Bread is life

Haven’t posted food here in ages, have I?

This is the ol’ classic New York Times no-knead bread, except I kneaded a bit. So, last night dissolved ¾ tsp yeast in 1½ cups water, mixed with 3 cups flour and 2½ tsp salt, and left on the counter overnight. Around lunchtime I gave it a quick knead, let it rest 10 or so minutes (maybe longer, I wasn’t paying attention), shaped and put in the claybaker to rise, covered with a tea towel. The last few times I made claybaker bread I forgot and overproofed it, so this time I paid attention! When it looked nicely risen, I removed the towel, covered the claybaker, and put it in the fridge for 3 hours. Then, I slashed the top, put the cover back on, and into the cold oven. Turned heat to 450°F, timer to 70 minutes. 

Looks so good but I am resisting temptation and letting it cool before I try a slice!

Whole Wheat Bread

Have I finally done it? I think I have finally done it!

Perfect crumb, perfect rise, great texture and taste. I think I am finally ready to stop with the endless tweaking of the bread recipe, and just stick with this one.

Whole Wheat Bread

3 cups whole wheat bread flour (hard)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup powdered milk
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 TBS yeast
2 1/2 cups water
1 egg, beaten
sesame seeds to sprinkle on top

Combine all dry ingredients, including yeast.

Make a well in the centre, and add water and egg. Stir to combine.

Dump out onto counter and knead 15 minutes. Do not add any additional flour, even if it's really sticky.

Return to bowl, cover (I use a butter paper), and let rise one hour.

Preheat oven to 500 F. Butter a 4" x 4" x 16" bread pan.

Dump dough onto counter. Knead lightly and roll out into a large oval about 1/2" thick.

Fold in ends so it is the same length as bread pan, then roll up jelly-roll style. it will be a bit thicker at the ends but that is just fine.

Lift the dough into the pan. Let rise 45 minutes-1 hour. Brush the top with a little milk or beaten egg, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

As soon as you put it into the oven, drop the temperature to 350 F. Bake 25 minutes, turning once.

Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then unmold and let cool on rack.

Eggs: yolks + whites

I love eggs! The most versatile, irreplaceable ingredient. If I was allergic to them, I would surely weep.

So the other day, when I picked up a couple dozen organic eggs of exceptional egginess, I felt they needed a recipe to really show them off - a classic gold cake, a simple way to showcase a good egg.

Then of course, you have egg whites left over, so you have to make meringues!

Gold Cake
(from The Cake and Cooky Cookbook)

2 cups sifted cake flour
1 TBS baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup milk

Grease two 8" round pans, line with waxed paper, grease paper.

Measure flour, baking powder, and salt into sifter.

Beat butter, adding sugar gradually, till light and fluffy.

Beat egg yolks till thick and lemon coloured. Blend into butter/sugar along with vanilla.

Sift and add dry ingredients, alternating with milk.

Divide between prepared pans and bake 35 minutes at 350 F. Cool 5 minutes in pan before turning out onto rach.

Chocolate Frosting

1 1/2 cup milk
3 TBS corn starch
1 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp vanilla

Whisk together milk and starch, cook over medium heat until thick. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Beat butter, adding sugar gradually, till light and fluffy. Beat in cocoa and vanilla.

Gradually add cooled milk mixture, beating till smooth after each addition.

Meringues

2 egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
1/8 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until foamy.

Gradually beat in sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition to dissolve sugar completely.

Continue to beat till meringue forms stiff peaks. Stir in vanilla.

Spoon mounds on ungreased cooky sheet, leaving room for spreading.

Bke 60 minutes at 275 F, till crisp.

Cool on racks, then store in airtight container.

More Easter baking

A long weekend is the perfect excuse to work on baking and projects!

I am finally thisclose to finishing my work on the bedroom. Walls are painted, shelves are built, pictures are hung. I finally finished the trim on the window box seat, although looking at this photo makes me think it could use another coat of paint. Other than that though, I am pretty pleased with my peaceful little corner - a perfect place to sit with a good book and a pot of coffee to watch the rain.

For Easter dinner, we decided on duck - easy and festive. I like this recipe from Epicurious. Super simple.

