Bread

Here is a quick little post to share more of one of my little obsessions: bread baking.

I love making my own bread. It's more than just the health benefits of homemade bread over store-bought bread, though there are many, not the least of which is ensuring only real ingredients are in each loaf. I just love the feel of the dough, the chemistry of it all, the smell of bread baking in the oven, and of course the taste! It still amazes me to see flour, yeast, and water come together into something so delicious.

Here are my latest loaves - honey whole wheat.

I've been reading The Bread Baker's Apprentice by Peter Reinhart. it is amazing and I am learning a lot. I've been reading about starters, which are basically preparation of part of the dough ahead of time to develop more flavor. It is working really well so far and has the added benefit of making my bread last longer before going stale.

I'm still playing around with my recipe, but I will share the version I have been using lately. It is really good! It does require a bit more work, but not much. And you need to plan ahead a little to make sure the timing works for you. Let me tell you, it is very much worth all of the effort!

Enjoy!

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Starter
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1 teaspoon honey
2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour

Bread
Starter (above)
2 cups warm milk (110 degrees)
1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 tablespoon melted butter
1-1/2 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon salt
3 cups (13-1/2 ounces) whole wheat flour
3 cups (13-1/2 ounces) bread flour

Put together the starter one day before you want to bake your bread. To make the starter, first whisk together the warm water and yeast. Whisk in honey. Allow to sit until foamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in the flour. The mixture should look and feel like a sticky bread dough. Cover loosely and let sit at room temperature for 2 hours. Refrigerate overnight.

To make the bread, bring the starter to room temperature. Place it in the bowl of a stand mixer. In a small bowl, whisk together the warm milk and yeast. Add the yeast and milk to the starter. Add the melted butter and honey. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours and the salt. Add to the mixer bowl and mix with the paddle attachment until everything is combined. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5 minutes. The dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky. If the dough feels too sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time while kneading, being careful not to add too much.

Lightly oil a large bowl, then place the dough in it, turning so that the top of the dough is also coated with oil. Allow to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about one hour.

After the dough has risen, turn it out gently onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in half. Shape each half into a loaf and place into lightly oiled or sprayed (with non-stick baking spray) loaf pans and let rise for about an hour or until each loaf is nicely domed.

Just before the time is up, dip a sharp paring knife into water and gently score the top of each loaf. You score the loaf by gently scratching the surface, with a paper cut motion, rather than plunging the knife into the loaf. The water will keep the knife from sticking and dragging in the dough. You can skip this step if you like, but scoring the loaf will give you a better rise in the oven and keep the loaf from splitting.

Twenty minutes before the end of the rising time, preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Place a metal pan in the bottom of the oven and allow it to heat with the oven. Use a heavy metal pan with 1-2 inch sides to do this. Do NOT use glass, which will shatter when you add the hot water later. Start 1-2 cups of water on the stove and bring it to a boil (I use a tea kettle). Have a spray bottle filled with water handy (room temperature).

When the loaves are ready, put them in the preheated oven so that the loaves themselves are in the center of the oven and directly over the preheated pan. Carefully pour the boiling water into the pan at the bottom of the oven, being careful not to touch the hot steam and not to pour water onto the loaves. Quickly close the oven. After 30 seconds, crack open the door and lightly spray water from the bottle onto the walls of the oven. Do NOT spray any glass, any lights, or the loaves. Repeat the misting two more times at 30 second intervals.

This all creates steam that will allow your loaves to rise higher in the oven and have a better crust. You can skip all of this if it seems like too much trouble, but I have found that it is worth the small effort.

After the third misting, turn the temperature on the oven down to 350 degrees F. and bake for approximately 30 minutes or until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove from the pans immediately and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 20 minutes before cutting.

These loaves freeze really well. After they are completely cool, wrap each loaf tightly in plastic wrap and then tightly in aluminum foil before putting in the freezer. Otherwise, you can store the loaves at room temperature in an airtight container and they will keep for about a week.

Surfing Hello Kitty

Hello!

Last week I had the chance to make a cake for a lovely little girl turning 8 years old. Her lovely mother is a friend of mine and she is so sweet. I was happy to make this cake!

