My icing didn't look very pretty but it was yummy. Wednesday, December 30, 2009
A Sweet Treat for Christmas Morning
I made the cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning. I thought they were relatively easily and very tasty. I did realize that I need to buy a sifter with a hand crank. My hand almost wasn’t able to squeeze my sifter handle enough times to sift four cups of powder sugar. I ended up not using all of the icing so I think next time I will cut the recipe in ½ or maybe ¾ for the icing. And there will be a next time! I think this might be a Christmas tradition and it would be a great treat to serve to visiting families and friends throughout the year.
My icing didn't look very pretty but it was yummy.
My icing didn't look very pretty but it was yummy. 
Friday, December 4, 2009
How to win friends and Influence People
I have never read the book How to Win Friends and Influence People. As a SAHM with 3 kids under the age of 5, I don't think that book is very relevant to me. Besides, I have found the answer and it's called "Rich Man's Brioche."
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving found me in the kitchen with a formula for a dough that asked for 5 eggs and 2 cups (!) of butter. I knew it was going to be good. I wanted these to be the rolls for our Thanksgiving feast and I knew I didn't have the talent or the patience to make them in neat little shapes. Plus, I would be doing it while my family was watching. Too much pressure!! So I decided to roll them into little balls and make them into pull apart rolls.
Next time, I think I will just make the little rolls and keep them spaced apart. The edge rolls were done perfectly, but the inner core (if you will) was a little underdone. However, they were still oh. so. very. good. I think it was Renee that said they tasted like crescent rolls. I would agree, but these were so much better. I am salivating just thinking about them.
I wouldn't make them very often, because, did I mention, they have 2 cups (!) of butter in them. If you are looking to make some friends or at least impress your in laws, this is the way to do it. I think they will be a tradition at our Thanksgiving table. We didn't even need to use the butter I had set out. I was a little nervous about making them because you know those French and their carbs, but I thought the recipe was really easy. Maybe because there wasn't any kneading involved. Apparently Marie Antoinette wasn't kidding when she said "Let them eat brioche!"
Will do Marie, will do.
The Wednesday before Thanksgiving found me in the kitchen with a formula for a dough that asked for 5 eggs and 2 cups (!) of butter. I knew it was going to be good. I wanted these to be the rolls for our Thanksgiving feast and I knew I didn't have the talent or the patience to make them in neat little shapes. Plus, I would be doing it while my family was watching. Too much pressure!! So I decided to roll them into little balls and make them into pull apart rolls.
Next time, I think I will just make the little rolls and keep them spaced apart. The edge rolls were done perfectly, but the inner core (if you will) was a little underdone. However, they were still oh. so. very. good. I think it was Renee that said they tasted like crescent rolls. I would agree, but these were so much better. I am salivating just thinking about them.
I wouldn't make them very often, because, did I mention, they have 2 cups (!) of butter in them. If you are looking to make some friends or at least impress your in laws, this is the way to do it. I think they will be a tradition at our Thanksgiving table. We didn't even need to use the butter I had set out. I was a little nervous about making them because you know those French and their carbs, but I thought the recipe was really easy. Maybe because there wasn't any kneading involved. Apparently Marie Antoinette wasn't kidding when she said "Let them eat brioche!"
Will do Marie, will do.
Bagels, finally.
Well, I made my bagels two weekends ago. I started the process on Friday without much thought. Surely finding high-gluten flour and malt powder would be a piece of cake. Not so much. I spent about 3 hours on the phone calling just about every natural and/or organic food store, grocery store, bakery, and bagel shop in the metro area looking for high gluten flour. No luck! Found out that the bagels stores by me (Einst@ins and P@nera) don't make their bagels from scratch. Rather, they are shipped in frozen and baked in the store. So there was no hitting up "my local bagel shop" for any flour. There were some baking suppliers that sold the flour in 50-100 lb. bags. Yeah, not going to make that many bagels. What to do? I did finally find a store that sold barley syrup and some Vital Wheat Gluten. The gluten was $4.00 for a box, but the barley syrup was $7 for a bottle. I really couldn't justify buying the whole bottle of the syrup for just 1 teaspoon when honey would be a sufficient substitute.
