Smashed potato rolls

Some weeks back for the Memorial Day gathering at Clear Lake we planned to bring brats and sausages from Kingma's market (good stuff by the way) for the main course. There was also a potato contest in the works to see who might create something that could hold a candle to one of the family favorites, cheesy potatoes.

Steve planned to make his famous potato galette, and I wanted to contribute something potato-y as well. Hey! How about potato rolls to go with those delicious brats? Why not.

Embarking on my potato roll quest, I reviewed a couple of recipes that used roasted potatoes in the dough but ended up with a dinner roll recipe from King Arthur Flour that seemed like just the ticket.

Back during our Vermont days we would often prepare and enjoy food with friends Ross and Candi Walton. Candi always referred to mashed potatoes as "mashies", a term we have used now for many years when referring to that particular dish.

For this roll recipe I boiled up some Yukon Golds and gave them a rough mash - something I like to refer to as "smashed". I think Candi would be on board with that one, don't you?

Let me tell you! This recipe process was molto interessante as the Italians would say. I pretty much followed the KAF recipe (it'll come, don't worry), aside from reducing the egg a bit, but what really tangled me up was the lack of any guidelines for the kneading time of this starchy, enriched dough. Soooooo sticky!

I kneaded it for 8 minutes in my Kitchenaid stand mixer then gave it a 30 minute rest with an every 10 minute stretch and fold over. It was still pretty sticky so I gave it another 6-7 minute mixer knead. Frankly I wasn't quite sure where I was with this dough.

But I plowed ahead, placed it in a lightly greased bowl covered with plastic wrap and let it rise about 90 minutes.

I had intended to make hot-dog style buns, but, when it came to dividing and shaping the dough, I found it simply wasn't behaving the way I had hoped. It remained quite sticky, so I tried both the flouring-the-surface-and-hands method and the oiling-the surface-and-hands method to be able to handle this interesting dough. Both worked - sort of.

First I created 75 g pieces, gave them an initial boule shape, let them rest 5-10 minutes and then attempted to roll them into hot-dog, log-like shapes. Nuh-uh. It was not happening.

So I reverted to the boule roll form and persevered. FYI - I almost gave up on this one.

Once shaped and placed on a parchment lined sheet pan, I gave them a 1.5 hour rise until puffy.

I heated the oven to 350ºF and baked 20-25 minutes until nicely browned.

Hmmmmm. Maybe this will work after all.

They felt REALLY soft once cooled, but, not to be thwarted this far into the process, I decided to let them sit overnight covered with parchment.

Boy howdy! These babies were delicious. A wonderful soft texture, delicate flavor but with enough structure to hold up to a good turkey-lettuce-mayo sandwich. Yum.

Steve declared them unfit for brat use (not the right shape don't ya know), so into the freezer they went and we've been enjoying them since. Burgers, sandwiches. It's all good.

Now for the recipe. Going against my usual grain, I'm providing this in good ole measurements as opposed to metric weights. It just feels right here.

2 large eggs (I backed that off to about 1.5 eggs)

1/3 cup sugar (I made this one a scant 1/3 cup)

2 teaspoons salt

6 tablespoons butter, soft

8 ounces smashed potatoes (unseasoned), at room temperature

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

3/4 cup lukewarm water, preferably water in which the potatoes were boiled. I used half potato water and half milk.

4 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour (King Arthur of course - after all, this is I recipe I found on their website!)

1. Mix and knead all the ingredients to make a smooth, soft dough. No time frame is given so I winged it as described above.

2. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 90 minutes until doubled in bulk.

3. Gently deflate the dough and divide into desired sized pieces. For a good size hamburger bun I used 2 5/8 ounce or 75 grams with a yield of 16 rolls. Round each ball into a smooth roll.

4. Place the rolls on parchment lined pans, cover lightly with greased plastic wrap and let rise 1.5-2 hours until quite puffy. Toward the end of the rise preheat the oven to 350ºF.

5. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown and feel set. Remove from the oven and transfer to wire racks to cool. (Option - brush with melted butter)

6. Serve warm or at room temperature. Store well wrapped in plastic for several days at room temperature or freeze (what I did).

All I can say it there is so much to learn about bread baking. I recently purchased Jeffrey Hamelman's book "Bread" and have just begun delving into it. So much detail, so many variables and so many ways to make delicious bread. 

With this recipe I based my kneading time somewhat on the fact that this is an enriched dough with butter, egg, and sugar, reminiscent of lean brioche. It seemed like a longer kneading time was the thing to do. Was that the right approach? I'm not sure. All I know is they taste good and that's what counts!

Cherry blueberry yogurt cake

Recently my mom and I took a drive to my childhood hometown of Fremont, Michigan to visit former neighbors and family friends, Gerry Frens and her daughter Mary.  Gerry will be 100 years young this fall, and she and my mom (who will turn 90 in August) love reminiscing about those days of yore.

Just a few years apart in age, Mary and I chat away about all manner of things while our mothers talk and talk.

We planned to share afternoon tea with them, so, of course I volunteered to bring something baked to accompany our beverage. Always looking to use up the odd lingering ingredient in the fridge, I decided on a cherry berry cake to which one of said ingredients, yogurt, would be added.

Some years ago I developed a collection of fresh fruit cake recipes that I used to bake at Gerrish's cafe in Winter Harbor ME during my first summer job out of pastry school. They're easy, versatile and allow one to mix and match ingredients and fruits depending on your whims.

Even though we're anticipating the arrival of local Michigan fresh fruits at the farmer's market, we are getting some beautiful Washington state cherries and some decent Georgia blueberries in our go-to Meijer grocery store.  So cherry blueberry just had to be the choice!

This is a pretty basic cake made by the usual method of whisking the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, creaming the butter and sugar/citrus zest until fluffy, adding eggs one at a time along with vanilla. Then fold in the dry ingredients alternating with yogurt.

In this case, once the batter is smoothed into a buttered and parchment-papered 9" cake or springform pan, it's baked at 350ºF for 15 minutes. During that time the fruit topping is put together by tossing about 7 ounces fresh fruit with a tablespoon each of granulated sugar and all purpose flour.

The fruit then goes on top of the partially baked cake with the idea that the batter will have set enough to allow the fruit to stay pretty much on top. In my case I also sprinkled some pistachio crumble over the fruit.

Here you see it ready to go back in the oven.

Pop it back in and bake for another 25-30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Here's what happened to mine! Sunken fruit. Oh man.

Not to worry. Once I unmolded it I could at least see some fruit around the edges.

And once sliced there was plenty of fruit in each piece. Yay!

Served with a dollop of Chantilly cream with a fresh cherry perched on top, this was lovely, moist and delicious. And the group liked it. Double yay!!

Here's the recipe, quick and dirty.

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Butter a 9" cake or springform pan and line the bottom with a round of parchment paper.

In a medium bowl whisk together 143 g all purpose flour, 30 g almond flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/2 teaspoon coriander.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment cream 85 g unsalted room temperature butter and 200 g granulated sugar into which the zest of one lemon has been rubbed (LOVE citrus zested sugar!!).

Add 2 large eggs, one at a time, until just blended. Blend in 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract.

With a rubber spatula fold in half the dry ingredients followed by 2/3 cup plain yogurt (choose your own fat content). Fold in the remaining dry ingredients.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile toss a total of about 7 ounces fresh fruit(s) of choice with 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon flour. Fruit prep will depend on the fruit you choose. For example halve and thinly slice fruits like peaches or plums. Blueberries or raspberries can be left whole. I pitted and halved my cherries. You get the idea.

Place the fruit on top of the partially baked cake then bake for an additional 25-30 minutes until a toothpick or skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cool for about 15 minutes then remove from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature. I like a light dusting of powdered sugar to give it that je ne sais quoi.

The cake keeps well in a covered container for several days. It's great with whipped cream or even ice cream if you want to be a bit more decadent. Or eat it plain as an accompaniment to your morning coffee or tea. Not bad at all.