The birthday girl requested Hello Kitty. On a surfboard. With a palm tree and a red crab.

I said "sure" but when the time came to make all of that and get it to work, it had me trembling! In the end it all worked out, though. Don't you think?

Here is a slightly closer look.

I assembled this cake on site, so I don't have a lot of pictures. I was afraid that if I put Hello Kitty on the top ahead of time, she would fall and break during transit. I do wish I had gotten a close-up of HK, the tree (my personal favorite element) and the little red crab.

The cake itself was chocolate (you can find the recipe in this post) with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream (recipe here).

I was really proud of how I did covering and smoothing the buttercream. My corners actually turned out pretty sharp! That is not easy! For those of you who are interested, the method I use for frosting my cakes is very similar to that demonstrated by John Russel in his new Craftsy class. This class is free, so check it out! I also cut and trim my cakes in pretty much the same way as he does, except that I don't trim the cake board. Instead, I keep it about 1/4 inch bigger than my cake and use it as a guide to hold the smoother steady and keep the buttercream even all the way around. Maybe someday I'll do a video....

Here is a picture of the cake chilling in the refrigerator. You can see that I've already smoothed and stacked the tiers, and I've put on a few "waves" and the tree. Please ignore the food in the background and how messy my frig is! :)

The "sand" is also in place in this picture. I love, love, love the way this sand turned out! I was just going to use brown sugar. Then I was just going to use crushed graham crackers. I went to make it and I decided to use both together. I chose the graham crackers for the bulk of the sand because they didn't seem as likely to melt into the buttercream. I added some brown sugar for some depth of color and for the slight sparkle of the sugar crystals. Then, and this is the brilliant part if I do say so myself, I added a handful of white chocolate chips. I pulsed it all in my food processor - first the crackers and sugar until very finely ground, then the white chocolate chips until they were in fairly small pieces but not evenly ground. The chips ended up looking like little bits and pieces of shells scattered in the sand. It was perfect! And tasty!

(Please don't tell me if people have done this before! I'm sure I'm not the pioneer of this technique, but I like to think I am!)

Hello Kitty, the tree and the waves are all gumpaste. I had to make HK out of gumpaste so that she would be firm enough to stand up. Same with the tree. I made the trunk and the leaves several days ahead of time and left them to dry. The leaves were on wires and then inserted into the top of the trunk. There was a toothpick in the bottom of the trunk to hold it in place. I really like how the tree turned out. I do wish I had dusted the leaves with petal dust, though, to bring out the details and give them more depth. Sadly, I didn't think of it until after the tree was all assembled and I was afraid that if I took the leaves back out to dust them, they would break. I couldn't afford any breakage because I didn't have time to make more. My extras had already broken!

Handy tip: when working with gumpaste, always make extra! Some pieces always end up breaking.

Anyway, I hope you all enjoyed surfing Hello Kitty! Thanks for stopping by!

Rolo Cake!

Have you all seen new Rolo minis? I came across them purely by accident in the store a few weeks ago and I HAD to get them. I love Rolos. Anything with caramel and chocolate is my friend. Rolos and me, we're really good friends.

Don't they look good?

Rather than just eat my new minis, I decided to incorporate them into a new cake. Chocolate. Caramel, Cake. How could it miss?

First I made a chocolate sheet cake.

Someone snuck into my picture! Actually made the picture better, in my opinion! :)

For the cake, I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe, which you can find here. Just the cake, not the icing. (Though I've made the icing before and it is really good!) This time, I had something else in mind.

After the cake was completely cool, I topped it with Caramel Buttercream. You can find a good recipe for that in this post. You could also just take your favorite vanilla buttercream and add some homemade or store bought caramel sauce.

Next, I chopped up some of those Rolo minis.

I cut them in half, but you could also leave them whole or chop them more. Whatever you like! I used all the Rolos in one of those bags above.

Nevermind what happened to the other bag! A mom has to have her secrets, right?

Finally, the Rolos got sprinkled all over the top of the cake.

Oh man, does that look good!

I meant to get a nice styled picture of a piece of this cake on a nice little plate, but the cake got eaten too quickly. This is a good one! Super easy. Super tasty. Just plain super. I hope you try it too!

