Paris reverie

Paris. One word that conveys so much. For those of you who’ve been, this image of rooftops, chimneys, trees and beautiful evening light will speak to you. While not necessarily what most people think about when they hear that one word, the feeling I get from this image is one of calm, contentment and feeling at home.

Odd isn’t it? Steve and I lived here for 9 months during my Le Cordon Bleu pastry schooling and have been back a number of times over the years. Our last trip was 4 years ago, our return this time much longer than anticipated thanks not only to COVID but to life events in general. Things are always changing aren’t they.

Rows of plane trees in Le Jardin des Plantes

During those months, we lived in an apartment on rue Poliveau in the 5th arr, just down the street from Le Jardin des Plantes, the city’s primary botanical gardens. I took regular walks through the Jardin and along the Seine, always anticipating the vision of Notre Dame in front of me as I passed under the Pont de la Tournelle. Now undergoing restoration after the devastating April, 2019 fire, it is a much different image than the one that would always take my breath away a little bit every time it came into view. There’s something about it.

Restoration underway

Here are just a handful of images that help define Paris for me.

Wallace fountain on rue Jeanne d’Arc in the 13th arr

Small city garden at Place Louis Armstrong 13th arr

Streets named for artists like Edouard Manet (one of Steve’s faves!!), Rubens and Watteau.

Iconic art noveau metro signage - nearest line 5 station to our AirBnB

Fountains - this one is near the foot of rue Mouffetard in the Latin Quarter

One of Steve’s favorite pastries - Paris Brest from Maison Landemaine on rue Monge

Boat rides on the seine - Musée d’Orsay from the water

Lovely flowers on a neighboring balcony

Baguette from nearby pâtisserie/boulangerie La Gobelinoise on Av. Les Gobelins, 13th arr

Sailboats at Le Jardin du Luxembourg

Fruit stands - C’est la saison des cerises! Near rue Mouffetard.

Vintage shop signs at Musée Carnavalet

Do I have to say it??

There’s so much more - I’ve barely scratched the surface. It’s good to be back.

Stay healthy and enjoy summer!

Charles DeGaulle statue on Place Clemenceau

A New Year's Day planche

Happy New Year everyone!

Steve and I celebrated our quiet, at-home New Year’s Day with an early afternoon repast of a classic planche (literally translated as plank) - basically a wooden board on which one places cheeses, meats, olives, nuts or whatever you decide you’d like to have. What’s wrong with that, eh?

Of course we couldn’t help but reminisce about the first of our two trips to Lille, France in recent years to visit niece Christina, husband Glen and children Kiera and Liam. They inspired us with une planche at their home back then, and this year we shipped a few goodies to their current home in upstate NY to give their own planche a kickstart for the Christmas holiday.

Why not do one of our own to start the New Year on just the right note!

Our three cheese choices came from our favorite cheese vendor here in Grand Rapids MI - The Cheese Lady. Such a wonderful array of cheeses with a great selection from many countries. We opted for “Ewephoria”, a firm, aged sheep’s milk Dutch gouda; taleggio, one of our favorite Italian soft cheeses; Stilton, the classic blue from England.

We added some thin sliced ham and mustard seed salami as our meat options, along with sweet and savory toasted pecans (recipe coming below), an olive assortment (for Steve), coarse ground mustard, delicious olive oil crackers from Italy (also a Cheese Lady purchase) and my homemade baguette. Prosecco joined the ranks for our toast to 2021.

Cornichons are a classic addition to a planche but neither one of us cares for them so sayonara to that. One could also add different spreads or dips along with fresh veggies; chutneys, jams or quince paste; even a little pot of honey to give a drizzle of sweetness to any cheese.

What an enjoyable way to spend a portion of our day. We lifted our glasses to 2021 and plunged in.

Steve went with his own combos, and for my first treat I paired baguette with coarse mustard, taleggio and ham . . . . . .

and then moved to a simple chunk of Ewephoria with the mustard seed salami on baguette, a schmear of Stilton on olive oil cracker and some of the deelish pecans.

