A bit of flour

And I know just the one. The first step is to get everything mis en place.

I’ll need :

1 cup milk

¼ cup water

2 teaspoons vanilla

½ cup butter

2 eggs

½ teaspoon salt

¾ cup sugar

5 cups flour

2 teaspoons yeast

Usually I’d add everything to the bread machine in the order listed and select the dough cycle. However, that’s quite a bit of flour for my machine, so I’ll start off with 4 cups. Once that has been incorporated, I’ll add the last cup.

Next, the topping.

For that I’ll need:

1 cup butter

½ cup sugar

2 cups brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

I mix it all together and refrigerate until later.

When the dough is ready, I remove it and cut it into sections with my dough scrapper. Then I form the sections into balls, placing them on a cookie sheet as I go.

The next step is to decide how many to bake. A dozen sounds good. The rest of the dough will go in the freezer. Once frozen, it will get put in a Ziploc bag and then go back in the freezer.

After that’s done, its just a matter of putting everything together.

I start by lining my baking pan with parchment paper, this will make clean up very easy. Then I spoon enough of the topping into my baking pan to coat the bottom. Next I place the buns in the pan, making sure to leave enough space for them to double in size, and then I cover them.

When they’re ready, I bake them at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. Then I turn them out onto a platter to cool; thanks to the parchment paper, the buns come out without incident.

Conclusion:  Success.

I was aiming for great tasting ‘now’ sticky buns. It took me about three hours to make and bake these.

And next time, I’ll use the buns in the freezer and it will only take me an hour and a half.

I’m very pleased.

Posted on October 15th, 2008 under Breakfast, General. Tags: Recipe. Comments: None

        While I was making the cinnamon rolls with the brioche dough, I knew I was going to have to come up with a frosting for it. But, I put it off till the very last minute. Sugar glazes have never been my forte.

        I try and fail and usually just make a quick ’sweetened cream cheese’ something and spread it on top of the cinnamon rolls.

        Sure it tastes good and it serves its purpose, but I sure would love to master the powdered sugar glaze. It has a way of making cinnamon rolls look delicious and beautiful and … well, the way they’re supposed to look.

        However, I have found that getting a lovely looking topping does not have to be terribly elusive. Take for instance the sticky bun, an excellent alternative to the cinnamon roll. 

Here are a few of its finer points:

1. it allows me to put my sugar glaze issues on the back burner
2. it uses the same dough as the cinnamon roll, but takes less time to make
3. and it looks quite irresistible when plated, if I do say so myself

        You know, the more I think about it, the more I remember just how incredible sticky buns really are. I think I’ll go whip some up now. 

        However, as much as I loved the brioche dough, it took an awful long time to make and I want ‘now’ sticky buns. So it looks like I’ll be using a different recipe.

Posted on October 14th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

Posted on October 13th, 2008 under General. Comments: 3

Apple pie doesn’t last a week here. I’m not sure it even lasts 4 days. Things get a bit hazy when pie is in the house.

It’s not all my fault. The pie has absolutely no desire to thrive in my home. It sits on the table screaming at the top of its lungs for someone to come along and eat it.

Really. The only thing that will quiet it down is my having a slice. Its terrible. Not the pie. The pie is amazing, the fact that it I have to have a slice every hour is terrible.

It’s gotten so bad, I’ve had to restrict myself to only making them on special days.

Posted on October 10th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

         What’s your take on friendship bread? Ever been given a starter for one?

Once upon a time, I was given a starter along with its care instructions. It was my first time getting one and I was excited.

I hurried home and followed the directions. After a week, which included my feeding it and mixing it and pouring off the hooch, I had my first loaf. It was good.

I did it again the next week and the next and the next, for 5 weeks. Then I got tired of taking care of my starter and tired of eating my friendship bread.

Something had to change. As I saw it, I had two choices. I could dump it or I could prolong the inevitable and freeze it.

I decided to freeze it. I transferred one cup to a Ziploc bag. Got out as much air as I could. Laid it flat on a cookie sheet and put it in the freezer. Once it was frozen flat, I removed the cookie sheet and left the starter alone in its new home.

And there it sat until it developed an awful case of freezer burn and I was forced to dispose of it.

Yeah, I had a starter once. How ‘bout you?

Posted on October 9th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

I enjoyed a delicious bowl of French Onion soup last night, made with my own little hands. I am beside myself with glee.

You see I have been trying for years to master soup, any soup would do, with not one success.

Now I won’t say that I tried every soup out there, but I have tried quite a few. I have poured out numerous pots of ‘chicken noodle soup.’ Quite a few ‘split pea soups’ and more than a handful ‘Zuppa Toscanas.’

