a little while since my last post. Things here have been busy, as usual though it hasn’t kept me from cooking and baking. I just don’t usually connect with my camera in time to snap photos - sorry folks!

As a quick run down, I’ve been experimenting with bread formulas a bit, both for taste and crumb texture. I think that my active dry yeast may be on its last legs, its not nearly as punchy as it was when I first purchased it. It’s still well within the expiration date, but my cupboards do get warm, and perhaps the temperature got too toasty for it. I am going to spend some time this next weekend working my recipes through during the day without retarding to see if maybe I am not activating the yeast long enough.

I have also been going crazy with Zoe’s Devil’s Food recipe. I had been looking for something to satisfy the chocolate monster, and decided to try out the recipe I had bookmarked from her site. Many of you will recognize her from "Artisan Baking in Five Minutes." THESE CUPCAKES WERE FABULOUS!!!! They were also super easy to make. I made both the full recipe and a batch scaled back to a third of the original recipe and both turned out the same. There are only a few things that I make that I still want to devour after having spent several hours in the creation process, these cupcakes are on that list! I did make one change to Zoe’s frosting recipe – I whipped up some chocolate ganache and added it into the cream cheese mixture – the combination was a winner! I'll be making these again soon and promise to take some pictures.

I also wanted to send out some positive reviews to a few vendors that I have used this month. But first a short rant: living in Alaska does limit one’s access to ingredients that may be normally available in the Lower 48. With mail order and the internet, access has improved, but then we have to contend with vendors who charge an arm & leg for shipping. Yes, it is expensive to ship items to AK, and even more expensive to ship to where I live, as things come only via plane or ocean-going freighter.

--Quick Rant—

There are reasonable options available via USPS Flat-Rate boxes which now come in three sizes (two costing $9.60, the other $12.95) that provide Priority Mail service for an unlimited weight, so long as the shipment fits in one of their boxes. The USPS will even ship vendors these boxes free of charge and will pick up during their normal carrier service. These three boxes would take care of 95% of the items most people would ever mail order. Yet vendors, by their own choice, charge higher than normal rates/pound, then add another flat rate charge to boot OR charge for regular First Class Priority (which is based on weight and zip) and then put it in a flat rate box that costs 4-6 dollars less than what they charged. If vendors want to make money, they should inflate the value of their goods instead of trying to recover extra profit from shipping fees.

--End Rant--

Anyways, after being disappointed with the quality of spices available here, I took the suggestions of two fellow Daring Bakers and sent business to the Spice House (courtesy of Kelly @ Sass & Veracity) and the Organic Vanilla Company (courtesy of Gabi @ The Feast Within).

The Spice House offers a huge selection of whole & ground spices, extracts, flavorings, and cooking products. They do ship via USPS and charge actual shipping for Priority Mail. They answer questions quickly, and their order to shipping turnaround is very quick. I received the spices 5 days after I ordered them (2-3 PM shipping actually takes 4-5 if going to AK). The spices were very aromatic, and appeared to be ground fresh for shipping. I specifically went to the Spice House for cardamom, and ended up buying garam masala (for Chicken Makni), rose water and orange blossom water to restock dwindling supplies, and grains of paradise to try in some African dishes. Total cost of spices was $18.05, $26.10 after shipping. Considering the cardamom cost $15 dollars here, and there is no access to the other ingredients, the overall cost of the order was well worth it. I haven’t found any other outlet for spices who offer the variety and shipping, they’ll definitely get more of my business in the future!

The Organic Vanilla Company offers organic gourmet and extract grade vanilla bean varieties on eBay. I never had need to bulk order vanilla beans when living in Ohio, as I could get them reasonably priced (around a dollar). The cost of vanilla beans here was well over 6 bucks for one. The cheapskate in me was not willing to go down that road. I checked out OVC and was instantly convinced to “Buy it Now”. I purchased a ½ pound of gourmet Grade A Bourbon vanilla beans. The auction indicated I’d receive ~55 beans. I counted 76 when I received my package. The transaction was easy, the shipping turn around was fast and I received my beans 4 days after they shipped. The beans were aromatic, shiny, and plump. Total cost for the order was $18.95, $14.95 for the beans with $4 for First Class Mail shipping. Once I’ve found use for all 70+ beans, I’ll be sending repeat business their way!

Note to self...

2008-06-12T16:09:00.005-08:00

Never, ever, EVER convince yourself to buy fat free half and half for your tea.... I should have read the label, but I was seduced by the cows on the label and the appeal of making a 'healthy choice'.

My favorite part.... "an ingredient not normally found in half and half".... umm, I naively thought half and half meant half cream, half milk.... apparently not.

If the quart I bought for work didn't cost close to 6 bucks, I have already blessed the drain with its contents.

Croissants - Day 2

2008-06-12T11:23:00.003-08:00

Today continues the saga of croissant making. So far my comment on the croissant recipe in Tartine by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson is two thumbs up – the dough felt almost exactly like the dough we used at the bakery, except there wasn’t enough of it to make 100’s of croissants. Those interested in giving this a try, please head over to fellow Daring Baker Veronica’s site – Veronica’s Test Kitchen.

If you want fresh baked croissants for dinner, this recipe can be completed over one very long day. If you are looking for morning croissants, then I would suggest two days (more on this later).

Before I get started, please let me qualify the following information with a quick disclaimer. I’ve said this before, I will say it again, I suck at remembering to take pictures of the steps, especially when its 2 am. It takes 100% of my mental capacity just to remain upright and operating complicated machinery (aka oven) and sharp (knife) and blunt (rolling pin) objects.