Here are just some of the ways you can make this recipe your own: substitute corn meal or a different nut flour for the almond flour; add different spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger (you decide); sub in sour cream or crème fraiche for the yogurt; use brown sugar instead of granulated sugar; add orange or lime zest instead of lemon; and of course choose your favorite fruit.  

Summer's here and it's time!

Fresh asparagus, Fulton Farmers Market and pizza

The Fulton Farmer's Market is back in full swing for the season, and we've been drawn to the fresh asparagus for the past couple of weeks. So good and soooo springy!   

Steve's favorite veg vendor is Visser Farms located in Zeeland. He usually scores the fruits of their labors throughout the market season, particularly potatoes (German butterball being one of his faves), carrots, broccoli, cauliflower and green beans (we LOVE fresh Michigan green beans in the summer!!).

On to the subject at hand.

Let's not forget that I do like to wander off into the savory baking realm every now and then, for life is not only about pastry, right? Pizza dough is one of those things I typically have stashed in the freezer for those days when pizza sounds like just the ticket.

First let me mention the dough. Back in 2006 when I was going to Apicius in Florence for my first semester of baking and pastry, Steve and I frequented an English bookstore there. At one of our visits we found a newly released book (I have no idea which one) by Jamie Oliver which was accompanied by a mini-book of sample recipes that was available for purchase. And purchase it we did.

His pizza dough recipe is one I've been using ever since, save for the occasional trial of a new recipe, just to see if I might want to make a change. I always seem to come back to his.

While I typically mix and knead by hand, lately I've taken to using my Kitchenaid stand mixer for the first part of the kneading and finishing it off by hand. LOVE the feel of dough.

Here's the recipe in a nutshell. To 650 ml tepid water add 14 g dry yeast (instant or active dry, either one) and 1 tablespoon sugar, mix with a fork and let sit for a few minutes. Meanwhile place 800 g bread flour and 200 g semolina in a mixing bowl along with 1 tablespoon fine sea salt; give it a quick whisk up with a fork.

Using the dough hook, turn on med-low speed and drizzle the wet ingredients into the dry. Here's where I make my own addition to Jamie's recipe of 2 tablespoon olive oil. Knead on med-low speed for about 4-5 minutes then turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and continue kneading for another few minutes to achieve a soft, springy dough.

Cover with cling film and let rest about 20-30 minutes at room temperature. I divide the dough into six 283 g (10 ounce) pieces, wrap them individually, pop 'em into a zip-top bag and freeze.

If using the dough immediately, roll it out on a lightly floured surface, place on your oiled sheet pan (or baking stone or baking steel or whatever you're using), top with your favorite pizza goodies and pop into a 500º oven.

Pizza is one of our favorite ways to use up fridge left overs like grilled chicken or pork (thinly sliced for pizza purposes) and chunked up roasted potatoes. We generally add in some fresh veggies like tomatoes and shaved broccoli followed by a topping of grated cheese.

This time - fresh asparagus. Yippee!

It was a simple matter of cutting the lovely green stalks into shorter pieces, peeling and slicing the stems in half and throwing them into the mix. No blanching ahead of time, just freshly cut and trimmed.

I've been using a good old 1/2 sheet pan for a long time - olive-oiled and dusted with semolina, then into a 500º oven for about 13-15 minutes.  Et voila!

We top our hot out of the oven pizza with some lightly dressed shredded or chopped up greens, basically creating a pizza and salad in one.

The presentation may not be the most artful, but boy-oh-boy it's good!

Some new flour ingredients

Thanks to my recent discovery of Alice Medrich's book "Flavor Flours", I've been playing around with recipes using a variety of alternative flours - and I've only begun to scratch the surface.

They happen to be gluten free, although that was not the primary reason for my experiments.  I'm intrigued by the many options now available to both the baking and pastry enthusiast and pastry professional.  Always learning, always testing, always trying new things.  That's what it's all about!

First off - coconut flour.

This recipe is for a tart crust, and it is, in a word, DEElicious - very reminiscent of the quintessential American coconut macaroon.

It's easy to put together.  Combine 40 g coconut flour, 100 g shredded unsweetened coconut, 1/4 teaspoon baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon salt, 85 g soft unsalted butter, 100 g sugar and 1 large egg white in a bowl.  Mix until the ingredients are blended then press evenly into a 9" fluted, removable bottom tart pan, making the sides thicker than the bottom.

Heat your oven to 350ºF, set the lined tart pan on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake 18-20 minutes until nicely browned.

Let cool for 15 minutes or so then push the bottom up to free the crust from the pan and loosen the sides. Finish cooling for 2 hours before filling.

Now here's where I leave the filling up to you.  

I filled mine with coconut pastry cream made by replacing the whole milk in my standard recipe with coconut milk - yum.  Then you have the option of topping the tart with mango slices, mixed tropical fruits, mixed berries or whatever your heart desires.

Or how about a nice chocolate ganache filling topped with a sprinkling of toasted coconut?

Or fill the crust with some toasted, chopped nuts of choice mixed with some homemade caramel then cover with a whipped milk chocolate cream.

Or perhaps a luscious lemon-lime curd with some finely diced crystallized ginger?

You decide.

Next up - oat and rice flour.  This one is an oat sablé recipe (and you know I'm a sucker for shortbread!).

Whisk together 140 g oat flour, 55 g white rice flour, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in a large bowl. Add 130 g sugar, 60 g chunked up cream cheese, 170 g chunked up soft butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and mix with a fork or spatula to blend into a smooth dough.

Form two logs about 1.5 inches in diameter (or whatever diameter you wish), wrap tightly in wax paper or film wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.  You may also freeze the dough for up to 3 months.

First I did the log approach.  I sliced rounds and baked at 325ºF for 12-15 minutes until nicely browned.

The cookies did spread a bit, something I'm suspect has to do with the difference in structure of a non-gluten dough. Plus the ratio of sugar to the total flour is higher than my typical shortbread and could also contribute to more spread during baking.  It's a learning curve to be sure.

Next I took a portion of dough, formed small nuggets and baked those.

They had a more faceted look and were rather pleasing in the small-bite sense of the word.

These are GOOD - a nice crunch, butteriness and delicious flavor all the way around. Yes.

And now - teff! 

An ancient Ethiopian grain, teff is loaded with calcium, iron, Vitamin C, fiber, protein and more.

I chose a chocolate sablé recipe for my first trial with this healthy and interesting ingredient. I know - more shortbread.

Place 150 g teff flour, 60 g white rice flour, 35 g unsweetened cocoa powder, 135 g sugar, scant 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/8 teaspoon baking soda in a large bowl and whisk to blend.

Add 170 g unsalted chunked up soft butter, 60 g chunked up cream cheese, 1 tablespoon water and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to the dry ingredients and mix with a fork or spatula until blended into a smooth dough.

You can form logs as with the oat sablés but I chose to wrap and chill the dough then simply form rough ball shaped pieces sprinkled with a little sugar. I placed them on a parchment lined sheet pan and held them in the freezer while the oven was heating.

Heat your oven to 325ºF and bake for about 25 minutes until firm to the touch.  While it's hard to tell if they've browned, I found they looked more dry with a bit of cracking on the surface as a reasonable sign that they were done.

These babies did not disappoint!  Nice chocolate flavor, a texture with just a hint of fine graininess (not a bad thing, by the way), plus deliciously crisp and buttery. And Steve liked them too!

"Flavor Flours" is divided into sections by type of flour, including not only the ones I've used so far, but also chestnut, sorghum, buckwheat, corn and nut flours.

There is definitely another world out there folks! Here's to new tastes and textures. Yes indeed.

New York style bagels

After teaching several bagel classes recently I was gung-ho to make my own New York style bagels at home.  Chewy, molasses-y and yummy.

The process is pretty straight forward.  Make the dough, let it rise, divide the dough, shape the bagels, let 'em rest a bit, boil 'em, egg wash and top 'em, then bake them in the oven for the finale.

