Donuts 1 and 2

Made a bunch of donuts yesterday and today.

First ones were ok. I know now what Wayne Schmitt was saying about careful handling. They deflated as I tried to carefully place then in the oil. Surfac got a little wrinkly too, not good. Still tasty despite old-tastin butter in the glaze.





Turned out a bit chewier and not as fluffy as expected. Probably because of bread flour and hydration level. Good browning though and cooked thru, about 365-370 with 30 sec per side.




Today's were better. Leftover dough more than double after 24 hrs in the fridge. Cut into strips, I let them rise about 1.25 hour, on strips of foil as Wayne suggested. Then dropped in oil with foil, stripping it off carefully during the cooking.

Much better result! Fluffier and lighter than #1. However at 370 for 1 minute total, it didn't cook the logs thru, still a tiny bit of raw dough in the middle. Probably needs 355-360 for 1.5 minutes. Glaze was much better: powdered sugar, just a touch of milk and a touch of vanilla. Did firm up nice after it dried.








For the future I'm thinkin higher hydration, gentler handling, longer rise, cooler but longer fry?

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donuts - go nuts

So doing a bunch of doughnut research, compiling a few recipes.

Here's what I learned so far:

1. Original Krispy Kreme recipe had potatoes in it! See "Making Dough" By Kirk Kazanjian; which suggests that cooked potatoes, instant potatoes and/or potato starch would be ingredients to consider adding to the ultimate doughnut
2. Many doughnut makers use pre-made mixes. One example of a mix is Spudos (50lbs for $50). In Spudos case, they don't include the yeast, but probably use powdered egg, powdered milk, potato powder and/or starch, sugar, salt, and flavorings.
   

Anyway, gonna give some a try, will letcha know how it goes.

mushroom risotto

So I've been requested by my old boss to make some risotto for a party that she's hosting for the people in her department. Nice of her to invite me, I enjoyed working for her.

Truffled Mushroom Risotto

Serves 10-12 as a side dish

1 box chicken stock

2 cups water

1 stick butter

1 onion, minced

2 cups arborio rice

1 cup dry white wine

1 lb cremini mushrooms, trimmed and cut into wedges

1/2 oz dried porcini mushrooms, carefully rinsed and minced

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme

2 oz Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp Truffle oil

Kosher salt

Fresh parsley, chopped

1. In small pot, bring broth and water to boil
2. In large pot over high heat, melt 2 tbsp butter and some salt. Cook until browned, about 8-10 minutes. Add garlic and thyme, cook 15 seconds, remove from pot and set aside.
3. In the large pot, now melt butter 1/2 stick of butter. Add onion and dried porcinis, cook for 5-7 minutes.
4. Stir rice into pot, cook about 3 minutes.
5. Add wine and cook for 2 minutes
6. Start adding broth + stirring, one ladle at a time, and cooking for about 17 minutes over high heat.
7. Remove from heat. Stir in cremini mushrooms, Parmesan, and truffle oil. Adjust salt.
8. Sprinkle with chopped parsley and serve immediately.

Kale and Bread Soup

I bought some kale a week ago, and I wanted to make a hearty and delicious soup, and use up a bunch of leftover bread. I made the garlic confit the night before, and it will last probably a week or more in the fridge, and is great just spread on bread, or mixed in with potatoes or other dishes.


Kale and Bread Soup

1/4 cup Garlic Confit (recipe follows)
2 tbsp oil from Garlic Confit (recipe follows)
2 tbsp caramelized onions*
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
1 bunch kale, rinsed well and julienned
1 cup stale bread, cut into 1/2" cubes
3 cups chicken stock
Black pepper and salt to taste.

1. In a large pot, add oil, red pepper flakes, onions, over medium heat for 20 seconds.
   
2. Mash garlic confit, and add, cooking 10 seconds.
   
3. Add kale, and toss to coat, cooking for 2 minutes. Season with black pepper.
   
4. Add bread, and cook for 30 seconds.
   
5. Add chicken stock, turn heat to high, and bring to a boil for 2 minutes.
   
6. Remove from heat
7. Serve immediately.
   

I had these as a leftover. Made a huge batch, with a lot of butter and some brandy. Froze it, and I use it for flavoring as needed.

Garlic Confit

1 entire head elephant garlic (or 2 large heads garlic), peeled
50-50 olive oil and canola oil to cover

1. Put peeled heads in small ovenproof saucepan. Add oils to cover garlic cloves completely
2. Roast at 300 degrees for 1.5 hours.
3. Let cool, cover and refrigerate. K
4. To use, remove as needed with a clean fork. Use as a spread or mash.

Short ribs

Kalbi! I went to the supermarket Vons today, and there was a clearance meat section with some sad greying filet and steaks. Discounted at 30-50% off...but I beheld some red shirt ribs, 2 packs. Snatched them up for a song...with discount the cross cut ones were $2 for the pack. So I threw them in a marinade:




Soy mirin scallions red pepper flakes Ginger lemon zest salt white pepper sesame oil and canola. Let them marinate from 1230 to 6pm.

Then on the grill over high heat:




After 8 minutes (about 6 on one side, 2 on the other)





From the grill to the plate. With some brown rice and some sugar snaps from the farmar, stir fried in a tbsp or two of the marinade.




Mmm. The taste of short ribs is incredible.


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No knead sour 4

A hint of sourness, seems more noticeable on this loaf than others of recent memory. Good lingering sourdough aftertaste tang.

Crust pretty crunchy but thin, very good.

Crumb is pretty nice and open, soft but fully cooked through, no gumminess






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No knead sourdough #4

Baked this off this morning. Nice browning, but not much oven spring. Need to try handling it with flour OR doing stretch and fold. I think the gluten structure was too loose.




Still I'm sure it'll taste good




I love sourdough! :)

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turkey chili

I've been wanting to make chili again, so here goes. One new technique I learned from watching Food Network was not to brown the meat, but to add it when the liquid is added. This seems to yield a smoother, more homogenous, "meat-paste"-like chili. I miss some of the caramelized flavors you get from browining the meat, but I am happy to trade this off in lieu of smooth texture.

The end result? A smooth textured, well-balanced, mild chili.

Turkey Chili
Makes a good-sized pot (8 cups?)

2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
2 stalks celery, rough chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeded and rough chopped
1 green bell pepper, seeded and rough chopped
2 medium onions, rough chopped
2 cloves garlic, rough chopped (or more to taste)
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 can tomato paste
2 14oz cans diced tomatoes
1.5 lbs ground turkey
3 tbsp chili powder
3 tbsp garlic powder
2 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp onion powder
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chipotle en adobo puree (just puree contents of a can!)
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worcheshire sauce
2 tsp salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp mesquite smoke seasoning powder
2 cups pork stock*, or chicken stock, or water (* leftover from carnitas)

1. In food processor, pulse all vegetables until finely ground (like a sofrito)
   
2. In large pot, heat olive oil over high heat until almost smoking
   
3. Add tomato paste, and stir for 15 seconds.
   
4. Add sofrito, and cook over high heat for 5 minutes, stirring only once at 2.5 minutes
   
5. Turn heat to low
6. Process tomatoes in food processor, and add to pot.
   
7. Add turkey at once, and stir/beat to make into a "meat paste".
8. Add remaining spices & seasonings, and stock at once.
9. Turn up heat to high, heat until boiling, and cook over medium heat (bubbling thoroughly) for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
   
10. Adjust seasonings.
    
11. Remove from heat, and serve.
    
12. Once cool, refrigerate. It will taste better the next day!
    

corn dog secrets

I've been wanting to make corn dogs lately. So of course, I set out to find what makes a good corn dog, and recipes to match.