From there I mixed and matched my way to feeling very satisfied. Good stuff.

Here’s a bit more on the nuts with a recipe for you below.

These are mmmm good . . . . just the right touches of savory and sweet in my book. Try ‘em - I think you’ll like ‘em, especially if you’re a nut fanatic like I am. You can use a mixture of almonds, walnuts and pecans or just go with one nut - you choose.

A full recipe calls for 4 cups of nuts but, unless we’re having a group over (like essentially never during this pandemic), I usually cut it back to 2 cups. That’s plenty for the two of us to enjoy nibbles over the course of a few days.

NOTE: always start with raw/unsalted nuts. Once you’ve mixed them with the other ingredients you’ll be toasting them in the oven. Even when I’m chopping nuts for cookies or cakes or streusel or whatever, I give them a 10-15 minute 300ºF toasting to bring out the flavor and aroma, then cool and chop.

Heat your oven to 325ºF. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

For 2 cups of raw, unsalted nuts: have your nuts measured and set aside; in a heat proof container or saucepan melt one tablespoon unsalted butter (I do it in a 4 cup Pyrex cup in the microwave); blend in one tablespoon olive oil, one tablespoon brown sugar, one tablespoon dried rosemary (I crush it a bit before adding), 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (once you make them and feel you’d like a bit more, increase to 1 teaspoon the next time), 1/2 teaspoon paprika (I use sweet but if you like smoked, you know what to do), 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander, 1/4 teaspoon cumin and a pinch of cayenne (or more to taste). Stir in the 2 cups of nuts to coat evenly.

Spread out on parchment and bake for 15-20 minutes, stirring a couple of times, until fragrant and browned (if you toast nuts frequently, you just know). Transfer to paper towel to cool. Store covered at room temperature for several days.

Remember that pecans tend to brown more quickly than almonds or walnuts so, if I’m using solely pecans, I pay closer attention and even drop the oven temp a bit. You don’t want those babies to burn, no sirree!

Of course you can ramp up the spices to your own taste, sub in your own favorite spices or herbs and use maple syrup instead of brown sugar. Lots of wiggle room here.

You don’t have to wait for a holiday to enjoy your own version of une planche - you can do it!

To health and safety in 2021. Cheers and warmest wishes to all of you from Steve and myself.

Mid-July update

Seeing Queen Anne’s lace in bloom is a sure sign of summer’s march into August and beyond. Still plenty of time for outdoor enjoyment, fresh air and sunny skies.

As we come to grips with the fact that (whoa!) it’s already mid-July, would any of us have foreseen all that’s happened in the past four months?! No sir.

Lately we’ve had quite a string of hot days, punctuated over this past weekend with pleasant days, cool nights and clear, low humidity skies. Baking is happening in waves, and now seems as good a time as any to share a few of the things I’ve been making in recent months.

Cinnamon oat crunch scones

A number of projects were done with an eye toward becoming blog posts and are currently in their draft phases. I’m working on them bit by bit, often side tracked by various other at-home activities that seem to take precedence. Time has taken on a much different sense, don’t you think?

Some of these goodies go into the freezer for future enjoyment, some are shared with neighbors and family and some go into the occasional pastry order that pops up every now and then.

Chocolate hazelnut swirl brioche loaf

Gateau renversé aux cerises (cherry upside down cake)

Mixed berry mascarpone trifle

Swedish cardamom buns

Baguette

Croissant

Stay tuned! Baguette! Brioche! Swedish buns! Yippee!!

Meanwhile enjoy summer, be kind and helpful. It works.

Spring catch up

We’ve had a cool spring so far but of late the crabapple trees have been giving us quite a show. Above is an example of what I’ve been seeing on my daily walks - a much appreciated and welcome splash of color to brighten our otherwise homebound lives.

Walking is my musing time (according to Merriam Webster, muse can be used as an intransitive verb meaning : to become absorbed in thought, especially : to think about something carefully and thoroughly), a way for me to try and make sense of what’s going on, dreaming of visiting family, traveling long distance or once again being in front of an eager group of pastry students.

