A bit of flour

And what I saw was a great tool just waiting to be used. I got right to it, thinking if this worked as great as Joe said it would, I could cut my ties to Krispy Kreme and Cinnabon. Oh joy!

As I looked at the procedure, I noted that though it was simple, it was going to take me a while to arrive at my desired location, a very long while.

No matter, I said, off to work I go. I followed his instructions step by step, careful to allow the dough to rest as long as he said to. Making certain my eggs were cold and my butter was soft.

But as I went along, I kept thinking, this isn’t going to yield very much dough. And then after it proofed I thought, sure its doubled in size but its such an odd thing that I’ll never be able to do anything with it. And all sorts of other helpful thoughts like that.

But, after allowing it to spend the night in the refrigerator, I removed it the next morning and found a ‘good sized amount’ of very firm dough.

So I rolled it out, sprinkled on lots and lots of brown sugar and a bit of cinnamon. Then I proceeded to roll it up. But, I had a few problems. One was getting the dough to roll in a tight fashion and another was shoring up the sides. Actually, rolling the dough presented two problems all by itself and then shoring the sides brought the count up to three.

The first problem occurred because I’ve only ever used cooking oil to roll out my doughs. They roll out easily with it and clean up is a breeze. But as Joe said to use flour, I had to use flour. Which meant of course that I had to make the typical newbie mistake and under flour my workspace. Which meant of course that the dough had to stick. Argh!

The second problem was that I am not used to working with such a fragile dough and it tore. (Now, I’d rather not take the blame for the tear, but as I was the only one working with it, I feel I should.) And of course I had no idea how to repair it. I did try; however, putting flour on the wound did it no good.

The third problem was getting the sides uniform. Try as I might, things were not lining up right. In the end, I just decided to do a little cosmetic surgery with my dough scrapper. There, that’s better.

The whole time I was wondering if brioche was really worth all of this.

Posted on September 30th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

        Last week I found joe pastry and decided to make a few things from his site. Over the weekend, I made the Chicago deep-dish pizza, an apple pie using my normal filling and his pie crust recipe, and last but certainly not least, I made his cinnamon rolls.

I have much to say, but I’ll focus on the cinnamon rolls first.

        I have a cinnamon roll recipe that I like but I am always looking for one that’s a bit lighter, more airy, and with more sweetness. You know, that certain something you find in professionally made cinnamon rolls.

        Well, the cinnamon rolls on his site looked absolutely delicious. They seemed to have the crumb I am looking for. The first step to making them was to prepare a brioche.

        I’ve actually never made a brioche before. Why? I guess because I was intimidated. You see in the past, I’ve seen pictures of little brioches with their delicate crumb, slightly darkened top and beautiful gloss. After noting these things I’ve always arrived at the same place: “Uh, no.” 

        I felt justified in my decision. Afterall, that’s an awful lot of work for a bread I might not even like. Right?

        But when I learned that the brioche dough was a multitasker, as the pastry man says, useful in making more than just brioches, things like cinnamon rolls and doughnuts and such, I decided to give the brioche another look see.

Posted on September 29th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

One of my imaginary readers, and I have quite a few, wondered about my post entitled pain de mie. She asked if there was another way to get a rectangular bread without using tiles and cast iron pans and such.

I explained to her, via pretend email, that I was inspired to use those items after watching Julia child. But that there was at least one other way to get the right shape without having to buy a special pan.

I have decided to share my response to that private and make believe email with all of you in case anyone else is wondering the same thing. Here goes:

Dear reader,

The other day, I was over at google images looking at pictures of pain de mie, and I came across a very nice one taken by an Italian blogger. I had fun looking around her site and even learned a few things.

First, that she has a beautiful Panini milk recipe that looks so smooth and delicious that I have to try it. Second, that her pain de mie was made in her bread machine. And third, that the Italian word for sea is mare.  

So for those of you with the right type of bread machine, you’re just 4 short hours away from perfectly shaped pain de mie.

p.s. Sunday is a day of rest around here, so I’ll see you Monday.

Posted on September 27th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

In her dvd, Julia Child makes a pain de mie and a raisin bread from the same recipe. I’ve made the pain de mie several times now and I felt I was ready to try the raisin bread.

As I was preparing to mix the dough, I decided to kick it up a notch and turn the finished product into a cinnamon swirl raisin bread. Don’t you just love the swirl pattern?

Speaking of which, ever wonder how to get that cool swirl in the bread?  Just fold the dough into a jellyroll. Right before you put the dough in the baking pan, use your rolling pin to flatten it. Then roll it up and pinch the seams closed.

Sometimes you might have trouble with your cinnamon swirl bread. Often it will develop unsightly gaps where the swirl is supposed to be. 

        To counter this, try brushing water, milk or melted butter on your dough before adding the cinnamon. I’ve read that it helps seal the dough, thereby eliminating the gaps.

I found that my cinnamon swirl raisin bread is great whether fresh from the oven or served as toast the next morning. It’s quite versatile, too. I’ve heard of people using it in bread puddings and French toast. One might even turn it into croutons and add some to one’s soup or salad.

Posted on September 26th, 2008 under Bread. Comments: None

I’ve spent many a day imagining myself behind the counter of my very own bakery. Nothing fancy. A small shop, complete with a little kid who comes in every day to stare at the cream filled pastries.

In my dreams, I don a lovely little baker’s hat and a crisp clean apron. I spend my days baking dozens of breads and feeding my starter. When the crowds die down, I sip cocoa and enjoy one of my extra large freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. I use the most expensive butter and fly my pastry flour in from France.

