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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.

Breadhead Bookshelf: Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno

12/27/2014

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On my last Breadhead Bookshelf blog, I reviewed Bernard Clayton’s The New Complete Book of Bread, a classic baking book without any photos and few illustrations but literally hundreds of recipes. In this blog, we’ll take a look at its polar opposite, another one of my favorites titled Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno. This treasure has about only 100 recipes, but the photos by Ian O’Leary are luminous and inspiring.

Ultimate Bread is published by the Britain's Dorling Kindersley (DK Publishing, 1998) and so the recipes are in both metric and American Standard measurements. Normally that makes me a little nervous, because I’ve picked up a few cookbooks from the Barnes &Noble bargain shelf that were originally published in Great Britain and the recipes were evidently converted without being tested, based on the disastrous results I got from following them. But that is not the case here, and both the authors are experienced recipe writers who offer accurate measurements and clear (if not always extensive) instructions. The introductory chapters include the standard information on equipment, ingredients, and methods – nothing special here other than a European spin on technique– although the information and photos on the various toppings for bread were something of a revelation for me.

There are a little over 100 recipes here, with a great deal of emphasis on European and ethnic breads. There were a number of flatbreads I hadn’t even heard of—Schiacciata, Carta di Musica, Torta al Testa, ekmek, barbari, etc. Ultimate Bread also introduced me to fougasse, a traditional French bread formed into a variety of symbolic shapes, and Scottish Baps, both of which have become monastery favorites.

As good as the recipes are, the real reason to obtain a copy of this book for your Breadhead Bookshelf is the inspiration provided by the photos. I don’t have an easy way share any of these photos with you since I am working one handed after my surgery, but I recommend that you go to the Google books web site (click HERE) so you can scroll through the pages of “The Gallery of Breads” at the beginning of the book. The photos of Ciabatta, Parker House rolls, and Bolo-Rei made me want to try the recipes immediately!

If you are a baker who likes visual inspiration more than detailed instruction, this book is definitely for you. It is easily available online, and is not terribly expensive when purchased used. I recommend buying it in the hardback edition, because you will use this book so much you will want to have a copy that can take a beating in the kitchen.

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Breadhead Bookshelf: The New Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

12/23/2014

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On December 22 I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist. Evidently all those years of kneading have taken their toll! I don’t much care for the idea of an extended period of forced inactivity, so I decided that I would spend some time training the speech recognition function on my computer, so I can still post some new bread blogs. People often ask me about which bread cookbooks I have in my library, and ask for suggestions about what they might purchase. So I’m spending my convalescence adding to the posts labeled “Breadhead Bookshelf.”

Obviously there are thousands of bread cookbooks out there, and more and more of them are being published every year. I’ll try to concentrate on those books which I think are especially useful to the average Baker rather than concentrating on specialty cookbooks. Some of them will be relatively new, others were will be classics that should be a part of every Breadhead ‘s library.

Some of my favorite cookbooks are out of print, but if you’re reading this blog post, you’re probably tech savvy enough to be able to find them online. Abe’s Books is one of the best online book search services, but there are others out there, including Amazon of course. I also recommend making a habit of frequenting used bookstores. I’ve had good luck finding obscure volumes of all subjects in the kind of independent bookstores you find in the town squares of small Midwestern towns along Route 66.

It was not in a used bookstore but at a rummage sale that my friend Mary Ellen found me a copy of Bernard Clayton’s The Complete Book of Breads. This classic, first published in 1973, is one of the treasures on my Breadhead reference shelf, in part because of the dedication my friend wrote on the inside front cover: “I’ll take a half dozen of each!”

Bernard Clayton Jr. was a journalist who discovered the delights of artisan breads while on a trip across Europe with his wife Marjorie in 1965. He began baking bread as a hobby but it soon became an obsession and he traveled all over the United States and Europe to find new recipes. The Complete Book of Breads was a bestseller and can be credited (along with James Beard’s Beard on Bread) with inspiring the home baking renaissance of the late 1970s. Clayton died in 2011 at age 94. His New York Times obituary can be found HERE.

