Daring Bakers

June 27, 2014

Daring Bakers: Cinnamon Rolls with Peach Preserves & Cream Cheese Icing

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Breakfast, Daring Bakers America's Test Kitchen, cinnamon rolls, cream cheese, Daring Bakers, Peach 5 Comments

I made these rolls, took pictures and began this post a couple weeks ago since I was expecting a baby mid-June. I cannot believe I am actually posting this month! Special thanks to my amazing friend, Carrie, who held my sweet baby boy and also entertained my toddlers and therefore made it possible for me to finish this post this morning! You’re amazing 🙂

Our baby’s due date was June 19, so I knew I had to get this challenge completed before my typical completion of a Daring Bakers challenge, a day or two before posting. The day I made these rolls I thought, “It will be good to have these for our house guests after the baby comes.” thinking that this baby would be early like our other two. But over a week passed before our sweet baby arrived and we’d already finished off a pan! I froze the other pan after baking it so we did have some for grandparents when they came to see the baby.

And here he is! Christopher was born on June 23 and we love him.

This month the Daring Bakers kept our creativity rolling with cinnamon bun inspired treats. Shelley from C Mom Cook dared us to create our own dough and fill it with any filling we wanted to craft tasty rolled treats, cinnamon not required!

This challenge had me excited from the moment I read it! I love cinnamon rolls, both the making of and the consumption of them. But I’ve never ventured beyond the traditional cinnamon sugar filling. This challenge encouraged creativity from the Daring Bakers. I know some people got incredibly creative, and I admire those people for not only having creative minds but for being brave enough to try something new! I played it pretty safe and just added peach preserves to the rolls. I know, it’s kinda lame. But it’s still super delicious!

I used a sweet dough recipe from America’s Test Kitchen as the base for the rolls. In the cookbook this dough is also used for hot cross buns and sticky buns. It comes together nicely, rises well, is easy to roll out and handle, and bakes into a lovely sweet bread. It’s a keeper.

Peach just seemed like a good summer choice, but you could use any kind of jam or preserves in these rolls. Add in nuts if you like. Or leave out the jam and make a simple cinnamon roll with a traditional cinnamon and brown sugar filling.

The icing is sweet with just enough tang from the cream cheese. You can make it more icing-like by adding less milk, or more like a glaze by adding a little more. The recipe below makes a generous amount for the 2 pans of rolls. Ice these when they are still a little warm so that the icing can seep in between the layers and get all wonderfully gooey. Or you can ice them individually to control the amount of icing on each roll since some people are big icing lovers and others are ~~crazy~~ not so much.

Peach Cinnamon Rolls with Cream Cheese Icing

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen Family Cookbook

Ingredients

Dough

3/4 cup buttermilk
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
3 eggs, lightly beaten
4 1/4 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoon salt

Filling

3/4 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons melted butter
3/4 to 1 cup peach preserves

Icing

5 tablespoons cream cheese
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 tablespoons milk

Directions

Dough

Whisk the buttermilk, butter and eggs in a small bowl.
Mix 4 cups of flour, sugar, salt and yeast in stand mixer fitted the dough hook.
Add buttermilk mixture to flour, mix on low until dough comes together.
Increase speed to medium low and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Add extra flour if dough seems sticky, one tablespoon at a time.
Turn dough out onto clean counter and knead by hand to form a smooth round ball.
Place dough in oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 2 to 2 1/2 hours until doubled in size.

Fill, Shape and Bake Rolls

Mix brown sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl and set aside.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and dust lightly with flour. Pat the dough fat, and then use a rolling pin to roll dough out into a 12×16 inch rectangle.
Brush dough with melted butter, then spread with peach preserves leaving a 1/4 inch edge all around. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over the preserves and spread out.
Roll dough into a long cylinder, as tight as you can get it. Pinch the edge of the dough to seal the roll.
Use a serrated knife to carefully cut into 14-16 buns.
Butter 2 round cake pans and place 7 or 8 buns in each. Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and let rise for about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Rolls should be pressed up against each other. To Make Ahead: Pop them in the fridge after covering, before they rise. Keep them there for up to 16 hours. When you’re ready, take them out and let them rise at room temp for 1 1/2 hours, then bake as below.
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Bake rolls for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and puffed.
Let rolls cool for 10 minutes before icing.

Icing (make while rolls are baking)

Beat cream cheese and powdered sugar until mixed well. Add in milk, a tablespoon at a time until the icing is the consistency that you like.
Ice rolls in the pan or turn rolls out and ice on a platter.

