Joy!

So this it...my certificate is complete and a new baking blog is in the works for 2011.

Happy holidays!

Finally: Raisins

Raisins, raisins and more raisins this week. Finally a sweet, almost-dessert bread. Yeast, milk, flour, you know the drill + raisins and cinnamon. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees. Made French toast with this last night...mmm...

Happy Easter?

Yes, it's November, but here's some Paska {Easter} bread! This Eastern European bread is often included in the basket of food taken to church to be blessed at Easter time. A sponge {yeast, milk, flour} is left to rest for 30 minutes and then combined with: butter, sugar, eggs, flour, rum, vanilla, raisins and mace {which I had never heard of; it's made of the covering of nutmeg seeds}. Some of the dough is set aside, braided and placed on top of the loaves before being baked for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Focaccia!

All it takes to make this is: yeast, water, flour, salt and olive oil. A very dry dough which, at first, doesn't look like it will come together. Brushed with olive oil and "dimpled" with your fingers to help the toppings stick. Sprinkled with whatever you like, then proofed and baked for 30-40 minutes at 375 degrees. Dinner is served.

Cheesy goodness

A classic, baked in a big metal pan that folds shut and looked to be circa 1950 {loaves end up coming out log-shaped}. Yeast, water, flour, sugar, shortening, salt, milk and malt are mixed; grated cheese is adding in during the last minute of mixing. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

I heart white bread

Pullman bread is supposed to be made in a loaf pan with a lid that slides on, which forces the bread to bake into a perfect square shape. But because they renovated our bake labs at school, these are nowhere to be found so we baked ours in regular loaf pans = giant misshapen loaves that there was no way I could get a good picture of. So I got creative with some cookie cutters. The bread itself is a basic white sandwich bread made with a sponge starter {yeast, water, malt, flour} that is left to rest for 30 minutes and then combined with flour, sugar, milk, shortening & salt. Proofed and baked for 30 minutes at 395 degrees.

Bread donut

Instead of the usual free-form or loaf breads, Italian Bread is shaped into a ring! It takes so little to excite me these days. Ingredients include: flour, water, malt, salt, water & hard flour. After scaling the dough into pieces and rounding it up, you press your fist into the center of each piece and move it around until a hole is formed, creating a ring. The rings are dusted with cornmeal to make the crust tougher. Baking time is 40 minutes at 400 degrees, with the first five minutes baked with steam to make a crispy crust. I found the crust a bit tough for my liking, but the inside was nice and chewy.

Sourdough for breakfast

We used a commercial-made starter for this Sourdough Bread as the real thing takes about three days to make. That, in addition to water, strong baker's flour and yeast is proofed and baked for 30 minutes. I won't lie - it tastes good, but I don't get why you'd spend three days making this. I think the 'Art of Bread' is lost on me sometimes!

Braided & baked

I had always thought Challah Bread would be a lot harder to make than it actually is. Heavy in eggs and a very sticky dough, we used the 4-strand technique to braid this {4 over 2, 1 over 3, 2 over 3...I will be chanting this in my sleep}. I think these loaves were supposed to end up a lot wider but oh well, not a bad first attempt.

It's not what you think

Chop Suey {or "leftover" bread} is actually an American recipe that uses all of those extra ingredients left over at the end of a day in the kitchen - in this case, candied peel, walnuts and raisins. Once the dough has been mixed, rounded up and rested, it's chopped into small pieces and placed on a baking tray. Then the fruit & nut mixture - along with some eggs - is poured over top and mixed in {huge mess}. The pieces are dropped into loaf pans and baked, which is why the bread ends up looking so textured.

This bread is heavy in eggs, unlike the other breads I've made so far. It's also a much sweeter bread than the others, which means it's my current favourite. A mini version of these will be perfect for the holidays.

Chocolate & cherries

Loving this combo this fall. I made Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry cookies with this recipe this week and then came across these Chocolate & Cherry Granola Bars in Inspired magazine. The sweetness of the chocolate + the bitterness of the cherries = so good.

The perfect fall meal

Fresh-baked whole wheat bread and Three Onion Soup from Food & Drink magazine for dinner tonight - and tomorrow night. And the night after that...it's a big pot. There's Vital Wheat Gluten in this bread, which I'd never heard of. It's a gluten booster, which whole wheat bread needs as it's heavier than regular bread. Other than that and whole wheat flour, the recipe is basically the same as the other types of bread I've made so far: water, milk, bread flour, sugar, salt, molasses and a bit of shortening.

Honey & jam

This week, Vienna rolls {flour, milk, yeast, sugar, salt, oil, eggs} with butter & jam. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is only 10 minutes on high heat (450 degrees), which creates a crust but keeps the inside soft and chewy.

Oatmeal bread - my favourite so far - made with a long list, which includes: water, yeast, flour, oats, bran, molasses & honey. Proof time is about 30 minutes and bake time is longer: 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Toasted and covered with honey.

Bread with butter

More white bread this week, this time washed with mmm...butter. I have to say, the amount of wait time involved in bread making is not that welcome on a Monday night at 9pm, but the end result is always good. Had some toast with peanut butter with this batch.

Back with bread

School is back in session! I saved the bread class for last because, well, bread is not covered in icing. It's yeast, it's flour, it's water, the usual suspects.

These did smell amazing coming out of the oven though. Just basic dinner rolls and free-form loaves for Week 1 - more to come.

Baby chocolate cakes

I've made the Barefoot Contessa's Beatty's Chocolate Cake many times - it includes brewed coffee and is truly the moistest, most chocolately chocolate cake I've ever tasted. I halved the recipe for a friend's birthday this week and made two smaller cakes vs. one large one. The portion sizes were perfect; we split one and the other was a take-home treat. Mini-desserts - this could be my new fixation.

And now to Argentina...

I first tried Alfajores at La Merceria, a pretty cafe/home decor shop near my office. They are the Argentinian version of shortbread in the form of little sandwich cookies filled with Dulce de Leche or jam. This version is from the LCBO's Food and Drink magazine and contains both almond & all-purpose flour, butter, grated lemon peel, eggs, vanilla, salt and icing sugar.

Once mixed, the dough is chilled, rolled out and cut into circles. Baking time is 20 minutes at 325 degrees. I made Dulce de Leche for the filling because, duh, it's caramel and who doesn't like caramel? Whole milk & sugar is boiled, then baking soda added and the mixture simmered for about an hour until it browns {I only made a cup's worth; larger batches will take 2-3 hours}. Then you're supposed stir rapidly for 10 minutes until it thickens. Mine turned out kind of watery so I put in the freezer overnight once it cooled and that thickened it up. Whatever dulce you have after leftover after assembling your cookies can be added to your morning latte. Mmmm...

One more batch...

Another one of Elana's Pantry recipes: Dairy-free, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies. Ok, I think I'm good for now, time for a gluten-free break as I have some new books and magazines with recipes I want to try. These were good and were a hit at the office; very moist and it was my first time using almond flour - delicious but expensive!

More gluten-free goods...

So I'm currently obsessed with Elana's Pantry recipes. I still have a few more I want to try. These Blueberry Muffins took 10 minutes to make and were really good, although not as good the next day. So far, I've noticed gluten-free recipes have a shorter shelf life than regular baking; I saved a couple for breakfast and the muffin liners were difficult to peel off. Better as a bake-and-eat treat.

Gluten-free b-day cupcakes

Peanut butter chocolate chip cupcakes from Elana's Pantry for a healthy friend's birthday = easy to make & delicious!

Cheesecake in Mexico

One of my favourites - Mexican style! Sampled at the Playacar Palace {which I loved!} while away this past April. My final baking class will now be in September, but the good news is I have a new kitchen {and new home} so a lot more baking coming soon...as soon as I figure out how to use my gas stove.

Cookies & cream

I love the photography in Martha Stewart's cookbooks, so there are a few recipes I've been inspired to try. These Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes are from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes. They were very simple to make: cream cheese, sugar, salt, sour cream, eggs, vanilla & of course, crushed Oreos, are mixed and poured into cupcake liners that each have an Oreo placed in them. Baked, cooled and refrigerated until set. That's it! {and so good...}

Cinnamon twist finale

This is it: my last Breakfast Breads class! Two variations of a cinnamon coffee cake for our finale, one with a raisin filling, the other a pecan/chocolate chip combo. The dough included a yeast/water/pastry flour slurry {left to rest for 30 minutes}, flour, malt, salt, whole eggs, butter and a milk/yeast slurry {added last}. The dough is rolled out, brushed with butter, covered with filling and rolled into a log. A slit is cut down the center of the log, leaving 2 inches on either side. Then the log is picked up and twisted and placed on a baking sheet or cut to fit in a loaf pan. Proofed and baked at 350 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. It was not bad; the raisin variation was much tastier than the nut one.

Bread class starts in May. Until then, there are a few recipes I've been meaning to try...

Cherries, nuts & poppyseeds

After a break for Family Day weekend, school is back in session. Ingredient-wise, danish dough is similar to croissant dough except that eggs are included. It's moister and the easiest to work with out of the pastry doughs I've made so far. We made poppyseed {above} and nut & cherry {below}. For the poppy seed filling, sugar, honey & water are brought to a boil, poured over poppyseeds and blended with cake crumbs, eggs & cinnamon. The dough was rolled out, covered with filling and rolled into a log and sliced.

The nut filling was a one-step method which included: ground hazelnuts, cake crumbs, butter, sugar, vanilla & spices. The dough for this was rolled out and half was covered with the filling and the uncovered half was folded over it. The dough was then cut into strips and each strip was twisted and then coiled up into a circle. A dollop of cherry filling was then placed in the center of each.

Both types of danishes were proofed and baked at 390 degrees for about 15 minutes. The poppyseed ones were dusted with icing sugar and the nut ones were brushed with apricot glaze {I could have done without that - too sticky!}.

Fluffy!

So it turns out bagels are pretty easy to make. Yeast and lukewarm water are mixed to make a slurry, then bread & rye flour, vegetable oil, sugar and salt are added on top. After being mixed for 5 minutes, the dough is kneaded, rounded up and left to rest for 30 minutes. We also made a cinnamon-raisin version of the dough. Here the dough is mixed for 4 minutes, then the cinnamon & raisins are added in and everything is mixed for an additional 2 minutes.

After the resting period, the dough is divided into 100g pieces and rolled into balls. Using the end of a wooden spoon, a hole is poked through the center of each ball and stretched open to form a ring. Each ring is dropped into a pot of boiling, salted water until it floats {this only takes about 10 seconds}. To make poppyseed or sesame seed versions, the tops of the bagels are dipped into the seeds after coming out of the water. Then these go into the oven for 20-30 minutes at 375 degrees. I really liked how chewy they came out; definitely not as dense as a Montreal-style bagel.

Voila!

Croissant dough is similar to puff pastry, but the fold-in process is simpler {3 single folds}. We made ours last week and froze it, then rolled out the thawed-out dough in today's class. It was then cut into triangle shapes and filled with either chocolate or almond paste. Then, the widest end of the triangle is rolled towards you {à la Pillsbury croissants in the can} and the "tails" of the croissant are pinched together {they separate in the oven but this ensures the croissant keeps its crescent shape}. Baking time is 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Drizzled with melted chocolate, gone in a day.

Hot buns

It looks like most of our breakfast breads are going to involve yeast and proofing and waiting. Eating the result is worth it but sometimes you don't want to stand around at 9am waiting for bread to rise, you know?

I've never eaten a Chelsea Bun before, but it's basically a cinnamon bun with some candied cherries in it. Brown sugar, salt, shortening and milk powder are mixed + one egg + sifted bread & pastry flour. Finally, a yeast & warm water slurry is added on top and everything is mixed for about 6 minutes. The dough is left to rest for 30 minutes.

Instead of baking ours individually, we baked 6 to a pan {the top photo is one of the extra buns that didn't fit into the pan}. Caramel glaze {brown, sugar, sugar, butter, honey, water} is spread onto the bottom of the lined pan and topped with cherries. The dough is rolled out into a large sheet and covered with caramel glaze, cinnamon sugar, pecans and raisins. The sheet is rolled into a log and sliced into buns, which a placed in the pan and proofed until the buns expand enough that the gaps between them are filled. THEN they are baked for 40 minutes at 360 degrees.

Lots of work on these, but when the pans are inverted and all that gooey caramel drips out you forget that you just spent 3 hours on them. Mmmmm...

Bonjour brioche!

School is back in session for the new year, which means it's time for Breakfast Breads! I doubt anyone loves breakfast as much as I do so a whole class dedicated to it means many calories and less sharing with my co-workers than usual.

Brioche is a sweet bread that consists of: a sponge {flour, milk, yeast} that has been set aside for 30 minutes, combined with a dough made of flour, salt, sugar, eggs {whole + yolks}, lemon zest & vanilla. Butter goes in last and the resulting dough is set aside and covered for 20-40 minutes. After being kneaded, the dough is separated into balls which are placed into a pan, proofed for 20 minutes and baked for 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

It's pretty good; I'll add raisins when I make this again.

A healthier option

I don't think most bakers are excited at the prospect of a "healthier choice" when it comes to coffee cakes, but it's good to have a couple of options in case there are any calorie counters in your circle of friends. There is still sugar in this Apple Oatmeal coffee cake, but no butter for a change. Flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, allspice, cinnamon, oats, vegetable oil, egg, vanilla {see what I mean about these types of cakes having so many ingredients?}, and of course, peeled & chopped apples are mixed and poured into a pan and baked for 350 degrees for one hour. The glaze is a combination of icing sugar, water & cider.

A German favourite

Plum kuchen is one of those dense European-type cakes. Butter & sugar are creamed, egg, vanilla & almond extract are added, then flour, baking powder & salt. The batter is piped into the pan and topped with fresh plums. Before being baked for 40 minutes at 350 degrees, a mixture of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and brown sugar is sprinkled over the plums. Once cooled, apricot glaze is brushed on for a nice, shiny look.