Category: Holidays

Orange Cranberry Rolls

9/18/2015

The pinnacle of breakfast breads!

The Breadhead Breakfast project has been inspiring me to think of new variations on some of my old favorites. Although my monastic brethren love cinnamon rolls (a moment of silence as we all contemplate the glory of Fab's Nutty Goodness) I've been experimenting with different fillings in the last year or so. I've made Strawberry Rolls and little spirals of pastry and pineapple filling using Shortcut Croissant dough, and even added Chinese Five Spice instead of cinnamon. None of this is particularly adventuresome compared to, let's say, chefs of Chopped, but it is making me explore some new flavor profiles.

DON'T USE THIS STUFF!

For several weeks I've been planning to experiment with cranberry sauce, because I found a small can of it in the pantry. I DON'T mean the stuff that looks like cranberry jello and can be serve in slices. This was whole berry cranberry sauce---not as good as fresh cranberries, but it's what I had in the kitchen without having to to the store. I once enjoyed a delectable cranberry salad with mandarin orange slices, so I decided to add that flavor as well.

I made a batch of Basic Roll Dough but I used only 4.5 cups of flour, leaving the dough very soft. As it rose, I took the cranberry sauce (14-oz. can.) and stirred in a teaspoon of freshly grated orange zest (about half an orange--the rest goes in the icing), and 1/4 cup of orange juice. I thought the filling lacked tartness, so I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries--much better. I rolled the dough out as usual (about 15" x 12"), spread the filling and rolled it up for slicing. I made 15 rolls, but you could do 12 and make more generous servings. They went into a 9" x 13" greased pan and rose for about half an hour. In my commercial convection oven they baked in 18 minutes at 350, but in a regular oven it would take about 30 minutes.

The icing was made with a cup of powdered sugar whisked with 1 teaspoon of fresh orange zest and two tablespoons of orange juice. I heated it in the microwave on high for ten seconds and then drizzled it over the rolls. Go easy on the icing--the filling is plenty sweet. They were much enjoyed by the monks and several lucky members of the faculty of our high school.

A little Internet research revealed that there are a wide variety of orange-and-cranberry-flavored breads out there, from rolls to scones to muffins. Some roll recipes use fresh cranberries in a food processor with orange marmalade, which made for a beautifully rich, red filling; some added walnuts for a little crunch. Plenty of recipes still to be explored. If there is leftover cranberry salad after this year's Thanksgiving feast, I have a pretty good idea what I'll be serving for breakfast the next morning!

God bless and happy baking!

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Zucchini Crisp

8/5/2015

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http://www.tammysrecipes.com/node/2897 I doubt if mine will look so pretty!

August 8th is National Zucchini Day, and as all zucchini growers ( and their neighbors!) know, it can be a challenge to find ways to use this over-abundant squash. I recommend Zucchini Crisp---like apple crisp, only using cubed zucchini. There are several recipes out there, but I recently came across one in Sauce Magazine a food periodical published in St. Louis. Their version wisely instructs you to remove the seeds of the zucchini before cubing it, which helps disguise the fact that you are eating vegetables instead of fruit. They also use enough lemon juice to counteract the blandness of the squash. I think I would add an additional tablespoon or two of apple cider vinegar as well, or maybe even something balsamic. The recipe can be found as part of the Sauce article about how to use zukes in several creative ways. Check it out HERE. I haven't made this yet---but six pounds of zucchini are being delivered to the abbey kitchen tomorrow . . . .

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Christmas in July with Simply Divine Bakery

7/20/2015

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Retailers everywhere are advertising with the headline "
Christmas in July!" an expression which pretty much sums up everything that's wrong with our culture of consumption: the co-opting of religious celebrations for profit, the inability to wait for anything, the trivialization of Christianity---OK, I'd better stop before a rant develops. Besides, I had a little Christmas cheer yesterday when I did some food photography for Simply Divine Bakery at Immaculate Conception Monastery in Ferdinand, Indiana. I was there for the Monastic Worship Forum earlier in the month and got a tour of the Benedictine Sisters' baking operation.

You really need to visit their site, because they have a lovely selection of gourmet cookies. Thanks to Sr. Madonna's generosity, I sampled most of them and I can say that they are exquisite. The Buttermint cookies with the chocolate coating are especially yummy, and their Springerle (anise flavored) and Almerle (almond flavored) are the best I've tasted. They offer a selection of assortment and custom gift boxes, too.

