No Need to Knead Focaccia

My camera is still broke but thank goodness my oven isn't! Today I baked focaccia bread from Suzanne Dunaway's No Need to Knead book on Italian breads. Since the NY Times No Knead Bread baked so successfully, I was delighted to find that there were more recipes just like it. Even though the book says that most of these bread recipes could be done in 90 minutes or so, I preferred letting my focaccia dough rise in the refrigerator for about 18 hours. Bread couldn't get any easier than this! :)

Focaccia
(from No Need to Knead by Suzanne Dunaway)

2 cups lukewarm water (85 to 95F)
2 tsp active dry yeast (or 1 1/2 tsp instant yeast)
4 cups unbleached bread flour
2 tsp kosher salt

olive oil
fresh chopped rosemary
sea salt

In a large bowl, mix the warm water and yeast together until dissolved. Stir in the salt and 2 cups of the bread flour and mix for about 2 minutes. Then add in the remaining 2 cups of flour and mix for another 2 minutes. I basically just stirred until the dough was well combined (didn't really bother looking at the time). Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the refrigerator overnight. Two hours before baking, take the focaccia dough out and let it do its second rise in a warm place.

Preheat your oven to 500F. There are a variety of shapes you can do for focaccia but I did the traditional one in the jelly roll pan. Just pour your dough into a oiled jelly roll pan and with your fingers dipped in cold water, make dents in the dough and spread it outwards to fill the pan. Sprinkle the dough with the olive oil, sea salt, and rosemary to your liking. Turn down the oven to about 450F and then bake the focaccia for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Blog Update with a side of Coffee "Tea" Cake

My camera has been out-of-service over the last week so even though I have been cooking and baking, I haven't been motivated to post without having any pictures. I baked french bread, a jelly roll cake, ham and onion fritatta, timbale, and most recently Coffee "Tea" Cakes. These turned out absolutely wonderful and delicious and if any of you are scone fans, you'll definitely have to try these out.

Coffee "Tea" Cakes
(from Fine Cooking)

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup plus 1 tsp firmly packed light brown sugar
1 1/2 tbsp finely ground coffee beans (from about 1 heaping tbsp whole beans)
1/2 cup (1/4 lb) cold butter, cubed
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cold brewed espresso or double-strength coffee
1 tsp granulated sugar


Preheat your oven to 350F.

For mixing all the ingredients, I used my 12-cup food processor. You can use a standing mixer or just a regular bowl but you'll need a pastry cutter to cut in the butter. Anyhow, combine together your dry ingredients namely the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar and ground coffee into your food processor and give it a whir until it is well combined. Add the butter in and pulse until the piece of your butter are the size of marbles (or so the recipe states but I just pulsed until it was like small pebbles like how I do with my pie pastry).

Next add your cream, vanilla and cold espresso and blend until just combined and your mixture has become like a dough. Put it out onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pat into a round about 6-8 inches wide. Sprinkle some brown sugar on top (you could also add some white granulated sugar as well) and cut the circle into 8 equal pieces. You won't need to separate them from each other as you do normally with scones.

Bake until firm but still springy, 40 to 50 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack and then recut your wedges to serve.

Yeast-Raised Pancakes

After trying these out, I'm a bit interested in making some yeast-raised waffles. These pancakes are not too sweet and so need generous amounts of maple syrup for a sweeter breakfast.

Yeast-Raised Pancakes
(from Pancakes: From Morning Till Midnight by Dorie Greenspan)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 packet active dry yeast or instant yeast
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/2 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 large eggs, beaten


1. Whisk together the flours and salt in a medium bowl. Proof (if necessary) your yeast and sugar in the 1/2 cup warm water. Warm the milk and butter together either on the stove or in the microwave to about 105F. Combine the yeast mixture in with the milk/butter mixture and then pour into the flour mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and either let it rise overnight in the refrigerator or for an hour or two at room temperature. If you had done the former, let it rest for 20 minutes at room temperature before adding the eggs.
2. Stir down the batter and add in the beaten eggs. Your batter will be smooth and not your typical lumpy pancake batter.
3. Ladle onto a medium-hot skillet and fry until the surface is bubbly and golden on the bottom. Flip over and cook for another minute or two until golden brown.
4. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Polenta Pie

Since my boyfriend adores anything with a lot of tomato sauce and cheese I thought I'd give this recipe a shot since finding it at Epicurious. I had some store-bought polenta (from Trader Joes) hanging around and thought this would be a good time to use it. I don't particularly find the taste of store-bought polenta that good so it might be better to make some homemade polenta next time.