After being mentally and financially o.k. with these substitutions, I made the dough as directed and added 1 teaspoon of gluten for every 1 cup of flour and instead of the malt syrup I used a tablespoon of honey. As I was kneading (by hand) I couldn't get the dough to do the elusive "window pane test," and I did have to add a few drops of water to get it to the right consistency. Not sure if that's from the gluten I put in it or not or just a lack of kneading skillz.
Because we were having 18 people in the house for Thanksgiving, I decided to make 24 of the smaller bagels. I made the bagels by poking a hole in the ball and widening the hole with my thumb. The "float test" was fun. I found it very suspenseful. Would my little bagels I had worked so hard on float or sink directly to the bottom? I held my breath and dropped one bagel slowly into the water and it immediately floated like a pool floatie. I did a little sigh of relief and kinda felt like a proud parent! I put the bagels on a baking sheet with some parchment paper and kept them in the fridge until the next day.
Saturday started with me preheating my oven to 500. Sure enough, the smoke alarm went off three times (thankfully I waited until everyone was up). What is it with us gals and our dirty ovens? (That reminds me I was going to put my oven on "self clean" today). Annnywaayy, I dropped the little bagels into my boiling water and boiled them for about a minute a side.
I made some with sesame seeds and salt, some with some dried minced onion, and some were plain. I forgot to lower the oven to 450 after I rotated them, but oh well. Don't know what the difference that would have made. After baking the plain ones, I brushed some with some melted butter and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on them while they were still hot. Didn't want the sugar to burn in my 3 alarm oven.
I ended up freezing them and setting them out on the counter the night before Thanksgiving to thaw. Thanksgiving morning, we had some yummy bagels to stretch our stomachs until our big meal later on in the day. I thought they were really good and they seemed to please the crowd. Next time I will make more of the cinnamon and sugar ones as those went over well. I will definitely make these again. Maybe by then I will have found me some high gluten flour! Even though the gluten additive and the honey worked really well.
After being mentally and financially o.k. with these substitutions, I made the dough as directed and added 1 teaspoon of gluten for every 1 cup of flour and instead of the malt syrup I used a tablespoon of honey. As I was kneading (by hand) I couldn't get the dough to do the elusive "window pane test," and I did have to add a few drops of water to get it to the right consistency. Not sure if that's from the gluten I put in it or not or just a lack of kneading skillz.
Because we were having 18 people in the house for Thanksgiving, I decided to make 24 of the smaller bagels. I made the bagels by poking a hole in the ball and widening the hole with my thumb. The "float test" was fun. I found it very suspenseful. Would my little bagels I had worked so hard on float or sink directly to the bottom? I held my breath and dropped one bagel slowly into the water and it immediately floated like a pool floatie. I did a little sigh of relief and kinda felt like a proud parent! I put the bagels on a baking sheet with some parchment paper and kept them in the fridge until the next day.
Saturday started with me preheating my oven to 500. Sure enough, the smoke alarm went off three times (thankfully I waited until everyone was up). What is it with us gals and our dirty ovens? (That reminds me I was going to put my oven on "self clean" today). Annnywaayy, I dropped the little bagels into my boiling water and boiled them for about a minute a side.
I made some with sesame seeds and salt, some with some dried minced onion, and some were plain. I forgot to lower the oven to 450 after I rotated them, but oh well. Don't know what the difference that would have made. After baking the plain ones, I brushed some with some melted butter and sprinkled cinnamon and sugar on them while they were still hot. Didn't want the sugar to burn in my 3 alarm oven.
I ended up freezing them and setting them out on the counter the night before Thanksgiving to thaw. Thanksgiving morning, we had some yummy bagels to stretch our stomachs until our big meal later on in the day. I thought they were really good and they seemed to please the crowd. Next time I will make more of the cinnamon and sugar ones as those went over well. I will definitely make these again. Maybe by then I will have found me some high gluten flour! Even though the gluten additive and the honey worked really well.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Thanksgiving Brioche
I made the Middle-Class Brioche for Thanksgiving. I picked the middle-class recipe because of this comment by the author, "It is also easier to handle than the richer version." I still found the mixing part difficult. I don't think I could have mixed in an additional cup of butter with my hands. I was afraid to try it with my Kitchen-Aid.
For dinner, I gave each person their own little brioche. I thought it tasted very similar to a croissant.