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May 27, 2014

Daring Bakers: Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

Carrie Zinnecker Appetizers, Breads and Muffins, Daring Bakers Brazilian, bread, cheese, Daring Bakers, gluten free, pao de queijo, tapioca flour 3 Comments

This challenge was so simple, so fun and so delicious! As always I was given the opportunity to try something I’d never tried before, and something I’d never even heard of! These little light and airy cheesy Brazilian bread balls are something special and I’m excited to share them with you.

This month’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge took us on a trip to beautiful Brazil! Renata of “Testado, Provado & Aprovado!” taught us how to make Pao De Queijo, tasty cheese buns that make the perfect snack or treat, and that will make your taste buds samba!

Pão de queijo are almost like popovers. Their airy texture combined with their rich cheese flavor makes them super addictive, especially when eaten warm. They’re great right after coming out of the oven just cool enough to handle. But I rewarmed room temp ones in the microwave for about 8 seconds with great success 🙂 If you’re gluten free, then you’re in luck! Instead of wheat flour you use tapioca flour here, which I found without any trouble at my grocery store with all the other specialty flours. The texture is different than a bread made with all purpose flour, of course, but it still has a nice bready chew that would’ve fooled me if I didn’t know they were gluten free.

Renata gave us the option of using any cheese we liked. When I searched recipes I found Parmesan to be a popular choice. So I went with 6 ounces of a goat cheddar and 2 ounces of Parmesan. I liked the way it turned out, but she says any cheese or combination of cheeses would work, so get creative!

The dough is very easy to make, but a little messy since you get in there with your hands and it is a bit sticky. You don’t need any fancy equipment and your mixer doesn’t have to get dirty. The recipe I used calls for 1-3 eggs and you may or may not use them all. I did use all 3. She recommends whisking all 3 eggs together and then adding what you need as you begin working the dough together. Once it’s all together it rolls quite easily into balls and bakes up beautifully.

Since these are best eaten fresh from the oven I just baked half of the dough, then shaped the rest of the dough and froze it. I haven’t tried it, but apparently you can bake them straight from frozen! And that is what I plan to do the next time I need a last minute appetizer or snack for guests. Bam.

Something I wish I’d tried was making this dough in a waffle iron. I cannot begin to imagine the deliciousness of using this as the bread for a breakfast sandwich!

Thanks for the great challenge this month, Renata! I really enjoyed it and am excited to experiment more with this terrific bread.

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

From Renata of Testado, Provado e Aprovado

Ingredients

4 cups (500 grams) tapioca flour/tapioca starch
1 cup whole milk
3 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt (or more if your cheese is not salty)
9 ounces of coarsely grated cheese (I used a goat cheddar and Parmesan)
1-3 large eggs, beaten

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Sift tapioca flour into a large bowl.
Combine milk, butter and salt in a saucepan and heat over medium until mixture boils, then remove from the heat.
Pour hot milk over tapioca flour and begin stirring with a fork, working the mixture until the milk is evenly distributed. It will look crumbly. Let it cool off a bit.
With clean hands, work in the grated cheese.
Add in the eggs, a little at a time, working the dough together with your hands. Once the dough holds together, you’re done.
Line cookie sheets with parchment.
Roll dough into balls about the size of ping pong balls. They puff a little during baking, so don’t crowd them too closely on the pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. until tops just begin to brown. Remove from the oven and cool just slightly before eating.

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March 27, 2014

Daring Bakers: Almond Nougat, a Candy Castastrophe

Carrie Zinnecker candy, Daring Bakers candy, candy making, Daring Bakers, kitchen fail, nougat 8 Comments

The March 2014 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Rebecca of BakeNQuilt. She challenged us to learn to make classic nougat and to make it our own with our choice of flavors and add-ins.

Every Daring Bakers challenge is revealed at the beginning of the month. I saw that the challenge was nougat back at the beginning of March, yet I let March 27th sneak up on me and the 25th was the day I remembered that I needed to complete the challenge! Thankfully I had everything I needed for this delectable almond nougat and was able to get it done in time. Whew!

I used a recipe from Martha Stewart for French Almond Nougat. The recipe included with the challenge called for cocoa butter, which I did not have, and Martha’s called for butter, which I always have in abundance.

This is something I probably would never have made without the push from Daring Bakers. I know I’ve said the same thing before. Candy can be hard, messy and often not worth the time and effort. But sometimes it can be amazing! Unfortunately I bombed this candy challenge and ended up with some sweet and delicious puddles of nougat instead of the lovely bars I was hoping for.

