January Daring Bakers - Tuiles of the Trade

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

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

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

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!

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.