Better May than Never: Hot Crossed Buns

I made these for Easter, there are some in the freezer that I will one day turn into a bread and butter pudding-- but between everyday healthy cooking, Daring Baking, a social life, and my dissertation, I doubt that will be anytime soon (if ever)!



I adapted the recipe, like many recipes I do, from Rachel Allen's cookbook, Bake!, which I highly recommend as a general cookbook for all things baking-related. Hers calls for a variety of dried fruits, but I used raisins, a different combination of spices, and of course, whole wheat flour.



The recipe will go up later, as I doubt anyone is aching to try this Easter treat over a month late!

March Madness- Whole Wheat Lasagne with the DB'ers!

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.



My favorite challenge to date has arrived! How fun. I mean, I cut myself on the pasta machine and still had a smile on my face by the end of it! Don't worry-- I didn't bleed on anything in the kitchen. Promise.

Awkward intro aside, let's get to the good stuff-- as you might be able to tell from my other posts, I am a whole wheat fiend. If something can be made with whole wheat instead of white, I am there. On a previous challenge (the tuiles) I didn't know if it could be done, and was a little hesitant to mess with white-flour recipes when they were going to be a challenge to begin with, until I read this blog. She made her tuiles with whole wheat, and I said that from now on, I'd be going for it.

Now for the bragging bit: Not to toot my own horn, except I am, but this was the best pasta I've ever had. I even said the words "I am good!" aloud after I boiled the first batch and tried a taste of them. I never knew what a difference homemade made for pasta until now. I am a changed woman.

So, as some DB'ers know, I don't have many conveniences of a regular baker's kitchen-- no springform pans, no juicer, no rolling pin. Fortunately, my future mother in law, who lives in town, has them all-- including a pasta machine. Once I got the hang of using it, I had an hypnotic blast turning out the pasta, thinner and thinner with each roll through.

Well enough chat-- onto the recipes, as I made them (some parts are different from those provided to us DBers). This included making our own pasta, bechemel, and ragu from scratch.





Whole Wheat Spinach Pasta:

Preparation: 45 minutes

Makes enough for 6 to 8 first course servings or 4 to 6 main course servings, equivalent to 1 pound (450g) dried boxed pasta.

3 medium organic eggs
6 ounces (170g) frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry and chopped super fine.
400g whole-wheat flour

Mixing the dough (same process as original recipe):
Mound the flour in the center of your work surface and make a well in the middle. Add the eggs and spinach. Use a wooden spoon to beat together the eggs and spinach. Then gradually start incorporating shallow scrapings of flour from the sides of the well into the liquid. As you work more and more flour into the liquid, the well’s sides may collapse. Use a pastry scraper to keep the liquids from running off and to incorporate the last bits of flour into the dough. Don’t worry if it looks like a hopelessly rough and messy lump.

Kneading:
With the aid of the scraper to scoop up unruly pieces, start kneading the dough. Once it becomes a cohesive mass, use the scraper to remove any bits of hard flour on the work surface – these will make the dough lumpy. Knead the dough for about 3 minutes. Its consistency should be elastic and a little sticky. If it is too sticky to move easily, knead in a few more tablespoons of flour. Continue kneading about 10 minutes, or until the dough has become satiny, smooth, and very elastic. It will feel alive under your hands. Do not shortcut this step. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and let it relax at room temperature 30 minutes to 3 hours.



Rolling it:

Put 1/5 of the pasta through the machine at the widest setting, passing it through again at 1-setting smaller increments (I did mine in 9 increments) until you can almost see through it. If you put your hand behind it, you should be able to see its outline/shadow clearly. Cut them into shorter lengths and hang to dry.



Dry the pasta at room temperature and store in a sealed container or bag.

Bechamel

Preparation Time: 15 minutes

4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) unsalted butter
4 tablespoons (2 ounces/60g) all purpose unbleached (plain) flour, organic stone ground preferred
2&2/3 cups (approx 570ml) milk
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg to taste

Using a medium-sized saucepan, melt the butter over low to medium heat. Sift over the flour, whisk until smooth, and then stir (without stopping) for about 3 minutes. Whisk in the milk a little at a time and keep the mixture smooth. Bring to a slow simmer, and stir 3 to 4 minutes, or until the sauce thickens. Cook, stirring, for about 5 minutes, until the sauce thickens. Season with salt, pepper, and a hint of nutmeg.