My problem could’ve been one of two things. Either I didn’t cook the sugar to the correct stage (although the thermometer said the temp was right, maybe my thermometer is off), or I didn’t let it harden enough before taking it out of the pan. After taking it out and as I began to cut the nougat into strips I could tell it was going to start oozing. I tried to form the long strips back into bars, occasionally going into the kitchen and pressing them back together from their puddling state, but after a while I admitted failure and let them ooze. They never actually hardened anymore which leads me to believe that my temperatures must have been off when cooking the sugar. Anyone have a great recommendation for a candy thermometer? The one I have I bought at the grocery store and cost be $2…

This is another view of what my cubes of nougat turned into as time passed. It’s really pretty humorous. They did taste good, but the texture was way off.

I refuse to count this challenge as a total loss since I did try something new, and am already planning to try it again and redeem myself. Thanks for getting me to try my hand at nougat, Rebecca!

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February 27, 2014

Daring Bakers: Star Breads

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Breakfast, Daring Bakers bread, cinnamon, Daring Bakers, mozzarella, pesto, savory, star bread, sugar, sweet 3 Comments

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste?

When I saw this challenge I felt a little intimidated. I don’t feel 100% comfortable with bread, always fearing I will make a mistake somewhere along the way and the dough won’t rise or the end product will be dry and inedible. But I wound up with two wonderful loaves of beautiful bread that even my kids loved. It was referred to as the “special bread” by my son.

This challenge gave Daring Bakers the freedom to choose what they used to fill their bread and also what design they would create. Being the non-creative type I just used the suggested methods for twisting my loaves of bread. And if any part of you thinks, “I can’t do that.” trust me, you can. It’s easier than it seems. For fillings I made a savory bread and a sweet bread. I used the same dough recipe for each.

For the savory loaf I chose basil pesto and mozzarella cheese. My only regret is not adding just a little more cheese to the layers. But it was delicious and something I would definitely go through the trouble to make again. It would be a lovely and impressive bread to bring to a dinner party or pot luck.

For the sweet loaf I went with classic cinnamon sugar. We ate this bread for breakfast over the course of 3 days and Carson was sad when it was gone. Again, this is something I’d make again without hesitation. The method I used in twisting the dough was a little more complicated and tedious than the pesto bread, but baked up beautifully.

I drizzled this bread with a simple milk and powdered sugar glaze before serving. Almost like eating a cinnamon roll, possibly better.

Here are a few pictures of the process, none of the actual twisting of the bread since I am my own photographer and could not manage to get any action shots.

The instructions I am going to try to write for how to shape your bread will probably fail in perfectly communicating how to do it. So here are a few links that will help you.

This one has a good video on the entire process. This is not the twisting method I used, but I think it looks beautiful and wish I’d found it before I made my bread!

And this one is what I used. I found the pictures and instructions to be very helpful.

Pesto Star Bread

Ingredients

Dough

1/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (start with 3 1/4, add more if you need it)

Filling

3-5 tablespoons basil pesto, store bought or homemade
3-5 tablespoons shredded mozzarella cheese

Topping

olive oil
faked salt

Directions

Dough

Heat butter, milk and water just until butter has melted and mixture is between 100 and 110°F, warm but not hot.
Put milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk in egg and sugar, then sprinkle yeast on to the mixture, stir once then let sit for 10-15 minutes. Mixture should be foamy after this, if it’s not your liquid was too hot and killed the yeast or your yeast was no good to begin with.
Place the dough hook on your mixer and begin mixing, adding about a cup of flour at a time. Once all the flour has been added, mix until dough comes together.
Place in a large greased bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.

Filling and Shaping and Baking

Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 4 equal sized pieces.
Roll one dough piece out, just big enough to fit your template. I used an 8-inch cake pan, but I think if you can manage to roll your dough out well enough you could get a 9 or 10-inch circle out of the dough. 8-inch was a nice size, though.
Place the template onto the dough and trim off the excess. Transfer to the cookie sheet.
Spread with a heaping tablespoon of pesto, just about to the edge, then sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of cheese.
Repeat with the remaining balls of dough, but not topping the top layer with pesto and cheese. Press and tuck the edges of the top piece to enclose the bread somewhat.
Brush the top layer with olive oil.
With a small sharp knife or a bench scraper, cut the bread into 12 wedges, leaving the outer edge intact, making sure to cut all the way through the layers.
Take one triangle and twist it gently 3 times and place back in the center. Repeat with the rest of the wedges, twisting in the same direction.
Let rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 450°F. Sprinkle with flaked salt and bake for 5 minutes, then lower oven temp to 375°F and bake for 10-15 more minutes until bread is golden brown. Keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t get too dark.

