Bread pudding is one of those easy things to whip up, and if you are familiar with Michael Ruhlman‘s book Ratios, once you understand that bread pudding is basically custard with lots of stuff in it, [...]]]>
Bread pudding is one of those easy things to whip up, and if you are familiar with Michael Ruhlman‘s book Ratios, once you understand that bread pudding is basically custard with lots of stuff in it, you are pretty much open to freestyle it.
The custard for this is a basic 2:1 custard (2 parts milk or cream to 1 part beaten eggs), sweetened with a bit of sugar, and spiced however you like. I rummaged through the cupboards and decided to sweeten the custard with brown sugar, spike it with a bit of bourbon, and toss in some chocolate chips. Don`t forget to bake this in a water bath! It may seem like a hassle, but it really does help make the custard nice and creamy.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix liquid ingredients and pour over the bread in an 8-inch square pan. Let sit for at least 15 minutes, and bake in a water bath for 35-45 minutes, until just set in the centre.
You know the drill! If its got yeast in it, it goes over to Yeastspotting! Check out all the yeasty treats this week!
]]>Last week, I realized that I had not yet tackled the August challenge [...]]]>
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers’ cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.”
Last week, I realized that I had not yet tackled the August challenge for the Daring Bakers, so I set aside a day to make the Dobos Torte. If you think you might want to try this one, you can find the recipe on the Daring Kitchen website.
At first pass, the recipe looked complicated, but when I actually sat down and read thru the recipe, I realized that each component was fairly straightforward. This was one that I had not tried before, so I decided to make the recipe as written — no substitutions. One kind of cool factoid that came along with the recipe was that it was passed on thru the Budapest Confectioners’ and Gingerbread Makers’ Chamber of Industry. Who knew there was a Chamber of Industry dedicated to confectionery and gingerbread making!!!
Because I had other things to do during the day, I ended up making this in stages, making the cake layers first, then making the the buttercream and icing the cake, and finally tackling the caramel layer.
The cake layers themselves start out much like a genoise, although the whites and yolks are separated. Here’s an action shot of the yolks!
And the billowy peaks of the whites…
You spread out the cake batter really thin on sheets of parchment, so they only take about 5 minutes apiece to bake. Even though you have lots of layers to bake, it goes pretty fast. I like the neutral flavour of the layers, and I really like the versatility of baking the layers on a sheet pan — you can cut to pretty much any size/shape you want. I see more of these in my future.
The buttercream was interesting to make, as it starts similar to a swiss buttercream, but uses whole eggs rather than egg whites. I used Callebault chocolate in mine, and it could have used more chocolate in it. As it was, it was tasty, but next time I will amp up the chocolate factor. I think the layers would also be very nice with strawberry buttercream. One thing about this approach to the buttercream, is that it results in a really silky smooth icing — perfect for frosting. It’s also nice and light, so the individual layers don’t get weighed down with a heavy filling.
Finally, I made the caramel layer. One cake layer was kept in reserve, and the caramel drizzled over the top, to make each piece stiff enough to stand up on its own. The caramel recipe here calls for lemon juice, and in retrospect, I prefer the straightforward taste of caramel. I also had read of a number of other people who had problems with the caramel setting up too quickly. I was working with a cake layer at room temperature, so didn’t have any problem, and could have actually let it cool a bit.
Here’s the final product, with a coating of toasted hazelnuts on the side. Another change I think I would make next time is to marry more hazelnut flavour throughout, perhaps soaking each layer with a bit of Frangelico, so the exterior related a bit better to the overall flavour of the cake.
This cake keeps quite well, as promised, and is actually best served after a period of chilling, to ensure the buttercream is nice and firm.
All in all, I think that this is one to keep in the cake repertoire, as there are a lot of potential jumping off points. The cake layers would be easy to change the flavour, and would go with a lot of different buttercream options. I also like the caramel topping as a quick way to jazz up an otherwise plain cake, and the cake layers for this could easily be cut into different shapes.
Thanks to Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella for hosting this month’s challenge. Stay tuned to see what daring surprise gets baked next month.