The Complete Book of Breads wasn’t quite as popular as Beard on Bread, in part because James Beard was a flamboyant character and more adept at self-promotion. It is also more expensive—the most recent edition retails for $30.00. But I find myself using Clayton’s book far more often, primarily because it is, well---complete (I don't know of any other modern source for the recipe for pioneer salt-rising bread, for example). I made extensive use of this encyclopedic collection when I was researching recipes for all three seasons of Breaking Bread with Father Dominic.

Although the book is organized into the usual chapters—white, whole wheat, rye, etc.—there are more than a few surprises among the recipes. For example, under “White Breads” we find such intriguing titles as: Thirty Minute, Cuban, Egg Harbor, Scottish Buttermilk, Old Order Amish, Turnipseed Sisters’ and Weissbrot mit Kümmel. Obviously, many of these recipes have an interesting story to go along with them, making Clayton’s masterpiece a cookbook which is part travelogue. Breadheads who have enjoyed the “Bread Breaks” in my cookbooks will undoubtedly enjoy hearing about the people Clayton encounters in his explorations in search of good bread.

Regarding the recipes themselves. I especially appreciate Clayton’s painstaking attention to detail in giving directions, right down to the amount of time each step takes. This level of instruction makes it possible to successfully bake everything from French baguettes to bagels to brioche. I also appreciate that he makes suggestions for ingredients substitutions, since I often begin baking without checking the pantry to see if I have all the groceries I need!

Apart from the cover art, you won’t find gorgeous food photography nor stylish page designs—this is a book that is meant to be used, not perused on the coffee table. Beginner bakers may find the lack of illustrations distressing, but if you know your way around a kneading board, you shouldn’t have any trouble. Between Clayton’s Complete Book of Breads and that perennial favorite The Joy of Cooking, you’re set for a lifetime of culinary adventures.

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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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Crescent rolls for Thanksgiving

11/24/2014

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Yesterday I was on the phone with my mom and asked her what she wanted me to make for Thanksgiving: potato rolls, rose rolls, or sour cream crescent rolls. These recipes are all Thanksgiving favorites for my monastic family, but since mom is going to be our guest I figured I'd ask her opinion. She opted, as I suspected she would, for the sour cream crescent rolls, also known (in my family) as "Fred Flintstone Telephone Rolls."

My brothers and sisters and I loved crescent rolls when we were growing up, and my mom can make them like no other. We call them "Fred Flintstone Telephone Rolls" because to us they looked like the telephones on The Flintstones. When these rolls were served, it was one of the few times you were allowed to "play with your food"--we would pretend to dial the phone and call each other up using the crescent rolls as receivers.

Once when my mom was looking for a recipe for crescent rolls, she searched for an hour in every cookbook without success--because she was looking under "F"! We had become so used to the name we had given them, she had forgotten what everyone else calls them.

These rich are surprisingly easy to make, but they do require a longer rising time because of the richness of the dough. The recipe is HERE.

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Cuban Bread

10/31/2014

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People often ask me about how to make loaves that are crispy and crusty on the outside and tender in the middle. There are a lot of different methods out there, often involving introducing steam into the oven during the baking process. I've had good success with Cuban Bread, which is just about the best base for a sub sandwich you could ever hope for, unless you can stop by Avanti's on your way to the market for meats and cheeses. Their bread isn't as crusty, but it's soft and slightly sweet and utterly delicious. But I digress.

I have seen several different versions of Cuban bread, including one that calls for four tablespoons of yeast (nearly 5 packages), which seems to me a little excessive. But they all have a few things in common: extra yeast, a large proportion of salt, a cold oven to start, and a pan of hot water to help develop the crust.

This is one of the few recipes that I would say really requires bread flour to be its best. All-purpose flour works OK but often produces a low loaf if not kneaded thoroughly.
One recipe I tested suggested brushing the loaves with cold water before they went into the oven. I did so, as gently as I could---and the loaves deflated, never to rise again. The taste was fine, but the loaves lacked the open-holed texture which characterizes “pan de cubana.” I also discovered that ¾ cup of hot water in the bottom of the oven was just enough to achieve the perfect crust---most recipes don’t specify the amount of water.