Cinnamon Star Bread

Ingredients

Dough

1/4 cup water
3/4 cup milk, room temperature
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg, room temperature
1/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
3-1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Filling

1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cinnamon

Topping

1/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar

Glaze (enough for 4 pieces, double for the entire loaf)

1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions

Dough

Heat butter, milk and water just until butter has melted and mixture is between 100 and 110°F, warm but not hot.
Put milk mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk in egg and sugar, then sprinkle yeast on to the mixture, stir once then let sit for 10-15 minutes. Mixture should be foamy after this, if it’s not your liquid was too hot and killed the yeast or your yeast was no good to begin with.
Place the dough hook on your mixer and begin mixing, adding about a cup of flour at a time. Once all the flour has been added, mix until dough comes together.
Place in a large greased bowl, cover with a clean towel and let rise in a warm place for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.

Filling and Shaping and Baking

Whisk sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Line a baking sheet with parchment.
Turn dough out onto a floured surface and divide into 4 equal sized pieces.
Roll one dough piece out, just big enough to fit your template. I used an 8-inch cake pan, but I think if you can manage to roll your dough out well enough you could get a 9 or 10-inch circle out of the dough. 8-inch was a nice size, though.
Place the template onto the dough and trim the excess. Transfer carefully to the cookie sheet.
Brush bottom layer with butter, then sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar. Repeat with the remaining dough, but only brush the top layer with butter.
Using a small sharp knife or a bench scraper cut circle of dough into 8 equal-sized wedges, making sure to cut all the way through the layers.
With a small knife cut a slit in the center of each triangle leaving space at the top and bottom, the cut should not reach either the base or the tip of the triangle.
Take the tip of the triangle and gently bring it up, over and through the slit, then repeat once more making two twists. Place the triangle back on the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining pieces.
Take the outside edge of each triangle and pinch the ends up and together.
Whisk together the milk and sugar and brush onto the bread.
Let rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 450°F.
Bake for 5 minutes, then reduce oven temperature to 375°F and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

Glaze

Sift powdered sugar into a bowl.
Whisk in milk until mixture is smooth.
Glaze entire loaf (with a doubled recipe of the glaze) OR glaze each piece individually. If you don’t plan to eat all the bread in one sitting I’d recommend waiting to glaze the remaining bread until you plan to eat it.

Store any leftover bread wrapped in foil at room temperature for 3-5 days. Re-warm in a low oven, toaster oven or microwave. You could also freeze this bread, wrap it well in plastic wrap, then foil. Thaw then reheat in a low oven.

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January 27, 2014

Daring Bakers: Baumkuchen

Carrie Zinnecker Cakes, Daring Bakers, Desserts almond, Baumkuchen, cake, Chocolate, Daring Bakers, layered, Tree Cake 7 Comments

The January 2014 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Francijn of “Koken in de Brouwerij”. She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

The last Daring Bakers I participated in was in January of 2012. That’s right. 2 years ago. In January of 2012 we had just moved in to our rent house in Houston and not too long after I discovered I was pregnant with Betsy. With a move and a new baby that year I was kept pretty busy. By that time I was out of the habit and blogging wasn’t a priority, so 2013 came and went without any Daring Bakers challenges. But with my resolution to blog more came a desire to get back into it. I’d forgotten how many things I’d made that I’d never have made otherwise. Thanks, Daring Bakers. This is a fun group to be a part of and I’m glad to be back. Hoping to continue participating this year without interruption…with the exception of the month of June. And maybe July. We’ll see how it goes.

Tree cake, or baumkuchen, is something I’d never heard of or seen before taking a look at the January challenge. And to be honest, I might not have made it even if I had seen it somewhere. The process of making the cake is time intensive, baking the cake in 10-12 layers, and the cake batter is more involved than cakes I’ve been making recently. Separating eggs and beating egg whites to stiff peaks and folding them in is something my lazy self has not had the desire to do. But it was a lot of fun and I actually enjoyed the entire process and the final result.

One of the only problems I encountered is that I didn’t do a great job of estimating how thick to spread my layers in order to end up with 10-12 total. My first layer was too thick, then the next 6 or so were too thin, and by that time I had so much batter left over that my final cake was probably 16 layers total and had baked for at least 12 extra minutes. This made the bottom of the cake (the first layer I made) pretty dark. I’m afraid this also made the cake just a tad dry. I also chose not to glaze the cake with jam before glazing it with chocolate. That would’ve likely added some moisture. BUT the flavor of the cake is really amazing. The almond flavor is present but subtle. I ate all the edges I trimmed off just plain and they were terrific. It’s a really dense and sturdy cake. Great to enjoy with a cup of coffee or tea.

