Tuesdays With Dorie: Savory Brioche Pockets

This weeks assignment was to make ‘savory brioche pockets’. Brioche pockets filled with carmelized onions, mashed potatoes, goat cheese, chives and asparagus tips.
I made the brioche on Thursday, let it rise overnight and made the ‘pockets’ on Friday and enjoyed one for lunch with a big salad on Friday.
The brioche is not difficult, I made it once before when we made the pecan sticky buns. I liked the brioche much better in this application than I did in the sticky buns. That was just TOO sweet and TOO buttery!

Make the sponge
let it rise
make the dough–incorporating all that butter never seems like its going to work
knead it forever
let it rise
deflate
Rest in fridge for at least 8 hours. Mine got at least 20 hours

I decided to make 4 pockets and turn the balance of the dough into loaves of brioche

The recipe suggests cutting circles out of the dough and forming them into circular pockets. I’m more familiar with making borekas, which are an empanada style pocket, and its all one piece. I went with what I knew

I cut off a piece of dough, rolled it out into a round (okay, they usually look like amoebas.) On one half of my amoeba, I layered onions, the potato/goat cheese/chive mixture, and two lightly cooked asparagus tips. Then, I folded the empty half over and sealed it up and put it on a sheet to rise. I made 4 in total and put three of them directly into the freezer for future good eating (tomorrow, perhaps, or maybe for dinner tonight)

When it had risen long enough, I brushed it with some egg wash and sprinkled on some poppy seeds and coarse salt. Into the oven it went. Out came deliciousness

I didn’t forget about the other 2/3 of the dough! I divided it into 12-roughly equal sized blobs and put 6 into each baking tin. I put both tins in my ‘proofing box’ (the microwave with the door cracked open so the light stays on)and popped them in the oven when I ran out of time. What came out were some of the most amazing bread I’ve ever baked. Really–more like cake than bread. One of those loaves went into the freezer too.

It was insanely delicious with butter. Insane!
You’ll be able to see other people’s work at the LYL (leave your link) post at Tuesdays With Dorie. Carrie at Loaves and Stitches is our host for the week, and you’ll be able to find the recipe at her blog.

And you should totally make this. It was a really satisfying-and fancy-lunch. It wasn’t difficult. If you’re not into the ‘pockets’ just make the brioche. It’s really good too!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Madeleines

There’s not a whole lot I can say about these cookies. I’ve never had a Madeleine before, and I may never again. They were not difficult to bake, and thankfully I didn’t have to buy a pan special for this. My friend Charlene had one I borrowed. It produced tiny Madelines. About the size of my thumb. So they were cute. But extremely dry. The only change I made to the recipe was to brown the butter. Because, really, who doesn’t like brown butter?



I ate a few and sent them to school with the kids. The boys didn’t eat them, and Dorothy enjoyed them for a few days, but I felt that they went stale very quickly.

Probably, there are lots of beautiful examples in the leave your link post at Tuesdays with Dorie, and at the host’s blog: counter dog

Hopefully I like the next recipe more!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Rustic Potato Bread

So, I made this bread a few days late. The post was ‘due’ on the last day of passover. So, I made it yesterday.

For such a beautiful loaf of bread, it was incredibly simple to bake. I wish I had read the instructions completely before getting started, because then I would have known that the dough starts out crumbly….like a pie crust….and then miracously comes together like a bread dough. I added a few tablespoons of water while it was still crumbly, and then ended up having to add extra flour while I was kneading it. No big deal. I don’t think it affected the flavor one bit. I halved the recipe and did the whole thing by hand. My mixer is much too big to bother with for only one loaf of bread. I didn’t mind, kneading it was my arm workout for the day–I couldn’t get to the gym since I was home with a sick child.

After two short rises, I ended up with this beautiful loaf of bread.

It was delicious plain, and with butter.

I’ll definitely be making this again. it was easy, delicious and impressive looking!

Check out the other loaves of potato bread that were produced this week at our Leave Your Link post. The recipe can be found at Dawn’s blog, Simply Sweet. While you’re there, make sure to look at the picture of the “high heeled shoe cupcakes” that she made. They’re stunning. She has the recipe for the bread, or you can find it on page 138 of Baking with Julia.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Croissants

I was so excited….SO excited to make this recipe, and am so dissapointed with how it turned out.

Last week wasn’t too warm here and I had finally found some fresh yeast from our local italian market, and so I got to work. I made the dough and encorporated the butter by rolling and folding, rolling and folding. Finally, FINALLY, it was time to shape and bake the pastries.

I cut them out and shaped them. Not very well I might add, and then I put them in the oven to rise. As instructed, I also included a pot of steaming water. And when I opened the door to the oven, I found this:

a lot of the butter had seeped out of the dough from the heat of the steaming water.

I pried three croissants out of the pool of butter and put them on a fresh pan and baked them. Fresh out of the oven, they tasted great, but as they sat they became heavier and more bread-like.

This was my first real culinary disaster….ever. I guess that’s lucky because I cook a lot, and most of it is more than edible.

I still had the other half of the dough sitting in the fridge and waiting for me. I ended up putting it in the freezer, thinking I would try again over the weekend. Guess what? I didn’t. and I tossed the rest of the dough yesterday. It was actually sort of freeing to toss it. Even if I avoided the puddle of butter again, I knew that the results were not going to live up to the ‘croissant in my head.’ and I decided that it was okay to quit.

Should you decide that you want to try to make croissants on your own (best of luck to you) the recipe can be found on page 185-186 of the book. You can also see how our host did at Girl + food + love, and the rest of the bakers links can be found here. I’m sure that many of them had a better time than I did!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Boca Negra

Boca Negra. A black mouth. This recipe for chocolate cake promised to be deep, dark and delicious. The recipe, found on page 253 in the book, is from pastry chef, Lora Brody.
My friend Mendy celebrated her 40th birthday earlier this month. We spent the weekend at the Vinoy Hotel in Downtown St. Petersburg. We ate dinner at the Parkshore Grill and I called earlier in the week to ask if it would be okay if I brought a birthday cake for us. I don’t know if it was because I spoke to a friend there, or that they had so many large parties all at one time, or if they normally allow it…but I was pleasantly surprised when they said I could.
On Thursday I baked this fantastic cake. First I made the white chocolate-bourbon cream. I only made half of it, which was more than enough. I chopped the white chocolate in the food processor and then poured in the hot cream. I poured that mixture into a container and gently stirred in the bourbon. When I put it into the fridge it was thin and soupy, and I was seriously concerned. By that evening it thickened into something seriously delicious, with a heavy hit of bourbon.
Then I made the cake. Chopped dark chocolate was combined with a bourbon-sugar syrup. I should have been a little more careful while making the syrup on my gas stove. I accidentally flambéd it. Whoops. That was a scary kitchen moment

There was enough heat in the syrup to melt the chocolate, but not enough to melt the butter. No big deal–I set up a double boiler and stirred the butter in that way. Two sticks of butter was A LOT of butter. I might cut out a few tablespoons the next time I make it. I incorporated the eggs and a tiny amount of flour.
I poured the cake batter into a prepared pan and it went into the oven. It wasn’t quite done after 30 minutes, but after another 5 minutes it was perfectly cooked.
Of course, the most stressful part of this whole operation was getting it out of the pan. It worked out perfectly!

I delivered the cake to Parkshore in the afternoon, so all I had to do was pack myself up for a fun weekend with some great friends

Mendy was surprised that she wasn’t given the opportunity to order dessert when this plate was placed in front of her, but when she realized that I made it, she was pretty excited. Parkshore plated the cake with the white chocolate cream, some raspberries and mint. They made it look beautiful!


Our waitress even asked if I had made the cake, I told her that she should have some, and she couldn’t believe that it was homemade.

I’ve eaten, and produced more than a few flourless chocolate cakes in my time, but this particular cake was definitely the best. I plan on making it again for my mom’s birthday tonight (2/19). I know that she and my dad will love it, along with Dorothy. And Reid will be in heaven!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Foccacia

This week’s assignment was to make Foccacia, a delicious Italian flat-ish bread. It was relatively easy, but required lots of time–but very little attention.
The dough was easy to put together, water, yeast, salt, olive oil and flour kneaded together for about 10 minutes to make a beautiful dough. Then an hour and a half rise. Then it was folded up on itself to deflate it, and then another short rise. Then the dough was divided into three lumps, placed into an oiled ziplock bag, and stashed in the fridge for a 24-36 hour rest.

The long cold rise produced lots of tiny bubbles and a tangy flavor. Of course I forgot to take a picture of the dough after it came out of the fridge. It had risen again, and you could see the matrix of bubbles in the dough.

When I was ready to bake it the next evening I pressed it onto a parchment lined baking sheet. The recipe called for chopped fresh herbs, which I didn’t have–so I used sea-salt on two of them and magic salt on the other.

Magic salt is a delicious combination of kosher salt, garlic, rosemary and sage. It all goes into the food processor to chop up the garlic and herbs with the salt and then it’s poured onto a rimmed baking sheet to dry (either by leaving it out or in a low oven–I had to use the oven for mine because it was extremely humid when I made it). The salt can be used to flavor roasted vegetables, meat, and apparently Foccacia. It was the clear winner for me over the one that just had olive oil and sea salt.

The bread didn’t have the loose bubbly texture I expected–the bubbles were small and evenly distributed– but I’m not sure it mattered. It was light and heavily flavored with olive oil, salt and herbs. I would definitely make it again, and I wonder how it would work as a pizza dough. Perhaps as a loosely made pan/Sicilian pizza.

I served the bread with dinner one night last week. Leftover lasagne, the foccacia and collard greens with garlic.

Check out the host’s post on this recipe at Sharmini’s blog, Wandering Through. The recipe can be found there, as well as on page 143 of the book.
And take a look at the Leave Your Link link (LYL) at Tuesdays with Dorie. If you’ve got a hankering for good bread, and an excuse to make this (and a little bit of time) you should.

The next Tuesdays With Dorie will feature Boca Negra. All I can say about that is wow. Stay tuned for that one!

Baking with Julia: Gingerbread Baby Cakes

Can you believe, I’ve never made gingerbread before?

Not the little men, or cake. Never. I guess there’s a first time for everything–even the easy stuff
I halved the recipe because I was pretty sure that my crew of tasters might not be that thrilled with it. I ended up with a loaf and three tiny cakes baked in silicone cupcake cups. I should have done the whole batch that way–they turned out absolutely adorably.
I mixed up the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, salt, cocoa powder, instant espresso, black pepper, and ginger. It felt like I was putting the kitchen sink in that bowl. Then the wet ingredients: butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, molasses and fresh ginger. Dry got folded into wet and into the oven it went.

My sous-chef, Adam was very excited to help me out with the mixing and pouring.

Adam mixing the dry ingredients

Adam pouring in the molasses. He was absolutely fascinated.

Adam painting cake release into the pan. Cake release is pretty awesome, and very easy to make yourself. Here’s a link to the recipe I used to make it.

Did you know that a little oil in the measuring cup helps molasses (or honey or anything else that’s very sticky) come right out of the measuring cup?

The pepper and ginger combined to make it a very spicy cake. It was dense and pretty good…though I have nothing to compare it to. The loaf went to school for the teachers, and I heard a few compliments.
Here’s one of the tiny cakes. I had to bring it outside to get a decent picture. Dark brown cake just doesn’t photograph that well in the dying light…

In case you want the recipe, you can find it at Karen’s blog, or in the book. As always, take a look at the Leave Your Link (LYL) post on the Tuesdays with Dorie blog.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Best Ever Brownies

This weeks assignment was to make brownies. The recipe can be found on page 331 of Baking With Julia

When I make brownies I like them to be easy, and maybe only use one bowl. I never bake from a mix, but when it comes to brownies, I like them easy. And dense. And incredibly chocolately. These were not easy, nor dense.

This recipe used no less than 3 bowls plus a fine-mesh strainer that I use for sifting. One bowl for the flour, one bowl to melt the chocolate in, and one bowl to mix up the eggs and sugar.

I melted the chocolate and butter in a bowl set atop a pot with some water in it.

It melted and then I added some sugar and took it off the heat
Then I whisked together the eggs and sugar and whisked half of that into the chocolate
Then I whisked the remaining eggs and sugar until they doubled in volume and folded them into the chocolate

And then I folded in the flour. I licked the bowl

And finally they went into the oven
And I brought them to my bunco group on Monday night. Nobody complained, but everybody knew that I’ve done better

I probably won’t be making these again any time soon. But, check out our host for the week, a Beautiful Mess, it looks like she got the beautiful, fudgy brownies I was looking for, she’s got the recipe posted on her site. Also, take a look at our leave your link page to see how other people did it.

 

Tuesdays With Dorie: Bagels

This week, our assignment is to bake bagels. I’ve done this before, though not from this recipe.

I have used Smitten Kitchen’s recipe a few times, which came from Peter Reinhardt (the bread baker’s apprentice, I think). Like this recipe, it’s also a two day affair, but it uses a sponge, then you make the dough, then rise, then make the bagels and let them chill out in the fridge until the next morning.
This recipe is simpler. There’s no sponge, and it is nice to eliminate a step. I put the dough together before making dinner on Saturday night. It only took a few minutes and I didn’t take any pictures because you’ve all seen me make bread dough before.

I decided that I’d finish the bagels before lunch on Sunday. I divided the dough in half and left one half in the fridge while I produced bagels from the other half. I divided that half into 5 roughly equal pieces, and made a ‘purse’ before making a hole in the middle and then shaping them into bagels:

I placed the unboiled and unrisen bagels on a floured towel

before boiling them off, a few at a time. I let them boil for about 30 seconds on each side once they floated to the surface

Then they rested and drained for a moment on a non-floured towel and then onto the parchment-lined baking sheet they went to be brushed with egg and then topped (or not)

They went into a 500 degree oven with some ice cubes and water to produce steam, the temperature was immediately turned down to 450, and they baked for 25 minutes. Then the oven was turned off and they sat for 5 minutes. And then the oven door was opened and they sat, still in the oven, for another 5 minutes.

And then I began the process again with the second set of bagels that were still to be shaped.

Then I had to re-heat the oven for the 2nd batch. Really, my biggest problem with the recipe is the part where I had to keep the oven door open for 5 minutes. Its still summer here in Florida and that really heated the kitchen up. Clearly, the next time I do this, it will be the dead of winter, when I don’t mind extra heat in the kitchen. But on a 90 degree (or more) day, I really don’t want to be heating my kitchen up like that.

Other than that complaint, its a good recipe. The next time I make them, I’ll add whole wheat flour into the mix.

I sliced the un-eaten bagels and put them in the freezer the same day I baked them. Since then I’ve been taking one half of a bagel out every morning, letting it defrost slightly and then toasting it a little. Then I butter it, cut it in half and put it in Dorothy’s lunch box. I ate half an onion bagel the other morning for breakfast, toasted with cream cheese. It was still delicious.

If you like bagels (and lets face it, who doesn’t?) you should try to make your own at least once, and this is a good recipe to start with. I’ve baked bagels at least 3 times now, and my kids and husband get a huge kick out of it. You can find the recipe on page 87 of Baking With Julia, and check out our host for the week, Heather, who blogs at Heather’s Bytes. She’ll have the recipe posted as well. There will be lots of delicious bagely posts at our home base, Tuesday’s with Dorie.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake

This week’s assignmnet was to make the Nectarine Upside-Down Chiffon Cake from page 241 in the book. I’ve never made a chiffon cake, nor have I ever had any variety of an ‘upside down’ cake–pineapple or otherwise.

This wasn’t a terribly difficult recipe, but there were multiple steps. First to cut and arrange the slices of nectarine