All in an afternoon's work.

Following the Sur La Table recipe for 8 bagels, combine 500 g bread flour and 1 tablespoon salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  Mix briefly to combine.

In a separate bowl place 1.5 cups warm water and sprinkle in 2 teaspoons active dry yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar.  Let stand for 5 minutes until the yeast starts to foam.  Add in 2 tablespoons barley malt syrup and stir to dissolve (see note).

NOTE: since I didn't have barley malt syrup on hand I substituted 4 teaspoons molasses at 2/3 the quantity.  

With the mixer on low add the yeast mixture to the flour/salt and mix to combine.  Then knead the dough on medium speed for 6-8 minutes until smooth and elastic. The dough is a bit sticky.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and allow it to rise in a warm spot for about an hour (until doubled).

after the rise

Now comes the fun part!  Shaping - yes! 

Before you start, get the oven heating to 425ºF convection (450 conventional).

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, deflate lightly and divide with a bench scraper into 8 pieces.

Shape each piece into a smooth, tight ball.  This step is the most fun, especially once you get the feel of the dough as it rounds up and develop the muscle memory in your hand to make it happen.  You gotta be there to understand it.

OK, so maybe THIS step is really the most fun - forming the bagel.

First stick your thumb through the center.

Once the hole is formed, place your index and middle fingers through it and rotate to stretch out the hole to about 2 inches.

This is just one of the ways to shape a bagel. The other involves rolling each piece into a snake, bringing the ends together in an overlapping fashion, then putting your fingers through the center, palm down, with the overlap on the work surface and rolling to seal.

Once the bagels are shaped, place them on a lightly floured surface, cover with a damp cloth and let them rest about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring about 4 quarts of water to a boil, adding about 3 tablespoons barley malt syrup (or in my case, about 2 tablespoons molasses).

Drop the shaped and rested bagels into the boiling water and boil for a minute on each side.

Lift them out with a slotted spoon and place on a grid to drip a bit, then brush with egg wash and sprinkle with topping(s) of choice.  I chose sesame seeds for some and left the rest plain at Steve's request.  

Have a sheet pan ready lined with parchment and sprinkled with cornmeal.

Now pop 'em into the oven and bake for about 20 minutes until nicely browned.  

ATTENTION! Don't open the oven for the first 10 minutes. The initial steam produced by the wet bagels as they go into the hot oven contributes to the crusty exterior.  Plus I'm told that if you open the oven too soon, your bagels may deflate a bit.  Oh no!

But DO rotate your pan after the first 10 minutes to get a nice even bake. It's a rule I follow regularly, no matter what I'm baking.

Looking good.

Let these babies cool, then slice right in and enjoy.  I decided for a simple cheddar cheese on mine.

The chew, crumb and molasses essence of this was soooo good.  Yes indeed.

A tasty trio for spring

A beautiful day at Fredrick Meijer Gardens here in Grand Rapids Michigan.  Spring is here. Delightful.

And now on to the baking portion of the program.

While I was preparing some sweet treats for a recent L'Alliance Francaise de Grand Rapids event, I was reminded of those days working as the pastry chef at Gracie's in Providence RI where I often created dessert trios for special events or private dinners.  I loved that. Three 2-bite experiences of different textures, creams, crunchies, fruits, nuts or what-have-you. No need to over do it - just some delicious little somethings to go with that after dinner coffee, tea or digestif - yes indeed.

For this menu I choose a petite apricot almond Breton cake topped with apricot caramel mascarpone cream and fresh raspberry, a delectable fudgy brownie with chocolate-graham-walnut crumble sprinkled over a ganache ribbon and my own sesame-cardamom shortbread cookie sandwiched with an orange honey buttercream. 

In this case it's not about a specific recipe or technique but simply the imagination of putting different flavors and textures together.  The more one bakes, the more one opens the mind to new ideas.

Interestingly, that's what I've found since teaching at Sur La Table here in Grand Rapids.  The recipes are chosen by the corporation and tested in the SLT test kitchen before being put on a nationwide schedule that's offered to the public.

Lots of croissant and French macaron classes to be sure, but every month or two some new topics pop up like crepes, soufflés and British baking, all of which prompt me to review and refresh my own knowledge and expertise.  It's all about learning! Plus I love figuring out what the problems might be when something doesn't turn out as expected. Keep trying!

So I've been doing things that haven't been in my typical scope of baking - Swiss meringue buttercream being one of them. Many of the macaron fillings for SLT classes are made using that technique with the flavors and fillings changing seasonally.  I had previously not been a big fan of buttercreams, yet having now made a number of Swiss meringue versions I find them quite appealing.  

There are many cake makers out there who do this in their sleep and many online resources presenting the process and all the delicious flavor variations that exist.

But just to review, a Swiss meringue is made by whisking egg whites and sugar over a bain marie to a temperature or 145º - 155ºF, then transferring it to a stand mixer and whipping to a nice glossy, stiff-peaked meringue.  Voila!

The meringue should be cool before adding the butter a few pieces at a time. The result should be a smooth, creamy buttercream.

I my case I blended orange zest and honey into the buttercream, and it was oh so wonderful with the lightly honey glazed sesame cardamom shortbread. Yum yum yum.

Of course, let's not forget that there's a lot of butter involved so my "everything in moderation" approach still applies, but somehow the meringue and butter combo is quite lovely as a filling for a cookie sandwich or a swirl on the top of a petite cake.

As for the petite Breton cakes, I used a standard Breton dough recipe from Christophe Felder, placed pieces of dough into round flexi-molds, topped 'em with almond cream, a dollop of apricot jam and a sprinkling of brown sugar streusel.  

After the bake, once cooled, I gave them a swirl of caramel mascarpone cream to which I had added some home made apricot purée, and topped 'em with a fresh raspberry.

The brownie bites were the recipe I've been making for Steve for some years, based on one from Fine Cooking magazine by Abigail Johnson way back when.  I gave them a ganache ribbon topping and sprinkled my chocolate-graham crumb- walnut crumble mixture on top. Yup.

All were delicious, delightful and appreciated by L'Alliance Française guests.

The moral of the story?  Use your imagination and keep creating your own flavorful treats! That's what it's all about.

Happy spring!

Easter desserts, happy spring and one more chocolate babka

Happy Easter everyone.  Steve and I are in our second spring since our move back to Grand Rapids, and this has been the first burst of color in our little garden two years in a row.  The lovely primrose - ahhhhhhh.  

Our day began misty, windy and overcast and is winding down with glorious sunshine, lovely breezes and no humidity.  We'll take it, thank you very much.

We spent the afternoon with the Galloway and TenHave clan for a delicious Easter dinner and good conversation and companionship.  Thanks Scott and Jen - you're the best!

Of course I simply had to make dessert for the gathering, and what better flavor to choose than something lusciously LEMON.  

I turned to that tried and true (and now my favorite tarte au citron) recipe from Jacques Genin, topping it with a thin layer of crème Chantilly and some fresh raspberries.

A good lemon tart is one of THE best things in the pastry world à mon avis, but I wanted to throw something else into the mix for the holiday meal.  I'd been thinking about coconut and chocolate and ended up following Alice Medrich's coconut chocolate meringue recipe in her book "Flavor Flours" (a recent and exciting discovery for me). What better way to use up some of those egg whites I had sitting in the fridge.

Make a basic meringue, taking it to stiff peaks.

Fold in a delightful mixture of chopped dark and white chocolate, coarsely chopped roasted, lightly salted almonds and coconut chips (the smaller bowl below is for sprinkling on the top of the scooped meringues).

Portion out generous tablespoons of meringue mixture onto parchment lined sheets, then sprinkle additional chocolate/nut/coconut mix on top.

Bake at 200ºF for 1.5 hours, then turn oven off and let cool completely.

Crispy, crunchy, nutty with almonds and coconut, chocolate chunks - what more does one need in a bite size treat? These are downright tasty.