I used a recipe for my baumkuchen from Allrecipes that is very similar to the one Francijn provided but has cornstarch in the batter. The cooking method I used was Francijn’s, baking each layer for 3-4 minutes at 450°F. I glazed the cake with dark chocolate melted with a little vegetable oil and it came out beautifully and was a nice contrast to the sweet cake.

Here’s a little step by step.

Batter and prepared pan

Cake: baked and trimmed

Layers

Glazing

More Glazing

This challenge was a fun one and was definitely out of my current baking comfort zone. A perfect Daring Bakers challenge. Thanks, Francijn!

Baumkuchen

From allrecipes.com and Francijn

Ingredients

14 tablespoons (2 sticks minus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
5 1/2 ounces almond paste
1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
7/8 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 pinch salt
2 egg yolks
6 egg whites
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
8 ounces of good dark or semisweet chocolate
2 teaspoons vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Grease an 8×8 pan then line with parchment paper. I used two sheets cut to the width of the pan and crossed them. Trim excess overhang on all sides. Grease the paper and set pan aside.
Cream the butter until light and fluffy. Add in the almond paste in chunks and beat until well combined. You may see small chunks of paste, but no large chunks. Scrape the bowl down.
Add in powdered sugar, cornstarch, salt and vanilla and beat well. Beats in the yolks, one at a time, until batter is smooth.
In another bowl beat eggs whites until soft peaks form. Slowly add in the granulated sugar and continue to beat on high speed until stiff peaks form.
Fold whites gently into the batter, then sift flour on top and fold it in as well just until everything is evenly distributed.
Spread some batter, enough to lightly cover the pan, onto the bottom of the prepared pan, being careful not to get batter on the sides of the pan (this batter burns and can then drop onto your cake and be baked in). Bake for 3-4 minutes, until layer is lightly browned. Continue spreading and baking layers until the batter is gone. Aim for 10-12 layers total.
Let cake cool for 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and let cool completely. Trim the edges off (and save them for snacking!).
Melt the chocolate and oil in a double boiler (or in a small saucepan over very low heat being extra careful not to burn it) until smooth and melted.
Spread the chocolate onto the top and sides of the cake. Let harden (I did this overnight) then flip cake over onto a sheet of parchment and spread chocolate onto the other side of the cake. Note: You don’t have to glaze the bottom/other side with chocolate. I covered the cake and chocolate overnight, remelted the chocolate the next day and glazed the other side. Don’t try to glaze the bottom before the other chocolate is nice and set.
Slice and serve.

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March 27, 2012

Daring Bakers: Dutch Crunch Bread

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Daring Bakers bread, Daring Bakers, Dutch Crunch, Rolls, Sandwich 3 Comments

This month I was confronted by my fear of bread baking with this Daring Bakers challenge. Thankfully it was a successful baking experience that resulted in a tasty sandwich and picnic lunch with my little family.

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

I had never heard of dutch crunch bread. One of the reasons I really like being a part of Daring Bakers is the exposure I get to foods in other countries and other regions of the U.S. that I would have otherwise gone my whole life without knowing anything about. Making this bread made me want to go try the real thing sometime. Whenever I find myself in Northern California I will make sure to keep an eye out for it.

We were given a couple of bread recipes to use as the vehicle for the dutch crunch topping. I chose a simple soft white bread that I made into rolls. The dough was so easy, smooth and lovely. It made me really happy. And that makes me a little weird, I know.

The topping struck me as strange when I mixed it up and did not look like the recipe said it should. As I spread it (or tried to) on top of the risen rolls I had some serious doubts. But they baked up beautifully and the topping lived up to its title of dutch crunch, but wasn’t striped like it should have been. The topping adds great visual appeal and texture to the finished product. I realized in rereading this recipe that I should have added more water to my topping to make it less stiff and easier to spread. I used most, but not all of the topping. Turns out I should have made half a recipe of the topping since I was only making 6 rolls! I promise that I really do read a recipe all the way through before I start cooking, but sometimes I miss things. Can I blame pregnancy brain for this even if it happened before I was pregnant? Luckily there was no harm done and my kitchen didn’t explode as a result of my oversights.

Rolls Before Baking

My sandwich was not exactly one-of-a-kind, but it was simple and good. Honey ham, white cheddar, whole grain mustard, mayo and spring mix. I wrapped them up in parchment, packed them in my rarely utilized picnic basket along with some other goodies and picked Ben up from work last Friday and we had a nice family picnic in the park. So even though the sandwich wasn’t groundbreaking, the experience was really wonderful. Why don’t we picnic more often?