Vegetarian Ragu:

1 400 g cans diced tomatoes
1 box tomato passata
1 pint cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 medium onion, minced
1 tsp. olive oil
salt
6 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1/8 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup vegetable broth
½ C. minced fresh basil leaves (or 2 Tbsp. dried)
ground black pepper

Combine the onion, olive oil, and ½ tsp. salt in a large saucepan. Cover and cook over medium-low heat until softened, 8-10 min. Stir in the tomato paste, garlic, and red pepper, and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Stir in the broth and various forms of tomatoes. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until the flavors are blended and sauce is thickened. Stir in the basil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Note: I layered my lasagne with a layer of steamed, chopped broccoli (about 4 cups) and layer of sliced pan-cooked mushrooms (about 3 cups) for a little more veggie goodness. I also used a regular-sized bag of mozzarrella instead of parmesan.


Now, once all the ingredients are prepared (I made the ragu the day before, and the rest on the day of baking), you can cook the pasta. I assembled mine a little differently from the directions I was given, and it worked well for me, so I will post them

Assembling the Ingredients:
Have the sauces and veggies ready to go. Spread a double thickness of paper towels over a large counter space. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).

Cooking the Pasta:
Bring a pot of salted (or not salted) water to a boil. Drop about four pieces of pasta in the water at a time. Cook about 2 minutes. If you are using dried pasta, cook about 4 minutes, taste, and cook longer if necessary. The pasta will continue cooking during baking, so make sure it is only barely tender. Lift the lasagne from the water with a skimmer, drain, and then slip into the bowl of cold water to stop cooking. When cool, lift out and dry on the paper towels. If you don't have much room, go head and hold off on boiling more noodles until these are in the dish.



Assembling the Lasagne:
Spread a thin layer of béchamel over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange a layer of about four overlapping sheets of pasta over the béchamel. Spread a thin layer of béchamel (about 3 or 4 spoonfuls) over the pasta, and then an equally thin layer of the ragu. Sprinkle the mushrooms on, followed by cheese. Repeat the layers until all ingredients are used.

Mine was like this, with the bottom ingredients listed first:

Bechemel
Noodles
Sauce
Mushrooms
Bechemel
Noodles
Sauce
Bechemel
Cheese
Noodles
Sauce
Broccoli
Bechemel
Noodles
Sauce
Cheese




Baking and Serving the Lasagne:
Cover the baking dish lightly with foil, taking care not to let it touch the top of the lasagne. Bake 40 minutes, or until almost heated through. Remove the foil and bake another 10 minutes, or until hot in the center (test by inserting a knife – if it comes out very warm, the dish is ready). Take care not to brown the cheese topping. It should be melted, creamy looking and barely tinged with a little gold. Turn off the oven, leave the door ajar and let the lasagne rest for about 10 minutes. Then serve. This is not a solid lasagne, but a moist one that slips a bit when it is cut and served.

February Daring Bakers Challenge- Chocolate Valentino

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Flourless chocolate cake. What more can I say? This was a fun experience. Since the recipe calls for semisweet chocolate, and my real life "Valentino" won't touch it (sigh), I made it instead with a nice milk chocolate called Galaxy in the UK, or Dove in the States.
The result was a soft, decadent, cake-version of a chocolate bar. I baked mine in two shallow 8 inch round pans, resulting in cakes the thickness of brownies, rather than a cake, since I spread the batter thinner than if I had used one deep pan, which I don't have at the moment.



I cut the cakes into hearts, and plated them with Amaretto Frozen Custard... sounds good, right? Well, I would post that recipe, but the technique I used resulted in something that did taste nice, but the texture was an icy, yet fattening, slop. So I can't bring myself to recommend it, as I threw it out.

The Valentino, however, is good-- no, it's great-- taste and texture. Below are my notes on the recipe, followed by the recipe itself. Thank you for hosting, Wendy and Dharm!!

Notes:
-- Many DB'ers found using full-on semi-sweet resulted in a bitter cake, even to those die-hard chocolate fans. I would probably say half-milk, half-semi would be good.
--I used 454 grams of milk chocolate, and reduced the butter by 2 tablespoons.
--I reduced the baking time by almost half, as I had two pans and a fan-assisted oven.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Wholy Pretzels!

At Edinburgh's annual German market, I was a big fan of the big, soft pretzels. Inexcusably full of white carbs, I restrained myself... but with the German market over and done with, I miss those lil guys, even if my thighs don't. WINK.

I found a recipe in my new Rachel Allen cookbook, a Christmas present, which is a great resource for hunger-inducing ideas. Here I have adopted her recipe for soft pretzels into a more healthful 100% whole wheat version, and in part, a glazed raisin variety.

These are especially worth making because you can use them as a replacement for the usual sandwich bread or toast. I like to have one paired with soup for lunch, or half of one with an apple and cheese for a pre-workout snack.

Try it. You'll be saying "mmm, schmcekt gut!" in no time.