Enjoy!

Sugar Flowers

A few weeks ago, I made a bouquet of sugar flowers for a birthday cake. The cake was for a friend of my sister, who was celebrating a milestone birthday. My sister was making and decorating the cake and asked me to do the topper.

At first I was nervous because I don't have a lot of experience making sugar flowers. So, a few of these aren't really true to life but I think overall they turned out really nice.

The hydrangeas are the only ones I had been working on before doing the topper. I took a class on Craftsy about making sugar flowers. It is taught by Jacqueline Butler, who is an absolutely amazing sugar artist. Her class was wonderful and I learned a lot. If you are interested in sugar flowers at all, I highly recommend it!

I added in some white filler flowers and buds, some leaves, a sprig of berries and a couple of coral-colored flowers.

I'm not sure what to call the big coral-colored flower in the center. I was copying something I saw online and I confess I have no idea if it's a real flower or just a fantasy flower. I like how it looks in this bouquet, though!

I did a version of a small peony and a small rose, too.

I planned to include more leaves, but they kept breaking on me. *sigh*

I think my favorite element was the berries. I love the way these turned out and wish I had made more. Again, it was supposed to have a couple more leaves, but they kept breaking. I definitely need to work on my technique for those and give them plenty of drying time next time.

Sugar flowers are strangely addicting. While I was working on these, I kept getting frustrated and asking myself why in the world I had agreed to do them. But as soon as they were finished, I just kept thinking about making more!

There are definitely a lot of things about flower-making that I need to practice, improve, and learn. Even though these aren't perfect, it was so satisfying to see it all come together. And I was soooo glad when the 3+ hour ride with them to my sister's house was over!

I hope you enjoyed my sugar flowers! Come back soon for some fantastic treats and recipes! Cherry Cordial Cupcakes and more!

5th Birthday

Whoa - I'm on a roll with these posts! I let them all stack up, I guess.

Last week, my baby turned 5 years old. For the third year in a row, she requested a Hello Kitty cake. It was fun to come up with something new for her!

After looking at tons of Hello Kitty stuff, I decided to do a rainbow cake with another molded Hello Kitty on the top.

The cake is extra tall because it is 6 layers. Vanilla with milk chocolate ganache and fondant.

But not plain vanilla. Are you seeing where I'm going with this yet?

6 layers. Rainbow. Surprise inside!

Kate loved it!

Make a wish... (And try to ignore my messy kitchen in the background!)

Here is a close-up of Hello Kitty.

She's not perfect, but pretty close. I had a little trouble, you see, and couldn't start over. My favorite part is the tiny cupcake she is holding, complete with teeny-tiny sprinkles and a teeny-tiny cherry!

This whole cake gave me a bit of trouble, actually. But I'm learning that success comes not in never having trouble but in learning how to deal with the trouble that inevitably comes and enjoying the whole process.

I can't resist showing a couple more shots of the kiddos being silly. I love these guys! :)

Lemon-Rosemary Cake

I have a wonderful recipe for you today! It's light, moist, fluffy white cake flavored with lemon and a hint of rosemary. Perfect for warm summer days!

This flavor combo might seem a little strange to some. I had the idea when brainstorming for different cake combos to try. I had just dried some of my own rosemary, which miraculously lived through most of our very mild winter. It seemed like a natural flavor match. And it is! Because the rosemary isn't too strong, it works really well in a dessert. It really adds a depth to the also-subtle lemon flavor.

I was thinking I was so clever to have thought of this, created the recipe, and that it works. Then I made the mistake of googling it. I should have known this wasn't unique! There really isn't anything new in the world.

I'm still really pleased with this recipe and I know you will love it! Unless you hate lemons. Or hate rosemary. Then maybe you won't love it. But try it anyway because I love the challenge of winning someone over!

Beth, if you are reading this, I'm going to convince you to love pumpkin pie one of these days! :)

I don't have a big decorated cake to show you with this one. I just made it in a 9x13 cake pan and slathered the icing on the top after it had cooled. Just like Mom used to do. It was wonderful! Sometimes it's nice to just make a really tasty cake and not feel like it has to be super fancy.