Through it all baking continues to be my companion (in addition to Steve of course), whether it’s reading one of my favorite pastry books or physically working in the kitchen enjoying the rhythm of mise en place, preparation or the enjoyment of the final result, no matter if it’s for our larder or to share with others.

Here are just a few things that have come out of the kitchen in recent weeks.

Sesame sticks for personal snacking!

Caramel drizzled cinnamon star for Mother’s Day sharing

Baguette ooh la la - more on this one coming up!

Petite gateaux au citron

Graham crackers for snacking or crushing into crumbs.

The project ideas continue to churn. What next, eh?

Meanwhile be reasonable, stay safe and take care of yourselves and those you love.

Happy Spring!!

Artisan bread class at King Arthur Flour, Day 2

On the second day of class we dove right in, working with the preferments from the day before - all bubbly and ready to go!

The potato bread dough was made using the pâte fermentée and contains chunks of roasted Yukon Golds and russets which had been prepared on Day 1.  This dough was mixed in the KitchenAid . . . .

and subsequently kneaded by hand with what I refer to as the "slap and pull" method of kneading. You have to see it and feel it to really know what it's all about:  the dough is lifted with two hands, given a quarter turn then slapped down on the table, pulled and folded on itself. The process is continued until the dough starts to firm up and hold its shape.  I find the transformation from a sticky, messy blob to a tighter, smoother ball so amazing.

We made a fendu (from the verb fendre, to crack) loaf in which a rolling pin is pushed firmly down across the center of the dough ball, then the ball is turned over into a floured brotform.

After rising, the dough is turned out of the form onto a peel and slid into the hot deck oven. 

Et voila! Ready to slide into the oven.

Out of the oven - oh so brown and lovely!

The ciabatta (made with biga) and baguette (made with poolish) doughs were mixed by hand and subsequently kneaded with the same "slap and pull" technique.  Once again, an amazing transformation occurred!

The ciabatta was rather gently formed into very rough roundish rectangle (or what-have-you) sort of shapes and placed on well floured boards for proofing.

After rising, they're transferred onto the peel, flipping them over so the flour side is up.

In the oven:

And out:

Baguette time! Once the baguette dough was mixed, slapped-pulled and rested, Jessica demonstrated the shaping technique.  We lined up our baguettes on linen couches which allows them to proof without touching and sticking together.

Once risen, the loaves were transferred onto a peel (or in Jessica's case onto the back of a sheet pan)  and scored before baking.

Not bad for a novice!

We aren't finished yet - whew, what a day!! We also shaped the brioche dough we had prepared on day one, creating the classic Nanterre (which, as some of you may recall, I mentioned in my brioche mousseline post).  Here individual boules are lined up in a buttered loaf pan, allowed to rise, egg washed and then baked to golden brown perfection.  We even had enough dough to shape a few burger buns.

Above: before the rise . . . . and below, after.

Brioche is great for savory canapes, french toast, bread pudding or bostock, that delightful imbibed, almond-cream-covered, twice-baked treat (just to name a few).

We're getting there - hang on!

Before we mixed our final baguette dough in the morning, Jessica had divided us up into three groups.  One used all purpose flour, one French flour, and one European flour.  What you see in the picture below are the a-p flour version in the foreground, followed by French then European. You can see that the a-p version achieved the most browning. 

My memory is fuzzy, but I think most of us preferred the flavor and texture of the French flour version. However, there was a lot going on, so I could be strolling down the wrong memory lane.

Jessica sliced into everything so we could appreciate the different textures. We have ciabatta . . . .

then baguette . . . .

then brioche . . . . .

and lastly roasted potato fendu

The differences in crumb and texture are easy to appreciate. We sampled and remarked favorably on all of the tasty options before us - what a treat!

Before we packed it up for the day, we quickly mixed our sourdough starters for the morrow - one liquid levain and one stiff starter - with which we would be creating two different sourdough breads. 

So as we finished up a jam-packed day of bread making and baking, we realized we still had TWO days to go!!  Stay tuned for Day 3.