The prototype for me is what I've had at Hot Dog on a Stick (HDOAS). I even had a similarly good corn dog in Mammoth Lakes at the Vons. So here's my criterial for what makes a good one:

1. Should have an fairly prominent corn flavor, and it should be fairly sweet
2. Corn coating is not too thick, no more than 1/4" in thickness
3. Outer crust is crispy, and a little chewy; some pull but not much
4. Fried batter should not be gritty, gummy, gooey or overly thick
5. Fried batter shouldn't be too airy/light, or too heavy; but, erring on lightness is better.
   

So I rounded up 8 recipes...from everything from personal web sites and food blogs to behemoths Cooks.com and Allrecipes.com. I didn't even bother with Alton Brown's version for two reasons: aside from the fact that he bugs me a little, his recipe adds too much junk which is not traditional.

I chose 2 that I were substantially different enough to suggest the right direction to go. Here's what I found out for making a pretty traditional corn dog:

1. More flour less corn: I think the right proportion is around 100:66 flour-to-cornmeal. The one I made with 100:200 flour-to-cornmeal tasted gritty, and not as "corny" to my palate as the one with less corn...yes a bit strange I know! See #2 for more related info.
   
2. Sugar: more appears is better
   
3. Liquid: buttermilk seems to be best. Milk's 2nd best. HDOAS uses dried milk powder and hydrates with water.
   
4. Egg: 1 egg appears universal for 1 cup.
   
5. Leavening: depends on the liquid you're using. Baking powder + a bit of soda is good when using buttermilk; but this makes it pretty fluffy though, good if you want it really light, but . HDOAS only uses baking powder.
6. Oil: maybe 2 tablespoons, I think that's plenty. 4 tablespoos (1/4 cup) just makes the batter taste too oily. You're deepfrying these guys, for chrissakes, why would you need to add that much oil!!
   
7. Weird stuff: if you want to get crazy, try adding some dextrose for sweetening, in addition to sugar; also a small amount of rice flour (maybe 2-4 tbsp per cup of flour?)

I think the leavening and liquid are the main things to tweak. Sugar and flour percentages seem pretty consistent. Based on my tests, I'll take my fave recipe, decrease leavening a slight bit and increase the liquid a tiny bit.

Speaking of scaling, the 1 cup flour quantities really make a ridiculous amount of batter...unless you're making a whole pack of corn dogs for the party, you need barely half.

AND I really like the idea of cutting hot dogs in half for this. AND be sure to use sticks...I like popsicle sticks. It actually make them easier to dip and handle, which is critical when dealing with hot oil.

One last comment: the meat! Of course the hot dog itself is important. HDOAS uses a turkey dog, which is a good option. I really like the relatively new Oscar Mayer Selects Premium uncured hot dogs with no nitrates, nitrites or preservatives. Flavor is great, and I don't have to worry about extra garbage in my hot dogs.

Now go forth and make corn dogs!

KAF best burger buns #2

Slightly more egg and 14min bake time otherwise the same. Better browning, great rise, and fluffy!



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Carnitas #3

Here's the updated version, tweaking somewhat with the spices. I liked the previous one, though, very nice and mild.

Carnitas #3

1 whole pork shoulder, 3-4lb, preferably with bone, trimmed and cut into chunks.
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 onion, rough chopped
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 large orange, sliced in rounds
8 whole garlic cloves, peeled
2 bay leaves
Cold water

1. To a big stock pot, add all ingredients. Add enough cold water to just cover the meat, bring to a boil (about 12-15 minutes at high heat), reduce heat to simmer.
   
2. Simmer over medium-low heat for 2.5-3 hours, until falling apart.

Results: very good, subtle flavored, very versatile: just as good in a taco as it is in a pulled pork sandwich. The "pork stock" developed as a result has really nice meaty, porky flavors for use in cooking noodles, etc., albeit with a slightly mexican twist.

I wonder if I could do a Chinese style carnitas in a similar way, but with fresh ginger, garlic, scallions, maybe still coriander, etc. I think the stock might be more versatile that way.

Roast Chicken Memorial Day 2010

Nice roast chicken last night. The flavor on this one was much more mellow and subtle than previous, mostly because no rosemary in with the butter. This one is based on Tyler Florence's "Ultimate Chicken" recipe. Skin got pretty crispy, but could've been more. The gravy was very subtle and nice too.

One 6lb. young chicken
5 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp butter, room temp, softened
1 large onion
4 cloves garlic, peeled but left whole
2 carrots, peeled and rough chopped
2 celery stalks, rough chopped
2 cups water (or some combination of water, chicken stock, and/or decent white wine, like Charles Shaw Sav Blanc)
1 lemon, cut in half
1/2 onion, cut in half
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 425F
2. Combine garlic and butter, set aside.
3. Remove giblets, and place in roasting pan, with onion, garlic cloves, carrots, celery and water.
4. Dry off skin of bird with paper tower
5. Separate skin from meat; put garlic butter under skin, work it under the breast and onto leg
6. Season skin liberally with salt and pepper; NO BUTTER ON SKIN, only salt
7. Stuff cavity with half-onion and half-lemon
   
8. Roast for 60 minutes
9. Reduce heat to 375F
10. Roast for about 35-40 more minutes, or until thigh temp reaches 160F.

Pan Gravy

Leftover pan juices
Leftover pan fat
Leftover roasted garlic cloves
1/3 cup flour
1 cup water
1 cup milk
2 tbsp brandy
Salt & pepper

1. Remove giblets and vegetables, leave garlic cloves in pan
2. Pick up chicken with wooden spoon, let juices train into roasting pan.
3. Separate juices and fat, if possible.
4. Mash roasted garlic cloves in pan with oil until they're a paste
   
5. Heat roasting pan over medium-high heat
6. Add flour to pan fat, stir fast, whisk for 30-60 seconds
7. Add brandy, whisk for 15 seconds
8. Add water and milk, whisk, bring to boil. Add more water or milk to adjust consistency.
9. Season with salt & pepper to taste.
10. Strain thru fine mesh strainer and serve.

Common baking measurements - salt

How much does a teaspoon of salt weight?

Turns out, not an easy answer! Here are the results:

1 teaspoon of Morton's Iodized Table Salt =
Lowest: 6.1g
Highest: 8.1g
Average: 6.86g

1 teaspoon of Morton's Coarse Kosher Salt =
Lowest: 4.2g
Highest: 5.2g
Average: 4.766g

How did I get these results?

I ran some tests: 3 different teaspoons (2 plastic, one metal), same scale (the myWeigh 500ZH, which has 0.1g accuracy).

Using each teaspoon, I measured out the salt, using the back of a knife to scrape off. After each weighing, I zeroed (tare) the gram scale. I tested each teaspoon at least 3 times.

Actual Test Results

Here was the range of results I got for Morton Iodized Salt (in grams)

6.5
6.9
6.1
6.7
6.5
7.3
8.1
7.2
6.7
6.6

Lowest: 6.1g
Highest: 8.1g
Average: 6.86g

Ran the same test with Morton's Kosher Salt, here's what I got:

4.8
4.7
5.2
4.9
4.9
5.4
4.5
4.2
4.3

Lowest: 4.2g
Highest: 5.2g
Average: 4.766g

What does it all mean?

1. Different salts have different weights: makes sense, because the salt crystal size is different, not to mention the salt strucure itself (i.e., is it airy or compact?)
   
