Daring Bakers: Strudel

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Instead of doing the apple strudel, I chose to make a pear, brie, and walnut combo. I saw a strudel recipe in Bon Appetit (Feb. issue) and cut it out just waiting for the right time to make it. The filling called for pears and roquefort cheese, and just reading the recipe made me drool. When the recipe for this challenge was announced, I knew what filling I was going to use. Unfortunately, the grocery store by my me did not have roquefort, so I used brie. The recipe for the dough in Bon Appetit was very similar to the dough recipe here, so I was thrilled that I was finally going to make this wonderful strudel.

This was a fun challenge, and the result was a very yummy strudel. Thanks Linda and Courtney!

Preparation time Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough

30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling

20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough10 min to fill and roll dough

30 min to bake

30 min to cool

Strudel doughfrom “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour

1/8 teaspoon salt7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough

1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time.

Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Pear, Brie and Walnut Filling

(modified from Bon Appetit February, 2009)

1 1/2 lbs. Bosc pears, peeled and chopped

1 1/2 teaspoons plus 4 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted

8 oz. brie cut into small pieces

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1 Tbs. flour

1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice

1 Tbs. sugar

1 Tbs. breadcrumbs

Heat a medium skillet over medium heat and add the 1 1/2 tsp. of butter. When melted add chopped pears and let saute for about 4-5 minutes.

Remove and strain juices and put in fridge to chill.

After pears have chilled put into a bowl and add the cheese, walnuts, flour and lemon juice. Stir to combine.

Strudel Assembly:

With hands spread half of the melted butter over dough. Sprinkle rolled dough with sugar and breadcrumbs. Spread pear mixture over the dough leaving about a one inch margin on all sides.

Roll up like a jelly roll and transfer to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake for 40 minutes, and cool for 30. Serve warm.

Daring Bakers: Caramel Banana Cheesecake

Better late than never. I'm a week late posting about this lovely cake. I just can't seem to manage my time around cooking anymore.

I knew I'd be making this cheesecake, but I didn't know I'd be so late. I am happy I did follow through though the recipe is one of the best! Very creamy and perfect in every way a cheesecake should be.

The April 2009 challenge is hosted by Jenny from Jenny Bakes. She has chosen Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake as the challenge.

We were told to get creative with this recipe so I looked for ways to do that. I had no other fruit in the house except bananas (I think fruit and cheesecake just have to go together) so I decided to incorporate them into the batter.

The caramel I made from scratch using a recipe I got from Simply Recipes. If you'd like the recipe click here >>> Simply Recipes.

This was so easy to make, I'm so glad I stumbled upon this recipe, I'll be making my own caramel sauce from now on.

Now for the DB cheesecake recipe:

Abbey's Infamous Cheesecake:

crust:

2 cups / 180 g graham cracker crumbs

1 stick / 4 oz butter, melted
2 tbsp. / 24 g sugar1 tsp. vanilla extract

cheesecake:

3 sticks of cream cheese, 8 oz each (total of 24 oz) room temperature

1 cup / 210 g sugar

1 cup mashed bananas ( I used 2 medium)

3 large eggs

1 cup / 8 oz heavy cream

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. vanilla extract (or the innards of a vanilla bean)

1 tbsp liqueur, optional, but choose what will work well with your cheesecake (I omitted)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (Gas Mark 4 = 180C = Moderate heat). Begin to boil a large pot of water for the water bath. (I used a large roasting pan)

2. Mix together the crust ingredients and press into your preferred pan. You can press the crust just into the bottom, or up the sides of the pan too - baker's choice. Set crust aside.

3. Combine cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of a stand-mixer (or in a large bowl if using a hand-mixer) and cream together until smooth. Add mashed bananas and mix about 30 seconds. Add eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each before adding the next. Make sure to scrape down the bowl in between each egg. Add heavy cream, vanilla, lemon juice, and alcohol and blend until smooth and creamy.

4. Pour batter into prepared crust and tap the pan on the counter a few times to bring all air bubbles to the surface. Place pan into a larger pan and pour boiling water into the larger pan until halfway up the side of the cheesecake pan. If cheesecake pan is not airtight, cover bottom securely with foil before adding water.

5. Bake 45 to 55 minutes, until it is almost done - this can be hard to judge, but you're looking for the cake to hold together, but still have a lot of jiggle to it in the center. You don't want it to be completely firm at this stage. Close the oven door, turn the heat off, and let rest in the cooling oven for one hour. This lets the cake finish cooking and cool down gently enough so that it won't crack on the top. After one hour, remove cheesecake from oven and lift carefully out of water bath. Let it finish cooling on the counter, and then cover and put in the fridge to chill. Once fully chilled, it is ready to serve.

Pan note: The creator of this recipe used to use a spring form pan, but no matter how well she wrapped the thing in tin foil, water would always seep in and make the crust soggy. Now she uses one of those 1-use foil "casserole" shaped pans from the grocery store. They're 8 or 9 inches wide and really deep, and best of all, water-tight. When it comes time to serve, just cut the foil away. ( I had no problems using my 9" spring form. I just wrapped it in foil)
Prep notes: While the actual making of this cheesecake is a minimal time commitment, it does need to bake for almost an hour, cool in the oven for an hour, and chill overnight before it is served.

February Daring Bakers: Valentino Cake and Homemade Ice Cream

After missing out on last month's challenge, I was determined to make this month's daring recipe.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

I've never made a flour less cake before, so this month's recipe really peaked my interest. The recipe looked simple enough and only 3 ingredients!

A traditional Valentino cake is made in a heart shaped pan, or cut into a heart. But, I don't own such a pan, and didn't want to mess up the cake by cutting so I decided to pay homage to the cake by making a heart in the center with strawberry puree.

The cake came out beautiful. I used 12 oz. of bittersweet chocolate and 4 oz. of semisweet. We were warned that the cake would taste exactly like the chocolate we used, I made sure to use what I liked in quantities I knew would mesh well.

I was more worried about making the ice cream, because I don't own an ice cream maker. After reading the helpful hints from fellow DB'ers I knew I could do it.

The cake came together easily, I used a 9 inch spring form pan and when it came out of the oven, it had risen beautifully. After about 20 minutes or so, it kind of shrank. But it still looked pretty.

The ice cream, to my surprise was very easy to prepare even though I modified a bit (instead of a vanilla bean I used 1 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract).

I ended up using a 12 inch cake pan (tips said to use a shallow pan to freeze in) and it froze in under 4 hours. It tasted very custard-y, but I loved it.

~The Recipes~

Chocolate ValentinoPreparation Time: 20 minutes

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter

5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.

4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).

5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.

7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C9.

Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm's Ice Cream RecipeClassic Vanilla Ice CreamPreparation

Time: 30 minutesRecipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients

1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.

4 large egg yolks

6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}

1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}

½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat){you can easily increase your cream's fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted -

cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed. Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways.

Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuseLift the vanilla pod up.

Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.

2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy.

3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time

4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl. Cool it then chill.

5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon. Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container. Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Thank you Dharm (Dad~Baker and Chef) and Wendy (A Charmed Life) For a fantastic challenge!

Daring Bakers: French Yule Log

Another Challenge with the DBer's: French Yule Log

To say that this month's recipe was "Daring" is putting it lightly. When I printed it out, in 10 pt. font, it was 12 pages long. I must have looked at the pages a trillion times before I could even come up with a preliminary game plan.

This month's challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux.They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

This Buche is quite different than your typical jelly roll. It has elements people. 6 of them. So think of this one recipe as 6 or 7 recipes in one. The elements are:

1. Dacquoise Biscuit (or almond cake)

2. Dark chocolate mousse

3. Dark chocolate ganache insert ( I chose to do a cinnamon-chocolate ganache)

4. Praline Feuillete (crisp) insert (I had to make my own praline paste)

Here is a pic of the praline paste before pulverizing

And After

Here is the final crisp. I ended up using corn flakes. And let me tell you, it was divine all by itself!

5. Vanilla Creme Brulee insert

This took quite a while to cook. Much longer than the 1 hour the recipe states. I think my water bath might not have been hot enough.

6. Dark Chocolate icing

This was by far the most challenging recipe I have made with the DB group. It was a load of fun, although I incurred a lot of dirty dishes, a burn, and a cut, but I'm so happy I pressed on despite the difficulties (the gavottes- thin crispy crepes only found in France, which I attmepted to make myself. ugh, I will need to try this again.)

Merci! Hilda and Marion for a truly daring experience!

You can get the entire recipe for FRENCH YULE LOG OR ENTREMETS RECIPE by Flore of Florilège Gourmand here, it is a doosey. : )

Daring Bakers Challenge: Pizza!

For this month's challenge we were to make "Pizza Napoletana” from Peter Reinhart's “The Bread Baker's Apprentice". Our host this month was Rosa of "Rosa's Yummy Yums".

Now I've made pizza before, so I wasn't really intimidated. But the recipe was a bit different than how I usually make it. Not a hard recipe to follow, but just different. I usually make the dough and bake it the same day, but this recipe had it rest in the fridge overnight. I was really excited to use my new KA mixer to help me, it was a bit easier than working the dough by hand (minus the kneading). Oh, and we needed to capture us throwing the pizza like a real Pizziola. This is me (not a great pic, but it worked just fine!)

Here are my balls (lol) ready to refrigerate

I have to say, this was a great recipe! I cut it into 6 pieces, and used two tonight for our dinner, and plan to use the rest later, per the freezing instructions.

I made Chad's ( homemade pizza sauce, mozzarella, turkey pepperoni, and parsley)

And mine (tomato sauce, feta, black olive, parsley and fresh grape tomatoes)

The crust was so crispy and flavorful, the perfect consistency.

Just look at that yummy-ness!

Big thanks go out to Rosa for a great challenge.

For the recipe including Gluten Free instructions visit Rosa's blog.

****I dedicate this post to Sherry, your fervor for baking still inspires.****

Daring Baker's: Danish Braid

I was so excited to tackle this month's Daring Baker's challenge because I looooove flaky pastries! I don't know why I didn't tackle it sooner than last week though. I guess with me having the summer off, I get a bit lazy.

Reading through the recipe, I was nervous. I've never even heard of a laminated dough before! With all the turns, and rests, and turns, and rests, I was pretty intimidated.Luckily, Ben and Kelly provided some footage from Beatrice Ojakangas w/ Julia Childs, and another showing how to turn the dough. They were a wonderful resource and put my fears of making this pastry at bay.

While sitting on the couch one evening I started to concoct some filling ideas out loud. Chad heard this and said "Why can't you just make plain old apple?". Hmmm, there was a suggested apple filling I thought, and agreed that I would use that and make "plain old apple".

Once I got started, it was really easy to do, just a bit time consuming.

Other Daring Baker's had some problems with the butter block oozing out, but thank Jesus, my rolling went smoothly.

I decided to divide the dough into three and make 2 braids, and pinwheels for the last third. I ended up omitting the zest and orange juice from the recipe since I planned on making savory pastries

My first braid, I did the apple, the second I made a blueberry-strawberry compote, and topped that with Dorie's basic pastry cream.

I wasn't the best at the braiding, but it still came out beautiful!

I filled the pinwheels with spinach, finely chopped crimini mushrooms, prosciutto, sauteed onion, garlic, Parmesan, finely chopped mozzarella, nutmeg and pepper.

I love how these turned out, they are perfect for an appetizer or just a little bite.

DANISH DOUGH

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients

For the dough (Detrempe)

1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1/2 cup whole milk

1/3 cup sugar

Zest of 1 orange, finely grated

3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

2 large eggs, chilled

1/4 cup fresh orange juice

3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)

1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH

Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK

1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.

2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

DANISH BRAID

Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients

1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)

2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.

2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.

3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash

Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking

1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.

2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.

3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

APPLE FILLING

Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients (I halved this recipe)

4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

This was a very fun and great learning experience for me, Thank you Kelly and Ben!

Make sure you head over to the Daring Baker's blogroll and see the other members wonderful danish braids.