The Always Beginner Baker

2011-10-10T20:05:00.000-07:00

Is it me, or are things less...available these days? I am struggling lately with financial depletion, desire to travel, yearning for more reading material, just general ennui due to the fact that all I love to do costs so very much money. Of course, I buy used, shop at Amazon, and eat cheap, but unfortunately day-to-day life is a money grubbing she-monster. Oh, did I forget my music obsession? And have you heard the Muppets Green Album? Excellent!

Tonight I attempted a neat little recipe for a cross between biscuits and yeast rolls. Aside for completely forgetting the salt, they turned out surprisingly well. I'll definitely try them again, with salt, and hope to add them to my repertoire.

After finishing my much delayed biscuit/rolls, I watched Supernatural and thought about traveling. I haven't ever gone so long without leaving Las Cruces. Boo.

Pies, Pies, Pies

2011-01-25T17:41:00.000-08:00

A quick note about my newest adventures: pies! I grew up begging for my grandmother's lemon icebox pie, as well as my great-grandmother's chocolate pie, and now they're both gone. Without my Nanny to show me a proper chocolate pie-making method, I'm a bit lost as I try to get the flavor that she seemed to expertly deliver each time she made it. Except for one time: my appetite as a kid led me to eat three or more slices right after she baked it, but this one time I could barely finish oneslice. She realized, about an hour later, that she had added an entire extra cup of sugar to the filling! I was bouncing off the walls...

Fortunately, Grammy's lemon icebox pie was super simple, and I prepare it at every family gathering. This past week, I decided to try a real pie and piecrust. And....success!!!! The apple-blueberry pie with a homemade crust came out firm, sweet, tart, juicy, and with a tender flaky crust. I have moved onto finding a great chocolate pie recipe and am trying an egg custard pie tonight. Wish me luck!

I Have Been Remiss

2010-10-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

I have been terribly negligent in attending to my site, and for this I apologize. Life has been occupying much of my time, although there has been little of consequence to note. One observation that I have made during this time is that I am not a fan of cooking and baking during the summertime. My stove (have I mentioned Stella? She's a beauty of 1960s sturdiness) warms the house a bunch; in fact, I think Stella may have nuclear capabilities. Also, as I have been completing my master's program, I have found myself increasingly resorting to comfort food. Unfortunately, my version of comfort food is processed and quick to obtain. The page turns now.

I plan to document my cooking adventures as I originally planned to when I created this blog. However, I will decrease the pressure that I place on myself by simply discussing what is on my mind, rather than coming up with a theme or plate each time. Sometimes I'll want to discuss stress, or perhaps family, or both! In any case, I hope anyone who reads this will enjoy my little slice of the world that I live in. Have a great evening, friends!

Daring Baker's Challenge: Traditional British Pudding

2010-05-02T12:20:00.000-07:00

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

This month's challenge was, sadly, back-burnered quite a bit this time by work and life. However, after a potentially devastating one-two punch of a Higher Ed law final exam and a final report (one completed on a Friday, the second on Saturday), I channeled my inner Julia to attempt this dish on Sunday. The pictures prove that I ended up channeling much more Julie than Julia, but it was a fun challenge to complete. I had never attempted something so foreign to me, and that is what I truly appreciate about the Daring Baker's Challenge. Admittedly, it ended up being a bit of a bust; I accidentally forgot to use the right kind of flour, and was a terribly impatient steamer. Nonetheless, Steven tried it (what a great sport!), and even said that it tasted good.

I tried the Sussex Pond Pudding, and the lemony buttery flavor worked well with the crust. Because neither Steven nor I preferred the steamed final product, I baked it in a 350 degree oven for a while to firm up the crust. Here is the recipe if you'd like to try your own version:

Pudding Crust for both Savoury Pudding or Sweet Pudding (using suet or a suet substitute):

Ingredients

(250 grams/12 ounces) Self-raising flour (Note* If you cannot find self-raising flour, use a combination of all-purpose flour and baking powder.)
(175 grams/6 ounces) Shredded suet or suet substitute (i.e., Vegetable Suet, Crisco, Lard)
(a pinch) Salt and pepper (Note* If making a savory dish, can be replaced with spices for sweet if wished.)
(210 millilitres/a little less than a cup) Water (Note* You can use a milk or a water and milk mix for a richer pastry.)

