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Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Random Shots with Random Talk

I have been so busy between school, kids and the school, cake show, and just life in general that I don't have much blog time. I try to get pictures of things that I make or see so that when I have the time to blog I can post pictures along with the words.

I am taking French and Precalculus along with Alice(programming) and World Civilization. Let's just say school is kicking my butt this semester. No more talking about what you could care less about and on to the good stuff...FOOD!

This is some 3 cheese macaroni, which include Dubliner, Gruyere,and age cheddar(no yellow needed). I have been making macaroni for as long as I can remember so I have it down to a science in my head that when people ask me for the recipe I tell them to use what's on the box and adjust it to your taste. As you can see I don't like dry baked macaroni so I add extra milk and extra cheese.Here we have Dorie Greenspan's Party cake except an orange version. I must say that I liked this one better than the lemon. This cake is enrobed with cream cheese frosting.
How about my girlfriend and I went to the library and saw these geese going the wrong way. Maybe they needed to go in and learn to read.

Just a pic of the front of the library
Martha Stewart's graham crackers from her baking handbook...of course mines look nothing like hers. Nonetheless they were still good.


During all the rainy weeks in Virginia lots of mushrooms were popping up everywhere and I just couldn't resist the urge to get some shots.




An last but definitely not least, Bambi and mother. The must live in the brush near the school because they kept coming out to graze and going back in. AWWWW so cute!




Sunday, September 27, 2009

The Daring Bakers September Challenge

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.



This month was another great choice because as usual it was some form of a food I wanted to make, but just hadn't yet. Well this was definitely a fun project to embark on. First of I love making yeast doughs and even tough this dough doesn't contain yeast it still has the same concept. You have to be careful not to over work the dough. The ingredients have to be at the corect temperature, otherwise the product won't come out right. It's fun to do, yet time consuming. The end result, if done correctly, makes you a happy camper with a full belly.



Well, this encompassed all of the above. After making the dough and seeing that it isn't as hard as some might have you believe, I am looking forward to making croissants.



Below you will see pictures of a sweet and a savory Vols-au-vent. The sweet has some rice pudding with specks of vanilla throughout. Unsweetened melted chocolate was drizzled on top. The savory has chicken salad topped with a tomato piece and a little dill weed.



The recipe made enough that I could freeze some for a later date....YAYYYY!! I will definitely be making this again. Thanks Steph of http://awhiskandaspoon.wordpress.com/ for a great selection.





Equipment:

-food processor (will make mixing dough easy, but I imagine this can be done by hand as well)

-rolling pin

-pastry brush

-metal bench scraper (optional, but recommended)

-plastic wrap

-baking sheet

-parchment paper

-silicone baking mat (optional, but recommended)

-set of round cutters (optional, but recommended)

-sharp chef’s knife

-fork

-oven

-cooling rack



Prep Times:

-about 4-5 hours to prepare the puff pastry dough (much of this time is inactive, while you wait for the dough to chill between turns…it can be stretched out over an even longer period of time if that better suits your schedule)-about 1.5 hours to shape, chill and bake the vols-au-vent after your puff pastry dough is complete



Forming and Baking the Vols-au-Vent
Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe below will yield about 8-10 1.5” vols-au-vent or 4 4” vols-au-vent


In addition to the equipment listed above, you will need:

-well-chilled puff pastry dough (recipe below)

-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)-your filling of choice


Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.


Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vols-au-vent than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)


On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch (3-6 mm) thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.


(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vols-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d'oeuvre sized vols-au-vent, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vols-au-vent, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)


Using a ¾-inch cutter for small vols-au-vent, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vols-au-vent, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vols-au-vent, or put them in the scrap pile.



Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.



Refrigerate the assembled vols-au-vent on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400ºF (200ºC). (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)
Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place a silicon baking mat (preferred because of its weight) or another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350ºF (180ºC), and remove the silicon mat or parchment sheet from the top of the vols-au-vent. If the centers have risen up inside the vols-au-vent, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)


Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.
Fill and serve.
*For additional rise on the larger-sized vols-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to "glue"). This will give higher sides to larger vols-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.
*Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vols-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.
*Shaped, unbaked vols-au-vent can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).



Michel Richard’s Puff Pastry Dough


From: Baking with Julia by Dorie Greenspan

Yield: 2-1/2 pounds dough

Steph’s note: This recipe makes more than you will need for the quantity of vols-au-vent stated above. While I encourage you to make the full recipe of puff pastry, as extra dough freezes well, you can halve it successfully if you’d rather not have much leftover.


There is a wonderful on-line video from the PBS show “Baking with Julia” that accompanies the book. In it, Michel Richard and Julia Child demonstrate making puff pastry dough (although they go on to use it in other applications). They do seem to give slightly different ingredient measurements verbally than the ones in the book…I listed the recipe as it appears printed in the book. http://video.pbs.org/video/1174110297/search/Pastry


Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour

1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour

1 tbsp. salt (you can cut this by half for a less salty dough or for sweet preparations)

1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water

1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter
plus extra flour for dusting work surface



Mixing the Dough:
Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.
Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)
Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and beat it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that's about 1" thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.


Incorporating the Butter:
Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (A cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin (preferably a French rolling pin without handles), press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10" square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with "ears," or flaps.


Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don't just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8" square.


To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled.


Making the Turns:
Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24" (don't worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24", everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).