I could not understand my failures. Its soup, I would reason. Just water and meat and vegetables. Why is this so hard? Why does the canned stuff taste so good and mine taste like …. water, meat and vegetables? Its not fair. (sniffle)

I had given up completely when I watched the French Onion Soup segment of Julia Child’s The French Chef. Why watch then? For entertainment purposes only. Some of those episodes are really funny.

But as I watched I kept thinking “I can do it this time.”

(No one motivates quite like Julia.)

I had a bag of onions on hand, so I began. I was amazed, about an hour or so into it, by the wonderful fragrance coming from my pot. I had no idea onions could smell so good.

Browning onions was a new thing for me. It takes a while and I never had a reason to do it. I usually just cooked them until they were tender and translucent. So I had no idea what I had been missing.

I was tempted to forget the soup and make a few burgers just so I could smother them in onions. They smelled so good.

I followed the recipe pretty closely, but I did omit a few things like the wine and the cognac, which meant I had to add a few things to compensate for the flavor they would have added. Also, her recipe called for a whole bay leaf and I only had chopped on hand. The chopped leaves were quite noticeable. I’ll have to remember that next time.  

When it came time to bake it, I poured it into a stone baking dish. Then I laid the croutes on top. The croutes consisted of the French bread that I had just baked, sliced, and toasted.

Finally, I covered everything with lots of shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan and baked until golden brown.

Result: Best soup I’ve ever made.

Yeah, only soup I’ve ever made, but it really was very good.

Posted on October 6th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

They are light and buttery and delicious and I don’t know about you but I could eat them just about any time. What am I talking about? Croissants!

The ones I buy at my local market are great. The layers are so distinct and lovely. In fact, that’s one of the great parts of eating a croissant: pulling them apart layer by layer.

As much as I love croissants and being able to have really good ones from the store, I am a bit sad that I don’t yet know how to make them myself. I have tried, but the results have never been like the ones I get from the store.

Once, I went through the entire process of laminating my dough. Then I allowed it to proof under a bit of heat. Of course all my lovely butter leaked out. One pound of unsalted butter that had been painstakingly folded into my dough, ended up all over my baking tray. I have no problem telling you I cried a little that day.

I was so disheartened that I tried the very next ‘croissant’ recipe I found. A knockoff. It was basically a dinner roll dough that you shape into croissants. Well as I said I tried it, but I was not fooled. No other bread can compare to the croissant.

How would you describe a croissant? I mean a really good one?

For me, a good croissant must have a lightly browned crust and a super chewing crumb. It must have many layers. And the layers must have little holes in them. The croissant must have a bit of spring to it when slightly compressed and it must have that amazing croissant fragrance about it. The croissant must feel satiny smooth on your tongue and be a pleasure to eat.

Oh man, I have to learn how to make them.

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

Posted on October 4th, 2008 under General. Comments: 2

With Thanksgiving coming up, and relatives already making plans to visit, I have been looking at what foods will adorn my tabletop.

Of course there will be a bird, but what else?

Actually, it’s kind of funny that I should say of course there’ll be a bird. It wasn’t long ago when turkey was the last meat I ever wanted to eat, especially on Thanksgiving.

Reason: I’d never had turkey that wasn’t dry and bland. 

So the first time I hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house, I decided to go with a ham. It was easy to cook and always juicy and delicious. I couldn’t fail.

        But now, I know the secret to juicy and delicious turkey. Which is why I can say with confidence “of course there’ll be a bird.” But I still need to come up with some other things or people will talk.

Maybe some mashed potatoes with gravy. Some stuffing and green beans. Can’t forget the baked mac and cheese, the cranberry sauce, or the dinner rolls. And last but not least, a deep-dish apple pie.

Yes that should do it, for now anyways.

Posted on October 3rd, 2008 under General. Comments: None

Time for another email question. Same kind as the previous one only this one is from a Mr Witherspoon, who enjoys sailing with friends on his yacht and dressing up like a clown.

        Dear A bit of flour,

Why Joe? I mean there are zillions of blogs out there. How did you decide on him? Sincerely, a devoted reader

Good question. Simply put: Joe has a lot of cool stuff on his site.

Take for instance his pizza recipe. He has many posts chronicling his quest to make Gino’s authentic ‘Chicago style deep-dish pizza’ at home. There were ups, there were downs, but it all worked out in the end.

Speaking of that recipe, you’ll remember I told you I tried it last weekend.  

Yes, after reading his posts on the subject, I felt certain I could make an authentic Chicago style deep-dish pizza. However, the ‘sauce on top’ thing was an issue. So much so, that I decided to make two pies. One, his way and one mine. 

The result: Very good, but mine fell apart, even after prebaking the crust.

        I should probably mention that I used my own sauce. I have one that I really like and decided to go with it. I tried Joe’s sauce but I prefer my own.

Posted on October 2nd, 2008 under General. Comments: None