1. Mix the flour and suet together.
2. Season the flour and suet mixture with salt and pepper if savory and just a bit of salt and/or spices if sweet.
3. Add the water, a tablespoonful at a time, as you mix the ingredients together. Make up the pastry to firm an elastic dough that leaves the bowl clean. The liquid amounts are only an estimate and most recipes just say water to mix.

4. Don’t over handle the pastry or it will be too hard.

5. Reserve a quarter for the lid and roll out the rest and line a well-greased bowl.
6. At this point add your filling.. a couple of options are give below but have fun and go wild!
7. Roll the final piece of pastry out into a circle big enough to cover the top of the basin, dampen the edges and put in position on the pudding, pinching the edges together to seal.
8. Seal well and cover with a double sheet of foil – pleated in the centre to allow room for expansion while cooking. Secure with string, and place it in a steamer over boiling water.
9. Steam for up to 5 hours, you may need to add more boiling water halfway through or possibly more often. There is a lot of leeway in this steaming time and different recipes give different steaming times. Delia Smith says 5 hours for Steak and kidney where as Mrs Beeton says 2.5 for a similar dish! One way to tell that it is cooked is when the pastry changes colour and goes from white to a sort of light golden brown. It is also hard to over steam a pudding so you can leave it bubbling away until you are ready.

weet Pudding Options: Sussex Pond Pudding

1 amount of suet pastry (see recipe above)
(120 grams/4.2 ounces) Demerara Sugar
(120 grams/4.2 ounces) unsalted butter
1 large lemon

1. Cut the butter into small pieces and put half in the basin with half the sugar.
2. Prick the whole lemon (preferably one with a thin skin) all over, using a thick skewer.
3. Place on top of the butter and sugar in the basin.
4. Cover with the rest of the butter and sugar.
5. Finish building the pudding as per the pastry recipe.
6. Steam for 3 ½ hours, or longer (for a really tender lemon), adding more water if needed.
7. To serve, turn the pudding into a dish with a deep rim, when you slice into it the rich lemon sauce will gush out.
8. Make sure each person is served some of the suet crust, lemon and tangy luscious sauce.

DBC February Challenge: Delicious (and Never to be Made Again) Tiramisu

2010-02-16T13:11:00.000-08:00

BLOG-CHECKING LINES: The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

While I absolutely loved the outcome of this delicacy, I feel I must say this first: I will never prepare this dish (in this way) again! I'm not sure that I'll ever create marscapone or lady fingers, and it is sadly not worth the three (which became a five) day effort. I also failed to photographically document the process, but have a pic of the finished product (I got distracted!).

With that stated, YUM! It was a very special treat, and I feel like I really learned something.

You can find the recipes for the tiramisu components here: http://thedaringkitchen.com/forums/daring-bakers-challenges/daring-baker-challenge-february-2010-heaven-dessert-plate. It's a very long recipe, and you should make sure that you have plenty of time over the course of several days to complete it. As a baker/cook who also does not typically prepare such intricate dishes, I found that I had to compartmentalize the pieces of the recipe so as not to feel overwhelmed. I actually was pleasantly pleased that it was not terribly difficult, just time-consuming.

My first goal was the marscapone. I've never prepared my own cheese, which may be why I failed when making it the first time. Oh, well. Steven got to use the failed product in an Asian ramen experiment for his dinner, and he loved it-it added a great smooth creaminess to the noodle soup! So...I began the marscapone on Saturday, then forgot to make the zabaglione. Oops! Fortunately, the marscapone could wait, and I prepared both the zabaglione and the pastry cream on Monday, but then discovered that the marscapone hadn't cooked properly. Half of it was in the cheesecloth, the other half (whey) was separated and smooth. It should not have been so equally split, so I determined that I'd need to do it again Tuesday. Sadly, the week took a bit out of me, and I skipped Tuesday in lieu of Steven's French onion soup (a dish which deserves its own posting. It was awesome). Wednesday! Finally, I worked and worked, and managed to properly cook the marscapone. Woohoo! I couldn't believe how good I felt...