Wholy Pretzels (makes about 12, depending on how big you like them)

• 500g strong whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp fast-acting yeast
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp canola oil
• 375 ml warm water
• rock salt

For the baking soda boil:

• 75g baking soda
• 1 liter water

1. Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, and make a well in the center.
2. Mix the wet ingredients and add them slowly, mixing in between additions. You can mix this with your hands, which is fun.
3. Knead the mixture for 10 minutes, until the dough bounces back to shape when poked with your finger. It should be quite firm, but not flaky and dry, nor sticky.
4. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and place in a warm place until doubled in size (1-3 hours, mine took only 1).
5. Preheat the oven to 230 degrees C (450 F) and line baking trays with parchment.
6. Punch the dough down and divide into 12 (or less or more) semi-even-sized pieces.
7. For each pretzel, roll the dough into a long snake, about as thick as a Sharpie. Twist the ends together and fold the ends over the middle of the pretzel and press down to seal the shape.
8. After shaping all the pretzels, cover them up with plastic wrap and let them rise again for 15 minutes.
9. During the end of the second rising, bring the water to a boil, and add the baking soda. Reduce the heat to a simmer.
10. Place the pretzels, 2 at a time, in the water. Simmer for 30 seconds, then flip to simmer 30 more seconds on the other side. Remove and place back on the lined tray. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top.
11. Bake in the oven for 8-12 minutes, turning them over half way through if needed.

Notes:
*Instead of salt, you can use poppy seeds, dried onion, nuts or other seeds.
*There's a reason for raisins: They're delicious. Work some raisins into the dough before shaping them into the pretzel shape. Try making 1 or 2 raisin pretzels in the batch if you don't want a whole batch of raisin pretzels.

Glaze:

• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 30g icing sugar (more or less to get the right consistency)

Mix together and spread over the pretzels, or use as a pretzel dip.

Daring Bakers January Challenge

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.



Thank you, Karen and Zorra!

I selected the savory tuile recipe, actually, from Thomas Keller's "the French Laundry Cookbook." I followed the recipe exactly as posted (below), with the replacement of sesame seeds with a light sprinkling of cheddar cheese before baking.

I paired it with the almighty apple. We were meant to keep this very "light," and I thought, what's lighter, and goes better with cheddar, than an apple? So while I know it was an easy route, it was also a delicious one that I would travel again if I ever a burning desire to, well, burn my fingers again with hot tuiles. Anyone else have that problem? Oh well. They were still delicious, and a big hit at the erm, Guitar Hero World Tour party I took them to.

As big a fan I am cheddar and apple, so too am I of alliteration, thus I made tuile tulips... but they look more like carnations.


These are the stencils I made out of a cereal box. I wish I had been in the States again for this challenge where I have access (in my kitchen supplies there) to my silpats and some cheapo cutting board/sheets I could have used that wouldn't disintegrate from the batter. The delicious batter, might I add, which you can see below.


I attempted to mold them on these little spice jars, but for some reason mine needed a little more persuasion that gravity. So I really just used my hands.

And the finished product--yummy.





Savory tuile/cornet recipe
From Thomas Keller "the French Laundry Cookbook"

1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (65 grams/2.1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt (= 2/3 teaspoon table salt)**
8 tablespoons (114 grams/4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened but still cool to the touch
2 large egg whites, cold
2 tablespoons black sesame seeds

In a medium bowl, mix together the flour, sugar and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk the softened butter until it is completely smooth and mayonnaise-like in texture. Using a stiff spatula or spoon, beat the egg whites into the dry ingredients until completely incorporated and smooth. Whisk in the softened butter by thirds, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary and whisking until the batter is creamy and without any lumps. Transfer the batter to a smaller container, as it will be easier to work with.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Make a 4-inch hollow circular stencil. Place Silpat on the counter (it is easier to work on the Silpat before it is put on the sheet pan). Place the stencil in one corner of the sheet and, holding the stencil flat against the Silpat, scoop some of the batter onto the back of an offset spatula and spread it in an even layer over the stencil. Then run the spatula over the entire stencil to remove any excess batter. After baking the first batch of cornets, you will be able to judge the correct thickness. You may need a little more or less batter to adjust the thickness of the cornets.

There should not be any holes in the batter. Lift the stencil and repeat the process to make as many rounds as you have molds or to fill the Silpat, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cornets. Sprinkle each cornet with a pinch of black sesame seeds.

Place the Silpat on a heavy baking sheet and bake for 4 to 6 minutes, or until the batter is set and you see it rippling from the heat. The cornets may have browned in some areas, but they will not be evenly browned at this point.

Open the oven door and place the baking sheet on the door.*** This will help keep the cornets warm as you roll them and prevent them from becoming too stiff to roll. Flip a cornet over on the sheet pan, sesame seed side down and place 4-1/2 inch cornet mold at the bottom of the round. If you are right-handed, you will want the pointed end on your left and the open end on your right. The tip of the mold should touch the lower left edge (at about 7 o'clock on a clock face) of the cornet.