With that said, I took the frozen dough out around 6 pm the night before – I knew that I was going to be up at 2 am to be sure I could get to work with croissants without being horribly late. The entire recipe of dough would have been too large for me to roll out in one shot, so I halved the dough along the width, put what I wasn’t going to use in the fridge, and rolled out the dough to 12 x 18 rectangle, cut the rectangle into thirds along the length and then into halves along the width – giving me a dozen triangles to roll.

Following the instruction in the recipe, I rolled the triangles from the base to the tip and placed them on parchment lined baking sheets. I had warmed the oven to 100ºF on my oven thermometer and then turned off. I put the baking sheet on a cooling rack that was sitting on my baking stone when the thermometer read 90ºF and slid a boiling pot of water into the bottom of the oven to create a steam box.

I repeated this with the second half of the dough but rather than putting it in the oven, I manufactured a ‘steam box’ out of my kitchen sink using a rectangular pan turned upside down, another cooling rack for the baking sheets of croissants to sit on, and a large garbage bag. I blocked the drain enough for the water to flow out slowly and filled the sink with hot water until halfway up the sides of the rectangular pan. I put in the baking sheet with the croissants on the cooling rack, and then anchored the garbage bag tautly on each side with canned goods, to slow the heat and steam as it escaped from the sink. This was around 3 am – and I wasn’t thinking ‘Ohh photo op!” at the time – I’m sure I’ll build this contraption again sometime and take pictures of it :).

Here’s what the croissants looked like after proofing and their egg wash:

Here’s what the finished product looked like:

I made it to work, only 45 minutes late, but I don’t think anyone cared, other than having to wait for me to show up :). The taste was spot on to the crispy-flaky croissants with the soft buttery insides. My only complaint is they were a little tough – i.e. hard to pull apart – probably from working the dough more than it needed. I will definitely make this recipe again, so that issue may eventually go away.

Like most laminated doughs, this recipe probably takes the home baker two days to complete from start to finish. Because not everyone is willing to wake up at inhumane times, like I am I did throw 4 just rolled croissants (non-proofed) into the freezer. They froze with little expansion, which I was worried about considering how active the dough felt. I did not bake them yet, but when I do I will post here. I don't see any reason why pulling the frozen croissants at 10pm, putting them on a parchment lined sheet and letting them thaw in the refrigerator wouldn't work. Another consideration would be to pull them out frozen and proof them longer in a steam box at a slightly higher temperature. We made croissants from scratch as well as made them from IQF (individually quick frozen) un-risen product when I worked at the bakery, with the latter used to make cafe sandwiches. The IQF took 45-60 minutes to go from frozen to ready to bake in a 114-120ºF rack proofer. Either way, I have 4 to test out and sometime in the next few weeks, when I am ready to look at a stick of butter again, I'll give both a try and post the findings!

Baking Frenzy

2008-06-11T08:09:00.005-08:00

WARNING – this post is long.

I am a freak – that’s all that can really be said. I go through days of being so tired I can barely keep my eyes open, then flip-flop to days where I can’t sleep. I think my internal clock is broke – and the warranty was up a LONG time ago!

So why am I a freak? Well, I went on a baking frenzy last night. Don’t be fooled by how innocent that sounds – its not innocent at all hehe!

My evening started with dinner – chili dogs. I only mention this because it’s the first time in my 34 years of existence on this Earth that I had Hormel canned chili, or canned chili of any kind for that matter. Now, I prefer homemade chili – I am somewhat obsessive about how I make mine, I dice brisket and rump roast into small cubes, soak beans overnight, etc – yeah, I guess there are many reasons I am a freak, but I digress…. Hormel chili isn’t something I would eat on its own, however smothered on a hot dog sitting on a nice potato bun, topped with cheddar cheese, its pretty darn good!

Back to the topic, I recently joined the Daring Bakers, and looking back at past challenges, I thought it would be cool to make my dear hubby some hot buttered pretzels. At the same time I figured it would be nice to surprise one of my French co-workers with something other than Pain au Levain so I decided to try my hand at the recipe from the croissant challenge after getting seduced by the pictures from that challenge. So yeah, my hands were quite full. When my husband asked me what I was doing, and I told him what I planned to accomplish - he gave me the same type of look one gives a crazy person as they slowly back away from them...

I started with the pre-ferement for the croissants:

After mixing this up, it was time to throw together the ingredients for the pretzels. I like the fact that it all goes into the bowl at the same time, making it an easy surprise snack to fit into a multi-step/multi-day baking adventure like croissants! When the dough was ready to proof it looked like this:

While this was proofing away, I turned my attention to measuring out the ingredients for the croissant dough. I have made croissants before, but on an industrial scale, where we measured ingredients in pounds. Since I always had access to these crispy crusted-soft inside buttery pockets of heavenly delight, I never had a need to make my own. Since moving to AK, I tried to scale back the industrial recipe several ways, but couldn’t get it to work to my satisfaction. Seeing the results from this former challenge, I figured I would give it a try since the pictures of the completed challenge looked close to what we used to make at the bakery.