I declare this a winning dessert day - yay!

But before I go, here's one final note. 

Just when you thought you'd heard the end of the whole babka thing, I'll finish up with one more experience with that oh-so-intriguing subject.  I baked one more babka the other day as part of a trial for an Easter class I was preparing to teach at the Breton Sur La Table here in Grand Rapids.  The process went well, the dough felt great, the plaits looked pretty good (in spite of a bit of messiness with the chocolate filling), and it went into the pan without much of a hitch.

It baked a bit longer than I expected but came out a deep golden brown and smelling heavenly.

The swirls were okey-dokey when sliced too.

And you know what? Delicious.

I promise that's it for this year's babka session. Enough.

Happy spring everyone and thanks for reading "Baking with The French Tarte". I appreciate it more than you'll ever know.

Babka trial Part 3 - another chocolate pecan

Well, I have another babka trial under my belt, and I have to say I'm excited about moving on to other baking adventures. I've learned a lot but feel there are still more practice sessions in my distant future before getting this down to a tried and true comfortable process.  If at first you don't succeed, try, try again - so true!

Granted, I used several different dough recipes in my various trials, so I can't say this is a purely scientific study with all variables constant. What I did accomplish was gaining a general understanding of how the process should go.

Here are just a few tidbits that I gleaned from my experience.

I found that the dough for babka can be a standard sweet dough (as one might use for cinnamon rolls), a laminated dough or a brioche-like dough. As they say, there's more than one way to skin a cat!

I discovered that the chocolate filling (if that's the version you're making) should be made ahead so there is time for the melted chocolate/butter with added cocoa powder and sugar mixture to cool to a room temperature spreadable paste.

I learned that there are many ways to shape babka - the length-wise sliced log plaited and tucked into a loaf pan or baked free form, a fat snake-like coiled log that sits in the pan perpendicular to the counter rather than lying flat or a log placed circularly around a tube or Bundt pan.

What I'm still working on grasping is how loosely or snugly to twist the plaits, the best way to fit them into the loaf pan, how long to let the loaf rise and how long to bake (it's very difficult to determine when the center is fully baked).

For this my third and last trial I used Yotam Ottolenghi's brioche like dough. I baked two loaves, one the classic plait which I placed into the pan like an "S" to try and give the dough enough room to rise and not be too squished in.

For the second loaf I went with Peter Reinhart's option of twisting the log a bit, then coiling it up like a snail.

Then the snail goes into the pan straight up, not with the coil flat.

Kind of looks like a big old cow's tongue! This version gets egg wash and a streusel topping before going into the oven.

Reinhart's instructions have you press the coil down to compress it into a loaf, but I didn't want to press down too hard, thinking the rise of the dough layers would be impaired.

I gave both of these loaves a three hour warmish rise since I wasn't certain my previous rises were long enough. Perhaps it makes a difference which type of dough one is using too.

Interestingly, of the many recipes I reviewed the recommended rising times (in a "warm" place) varied from 1-1.5 hours up to 3 hours. Some stated the dough wouldn't rise more than 10-20% and some wanted the dough to puff up and fill the pan.

I thought my plaited loaf became appropriately puffy, at least according to the 10-20% rise benchmark.

I had my doubts about the snail coil, but it seemed to have reached that 10-20% goal too, even though it was not filling the pan.  I suspect the rise I saw this time around had to do with the brioche type dough I used.

The snail coil received its wash and streusel.

I baked the plait for 45-50 minutes at 350º convection.  I attempted to check an internal dough temperature which reached over 185º but couldn't be sure if my temperature probe was in dough or chocolate.  When tapping the dough on the surface, it had a nice thump, and my inserted skewer came out clean. Out of the oven it came.

I baked the snail for the same amount of time and took it out after a resounding thump was heard when tapping the top and a 185º internal temperature was reached.

Let's hope for the best.

After a good cooling it was time for slicing.

First the plaited loaf.

Not bad! In spite of some chocolate gaps and a bit of doughy-ness in the bottom layers, this was delicious!!  Funny that even when the bake wasn't all that great, all of my attempts were tasty, tasty, tasty.

The streusel snail loaf had a big hollow pocket under the surface and the bottom thinner layers were under baked.  But again, joy of all joys - DELICIOUS!

While Steve enjoyed the fruits of my labor, he wondered why I spent so much time on this project. I say "why not?!".  It's a challenge and fun to boot.

What's next? I just started reading Alice Medrich's book "Flavor Flours" and am intrigued with learning and experimenting with the different non-wheat flours out there.  So much to do.  

But before that I have to decide what to bake for Easter dessert. Oh boy!

Babka trial Part 2 - chocolate pecan

Not to be deterred by a less than stellar result with my first pistachio version babka, I decided to jump right back on the horse and give it another go.  This time - chocolate pecan.

Before attempting this again I scoured books and online sources and reviewed babka (or kranz

cake) recipes from Yotam Ottolenghi's "Jerusalem", Packer and Srulovich's "Honey & Co. The Baking Book", as well as David Lebovitz's version of the Honey & Co. babka.  I had already done Peter Reinhart's dough with a "Bake from Scratch" pistachio filling.

I was ready.

I ultimately followed David Lebovitz's version of the Honey & Co. recipe with a few tweaks of my own based on all the recipe versions I had reviewed.

I'm not here to outline the recipe but to talk about my experience with the process.  The dough came together nicely and felt absolutely wonderful! So soft and pillowy with a hint of what the end product might bring.

I formed it into a ball, placed it in a lightly oiled container covered with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight.

Below is what I had after the overnight rise - looks a bit puffier.  Remember this is a sweet dough and the rise may not be as pronounced as with a lean bread dough.

While the dough was warming up a bit I made the chocolate filling by melting 100 g unsalted butter in a saucepan, adding 150 g granulated sugar and blending to (mostly) dissolve the sugar. Off the heat I added 85 g chopped chocolate (70%), stirred to melt, then blended in 40 g Dutch process cocoa powder and a teaspoon of Vietnamese cinnamon. 

Please note!  The filling has to cool to room temperature so it's more paste like and easily spreadable on the dough, so plan ahead for that.

I decided to use pecans (rather than any of the other great nuts one might choose) so toasted and chopped 65 g of those.  I also followed David Lebovitz's path of using 65 g of my home made cocoa wafer cookie crumbs. Yum!

I rolled the dough out into an approximately 12" x 20" rectangle, spread the cooled, spreadable chocolate filling on, then topped that with the chopped pecans and cocoa wafer crumbs.  This was starting to look good.

This time I worked a bit harder at rolling a tight log.

Then I sliced it lengthwise down the middle and formed my braid.  Whew!  That went pretty well.

I was concerned that the braid was longer than my parchment paper lined loaf pan, but I plowed ahead and squidged (did I make that word up?) it into the pan to fit. By the way - this seems to be de rigueur in the various approaches I reviewed.

Will this turn out??!! Seems like a good deal of weight that has to poof up,  n'est-ce pas? 

During the two hour rise I went out for my daily walk and was happy to return to a decent looking pan of risen babka (or so I thought). 

I heated the oven to 350ºF (I used convection) then popped the loaf in for the recommended 30 minutes.  I generally check my goods about half way through the baking time and turn the pan to promote even baking.  It was looking pretty good.  After the 30 minutes I had my doubts as to how well the interior had baked.  I gave it another 5 or 10 minutes and thought the outside had browned quite nicely.

Even though my skewer placed into the middle of the loaf came out clean I was still a bit skeptical as to the extent of the bake - difficult to tell due to the chocolate filling/dough spiraled layers. But I took it out of the oven nonetheless.

Once out of the oven I brushed it all over with simple syrup which I had made a bit earlier with 100 g sugar, 125 g water and one tablespoon honey brought to a boil, boiled for about 4 minutes, then set aside to cool to room temperature.