Fold the bottom of the cornet and around the mold; it should remain on the sheet pan as you roll. Leave the cornet wrapped around the mold and continue to roll the cornets around molds; as you proceed, arrange the rolled cornets, seams side down, on the sheet pan so they lean against each other, to prevent from rolling.

When all the cornets are rolled, return them to the oven shelf, close the door, and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes to set the seams and color the cornets a golden brown. If the color is uneven, stand the cornets on end for a minute or so more, until the color is even. Remove the cornets from the oven and allow to cool just slightly, 30 seconds or so.
Gently remove the cornets from the molds and cool for several minutes on paper towels. Remove the Silpat from the baking sheet, wipe the excess butter from it, and allow it to cool down before spreading the next batch. Store the cornets for up to 2 days (for maximum flavor) in an airtight container.

Angry Apple Spice Cake

The name of this cake comes from a story my mom was telling me and my friend Kathleen earlier today about my brother saying that some Yankee-style sweets, such as hermits or gingerbread, taste "angry." Then we started talking about other old-man desserts, and spice cake started to sound pretty good. It is so often overlooked and underrated, but we're bringing spicy back... to cake... in this one.

Angry Apple Spice Cake



For the apples:

3-4 apples (we used Cox)
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon golden syrup
1/2 tablespoon sugar

Melt butter in skillet, then add the apples, syrup and sugar. Stir around and cook until soft and the apples have some color. Set these aside while you make the cake, unless your friend is over to make them at the same time!


For the cake:

310 g plain, all-purpose flour
30 g cornstarch
20 g baking powder
3 g salt
3 g ground cinnamon
3 g ground nutmeg
1 g ground cloves
100 g granulated sugar
125 g soft or slightly melted margarine
235 ml milk
3 large eggs
10 ml vanilla extract
1 tablespoon grated ginger
100 g Bramley apple sauce (or regular)
190 g light brown sugar

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius, 160 for fan oven. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour through granulated sugar) in a large bowl. Add the margarine to that and mix.

Lightly beat the eggs and add the milk and vanilla to that, followed by the ginger. Fold half of the liquid into the dry mixture, then add the apple sauce and brown sugar. Fold the other half of liquid into the batter until just blended.

Pour half of the batter in the pan, then evenly drop the apples on top of them. Then cover those apples with the other half of the batter and bake for 30-40 minutes (my oven has a fan, so it bakes quite fast, but it might take longer in other ovens).

For lemony cream cheese drizzle:

50 g light cream cheese
20 g golden syrup
2 tablespoons icing sugar
squeeze of lemon

Combine the cream cheese and syrup until smooth, then add some icing sugar (more or less to taste). Finish with a squeeze of half a lemon and stir. As the name states, it should drizzle (not plop) off the spoon, so if it doesn't, add a tiny bit of water at a time until it does. Then drizzle over the cake while it is still warm (cooled for about 10 minutes).

Serve warm (hot and bothered?) if possible. Like all angry cakes, it is great with tea. We had it with rooibos chai.

Ginger Bite Scones

I made these scones using Ginger Nibbles, which I bought to prevent carsickness but found them way too sweet to do any good in that department. You could also chop up regular crystallized ginger and use that, since I don't know where to buy Ginger Nibbles other than Lakeland stores.


Ginger Bite Scones
(makes 12 small scones, or 8 bigger ones)

225 g whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tablespoons white sugar
pinch or two of salt
50 g butter or Flora (Smart Balance, etc)
75 g crystallized ginger, chopped up (or Ginger Nibbles)
125 g plain non-fat yogurt (I used FAGE Greek Style 0%)

1. Preheat the oven to 425 F/220 C/gas 7/fan 200
   
2. Mix the first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl
3. Cut up the butter and smoosh it with *clean* hands into the dry ingredients until it looks crumbly
4. Add the ginger, then make a little hole in the middle of the mixture
5. Put the yogurt in the hole and cut it through the rest of the dough with a butter knife until it gets too heavy to work that way
   
6. Use your (clean) hands to smoosh it together into a ball, and knead it a few times. The mixture should not be sticky like a cookie dough-- if it is, then add more flour.
   
7. Pat the mixture into a flat rectangle about one inch thick, then cut into 12 equal pieces.
8. Flatten each piece by half (to 1/2 inch thick) and place on a cookie sheet. Since my sheet was small, I baked the dough in two batches. Brush with milk for some shine, if desired.
   
9. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until they are the browner side of golden.
   

These can be frozen, but they're better eaten.