After dinner I baked the rest of the dough in a loaf pan. I actually made French toast with this loaf. It was delicious! As it should have been with all that butter in the bread. I thought the French toast was very sweet but of course my kids wanted syrup with it.
I might make this bread again next Thanksgiving. It seems like it should only be a once-a-year indulgence.
For dinner, I gave each person their own little brioche. I thought it tasted very similar to a croissant.
After dinner I baked the rest of the dough in a loaf pan. I actually made French toast with this loaf. It was delicious! As it should have been with all that butter in the bread. I thought the French toast was very sweet but of course my kids wanted syrup with it.
I might make this bread again next Thanksgiving. It seems like it should only be a once-a-year indulgence.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Me Vs. the Dough Wad
I was so proud of myself for completing the recipe before the deadline and then I totally forgot to blog about my bagels.
Further proof I should not be in this club.
For no other reason than pure stubbornness, I insisted on using my fresh ground whole wheat flour for this recipe, because I'm all hippy like that. I did have gluten on hand, so I added in two tablespoons per every four cups of flour. This worked well, I guess, except that I had to add a lot more water to the dough to get it to do up right. And it took me awhile to figure that out.
Plus, I doubled the recipe, which means I was wrestling a good ten pounds of dough.
You can imagine the angst.
I was pretty sure my handy-dandy Electrolux could handle "the toughest dough out there," but when I doubled that recipe, I could swear I heard my mixer wheeze at me, "Really?"
So I yanked the dough wad out and threw it on the table, where I proceeded to push it around for about two minutes. I got frustrated, threw it back in the mixer, and reached for my dough hook. Then we did another round at the table. Finally, I added more water, used the dough hook again, kneaded by hand some more and Voila! We reached the right temperature!
I will never, no, never pass the window pane test. That test is dead to me.
The rolls rose up nicely, they retarded well, etc. I had a hard time getting them to look nice and smooth when we rolled them up into bagels. My friend in culinary school told me it was because I used the whole wheat flour.
And yet I persist in my stubbornness.
We've enjoyed these so much, I forgot to take an "after" shot. So all of my photos are of dough balls, which you've seen before. I'll admit, these aren't very soft bagels. They're delicious, tasted great right out of the oven. But they're sort of a pain to cut in half. Which means I've been making lots of cream cheese dips so I don't have to cut the bagels for the kids.
At least I don't have to knead the cream cheese. My mixer handles that stuff juuuuuust fine.
Further proof I should not be in this club.
For no other reason than pure stubbornness, I insisted on using my fresh ground whole wheat flour for this recipe, because I'm all hippy like that. I did have gluten on hand, so I added in two tablespoons per every four cups of flour. This worked well, I guess, except that I had to add a lot more water to the dough to get it to do up right. And it took me awhile to figure that out.
Plus, I doubled the recipe, which means I was wrestling a good ten pounds of dough.
You can imagine the angst.
I was pretty sure my handy-dandy Electrolux could handle "the toughest dough out there," but when I doubled that recipe, I could swear I heard my mixer wheeze at me, "Really?"
So I yanked the dough wad out and threw it on the table, where I proceeded to push it around for about two minutes. I got frustrated, threw it back in the mixer, and reached for my dough hook. Then we did another round at the table. Finally, I added more water, used the dough hook again, kneaded by hand some more and Voila! We reached the right temperature!
I will never, no, never pass the window pane test. That test is dead to me.
The rolls rose up nicely, they retarded well, etc. I had a hard time getting them to look nice and smooth when we rolled them up into bagels. My friend in culinary school told me it was because I used the whole wheat flour.
And yet I persist in my stubbornness.
We've enjoyed these so much, I forgot to take an "after" shot. So all of my photos are of dough balls, which you've seen before. I'll admit, these aren't very soft bagels. They're delicious, tasted great right out of the oven. But they're sort of a pain to cut in half. Which means I've been making lots of cream cheese dips so I don't have to cut the bagels for the kids.
At least I don't have to knead the cream cheese. My mixer handles that stuff juuuuuust fine.