After 2.5 hours, I scraped the pre-ferment into the mixer bowl, added the yeast and mixed until combined, added half the milk slowly and mixed until it looked like something out of a bad science experiment. I mixed together the pre-measured dry ingredients, and added them slowly to the yeast mixture, alternating with the remainder of the milk. I had to resist the urge to add more milk, to incorporate the ‘cornmeal’ like bits at the bottom of the bowl, after the requisite mixing time had elapsed, but I let the dough rest for its 15-20 minutes and when I started up the mixer it quickly incorporated into the rest of the dough. I’d have pictures of this, except it was insanely late (or insanely early – I don’t remember). The finished dough proofed for an hour before getting pressed into a rectangle 2” thick, wrapped, and put in the fridge.

Meanwhile, back on the stove, the pretzel dough had finished its rise. I turned the dough out of the bowl, gently pressed it into a rectangle, then cut it into halves until I had 8 pieces. I rolled each piece, shaped, dipped (I used malt barley extract instead of sugar in the wash), and placed on the sheet pan.

They sat around basking in their pretzel glory for 15 minutes, waiting for the oven to reach 500º. I didn’t think until after I salted all of them about topping them with other tasty goodness – next time! After baking, each was lovingly brushed with melted butter and all but two were devoured by my husband. He didn’t even let the dog have a bite LOL! Here’s what I was able to grab pictures off before they met their fate.

Four pretzels wondering what happened to the 5th - do you think the one on the bottom right looks worried?:

The pretzels were soft, light, and had an airier texture than I had expected. The taste was pretty good, though it reminded me more of pizza dough than pretzel:

A close-up of the star snack of the evening (near morning - note the daylight still present at 11pm):

This morning (when I woke up 2 hours after I went to bed), I rolled out and turned the croissant dough – turning it 4 times. It now resides in my freezer, waiting for the 24 hours to pass, when they will reach the culmination of all their glory (hopefully). Stay tuned!

AWED - Middle Eastern inspired Hummus!

2008-06-03T16:02:00.007-08:00

In my surfing of food blogs, I came across this very cool event A Worldly Epicurean’s Delight (AWED) at Siri’s Corner, this month’s host. The event was started by Dhivya of Culinary Bazaar.

This month’s theme was Middle Easter cuisine. Where I live in AK, there is almost no access to Middle Eastern food. Occasionally, I’ll find hummus or baba ganoush in the grocery store, but experience has taught me that the ridiculous price buys you only disappointment and regret, so I usually hold back from buying them.

It wasn’t until I stumbled across this event that I found use for the 5 pounds of sesame seeds I brought back with me last January. One really doesn’t realize how much 5 pounds of sesame seeds is until they wonder how to get rid of it! The only reason I haven’t made my own hummus since moving here was because I could never find tahini. Well, what is tahini made of? Sesame seeds, of course!

So to participate in AWED this month, I decided to make tahini, and whip up some hummus. I must say, I have never really cooked the “vegetarian way” before, but none of the ingredients were produced from meat, or are by products of animals, so it is certainly vegetarian friendly.

To make the tahini and hummus I used recipes I learned from a friends mother, who is a great Lebanese cook. These quantities are merely guidelines, as she tended to look for consistency and texture more than meeting exact quantities:

Tahini

3 cups of sesame seeds, roasted lightly

Light olive oil (not extra virgin) or other light oil of choice

In a food processor, grind sesame seeds, drizzle in enough oil so that the tahini is able to pour thickly. The quantity of oil will be dependent on how dry the sesame seeds are. PLEASE NOTE: My friends mom used A LOT of tahini; feel free to cut back on the amount of sesame seeds if you only need a little tahini.

Hummus

3 cups of cooked (or canned) garbanzo beans, juice reserved for thinning

3 tbsp of tahini

Juice of half a lemon

2 tbsp raw diced or 3 tbsp roasted garlic

Salt & Pepper to taste

Put all ingredients but juice and S&P into the food processor bowl, process adding enough juice to bring the hummus to the desired consistency. I prefer mine a little thick, but still loose enough to pour.

I usually prefer to eat hummus topped with fresh tomatoes, garnished with a little paprika, some extra virgin olive oil and chopped tarragon.

It tasted absolutely wonderful, and was a refreshing dinner for my husband and myself. It had been over a year since I had hummus of any sort, so embarking to the Middle East courtesy of this event was definitely worth it!

Back in Alaska

2008-05-31T11:27:00.002-08:00

It's been a few weeks since I posted last. I had to fly back to NC two days after my last post to be with my mom. Luckily, after a few harried days, she was on the road to recovery!

It was definitely a sobering experience being 4,000+ miles away, at the mercy of the weather and the airlines. I was supposed to leave on Monday the 4th, but due to weather holding back flights, I couldn't get a re-confirmed seat until the next Saturday. Because of her condition, the hosiptal faxed information that enabled me to get priority standby on Wednesday. Twenty three emotionally and physically exhausting hours later, I arrived in Asheville. She's back home now after 8 days in ICU, 3 days in a neurological step down unit, and 2 weeks at the rehabilitation hospital, and she sounds better than she ever has on the phone :). She unfortunately broke her ankle when she initially got sick, so she's still on the mend from that.

I have been up to my elbows in work since getting back a week ago, but I still managed to do some baking. I brought back a full flat of strawberries with me (you can't imagine all the weird looks I was getting at TSA hehe). Strawberry shortcake, strawberry trifle, strawberries and cream, all of them made an appearance, only to be immediately consumed by one happy husband and a dog that liked the cakes and cream more than the strawberries! Alas, no photos were taken, so all I have of our brief interlude with strawberries in Alaska are the memories! Maybe next year!