Below are the recipes for the bread and the topping. Here is the link to the pdf with more detailed instructions. Other than the rice flour (which was not hard to find at my well stocked HEB in Houston) you will have most of these ingredients or be able to get them easily. The rolls I might make again and divide into 8 or 10 because some of the sandwich rolls I ended up with were really massive. Thanks, Sara and Erica!

Dutch Crunch Topping

Can be halved for the roll recipe below.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour) (increase by 1 cup or more for home-made rice flour)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Soft White Rolls

Makes 6

Ingredients

1 tablespoon (1 packet) (15 ml) (7 gm/ ¼ oz) active dry yeast
¼ cup (60 ml) warm water (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (No need to use a thermometer – it should feel between lukewarm and hot to the touch).
1 cup (240 ml) warm milk (105-110º F) (41-43°C) (We’ve tried both nonfat and 2%, with no noticeable difference)
1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (20 gm/ ⅔ oz) sugar
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil (plus additional olive or vegetable oil for greasing bowl during rising)
1½ teaspoons (7½ ml) (9 gm/⅓ oz) salt
Up to 4 cups (960 ml) (600 gm/21oz) all purpose flour

Directions

In the bowl of an electric mixer or large mixing bowl, combine yeast, water, milk and sugar. Stir to dissolve and let sit for about 5 minutes (The mixture should start to bubble or foam a bit and smell yeasty).
Add in vegetable oil, salt and 2 cups of flour. Using the dough hook attachment or a wooden spoon, mix at medium speed until the dough comes together.
Add remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, as shown in the photo below (For us, this usually required an additional 1½ to 2 cups of flour).
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 4 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled
Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 6 equal portions (if you’d like to make rolls) or 2 equal portions (if you’d like to make a loaf) (using a sharp knife or a dough scraper works well). Shape each into a ball or loaf and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet (try not to handle the dough too much at this point).Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.
Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping as described above. While the original recipe recommends letting them stand for 20 minutes after applying the topping, I got better results by putting them directly into the oven.
Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated moderately hot 380ºF/190°C/gas mark 5 for 25-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely on a wire rack before eating.

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February 27, 2012

Daring Bakers: Jalapeño, Bacon and Cheese Beer Bread & Blueberry Almond Streusel Bread

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Breakfast, Daring Bakers almond, bacon, blueberry, cheese, jalapeno, quick bread, savory bread, streusel, sweet bread 4 Comments

Oh, how I love quick breads. They are delicious, easy and, most importantly, quick. This month’s challenge was quite versatile and so fun. I was able to make one loaf of savory bread to serve with dinner and then a sweet loaf a couple days later for breakfast. Getting started on this challenge more than a day before the posting date was immensely helpful and I hope I can do the same thing next month. But we shall see…I have a history of acknowledging how great it was to work on something and get it done early and yet still managing to go back to my old ways of procrastination.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

This jalapeño bread was a big hit. I made a meal of barbecued chicken, creamed corn and cole slaw (all recipes I’d never used before and all of which were flops) and then this bread. My husband told me the bread was the best part of the meal, and he was right. I used a sharp cheddar cheese, pickled jalapeños, crumbled bacon and a bottle of Shiner. We ate it with dinner warm from the oven and the next couple of mornings toasted with butter. I’m bummed it’s all gone, so I’ll probably have to make another loaf.

Jalapeño, Bacon and Cheese Beer Bread

Ingredients

3 cups flour
3 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapeños
1/2 cup bacon, cooked and crumbled
1 cup grated cheese
12 ounces beer
1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F and grease a 9×5 loaf pan.
Measure and then sift the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt into a mixing bowl.
Mix in the the chopped jalapeños, cheese and bacon.
Pour one can of beer into the mixing bowl and mix until blended.
Pour mixture into the loaf pan, then pour half of the melted butter over the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, then pour remaining butter on top of the loaf. Bake for another 20-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool for 5-10 minutes, then remove from the pan and cool an additional 10 minutes.

The blueberry almond bread recipe came from Joy the Baker. She used raspberries in her bread, and I might try that next time, or maybe a mix of berries. I used frozen blueberries that I’d thawed out and drained, and dried as much as I could on paper towels. I added a buttery almond streusel to the top of this bread that was so delicious, sweet and crunchy. It might have been my favorite part of the loaf.