Served with spring asparagus, braised red cabbage, a potato gratin, and homemade bread.

For dessert I wanted something light and springlike after a rich main course - and Ontario rhubarb is already in the shops! So I opted for a classic rhubarb custard cake. I found a number of variations on the same recipe online - funny sometimes you see things on blogs with beautiful photos and recipes that don't quite make sense. It is so obvious that the pictures are borrowed because the blogger has no idea what they are talking about! In this case, the miscreant in question suggested you could turn this gooey-bottomed, fluffy-fruity-topped cake out onto a rack, and then flip it right side up again. Sounds like disaster to me! Others made it in a square pan and served directly from the pan; I wanted to be a smidge less casual, so I used a springform. Worked perfectly.

Rhubarb Custard Cake

1 1/2 cups diced rhubarb
2 tbs sugar
2 tbs water
4 eggs, separated, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup butter, melted, room temperature
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 cups milk, room temperature

Simmer rhurarb, 2 tbs sugar, and water over medium heat until rhubarb starts to soften. Drain and set aside.

Beat egg whites will stiff peaks. I like to use a copper bowl for this.

In another bowl, beat yolks with 3/4 cup sugar till thick and lemon-yellow. Whisk in vanilla and melted butter.

Whisk in flour and milk alternately. It will be very runny.

Fold in egg whites gently.

Pour into a very well-buttered 9" springform pan. Spoon the rhubard over top, gently, so as not to crush the egg whites.

Bake at 325f for 60-70 minutes, or until it doesn't wobble terribly when you jostle the pan.

Let cool on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the sides of the spring form pan, then allow to cool completely befre serving.

Best served with whipped cream!

Hot crossed buns! Again!

For Easter, thought I'd post my recipe, since I've tweaked it a bit from the origina one I used, including changing the measurements from metric to imperial!

Combine: 1 1/4 cup warm milk 1/4 cup white sugar 4 tsp yeast

Let that sit while you sift together: 3 cups flour 1 tsp salt 1 tsp allspice 1/2 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Then rub in as though you were making pastry: 1/4 cup butter (cut into bits)

Add milk/yeast to flour mixture, along with: 2 eggs, beaten 1/2 cup raisins 1/2 cup candied orange peel, chopped

Knead 5 min, cover, and let double (45 min)

Punch down, cut in 12 pieces, roll into balls, and arrange in greased 9"x13" pan. Cover and let rise 15 min.

Combine: 1/2 cup flour 1/4+ cup water

Add more water as necessary to make a fairly thick paste, but not too thick to pipe.

Pipe crosses on the buns (I don't do it individually, it's basically a big grid that crosses all of them)

Bake 10 min at 400f, then drop the temperature to 350 and bake 15 min more.

Now, back to my regularly-scheduled room redecoration project.

weekend dining

the weekend, a time to relax and entertain! we grabbed the last of the summer herbs to season roast potatoes and rack of lamb for a small dinner party.

set the table nicely for once, too!

and then ate everything up before we got photos. i did get a snap of dessert though - hazelnut pear cake with hazelnut creme anglaise.

roast rack of lamb and potatoes

rack of lamb
olive oil
mustard powder
rosemary
sage
parsley
potatoes
bacon fat
thyme

preheat oven to 450f.

arrange rack so it stands nicely in a snug roasting dish.

combine oil, mustard powder, and herbs into a paste. coat racks.

toss potatoes in melted bacon fat. sprinkle with thyme.

put both dishes in oven.

after 10 minutes, drop temperature to 325f.

after 30 minutes more, take out lamb. tent with foil and let rest.

after 10 minutes more, everything is ready to serve.

happy birthday victoria!

the holiday was last monday, but officially today was queen victoria's birthday. we had two kinds of cake. this kind:

a lovely present from our visiting friend jenr8, and especially welcome when i am officially not allowing myself to buy any yarn except for charity knitting! jen got it from the loving path in london.

we also had this kind:

a victoria sandwich! i had a moment of worry since we were out of jam, but luckily we had strawberries on hand.

i just ignored them on the stove for a while, during which i mixed up the batter, and they turned out delicious.

and the best most important ingredient:

yum.

