The bread was darker than it appears in the photo

Photo above is the “glamour shot”: the culinary equivalent of having a photographer shooting you from the neck up, after a makeup artist has made you look your best. Below, a photo of the whole enchilada:

Short and squat. Note the odd bulges – the dough kind of “exploded” out the sides! From some reading that I’ve done, this could be the result of the dough sticking to something during proofing (my batard did), not letting the loaves rest long enough after final shaping, or not slashing the them deeply enough.

First, let me thank Breadchick Mary (The Sour Dough) and Sara (I Like to Cook) for selecting this wonderful classic recipe from Mastering The Art of French Cooking,and for typing out sixteen pages of instructions! You can find the original recipe here, and I encourage you to check out the Daring Bakers blogroll to see how everyone else did.

I loved this challenge because it really pushed me outside my comfort zone. In other words, it truly was a challenge! I had never made French bread before (I think my mom and I may have made it once when I was very young), and I learned so much from the problems that I encountered and the techniques that I learned with this bread, that I was able to tackle the Bread Baking Babe’s Royal Crown’s Tortano.

My house is pretty cold – we keep it at 59 degrees F. If I close the doors of my kitchen, I can get it up to the low 70s in there. This is supposed to be a great environment for bread baking. In retrospect, however, I may have made the kitchen warmer than I thought, leading to me over-proofing the dough.

I weighed my ingredients (using King Arthur Unbleached AP flour), mixed them together, then decided to knead by hand (e-GADS). That last step took about 20 minutes. If you ever want to get into bodybuilding, exercise your upper body by hand kneading dough. I wasn’t sure when to stop, and may have overdone it, so I have a question for you more experienced bread bakers: can you overknead dough?

The first rise took three hours, but the “dome” looked a little flat. At the time, I almost let the dough proof longer because I thought it had not yet formed that puffy dome. Now, I think it may have formed the dome, and was starting to flatten out.

The second rise took only one hour. After I shaped the loaves, they barely rose at all; a couple of Daring Bakers noted that may be a sign that the yeast has run out of food. The loaves had also developed a strong yeasty smell, and I had only enough dough for two loaves!

I baked them on a baking stone, sprayed them with water, and had a pan of steaming water on the floor of the oven.

Though oddly shaped (the round bread reminded me of the movie “Alien,” for some reason). The crust was crisp, and the bread actually had body, unlike a lot of supermarket French breads that are very fluffy inside. And the flavor was very nice; the loaves actually tasted like a mild sourdough.

I learned so much from this Challenge, that I’m already applying it to other breads. I plan to tackle this recipe again in the future, but this time I will knead by machine, get an idea of what the dough should feel like, and watch the proofing. Many thanks to Mary and Sara.

Some additional info: (1) For those of you who may be interested in a fancier steam contraption for your oven, see this post by Rosy Levy Beranbaum. (2) In his book, Local Breads: Sourdough and Whole-Grain Recipes from Europe’s Best Artisan Bakers, Daniel Leader recommends King Arthur Organic AP flour as the one that most closely emulates French 55-type flour (I didn’t use this, I used AP flour per the recipe, so I can’t vouch for it). But while perusing the website, I discovered that King Arthur now carries a French-style flour. Woo-hoo!

Light and fluffy these were not. Sometimes, a baker loses her edge, and that, my friends, has been my sad tale of woe over the past week or so. Yes, I know, I had a couple recent successes, but I’ve had more mishaps than I care to mention. This delicious little paperweight is one of them.

First, I must say, these biscuits/scones are good: dense, buttery, with a hint of caramel and a slight nutty taste. Did I say they were buttery? Mmm.

But everything went wrong in the baking process, pretty much from beginning to end. First, my new box of light brown sugar was so hard it could have been used as a deadly weapon. Luckily, I had dark brown sugar on hand, and Master Chow and I liked it so much that I plan to use it in the future. And I will make these again – you see, folks, Master Chow has asked me to put these on the “repeat list!” That’s always a good sign.

Then I couldn’t find my pecans, so I used walnuts.

My sour cream had frozen in the refrigerator. Yes, the refrigerator.