Blueberry Almond Streusel Bread

Streusel

Ingredients

1/3 cup flour
1/4 cups sliced almonds, toasted
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small chunks
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar

Directions

Mix together all ingredients except for almonds and butter.
Cut butter into flour mixture with a pastry blender or two knives until the butter pieces are mostly the size of small pebbles with some larger pieces, then mix in the almonds. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Bread

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 eggs
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 cup blueberries, fresh or thawed and drained if frozen
1/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted

Directions

Preheat oven to 325°F. Grease and sugar a 9×5 loaf pan.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and almond extract until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the flour and sour cream. Fold in the crushed fruit and almond slivers.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan, then top with streusel. Bake in the center of the oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool the bread in the pan for 20 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack, turn right side up and cool completely.

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January 27, 2012

Daring Bakers: Scones (And By That I Mean Biscuits)

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Daring Bakers Biscuits, Daring Bakers 6 Comments

Today is January 27, 2012. The posting day for Daring Bakers! It is always the posting day for Daring Bakers. But just yesterday, on the 26th of January, I decided I was going to get back on the Daring Bakers wagon and start participating again after a long hiatus. I signed in to the site , read the challenge. Scones. I can do scones. Then I started checking the ingredients, added a few special things to my grocery list, and then I checked the posting date and I thought, “I’ll have a few days to crank these out.” Then I checked my calendar. It was the 26th. How did this happen? How can I be so out of touch with reality to think it was somehow earlier than this? Does this happen to anyone else? The end of the month totally sneaks up on you and you’re left feeling like life is passing you by? That’s a little dramatic, but I really did have that moment of, “WHAT?” when I figured out it was almost the end of January. Basically, I am just an absent minded mess these days. I was in pajamas until 1pm on Wednesday of this week…it’s no wonder I don’t know what day it is.

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones, as I know them anyway, are those nice, slightly sweet triangular shaped breads, a little crunchy outside, soft and crumbly inside. Sometimes plain, sometimes full of fruit, sometimes glazed, sometimes sugared, and always wonderful. That is not a scone by English definition. What Daring Bakers were challenged to do this month was to make what the Australian and the English call scones, and that is what we North Americans call biscuits! Thanks you, Daring Bakers! I don’t make biscuits often, so having an excuse to make myself a batch or two was going to be a wonderful way to spend the afternoon.

Tender, flaky,so high they’re rising to the heavens biscuits are so very special and wonderful because they are so stinkin’ hard to achieve. I made two batches, and I wish I’d had the time to make more because I could have figured out the secret to the perfect biscuit. I’m going to have to keep making these until I get it right. I don’t think anyone in my house will have a problem being the taste testers. It is the ingredients, but it’s also very much the process. Laminating, or folding, the dough gives the tender flaky layers I most associate with a good biscuit. And be gentle with the dough. You don’t want to overwork it. At the same time, you don’t want to underwork it. I know, that’s confusing. But make a batch or two (or ten) and you’ll start to figure it out.

Here are my first and second batches together (first batch on top). This experience made me so excited about baking! I know this makes me a food nerd, but I like that just changing a few things can yield totally different results.

For my first batch I tried what is called an Australian Scone Ring, which is a nice little ring of biscuits. The recipe uses less butter than the basic dough and the fat is worked into smaller pieces. Total fail. I worked the dough too much, and rolled them out too thin. They didn’t rise much at all and they were a non attractive pale color with no semblance of biscuit texture. Some of the differences are of course due to the differences in the ingredients and process, but I still think I screwed these up.

So I looked at some of the other variations and opted for a Buttermilk Biscuit. Now these are biscuits, and good ones. Still not with the height that I would have liked them to have, but with a great flaky texture, buttery flavor and a nice golden brown hue on top and bottom. They also smell divine. They are on the counter next to me at the moment and every time I get a whiff I want to eat another one. With twice the fat of the basic recipe, buttermilk instead of plain milk and a folding process instead of a kneading one, these came out much more to my liking.

Below I am including the recipe and instructions for the buttermilk biscuits. The basic recipe can be found here.

Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients

1 cup flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup whole milk (+ 1/2 tablespoon apple cider vinegar to make sour milk) or use buttermilk
4 tablespoons butter, chilled in the freezer