2. Teaspoon measures vary...not all teaspoons are created equal. This is why measuring by weight is so much more accurate.
   
3. Measuring techniques will give you different outcomes.
4. Variation in measurement using volumetric measurement can be 10-20%, not insignificant (see #4)
5. Translating converting teaspoon measurements into meaningful bakers percentages is tricky. Especially when trying to extrapolate from such small measurements. With 10-20% variation, if you extrapolate a percentage by weight, then scale up, at a large quantity you will experience wildly different outcome.

Daily bread

Acme baguette #2 but first attempt. I used sourdough throughout except final dough

Poolish and scrap dough start




After 15 hours




Then kneaded dough



Shaped





Slahsed





And finally baked








Crumb shot


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BBQ pork pizza

Yeast pizza dough #5, with toppings: leftover room-temp carnitas sauced in bullseye BBQ sauce, jack n mozzarella cheese, extra bbq sauce, onions in balsamic vinegar, more cheese, cilantro,good olive oil.

I think it's key to have meat, sauce and other ingredients at room temp prior to baking, to make sure it bakes evenly and quickly.

Before, shaped, and ready to go in the oven:


5 minutes later after baking at 550F, on pizza stone on middle rack, rotated halfway thru, totally done:


Nice browning of crust. Was easy to shape after 31 hours in the fridge.


Looks like a winner! :) This is a slightly wheatier pizza dough.

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Tamale pie

Made with ATK southern skillet cornbread recipe, topping carnitas with homemade chili sauce, beer braise peppers/onions, with garlic infused cream cheese stirred in with some velveeta!




We'll see how it tastes.

I made chile sauce from 16 guajillos and leftover pork stock from carnitas.

Ox heart

Sliced in thin thin steaks, flash grilled for 30 sec. With horseradish creme, red cabbage beetroot salad.






And pigs tail: brine, braise low and slow!

Mix a pinch of English mustard into egg mix, bread with breadcrumbs and fry. Finish them in the oven.


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Trotter gear

Fergus and chris getting down with trotters. Be sure and shave them first! Roast with veg herbs Madeira and water all day til falling apart. May need to be watered down later to avoid gluiness.

Btw I said hi to Neal Fraser who is sitting at the end of our row.






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Bicyclette

A 2005 Riesling cabinett with a shot of Campari. Yeah up my alley totally!




Neal Fraser is up front talking to Susan. Pretty rad.

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Fergus front row center

At Ciudad for the Fergus Henderson demo, front row




My view so far...



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Pg 8

Surprisingly tight crumb despite a ton of yeast by comparison






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PG #8

Much Lower hydration (used buttermilk, and brushed top with that as well). it came apart a little despite the log roll, prob not enough moisture.




Slash down the middle ended up deep! A lot of yeast in here so I'm interested to see flavor and texture.




Next time tweak with higher hydration and maybe some egg.

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Carnitas #2 photos

All the pieces, waiting, including 3.5lb pork shoulder...




Trimmed, chopped, spiced, ready to simmer




After 3 hours, you have to simmer at least 2.5 for it to be fork tender.




Shredded up!




Leftover pork "stock":





For next time 1 tbsp salt is prob enough. 2 tbsp is pretty aggressive for the quantity, although the pork came out pretty perfectly seasoned, stock is slightly salty for my taste. Prob too much if you sauce it though.

Pork is delish, very mild but deep flavors.

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Carnitas #2

Most traditional recipes require you to confit, that is, braise slowly in its own fat, in this case lard. In lieu of adding fat to an already fatty cut, I'm going to simmer in water instead. Minus the onion, you could convert this to lard with ease: use seeds instead of ground spices, cover in melted lard, simmer at about 275-300 degrees for about 3 hours.

Carnitas #2

1 whole pork shoulder, 3-4lb, preferably with bone, trimmed and cut into chunks.
1 tbsp kosher salt
1/2 onion, rough chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp black pepper
1 large orange, sliced in rounds
8 whole garlic cloves
2 bay leaves
Cold water

1. To a big stock pot, add all ingredients. Add enough cold water to just cover the meat, bring to a boil (about 12-15 minutes at high heat), reduce heat to simmer.
   
2. Simmer over medium-low heat for 2.5-3 hours, until falling apart.

NOTES:
2 tbsp salt I originally used made the meat very well-seasoned, but perhaps slightly too well. Broth tasted a bit too salty. Revising the recipe down to 1 tbsp salt, then can add more as needed.

Flavors are very mellow; you just get more roundness in the meat; I can't really pick out orange, coriander, cumin or oregano, but they contribute good balance and roundness. I might consider doing more orange, and some more coriander/cumin for the future. A bit of chili powder probably wouldn't hurt anything either.

Roasted beetroot soup

I was at St. John's Bread and Wine a few weeks ago while on a trip to England and France, and B. and I had an amazing dinner. One of the specials that night was a beetroot soup, which arrived in a pretty little crock with pickled beets on top, as sweet/sour and interesting as pickled ginger! The beet soup was really a smooth, creamy, dark red puree, well-salted and well-buttered. I really liked the simplicity of flavors, so I tried to replicate it myself, and got pretty close.

So the version listed here is based on the lessons learned from the one I made tonight, which still had a slightly bitter edge (probably due to slight undercooking of beets). I also used a roasted veg puree that I had leftover from a roast chicken I made recently, so this version incorporates the roasting in with the beets. The whole idea here is to roast small beets (which are usually sweetish already) to further enhance their natural sweetness thru caramelization.

Roasted Beetroot soup

10 small beets, any color (but preferably with some red ones in there!), scrubbed, tips and tops cut off
2 carrots, peeled and chopped
1 stalks celery, chopped
1/2 large onion, rough chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
Kosher Salt
4-6 cups stock (or 4 cups stock + water)
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp honey (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Cut largish beets into even sized pieces
3. On a sheet pan, toss beets, carrots, celery, and onion in olive oil. Season with salt.
   
4. Roast at 450 for 40 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes.
   
5. Meanwhile, in a medium pot, heat stock to just boil and remove from heat.
   
6. Remove roasted veg from oven, and peel beets (they should peel easily and be nicely caramelized on a few sides)
   
7. To 4 cups of hot stock, add roasted veg, 2 bay leaves and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Beets should be nice and soft, easily pierced with fork, like a potato.
   
8. Remove bay leaves, and in batches, put beet soup in blender and blend until smooth (be careful! cover the top of the blender firmly with a towel to keep soup from exploding everywhere, and pulse the blender to get it going!!)
   
9. Strain hot soup thru a chinois to ensure smooth texture.
10. Add additional hot stock or water to achieve desired consistency (should not be as thick as baby food, leave it slightly more watery). Heat over low heat as necessary.
    
11. Remove from heat, and whisk in 3 tbsp butter.
12. Adjust salt to taste. If soup is a bit bitter, add optional honey to balance bitterness.
13. Serve hot with crusty buttered bread. You can also garnish with heavy cream or sour cream.
    

Buns texture

Not bad at all!




Really nice soft texture. Crust is nice n soft. I think could use a touch more sweetness.

Burger buns

Inspired by Sally's burger bun recipe from allrecipes, I developed my own, worked ou the bakers percentages and then compare with Reinharts soft white sandwich bread from ABE, very similar.

Dough was extremely sticky, probably needs more flour. I handled it with oil.

Here they are, formed and ready to rise. Not too pretty because they were too sticky.