Rosemary Pound Cake with Key Lime Glaze

2008-05-06T18:22:00.005-08:00

My adventures in the world of focaccia didn’t quite use up all my rosemary.

I was going to use it to infuse some oil for salad dressings, but I found myself on edge and anxious on Sunday after getting news from my dad that my mom is sick. It’s hard to deal with family situations from 4,000 miles away, had my husband and I still been living in Ohio, I’d already be in North Carolina. My anxiety didn’t get any better when I found out that all flights off the island are booked solid through Friday.

So, in an attempt to do something therapeutic, I decided to make an updated version of standard pound cake. As luck would have it, I had buttermilk left over from making fried chicken earlier in the week, so I figured I'd use that up. I knew I wanted to use rosemary in the cake, but hadn’t thought about what other flavor I wanted to pair. I find that rosemary is at its best when paired with another flavor.

Looking through my refrigerator, I settled on a bottle of rum and a bottle of key lime juice – wha-la, my updated version had just come to life.

The first step was to take all ingredients and bring them to room temperature, so I pulled out the eggs, butter, rum, key lime juice, and buttermilk and allowed them to come to temperature. A few hours later, I unwrapped the butter and creamed it in my stand mixer until smooth, after which I add the sugar. Over the years I decided that I like the results of beating the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. I learned, recently, to use baker’s sugar, which is much finer than regular granular sugar, so that it reaches the right consistency much more quickly.

While this is mixing, I sift together flour and baking soda. When the butter/sugar mixture reaches the right consistency, eggs are added one at a time, mixing well after each addition. After the last egg is mixed, the bowl is scrapped down, the rum and key lime juice are added until just mixed, and then flour and buttermilk are alternately added until just combined. As a last step I add finely chopped rosemary.

To prep the pan, I sprayed a loaf pan with nonstick spray, added sugar, and dusted it until all sides are covered with sugar. The batter is poured into the pan to about 2/3 full and then is baked at 350ºF until the center is firm to touch or a toothpick comes out clean. The loaf is allowed to cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then turned out onto a baking rack to cool at least 15 minutes more before applying the glaze.

The final touch is mixing up lots of key lime-rum glaze and drizzle it over the pound cake. It certainly looks good and smells good! The taste testers at work certainly enjoyed it. I got a few puzzled looks when I answered the “Oooh, what’s that?” with “Just rosemary pound cake.”, but one taste and everyone was hooked!

I wish I had thought to take more pictures – however I was in a ‘zone’ trying to keep my mind of my mom.

Rosemary Focaccia

2008-05-04T10:57:00.004-08:00

Cooking is one of the ways I unwind. Luckily I have plenty of friends who willingly consume the fruit of my labor so I don’t have too!

I’ve had a hankering for focaccia recently; its not something one can easily find in Alaska. I think back to last year, during this time, when I would buy the best rosemary focaccia.

The local gourmet store in Akron made many breads and pastries of its own, but ordered in a number of different artisan loaves from Mediterra Bakehouse in Pittsburgh, PA. One was a 1 ½” gorgeous focaccia, sprinkled with rosemary and sea salt. It was a soft aromatic pillow of goodness. It sold fast, especially during grilling season.

I haven’t made focaccia before, I don’t know why, as I’ve tried many styles of bread. Last night I figured I would take the plunge and use up the remaining rosemary my friend brought back from the lower 48. A luxury such as fresh rosemary isn’t something that should go to waste!

I looked at the recipe options I had, I opted for trying out the focaccia recipe from Peter Reinhart’s Crust and Crumb. I halved the recipe for my first attempt; I didn’t want to tempt any bad baking mojo. I did a few minor substitutions: adding ½ cup of white whole wheat flour; using barm in place of poolish (needed to adjust the water to get the correct consistency), and I use active dry yeast vs. Reinhart’s penchant for instant yeast – while measuring out ingredients, I ‘wake up’ the active dry yeast with a portion of the required liquid.

I put all ingredients minus the oil and water into the bowl of my stand mixer, put the dough hook on and started mixing. I added the oil and water, and then supplemented with extra water until the dough achieved the consistency that Reinhart described. I kneaded with the mixer for approximately 15 minutes total.

After a three hour rise, the dough was stretched to fit a parchment lined pan brushed with oil, topped with fresh rosemary and dimpled. I placed the dough into a bag and let rise for 1 hour before putting in the fridge to retard overnight.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to pull the dough from the fridge for the requisite 2 hours prior to baking. I preheated the oven to 525ºF and went back to bed for one and a half hours! When I finally crawled out of bed for the day I took the pan out of the bag, sprinkled some kosher salt on top and started baking.

The bake time in Reinhart’s C&C was 5 minutes at 550ºF and then 25-30 minutes at 425ºF. After about 15 minutes, I found that the focaccia had browned more than I expected. It still didn’t ‘sound’ like it was done, so I covered loosely with foil, turned the heat to 350ºF and baked an additional 5 minutes. Since it was my first attempt I would rather have slightly under baked bread than over baked bread.

The final bread ended up being darker than I expected, but it didn’t impact the flavor at all, the crumb was denser at the bottom vs. the top, but for my first attempt I was quite pleased.

The flavor was great! Salt and rosemary is one of those perfect combinations of flavors. I took the fruit of my labor to work and everyone devoured it. All in all I will definitely make this again – probably as the perfect partner to the pasta dinner I am making for my husband when he finally comes home from taking his final semester of finals at school!