This cake is pretty enough to stand on its own, I think.

Just look at that lovely light yellow color (from the butter mostly, but it represents the lemon flavor wonderfully) and the little flecks of rosemary and lemon zest.

One of the keys to success with this cake is to make sure your rosemary is chopped very, very finely. You can use fresh or dried. I think fresh, or fresh that you dried yourself, would work best because sometimes the dried rosemary ends up really tough. If you use dried, you could try chopping it in a spice grinder. I just used my chef's knife and rocked it back and forth over my little rosemary pile again and again.

Another key to success is in the icing prep. Make sure you take your time and let the butter and the final mixture really whip up. This makes the icing really light and fluffy and super smooth. I didn't bother to sift my confectioner's sugar, but you might want to in order to be sure no lumps end up in your icing.

You may also notice that this is not my normal Swiss Meringue buttercream. You know I LOVE my Swiss Meringue! Well, I'm excited to tell you that I love this buttercream too! It is not as sweet as most confectioner's sugar/butter icings and doesn't have the greasy mouth-feel of faux-buttercream made with shortening. You can adapt this to any flavor. For example, to make vanilla, just omit the rosemary, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Add a little more milk (another teaspoon or two) until you have the right consistency. I should also note that this recipe is loosely based on Sweetapolita's Whipped Vanilla Buttercream recipe, which you can find here. Just scroll to the bottom.

Here are some baking notes about this recipe, for those of you who are interested in the science of baking, like me. First, I used bleached cake flour because the bleached particles are better able to hold the structure of the cake. I've used unbleached in the past and only recently discovered that this was the reason for my white and yellow cakes often sinking on me.

At first glance, this recipe appears to be over-leavened. The general rule is 1 teaspoon of baking powder per cup of flour OR 1/4 baking soda per 1 cup of flour. I mostly stick to just baking powder in my recipes, but I added a little baking soda to this to counteract the acidity added with the buttermilk and lemon zest. That extra acidity would have made my cake batter too alkaline and it would have collapsed. A little acidity is actually good for a cake and helps it to set properly, but when the batter is too acidic, it needs the baking soda to help restore the perfect balance.

And to think, I always hated science in school! Maybe if my high school science teacher had offered me cake, I would have learned more! :)

I also recently started using a little yogurt (I lessened the cream or in this case buttermilk content accordingly) in my white and yellow cakes. It adds a wonderful flavor and some moisture. Many of you have probably seen recipes with sour cream in them. The yogurt does the same thing. I usually use my own homemade yogurt. It is vanilla flavored, but it still works. If I were using store-bought, I would probably use Greek yogurt, but any kind will work. Just don't use vanilla-flavored store-bought yogurt because most are not flavored with pure vanilla. They use the fake stuff, which you will end up tasting in your cake.

Finally, you probably all know this, but it bears repeating because of it's importance in the final outcome of your cake: all of your ingredients should be at room temperature when you start your mixing. There are ways to speed up some things if you haven't thought ahead. I usually have to do these because I often forget to take things out of the frig in time! For eggs, put the whole egg in a bowl of warm water for a few minutes. Works like a charm, but it does make them harder to separate. Do NOT try to warm the egg whites in the microwave. You may end up cooking the edges and little bits of cooked egg whites in a cake are definitely not good eats.

For your liquid, you could warm it on the stovetop without letting it steam or boil or heat it for 15 seconds at a time in the microwave. You can take the chill off of your butter with short bursts in the microwave, but be very careful not to melt it at all and remember that butter often heats more on the inside of the stick, so you could end up with a puddle in the middle very quickly. I very rarely use the microwave for butter. I do sometimes warm my butter slightly by setting it on a plate on the top of my oven while it is preheating. Just make sure it's not one the hottest spot and remember to check it and turn it often so it doesn't start to melt on one side.

And now ... drumroll please...

Here is the recipe! Enjoy!