With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.


Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24" and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.


Chilling the Dough:
If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you've completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.


The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.



For more tips from Steph check out her page or join the Daring Bakers and bake along with us.









Monday, September 14, 2009

Daring Cooks September Challenge

This month's challenge was chosen by Debyi of http://www.healthyvegankitchen.com. She chose Indian Dosas from the refresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. This recipe comes in three parts, there are the pancakes, the filling, and the sauce. This is a must try recipe for anyone, especially if you love hummus. The filling is almost like a crunchy curried hummus and it is so delicious. The pancakes were so soft, somewhat like a crepe. I didn't care for the sauce by itself, but on top of the dish it was great.

I'm glad that I gave this challenge a try because it was a change from the usual for me and since the folks in my house are so picky I took it to work and we ate it for lunch. It was a big hit!!


The recipe is as follows:

Indian Dosas
This recipe comes in 3 parts, the dosas, the filling and the sauce. It does take awhile to make, but the filling and sauce can be made ahead and frozen if need be. You can serve them as a main course with rice and veggies, or as an appetizer. This does take a little planning ahead, so make sure you read the recipe through before starting .

Serves 4
Equipment needed:
large bowl
whisk
griddle or skillet
ladle (or large spoon)
spatula
vegetable peeler &/or knife
large saucepan
food processor or bean masher

Dosa Pancakes
1 cup (120gm/8oz) spelt flour (or all-purpose, gluten free flour)
½ tsp (2½ gm) salt
½ tsp (2½ gm) baking powder
½ tsp (2½ gm) curry powder
½ cup (125ml/4oz)
almond milk (or soy, or rice, etc.) I made my own almond milk and got the recipe online
¾ cup (175ml/6oz) water
cooking spray, if needed

Dosa Filling1 batch Curried Garbanzo Filling (see below), heated
Dosa Toppings:
1 batch Coconut Curry Sauce (see below), heated
¼ cup (125gm) grated coconut
¼ cucumber, sliced

Dosa Pancakes
1.Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl, slowly adding the almond milk and water, whisking until smooth.
2.Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Spray your pan with a thin layer of cooking spray, if needed.
3.Ladle 2 tablespoons of batter into the center of your pan in a circular motion until it is a thin, round pancake. When bubbles appear on the surface and it no longer looks wet, flip it over and cook for a few seconds. Remove from heat and repeat with remaining batter.
Makes 8 pancakes.

Curried Garbanzo Filling
This filling works great as a rice bowl topping or as a wrap too, so don't be afraid to make a full batch.
5 cloves garlic
1 onion, peeled and finely diced
1 carrot, peeled and finely diced
1 green pepper, finely diced (red, yellow or orange are fine too)
2 medium hot banana chilies, minced
2 TBSP (16gm) cumin, ground
1 TBSP (8gm) oregano
1 TBSP (8gm) sea salt (coarse)
1 TBSP (8gm) turmeric
4 cups (850gm/30oz) cooked or canned chick peas (about 2 cans)
½ cup (125gm/4oz) tomato paste

1.Heat a large saucepan over medium to low heat. Add the garlic, veggies, and spices, cooking until soft, stirring occasionally.
2.Mash the chickpeas by hand, or in a food processor. Add the chickpeas and tomato paste to the saucepan, stirring until heated through.

Coconut Curry Sauce
This makes a great sauce to just pour over rice as well. This does freeze well, but the texture will be a little different. The flavor is still the same though. My picture of this sauce is one that I had made, had to freeze, then thaw to use. It tastes great, but the texture is a little runnier, not quite as thick as it was before freezing.

1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic
½ (2½ gm) tsp cumin, ground
¾ (3¾ gm) tsp sea salt (coarse)
3 TBSP (30gm) curry powder
3 TBSP (30gm) spelt flour (or all-purpose GF flour)
3 cups (750ml/24oz) vegetable broth
2 cups (500ml/24oz) coconut milk
3 large tomatoes, diced

1.Heat a saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic, cooking for 5 minutes, or until soft.
2.Add the spices, cooking for 1 minutes more. Add the flour and cook for 1 additional minute.
3.Gradually stir in the vegetable broth to prevent lumps. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the coconut milk and tomatoes, stirring occasionally.
4.Let it simmer for half an hour.








Tuesday, September 8, 2009

Cakes, cakes and more cakes

This month my family has a multitude of birthdays back to back. I really would love to get the whole family together and have one big birthday party with one big cake, but since that can't happen I make the cakes for everybody separately.

This cake is for one of my nephews that loves the San Diego Chargers and he wanted Red Velvet cake.This cake is chocolate for my sister, very simple but she liked it.

This is a white chocolate and strawberry cake for a friend of mines whose husband just joined the service and was coming home for a weekend.

TWD: Chocolate Souffle




This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie was chosen by Susan of http://doughmesstic.blogspot.com/ and once again it was on my to bake list.
As you can see I left them in a little too long, not thinking about adjusting the time for smaller dishes. All in all it was a great experience and I'm already thinking about the next souffle I want to bake. This dish is one of the ones you dread because you hear all the horrible things that can go wrong. Well there is nothing so bad about making or baking souffles.
Just make sure you adjust your time!!
For this recipe go to Susan's page or save yourself some time and buy the book and try other Dorie Greenspan recipes.