Coffee

2008-05-02T18:12:00.001-08:00

I love good coffee. I am by no means an expert on the art of making coffee, but I get by with reasonable results. I do have to admit that I was a slave to good old Starbucks when I was living in the continental US. While there is a small coffee shop here where I live, I must say, the increase in price for a large triple white mocha deterrent enough to keep my cash in my pocket. This cost isn't nearly as bitter a pill to swallow ($6.25 ea) as the cost for my 'cable' internet service @ a whopping 80 bucks a month. However I digress, I was telling you about coffee.

I do believe that generally, the more you spend on a coffee machine, the better cup of coffee it will make. However, this is impacted slightly by the quality of coffee you use as well. It will take more than a 150 dollar coffee maker to make a can of Folgers taste good – no offense Folgers lovers!

First and foremost, it comes down to capacity. Back in my grad school days, I had use for a small 4 cup coffee maker, only because it match my apartments tiny appliances. I did find I was continually making coffee, because whoever decided to call the segments 'cups' must have wanted to be funny! When I came to my senses, I never again bought anything smaller than a 12 cup coffee maker.

Is brand important? Not so much as price. For the most part, you can expect better quality materials as the price increases. I like drip coffee makers, though I have owned a French press from time to time (only to discard due to my in ability to remember to clean it in a timely fashion). So long as it has a glass carafe I'm ok. Internal part materials do have impact on taste, but I have found that with regular cleaning with de-scaler, its negligible. In all reality cost at this point only really determines how long you'll probably own the machine.

Options – now HERE's where the purchase of a machine determined. Buy what you need. Don't need stop and pour, clock, timer, etc? Don't spend the money on it then. Spending money on features you'll never use really isn't money well spent. I apply that mantra to nearly everything I buy. For me – delayed brew, so I can have that extra 20 minutes in bed and stop and pour, for those times I need my java fix – are two critical requirements on a coffee machine.

Once the requirements for the machine are met, then its time to buy beans. I do prefer grinding my own. I truly believe that fresh ground coffee is one of those aromas that are near perfection, followed closely by baking bread and bacon! I use a moderately priced burr grinder, and while I may not like lack of grind options, it does do a more consistent job of grinding the beans vs a rotary grinder. The grind it provides on its largest setting is smaller than I expected, but it works well with my machine.

Beans are important. I believe in trying out several varieties until you find one you like. Remember too that coffee, like any crop, is subject, in quality, to growing and harvesting conditions. So differences in flavors from batch to batch of beans may exist. Finding a decent roaster will normalize any variations from growing. I do think from a consistency perspective that Eight O clock Coffee Co. provides a relatively good product for the money in the lower 48. Here in AK, where all coffee is expensive, I tend to try to find the best coffee for each dollar. To date, my coffee of choice is San Francisco Bay French Roast, available from Rogers Gourmet Coffee & Tea. The aroma and flavor of the coffee is strong, robust, but not overly acidic. It is, hands down the best coffee I have purchased from an enjoyment perspective. This is followed closely by Trader Joe's French Roast, and Green Mountain Coffee's Columbian.

So when it comes to a good cup of coffee – buy a larger machine, buy a machine with the features you want/need, and try keep trying different coffee vendors until you find one that meets your expectations. Finally, don't be afraid to try different things, you'll never know when you find something truly spectacular!

Carmel Sticky Muffins

2008-04-30T22:34:00.005-08:00

Wow, it’s been quite a while since my last post. Things here have been pretty busy; I’ve been spending a lot of time working, and when I do make time to bake or cook, I haven’t given documenting it a second thought.

Today I had the urge to make something sweet. I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, but every now and then I get the urge for something sticky, sweet, and oh so good. I decided to make a treat for friends at work, sticky muffins.

In reality they should be called sticky cupcakes, but muffin has a more comfort food feel to it! The first step is to slather (for lack of a better term) caramel glaze into a cup cake pan like shown below:

I always keep on hand a container of caramel glaze, as it has multiple uses in my kitchen (sticky nut rolls, caramel butter for whole wheat toast or sour dough pancakes, sticky muffins, etc). Once the pan is glazed up, I chop up ~1/2 cup nuts, today I chose macadamia, and evenly distribute between the glazed cups.

I took a shortcut today with the batter, as I was somewhat time limited. I took a standard boxed cake mix, added a stick of softened butter, ¼ cup vegetable oil, 1 cup water, and 3 eggs and mixed them for three minutes on medium speed with my stand mixer. I then dispensed 2 even scoops of batter into each section. Depending on the cake mix or recipe used, this will yield 18 to 24 sticky muffins.

The muffins bake in an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees for 10-15 minutes, until the middle of each muffin is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven, place a rack on top of muffins and turn out onto a sheet pan lined with parchment.

Allow to cool 10 minutes, then top with choice of sauce, as desired. Allow to finish cooling to room temperature and enjoy!

Another Kitchen Essential

2008-03-31T10:52:00.001-08:00

Things have been busy here in AK and we've been dealing with spring fighting winter to boot. I wanted to further explain my essentials list so now its time to talk about pots and pans. There’s something to be said about good pots and pans. A good pan or pot will distribute heat more evenly, it will be more versatile (from stove top to oven), and will last longer overall.

I left a mish-mash of pans in Ohio. When we were packing, my husband looked at me and said “We’re going out to get new pans.” I was confused, but wasn’t going to argue – after all, what cook in their right mind would say “no” to someone providing a reason to buy more cooking stuff!

