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

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

Let’s look at some other reasons for why homemade won against store bought in our little fight yesterday. Reasons that might not be as obvious as the ones we previously noted.

One is that homemade foods are easily tailored to fit your particular needs. Whether you have food allergies or special dietary needs or just picky eaters, making food at home is often your safest and wisest choice.

Speaking of choice, those of us with no special food needs like to think we have many choices when we shop; and, in some stores we do. But with the option of making it at home, we open up another world to ourselves.

In addition, preparing a homemade something is a wonderful way to spend time with children, creating memories and passing a wholesome tradition on to the next generation. Plus, they’ll be able to use their new found knowledge to whip up masterpieces for you.

And finally, for those of us who like to pour ourselves into the gifts we give, homemade fare makes it possible for us to offer truly unique and elegant presents. Memorable treasures that will make the recipient feel very special indeed.

So yes, it was right for homemade to win.

Don’t you agree?

Posted on September 17th, 2008 under General. Comments: None

The crowd is telling Homemade he’s toast. He’s exhausted and about to give in. He looks out and sees his wife and little boy. They’re holding a sign that says something poignant and sweet and it gives him hope to come back big time.

Homemade stands up tall. He walks over to Store Bought and delivers a 1-2 upper cut. Store Bought is caught completely off guard. He falls to the ground. A silence settles over the crowd. You could hear a pin drop as Homemade picks Store Bought up and gives one final little howdy dodee. The referee begins to count. But Homemade knows he could count ‘til he’s blue in the face; Store Bought’s out cold. Sweet dreams S. B., until next time.

Nice story, huh? But lets look at this closely. Why did homemade win? Well for a few obvious and maybe some not so obvious reasons.

One obvious reason is that homemade food is generally a lot cheaper than store bought food. And that’s good news, no matter where you are on the financial ladder.

Also, homemade food tastes so much better than store bought food. Dishes made with fresh ingredients are fragrant and bursting with flavor.

And homemade foods are higher quality. Because you will be eating it, you’ll be sure to choose items based on appearance and aroma.

We’ll look at the not so obvious reasons for why homemade wins over store bought tomorrow.

Posted on September 16th, 2008 under General. Comments: None