The church at the monastery is magnificent and has beautiful stained glass windows of every monastic saint you can imagine, including St. Hildegarde, the medieval abbess and mystic who also left us a cookie recipe. The sisters offer their version, of course,and I'm told they are especially good with ice cream. All of these goodies, plus a wide range of religious goods are available at the monastery's "For Heaven's Sake" Gift Shop. The monastery isn't far off of I-64 between Evansville IN and Louisville KY, 10 minutes from Saint Meinrad Archabbey (another church with glorious stained glass), and close by Holiday World . . . .where you can visit Santa all year long.

<Sigh>

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Yeasted donuts

6/4/2015

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Make no mistake--donuts are NOT a "heart-healthy" food. But me no buts about baked donuts or multigrain batters or paleo flours. Donuts made with reduced fat and alternative grains can be delicious, but they simply can't compare with a fresh, warm, glistening Krispy Kreme, cooked in hot oil and drenched in powdered sugar glaze.

As I diabetic, I have to be careful around donuts---I'd probably pass up chocolate cake for a day-old long john---so I don't make them often. But Friday, June 5 2015 is National Donut Day, so I stayed up late Thursday night to make some Spudnuts.

(According to the Nibble, National Donut Day is celebrated the first Friday of June.
The holiday was created in 1938 by the Salvation Army, to honor the women who served donuts to servicemen in World War I. June 8 is Jelly-filled Donut Day, Cinnamon Roll Day is October 4. OK, back to Spudnuts).

Spudnuts was a national chain of franchised donut shops started by the Pelton brothers in Salt Lake City in 1940. Their proprietary donut mix used potato flour for added softness and flavor (this ingredient had just become commercially available---before that fresh mashed potatoes were needed). In 1964 when the brothers sold the company,. there were 314 franchises nationwide. Wikipedia can tell you more HERE. There still individual shops around, sometimes with a recipe adapted from the original. Naturally there is a website for Spudnuts fans which includes a list of existing shops by state.

I've had a Spudnuts recipe in a three ring research binder since about 1999, but there are about a half dozen recipes online, all of them slightly different, one of them really different: the one offered by Saveur magazine uses ground mace, cracked black pepper, and lemon zest. Looking all these recipes over, most of them bear a striking resemblance to my Best Ever Crescent Roll Dough. So that's what I use for my yeasted donuts, except that I use only 1/2 cup of mashed potato.

Some other tips about donuts:
1) Don't over knead or over work the dough, or the donuts will be tough and not tender. After the first rise, don't punch the dough down too hard and never knead it a second time. Deflate it gently and roll it out to about 3/4", using a minimum of flour on the board.
2) Don't twist the cutter, which can seal the edges of the donut and keep it from rising properly. Just press down firmly.
3) Let your donuts rise the second time on individual sheets of waxed paper or parchment. It makes it simpler to ease them gently into the hot oil.
4). The oil should be 375 degrees F. Use a candy thermometer clipped on the side of a deep skillet, or an electric fryer with a thermostat.
5) Don't crowd the pan---3 or 4 donuts at a time, and let the oil reheat between batches.
6) Wait until donuts are almost completely cool before glazing or frosting. And no, I don't really have a glaze recipe, because I never measure anything for it. If you're reading this, you can obviously Google it! Alton Brown has a good one HERE.

Sound like a lot of fussy work? Perhaps these photos will help convince you:

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Tsourecki: Greek Easter Bread

4/4/2015

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http://www.marthastewart.com/968095/tsoureki-greek-easter-bread

Full disclosure here: the photo to the left is NOT mine, nor did I make the bread. This is Martha Stewart's version of Greek tsourecki, a rich braided loaf traditionally made for Easter. The deep red eggs are meant to represent the blood of Christ, and many Greeks consider them an essential part of the bread. But my enthusiasm for this tradition has been dampened ever since I watched a fellow monk cut a slice THROUGH one of the eggs because he wanted a smaller portion, leaving bits of shell all over the table and in the remainder of the loaf. Besides, we get more than enough hard-boiled eggs during Easter week (more on that in my next post).

You might find it unusual that as a monk I'm not a staunch defender of culinary tradition, and in the case of tsourecki I take any number of liberties. The traditional flavorings for this Greek treat are mastic (a spice made from resin which is dried and then ground) and aromatic mahlab (made from ground seeds of a cherry native to Greece). If you want a really traditional version of this recipe, you can find it HERE.

My version of this sweet, rich bread uses orange and anise as flavorings. I omit the red eggs, but there are plenty in dough---five, to be exact, and one more used as a glaze. It also has a whole stick of butter and 3/4 cup of sugar, so it's a very rich dough. The dough is a bit sticky even after kneading, but resist the temptation to add more flour; things will get better after the first rise.