Notice the absence of oil or butter in the dough, which makes the bread crustier but also means that it won’t keep long. I've seen recipes that include a little butter or oil (about a tablespoon) but I don't think it adds much. This bread is so good you won’t have to worry much about leftovers. If you think you’ll only use one loaf within a day, don’t freeze the other---just give it away!

You'll find the recipe for Cuban Bread HERE. If you are pleased with your results, remember to send me a photo or two for the Breadhead Gallery.

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Rice Krispies Pumpkins

10/30/2014

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Okay, I admit that this is not bread, but rice is a grain, so it's close!

I saw a recipe for pumpkin-shaped Rice Krispie treats on Facebook and decided I needed to make them for the faculty here at the Academy. The original recipe called for stems made of Tootsie Roll minis, but I didn't like the dark brown look and searched for an alternative. Of course green apple Tootsie Roll minis are an option, but when I saw the ridges on a green apple Twizzler, I realized that I'd found the ideal candy stem for my Halloween treats. Here's the recipe and method I used.

Crispy Rice Pumpkin Treats
3 Tbs. butter
10 oz. package marshmallows
1 tsp. vanilla extract
red & yellow liquid food coloring OR orange food coloring gel
6 cups of rice cereal
3 green apple licorice (there are 4 or 5 in a package of Rainbow Twizzlers).

Cut Twizzlers into 8 pieces. Over medium heat, melt butter in a large pan with a handle. Add marshmallows and mix until melted and smooth. Stir in vanilla and food coloring (I used about 5 drops of red and four drops of yellow) and beat until smooth and uniform in color. Add in the cereal and mix well (a heavy wooden spoon helps) until cereal is uniformly coated. Remove from heat.

Spray your hands with cooking spray or coat lightly with butter so the mixture doesn’t stick as you form it into balls. (I made mine about the size of a golf ball and got 16 in one batch, 18 in another). Use a knife to open a small slot in one end and insert the green Twizzler stem. Press ball tightly together and flatten slightly to achieve a more pumpkin-like shape. Allow them to set up until firm and then store in an air tight container.

These are great for Halloween of course, but I think you could serve them from now until Thanksgiving!

Here's another option for colored treats. It's easiest to make three batches--one yellow, one orange, and one plain--one at a time and add the layers in rough triangles, then trim to make more regular triangles. You get to eat the trimmed off bits! There's also quite a bit of the plain stuff left, so you can have some for the family if you're taking the good ones off to school or to a party.

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Shortcut Croissants

10/21/2014

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I'm not sure who deserves the credit for this photo. I've found it on a variety of websites, blogs and Pinterest pages.

I love flaky croissants made with real butter, but unfortunately they are hard to come by in a world populated by Pillsbury Poppin' Fresh tubes. The problem of course is one of time: authentic French croissants require between a day and a half and three days to complete. You're not working that entire time of course, but the process involves rolling out the dough, making a packet with kneaded butter in the center, then more sessions of rolling and folding with periods of refrigeration in between, plus an overnight stay in the fridge before baking day. Then you need a ruler and a protractor to cut the dough just right.

And, may I add, that it is completely worth every second.

http://www.weekendbakery.com/posts/classic-french-croissant-recipe/

The result of all that folding and rolling is the production of multiple thin layers of soft dough alternating with even thinner layers of butter. The best description of this process can be found in Robert Capon's excellent reflection/cookbook The Supper of the Lamb (Amazon page HERE). In it he describes the method for puff pastry, which is virtually the same as for croissants, resulting in multiple layers of butter and paste. He concludes with the baking of a pastry cookie:

"He pops it into a 450 ° oven and closes the door. Consider carefully now. There are 257 layers of paste in that cookie, separated by 256 layers of butter . . . But every one of the thin sheets is full of water. Consequently, when, after eight minutes or so, the heat of the oven raises the temperature of the layers above 212 °, the water expands violently into steam. Since. however, the steam is entrapped, it forces the layers apart to make a means of escape--a task made easy now, for the butter has melted and each layer of paste is nicely free of the others . . . At this point he turns the oven down slightly and waits until all the steam is driven out and all the layers have been french-fried by the intervening butter. The triumph of puff paste is complete."
(The Supper of the Lamb, 1967, p. 158)

I have developed a recipe for "Shortcut Croissants" that cuts the prep time so that it can be completed in a single day, with similar although not identical flaky results. I use this recipe to make croissants, but also when I'm make a recipe that calls for the crescent rolls that come in a tube. My main reasons for doing this: 1) As a monk without a car or a check book, sometimes it's easier for me to make something from scratch than to get to the store; 2) Homemade = always better; 3) better nutrition: for example, a single tube crescent roll has 9% of your RDA of sodium. Granted, my recipe uses two sticks of butter, but you could use unsalted butter, which is better for you than partially hydrogenated oils as well.

My recipe for Shortcut Croissants combines traditional fold-and-roll pastry method with another common pastry technique: cutting butter into flour with a pastry knife. The pieces are left larger than one might for pie crust or shortcake, and then the mixture is kneaded in with a soft dough. After a little refrigeration, you do some folding and rolling, let the dough rest again in the fridge, and you are ready to make some flaky goodness. The whole recipe with detailed instructions can be found HERE. Don't try it on a humid day when the kitchen is hot unless you have a lot of experience with rolling dough and can work quickly. That's why I'm sharing it now---it's great fall recipe.

I mixed up this dough last weekend so I could make some appetizers for a cookout. I rolled dough out into two rectangles and spread each with different cream cheese mixture: one was garden vegetable, the other had chopped jalapenos. I rolled the dough up and sliced it like mini cinnamon rolls. After a half hour rise, they went into a 400 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Neither batch lasted very long.

I've also used this dough to make simple breakfast spirals with a pineapple filling. These are very similar to a Danish, but with far less sugar in the dough than for traditional Danish pastry. They are delicious with any flavor of pastry filling: raspberry, cherry, almond, etc. and, there is absolutely no need for frosting!

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Homemade Hamburger Buns

10/20/2014

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Thanks to my cousin Bob sending me the black beauty in the middle, I now have a pretty complete set of stand mixers. I can mix everything from one loaf up to about two dozen. It's like the Three Bears decided to shop at the appliance store. This weekend I was invited to a cookout by some dear friends and decided to christen the new model by making a batch of homemade hamburger buns, using a recipe from King Arthur Flour: you can find it HERE. The recipe makes 18 buns, using a little over three ounces of dough per bun.

You don't have to have the special pans---they're a bit pricey, and I wouldn't have them if they hadn't been deeply discounted at my favorite kitchen store. The main thing is to shape the balls of dough as smoothly as possible, then flatten them to about 3" across. My video on how to shape perfectly round balls of dough might help: find it HERE.

If I had left the dough a little wetter, a little more slack, I would have gotten rolls with flatter bottoms and they'd probably softer, too. But these were sturdy enough to hold up under the pressure of a burger piled high with toppings, so I have no complaints.

A burger with cheddar, tomato, onion, coleslaw and mustard, and crockpot mac and cheese. We had brownies for dessert--it was a meal made of comfort foods!

Next post I'll show off the appetizers I made with a shortcut croissant dough that's not as time-consuming as the traditional pastry dough, and better for you than the stuff that comes out of a tube.

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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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Cream Puffs

Breadhead Bookshelf: Ultimate Bread by Eric Treuille and Ursula Ferrigno

Breadhead Bookshelf: The New Complete Book of Breads by Bernard Clayton, Jr.

Hoska/Vanocka/Stricka

Crescent rolls for Thanksgiving

Cuban Bread

Rice Krispies Pumpkins

Shortcut Croissants

Homemade Hamburger Buns

Pumpkin Pudding Bread

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