Alarming Bagels
I saved this recipe to enjoy on a weekend we the entire family was at home. This month has been quite busy so it went past the 15th. On Thursday I went to my local bagel store (CB for you locals) and asked if it was possible if I could buy some of their high gluten flour from them. I explained what I was doing and the owner was very excited of my upcoming journey and sold me 7 cups of flour for only $2.00! Sweet! My son is on a gluten free/casein free diet and as guilty as I feel twice a month baking these lovely formulas, I couldn't bear to purchase a flour called high gluten. (silly I know) I was also able to enjoy some malt powder from a fellow half-baked beauty - thank you friend! So on Friday I made my sponge and completed steps 1-8. Renee was right - much harder to knead. I decided to talk on the phone for those 10 minutes instead of staring at the clock. It went a little faster.
So the next morning, my sweet boy who is my early morning partner and I were downstairs before the rest of the family. I planned to surprise them all and have the bagels ready for when they woke up. I had forgotten that I was going to make some chocolate chip bagels, and I guess they should have been mixed into the dough at step 3? similar to the raisin instructions. So I improvised and stuck them in there right before boiling.
The boiling process was quite fun. I completed it for a minute on each side but next time I might go for 90 seconds to have a little more chewiness.
So the next morning, my sweet boy who is my early morning partner and I were downstairs before the rest of the family. I planned to surprise them all and have the bagels ready for when they woke up. I had forgotten that I was going to make some chocolate chip bagels, and I guess they should have been mixed into the dough at step 3? similar to the raisin instructions. So I improvised and stuck them in there right before boiling.
The boiling process was quite fun. I completed it for a minute on each side but next time I might go for 90 seconds to have a little more chewiness.
I had pre-heated the oven at 500 and these beauties were in the oven for about 3 minutes and then....the fire alarm went off. (There must have been something on the bottom of my oven to cause a little smoke for our over-active alarm) So much for my great plan of surprising everyone - SURPRISE! at 6:50AM. But after they wiped the sleepies from eyes and realized hot bagels were in there future, everyone was happy. We had sesame seeds, chocolate chip and cinnamon sugar for our toppings. Hubby said it smelled like a real NY bagel shop and everyone (except my little gluten free guy - he got a Trader Joe's GFCF english muffin) enjoyed these lovely beauties! Definitely we'll be making these again!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Break Bread and Give Thanks
I delayed on our next bread because I noticed a few less posts with the bagels so I thought I would give you all a chance to catch up. I am tardy on my bagel post but only because my hubby was out of town and I thought it would be fun to have fresh bagels this Saturday morning together....more on that soon.
But moving on...to Brioche and his relatives. At your Thanksgiving table will you have Uncle Rich Man Brioche and his fancy 2 cups of butter, Cousin Middle-Class Brioche with his average 1 cup of butter, Grandma Poor-Man Brioche with her simple 1/2 cup of butter or Casatiello the In-law with his meat and cheese? I can't wait to read about who is at your table, however this is only after you do your Black Friday shopping!
I had a proposal to throw out to the group. You can let me know your thoughts in the comment section or e-mail me directly. For the month of December, instead of adding to our busy schedules, what if we only make one bread but you can choose from three holiday formulas. We'll have to jump ahead a bit, but these three formulas make the most sense for Christmas. The first will be Cinnamon Buns on page 143. The second is Panettone on page 202 and then finally Stollen on page 252. Depending on your families preferences and your availability, you can make one, two or all three. Panettone and Stollen make great Christmas gifts for neighbors! So let me know what you all think and if everyone is on board then we'll return to our regular scheduled program in January with some delicious Challah!
But moving on...to Brioche and his relatives. At your Thanksgiving table will you have Uncle Rich Man Brioche and his fancy 2 cups of butter, Cousin Middle-Class Brioche with his average 1 cup of butter, Grandma Poor-Man Brioche with her simple 1/2 cup of butter or Casatiello the In-law with his meat and cheese? I can't wait to read about who is at your table, however this is only after you do your Black Friday shopping!
I had a proposal to throw out to the group. You can let me know your thoughts in the comment section or e-mail me directly. For the month of December, instead of adding to our busy schedules, what if we only make one bread but you can choose from three holiday formulas. We'll have to jump ahead a bit, but these three formulas make the most sense for Christmas. The first will be Cinnamon Buns on page 143. The second is Panettone on page 202 and then finally Stollen on page 252. Depending on your families preferences and your availability, you can make one, two or all three. Panettone and Stollen make great Christmas gifts for neighbors! So let me know what you all think and if everyone is on board then we'll return to our regular scheduled program in January with some delicious Challah!
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