Large braided loaves are the traditional form for tsourecki, although I've seen some lovely versions in the form of a braided ring or crown (click HERE to see one). My recipe makes two large braided loaves, which may seem like a lot, but you probably have plenty of family coming over for Easter, and this bread makes outstanding French toast. You can always double wrap one for the freezer to serve on Pentecost.

The instructions will tell you to roll ropes of dough for braiding, but a slab braid like these beauties here will work just as well and be a lot easier. Not sure what a slab braid is? Click HERE for a tutorial video from my "Breadhead Minute" series sponsored by the Home Baking Association.

And here is the glorious result of all that effort. I'll be serving this lovely loaf at our reception after the Easter vigil, probably with whipped honey butter. The second loaf will be on the monastery table Easter Sunday morning.

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Cream Puffs

3/19/2015

It's certainly been far too long since I posted anything here, for which I apologize. Although I am repentant I have to admit that my absence was legitimate. One of my students wanted to do an Eagle Scout project to benefit the Saint Bede Drama Department, so we've been working on a complete reboot of the storage systems on stage right. The results are amazing and it's made the construction of the set for the spring musical go much faster than usual. My scout and the rest of the crew have been working very hard, so I decided to reward them with some homemade cream puffs.
Today happens to be the feast of St. Joseph, patron saint of carpenters, and my extension, stage hands. One of the traditional treats for this day is cream puffs. They are surprisingly easy to make, or at least I have always found them so, although I have heard a few stories of pate a choux failure. Water and butter are heated together until boiling, then flour is added along with a smidgen of salt and sugar. You beat the mixture hard and fast for a minute or two, let it cool slightly, and then start beating in (room temp) eggs, one at a time. The resulting mixture is thick and glossy, and is piped through a pastry bag onto a pan, in mounds for cream puffs and thick lines for eclairs. 400 degrees for 10 minutes and then another 25 minutes at 350, and you've got pastry shells.
There are variations on the recipe and the method, and the version I used is from the 1962 edition of The Joy of Cooking, but Gale Gand's recipe is a good one, too (click HERE). I saw her make cream puffs on her show "Sweet Dreams" and it helped me understand the method even better. I'll be posting pictures of the finished product later. They're going to get a chocolate mouse filling and a drizzle of hazelnut chocolate glaze.

And to think it's still the Lenten season!

With powdered sugar as a topping.

Hoska/Vanocka/Stricka

12/14/2014

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Several times recently I've been asked about hoska, a rich braided bread from the region now known as the Czech Republic. I must confess that I haven't made it since we taped season three in the summer of 2001! So I figured I'd better get out book three of the Breaking Bread series and try it again.

In that cookbook, I referred to the bread as vanocka, and it's also called stricka, depending on the region of eastern Europe where it's made. Like most festive winter breads, it uses dried fruit and nuts (almonds) for flavor, and every grandmother has her favorite combination, whether it's raisins and slivered almonds or candied orange peel with whole blanched almonds or any number of variations. I used candied pineapple and sliced almonds for no other reason than that's what was in the pantry!

You'd best have a big portion of your day set aside for this recipe, because the dough rises much more slowly than the usual white bread recipe. The reason for this sluggish rise is the richness of the dough. Extra eggs, a relatively large amount of sugar and a whole stick of butter make for some heavy lifting for the yeast---but resist the temptation to add more. That long slow rise also contributes to more complex flavors and better texture.

My version turned out a little too dark IMHO, because we have a commercial convection oven and you can't turn the blower off completely, which makes any bread brown faster, but especially with an egg wash. I reduced the temperature 25 degrees and loosely covered the loaf in foil, but still got a rather darker crust than I wanted. Next time I may add more water to the egg wash, put it on later or perhaps omit the glaze all together.

My recipe for a fairly standard version of hoska is HERE. Sometimes this bread is made as a single braid, a two layer braid as shown above, or even a three-layer braid as in the photo below. If you have trouble rolling out the ropes of dough the same size, try using the slab braid method described HERE.

Here's what it looks like as a triple layer braid. Click on the image to go to the original website (in Czech, I think!).

I like to serve hoska warm with a lightly sweetened honey butter, but try it plain at first so you can appreciate the blend of lemony/citrusy/spicy flavors. I might add that if you don't finish off such a large loaf right away, it makes outstanding French toast and an utterly unique bread pudding as well. You may find you like it enough to make it all year long!