Directions

Preheat oven to 475°F
Triple sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. (If your room temperature is very hot refrigerate the sifted ingredients until cold.)
Rub the frozen butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles very coarse bread crumbs with some pea-sized. (I used a pastry cutter to get it started, then used my fingers to get the right sized butter pieces.)
Add nearly all of the liquid at once into the rubbed-in flour/fat mixture and mix until it just forms a sticky dough (add the remaining liquid if needed). The wetter the dough the lighter the scones (biscuits) will be.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, lightly flour the top of the dough. Knead very gently once (do not press too firmly) then fold and turn the kneaded dough about 3 or 4 times until the dough has formed a smooth texture. (Use a floured plastic scraper to help you knead and/or fold and turn the dough if you wish.)
Pat or roll out the dough into a 6 inch by 4 inch rectangle by about ¾ inch thick (15¼ cm by 10 cm by 2 cm thick). Using a well-floured 2-inch (5 cm) scone cutter (biscuit cutter), stamp out without twisting six 2-inch (5 cm) rounds, gently reform the scraps into another ¾ inch (2 cm) layer and cut two more scones (these two scones will not raise as well as the others since the extra handling will slightly toughen the dough). Or use a well-floured sharp knife to form squares or wedges as you desire.
Place the rounds just touching on a baking dish (I used a cast iron skillet) if you wish to have soft-sided scones or place the rounds spaced widely apart on the baking dish if you wish to have crisp-sided scones. Glaze the tops with milk if you want a golden colour on your scones or lightly flour if you want a more traditional look to your scones.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.
Immediately place onto cooling rack to stop the cooking process, serve while still warm.

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April 27, 2011

Daring Bakers: Maple Mousse in Pastry Cups

Carrie Zinnecker Daring Bakers, Desserts 1 Comment

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!

Maybe I did something wrong with the mousse. It didn’t have the great maple flavor I was hoping for. I’m not creative enough to make a fun container, I just did simple pastry dough baked in a mini muffin pan. My pastry cups weren’t what I was hoping for either! All in all, I wasn’t exactly pleased with the results of this challenge.

It was fun to make the mousse. I’d never tried anything like that before, so there is a bright side to this baking story!

Maple Mousse

Ingredients:
• 1 cup (240 ml/ 8 fluid oz.) pure maple syrup (not maple-flavoured syrup)
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 package (7g/1 tbsp.) unflavoured gelatine
• 1 1/2 cups (360 ml. g/12 fluid oz) whipping cream (35% fat content)

Directions:
1. Bring maple syrup to a boil then remove from heat.
2. In a large bowl, whisk egg yolks and pour a little bit of the maple syrup in while whisking (this is to temper your egg yolks so they don’t curdle).
3. Add warmed egg yolks to hot maple syrup until well mixed.
4. Measure 1/4 cup of whipping cream in a bowl and sprinkle it with the gelatine. Let it rest for 5 minutes. Place the bowl in a microwave for 45 seconds (microwave for 10 seconds at a time and check it in between) or place the bowl in a pan of barely simmering water, stir to ensure the gelatine has completely dissolved.
5. Whisk the gelatine/whipping cream mixture into the maple syrup mixture and set aside.
6. Whisk occasionally for approximately an hour or until the mixture has the consistency of an unbeaten raw egg white.
7. Whip the remaining cream. Stir 1/4 of the whipped cream into the maple syrup mixture. Fold in the remaining cream and refrigerate for at least an hour.
8. Remove from the fridge and divide equally among your edible containers.

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March 27, 2011

Daring Bakers: Meringue Coffee Cake

Carrie Zinnecker Breads and Muffins, Breakfast, Daring Bakers Chocolate, cinnamon, coffee cake, Daring Bakers, meringue, pecans 4 Comments

Finally. I have missed more than one of the Daring Bakers challenges in the last few months. I am glad that I got back on track with this one!

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

I managed to get the coffee cake made this week despite the fact that my son has not been a fan of napping for more than 30 minutes at a time. At the moment I am trying to get this post written before he wakes up! So, forgive me if this one is short and sweet.

The dough wasn’t too difficult to put together, but even after an hour and a half rise it hadn’t really doubled in bulk. I do not have a great relationship with yeast. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon of cardamom to the flour mixture.

The filling. Oh my goodness. The filling. How can you argue with this? Sweet meringue, chopped pecans, cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. I did one ring with chocolate, and one without. I prefer the one without if I’m enjoying this for breakfast. I found that the chocolate hides the other flavors too much.

Rolling this up was easy, but when I went to form the ring I couldn’t get the edges to completely seal together. I also didn’t have much filling on the edges, so a section of my ring was just bread…which still tasted delicious.

After baking, the meringue puffed out of the vents and got nice and brown. It is so lovely! I couldn’t resist breaking off a piece of it to enjoy. Yummy.

I made the coffee cakes the day before and sent half of each one to work with Ben the next morning. I was worried that it wouldn’t stay fresh overnight, but I had a piece the next afternoon and it was quite good.

Here is the link to the recipe. I am too pressed for time to put the recipe on this post! Ok, now off to get the kitchen cleaned before the little man wakes! Enjoy!

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