FYI-the picture to the right is how mascarpone should NOT look. Notice how there is barely any texture staying within the cheesecloth. Ugh.

Thursday was also a busy work day, but I powered through and baked the lady fingers. I liked this process, but the end product was eggier than I prefer. However, they were crispy, light, and not too sweet. And with that (and a batch of whipped cream), I put together the tiramisu. Unfortunately, we had to wait ANOTHER day to try it, as it needed to set overnight.

The tiramisu is light, creamy, and more lemony than any I've had before. Admittedly, I'll likely never create it again (as neither Steven nor I are huge tiramisu fans); nonetheless, it was a great, long, fun, frustrating, fulfilling process.

Oh, and it was my first Daring Baker's Challenge!

RECIPE SOURCE:
Mascarpone Cheese – Vera’s Recipe (Baking Obsession) for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese. Savoiardi/ Ladyfinger Biscuits – Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home Tiramisu – Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007

Here is the recipe (as posted by The Daring Kitchen):

TIRAMISU
(Recipe source: Carminantonio's Tiramisu from The Washington Post, July 11 2007 ) This recipe makes 6 servings

Ingredients:

For the zabaglione:

2 large egg yolks 3 tablespoons sugar/50gms 1/4 cup/60ml Marsala wine (or port or coffee) 1/4 teaspoon/ 1.25ml vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

For the vanilla pastry cream:

1/4 cup/55gms sugar 1 tablespoon/8gms all purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest 1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract 1 large egg yolk 3/4 cup/175ml whole milk

For the whipped cream:

1 cup/235ml chilled heavy cream (we used 25%) 1/4 cup/55gms sugar 1/2 teaspoon/ 2.5ml vanilla extract

To assemble the tiramisu:

2 cups/470ml brewed espresso, warmed 1 teaspoon/5ml rum extract (optional) 1/2 cup/110gms sugar 1/3 cup/75gms mascarpone cheese 36 savoiardi/ ladyfinger biscuits (you may use less) 2 tablespoons/30gms unsweetened cocoa powder

Method:For the zabaglione: Heat water in a double boiler. If you don’t have a double boiler, place a pot with about an inch of water in it on the stove. Place a heat-proof bowl in the pot making sure the bottom does not touch the water.In a large mixing bowl (or stainless steel mixing bowl), mix together the egg yolks, sugar, the Marsala (or espresso/ coffee), vanilla extract and lemon zest. Whisk together until the yolks are fully blended and the mixture looks smooth.Transfer the mixture to the top of a double boiler or place your bowl over the pan/ pot with simmering water. Cook the egg mixture over low heat, stirring constantly, for about 8 minutes or until it resembles thick custard. It may bubble a bit as it reaches that consistency.Let cool to room temperature and transfer the zabaglione to a bowl. Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.
For the pastry cream: Mix together the sugar, flour, lemon zest and vanilla extract in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. To this add the egg yolk and half the milk. Whisk until smooth.Now place the saucepan over low heat and cook, stirring constantly to prevent the mixture from curdling.Add the remaining milk a little at a time, still stirring constantly. After about 12 minutes the mixture will be thick, free of lumps and beginning to bubble. (If you have a few lumps, don’t worry. You can push the cream through a fine-mesh strainer.)Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and cool to room temperature. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight, until thoroughly chilled.

For the whipped cream:Combine the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat with an electric hand mixer or immersion blender until the mixture holds stiff peaks. Set aside.
To assemble the tiramisu: Have ready a rectangular serving dish (about 8" by 8" should do) or one of your choice.Mix together the warm espresso, rum extract and sugar in a shallow dish, whisking to mix well. Set aside to cool.In a large bowl, beat the mascarpone cheese with a spoon to break down the lumps and make it smooth. This will make it easier to fold. Add the prepared and chilled zabaglione and pastry cream, blending until just combined. Gently fold in the whipped cream. Set this cream mixture aside.