I discovered that my milk had soured, and had to use half-and-half.

I think the frozen sour cream and the half-and-half altered the water ratio in the final dough, because mine did not “pull together in a soft ball,” to paraphrase Dorie. It was a crumbly mess, and I had to actively knead it (something you never want to do with biscuits or scones) to pull the dough together.

Then I rolled it too thin – 1/4 of an inch instead of the 1/2 inch in the recipe. By that point, I thought the dough might bite me, so I cut the “biscuits” out and threw them in the oven. Now I know why some people drink in the morning. And I hadn’t even had my coffee yet! Note to self: do not attempt any baking at 7:00 a.m. without first having a cup of coffee.

I finally made myself a cup of Peet’s Major Dickason’s blend (thank you, Dowager Chow), and sniffed appreciatively as the scent of baking hockey pucks, . . . er, “tender biscuits” filled the air. And they did smell wonderful! They did not rise at all during the baking process, however, something that is supposed to happen with biscuits. When you haven’t had to knead them. And you use the proper ingredients. My culinary shortcomings aside, I’m curious to see the results of other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.

Eat Me, Delicious picked out this week’s recipe. For the full roster of bakers, check out Tuesdays with Dorie. The recipe below reflects my adaptation of the original.

Last week, the Bread Baking Babes posted about a bread that they had banded together to bake, Maggie Glezer’s Royal Crown’s Tortano, and invited everyone to join in this week, and give the bread a try. Well, I did it, and I’m glad I did – this was new baking territory for me. Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve felt like I lost my baking mojo (more on that in future posts), so tackling a recipe that turned out neither deformed nor with the consistency of a hockey puck was a major victory. Losing one’s mojo when there are many other things going on – over which one has little or no control – is a sad thing, indeed.

So I dragged my woebegone rear end into the kitchen. Master Chow immediately perked up when he saw that I was in baking mode. A kind man, he doesn’t care that much about appearance or texture; taste is king in his book. Luckily, most of my failed baking experiments still actually taste good. But I digress.

Here is my pre-ferment, which I started the night before. After four hours, nothing seemed to have happened, but about 13 hours later, I had this (trust me, this is a lot bigger than the blob of dough I started with):

This is what the dough looked like when I started kneading it:

About 20 minutes later, I had this:
Breadchick’s photos were very helpful in determining when the dough was ready. Thank you, Breadchick Mary!

Here is my fourth turn of the dough (by this time it was very smooth and silky, but still a bit sticky):
At some point in the process, my sous chefs gave me some moral support:
Shaping the dough: I stuck a cereal bowl in the middle to help keep the hole open!

After I slashed the dough, I baked it for 50 minutes on a baking stone (I preheated the oven with the stone in it for over an hour – another Breadchick tip from a Daring Baker challenge), but it wasn’t brown enough (according to what the other Baking Babes had posted), so I baked it for an extra 10 minutes. Voila!:I’m not really sure if this turned out right, but I’m happy with it. The crust was amazing – crisp, hard, but not too thick. The interior of the bread was firm, pocketed with holes, and mild in flavor.

I feel a bit more cheerful, and I took a step toward getting my baking mojo back! For the recipe, as well as a list of the Bread Baking Babes and their creations, check out The Sour Dough and Bake My Day.

I’d never made rugelach before, but I was determined to do it because I just love them. Unfortunately, the ones that I can buy always taste rancid to me, so I haven’t bothered to purchase any for years.

After a bit of research, I discovered that most rugelach recipes are pretty much the same: a cream cheese (or, in some cases, a sour cream) dough, and a tasty filling. I turned, yet again, to Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa, for her rugelach recipe because her instructions allowed me to make small batches at a time, for personal consumption and gift-giving.

I must say, these little gems were a hit. Master Chow and I couldn’t stop popping them into our mouths. Some of the other recipes that I found excluded the jam to prevent “oozing,” but I love that, so I left it in. The pastry was flavorful and rich, but complemented rather than competed with the filling.

I have enough dough in the freezer for two more batches, and I’m trying to drum up an excuse to bake them, in between all my other baking projects. Isn’t there a national rugelach day that I can celebrate?