victoria sandwich

filling:
1/2 lb strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1 jar devon cream

cake:
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup cake flour
2 tsp baking powder

combine strawberries and sugar over low heat. boil gently until it gels - you can test by leaving a saucer in the freezer to get cold, and putting a drop of jam on to see if it runs or sits. let cool.

cream together butter and sugar. beat in vanilla and eggs.

sift together flour and baking powder. fold thoroughly into butter mixture.

pour into two 7" or 8" round cake tins, greased, floured, and lined with waxed paper in the bottom.

bake 25 minutes at 350f, or until they spring back when lightly touched, and just start pulling away from the sides of the pan. let cool briefly in tins before unmolding on racks to cool thoroughly.

spread bottom layer of cake thickly with devon cream, then with strawberry jam. top with second layer.

that's the way it crumbles, rhubarb-wise

i had to make a dessert for the kid's school's teacher appreciation luncheon the other day, so i thought - why not make dessert for us as well?

this isn't really a proper crumble, it's more in between a coffee cake and a square (the version for the teachers was done in a round springform, so more on the cake end of things). in any case, it contains the best things in the world: butter, flour, and sugar. the three ingredients can be combined in so many different delicious ways. yum.

the teachers' version got filled with applesauce and topped with cinnamon; ours got orangette's roasted rhubarb and topped with a bit of nutmeg and ginger.

so good! it was gone in no time!

coffee cake crumble

dough:
1 cup sugar
1 cup soft butter
2 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder

filling:
2 cups applesauce, roasted rhubarb, or similar cooked fruit concoction

topping:
2 tbs sugar
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon (or other spices)

cream butter and sugar.

sift together flour and baking powder; mix into butter. use your hands.

press half the dough into the bottom of a baking dish (if using a springform to make it cake-like, press it up the sides to prevent leakage).

fill with fruit filling.

crumble remaining dough over top.

combine sugar and spice, sprinkle over top.

bake 30 minutes at 350f.

remember the red river valley!

again, i am not getting to try my hand at macarons due to sickness! the kid is in a misery, so i am baking something wholesome and healthy and high in fibre - red river cereal bread.

while it was rising, i finished my cardigan! originally i was thinking full-length sleeves instead of 3/4 - even though i always push full-length sleeves up and out of the way - but i didn't have quite enough yarn. so i tried making the second sleeve a smidgen shorter, and it worked for me! i only had to rip and re-knit about 16 rows, and it's a good thing i didn't try to make them any longer - i finished with barely inches to spare!

here's a crappy snap - needs buttons and blocking, but you can get an idea of the shape and scoop neckline. i like it!

meanwhile... when i left this to rise, i wondered if the bowl was really big enough...

... and my loaves are a little uneven. whoops.

i washed and blocked the cardigan while the loaves were rising.

pretty productive morning, considering i'm tending a sick kid. and after all that work, we were both ready for a snack!

red river cereal bread

2 cups red river cereal
2 tbs butter
3 cups boiling water
1 cup whole-wheat bread flour
3 cups white all-purpose flour
2 tbs yeast
1 tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup molasses

combine cereal and butter. pour boiling water over. let sit 20 minutes.

stir in whole wheat flour and 1 cup of the white flour.

stir in yeast, sugar and salt; then molasses.

work in remaining flour gradually.

knead 10 minutes. place in a greased bowl, cover and let double (about 45 minutes to an hour).

punch down, cut in half, knead each portion lightly, shape, and place in greased loaf pan. cover and let double (about 45 minutes to an hour).

bake at 400f for about 30-35 minutes.

comfort food: vanilla pudding

so many plans for this weekend! i wanted to try macarons finally, and make cinnamon buns, and do some sewing, and go for a hike now that spring is finally here and it is possible to go outdoors.

but: norovirus.

the kid and i were both hit at 5 o'clock friday morning. and that was that. we arefeeling a little better - no more vomiting - but still queasy, with sore achy legs. getting up the stairs is an insurmountable chore.

so, i did nothing. by saturday i was able to knit again, but that was it. after three days of not eating and not moving, i feel weak! time for some nutritious food. so i looked through my cookbooks, and found some recipes labelled "invalid cookery"...