I gave it a good 90 minute cooling before lifting it out of the pan by the parchment lining.  By that point the center of the loaf had collapsed, not usually a good sign.  Oh, oh. 

Slice into it I did and indeed found the center to be doughy and under baked.  Disappointing to say the least, but let's remember - it's all about learning.

I did have to wonder though - how DO those thin layers of dough and chocolate filling have the room to rise up under the weight of it all?

The good news is that I was able to salvage the exterior and end portions of the loaf so Steve and I could give this project a decent tasting.  In a word - delicious!!

The chocolate filling with the cocoa wafer crumbs was absolutely scrumptious, and the layers of dough were moist but not overly sweet.

I stored all the decently baked portions in a Tupperware container and we enjoyed them over the next couple of days - oh so tasty for a little sweet treat after lunch or for a mid-afternoon gouter with a cup of coffee or tea.

All in all not bad.  I'm considering one more babka go - they say the third time's the charm, right?

Why not - let's go for it!

Pistachio babka trial and a tasty bread pudding

It's been way too long since I've posted here, and I've been chomping at the bit to bake something different.

It's interesting how a certain thing tends to percolate to the surface, often by happenstance, and in recent months one of those things is babka, a yeasted bread-like coffee cake with origins in Russia and Poland. I've come across versions of it on line, both on Clotilde Dusoulier's "Chocolate and Zucchini" site as well as on the "Bake from Scratch" website.

Lately I've also been reviewing recipes from Peter Reinhart's "artisan breads every day", and, guess what?  There's a classic chocolate cinnamon babka just waiting to be tried. 

To top it off there's a chocolate babka recipe on April's Easter Baking class menu at Sur La Table where I've been teaching baking and pastry classes since last June.

Don't you think it's time to make babka!?

I wanted to make a pistachio filling version to use up some pistachio paste in my fridge.  I followed the recipe on the "Bake from Scratch" site and as I was making it, knew in my heart of hearts that it was probably too loose.  But use it I did.  Lesson learned.  After all, this was my first foray into the babka world so why not experiment, eh?

dough ingredients

Filling aside, Peter Reinhart's dough is a lovely soft, enriched sweet dough made as follows. Whisk 19 g instant yeast into 3/4 cup/180 ml lukewarm whole milk. Let sit for about 5 minutes. 

Cream 6 tablespoons/85 g unsalted butter (melted or soft room temp) with 6 tablespoons/85 g sugar on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. 

Add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract to 4 egg yolks, add to the sugar mixture in 4 additions and mix on medium-high for a couple of minutes. 

Stop the mixer, add 3 1/3 cups/425 g all purpose flour and one teaspoon salt then the milk/yeast mixture. Mix on low for 2-3 minutes to achieve a soft, supple, tacky dough.  

Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead by hand for 2 more minutes. Form a ball.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature for about 2 1/2 hours.

Here's the dough after the rise.

Now you can either move on to the shaping step or place the dough in the fridge (covered) overnight to be rolled out the next day.

I decided to go forward with the project and rolled the dough into a 15" x15" square.

I spread my loose pistachio filling onto the dough and rolled it up into a log. I must admit I was so focused on spreading and rolling the dough up that I completely forgot to take a photo before the log formation! Rats! But you'll see the filling soon enough.

I placed it on a tray in the freezer for about 10 minutes, hoping that the filling would tighten up a bit.  I was already envisioning the pistachio goodness oozing out as soon as I sliced my log lengthwise.  I was going for a free form twisted loaf rather than putting the braid into a loaf pan as many babka recipes suggest.

I accomplished the lengthwise slice, but it was looking pretty messy.

I gently and gingerly twisted the two pieces around each other, attempting to keep the cut sides up.

Hmmmm . . . . This might work, but what's going to happen during the final rise? Yikes!

I covered the loaf loosely with plastic wrap and gave it another 2 1/2 hour rise at room temperature.  Here it is ready to go into my preheated 350º oven.  A filling mess looms ahead!

About 20 minutes into the bake I took it out and cleaned off some of the partially baked oozed filling from along the sides of the loaf. Otherwise it looked like it was browning nicely.  Maybe there's hope after all . . . . .

After about 40 minutes total baking time I thought it was ready. It certainly is well browned, that's for sure. The French call that bien cuit. I brushed it with vanilla simple syrup for a bit of sheen.

After some cooling I sliced into this interesting piece and found that my layers were pretty much non-existent.  As I suspected, a lot of the pistachio filling had oozed out during baking.

Yet . . . . . The flavor was delicious!  A nice dense yet soft and tender crumb along with a hint of pistachio. Not so bad after all. The next morning we warmed up a couple of slices and spread 'em with some raspberry jam - quite tasty indeed.

Now I'd really like to have another go at the whole babka thing.  I'm looking forward to creating one with a drier chocolate-y filling and a nice twisted spiral of dough. I've reviewed several more recipes, and I know it can be done.

For this first attempt I ended up creating a bread pudding.  I cubed up the babka (about 6-7 cups) and made a custard with two cups whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 2 tablespoons melted butter, 1/2 cup sugar, 3 large eggs and some vanilla and almond extracts.

I placed the cubes in a buttered 9x13 Pyrex dish, poured the custard over and let it soak in the fridge for about 8 hours, pushing down the cubes a couple of times to keep them soaking. 

I sprinkled some coarse sugar and freshly grated a bit of nutmeg on the top, then baked the pudding in a 350º oven for about 45 minutes until set.

For a family supper at Mom's I served it warm with my homemade orange and vanilla scented ice cream and a sprinkle of chocolate-graham crumble.  So delicious!

So stay tuned for the next babka bake. It promises to be a good one. Can't wait.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Sharing love and enjoyment with those who mean the most to us is just one of the things to remember on Valentine's Day. 

I love to share with all of you the joy that comes from creating delicious treats.

Here are just a few.

Matcha raspberry hearts

Apricot linzer cookies

Tart cherry, double chocolate, salted caramel shortbread hearts

Chocolate hazelnut financier

Once these little cakes are turned out of the mold, there's a wonderful well just waiting to be filled with something delicious.

Praliné ganache and candied hazelnut garnish

Here's a pistachio version filled with dark chocolate raspberry ganache and garnished with a tiny swirl of raspberry butter cream and crowned with candied pistachio.

One chocolate and one pistachio went into small purple boxes with red ribbon - so cute!

I ended up making 4 flavors of shortbread (double dark chocolate, tart cherry, praline and matcha) and tucking them into red boxes with purple ribbon.

For a pre-Valentine's family gathering I did a slight variation on the chocolate hazelnut financier by filling them with dark chocolate ganache and topping with a swirl of whipped milk chocolate ganache and candied hazelnut.

For the pièce de résistance I made a raspberry gateau Breton with a thin layer of raspberry jam baked between two layers of Breton dough.  Once cooled I topped it with whipped caramel mascarpone cream and garnished with raspberries, a light pink ruffle around the edge and some candied pistachios for some lovely color contrast.

Sweets for the sweet.  Happy Valentine's Day to one and all!

Enjoy.

Seeded knot rolls

I try to keep homemade bread on hand in our freezer.  There's nothing like it for morning toast, a tasty egg salad sandwich or a nice grilled cheese.

This time I used a basic sandwich bread recipe from the folks at King Arthur Flour and decided to double it - one half for a loaf and one half for some rolls.

The recipe uses a basic straight dough made with all purpose flour, although there's a suggested option for replacing half of that with white whole wheat flour (which is what I did).

Here's the base recipe (remember - you can double it as I did).

390 g/3 cups flour (half all purpose, half white whole wheat for me)

120 ml/1/2 cup milk (any fat content you choose)

120-180 ml/1/2 to 2/3 cup hot water to make a smooth dough

56 g/4 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil (I used butter)
45g/3 tablespoons sugar
7g/1.25 teaspoons salt
7g/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.  Mix on low to moisten all the ingredients until the dough starts to pull together.  Then knead on low for about 5-6 minutes to achieve a smooth and supple dough.

Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover it and let rise for about an hour at room temperature.

Place the dough on a lightly oiled surface.  In my case I divided my double batch of dough in half and shaped one half into an 8 inch log which I then placed in a lightly oiled 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" loaf pan.  Cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and allow it to rise about 60 minutes (or longer if you're working in a cool kitchen).  The dough should crown about 1 inch above the pan rim.

The second half of dough was destined to become knot rolls.  Oh boy!

Working on a lightly oiled surface, I divided the dough into nine 85 g/3 oz pieces.  I rolled each piece into a snake-like ~12" length and formed each into a knot. Cool! It's all about tucking the ends just so.

I placed the rolls on a parchment paper lined sheet pan, covered them loosely with lightly oiled plastic wrap and gave them a good 1 to 1.5 hour rise.

I heated the oven to 350ºF.

I made a mix of fennel, cumin, sesame and poppy seeds . . . .

then lightly brushed the knots with egg wash and sprinkled them with the seed mixture.

Into the oven they go!

After about 20 minutes of baking time, they emerged nicely browned and smelling heavenly.

They had a bit of cooling time before we took some over to Mom's for supper.

There's nothing like a freshly baked warm roll with a bit of thinly spread butter.  You can't beat it.

Thanks King Arthur!

Chocolate madeleines and more than you'll ever want to know about making them

A good madeleine can be hard to find.  It's best to eat them fresh from the oven since they have a tendency to be on the dry side once they cool.  In the past I've taken to brushing the classic version of madeleines with lemon syrup while still warm, which goes a long way to holding in moisture and prolonging their shelf life.

I've tried a variety of madeleine recipes over the years, most of which have somewhat similar ratios of flour, sugar, butter and eggs, often with some honey and lemon zest added in.

This chocolate version is from Clotilde Dusoulier's "Chocolate and Zucchini" blog, and is her chocolate version of the "perfect madeleine" from Fabrice Le Bourdat's shop Blé Sucré in Paris.  The base recipe has a larger quantity of butter than many I've reviewed, and Clotilde's chocolate version adds melted bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder to Le Bourdat's base.

Madeleine batter should be made ahead and allowed to sit in the fridge for several hours and up to a couple of days.  Think planning ahead!

Here's the process.  

Melt 150 g good quality chocolate (I used 56%) over a bain marie. Remove from the heat but keep the chocolate bowl over the warm water to hold it until it's added to the batter.

Melt 350 g unsalted butter (stove top or microwave - you decide).  NOTE - the butter is the final ingredient to be blended in and should be hot when added to the batter.  It's all about planning.

In the bowl of a stand mixer beat 6 large eggs with 260 g sugar until thick and pale yellow, 4-5 minutes.  Blend in 120 ml milk (I used whole) and the warm, melted chocolate.

In a separate bowl combine 375 g all purpose flour, 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, 1 tablespoon baking powder and 1/2 teaspoon sea salt. Fold these dry ingredients into the batter.

Finally blend in the hot melted butter until incorporated. 

Cover and refrigerate up to 2-3 days.

On baking day heat the oven to 450ºF with half sheet pans placed separately on two different racks (I have three oven racks but prefer to use only two at a time - it's just easier).

Placing cold batter into cold molds and then onto heated sheet pans in a hot oven are some of the reasons that madeleines develop that classic hump.

Mold preparation is key.  I prefer using the standard silver tin molds rather than the darker finish brown non-stick molds (which, by the way, still have to be buttered and can cause the petite cakes to brown too quickly - trust me, I know.)

I apply a decent coating of butter on each well and give them a dusting of flour - you can never be too careful in terms of making sure your madeleines don't stick!

As you can see below, I opted to bake some minis as well as the standard size.

Once my molds are ready I pop them into the fridge until I'm ready to fill them.

The chilled batter is quite thick.  You can pipe it or simply scoop it into the molds. Filling the wells with just the right amount of batter carries a bit of a learning curve and comes with experience but a general rule is to full 1/2-3/4 full.  I wasn't sure how these babies would rise so I chose about 1/2 full.

Place the molds into the hot oven directly onto the heated sheet pans.  Immediately turn the oven temp down to 360º F and bake for 12-14 minutes for standard size and about 6-7 minutes for the minis.  If you're doing multiple batches, turn the oven back up to 450ºF before baking your next batch.

Nice humps!

Once pulled from the oven turn them out onto parchment paper - they should fall out freely if your molds have been well prepared.  You can tap the corner of the overturned mold onto the nearby surface as needed if they're being a bit stubborn.  It works.

One thing I noticed about the minis is a blurring of the shell pattern - most likely due to the butter and flour coating of the mold that melded into the batter and didn't allow the pattern to remain distinct. No biggie.

I reacted to my first taste of a mini with the feeling that the chocolate flavor wasn't as forward as I would have liked.  However, the texture was sooooo light and ethereal - I've never had a madeleine like it!  As I continued to sample a few more, they grew on me.  Steve too.

I wanted to punch up the chocolate experience and decided to make a glaze by melting 130 g bittersweet chocolate with 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon corn syrup (gives it a bit of sheen) over a bain marie and then adding in 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract.  

I dipped the "hump side" of some of the madeleines in the warm chocolate, and, after a few minutes of setting, created a ridge like pattern with my zig-zag cake decorating tool.  They look kind of like walnuts, don't you think?

The added layer of chocolate was just the right touch.  Mmmmm good.

Once the chocolate had cooled and set, I turned them over to give them the quintessential dusting of powdered sugar.

With another bunch of the finished cakes, at Steve's suggestion, I did what I used to do with the little coriander buttermilk cakes I used to make in Rhode Island.  I re-warmed the madeleines briefly in the oven then dipped them in melted butter and rolled them in coriander sugar.

I thought the sugar a bit too much so brushed some of it off.  Delicious indeed.

Both versions remained moist in a covered container over a couple of days, plus I froze some of each as well. Once thawed they still tasted great. The texture is fantastic!

What a treat.

Thanks Clotilde!

Dried apricot purée and something new with croissant dough

Always on the path of using up ingredients I have on hand, I decided to make apricot purée with a bunch of dried apricots standing by in the fridge.  Of course, what I might do with said purée was also on my mind.  Ahhh - something with croissant dough might be nice!

First the purée. After some recipe research I came up with a pretty straight forward approach involving poaching the dried apricots in a light sugar syrup with added orange zest.  Apricots go soooo nicely with orange, n'est pas?

Place 300 ml (1 1/4 cup) water, 50 g (1/4 cup) sugar, 84 g (1/4 cup) honey and the zest of two oranges in a saucepan, bring to a simmer and cook on medium low until the sugar is dissolved. Add 250 g (1 1/4 cup) dried apricots, cover and cook about 30 minutes until the fruit is soft and supple.

Purée in a blender until smooth then strain.  This stuff looks like baby food!

I decided to freeze the end result by portioning it out into an ice cube tray. That allowed me to remove small amounts on an as needed basis. Interestingly the purée didn't freeze solid due to the sugar content but it was a good way to store it nonetheless.

The day before I wanted to create my little croissant bites, I pulled some croissant dough from the freezer, thawed it overnight and then rolled it out and cut small squares that would fit nicely into buttered and sugar-dusted mini-muffin tins.

I decided on a cream cheese type filling, making my own version based on a recipe in my CIA Baking and Pastry book.

Mix 270 g cream cheese with 33 g sugar (I reduced the amount of sugar in the original recipe since I would be adding my sweetened apricot purée), 33 g corn starch, pinches of lemon and orange zest and a splash of vanilla. Blend in 45 g egg and a couple of tablespoons of apricot purée (or more to taste).

I let the croissant squares rise for about 1.5 hours then topped them with a dollop of apricot cream cheese filling, followed by a smaller dollop of purée and a few pieces of diced dried apricot.