Now to start assembling the tiramisu.Workings quickly, dip 12 of the ladyfingers in the sweetened espresso, about 1 second per side. They should be moist but not soggy. Immediately transfer each ladyfinger to the platter, placing them side by side in a single row. You may break a lady finger into two, if necessary, to ensure the base of your dish is completely covered.Spoon one-third of the cream mixture on top of the ladyfingers, then use a rubber spatula or spreading knife to cover the top evenly, all the way to the edges.Repeat to create 2 more layers, using 12 ladyfingers and the cream mixture for each layer. Clean any spilled cream mixture; cover carefully with plastic wrap and refrigerate the tiramisu overnight.To serve, carefully remove the plastic wrap and sprinkle the tiramisu with cocoa powder using a fine-mesh strainer or decorate as you please. Cut into individual portions and serve.

MASCARPONE CHEESE (Source: Vera’s Recipe for Homemade Mascarpone Cheese) This recipe makes 12oz/ 340gm of mascarpone cheese

Ingredients:

474ml (approx. 500ml)/ 2 cups whipping (36 %) pasteurized (not ultra-pasteurized), preferably organic cream (between 25% to 36% cream will do) 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Bring 1 inch of water to a boil in a wide skillet. Reduce the heat to medium-low so the water is barely simmering. Pour the cream into a medium heat-resistant bowl, then place the bowl into the skillet. Heat the cream, stirring often, to 190 F. If you do not have a thermometer, wait until small bubbles keep trying to push up to the surface.It will take about 15 minutes of delicate heating. Add the lemon juice and continue heating the mixture, stirring gently, until the cream curdles. Do not expect the same action as you see during ricotta cheese making. All that the whipping cream will do is become thicker, like a well-done crème anglaise. It will cover a back of your wooden spoon thickly. You will see just a few clear whey streaks when you stir. Remove the bowl from the water and let cool for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, line a sieve with four layers of dampened cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Transfer the mixture into the lined sieve. Do not squeeze the cheese in the cheesecloth or press on its surface (be patient, it will firm up after refrigeration time). Once cooled completely, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate (in the sieve) overnight or up to 24 hours.

Vera’s notes: The first time I made mascarpone I had all doubts if it’d been cooked enough, because of its custard-like texture. Have no fear, it will firm up beautifully in the fridge, and will yet remain lusciously creamy.Keep refrigerated and use within 3 to 4 days.

LADYFINGERS/ SAVOIARDI BISCUITS (Source: Recipe from Cordon Bleu At Home) This recipe makes approximately 24 big ladyfingers or 45 small (2 1/2" to 3" long) ladyfingers.

Ingredients:

3 eggs, separated 6 tablespoons /75gms granulated sugar 3/4 cup/95gms cake flour, sifted (or 3/4 cup all purpose flour + 2 tbsp corn starch) 6 tablespoons /50gms confectioner's sugar

Preheat your oven to 350 F (175 C) degrees, then lightly brush 2 baking sheets with oil or softened butter and line with parchment paper.Beat the egg whites using a hand held electric mixer until stiff peaks form. Gradually add granulate sugar and continue beating until the egg whites become stiff again, glossy and smooth.In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks lightly with a fork and fold them into the meringue, using a wooden spoon. Sift the flour over this mixture and fold gently until just mixed. It is important to fold very gently and not overdo the folding. Otherwise the batter would deflate and lose volume resulting in ladyfingers which are flat and not spongy.Fit a pastry bag with a plain tip (or just snip the end off; you could also use a Ziploc bag) and fill with the batter. Pipe the batter into 5" long and 3/4" wide strips leaving about 1" space in between the strips.Sprinkle half the confectioner's sugar over the ladyfingers and wait for 5 minutes. The sugar will pearl or look wet and glisten. Now sprinkle the remaining sugar. This helps to give the ladyfingers their characteristic crispness.Hold the parchment paper in place with your thumb and lift one side of the baking sheet and gently tap it on the work surface to remove excess sprinkled sugar.Bake the ladyfingers for 10 minutes, then rotate the sheets and bake for another 5 minutes or so until the puff up, turn lightly golden brown and are still soft.Allow them to cool slightly on the sheets for about 5 minutes and then remove the ladyfingers from the baking sheet with a metal spatula while still hot, and cool on a rack.Store them in an airtight container till required. They should keep for 2 to 3 weeks.

