The Bread is in the Baking

While looking for recipes for dessert last night I stumbled upon this lovely recipe. I LOVE brioche. For those of you who don't known, brioche is similar to challah but more like pastry bread.

I found this recipe on the Foodbeam blog, a blog I have been wanting to try out for a while, but their recipes are very fancy so I hadn't gotten a chance. This recipe is not real fancy, just takes a bit of time since you have to let the dough rise overnight. Which makes this recipe perfect for breakfast (although morning prep and bake will take roughly 1-2 hours).

I changed very little of this recipe: I used more flour than the recipe asked for because the dough was still very sticky after 4 cups of flour. I used 5-10 chocolate chips in each brioche instead of chocolate squares.

Chocolate Heart Brioche

makes 24 small brioches

500ml warm milk
42g fresh yeast
4-8 cups flour
200g caster sugar (regular sugar works fine too)
a pinch of salt
2 large eggs
160g melted butter
24 milk or dark chocolate squares (or 1/3- 1/2 cup chocolate chips)

Combine the milk, yeast and a teaspoon of the sugar in a bowl. Stir once or twice and allow rising for 10 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix 4 cups of flour, remaining sugar and salt and pour the yeast mixture on top of it.
Add the eggs and melted butter and mix, first with a round knife and then with your hands – until it forms a ball.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead for 8-10 minutes. It should be soft and not sticky. (You can knead the dough in the bowl if it is large enough)
Butter a large bowl generously. Place the dough in the buttered bowl and let rise overnight in the fridge.

The next morning, allow the dough to come to room temperature (this is not completely necessary though it will make your brioche a bit lighter.
Preheat the oven to 393°F (200°C).
Knead the dough and cut off pieces of dough to form small 90g balls and insert a chocolate square in the centre of each ball.

Fill two 12-bun muffin tin with the dough balls and let rise for 20 minutes (I put muffin cups in the tin, but it's not necessary if you grease the tins and they come out far prettier if you don't). Brush with a little egg, then bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

If the tops get too brown loosely cover with foil.

Total Time: roughly 14 hours (40 minutes to make dough, set over night and then 1-2 hours to prep and bake in the morning

The beautiful picture was taken by my dad. THANK YOU!

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Yesterday I was lazing around in my bedroom and my mom peaked her head in.
"We're having company tonight, what should we make? I was thinking ratatouille and then some meat."
"Salmon?"
"We always do salmon..."
"yeah, but salmon is good."
"Okay, so Salmon, ratatouille and polenta?"
"Yum."
"We need a dessert, can you make it? It just needs to be chocolate."
"Sure thing."
So I went online and searched my favorite food blogs and found a chocolate pistachio cake.
Now, I don't like pistachios. I did at one point, but I think I ate too many in one sitting and got sick, so I don't like them anymore. Even if they are kind of fun to crack open. But what my family does really like are walnuts. And walnuts and chocolate go really well together. So I substituted walnuts for the pistachios and the cake came out beautifully!
This cake is not a light cake, if you want it to be lighter I would try substituting some of the regular flour with cake flour (but don't take my word on it, I haven't tried).

Chocolate Walnut Swirl Cake with chocolate ganache

Chocolate part of the cake

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup butter (room temp.)
1 and 1/8 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt (greek is fine)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chocolate chips (plus a little extra)

Walnut part

1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup butter (room temp.)
1 and 1/8 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup plain yogurt (greek is fine)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

Ganache:
120 g (3 oz) semisweet dark chocolate
125 ml (1/2 C) whipping cream
(this ganache is a bit bitter, if you want it to be sweeter I'd ad 1 tsp of sugar)

Preheat your oven to 360 F. Grease a 10-inch cake or loaf pan, preferably nonstick with a removable bottom.

Prepare the chocolate batter.
In a food processor, mix together sugar and butter until fluffy. Add in eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in the yogurts and the vanilla extract and mix again. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and the cocoa mixture. Add the flour mixture into the food processor and mix again until just combined. Pour the batter into the cake pan, and reserve in the refrigerator.

Rinse the bowl of the food processor, and prepare the walnut batter:
Mix together the sugar, butter. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing between each. Add in the yogurts and mix again. In a medium bowl, combine the flour with the baking powder and baking soda, and the chopped walnuts. Add into the food processor and mix again until just combined.

Take the cake pan out of the fridge, and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the surface of the chocolate batter. Gently pour the pistachio batter on top, and smooth out the surface with a spatula. Put into the oven to bake for about an hour or until a cake tester comes out clean. Let rest for five minutes on the counter, then turn out on a rack to cool completely.

Prepare the ganache:

Melt the dark chocolate with the whipping cream in a double boiler (or in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water), stirring with a spoon regularly until completely melted and velvety. Let the ganache rest in the fridge until it has thickened a bit, about 30 minutes to an hour, and frost the cake using a small spatula.

Let the cake cool completely before frosting.

Total Time: About 2 hours

The beautiful picture was taken by my dad! Thanks!

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Stir fry is one of those things that once you figure out what flavors you like it's really easy to make. I made this lovely stir fry while I was in Australia. I'm a huge veggie fan (as my homestay parents can attest to) and this is by far one of my favorite stir fry's. You should use this recipe as a jumping off point, not the end all be all stir fry. Figure out what you like and what you don't and do what you want!

FIRST AND FOREMOST CUT ALL THE VEGGIES UP! This will make cooking a lot less hectic. You won't be all "ohmygod the asparagus isn't cut and the broccoli is burning!" I always forget to do this, or maybe I just think I'm some sort of superstar and I can do everything while other ingredients are cooking, but I can't. And most recipes don't tell you to do this first so I just jump right in.

Veggies and Tofu Stir Fry
1 large head of broccoli (chopped into bite-size florets)
1 bunch of asparagus (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces)
1 bag of spinach
1 block of tofu (cut up into about 18 pieces)
1/4 cup hoison sauce
2 tbs finely cut ginger
3/4 cup cashews (diced)
2 garlic cloves (diced)
2 tbs vegetable oil
1 tbs sesame seed oil

Heat the sesame seed oil in a large wok or frying pan and lightly fry the tofu until all the pieces are brown on all sides. Remove the tofu, making sure to leave as much of the oil as possible, and place them in a bowl covered in a paper towel to soak up the extra grease. Add 1 tbs of the veggie oil, the garlic and the broccoli into the pan and cover it with a lid for a couple minutes stirring every minute or so (this will steam the broccoli). Then add the asparagus and cover again for a minute or two. Pour the hoison sauce over the vegetables and stir till everything is completely covered by the sauce. Add the spinach and cook till all the spinach has wilted. Add in the tofu you set aside and the cashews.

Serve alone or over rice!

This should feed 3-5 people

Total Time: About 45 minutes

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Okay, so before I made this, I thought that making your own icy treats was really hard. I'd see ice cream recipes and just think "nope, too hard. Can't do that" and move on to the other recipes.
So now I'm just going to tell you from experience:
MAKING ICE CREAM IS REALLY REALLY EASY.

You just need the right machinery to make it, and by machinery I mean you need an ice cream maker.

This recipe for frozen yogurt is really good, I adapted it from a recipe from Tartlette. The original recipe on that site is for Asian Pear Frozen Yogurt, but they aren't in season so I used raspberries instead, from the backyard.
Fancy fancy!

Raspberry Frozen Yogurt

2 Cups of fresh raspberries (or whatever fruit you want to use)
1/4 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon or lime juice
16 oz. Greek yogurt (use a little less if you don't like it too tart)
1/2 cup sugar (use a little more if you like it sweeter)
generous pinch of fine sea salt

Rinse and strain raspberries and sprinkle lemon/lime juice over them then place in blender and puree until the raspberries have become a smooth jam-like consistency. Mix greek yogurt, sugar, salt and raspberry puree in a large bowl, cover with plastic and place in the fridge for 1 hour.
Churn the mixture in your ice cream maker according to manufacturer's directions (which is about 30 minutes of really really annoying noise).

NOTE: This recipe does take some planning in advance, your ice cream mixing bowl needs to be frozen before you can churn it, which takes about a day to do. My family just leaves the bowl in the freezer all the time, so whenever we feel like making something with it, it's ready to use.

Total Time: About 2 hours

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First soup post! This soup is really good and simple. I'm excited to make it when I go back to college next year. I found this soup on Cookbook 101, one of my favorite recipe sites. The soup is vegetarian and you don't need to add any broth to it. I changed the recipe a little from the site, I used nonfat yogurt and canned diced tomatoes instead of crushed.

Greens and Lentil Soup

2 cups black beluga lentils (or green French lentils), picked over and rinsed (I used French)
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
2 cups water
3 cups of a chard/kale/etc. rinsed well, finely chopped (I used chard and it was very nice)

Saffron Yogurt
a pinch of saffron (30-40 threads)
1 tablespoon boiling water
two pinches of salt
1/2 cup Non-fat Greek Yogurt
(I did make the saffron yogurt, but I think plain greek yogurt would have worked fine too, since Saffron is pretty pricey)


Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large saucepan, add the lentils, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until tender. Drain and set aside.