Then I topped 'em all off with some pistachio crumble . . . . 

and popped them into a preheated 400ºF oven to bake.  After about 8 minutes I reduced the temp to 375ºF and continued to bake until nicely browned, another 15- 20 minutes or so.  REMEMBER - watch what's going on in that oven of yours!

.  

After a few minutes I gently lifted them out onto a wire rack to cool, and then, of course, it was time for a taste test.  Yeah baby.

Lovely layered, delectable, buttery goodness with the creamy apricot filling and crunchy pistachio crumble adding the always hoped for differences in textures and tastes.

And Steve liked them too. Yippee!

Praliné et sablés

Some of you know how much I love shortbread cookies (les sablés, en français) and am often playing around with new flavors and ingredients to create something unique and tasty.

There is an ingredient in the pastry world called praliné which consists of toasted nuts coated in caramel that are then cooled and ground into a paste. It is often made with hazelnuts or a 50/50 mix of almonds and hazelnuts, although any nut (nuts in general are referred to as fruits sec, en français) or combination thereof can work.

One of the first sets of recipes we were given in the basic pastry course at Le Cordon Bleu contained a recipe for do-it-yourself praliné or praline paste.  One can buy this particular delight ready made in fairly pricey tubs from companies like Valrhona, but I thought it was high time I made it myself.  Why not?!

What inspired me to take on this project was a recipe for sablés au praliné from Thierry Mulhaupt (a well known patissier chocolatier in the Alsace region) recently published on the French blog La Cuisine de Mercotte.  The recipe for les sablés contains a link for DIY le praliné and I went for it!

Toast 125 g almonds and 125 g hazelnuts in a 325º oven for about 10 minutes. Make a sugar syrup with 165 g of sugar and 45 g of water and cook it to 121ºC (250ºF).  Off the heat stir the warm toasted nuts into the sugar syrup until the sugar crystallizes.  

Then put the pan back on medium heat and stir continuously until the crystallized sugar melts and caramelizes to a golden amber.

I must admit that I should have cooked mine a little longer to bring ALL the sugar to a beautiful caramel stage, but sometimes impatience takes over.  Still - the nuts were looking pretty good.

Turn them out of the pan onto a Silpat, spreading them into a single layer and separating the nuts as much as possible.

Once cooled place them in the bowl of a food processor and whiz away!  

Still a bit grainy above, but I gave it a few more minutes of processing and was pretty happy with the result. All in all it takes a good 8-10 minutes to arrive at the end result.

This stuff will keep in a covered container at room temperature for several weeks.

Next comes the cookie dough.

Dice 300 g cold butter and sand it into a mixture of 300 g all purpose flour, 65 g almond flour and 65 g powdered sugar. Add 175 g praliné and a large pinch of fleur de sel and blend to create a smooth dough.

Divide the dough into five 180 g pieces and form logs about 25 cm long. I made mine into triangle logs for something a little different. Wrap and chill.

When it's time to bake, heat the oven to 325ºF.  Brush the logs with a bit of water, roll in raw sugar and slice into 7-8 mm slices. NOTE: the recipe actually suggests 15 mm slices, however I was going for a thinner cookie.

Place cookies on parchment lined sheet pans and bake about 16 minutes until nicely browned.

I must say these are tasty little morsels. Although the nuttiness is subtle, the butteriness is superb and the texture is melt in your mouth.  And the raw sugar crunch adds just the right touch.

Of course, making the praline paste is a time commitment which I suspect many would choose not to take on, and going the "store-bought" route is fairly prohibitive cost-wise. 

For me it was worth the effort to make my own, especially since so much of this stuff is about tackling something new, experiencing the process and enjoying the tastes that come along with it.

The good news is that once you make it you can use it for other things like ganache or as an addition to mousses or creams.  And remember - it keeps!  Only you can decide.

Chocolate hazelnut torte

Get ready folks!  This one is a four bowl-er!!

A family supper at Mom's had me in the dessert planning mode again.  I recalled with fond memories this chocolate hazelnut number that I had made a couple of times at my shop in Pawtucket RI for the Saturday morning farmers market.  Definitely delicious and worth the extra effort to make.

It's very important to plan ahead and do your mise en place for this recipe - pan preparation, butter at room temperature, chopping and melting chocolate, dividing the sugar (pay attention to the recipe!) separating eggs and understanding all the steps of beating and mixing before the whole shebang goes into the pan and the oven.  

The ingredients:

227 g/8 oz unsalted butter, room temperature

215 g/1 cup sugar, divided, plus more for pan prep

227 g/8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

175 g/1.25 cup hazelnut flour

35 g/0.25 cup all purpose flour

16 g/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

6 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

The process:

Heat the oven to 375ºF.  Butter a 9" springform pan, place a parchment round on the bottom, butter the parchment and sprinkle with sugar.

Melt the chopped bittersweet chocolate in a bowl over a bain marie, stirring periodically until smooth; remove from the bain marie and let cool slightly.

In a medium bowl whisk together the hazelnut flour, all purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt and 1/4 cup sugar.

In a mixer with the paddle attachment beat butter with 3/4 cup sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes. 

Add egg yolks, one by one, blending in each addition before adding the next. Beat in vanilla.

Here are the four bowls at this point:

Blend in melted chocolate then gradually add in dry ingredients, mixing just until combined.

In a clean bowl with clean beaters or whisk attachment beat egg whites and cream of tartar to stiff peaks.

Now down to two bowls!

With a rubber spatula fold 1/3 of the whites into the chocolate batter to loosen it (NOTE: it can get pretty dense as the chocolate cools so don't dilly-dally!). Fold in the remaining whites just until combined.  Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 minutes then reduce the oven temp to 350ºF and bake an additional 30-40 minutes.  The top should look dry and may crack a bit and a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.

Let cool about 20 minutes then unmold and cool completely.

Once cooled I decided to glaze it with some leftover ganache I had in the fridge.  I gently warmed the ganache until spreadable and gave the top some cover.

Time for dessert!

My vanilla ice cream fait à la maison, a narrow slice of heaven and a sprinkle of crisp chocolate pearls:

Smooth ganache, dense moist crumb, lovely chocolate-hazelnut balance, cool-creamy ice cream and just a little crunch thrown in.  Yes. 

Give it a try!

Pistachio berry dacquoise

I'm a bit behind the curve on this one but welcome to 2017!

During the Christmas-New Year's week we had a lovely dinner at friend Margaret's cozy and festively decorated home. She rustled up a Viennese beef stew with noodles, as a reminder of her recent trip to Austria in early December. Her friend Kate brought a delicious and full-of-good-stuff green salad, and I, of course, brought dessert.

Creamy custard, lightly sweetened berry compote, candied pistachios - all nestled on a dacquoise base.  Sounds pretty good!

Dacquoise is one of my favorite things to make (and to eat, yes sir!). It's basically a soft nut meringue with the same ingredients as the popular and trendy French macaron, but it is WAY less fussy and tastes great too.

Having egg whites in the fridge is often the impetus I need to make dacquoise, and so it was that I began to imagine a pistachio version for my dessert creation.

The recipe (this is half my typical base recipe): in a separate bowl whisk together 50 g almond flour, 50 g ground unsalted raw pistachios and 75 g confectioners sugar. In a mixer with the whisk attachment whip 3 egg whites with 25 g granulated sugar to stiff peaks.  Gently fold in the nut/confectioners sugar mixture just until blended.

NOTE:  you can use any ground nut, either by itself or as a mix - almond, pistachio, hazelnut, walnut or pecan - you decide.

Once the dacquoise is mixed you can pipe any shape you choose, depending on your dessert vision. You can see what I did below. I think of these as dacquoise rafts just waiting to float down a dessert river, and, in this case, destined to carry a creamy ricotta custard ingot.

ready for the oven

all baked up!

Dacquoise is one of the few things for which I use silicone baking mats. The softly baked meringue lifts off the Silpat so easily. It's a beautiful thing. And another plus is you can make these ahead and freeze them until ready to go.