The dreams never last very long, usually the phone rings or someone’s at the door or the lady in line behind me begins clearing her throat rather loudly, but they sure are sweet.

Posted on September 25th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

But great tasting gravy doesn’t have to be a mystery. Anyone can make absolutely delicious gravy anytime using specific ingredients and one well kept secret.

We’ll look at the ingredients first then we’ll talk about the secret.

First you’ll need the fat and juices, which will hereafter be affectionately referred to as liquid gold, from your turkey. Second, you’ll need flour; I like ‘all purpose.’ Good now we can move on to the secret.

        “What?” You say. “That’s it, just two things?” Yep, that’s it. By using those two ingredients, you can make an amazingly good turkey gravy. One that you will be thrilled to eat and proud to serve.

And now the little known secret to making fabulous gravy:

You have to allow the flour to cook in your liquid gold long enough for it to lose its raw taste and become golden brown in appearance. This will take a few minutes but it makes a huge difference.

Once it has the right look, you are ready to add an additional 1-2 cups of the liquid gold. If you like a thinner gravy, add a bit more and you’re done.

I know this may not seem like enough, but if you treated your bird really well like I did in this post, you won’t need to add anything else to your gravy. It will be very delicious and far better than store bought.

The procedure start to finish:

1)    Add three tablespoons of turkey fat to your pan. (medium high heat)

2)    When it just starts to bubble, add an equal amount of flour.

3)    Mix vigorously so the flour does not clump

4)    Cook for 1-2 minutes

5)    Add two cups liquid gold

6)    Stir and cook until blended

7)   Add more liquid gold if needed and enjoy.

Posted on September 24th, 2008 under Dinners. Tags: Recipe. Comments: 3

Once the turkey has cooled, its time to remove a cup or two of meat and a couple of cups of the wonderful juices that are at the bottom of the roasting pan. The juices will be used to create a delicious sauce for the potpie.

The dough takes only moments to mix up. Then I wrap it in plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge while I tidy up a bit.

After that’s done, I head over to the cabinet for the canned veggies, I like diced potatoes, sliced carrots, and sweet peas.

Then I get the dough, divide it in half and roll it out. Next, I fit one half into the pie pan.

Layering the filling makes construction fast and easy. First I add the chopped turkey, next the carrots, then peas, then potatoes, then sauce. Then I put the pie top in place and add vents. Finally, I bake it at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. I allow it to cool a bit, then serve.

By this time you’re thinking that was a lot of work for a couple of cups of meat; but that’s not just any meat, it is really really good turkey. Plus a whole turkey can be used to make quite a few potpies. And with the difficult work of brining and baking the turkey behind you, you’ll have no excuse for not whipping up a great tasting homemade turkey potpie anytime, day or night.

Posted on September 23rd, 2008 under Dinners. Tags: Recipe. Comments: None

          Such a wonderful and filling meal. And making it yourself means you can add any thing you like and as much of your filling as you like. Cups of turkey, spoonfuls of potatoes, ounces of peas, sprinkles of rice, handfuls of carrots and corn.

I use the same pie crust recipe I use for my apple pies but with half the sugar when I make a pot pie.

The first step: take care of the turkey. A really flavorful turkey pot pie depends on a properly seasoned turkey. And turkeys that want to be in my pies get very special treatment.

I start out by carefully selecting my bird. Yes that frozen one over there will do nicely. I let it defrost in the refrigerator nice and slow for 2 days. Then I remove the little goodies tucked inside and reserve them for later use.

Next, I place the bird in a very large pot, to which I add:

½ cup salt

¼ cup sugar

1 tablespoon chicken bouillon

1 tablespoon garlic powder

1 tablespoon onion powder

After that, I fill the pot with enough water to cover the turkey and place the lid on the pot. Then back in the fridge it goes for another 24 hours.

Next day, I rinse it with water and pat it dry. And finally, I bake it until it reaches an internal temperature of 180 degrees. Remembering that I must allow it to cool a bit before slicing.

Then and only then is it ready to be made into a pot pie.

And I’ll tell you exactly how I do that tomorrow.

Posted on September 22nd, 2008 under Dinners. Tags: Recipe. Comments: None

They are one of my favorite breakfast foods. I can mix the dough in my bread machine and then all that’s left is to roll it out, spread the filling on it, roll it up, slice, arrange on a cookie sheet, and bake. Simple, right?

Well recently, I was over at bakingbites and noticed a nice recipe called Quick and Easy Cinnamon Bun Bread. It looked really good, I had to make it.

During my first attempt, I neglected to read the directions all the way through. I simply gathered the ingredients and went from there. After a few minutes of mixing, I noticed that the dough was not firming up.

Instead of checking the recipe again, I proceeded to fix it by adding a bit of flour, another cup to be exact. It produced a dough that looked more like the doughs I am comfortable working with. But then, I was once again faced with the task of rolling it out, spreading the filling, rolling it up, slicing and arranging on the cookie sheet.

Hey, I thought this was supposed to be quick and easy. Time for another look at that recipe. Ahhh, the mix was supposed to be a batter.

So once again, I set out to create the treat. This time I followed the instructions carefully. And I was rewarded with a dessert that looked very much like what I wanted. However, as I did not care for the oil, which I could taste very clearly, I will have to try the recipe again, next time with butter.

p.s. Sunday is a day of rest around here, so I’ll see you Monday.

Posted on September 20th, 2008 under Breakfast. Comments: None