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Pumpkin Pudding Bread

10/11/2014

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Yes, I'm still alive and baking! Sorry for the three week hiatus---Homecoming Week does that to me. I had a couple of bread demos in there, too, so it's not like I've been slacking. Last night I made batter donuts with chocolate hazelnut frosting and sent them out to the members of the boosters' club working the pork chop tent at the football game, but there are no pictures. sadly. But today I went to the store to get some sour cream for a caramel apple coffeecake recipe I've been wanting to try, and what did I find at the end of the baking aisle but pumpkin spice instant pudding.

This product is seasonal, I suspect, along with pumpkin lattes and apple cider donuts, but I'm sure I could enjoy this all year. I like it better in a trifle or parfait, but I have a recipe for a breakfast bread which uses butterscotch pudding, so I decided to try switching it out. I also added a little pumpkin pie spice--if you make it with butterscotch pudding, use cinnamon. If you make it with chocolate pudding, omit the cinnamon and add chopped almonds instead of pecans. Get the recipe HERE.

I'll be honest, I was hoping for a more pronounced pumpkin flavor, but the bread is wonderfully moist and has a slightly crisp crust if it's served about 20 minutes out of the oven. It's not overly sweet--a little honey butter wouldn't be out of place here--and you can make it with gluten-free flours if you want a Thanksgiving treat for your GF friends. I suspect I'll be experimenting with other pumpkin batter bread recipes before long, as well as that caramel apple coffeecake recipe. Hope you are enjoying the autumn weather in your part of the world.

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Old Fashioned Cake Doughnuts

6/6/2014

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In honor of National Doughnut Day, I got up the morning at 4:30 a.m. (surprisingly easy when you go to bed at a decent hour) to make old-fashioned cake doughnuts for the brethren. I felt a certain moral obligation to perform this service because I had mentioned the holiday in a homily earlier in the week.

Fortunately, I have the perfect equipment: a commercial deep fryer and Popeil's Donut Maker. As you can see from the photo, this little mechanism is vintage kitchen ware from the 40's. They came in red, yellow, and green plastic, and they were still making them in the 70's. I've seen a number of them at garage sales and antique malls and there are lots of them on e-Bay. They were recently revived by Ronco (I believe Ron Popeil is the son of the original manufacturer) and you can get one on Amazon for $5.95 right now (click HERE).

I used the original recipe from the box, except that I used canola oil instead of shortening, both for the recipe and for frying. I got great results, but here are some precautions: 1) Do not "scoop" the flour when you measure it. You'll compact the flour and end up using too much. Use the "spoon and level" method. 2) When you depress the level to dispense the batter, hold the device just above the hot oil so that the doughnut doesn't get distorted and you don't splash hot oil all over. 3) The batter will be a little thick and will come out of the dispenser rather slowly. Resist the temptation to add more milk to the batter, or you will risk having doughnuts that look like mutated DNA. This is a matter of personal experience.

You will be surprised at how good a fresh, homemade doughnut can be, even when unadorned by sugar or frosting. You will also notice that the doughnuts are much more modestly sized than most commercial doughnuts today. That's a good thing--you eat a couple of these and you feel like you've had a well-deserved treat rather than enduring a sense of dietary failure and bloated guilt. I doubt I'll be making doughnuts every week, but as a special treat they are well worth the effort.

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Holy Thursday: Whole wheat rounds

4/17/2014

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Every year for supper on Holy Thursday I like to serve whole wheat bread, usually medium size loaves with a cross cut in them, one loaf for every set of four monks. This year they turned out unusually pretty, or at least the photo did, so I thought I'd share it. As I often do, I added some potato to the mix for a tender crumb and used honey as the sweetener. We have plenty of honey (although we lost more than half our hives over the long, hard winter) but my friend Dan gave me some of his that had sugared up pretty heavily. You can easily restore crystallized honey by warming the jar in a saucepan of water over low heat, but in this case just pulled out a few tablespoons and added it to the liquids. Honey makes for a beautifully browned crust, but it can also cause the crust to get too dark. Many bakers recommend turning the oven temp down by 25 degrees, or covering the loaves lightly with foil for the last half of the baking time. I did neither, but I like the results I got. Hope the brethren will, too.

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Orange Cranberry Rolls

Zucchini Crisp

Christmas in July with Simply Divine Bakery

Yeasted donuts

Tsourecki: Greek Easter Bread

Cream Puffs

Hoska/Vanocka/Stricka

Pumpkin Pudding Bread

Old Fashioned Cake Doughnuts

Holy Thursday: Whole wheat rounds

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