Candied pistachios are next. Adjust the recipe depending on the quantities you need, but a typical base recipe calls for 2 cups raw nuts, about 1/2 an egg white, some sugar as well as spices of choice if that's what you're after - cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, coriander, even a little cayenne pepper - it's up to you.

Just whisk up the egg white until foamy, whisk in about 1/4 cup sugar (and the optional spices) then stir in the nuts until coated. Spread out onto a parchment or Silpat lined pan and bake at 325ºF, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until the egg whites have dried and things look toasty. It usually takes about 20-25 minutes for me.

Good news - the nuts are another do-ahead component that will keep at room temperature in a covered container for many days.

crunchy goodness

The beauty of these is they aren't really very sweet, even though coated in sugar - just deliciously enjoyable!

The ricotta custard is a combo of 177 g ricotta, 354 g cream cheese, 112 g sugar, 2 eggs, 1 egg white, seeds from 1/2 scraped vanilla bean and 177 g heavy cream. Beat the cheeses, sugar, vanilla bean in the mixer until smooth, beat in the egg and white, then add the cream and blend.

Pour the custard into flexible silicone molds of choice. I used Silikomart's SF026 12-well ingot shaped mold. 

Place the molds on a sheet pan, pour some hot water in to bathe the lower half of the molds and bake at 275ºF until the custard is set. The time will vary depending on the size of your molds (for these it took 20-25 minutes). This recipe made about 20 custard ingots.

Once baked, let the custards cool to room temperature then put them, mold and all, into the freezer until firm. Then you can pop them out of the molds and store them frozen. Yay! Another do-ahead.

In the afternoon on your designated dessert day, just place the frozen shapes onto your chosen bases and refrigerate to thaw before serving. The custards hold their shape and are ready to garnish and enjoy!

I made a berry compote with a mixture of raspberries and blackberries (total 300 g) in a saucepan with 40 g of sugar and some lime zest. Heat 'em up until the berries break down a bit then stir in a cornstarch slurry (2 teaspoons cornstarch whisked in 1 tablespoon warm water) and simmer a few minutes until the mixture thickens.

Serve it a bit on the warm side or refrigerate it until ready to use. By now you know - do-ahead!!

What a luscious combination enjoyed by all! And a simple vanilla shortbread on the side added that extra special something.

Happy New Year from The French Tarte. Here's to all the baking and dessert creations to come!

Beer bread

For our Christmas Eve dinner Steve made carbonnade flamande, a Belgian/Flemish specialty of beef braised in beer and onion.  We experienced this very dish, much to our delight, during our trip to Bruges this past fall with my niece Christina and her family.  Needless to say, Steve was eager to try his hand at it.

For the dish he searched out the availability of Belgian beer here in Grand Rapids and came up with a dark Belgian style Canadian beer from Martha's Vineyard, a fantastic local purveyor of all things culinary, including a vast selection of wine and beer from far and wide.

Don't worry - the name "Terrible" certainly did NOT indicate the flavor of this hearty brew!

Since Steve didn't use the entire 750 ml bottle of beer for the carbonnade, I decided to finish it off by making beer bread.  So, of course, I turned to Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible.

What a straight forward recipe!  Easy to mix up, whether by hand or in the mixer, soft and supple and carrying the aroma of yeasty beer.

This recipe utilizes the straight dough method, which simply means mixing the ingredients together, kneading the mélange to achieve a smooth, elastic dough, giving it a first rise, shaping a boule and then giving it a second rise.  I know I've mentioned this in previous posts but it never hurts to go over it again - that's one of the ways we learn!

Even though I do love kneading dough by hand, this time I decided to use the Kitchenaid. The process went like this:  in the mixer bowl whisk together 4 g instant yeast, 12.5 g sugar, 380 g bread flour (leaving 2 tablespoons aside) and 30 g whole wheat flour;  mix with the dough hook on low speed, add 255 g beer and mix on low for another minute.

Let the mixture rest, covered, for 20 minutes then sprinkle on 8 g salt and knead on medium speed for 7 minutes.  If the dough feels a little sticky, add in some of the 2 tablespoons of flour that were set aside for that very purpose.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let the dough rise until doubled, about 1.5-2 hours.  Alternatively, you can place the dough in the fridge overnight, which is what I did.  It helps develop the flavor even more.

On baking day I let the dough rise for a good 2-2.5 hours since it was cold coming right out of the fridge.  Then I shaped a chubby boule, placed it on a parchment lined sheet pan, covered it with lightly oiled plastic wrap and gave it another 1.5-2 hours rise.

The baking process here involves creating as close to a hearth environment as possible.  Place a baking stone or 1/2 sheet pan on the lower oven rack and heat the oven to 450ºF, giving it a good 45-60 minutes of heating time.

In addition place a baking steel or cast iron pan on the oven floor which will be the receptacle for ice cubes that are thrown in when the bread goes into the oven.  This creates a burst of steam, leading to a beautiful crust.

NOTE: in my case I have a tray that slides right onto the under surface of the oven rack that serves as a receptacle for water or ice when doing steam baking.  Pretty nice!

Slash the dough in a pattern of choice and place it on it's sheet pan directly onto the hot sheet pan already in the oven. Toss 1/2 cup ice cubes onto the hot steel/cast iron and close the door!

Bake for 15 minutes, reduce the oven temp to 400 and bake an additional 30-40 minutes until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

The aroma was heavenly, making it very difficult to wait until cooled to taste this baby. But wait we did and it was well worth it.

Yay!  A crusty crust along with a tight, yet soft and oh-so-delectable crumb with a flavor reminiscent of molasses. So delicious! 

This one's a keeper.

Peace to all

Champs Élysées  December, 2006

It's a day to gather with family and friends or to simply relax and enjoy this holiday time of year.

Wishing you peace and, of course, many delicious baking adventures for 2017.  Yes indeed.

Merry, merry from The French Tarte!

Apricot orange cake with pistachio crumble

How often do you buy an ingredient with a specific project in mind, only to have that ingredient languish on the shelf or in the fridge waiting to be used? Fortunately, that doesn't happen too frequently, but, every now and then it's a good idea to see what's on hand, both in the fridge and the freezer, and figure out ways to use up things that are either nearing the end of their shelf life or are begging to be baked into something delicious.

This time - dried apricots and yogurt with unbaked pistachio crumble on the side.

Here I opted for a loaf cake variation on a recipe for orange currant muffins with pistachio crumb which I've had in my files for some time now. I’m not even sure where I found it. I used yogurt instead of sour cream and diced dried apricots for currants. Here goes! It's a straight forward batter.

Get the printable PDF recipe here!

1. Heat the oven to 325ºF.  Butter a medium loaf pan, line it with parchment and butter the parchment as well.

2. In a separate bowl whisk together 195 g / 1.5 cups all purpose flour, 1.5 teaspoons baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and 1/4 teaspoon salt. OPT: replace 1/3 of the flour with white whole wheat or spelt.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, cream 70 g / 5 TBSP unsalted butter with 1/2 cup / 100 g sugar (white or brown) until light and fluffy; blend in 1 large egg; blend in 3/4 cup full fat plain yogurt and orange zest from one medium orange.

4. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated; fold in 1/2 cup diced dried apricots. The batter will be thick.

5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan.

6. Top with a healthy layer of pistachio crumble made by combining 65 g / 1/2 cup flour, 50 g / 1/4 cup sugar (white or brown) in a medium bowl, then sanding in 56 g / 2 ounces cold, diced unsalted butter to coarse crumbs; add 30 g chopped pistachios. Easily double or triple the quantities and make plenty for freezer extras.

Bake for approximately 45 minutes until the top is browned and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

After about 10 minutes lift the cake out and let cool. 

Slice and enjoy!

I simply couldn't wait until this had completely cooled.  The still warm, fruit studded, moist, pistachio crumbly and oh-so-delicious slice was just the thing for a middle-of-a-winter-afternoon snack.

And guess what - Steve liked it too!!