... and decided to avoid them.

i ended up making a simple, old-fashioned vanilla pudding - easy to digest, but with some easy calories and protein to replace what we've been missing. and egg yolks are full of trace nutrients, so that helps too.

after looking at a bunch of recipes online, i went with the one from chow (martha stewart's was basically the same - but with twice the sugar and twice the cornstarch? blecch!) i think the word "easy" in the title kind of sold me.

i don't know if it's the cure, but it was a lovely afternoon break with a pot of tea! and now i have more egg whites for macarons. next week, maybe.

i also got a fair amount of work done on the sleeves of this cardigan. the question remains: will i run out of yarn? it's awfully close! i don't want to buy more, although my brain is already cooking up ideas for what to add to the order to get it up to the "free shipping" amount.

needs blocking obviously, but i'm pretty happy with the neckline.

easy vanilla pudding (from chow)

1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp sea salt
2 tbs corn starch
2 1/4 cups milk
3 egg yolks
3 tbs butter (cut in pieces)
1 tbs vanilla

combine sugar, salt, and cornstarch in a small saucepan. whisk in 1/4 cup milk, whisking till smooth.

beat together egg yolks and remaining milk, and stir in.

cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it starts to thicken.

remove from heat; beat in butter and vanilla. beat till smooth.

strain into 4 individual ramekins. top with plastic wrap and chill 2 hours, or until firm.

cookies! brownies! croissants!

what a glorious weekend! we spent about half of it outdoors - there was an epic neighbourhood snowball fight - and half of it indoors. baking!

i made black bean brownies:

"wowbutter" cookies (aka peanut butter cookies made with a nut-free school-safe substitute):

and something i haven't made since i was a kid - butterscotch brownies!

they were so very very good that i'm certain we'll be making more soon.

finally, we made croissants!

or, to be more precise, we started making croissants. because they take a fair amount of time, including an overnight rest before the final rise.

i used to make croissants on a semi-regular basis, but it had been a long while. the dough was lovely to work with, so lovely and silky!

mmm, butter.

much rolling and folding went on. here's a look at the rested dough, ready to shape:

it's hard to see, but i brushed the centre of the circle with a little milk, in order to help glue the points in place. when i used to make these, back in the day, i remember them unrolling as they puffed up in the oven! the milk trick worked, thankfully.

they start out looking a little wormy...

... but puffed up nicely after an hour.

so tasty! so flakey! so doing this again!

croissants

1 cup tepid water or milk (or a mix of the two)
1 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp yeast
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
egg beaten with milk for glazing

mix 3 tsp of the liquid with sugar and yeast and leave to sponge for 15 minutes.

sift together flour and salt, and rub in 2 oz butter. cut the remaining butter in small pieces.

add frothy yeast to remaining liquid and mix into flour. knead for 10 minutes.

roll into a rectangle about 10" x 20". dot 2/3 with half the remaining butter. fold dough in thirds, encasing the butter.

rotate 90 degrees, and roll, butter, and fold again as before.

fold again, then rest in the fridge for an hour.

roll and fold twice more, then let rest overnight in the fridge.

the next day, divide the dough in two. roll each piece into a large circle, turn over, and cut into 6 wedges. roll each up from the outside to inside, brushing milk on the point to help stik it in place.

curve into crescent shapes, place on greased sheet, and let double in a warm place.

brush with a mix of beaten egg and milk, and bake at 350f for 25 minutes.

tart tatin!

i had always wanted to try making a tarte tatin, but had never quite gotten around to it. then this week, we had a pile of people coming over for dinner, and a bunch of organic apples from our veg box, so the timing seemed just right!

i did a bunch of research and read a number of recipes - jamie oliver's, smitten kitchen's, canadian living's, and then i found this wonderful article in the guardian that compared and contrasted the various techniques while discussing the history of the dish, and decided that was the recipe to go with.

then i remembered that on of our party is dairy-free, and "buttery" seemed essential to tatin success, so i decided to switch to smitten kitchen's simplest apple tart instead.

i made the pastry with a couple of tweaks; shortening instead of butter, i swapped out some of the all-purpose for pastry flour, and i upped the salt and sugar a wee bit. when it came time to bake, i started melting some margarine to replace the melted butter that you're supposed to brush over the apples, and thought - screw it, i will make a tatin!