While the lentils are cooking, make the saffron yogurt by combining the saffron threads and boiling water in a tiny cup. Let the saffron steep for a few minutes. Now stir the saffron along with the liquid into the yogurt. Mix in the salt and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat, then add the onion and salt and saute until tender, a couple minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, lentils, and water and continue cooking for a few more minutes, letting the soup come back up to a simmer. Stir in the chopped greens, and wait another minute. Taste and adjust the seasoning if need be. Ladle into bowls, and serve with a dollop of the saffron yogurt.

Total Time: 1 hour

NOTE: would go very well with a crusty bread, like the baguettes or the dark rye

Picture courtest of Eddie Barksdale

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It's the end of my sophomore year at college and I had a can of pumpkin under my bed, not something I really need to bring home, soooo what's a girl to do?
MAKE PUMPKIN BREAD, or a pumpkin loaf as I like to call it since there's no yeast in it and you don't have to let it rise, and those are the defining characteristics for bread to me.
I found this recipe online, it's pretty decent. Very light and soft. I would like a stronger pumpkin taste, but it's nice and sweet. I changed the recipe a little, I substituted some pumpkin pie spices for one of the cinnamon tsp (because I only had about a teaspoon of it left). I was unable to add pecans, because I didn't have any, but I think it would probably make it taste better and add some crunch.

Pumpkin Loaf
3 1/3 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons Baking soda
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 1/2 teaspoons Salt
2 2/3 cups Sugar
2/3 cup Vegetable Oil
4 Eggs
1 can (15 oz) Pumpkin
2/3 cup Water
1/2 cup Pecans chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 325.
Mix dry ingredients together. Beat sugar and vegetable oil together until blended (mixture will still look dry). Add eggs, 1 at a time, until blended. Add pumpkin and mix thoroughly. Add dry ingredients a little at a time, alternating with water. Mix in pecans Pour batter into 2 9x5x3 or 5- 5 3/2x3 loaf pans. Sprinkle tops of loaves with cinnamon sugar before baking.

Bake at 325 for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes before removing from pans. If you use smaller pans it will take about 50 minutes instead, not a lot less time.

 Total Time: About 1 hour and 30 minutes

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These are one of my favorite desserts. I first had one in Portland at Ken's Bakery, which is one of my favorite Bakeries, the other favorite being Bakery Nouveau. One in Portland, one is Seattle.

ANYWAY, back to Canelés. Canelés are a french pastry with a dark caramelized outside and a soft dough center. They have a rich buttery flavor and you can add citrus zest to give them more of a bite, if that's what you like. They come in a many sizes, but you need a specific mold in order to make them. The mold helps make the outside of the Canelé hard and crunch, while leaving the inside creamy.
The mold I use can be found on amazon, I bought a silicon mold that makes 18 tiny canelés, but I'm probably going to buy some larger molds soon. The silicon mold works very nicely because it's very easy to pop the canelés out, but if you get any batter on the outside of the mold it'll stains the mold.
I've tried a couple of variations of this recipe and I only achieved success with the last recipe. I've made the recipe a little simpler and added a little more flour. The batter can also be left in the fridge to use later for about 3 days. You'll just need to stir it back together.

Canelés
2 cups whole milk
18 tablespoons sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod, split
4 tablespoons butter
16 tablespoons flour
2 egg yolks
3 teaspoon dark rum
Butter for the molds(unless you're using silicon molds, than none is needed.

Preheat the oven to 375.

In a medium saucepan heat milk, sugar, vanilla, and butter until butter has completely melted. Let cool completely (and remove vanilla pod if you used it).

When milk is completely cool add the egg yolks and rum, and then gradually add the flour. Mix with a whisk until batter is smooth and no flour lumps.

Butter molds with melted butter and let stand for 2-3 minutes. Spoon batter into molds just below the rim.

Cook for about 1 1/2 hours. If you use smaller molds you will only need to cook them for about an hour.

Total Time: About 2 1/2 hours

Note: My dad pointed out a couple weeks ago that I had used a couple different spellings for "canelés". I changed this entry so the spelling is the same throughout the post, BUT I have found different variations on the spelling including: Canelle, canele, cannele and cannelle. All the different spellings will turn up different recipes.

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