Rugelach

Adapted from a recipe by Ina Garten in Barefoot Contessa Parties! Ideas and Recipes for Easy Parties That Are Really Fun

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2-pound (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 9 tablespoons
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup raisins, chopped
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/2 cup of your favorite preserves, pureed in a food processor ( I used a peach-apricot preserve)
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon milk, for egg wash

If your butter and cream cheese are not at room temperature, don’t even attempt this – they will not combine properly to form the pastry. If they are, you can make this either in your food processor or stand mixer. For the mixer: Cream the cheese and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until light. Add 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and mix until just combined. For the food processor: Pulse the cream cheese and butter until light. Add the 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the salt, and vanilla, and pulse a few times . Add the flour and pulse until just combined.

Dump the dough out onto a well-floured board and roll it into a ball. Cut the ball in quarters, flatten them, wrap each piece in plastic, and refrigerate for 1 hour. At this point, you can also freeze the dough for future use.

To make the filling, combine 6 tablespoons of granulated sugar, the brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, the raisins, and walnuts.

On a well-floured board, roll each ball of dough into a 9-inch circle. For each dough ball: Leave a one inch to two inch circle bare in the middle of the dough, and spread the rest of the dough with 2 tablespoons apricot preserves and sprinkle with the 1/2 cup of the filling. The reason for that bare spot in the middle is because when you roll up the rugelach, the filling will ooze toward the middle, and you don’t really need to put anything in there. You can always set the lid from a bottle in the middle of your dough and work around that, using the lid as a guide.

Press the filling lightly into the dough. Cut the circle into 12 equal wedges—cutting the whole circle in quarters, then each quarter into thirds. You can also use a pastry cutter to do this, which will give the pastries a decorative border (see photos above).

Starting with the wide edge, roll up each wedge. Place the cookies, points tucked under, on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Chill for 30 minutes, or put in the freezer for about 10-12 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush each cookie with the egg wash. Combine 3 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon and sprinkle on the cookies. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. Remove to a wire rack and let cool. Devour.

Two wonderful videos that will make your day! The first, a dolphin and dog playing – watch the dog’s tail wagging!:

The second: two little otters hold hands, but be sure to watch what happens at around 0:56. Via Tammy Bruce.

For this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, we have a low-fat dessert. GOTCHA! No, not really. Nine ounces of chocolate? Five eggs? Butter? Low fat in my dreams! Crazy Delicious chose this week’s baked goodie, Almost Fudge Gateau.

The smell of this over-sized brownie wafted through the house while it baked, and it was very easy to put together. No tempering eggs, you just plop the egg yolks, one at a time, into the warm chocolate batter and mix thoroughly before adding the whipped egg whites. My gateau was done in exactly 35 minutes (probably could have baked it for 30 minutes), but then I had to wait until it cooled to give it a taste. I decided against the “optional chocolate glaze,” which would have required four more ounces of chocolate. I felt less guilty with a light dusting of confectioner’s sugar.

Now, the taste: the chocolate flavor obviously dominates here, so don’t skimp, and use a good one. I found some 70% bittersweet chocolate from King Arthur Flour in my alarmingly large chocolate stash, so I used that. The texture is something between a fudgy and a cakey brownie, not quite either one, but it has the best qualities of each. The cake is moist and rich, but not too heavy, and not as dense as a fudgy brownie. With some lightly sweetened whipped cream, this would make an elegant dessert for a dinner party, and you can put it together in a little over an hour.

For more creations, check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll! For the recipe, see here. Next week: Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits!

Update: Master Chow just had a piece, declared it “delicious,” and asked me to put in on the “repeat” list. We have a winner!!!

I had wanted to make challah for years, but did not get around to it until recently, inspired by some of you food bloggers out there! While I am not a big fan of plain challah for eating (then again, I’m not a connoisseur), it is one of the best breads you can use for french toast or bread pudding.

As I’ve mentioned before, the Daring Bakers potato bread challenge inspired me to return to bread-baking after a hiatus of many years. What was I waiting for? Why not tackle a bread that has few equals in beauty, and that has such a rich history?

So, on a recent lazy afternoon, the kind where you just want to curl up with a good book and take a nap, I wandered into the kitchen with my two sous chefs, and made Sweet Vanilla Challah from Beth Hensperger’s book,The Bread Bible: 300 Favorite Recipes. I’m not going to write out the recipe here because I did not adapt it in any way, but you can find a comparable recipe over at Ari’s blog, one of my favorites, Baking and Books. In fact, Ari says that Hensperger’s recipe was a source of inspiration for her Honey-Vanilla Challah.

This had to be the easiest, most peaceful bread baking experience I’ve ever had. Everything went smoothly. Shaping the dough was a breeze, and it puffed up – magically- in the oven, resulting in two gorgeous bronzed loaves of bread. We ate one (it tasted like . . . challah!), and I froze the other one to make Amaretto Bread Pudding in the near future.

This was so much fun, I’m diving into challah research, to see what other recipes and shapes I can play with. For me, the whole experience typified what I love best about baking: the peace, the challenge, and the feast for all the senses. Note: for more on making challah, and braiding instructions, see here and here.

Spice Cookie Heart, from a recipe by Dorie Greenspan in Bon Appetit

To my Valentine, Master Chow, the finest person I have ever known. I love you with all my heart. I’ve been blessed, and I know it. (And a heartfelt thank you to the dear Dowager Chow, my mother-in-law, who gave me the gorgeous copper cookie cutter with which to make the spice cookies!)

Sour Cream Black and White Coffee Cake

Like many of you, two of the reasons I started this blog were to give me the incentive to use my many cookbooks, and to document what I do. The good news: it’s working! The bad news: I’ve had to increase my cardio workouts at the gym.One of the items that I decided to bake is a Sour Cream Black and White Coffee Cake from Carol Walter’s fabulous new book , Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More: 200 Anytime Treats and Special Sweets for Morning to Midnight. This is quickly becoming one of the favorite cookbooks in my embarrassingly large collection. I’m not going to write out the recipe – the directions to get the swirl pattern are quite lengthy, and I’d rather spend my time cooking!

When I notified Master Chow that I had just just baked the aforementioned coffee cake, a look of mixed joy and horror crossed his face: he loves coffee cake, but he squeaked: “What! Before my reunion?!” You see, he has a Major Reunion coming up this June, he’s looking fit, and he doesn’t want to blow up into a blimp before then. “Master Chow,” I said patiently, “it’s February. You don’t really expect me to stop baking for the next five months, do you?” He promptly realized the futility of any such argument. He and I tasted a little piece, and he took the rest to work. A happy compromise!

I learned a couple things from this recipe: do not substitute low fat ingredients, even it that’s all you have on hand. The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate, but I highly recommend you use semisweet – the cake is not overly sweet, and really benefits from a slightly sweeter chocolate. Now, you ask, how did I discover that? Why, I burned my first batch of chocolate, that’s how! I tasted a wee part that hadn’t turned into charcoal, and promptly realized that I need to use a sweeter chocolate, so I did. But that’s another story. For those of you who have never burned chocolate, and might be tempted to use it anyway – don’t. I learned that many years ago, the hard, nasty-tasting way. Ugh.

Now, the interesting thing is that, even though I loved the taste of the cake, it was a bit drier than I would have liked, because I used low fat sour cream (all I had on hand). As it sat out in my husband’s office, he said it became even drier. And you know what? Folks told him that it was the best or one of the best coffee cakes that they had ever had! They also said that the chocolate was “really good,” so use a good one if you decide to make something like this – it makes a difference.

All this made me realize, once again, how little most people cook, and that their access to baked goods is usually limited to Aisle 4 in the grocery store. Good eggs, fresh butter, and premium chocolate make a difference.

I recently heard that Julia Child once said that “people have forgotten what food is supposed to taste like.” So true. And that’s one of the reasons I cook so much – I love the idea of keeping a tradition of “real food” alive, even if a cake comes out a little drier than expected.

Update: there was a typo in the recipe – it called for 11 1/2 teaspoons (!) of baking powder, when it should be 1 1/2 teaspoons!