so i winged it. i dumped a bunch of sugar in the pan, caramelised it (remembering the guardian suggestion that it needed caramelising before the apples were added), decided it wasn't enough, and added more. cut and arranged the apples (a mix of red delicious, which you're not supposed to use for pie, and spartan, because my son is crazy for ancient greece) according to what i remembered of the canadian living recipe. i love the smitten kitchen technique of using a melon baller to core apples; will be doing that again! cooked on the stove top for a while. worried that the apples were cooking only on the bottom and not the top, so cooked them covered for a while. worried it was getting too soupy, so through it in the oven for a while. then finally topped with the pastry, which was too big a circle, so i folded over/rolled in the edges.

the apples were a stunning deep caramel colour and meltingly rich, the pastry was a perfect light crispy contrast. and the rolled-up edges contained the caramel nicely.

it was delicious!

so i have concluded tarte tatin is somewhat foolproof. really, anything with caramelised sugar is delish. but next time i will use butter.

tarte tatin

2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup pastry flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp sugar
6 tbs shortening
a few spoons of ice water
1/2 cup margarine (or butter!)
1 cup sugar
6 or 7 apples

combine flours, salt, and sugar. cut shortening into pieces and cut into the flour with a fork. blend in water just until it holds together. form into a disc and chill for at least 30 minutes.

roll out the dough till it's about 1 1/2" bigger than the skillet you are using for the apples. move to the freezer to rest.

peel and core the apples and cut into eighths.

melt the margarine-or-butter in an oven proof skillet with half a cup of sugar. let cook over medium till deep amber. stir in the remaining sugar and arrange the apple wedges standing up in the pan. if necessary, cut come of them into thinner wedges to fill in the top so it is somewhat level. cook over low till the sugar is bubbling up all brown around them, then cover and cook 10 minutes. uncover and cook 10 minutes more.

top with pastry, rolling up the edges to tuck in around the apples. bake on top shelf of 400f oven for 30 minutes.

let sit for 5 minutes, then flip upside down onto a serving plate. i was a bit anxious about this, due to all the warnings on jamie oliver's recipe, but i put on my oven mitts and it was actually easy.

holiday party time!

just had our annual tree-trimming party! i laid on a big spread:

that's not even all of it. there were latkes that disappeared in seconds. and cheese cookies. and shrimp puffs. which disappeared quickly, so i didn't get a shot of the finished item.

i started with a quarter-batch of home-made puff pastry, rolled out super thin:

i counted how many shrimp i had and measured the pastry to ensure i'd have just enough for all the shrimp. my pound of shrimp counted out to 34.

i even used a ruler! then i put a dab of home-made pepper jelly on the end of each strip, and started rolling.

the wrapped shrimp went in the oven for 20 minutes at 400f. definitely need to be baked on parchment - the jelly inevitably oozed out and made a bit of a mess!

another savory hit: the goat-cheese tarts with red onion relish:

am i the only one who hears the voices of paul hollywood and mary berry every time i bake pastry? no soggy bottoms!

goat cheese tarts with red onion relish

for the pastry:
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup pastry flour
pinch salt
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
ice water

cut the butter and lard into small pieces and chill. combine the flour and salt. using the tips of your fingers, rub the butter and lard quickly into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. mixing with a fork, squeeze a bit of lemon juice into the mix and a spoon of ice water. gradually add just enough ice water to make the pastry hold together in a ball. chill.

for the filling:
1 package goat cheese (10 oz)
1/2 package cream cheese (4 oz)
2 eggs
salt & black pepper

blend the two cheeses with a wooden spoon. beat in the two eggs, and season with salt a grind or two of black pepper.

roll out the chilled pastry into a rectangle about 1/8". line 24 tart cases. spoon the cheese filling into the pastry and bake at 350f for 25 minutes, watching carefully.

for the red onion relish:
2 red onions
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

slice the onions as thinly as possible. combine with the sugar in a heavy bottomed pot, and cook over low heat for 10 minutes covered, then uncover and cook for 15 minutes more. stir in vinegar, and cook, uncovered, for another 15 minutes. allow to cool.

and because i didn't get any pics last time, the hamantaschen: