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bread rising

Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007

I’m working on my first whole-wheat sandwich loaf right now. I decided to give the recipe on the side of the bag a try since it was accessible and simple looking. I was a bit shocked that this one recipe (doubled to make two loaves) took almost half the bag of flour – wow. If I keep this up, we’ll be needing some serious flour containers and purchases to make sure we always have some on hand. This is supposed to be our sandwich bread for the week, hence two loaves because I know we’ll end up gobbling up the first one for snacks.

In other bread baking news, I made some yummy Buttermilk dinner rolls from the Bread Bible Book. They were super fantastic and yummy, though Alex and Chris both commented about them having a slightly funny taste — maybe it was the homemade buttermilk (milk and vinegar) I used. Warm from the oven, they didn’t even need butter – but butter made them oh so yummy. They lasted for a couple days (just as good as the first day); the recipe called for 16 rolls that we’re actually much larger than they needed to be. Next time, I’ll opt for slightly smaller rolls.

A few days before that I made a recipe from The Bread Bakers Apprentice and shaped the loaves into rolls (Chris wants to know what’s up with this roll obsession) and they were very crusty and good. However, they would have been much better as larger loaves because of the crustiness. I think I ended up making about 16 rolls, but they ended up being way too dense after a day or two (they were more like french bread). I think Alex still ate them anyways, but next time I’ll make them into loaves. This bread called for a pre-ferment dough (basically a partially made dough that you let rise overnight) and the my first attempt was too wet, judging by appearances, so I made a second batch that worked perfectly. I just threw the first attempt away, it’d been resting away in the fridge for over a week now and didn’t seem worth testing out in a loaf.

Over obsessing as always, I jumped into this bread thing over my head. I read some awesome books: The Bread Makers Apprentice, Crust and Crumb, and a bok on multi-grain breads by the same author. These books really take bread making to a new, and time consuming, level. Striving for perfection, I wanted to start there and keep going. However, after my first recipe attempt and all the hoop jumping to make a truly excellent bread — I’ve decided to go back to simpler processes and recipes. I’ll retain the weights versus measures for scooping flour, but no more of this steam bath and spraying the oven walls with water to get the perfect crust. I’m sure I’ll be able to manage excellent bread without all that hoopla (and judging by the awesome buttermilk rolls, I know it doesn’t have to be so complicated).

I’m gonna try a sour dough bread next – I had french toast made with sourdough that was oh so yummy and want to see if I can make it at home. I also want to work on some multi-grain breads, but will wait and see how the whole-wheat loaf bread turns out. It doesn’t make much sense to spend all this time making bread if I’m just going to be turning out nutrition-lacking white breads.

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Deep-Dish Apple Pie

Thursday, February 23rd, 2006

While downloading some pictures off of my camera, I found some of an apple pie I made some time last year. I guess it is about time to write it up.

I used the “The Problem with Deep-Dish Apple Pie” from [Cooks Illustrated]’s September & October 2005 issue. Like all Cooks Illustrated articles, this one addresses many of the problems with a standard recipe as they test many ways to resolve them and to get the perfect* taste. The first thing I have to say about this recipie is that it takes a long time from start to finish. And, while I enjoy cooking and really enjoy good [food], I do have a limit to the time and energy that I will put into one dish — this recipe hit both of those limits by the time it was done.

First thing first, you must make the pie crusts. I know why I see so many shows and recipes talking about how simple a pie crust is; because, no matter how many times I try and how closely I follow directions, it never seems to work out right. Now, my crust did turn out nice in the end, but the time that it took to mix and mold and rest and roll and rest just took too long. Yes, it was far superior to what a store bought crust would have done, but I still find their connivence worth the reduced results. The image above shows off the beauty of the crust and I am impressed that it turned out so well; however, I don’t think I’ll bother to make the crust next time.

For the filling, you must pick the right apples, the right combination of apples. You need to balance sweet (golden delicious, braeburn, jonagold) with tart (granny smith, empire, cortland) apples. I think that I went with granny smith and golden delicious for my pie. So, you get 5 pounds of apples and start peeling and slicing. Luckily, I have an apple peeler, slicer, corer which made this task possible. Without it I would have given up before I even started. You actually cook the apples on the stove top before you fill the pie. In this step, you add minimal ingredients to the apples, cook, and then cool on a baking sheet. The seasoning on the apples is limited because the goal is to have a strong apple taste, not a sugary or overly spiced filling.

You then add the filling to the prepared crust, top it off with another crust, cut a few slits in the top, and brush on some egg white and sugar. It came out wonderfully. The crust was perfect and the slice shows that the apples retained just enough body and that there was no gap between the filling and crust (the double cooking of the apples was done to prevent this). Yes, it did taste quite wonderful, especially with a scoop of my favorite ice cream on top. However, I will not make this recipe again. I love apple pie and this certainly stood up to my standards on taste, but the effort involved was too much. Instead, I know a farmers market that makes wonderful deep-dish apple pies for much less effort on my part. That has the benefit of supporting local farmers and freeing up my time for other things.

* perfect is relative

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dinner party

Thursday, August 4th, 2005

first: my camera batteries died just as I went to take pictures. since we’d already waited a bit too long before sitting down to eat the pasta, I just gave up on visual documentation.

Last nights menu: Caesar Salad, Fettucini Alfredo, Chicken with 40 Cloves, French Bread, and Elephant Ears and Creme de Luche ice cream.

The Caesar salad was simple enough, making the dressing with lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, salt, pepper, garlic, anchovies, and olive oil. It made a very thin sauce and I wasn’t too pleased with that. I think I should stir some of the parmesan cheese into it next time to thicken it up, perhaps. But overall, it was good and simple tasting.