]]>I find that the two doughs I use the most, are the basic boule dough, and the brioche dough. The basic dough can be used for so many things, not just a boule. I’ve used it for pizza dough, flatbreads, enriched a bit with olive oil, it makes great focaccio, and of course, artisan-style boule with great crackly crust, and you can also throw fresh herbs, onions, etc into the dough as you form it. I also really like the brioche dough as a basic enriched dough that is not too sweet. Most often, it gets used for things like cinnamon rolls, but we made the lemon-blueberry curd ring the other day, and I have made quick danishes as well. I’ve also made larger loaves, which sliced, make great French Toast.
A couple of days ago, there was about 1/4 batch of brioche dough left in the fridge. I could have frozen, it, but, I decided to use it up by making 4 brioche stuffed with some ganache that was sitting in the fridge. This couldn’t be easier:
Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces, fold the edges over on themselves to make a small ball (surface tension is important!). Flatten the ball, and put a tablespoon of cold ganache in the centre. Fold the edges over on themselves again to seal in the ganache, and roll into a smooth ball.
Let these little guys rest for about 40-60 minutes, to allow the dough to come up to room temperature (remember it was in the fridge!). This won’t double in size like conventioinal dough, but will have a lot of oven spring — I promise!
While the buns are resting, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until about 200 degrees internally. From the first picture, you can see we had a little accident with one that didn’t get sealed up tightly enough! When you cut into these, you get the nice fluffy, rich brioche dough (not too sweet), and the insides are filled with creamy, chocolatey ganache. Add a freshly brewed coffee, and you have a perfect afternoon snack!
Ganache-filled Brioche
1/4 recipe Brioche dough from Artisan Bread in 5 minutes per day (go get the book!!!). This dough doesn’t keep in the fridge as long as the rest, but you can always freeze it. It thaws just fine in the fridge overnight.
4 tablespoons bittersweet chocolate ganache.
P.S. Zoe and Jeff have a second book coming out in October, called “Healthy Bread in Five Minutes per day“. Same concept, but full of whole grain goodness and gluten-free options
See more yummy yeasty treats at Yeastspotting!
]]>Recently I came across this recipe for Gluten-free Cookie Bars by Julie Hasson over at Everyday Dish TV, and we have a friend who has been going through some food-related problems, so I figured I would test them out on him and hubby. For me, its all about the taste and texture — who cares if its gluten-free or vegan if it tastes like cardboard! I’m a firm believer in enjoying your food — there is more to food than just its nutrient components! I don’t want to be cooking for people if they are going to feel as though they are deprived of something.
Baking gluten-free does require stocking a few extras in your pantry: I had some of the items already (flax seeds, egg replacer, chickpea and soy flour), but added a couple of extras (gluten-free AP flour, xantham gum). Most are readily available at your local health food store, and some supermarkets are now stocking some of these items.
I have found that many of the vegan baked goods go together quite easily — no mixer required. Because you are not creaming butter, or using stiffer ingredients, it doesn’t require arms of Hercules to incorporate all the ingredients! This was a bit of a stiffer batter, but completely manageable. I opted to bake these in 2 8-inch square pans (recipe uses a 9×13), for 2 reasons:
Here’s the final result: They had great texture, nice and chocolatey (I used 1 cup of chocolate chips rather than 1 1/2 cups as that was all I had), crispy on the outside, chewy in the interior, and they had a great taste without being overly sweet. Hubby seemed surprised that they had no butter in them (he’s not normally free with comments, so this is good!). I am thinking of using this as a jumping off point for other flavourings and other additions (dried cranberries and vegan white chocolate chips? orange zest and oil with dried blueberries?)
Thanks Julie for a great recipe!
]]>Chicken Pot Pie
What’s comfort food without chocolate? I’ve been meaning to test-drive the new Bakers’ premium 70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate for a while, so I decided to make some molten chocolate cakes to test it out. The verdict: two thumbs up, not quite as good as the Ghiardelli, but definitely a couple of steps up from the semisweet, and good to have on-hand in the pantry.
molten chocolate cakes