I realized what my husband wanted to do; he figured we’d spend the money on having a set of pots and pans that were already pre-packed. Considering my mish-mash ranged in shapes and sizes, his intent was appropriate. We headed off to shop around, since it had been several years since I had been in the market for cookware.

When shopping for pots & pans, price shouldn’t be the main factor, primarily because the cheaper the set, the chincier the stuff is. They are thinner, made of cheaper metals, coatings, etc. Often times the cheap sets can’t be transferred from stovetop to oven, which is a situation every cook eventually encounters. From what I could determine, my preferred cut off point is $129. For this price, you can get a set of pots and pans that will serve you faithfully for several years and you shouldn’t grow out of them until you decide to dedicate your life 100% to cooking!

What does $129 get you? Two sauce pots – usually 1 & 2 quart, a large pot of some sort, lids for all three, and 2 frying pans - a small and larger size one. What doesn’t $129 get you? Likely an additional pot or pan of some sort, a higher grade of materials, the ability to choose country of origin, etc.

Do you need to spend more? It depends on a number of factors. Though the sets at 199 had all the qualities I was looking for, I didn’t like the look. Hey, even cooks can be vain! The set I finally bought put me at $199. It was anodized aluminum on the exterior with a non-stick surface interior and stainless steel handles. It had the sizes of pots I used most. I purchased at Bed Bath & Beyond, 1. to get my Upromise rebate (I’ll blog about this someday) and 2. because they had the best price for the set I wanted at the time.

If you are just starting out on your own or just getting into cooking for the first time, spending the extra money to get into this price range is well worth it. Buying cheap pots and pans only means you’ll be spending more money again in the near future.

Sesame Semolina Bread and more!

2008-03-17T10:48:00.006-08:00

I recently added “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day” to my cookbook library. For the beginning baker, this book takes a lot of the intimidation factor out of baking bread. The authors break down the basics and successfully weed out the minutia, leaving only the bare minimum of effort needed to produce a pretty decent loaf of bread.

I have tried the first master recipe, with predictable results. I found that I am too tempted to put ‘more’ work into this approach than required, I’ve been baking for years, I can’t help it! I find working with bread dough therapeutic...

In the middle of last week I mixed up a batch of the semolina master recipe. Three days later, I shaped some of the dough using a technique from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” and it turned out nice. The before shot is below, I need to become faster with the camera for “after’ shots, because if I wait too long, the bread starts disappearing on its own!

The flavor of the bread was mild, almost sweet, with a very light yeasty flavor. The crumb was soft, and the crust was chewy with a nutty flavor from the sesame seeds. It made very good sandwiches. I am going to bake off a bigger loaf in a few days to re-evaluate the flavors that develop from the semolina.

What I probably will do is keep either the artisan boule master recipe or the peasant loaf recipe on hand at all times, as the dough at this stage not only makes a fast, easy, fresh loaf of bread, it also makes a convenient pate fermente used for many other recipes I make.

I will continue to try other master recipes in the “Five Minutes a Day” book, because you never know what gems lie in hiding within the covers of a book unless you’ve taken the time to go through it all!

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The other thing I did this weekend was finally get to use my new batch of sourdough starter for the first time. When I first moved to AK, I bought Peter Reinhart's "Crust and Crumb" (C&C) because I thoroughly enjoyed "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" (TBBA). I tried the barm starter recipe then, and had inconsistent results with it. Looking back, I believe it was due to my less than vigilant adherance to the starter's schedule (i.e., Day 3's ingredients didn't necessarily fall on day 3).

This time around, with the exception of halving the formula, I followed the recipe and schedule as written, and as each day passed, the aroma and activity of the started developed. I knew from the smell of the starter on the final day that I had hit the jackpot! It was bubbling happily and had a sweet acidic smell. The barm formula uses residual yeasts found in the flour, air, and raisins (raisin water is used on Day 1). It has a tangy flavor that is not overbearing like some rye starters I have fostered in the past. This is what it looked like before I went on my sourdough spree:

Again, I am not much of a photo taker, I promise to improve, because pictures are worth more than any number of words I could offer here; but I added Pain au Levain, Sourdough Bagels, and Sourdough Pancakes to my list of achievements this weekend, much to the disappointment of my vacuum :). I went sourdough crazy and the results were amazing. Peter Reinhart pairs the Barm starter with a San Francisco Sourdough recipe in C&C. I tried that previously and found it to be marginally acceptable. The crust was GREAT, but the crumb was dense and the bread heavy and a little too sour for my liking. This time around I used the barm starter to replace the mild starter called for in the Pain au Levain recipe. The results were fantastic! The crust was reddish brown, crispy and chewy at the same time (if that is possible). The bread was great warm and at room temperature. I am pleased with the results and find the flavor of this bread much more satisfying and reminiscent of country bread than any Pain de Campange recipe I have tried.

Because I wanted to keep the volume of starter left over at a manageable level, I also mixed up a batch of sourdough bagels from C&C. I remember making bagels as a little girl, well maybe not specifically, but I remember not having fun because it took too long and had too many steps! With age I have gained patience, as well as a love of all things bread, so this time around I was surprised at how easy it was to mix up the dough, shape and retard the bagels, boil them and then bake them. The longest part of the process is the mixing of the dough. Shaping them took no more than 10 minutes. They retard, covered in plastic wrap, in the refrigerator overnight. I pulled them out an hour before I was ready to bake them to bring them up to room temperature, while preparing the water to boil (I used the boiling instructions from TBBA).