You can find the recipe for it here.

Instead of using a jar of tomato sauce for this recipe (I had none), I decided to make some all-purpose tomato sauce that's quite easy to make. It makes for a good dipping sauce for breadsticks as well.

All-Purpose Tomato Sauce
(from Cooks Illustrated)

1 large garlic clove, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tomato paste
28 ounce can whole tomatoes, chopped/crushed and juice reserved
Table salt and ground black pepper to taste
2-3 fresh basil leaves, shredded or 1/2 tsp dried

In a large saucepan, warm garlic in 2 tablespoons oil over low heat until soft, but not colored. Stir in tomato paste, then the tomatoes and their liquid. Simmer, uncovered, until the sauce coats the back of a spoon, about 25 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper; before serving, stir in basil and remaining tablespoon oil.

Chocolate & Vanilla: Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes

Sorry about the lack of posts recently. School has started and we have been apartment hunting all week. We've finally narrowed it down to 2-3 places which have all the amenities that I need (that most importantly a dishwasher). Unfortunately, we probably won't be getting a place with a gas stove like I had wanted but we'll be having a dishwasher and a washer and dryer which are pretty important as well.

I haven't been cooking as much either but I did bake these chocolate cupcakes which turned out to be only slightly disappointing. They are, of course, from Gale Gand's Chocolate & Vanilla book, and although everyone liked them here I was pretty disappointed with the "cream cheese-stuffed" part. With 4 ounces of cream cheese only, it could hardly "stuff" 24 cupcakes. If I ever made this recipe again, I would definitely double the filling.

Another thing is that the frosting really wasn't frosting; it was definitely more of a ganache and the recipe made way too much for 24 cupcakes. Plus it asks for 1 1/2 cups of cocoa which I think is a little excessive (I hardly see recipes calling for more than 3/4 cup of cocoa). 1/4 cup or 1/2 cup probably would have been sufficient and reducing the sugar as well. In fact, I don't think I could tell the difference between this ganache and just a regular cream and chocolate made ganache so I highly recommending just making the frosting with 1/2 cup of cream with 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate (or more if it doesn't frost enough cupcakes).

Cream Cheese-Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes
(from Chocolate & Vanilla)

Filling:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cupcakes:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp white vinegar
1 tbsp instant coffee crystals (optional)
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting:
8 tbsp unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar
1 1/2 cups cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-processed
Pinch of salt
1 cup heavy cream
1 tsp instant coffee crystals (optional)
1/2 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Make the filling: In an electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese until fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the egg yolk and vanilla and beat on medium until well blended (scrape sides of bowl if necessary). Put mixer on low and mix in the sugar and chips. Set aside.

Make the cupcakes: Preheat oven to 350F and line 2 muffin pans with cupcake paper liners. In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) and then in a large measuring cup, combine together the hot water, oil, vinegar, coffee, and vanilla extract. Combine the wet ingredients into the large bowl of dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Lumps are okay. Fill each cupcake liner to about 2/3 full. Add a dollop of the cream cheese mixture into the center (be careful about portioning out the cream cheese mixture if you hadn't doubled the recipe). Bake for about 30 to 35 minutes or until the cupcakes have puffed up and are firm to the touch. Remove from oven and cool (I removed them from the tin and cooled them on a wire rack).

Make the frosting: Melt the butter in a saucepan . Stir in the sugar, cocoa, and salt. Then whisk in the heavy cream and instant coffee crystals and cook over low heat until the sugar has dissolved. The mixture should never simmer or boil. Take off the heat and stir in the sour cream and vanilla. Let the mixture cool until the frosting thickens and becomes spreadable (about 1 hour). If too thin stir in some powdered sugar. When cupcakes are cool, spread the tops with frosting.

Note: When I made the frosting, it came out to be too thin and I ended up adding a lot of powdered sugar to the mixture. This frosting does not taste too different from normal ganache made with equal parts heavy cream and chocolate so next time I would make that instead since this recipe is a little on the "expensive" side using so much cocoa powder.

Cloverleaf Dinner Rolls

Tonight we had delicious leftover pot roast and gravy with warm goat cheese salad and these heavenly buttery biscuits you see on the left. I have to say that the photo does not do these rolls justice. So you'll have to make them yourself to see how you won't be able to stop eating them. :)

Beth's Favorite Buttermilk Dinner Rolls
(from The Bread Bible by Beth Hensperger)

1 tbsp (1 package) active dry yeast
pinch of sugar
1/4 cup warm water (105F-115F)
1 cup warm buttermilk (105F-115F)
2 tbsp sugar or honey
Grated zest of 1 lemon
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, or olive oil
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tsp salt (kosher)
4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Rich Egg Glaze (Mix 1 egg with 1 tbsp of milk)
3 tbsp sesame, poppy, or fennel seeds


1. Combine your yeast, sugar, and warm water in a small bowl and stir to dissolve. Let stand 10 minutes to proof if necessary.
2. In a large bowl or electric mixer, combine the buttermilk, sugar, lemon zest, melted butter, egg, salt, and yeast mixture. Add 1 1/2 cups of flour and mix until smooth and creamy. Switch to the dough hook attachment (if you are using an electric mixer) and add in the rest of your flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough clears the sides and no longer looks overly batter-like (yes, batter-like is a technical term :P). Knead the dough by hand for about 4-7 minutes or 3-4 minutes if kneading by mixer. Knead briefly by hand if doing by mixer.
3. Place dough in a oiled bowl and let rise until double, or about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. If kitchen is not warm, place in a slightly warmed oven (make sure oven is not on while dough is there).
4. Place dough onto a lightly floured work surface. There are many different ways to shape rolls but I've made cloverleaf rolls so that's what I'll explain. You divide your dough in half and then divide those two halves into 8 pieces. For each piece, split into 3 equal pieces and place in a oiled muffin tin making sure they are touching each other. Cover with plastic and let rise for about 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 375F. Brush each roll with your egg glaze and sprinkle with seeds if you please. Bake in oven for about 15 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack but these are best eaten warm with a generous slathering of butter.

French Bread V 2.0

Finally a success! The bread rose very well and after baking ended up with a very crunchy crust and super soft inside. I could definitely tell the difference between my previous batch and this batch. This batch you could squeeze the bread and it would give way indicating a lovely soft dough inside. This recipe is based upon the Minimalist loaf (New York Times No Knead Bread) and some advice I got from the forums.

French Bread

2 cups bread flour, preferably King Arthur's Flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 1/2 cups tepid water

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or your hand. Add in the warm water and mix until combined and doughy. Put in a clean, oiled bowl and let rise about 12-15 hours. Room temperature should be 70F or so but just make sure it rises to about 10 cups.

2. Put dough out onto lightly floured surface. Cut into two pieces and flatten out. Doing this to both pieces, take the end nearest you and fold forward. Using the side of your hand or palm of your hand and seal the seam. Repeat with side farthest from you. Turn dough over, smooth top, and shape into a long, loaf-like shape by rolling it on the surface (make sure most of the dough is of even thickness). Place in a french bread pan or make-shift one with some heavy towels (make folds inbetween loaves). Cover with towel and let rise about 2 hours or until puffy.

3. Preheat the oven to 450F-500F (the hotter the better). If you are using a baking stone or tiles (I highly recommend it), preheat the oven for about an hour to get the stone good and hot. Spritz your loaves with water and then put in the hot oven. After 2 minutes, spritz loaves again with water. Repeat 2 more times every two minutes. Then bake for 20-25 minutes. Let sit for about 30 minutes before slicing.

French Toast with Chocolate Babka

So with all the leftover chocolate babka I had I needed to do something with it. It won't do as breadcrumbs or croutons but perhaps it would make a very nice french toast, I had thought. Well it turned out quite good and the bit of chocolate made it dessert-like.

French Toast (using Chocolate Babka)
Serves 2

4 slices chocolate babka, sliced thickly (you can also use brioche or challah; you can also stale the bread the night before if your bread was freshly made)
3/4-1 cup whole milk (you can use cream or half-and-half but not non-fat or low-fat milk :P)
2 eggs
1/4 cup vanilla sugar (or regular granulated sugar)
1 tsp vanilla extract (depending upon your taste)
2 tbsp butter, for frying

In a big glass measuring cup, pour in your milk and add in the eggs. Whisk until well-combined (your liquid should be quite yellow and not too white) and then add in your sugar and vanilla extract. Pour the custard into a shallow pie plate.

Soak your bread slices in the custard for about 30 seconds on each side.

Heat a large skillet on medium and melt your butter in it. Fry each side of the bread slices until golden brown, about 2 minutes per side.

Enjoy with a side of whipped cream and a sprinkling of powdered sugar.

French Bread: Attempt #1

So I attempted my first batch of French Bread yesterday with some success. They came out golden with the characteristic crunchy crust but the taste was a bit on the salty side. The recipe is a Julia Child one and goes as follows:

3 1/2 cups flour
1 package active dry yeast
2 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups tepid water

I guess bakers normally use sea salt or kosher salt but I thought since it was only 2 teaspoons and she didn't specify kosher salt that I could use just normal table salt. I'm still investigating into this but I've looked at Chris Kimball's recipe for European bread (from Cook's Bible) and his proportions are just about the same. In fact, he calls for 1 tablespoon of kosher salt and 2 teaspoons of table salt if you don't have kosher.

The only other factor that I can think of is that I used King Arthur's Select Artisan Organic All Purpose Flour that has a protein level of 11.3%. Its supposed to be ideal for european breads which use an all-purpose flour lower in protein content than normal american all-purpose flour. If anyone has input on this problem, please let me know. I'll make another batch of the bread possibly tomorrow with kosher salt.

I also bought Chicago Metallic's French Bread pans for baking the bread and they worked wonderfully. The perforated bottoms gave it a real professional look.

Peanut Butter Cups

I bought a new baking book from the used bookstore today entitled Dessert Circus by Jacques Torres. I've actually had my eye on the book for several weeks now having first seen it at Border's Books. It isn't new (1998) and is actually based upon the Pbs show by the same name. Most of the desserts are pretty fanciful ranging from meringue snowman to chocolate sculptures. Its a good challenge I think but sometimes when I look at the pictures I wonder, "How the heck would you eat that?" :)

Anyways, on to the peanut butter cups which come from this same book. It was my first time tempering chocolate and I am so glad that Jacques Torres believes in tempering chocolate by microwave (which is the easiest by far) instead of the traditional tabliering which involves heating the chocolate and cooling it on a marble slab (too much work and too much mess!) I used 3-inch fluted nonstick tartlet pans to make the chocolate cups and they came out quite easily. This isn't a very "sweet" dessert so much as it is "rich" (very rich I might add). I actually did not make a full recipe as I did use smaller tarlet pans than he had recommended and I still had batter left over. I also omitted the praline paste (since I had none) and increased the peanut butter to 1 cup. More variations at the end of the recipe.

Peanut Butter Cups

(from Dessert Circus by Jacques Torres)

For the chocolate cups:
10.5 ounces Bittersweet chocolate, tempered

For the filling:
5.2 ounces Bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup praline paste

Prepare the chocolate cups: Place a wire rack over a baking sheet and set aside. Use 4-inch fluted nonstick tartlet pans to make the chocolate cups, but you can use any small nonstick tartlet pan you like. Make sure the pans are clean and dry before you begin.

Fill each tartlet pan with tempered chocolate. Make sure the chocolate covers the sides of the pan. Then hold the pan upside down over the bowl of tempered chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl. Wipe the top edge of the pan against the rim of the bowl to clean off the edge. Place the chocolate-coated pans upside down on the wire rack. This will allow any remaining chocolate to drain. Wait until the chocolate begins to set, 4 to 5 minutes, then use a paring knife to scrape the edge of the pans clean again to give the finished cup a nice straight edge and to make it easier to unmold the chocolate cups.

Place the tartlet pans right side up in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. This will cause the chocolate to retract from the sides, making it easier to remove the cups. You should be able to invert each pan and have the chocolate shell fall into your hand. If not, rest your thumbs on the outside of the pan and place your first two fingers on the inside of the cup. Gently begin to life the chocolate from the pan. Do not press or pull too hard, or you will break the chocolate. If you've used a deeper pan, you may need to apply this lifting pressure all around the inside to loosen the chocolate from the pan. Set the chocolate cups aside on a baking sheet until ready to be filled.

Prepare the filling: Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a double-boiler setup. Make sure the chocolate doesn't burn and once melted stir until smooth and set aside until cool to the touch but not so cold that is begins to harden and set.

Combine the peanut butter and praline paste in a medium-size mixing bowl. Add the cooled chocolate and whisk together. This mixture will be stiff and begin to set quickly, so whisk vigorously and thoroughly to combine.

Place the peanut butter mixture in a pastry bag with a large opening (no tip). Fill each chocolate cup to about 1/8 inch from the top. Very lightly tap the filled cups against the work surface to remove any air bubbles. Let the peanut butter cups set at room temperature for about 1 hour, then serve. If you are in a hurry, you can place the peanut butter cups in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. They can also be frozen for two weeks if well wrapped in plastic wrap. Thaw at room temperature before serving.

Variation: If you prefer, omit the praline paste. In that instance, use 2 cups of peanut butter and 5.5 ounces of chocolate. To make an even lighter dessert, add about 1 cup of Rice Krispies to the filling. Also try garnishing the dessert with whipped cream and fresh peanuts.