After rise (a really quick 40 minutes) I brushe the tops with milk, butter and whole beaten egg successively:





Now into the oven at 400 for 5 minutes and 375 for 15 min (20 min total). Not as much browning as I'd like but nice to compare the effects:




The bottoms browned up nice




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Grilled Cheese Invitational 2010; Bread Pudding

The GCI 2010 turned out well. I did two sammiches, one traditional (the "Cheddargy Dome" with die-cut rounds of Peter Reinhart's sandwich bread & slab-cut Velveeta) and one sweet (the "Beautiful World", with mascarpone, brie, peanut butter cup, banana, and marshmallows). No trophies, but it was fun anyhow.

So I had lots of crusts & bits of nice white bread left over from the Cheddargy dome, so I made my first bread pudding tonight, using the ATK recipe. For next time:

1. Add raisins (Beckey likes raisins!)
2. Try the chocolate version the right way: melt chips in the milk + cream, and let it cool. Then whisk into eggs, etc.

Here's my version of the recipe; I reduced cream by 1.5 cups and increased milk by 1 cup.

Bread Pudding
(serves 8-10)

4 eggs
1 egg yolk
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3.5 cups milk
3 tbsp brandy (or use bourbon)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 tsp cinammon
2 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sugar
8oz + 4oz (12oz/340g total) nice bread pieces & crusts, cut/torn into 1.5" pieces

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
   
2. Whisk eggs and sugar. Whisk in all ingredients except cinammon, butter, remaining sugar and bread.
3. In 9x13 pan, place 8oz of bread. Pour egg mixture over. Let sit for 10 minutes.
4. In separate bowl, add remaining 4oz of bread + sugar. Pour melted butter over and add cinnamon. Mix until combined.
5. Sprinkle butter/bread mixture over top of pan.
   
6. Bake 40-50 minutes, until well set but slightly jiggly; check at 40 min. It should be just a bit jiggly.
7. Serve warm with cream or whipped cream.
   

Reinhart sandwich #2

Used buttermilk
Followed exactly, this time 1 egg for 2 loaves
Rise time still about 3.5 hours, could prob go to 4hrs



Bake at 350 for 40 minutes



And brushed with butter




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No knead white #7

Got a bit stuck on oiled silpat prior to cast iron pot so more football shaped:




Due to stretch and fold and nice rise, had very nice big texture along with typical crisp thin crust. Of 20% other flours, about 14g whole wheat and the rest rye.



This slice looked more like a donut!

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Reinhart's French Bread follow up

Reinhart's French bread turned out well.

It's a 67% hydration bread, with slightly less yeast than the Lean Dough.

Tasty results; really good browning & crust flavor. The downside is that the oven spring was so-so (probably b/c I forgot to bump up the yeast, as I use ADY). That's probably a problem with many/most of the recipes I've done to date, in fact!

The interior texture wasn't as holey or fluffy as the Lean Dough.

I must say, being done with bag #2 of KAF Bread Flour, that it does really perform better than regular bread flour: more chew, higher rise, possibly cleaner flavor. It's pricey, but I think it's worth it.

Reinharts French Bread

One batard one boule!






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Reinhart Bread "Lean Dough"

Baked off Peter Reinhart's "Lean Dough" bread recipe last night. Had a 17 hour cold fermentation in the fridge. It's the softest textured bread I've ever made! Very good flavor and crust too. All courtesy of 75% hydration and the "stretch and fold" technique.

I really enjoyed his class in Westlake Village on Friday. I think I'll try his French bread recipe next.

Peter Reinhart

Went to a really great presentation by Peter Reinhart this evening at the Westlake Cooking School.

Peter was really great; tooko a lot of time afterwards to sign books and answer many questions. Every bread that I ate that evening was unquestionably delicious, from beautifully caramelized sticky buns with nuts and fruits...to creamy-textured, toasty flavored rustic loaves made with the 75% hydration "Lean Dough", to the wispy soft, almost cotton-candy, velvety texture of the challah!

A few key thoughts/things I learned!

• His doughs are extremely soft & supple, softer than a baby's bottom, perhaps!
• Oiling the kneading/forming surface to keep from sticking, and oiling wet doughs slightly for handling.
  
• Using wet fingers to handle dough (he had a little bowl at the side, dipping in his fingers as necessary).
  
• The "stretch and fold" technique: stretch towards you, fold in thirds, 90 degree turn, repeat, then rest! Repeat the whole process 4 times. It shapes shaggy soft dough into a tight manageable skin, and reduces stickiness.
• Kneading: more stretch and fold than kneading, and the doughs came out supple!
  
• Yeasty bread flavor: due to too much yeast OR over-fermentation (what you're actually tasting is the alcohol, not the yeast!); a problem (he notably mentioned) with the "Artisan 5 Min/Day" bread recipes, and I totally agree with him on that
• Blisters on crust: form the loaves, really shape them, and let them cold ferment overnight...you will get blisters! Great story about this question which he discussed with Raymond Calvel.

I got my "Artisan Breads Everyday" book signed (Beckey bought it for me as a present), and even bought his "Whole Grain Breads" book, with great info on soakers. I wasn't familiar with that technique, but it's exactly what my grandma used in her rye bread.

My first baking class, and absolutely worth every penny! If you can't make it to one of his workshops, the next best thing is to read this transcript of his Barnes & Noble interview.

Thanks Peter!

butternut squash soup 2010

One of my favorite squash soups to date. The roasting brings out a real delicious sweetness and toastiness from squash. I had some leftover ruby port, and that added a really nice depth of flavor. Be careful on the white pepper and cayenne, the flavors are so delicate and sweet that it's easy to make this way too spicy.

1 medium butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1" cubes
2 tbsp + 2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 stalks celery and leaves, chopped
1/2 cup ruby port
1/4 cup apple pie liqueur
1 box chicken stock
pinch allspice
pinch cinnamon
pinch nutmeg
tiny pinch cayenne
Salt and white pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. On baking sheet, toss butternut cubes with olive oil, salt + white pepper. Roast for 40 minutes, flipping cubes at 20 minutes.
   
3. Meanwhile, heat remaining 2 tbsp olive oil in a large cast iron pot.
4. Sweat onions + celery for about 5 minutes over medium heat (do not brown!). Add, shut off heat, stir in spices.
   
5. Add butternut squash pieces to pot, along with enough chicken stock to cover.
   
6. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer, covered for 15 minutes.
   
7. Blend in batches in blender (don't fill blender more than 1/2 way full, and cover top with towel!).
   
8. Add back to pot. Add enough remaining chicken stock to make it quite liquid, and use some water if you need to (you don't want this thick, you want it to be pretty runny, just a little thicker than chicken soup!). Heat until warm over low heat.
   
9. Season with additional salt and white pepper to taste.
   
10. Stir in 1 tbsp. of butter if you're feeling like it should be more creamy.
    

Variations:

• Add 1 diced, peeled green apple to onions when sweating

No knead white #4

Pulled pork

Made some last week!

Slather: yellow mustard + honey (50/50)
Rub: the Magic Rub I developed
Liquid: 1/2 cup stew puree (carrots/celery/onion which had previously braised some chicken thighs) + 1/2 cup "apple pie" liqueur. Liquid went about 1/2 way up the roast.

In crock pot for ~9 hours

Results: tender, flavorful, falling apart easily, not dry. Not smokey at all; would've been nice in the smoker.

Vinegar sauce I made (recipe is top secret!) turned out well. Hints: multiple vinegars, honey, catsup.

Firecracker Wontons with Chinese Pesto

Sometimes a recipe sounds good on paper, but execution is so-so. That's kind of how I've felt so far about the "Firecracker Dumplings" in Hugh Carpenter's "Chopstix" cookbook.