My First Loaf of Sandwich Bread

2010-02-16T13:06:00.000-08:00

Let me first preface this with: I forgot to take pictures of my success! Argh! No worries; I waited so long to write about this that I was able to photograph the subsequent loaves. I thought I'd write about my sandwich bread success. I had been considering this recipe ever since I saw it on the King Arthur Flour blog, and I continued to salivate at the pictures until I finally made it myself. I highly recommend you look at it-I relied heavily on the pictures, because the act of baking is still new and foreign to me. In fact, I'm almost a Youtube video in its ineptitude. I turn the kitchen upside down and cover it with flour before the time that I'm done! Anyway...

This bread is considered to be the best that can be found, according to bakers at King Arthur Flour. Because of this (huge!) compliment, I decided it needed to be my next goal. As you can see by the accompanying photos, the bread really puts on a show!

I discovered that the recipe calls for much less water than I needed, which is why the top of this risen loaf shows so many cracks. It didn't affect the completed bread, but is much prettier when there is a smooth top crust. I also (as I always do) added a bit more salt than was called for, and I used kosher salt.

I now understand why cooks and bakers go on so about their kitchen equipment. My second-hand Kitchenaid stand mixer has not only provided me the opportunity to manage big recipes, it has given me more confidence and bravery! This recipe also warns that it may work the mixer too much, but it's worth the gamble!

I highly recommend this sandwich bread. It's sturdy, but very light. If you take a look at the King Arthur Flour blog, you'll see that you can cut the bread so thinly that light shines through it. It's also got a bit of sweetness to it. I toast mine with butter and honey; however, I once made a quick batch of garlic bread to go with pasta from this sandwich bread, and it tasted great!

You can find the recipe, as well as a great set of photos and recommendations, here:

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/blog/2010/01/28/sandwich-bread-fit-for-the-king/#more-15212

Happy baking!

Biscuits with Chocolate Gravy Yumminess

2010-01-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

Success! I had a goal of baking something completely new to me this weekend, and opted for biscuits. I know that this sounds very humdrum and unimaginative, but this was only the second time that I attempted these easy-sounding but surprisingly difficult delights. As a girl with Southern roots, I know that I need to delve into my past and master such things as pie crust (to come in the future), biscuits, and chocolate pie (to go in the pie crust!). So...here are my beautiful, simple, delicious biscuits.

Recipe for Biscuits

2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

2 tablespoons baking powder

2 teaspoons sugar

2 teaspoons salt

5 tablespoons cold butter (I prefer salted), diced

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Sift flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl. Cut butter into the dry ingredients using a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture looks like cornmeal (or like it looks in the picture above). Add the milk, and stir until the dough just comes together to form a ball.

Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface. Gently pat the dough down by hand and fold it over onto itself. Do the same thing once or twice more, then loosely cover the dough with a clean kitchen towel and let it rest for about half an hour.

Roll out the dough until it is 3/4 to 1 inch thick, but be sure not to overwork it. Cut the dough with your preference of biscuit cutter (I used a New Orleans souvenir juice glass), then place the biscuits onto a greased cookie sheet and bake about 10-14 minutes.

(adapted from John Besh's My New Orleans: The Cookbook)

As you can see, the dough in a post-resting state is not much to look at.

Above, my pre-baking biscuits and their sad leftover cousins wait for the oven next to my New Orleans glass.

As you can see, these rose wonderfully and were very tender. I paired them with options of butter, sliced cheese, and the previously mentioned chocolate gravy. I found this recipe in Saveur magazine, and it was both easy and delicious!

Chocolate Gravy

8 tablespoons butter (I used salted)

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup flour

2 cups milk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Melt butter in a saucepan. While butter is melting, whisk together the dry ingredients and add to the melted butter, whisking the mixture continuously. Slowly add the milk, still whisking, until smooth. Let the mixture simmer until thick, then whisk in the vanilla.

(adapted from Saveur, issue #126)

My Very First Blog!

2010-01-22T08:03:00.000-08:00

Good morning! This is my very first attempt at documenting my adventures in baking and cookery. More to follow...