Once the water is up to temperature, all it takes from having dough rings to fresh, warm, tasty bagels is 15 minutes - tops! The bagels were boiled 1 minute on each side and drained, topped (optional), and placed on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I baked them at 500 ºF for approximately 10 minutes, turning the pan after 5 minutes to ensure even baking. After letting them cool for a few minutes, I sliced into one and when I saw the texture of the crumb, I knew I had scored! The outside was shiny, slightly crispy and chewy - the inside was soft, light, and had the texture you'd expect to find from a bagel made in a bagel shop. I buttered one up and gave it to my husband, who was floored by the results. He ate 2 more before the morning was out, and that was AFTER having a short stack of sourdough pancakes!

I love tangy pancakes. The difference between using buttermilk and normal milk (or water) in boxed mix is amazing. I had previously tried the sourdough pancake recipe from C&C with crepe like results. Somewhat discouraged, I promised myself I'd give these babies one more shot someday. Yesterday I did and I figured out what I did wrong - I learned to read somewhere between September 2007 and March 2008! It is important to completely read through a recipe at least once before trying it. No amount of experience substitutes for this. Back in September I added the baking soda/eggs to the sourdough batter instead of the other way around. I am certain that this caused my less than stellar results. The batter back in September looked deflated and dead, where as this time around it actively bubbled and looked happy (if batter can). The results were amazing - a tangy pancake that wasn't overly cakey. The outside is a little chewy, most likely a result of the malt in the starter. My husband said he preferred Aunt Jemima, but ended up eating 5 of these pancakes, drenched in maple syrup. I am sure if I keep cooking them, he'll forget all about Aunt Jemima :).

2008-03-08T13:03:00.004-09:00

Every kitchen requires some basic equipment in order to function. The list from the previous post may not be the ‘ideal’ beginners list, however it is very close. In the next series of posts, I’ll explain why I feel these items are “essential” to any kitchen, beginner or not.

My first item was the Kitchen Aid stand mixer. Until recently, Kitchen Aid was pretty much it when it came to stand mixers. Some very nice, higher end stand mixers have emerged. Viking and Cuisinart, in particular, have high-powered, heavy-duty stand mixers, however they are quite pricey. By no means do I recommend running out and buying one of these right out of the gate! On the other hand, there are several budget priced ‘stand mixers’ out there that look like they are from the 1970’s. These function well as mixers, but based on my experience with them growing up, they don’t deal with breads or the other handy tasks the Kitchen Aid can handle, just bite the bullet and get the Kitchen Aid.

The basic Kitchen Aid costs $299 retail. Shop around, you may be able to find better pricing due to sales or on the internet. The ability to walk away and continue with other tasks in the kitchen while things are mixing or kneading is absolutely priceless. I considered bringing only my hand mixer, giving my Kitchen Aid to a well deserving friend. I discovered that this was one of the few kitchen items that would be difficult to identify ‘free shipping’ to Alaska for due to its weight and size. That sealed the deal – it was going, the hand mixer was staying.

My husband bought me my beloved stand mixer back in 2002 just after we bought our house. I have a Kitchen Aid Classic 300W bowl lift model that came with the meat grinder/pasta maker attachment. It wasn’t the model I wanted (the 500W Professional anodized aluminum one J) but my husband made a deal with me. He said if I could burn out the motor beyond basic repair (he’s an engineer) from normal use – he’d upgrade me with no argument to whatever model I wanted. Kitchen Aid has two styles of stand mixers - tilting head and bowl lift. The price referenced above refers to the tilting head. I would suggest spending the extra money and buying a bowl lift model - I believe you can find them for around $30 dollars more.

Here we are 6 years and 4,000 miles later and I still haven’t managed to burn out the motor in mine. I have logged thousands of hours of use, nearly killed it once making rolled fondant from scratch, and the thing still works as well as the first day out of the box. Though I do still enviously look at the new Kitchen Aid models at the store or online, I have no REAL reason to upgrade until I have worked this one into the ground!

While the hands free mixing a Kitchen Aid offers is an amazing benefit, the accessories available really put it into the "essential" category. They are somewhat costly, but most of them are time savers. I’ll discuss the pros/cons of the more popular ones below:

Food Grinder – There is a combo set that also includes a pasta maker. Don’t buy that one, the pasta maker plastic plates really suck. We’ll talk more about the pasta accessories in a little bit. I use the coarse grind plate for meaty sauces or for grinding up meat that is not widely available in the store – veal, chicken, turkey, and fish. Back in Ohio, we were members of Sam’s Club, so I would buy a case of whole sirloins at deep discount and cut my own roasts and make my own hamburger to put in my stand freezer with just a little time investment. I am somewhat industrious and like to be a ‘hands on’ consumer, so I don’t expect everyone to find doing this a must.

The plastic plate pasta maker set extrudes the dough to the pasta form you want. It is very difficult to get the dough to a consistency that works with these plates, and when you find that magic place, the pasta doesn’t cook well or have the right mouth feel. For the time that it takes to get this set up to work, a box of Barilla is cheaper, faster and has predictable results. I gave this accessory several chances and never did find it useful.

The metal pasta roller/cutters are an entirely different story and come in a variety of options. Unless you plan on hand cutting pasta, I would recommend getting one of the roller/cutter sets instead of just the roller alone. I prefer wide noodles myself, so I went with the roller/fettucine set. There’s a fettucine, linguini, and spaghetti (normal sized) cutter. The roller/cutter combos are pricey ($129) but if you are looking to make specialty flavored pasta (carrot, red pepper, spinach, to name a few), this beats hauling out the hand roller (if you have one) or going out and buying one. There’s also a ravioli maker accessory. I haven’t ever used it, but it is intriguing. If price isn’t a problem – go for broke and get the pasta excellence kit – you’ll get the roller and all of the different pasta cutters, INCLUDING the ravioli maker. This is on my wish list – someday I will get it!