Lemon-Rosemary Cake with Lemon-Rosemary Buttercream

3 cups (10-1/2 ounces) sifted bleached cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 cups (10-1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
6 large egg whites (6 ounces)
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon very finely chopped rosemary
1/2 cup (4 liquid ounces) buttermilk
1/4 cup (2-1/8 ounces) plain yogurt
1/2 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9x13 cake pan (or you could use two 8-inch round pans instead) by greasing the bottom and sides and lining the bottom with greased parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg whites, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest, rosemary and a couple of tablespoons of the buttermilk. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar. Mix on low for at least 30 seconds. Add the remaining buttermilk, the yogurt and the butter. Mix on low until all of the dry ingredients are moistened, then mix on medium-high for 1-1/2 minutes. (I use level 4 on my Kitchenaid. If you are using a hand mixer, mix on high.)

Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture in three parts, adding each part on low speed and then mixing on high speed for 20 seconds. Scrape down the sides and pour into the prepared pan(s). Bake until the top springs back when touched with a finger and a toothpick inserted in the center comes back with moist crumbs clinging to it, about 25-30 minutes.

Lemon-Rosemary Buttercream

1/4 cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter
1-1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon very finely chopped rosemary
1-1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed until lightened in color and texture, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the remaining ingredients and mix on low until just combined, then mix on medium for an additional 8 minutes. Use immediately.

Doughnuts!

Is there anything better than a good doughnut? You are all probably imagining your favorite right now. One of my absolute favorite doughnuts is what is often called the Boston Cream Doughnut. It is a yeast doughnut with cream filling - the custard, pastry cream and not the white stuff - and a chocolate glaze on the top.



My mouth is watering just thinking about these!

I recently came across a doughnut recipe from a famous bakery, Flour. I couldn't resist making them!

Here is the recipe, which I found online and also have in the cookbook. I checked this cookbook out from my local library, but I think I might purchase it. It is fantastic!

I didn't make mine exactly like the recipe, since I wanted my Boston Creams. So, I did not put the sugar on the outside of mine. Instead, I made a thin dark chocolate ganache and dipped the tops of the doughnuts in after filling them. Then let them set before enjoying. See below to learn how to make the ganache.

Also, I baked my doughnuts instead of frying them. This was an experiment of sorts for me. I wanted to see if it would work. I am not opposed to frying in general, but I do try to avoid it for the most part. If done properly, I don't think that frying really adds that much fat and calories to your food. But it does make your kitchen very messy and smelly!

I followed the recipe exactly up until the end. After cutting my doughnuts, I placed them about 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I covered them with plastic wrap and let them rise as directed in the recipe. When the cut doughnuts were nearly done rising, I heated my oven to 425 degrees F. Then instead of frying, I just slid the baking sheet into the oven and baked for 8 minutes.

They baked well but didn't brown as completely and evenly as if I had fried them.



They also didn't have the same slightly crispy exterior. But I kind of liked that. They were soft and tasty.



But... Yes there is a but, which means more experimenting for me! But these doughnuts weren't as light an airy as the fried variety. I suspect that when the doughnuts hit the hot oil, they get a little extra rise that they didn't get in my 425 degree oven. I also suspect that I can play around with my technique a bit to get the same light and airy result without frying.

The other problem posed by the lack of airiness is that there wasn't as much space in the interior of the doughnut to hold the filling. Less air = fewer holes inside the doughnut = less delicious cream inside the doughnut. I like my doughnuts with a lot of this cream inside, so I need to figure out how to fix this little problem.

I will definitely be playing around with these and will keep track of the changes. I'll be sure to post updates!

Don't they look good?



Now despite these minor glitches, these doughnuts are still very tasty and not at all hard to make. Try some and let me know how it turns out!

Here is my super simple recipe for the chocolate ganache glaze:

5 ounces good-quality dark chocolate
5 ounces heavy cream

Heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat until it begins to steam. Do not boil. While the cream is heating, chop the chocolate into small pieces and place in a large bowl. When the cream is ready, pour it over the chopped chocolate and let it set for a few minutes. Then whisk it together until all the chocolate pieces are melted and the ganache is smooth. Allow to cool a little before dipping your doughnuts. If it starts to firm up too much, microwave it for 10-15 seconds to warm it again and loosen it up.

This is also really good drizzled over cupcakes or ice cream, so make extra and store it covered in the refrigerator. Yum!