The Fettucini Alfredo came from the latest [Cook's Illustrated] magazine and was far simpler than I imagined it to be. This dish is often the cause for me to go out and eat, wanting something I felt I couldn’t make at home. It came together quickly and easily, but I wish the writers would be a little more liberal with their numbered steps instead of cramming so many things into one. It made it hard to follow the quick paced ending when I had to keep searching through same paragraph to figure out where I left out. I guess learning to memorize a recipe would be a better solution, but I end up double guessing myself too often. But, as for the dish, it was acceptable, far better than I’ve had at many places. Yet, still too thin for my taste and too sweet. I like heavy, creamy sauce and I think i can tweak this recipe make it the way that I like, as long as I leave out the nutmeg.

The Chicken with 40 Cloves didn’t follow one recipe, i pieced a few together to fit what I felt it should be. It was quite good and I made way too much chicken. The garlic cloves needed to be a bit fresher. I think some were beginning to green on the inside and left the cloves a little tart/bitter when spread on bread. Still, quite good and the best part of the meal.

The Elephant Ears are not what I typically call elephant eats. There were flakey sugary cookies that went perfectly with the ice cream. Super simple to make; throw down 1/2 cup sugar, lay on a sheet of puff pastry, cover it with another 1/2 cup sugar, and roll it out to a 12-inch square. Then fold it up to make it the shape that will bake into curly looking hearts. Make slices and bake until the sugar caramelizes and they’re browned. I’ve seen these cookies at chinese buffets, so I’m not sure why the author of the recipe called them Elephant Ears, other than they could look like them in tiny elephant ears, perhaps.

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flavor combinations

Saturday, July 30th, 2005

I have been working out in the kitchen lately and I am finally remembering to track my progress with the camera and a post. This was the first meal I seriously considered and planned the entire menu. I wanted all of the flavors to play well together and learned that I need to work on this concept. I was trying to keep everything fairly light and summer-y. Upon initial consideration, each dish sounded like it would work well to suit my wish and balance the meal as a whole. I missed out on a few key ingredients in the cucumber salad and it threw the balance off. However, it was still a great meal.

The menu:
Chilled Peach Soup
Cucumber Salad
Parmesan Twists
Roasted Salmon with Tomato/Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

The meal took all afternoon to make, mostly because the majority of it either needed to be made ahead of time to chill or because it could be made ahead and I prefer to have no more than 2-3 dishes needing attention at a time.

The Chilled Peach Soup was my main focus of the meal. I planned everything around this dish because it sounded so tasty. Sadly, I waited until the end stages of prep to take pictures. You start with four (4) pounds of peaches, pitted and chopped, simmered in several cups of white whine, honey, and lemon juice for half an hour. Then begins the tedious task of getting it pureed enough to make it through a sieve. I tried both the food processor and the blender to process the soup; the blender worked the best (a surprise to me since I typically feel my food processor can do everything superior to the blender). I need a better sieve, one designed for tasks like this versus the one used almost more for sifting purposes. The soup turned out rather “savory”, as Chris put it. It was sweeter than I expected it to be and more suited for an after course than a soup course. Not quite dessert, but close enough that there is no need for dessert later.

The cucumber salad took a while to make but was extremely simple. Peel, seed, and slice the cucumbers. Salt and rest in a sieve under a bag of ice water for an hour to remove excess moisture. I didn’t read the recipie close enough when selecting this dish, otherwise I would have realized that the rice vinegar and the toasted seasame oil seasonings would be very overpowering for the whole meal. The smell of the toasted sesame oil was rather pungent throughout the kitchen for the rest of the afternoon, something I found to be quite annoying and put me off from wanting to eat much of the dish. It tasted okay, but I doubt that I will make it again or that the leftovers disappear any time soon.

The Cheese Twists were simple and tasty. It used puff pastry dought, brushed with an egg wash and sprinkled with grated gruyere and parmesan, chopped thyme, and salt and pepper. Cut into long strips, twist, and bake for about 15 minutes. Simple and quite tasty. Do not store leftovers in a plastic bag, it steals away their crispyness that makes them so addictive.

The seasoning for the roasted salmon took a while to make. It had at least 10 spice ingredients that needed ground into a powder. I started with the mortar and pestle, but switched to the mini-processor to get the task done faster. There were still things that needed an initial grinding before adding to the processor, but I couldn’t imagine actually grinding all of it by hand. It made a lot of seasoning and had I been smart I would have saved part of it instead of using the entire batch to dredge the salmon in. It was hard to throw out the leftovers after spending so much time making it. The seasonings worked well with the salmon, which was roasted skin up in a hot oven. This allowed the juices to mix with the spices and turned it into a textured glaze instead of a dry seasoning. It was quite yummy.

The Tomato/Red Pepper Sauce didn’t make it into any photos other than the final one. (The final dinner picture happened only because Chris had the sense to remind me that I would probably want a picture; by that late in the day and the process, I just wanted to sit down and eat.) It was supposed to be made from fresh tomatoes , skinned, seeded, and chopped, but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it at the end of the day–canned tomatoes to the rescue. I added roasted red peppers to the recipe, something that turned against me in the overall menu. The tomatoes and peppers are cooked in oil until reduced and then a wine, cream, and shallot reduction is added along with thyme and seasonings. Then add a stick of butter and viola, a delicious sauce full of red pepper flavor. In the menu, it overwhelmed the overall flavors and didn’t match well with the cucumber salad. Also, the salmon only needed a small amount of sauce and it probably would have worked out much better if I had left out the red peppers altogether. But I find them to be quite yummy and am looking forward to the dish I make with the leftovers.

The dinner went well and it was very enjoyable, despite my inability to match flavors better. I have company coming next week and we shall have at least one dinner next week to the same calibration. This being my first attempt to make such a complex meal, even with most dishes having simple recipes, and I must say that I did a great job.

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