Grain Mill – I don’t have this. As a baker I could see where it would be useful. Right now my mortal & pestle handle the volume of spices, grains, and nuts I need to grind/crack. Plus I get a work out using them! Unless you need to crush 50 pounds of flax seed for some reason, this particular accessory isn’t a ‘must buy.’

The fruit/vegetable strainer/grinder attachment is useful if you have a big garden and make your own vegetable sauces. I wished we had one of these growing up, though manning the food mill during tomato season is a rite of passage in the tomato sauce learning process! Not a ‘must buy’ for any other reason.

Roto slicer/shredder – If you have a mandoline or box grater, this accessory is worth it. I don’t know how many times I almost lost a finger to my mandoline or my knuckles to the box grater. I would buy this accessory if I didn’t already have the comparable blade attachments for my food processor.

There are many other accessories – sausage stuffer, citrus juicer, ice cream maker, that are novel, but unless you really like sausage links (patty person myself) or want to consolidate some other small appliances to make room, there really is no reason why you’d need these for the rare occasion you might need one.

MUST BUY ITEMS for you stand mixer include:

An extra mixing bowl – I still don’t have one of these, and I kick myself for not ordering one every time I make my tiramisu, marble cake or need more than one type of icing for something. I manage, and I suppose you could too, but the extra bowl would make things SO much easier!

Extra paddle and whip attachment. I make lots of bread and don’t feel a second dough hook is necessary. The other two, however, would be convenient, and are worth the money. If you have them, you will use them.

Since arriving in Alaska, I have used my stand mixer several times a week to make bread and other goodies. It was worth it to move here, even though it does take up valuable counter space.

2008-03-05T10:21:00.004-09:00

It took a while for me to decide what I was going to write about here. I am a funny person, but I just don’t translate to being funny in print. Some people just don’t, and I am ok with that. What about change? Well, a lot has changed in my life in the past year. I just don’t think it’s all that interesting to right about. However after perusing through several blogs I subscribe to, I felt that I could start one about baking.

“Oh no, not another baking blog,” you say. Sure, why not? I have acquired a new insight into cooking and baking, since abandoning the ‘normal’ world and relocating to one of the most remote places in the United States. My new situation has forced me to evolve from the comfortable existence I was accustom to ‘down south.’

While I have no pictures of my kitchen down south, it was well equipped, had plenty of counter space, gadgets and utensils galore, and tons of storage. Even if I did have pictures, I probably wouldn’t post them because I’d hate to perpetuate the fact that the 1970’s wasn’t a good era for color design or fashion (yes, I had the yellow/brown laminate tile, dark brown wall tile, and dark cabinets with wrought iron hinges that should have been left for fence makers).

When I accepted the offer of employment, I was told that I could move 1000 pounds of stuff to Alaska for free. Because I knew we didn’t need furniture, it did give me some leeway on what we could bring. I didn’t realize how much stuff I had collected in my kitchen. I cooked every day and baked several times a week, so I had the volume of equipment to show for it. Further, I would be moving from a two bedroom house to a one bedroom apartment with an EXTREMELY small kitchen. Sorting through everything came down to necessity:

Stand mixer – check
Pots and Pans – check
Coffee Maker – check check
Chef’s knife – check
Cutting board – check
Food processor – check
Manual can opener – check
Colander and one small strainer – check
Bread/cake/roasting pans – check (one 9x5 bread, 14x17 roasting, 8x3 round cake, 9x9 cake, two baking sheets and two cupcake pans)
Microwave - check
Measuring spoons - check
Dishes and silverware for 4 – check

Everything else stayed behind – my exhaustive selection of mixing bowls, my plethora of cake decorating supplies, variably sized baking pans, specialty cooking appliances (sandwich maker, crockpots, dehydrators, deep fryers, steamers, miscellaneous colanders, sieves, cooking utensils, etc). I figured I wouldn’t be cooking too much (as all my meals are provided for me) and since I still had to consider other things in the rest of the house to move (along with stuff my husband may want in Alaska), I decided took only those things I would figure would I would need.

Here’s a picture of my kitchen now:

My counter space was cut by 80% and my storage by nearly 60%. I have found that I cook more than expected (more for therapy than sustenance) so I have made one major purchase since arriving in AK: a pizza stone. Needless to say, I have a list of things I would like to order, but I made a promise to my husband not to acquire more than we can effectively store.

So there it is, I figure I could offer my experiences here for first time bakers, those with limited budgets for equipment, and those with limited space for gadgets. Do I miss having anything I wanted/needed for cooking backing just 20 minutes outside my door, a gas range, and an oversized refrigerator? From time to time, yes, however, I’d have to give up having some of the most breathtaking views that are only 5 minutes from my door!

So I started this blog...

2007-12-28T14:07:00.000-09:00

Isn't that how all the cool conversations start these days, by cool people sitting around the fireplace in a cool place like Starbucks?

Well there is no Starbucks here, though you can find a fireplace here and there. This is definitely a cool place (cold more like it).

I don't think I've ever been part of the cool crowd! I just want to be cool, and hey its never too late to start, well trying at least....

So, did you hear I started this blog?