On the upside, the sauce looks good! It's a spinach + basil puree with Asian flavors & spices, and I like the bright green look of what Carpenter calls a "rich Chinese pesto sauce".

On the downside, the wontons themselves tasted pretty plain. So I added garlic, more salt. Also I substituted mirin for the dry sherry, as I think wonton filling was missing an element of sweetness (plus I didn't have sherry, and the combo of brandy + sav blanc didn't cut it). Not to mention the quantities are totally wrong: original filling was for more than 60 wontons, and only specified 30 skins! So here's the right way, I think 30 wontons is the right amount.

Firecracker Wontons
Makes 30 dumplings, serves 4 as meal or 6 as appetizer.

1 c. chopped carrots
2 green onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 lb. (~225g) ground chicken
1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1/2 tsp toasted sesame oil (I like Spectrum Organics)
1/2 tsp Chinese hot bean paste
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1 pinch red chili flakes powder
30 wonton skins (usually 1 small package)

Chinese Pesto Sauce (recipe follows)
1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted

1. In food processor, process carrots, onions, and garlic until finely minced.
2. In a separate bowl, add ground chicken, carrot/onion mixture, and remaining spices. Stir with spoon or knead with fingers until well combined.
   
3. Cover with plastic wrap & let rest at least 30 minutes.
4. Fry up a little piece in a pan; adjust seasonings of filling.
   
5. Make wontons: put about 1 tsp filling in center. Moisten 3 of 4 edges with water. Seal into triangle. Dimple the bottom of filling triangle in middle with thumb, then pinch widest 2 points together with some water to stick.
6. Place on cookie sheet, covered with wax paper.
   
7. DO AHEAD: freeze dumplings, or refrigerate up to 5 hours
   
8. DO AHEAD: Make pesto sauce (recipe follows); can keep up to 2 days
   
9. Cook wontons: boil a big pot of salted water. Add fresh or frozen dumplings to boiling water. When they float (about 3 minutes), skim with spider and remove.
   
10. Toss dumplings with pesto sauce in large mixing bowl.
    
11. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds
    

Chinese Pesto Sauce
Makes a little more than 1/2 cup

12 oz spinach leaves, washed and dried
8 basil leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tsp fresh orange peel, grated
1/4 c. fresh cilantro, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp mirin
2 tbsp white vinegar
2 tbsp toasted sesame oil
2 tsp hoisin sauce
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Sriracha or hot chili sauce (or hot bean paste)

1. In a large pot, heat at least 8 cups water to a rolling boil.
   
2. Prepare a large bowl of ice water.
   
3. Blanch basil & spinach leaves for 1-2 seconds, swirling quickly, then immediately into ice water to cool. Drain and dry.
   
4. Squeeze out excess moisture of spinach and basil in paper towels.
   
5. Add basil, spinach, and all remaining ingredients into blender. Puree until smooth.
   
6. Strain thru fine-mesh strainer (chinois).
7. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.
   

Will keep for about 2 days in the fridge.

NOTES: prepared everything tonight 1/28 for dinner with Beckey.

Sauce is REALLY delicious and flavorful, but needs a few mods. Because the wontons taste so mild, the sauce tends to overwhelm their rather delicate flavors. Here are my recommended sauce mods:

• Use only 1 garlic clove, not 2: garlic was overpowering
  
• Blanching spinach worked well, bright green & should help preserve a bit.
• Cilantro is beautiful here, Beckey didn't notice it at all, and it adds a freshness and a hidden floral note to the orange which is nice
  
• Much less orange peel, it's very strong and overwhelmed other flavors (maybe 1/2 or 1/4 tsp only, a few grates on the zester, taste & adjust)
• Mirin worked really well as a substitute for dry sherry (specified in Carpenter's original sauce)
  
• Less sriracha (one tiny squeeze); taste & adjust, mine was a bit too spicy, again, not wanting to overwhelm and allow the delicate sweetness of the chicken, carrots & green onions through.
  
• Only 2 oz of spinach leaves necessary, not 12! About 3 loose cups worth.
• No need to strain thru chinois, it was very uniform after the blender.

OOPS! forgot the sesame seeds for sprinkling on top. Still it was delicious.

Beer bratwurst and your own brats!

The weekend as a snack I decided to do some brats that I had defrosted. They turned out really well. I like cooking in beer, but I think the apple juice made the biggest difference, adding depth of flavor, warmness and of course some sweetness.

Beer Brats and Onions

4 bratwurst
1 whole onion, peeled and sliced thin
1/2 bottle of good lager (like Heineken or other lager)
1/2 cup apple juice (preferably unfiltered, organic)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp kosher salt

1. In a skillet over high heat, add apple juice, onion, sugar, and salt, stir to combine.
   
2. Nestle brats in liquid, which should come up about 1/2 way.
   
3. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook for 15 minutes.
   
4. Turn brats, uncover, and cook until remaining liquid has evaporated, and brats & onions start to brown, about 15 more minutes.
   
5. Check brats for doneness (cut through, should be just a tiny bit pink in center, if at all).

Serve on a bun with Dijon mustard and some of the onions. Yum!

Things to consider for the future: making your own brats (recipe from Jack Schmidling's web site), or at the very least, incorporating the brat spices/flavors in the poaching liquid.

60% (9.6 oz) Pork, 40% (6.4 oz) Veal.1 lb
1 tsp pickling salt
1/2 tsp onion salt
1/2 tsp Ground White Pepper
1/2 tsp dried Marjoram
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp ground Nutmeg
1/4 tsp Celery Seed
1/8 tsp dried Ginger
1/8 tsp ground Mace
1/8 tsp ground Cardamom
2 oz Red Wine

1. Grind meat through 3/16" plate.
2. Mix non-meat ingredients in bowl and add to ground meat and mix thoroughly.
3. Chill in freezer for 30 min.
4. Mix again and grind through 1/4" plate.
5. Stuff into sheep or hog casings and air dry for 30 min or until dry to the touch.
6. Refrigerate or freeze for use.

Striped Bass with Charmoula

B. and I went to Whole Foods on Saturday to get some grub for her book club, and we decided to get some fish. We both like fish (B. especially so) and so we ended up with some nice wild striped bass filets. It's a very delicate white fish, similar to trout but perhaps less sweet.

The "charmoula" in this recipe is a Moroccan marinade/sauce, combining Mediterranean flavors with exotic smokiness/spice. Really delicious against the delicacy of the fish, and not overpowering. I could see using this same marinade on chicken or pork too, would be lovely. The sauce has a Spanish/Argentinian character to it as well.

Had a nice 2006 Cosentino CE2V Chardonnay to accompany. I think a beurre blanc would have gone better with the subtle toastiness of the Chard. Still, it was all delish.

Recipe adapted from the "Starting with Ingredients" book (which I like for finding recipes for a particular ingredient). Served with buttered green beans + garlic, sauteed kale, and brown rice

Striped Bass with Charmoula
Serves 2

Charmoula

2 garlic cloves, minced
Juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp sweet Spanish paprika
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/8 tsp red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp cayenne
1/3-1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
1/4 cup fresh italian parsley, chopped
Salt & pepper to taste

Combine all ingredients up to (but not including) olive oil in blender. Turn on blender, and carefully stream in oil until it emulsifies. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chopped cilantro and parsley. Set aside.

2 large filets striped bass
Charmoula

1. Put fish and 3/4 of charmoula in bag, cover, and let marinate for at least 1 hr, up to 4 hours.
   
2. Set oven to broil. Line baking sheet with Silpat or foil.
3. Place fish on baking sheet, SKIN SIDE DOWN.
   
4. Place under broiler and broil for 4 minutes, watching carefully in case it starts to burn.
   
5. With large spatula, carefully flip skin side UP and broil for about 3-4 more minutes, until the skin starts to crisp up.
6. Plate and serve immediately, with a little reserved charmoula on top.
   

infusions and bitters

Spent some time this evening cataloging my liquor cabinet. I've got:

• Over 70 bottles of liquor, most of which are liqueurs for mixing
  
• 11 bottles of bitters (not including my own custom mixes)
• A few homemade liqueurs (apple pie mostly, and some limoncello)
  

Some favorites:

• Vodka: so neutral, and makes a bunch of my favorite drinks. Great for infusion too, if you don't have easy access to grain alcohol. For "daily use" I like Skyy, and for "splurge" I like Ketel One or Grey Goose.
  
• Gin: even though I have none in my cabinet right now, I like it a lot! Faves are Bombay Sapphire and Junipero
• I love sweet/sour & bitter drinks, with preference lately to vodka: Vodka Tonic, Cape Cod, Salty Dog/Greyhound
• Brown water (bourbon/scotch/rye): Blanton's and Gentleman Jack are two faves, although Ardbeg and Laphroaig are two other faves, must try more. Woodford Reserve is nice too. I wanna try Buffalo Trace and Old Potrero. Maker's Mark is passable but I prefer it to mix with ginger ale.
  

I've made a few infusions & liqueurs over the years. Here are a few:

• Meyer Lemon-cello
• Krupnikas (spiced honey liqueur)
• Apple Pie (apple cider+juice)
• Pineapple (fresh pineapple)
• Bitters (a whole host of 'em!)

The base of most of these is Everclear, aka grain alcohol. You can only buy 151 proof in California, but a quick trip out of state can obtain 190 proof.

Infusions that I've liked in the past few years (all involve soaking in grain alcohol for a period of time, then straining off the solids carefully thru fine-mesh strainer (such as chinois) and/or coffee filter paper. BTW, if you have a vacuum pump + flask, you'll get much more effective filtering!

• Pineapple: soak fresh pineapple in vodka or grain alcohol for 1-2 weeks, strain off the solids
• Zesty Bourbon: soak lemon, grapefruit and orange zests in bourbon (this one is courtesy of Scott @ Cyrus in Healdsburg) for about 2 weeks
  
• Cranberry: soak fresh cranberries for 4 weeks, strain off solids

Some other infusions that have done well over the years:

• Cranberry Raisin: soak dried cranberries and raisins for a couple of months, discard solids. After 5-6 years or so, the flavor really mellows out nicely

Some that didn't do so well:

• Fresh plum: from the trip to Petaluma to visit T's grandparents. We'll see what happens, but doesn't smell/look good at this point, looks kinda oxidized and gross.

As far as bitters go, I've come up with a few recipes that are pretty good, but they're top secret :) Suffice it to say that a trip to Bevmo for Everclear and a trip to the local health food store for organic dried herbs and spices will lead to some nice essence extractions, which you can use to blend your own concoctions.

a number of breads

I've made a number of breads over the last month, here's what I've learned:

• You can't make a good no-knead pizza dough, because the hydration is way too high to handle the dough. It may taste good when you bake it up, but it handles very poorly
• You can make a good wheat/rye hybrid bread with pretty short rise times, fluffy texture and no yeasty taste (my PG #1-3 breads are a testament to that)
• Investing $25 on a small weight-scale (in my case, from Old Will Knott's online) has been a great investment for increasing the accuracy of my yeast and salt weights

New Years Day party wrap up

Final menu, for what turned out to be 11 guests:

1. Lamb meatballs with greek yogurt (about 30)
   
2. Stuffed mushrooms (about 25)
   
3. TJ Goat cheese/caramelized onion puff pastries (2 boxes)
   
4. Home-baked crostini + tomato/fennel sauce (about 15)
   
5. Bacon-wrapped dates (20 pcs)
   
6. Bratwurst with Dijon mustard (6 brats)
7. 1 small veg plate (the smallest one)
8. 3 apples, sliced
9. Cheesecake
   

Notes:

1. Make 30 meatballs, which was more than enough. Seemed OK. Plenty left over. Good thing they reheat well and taste delicious on flatbread! People barely touched the yogurt sauce.
   
2. Stuffed mushrooms were really easy and a hit; only one of about 25 left. A good vegetarian offering; several folks asked how I made them.
   
3. TJ pastries always go fast!
   
4. Crostinis with tomato spread all went, and then later, hungry Catchphrase players devoured the remaining crostini's w/o anything
5. 6 brats were perfect for the 11 or so people we had; no leftovers!
   
6. I'm happy I didn't do the tri-tip, was unnecessary; likewise, the pizza/flatbread would've been too much too.
   
7. 3 apples were perfect; any more people, 6 would have been better. These were all gone.
8. Veg tray was almost all gone.
9. Forgot to serve the cheesecake!
10. Get some Stevia, SweetNLow, or Splenda for those that don't use sugar with coffee (like Perry)
11. I think the 2-5pm was a good time on New Years Day, was fun! Some stayed later, which was OK.
    

Bacon wrapped dates

These are always a hit, and disappear fast...today was no exception!

Serves 14

20 medjool dates
3/4 cup shredded Asiago cheese
1/2 pound bacon strips, cut in 1/2

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Slice dates to expose pit, and remove (don't slice all the way thru)
3. Stuff with shredded cheese and close them up
4. Wrap with bacon, and skewer with toothpick to keep bacon from unraveling
   
5. Bake on cookie sheet for 15 minutes; flip, and cook for 15-20 more minutes (30-35 minutes total), or until bacon is crisp.
6. Let cool for at least 5 minutes before serving.
   

Stuffed mushrooms

Thanks to Giada DeLaurentiis & Food Network for this one

Ingredients

* 1/2 cup Italian-style dried bread crumbs
* 1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano
* 2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper
* 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 28 large (2 1/2-inch-diameter) white mushrooms, stemmed

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Stir the bread crumbs, Pecorino Romano, garlic, parsley, mint, salt and pepper, to taste, and 2 tablespoons olive oil in a medium bowl to blend.

Drizzle a heavy large baking sheet with about 1 tablespoon olive oil, to coat. Spoon the filling into the mushroom cavities and arrange on the baking sheet, cavity side up. Drizzle remaining oil over the filling in each mushroom. Bake until the mushrooms are tender and the filling is heated through and golden on top, about 25 minutes. Serve.

Lamb Meatballs with Lemon-Cumin Yogurt

From Chow.com

For the meatballs:

* 1 pound ground lamb
* 1/4 cup finely chopped white onion
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint
* 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
* 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
* 1 teaspoon ground coriander
* 1 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

For the yogurt:

* 7 ounces whole-milk Greek yogurt
* 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
* 2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh mint
* 1 teaspoon ground cumin
* Zest of 1 medium lemon, minced

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat the oven to 375°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
2. Combine all meatball ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands.
3. Form into 30 balls (about 2 teaspoons each) and place on a baking sheet.
4. Bake until meatballs are no longer pink in the middle, about 15 minutes.
5. Meanwhile, combine all yogurt ingredients in a small bowl and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Mix well. Serve with the meatballs.

Crostini with Tomato-Fennel Sauce

EDIT 1/2/09: originally I envisioned this as a bite with grilled tri-tip; however, the sauce is good on crostini alone, and reminds me of an italian version of Spanish "tomato bread", known as pa amb tomaquet. My version is a lot more juicy and flavorful from the fennel.

Sauce is based on what I found earlier this week on Epicurious, and very tasty. Would be good for pasta or pizza; I like the sweet fennel notes that come from both the seeds and the root.

20 crostinis (recipe follows)
1 cup of Tomato Fennel Sauce
Fresh fennel fronds

Assembly: spread about 1 tbsp tomato sauce on crostini. Top with small piece of fennel frond.

Crostini

1/2 cup olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
Baguette or other good-quality crusty bread, cut into 1" x 2" pieces
Salt + Pepper

1. Preheat oven to 350F
   
2. In a small bowl, combine olive oil and garlic. Let rest at least 30 minutes
3. Lay sliced bread out on cookie sheet.
4. Brush bread with infused oil on both sides.
5. Season "up" side with salt and pepper
6. Bake for 7 minutes, flip pieces, and bake for 8 to 13 minutes more (15-20 minutes total).
   

Tomato-Fennel Sauce
Makes about 2 cups

* 1/4 cup olive oil
* 4 garlic cloves, chopped
* 1 cup chopped fresh fennel
* 1 1/4 teaspoons fennel seeds
* 1 28-ounce can Italian tomatoes
* 2 tablespoons tomato paste
* 1 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
* 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add garlic, fennel and fennel seeds and sauté until tender, about 12 minutes. Add tomatoes with their juices and next 4 ingredients. Simmer until sauce thickens, breaking up tomatoes with back of spoon, about 25 minutes. Blend about 1 cup of sauce in blender til smooth; stir back into sauce. Season with salt and pepper. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Cover; chill. Rewarm before using.)

Roast Chicken

Who says that meat can't be cheap? Foster Farms whole young chickens for 69 cents at Ralphs this week. Sure, it's not free range, but it's decent quality.

So here's my roast chicken (based on ATK):

1 young chicken
1 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
3 tbsp chopped fresh garlic
Salt and pepper
1 lemon, sliced in 1/2
1 onion, sliced in half
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 Fennel fronds, chopped (optional)
1.5 cups chicken stock
Roasting pan with V-Rack

1. Preheat oven to 450F
2. Combine butter with rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper.
3. Remove giblets & set aside; rinse and dry chicken. Salt inside. Set in roasting pan.
   
4. In cavity, stuff 1/2 of onion, lemon, rosemary sprig.
5. Put butter under skin, then smear all over outside.
6. Salt and pepper outside.
7. Add remaining chopped veg (onions, carrots, celery, chicken stock, fennel) and giblets to pan.
8. Roast at 450F for 15 minutes, middle rack.
9. Turn down temp to 375F for 45 minutes, or until breast hits 160F. Check thigh too; you can always cut the thighs off and return them to the oven.

wine party

On New Year's Day, we're hosting a little party to start the New Year and celebrate B's completion of her sommelier program at PCI.

We'll be busting out a vertical tasting of a nice red blend from Santa Barbara County (Epiphany Cellars Revelation, which is typically Syrah, Petit Syrah and some kind of Grenache), stretching back to 1999.

So what small bites to make? We're estimating 14-16 people.

Lamb meatballs with greek yogurt
Stuffed mushrooms
Goat cheese/caramelized onion puff pastries
Braised duck en croute
Tri-tip bite tomato/fennel sauce
Bacon-wrapped dates
Bratwurst with Dijon mustard

Something sweet:
Brownies

Grandma's Bread #17

Adjusting the formulations again; I estimate this hydration around 77%.

STRAIGHT DOUGH
Bread flour 100.00% 427g
Rye flour 25.00% 107g
TOTAL FLOURS 534g

Buttermilk 30.00% 160g
Water 50.00% 267g
Honey 15.00% 80g
Salt 2.00% 11g
Yeast 1.50% 8g

FINAL STRAIGHT WEIGHT (g) 1060g

Instructions:

1. Heat water & buttermilk to 80-100 degrees.
2. In mixer bowl, add buttermilk mixture. Stir in honey, then stir in yeast. Let sit for 5 minutes.
   
3. Whisk flours together in separate bowl.
   
4. Add to mixer bowl, knead with hook on #2 for 2 minutes, let rest for 20min.
5. Add salt. Knead with hook on #2 for 7 minutes.
   
6. Shape on floured board, put into oiled bowl, covered, for 2.5 hours.
   
7. Knock down, letter fold 2x, shape into loaf, put into greased & floured loaf pan.
8. Into fridge at 230pm, out at 530pm.
9. Rise for 1 hour
10. Add 2/3 cup hot water.
    
11. Bake at 450F for 10 minutes, then at 400 for 30 minutes.
    

Notes:

1. When it came out after 1st rise from oiled bowl, it was soft like pizza dough, and had doubled in size. Very easy to handle, very soft but not really sticky, minimum flour recipe.
2. At 530pm when it came out, it was doubled in size again, in the pan. So probably too much yeast.
3. After a 1 hour rise, it was falling over the sides.
   
4. Could've stayed in the oven another 5 minutes.
   

Results:

• Great browning
• Nice thin, crispy/crackery somewhat shattery crust
• Super light, airy texture, like store-bought sandwich bread, with a tiny chew/pull. More "spongy" than regular sandwich bread (doesn't compress as much)
• No yeasty taste despite super-fast rise
• Not sour, not sweet.
• Overall doesn't taste like Grandma's bread, but is a rye variation

how much yeast?

DiMuzio talks about this in "Bread Baking: An Artisan's Perspective" (p 158).

For a lean dough @ 77F, he estimates the following percentages for peak fermentation times:

0.3% - 3 to 4 hours
0.4 - 0.5% - 1.5 to 2 hours
0.7% - 1 hour
1% - 30 to 45 minutes

Lots of variables enter in though:

1. Sweeter doughs require more yeast (typically over 12% sugar)
2. Richer doughs require more yeast
   

Grandma's Bread #15 & #16 - extrapolated

So I plugged in my weights & quantities from #14 to try to figure out baker's percentages for Grandma's bread #14. Here's what I ended up with (using the Expanded Pizza Dough Calculator on pizzamaking.com):

#15: single loaf based on #14 weights

MAKES 1 LOAF
Flour (100%): 342.88 g
Water (53%): 181.73 g
ADY (1%): 3.43 g | 0.91 tsp
Salt (2%): 6.86 g | 1.23 tsp
Honey (30%): 102.86 g | 0.31 cups
Buttermilk, fresh (85%): 291.45 g | 1.19 cups
Rye Flour (36%): 123.44 g
Total (307%): 1052.64 g | 37.13 oz | 2.32 lbs

Looking at the numbers, it seems funny. #14 and #15 dough is clearly wet, possibly over-hydrated, although wet + sticky dough is pretty normal for rye breads, which don't have much of a gluten structure. Also, according to Rose Levy Beranbaum, buttermilk is about 90% water and 1.75% fat, so the buttermilk by itself brings the hydration to ~76.5% alone (of bread flour only, or ~62.5% of total flours), without the water! This means we need to add ~3.5% water to get overall hydration to about 80%, which is pretty slack. So let's try an academic exercise:

1. Reduce water to 4%, which will make overall hydration ~80% of bread flour (or ~66.5% of flours overall); pretty slack, but less slack than breads up to and including #14!
   
2. Reduce rye to 25% (less stickiness, same flavor?)

So here is #16, the academic exercise :)

MAKES 1 LOAF
Flour (100%): 427.03 g
Rye Flour (25%): 106.76 g | 3.77 oz | 0.24 lbs | 15.43 tbsp | 0.96 cups
Buttermilk, fresh (85%): 362.98 g | 12.8 oz | 0.8 lbs | 23.7 tbsp | 1.48 cups
Water (3.5%): 14.95 g
ADY (1%): 4.27 g | 1.13 tsp
Salt (2%): 8.54 g | 1.53 tsp
Honey (30%): 128.11 g | 0.38 cups
Total (246.5%): 1052.64 g | 37.13 oz | 2.32 lbs

I would recommend making both of these, following same general directions as #14, and see what happens!

Directions

1. Heat buttermilk & water to 100 degrees.
2. Dissolve ADY and honey in buttermilk mixture; let sit for 5 minutes.
3. To mixing bowl, add flours, whisk to combine. Add buttermilk mixture. Mix on Kitchenaid #2 for 2 minutes. Should clear sides of bowl.
   
4. Let rest for 20 minutes.
   
5. NOW ADD SALT. Knead on #2 for 7 minutes.
   
6. Put in tub, cover and let rise for ~2 hrs, then into fridge.
7. Went into fridge at 615pm, out 945am next morning (15.5 hours total)
8. Rise at room temp for 2 hours
9. Preheat oven to 450F, bake 40 minutes with 1 cup hot water
   

NOTES on #16:

• I only added 70g honey (ran out), made up the rest of the weight with white sugar
• Even in mixing, hydration looks a lot more normal. In mixer, dough clears sides of bowl, but doesn't clear bottom (about coffee-cup size); out on lightly-floured board, very easily handleable
• Texture was MUCH tighter than #14, still a bit damp and soft, despite 1 hour rest. Crust was also thicker, not in a nice way.
• Better rise and oven spring than #14 though. My guess is that the yeast is OK, but it needs less buttermilk and more water, as well as overall higher hydration.
  

Grandma's Bread #14

Same old recipe, with a twist: I'm making 4 loaves for the holidays, so I decided to increase the recipe accuracy by weighing my otherwise normal volumetric measurements.

Here's what I have so far:

Makes 4 loaves

586g water (2-1/2 cups)
940g buttermilk (4 cups)
295g rye flour (2-2/3 cups of Arrowhead Mills rye flour)

820g bread flour (6-1/4 cups) (I weighed 6.25 cups 3 times, and came up with 810, 820, and 870g!)
52g table salt (7-1/4 tsp) - REMEASURE THIS I DON'T THINK THIS IS RIGHT!
11.6g* active dry yeast (4 tsp)
340g* honey (1 c)

* these two weights were calculated based on weight estimates found on the internet, i.e., 340g per cup of honey, 2.9g per tsp of active dry yeast.

Recipe: exactly like #11, with the following notes:

• 1st rise: 2 hours at room temp
• Retardation: 8 hours in fridge
• Final rise: 2 hours at room temp
• Bake at 450F for 40 minutes

Results:

• All loaves turned out close to the same: texture and crust very similar to #11
• Soft, flavorful, good balance of savory, sour and sweet.
• One on the right-most side of the oven seemed to rise the most, whereas the one on the left-most side got a tiny bit burned on the bottom and one of the sides at 40 minutes.

Notes

• Check the loaves on the sides carefully for burning at 30 minutes or so; if so, move the loaves around.
• Cooling in the pan for 10 minutes is a good idea! Then cool fully on racks.

True Spanish Tortilla

Ah, the true Spanish omelette, called tortilla in Spain, is served breakfast, lunch, dinner and for snacks; is served hot or cold; and can incorporate any number of fillings.

I like it pure and traditional: just egg, potato and onion. Sure, a little chorizo and truffle oil can be nice too, but totally not necessary; the "plain vanilla" version is immensely satisfying.

I made this for B's folks over Thanksgiving again; they loved it and asked for the recipe.

Spanish Tortilla (Tortilla Espanola)
Serves 2-4

1 recipe Aioli (recipe follows)
6 large eggs
3 medium yellow potatoes (like Yukon Gold or other yellow), peeled
1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 cup olive oil
Salt

1. Make Aioli and set aside (recipe follows).
   
2. Cut potatoes lengthwise into quarters, then thinly slice across into 1/8" thick "pie wedge" shapes (a handheld slicer or food processor works really well for this).
   
3. Spread potatoes out on cookie sheet, and dry off slices with paper towels. Salt generously.
   
4. In a large pan heat olive oil over high heat. Add sliced potatoes, and turn down heat immediately to medium. Cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don't let the potatoes brown!
   
5. NOW ADD SLICED ONION.
6. Cook for about 15 minutes, until potatoes are soft. Again, no browning!
   
7. Drain potatoes in collander, reserving leftover oil. Taste potatoes, season with more salt as necessary. Let rest for 5 minutes.
   
8. Now, in medium mixing bowl, crack eggs, and whisk until just after yolks are broken (eggs will have yellow and clear streaks in it still).
9. SEASON EGGS WITH SALT.
   
10. Mix potatoes back into eggs, and stir gently to combine.
11. Let potato/egg mixture rest for 10 minutes
12. Heat a 8" non-stick skillet with 2 tbsp of leftover oil over medium heat.
    
13. Add potato/egg mixture (it will be near the top of the pan).
14. Using spatula, cook for 5 minutes, moving runny eggs under cooked eggs, scraping sides of skillet often.
    
15. Put a plate with no lip to cover the skillet. In one motion, flip tortilla onto plate.
    
16. Add 1 tbsp oil back to skillet. Carefully slide the tortilla from the plate back to the skillet.
    
17. Cook over medium heat for 3 minutes, shaking the skillet every 10 seconds or so.
18. Flip the tortilla over again (using the plate method described before), and WITHOUT OIL back into the skillet for 1 minute.
    
19. Flip the tortilla one last time, and cook for 1 minute. (Totals: 5 minutes, flip, 3 minutes, flip, 1 minute, flip, 1 minute, remove from skillet)
    
20. Once removed from skillet, let rest uncovered 5 minutes.
21. Slice tortilla into quarters. Serve warm or room temperature, slathered with Aioli.
22. Refrigerate leftovers; will keep for about 3 days.

Aioli
Yields about 1/2 cup

1/2 cup mayonnaise (do NOT substitute Miracle Whip!)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Salt + pepper

Whisk all ingredients to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Let rest for at least 30 minutes. Taste again and adjust seasonings. Use as needed, or refrigerate up to 5 days.

Eggnog ice cream

What says "winter" more than "ice cream"? ;)

B. bought some egg nog for Thanksgiving, so I decided to make some other use of it and make some ice cream. Made a recipe from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream book. Incredible richness and flavor. Sure, they had a recipe for Egg Nog Ice Cream, but I just took their "Sweet Cream Base" recipe and doctored it a little. If you don't have nog, you can substitute using 6 egg yolks, 1 cup milk and some nutmeg.

Egg Nog Ice Cream

2 eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup egg nog
2 tsp vanilla extract
Fresh nutmeg & cinnamon, a pinch or two each

In mixing bowl, whisk eggs on high speed for 1 minute. Add sugar gradually and once all is incorporated, whisk for another 1 minute.

Add heavy cream, egg nog, vanilla, nutmeg and cinammon and whisk at high speed for 1 minute.

Cover bowl and put in fridge at least 1 hour.

Freeze in ice cream maker according to instructions (in my case, 25-30 minutes in my rotating-bowl Cuisinart with a pre-frozen bowl).

Pack tightly into containers (it will be pretty soft still). Tap containers on counter to shake bubbles out. Top containers with plastic wrap on surface of ice cream, and freeze at least 4 hours to set up.