We are having a White Christmas unlike any other! Historic record snowfall for our state…
Outside our home, things looked quite amazing…
Inside, they were not that bad either…. 😉
Recipes will be available in the near future, I promise!
MERRY CHRISTMAS!
The BBA Challenge arrives at the “King of Breads”, Pain Poilane, the most traditional bread in Paris!
Of course, pain Poilane brings us great memories! Every couple of weeks, we slightly changed our normal walking route from home to work, in order to stop at the Poilane Boulangerie on Rue Grenelle in the 15th arrondisement, and grab one of those huge “boules”, that we enjoyed to the last crumb on the succeeding days.
Lionel Poilane himself trained each of the bakers that worked in his boulangerie, a process that started by making sure they could not only properly light their wood ovens, but also know when the oven temperature was correct for baking without a thermometer, by using just their bare hands to “feel” the heat inside. Each baker was responsible for the entire process of making each loaf, beginning to end. This kind of passion and commitment fascinates me.
To mimic the great Poilane bread, Peter Reinhart uses 100% whole wheat flour, and a sourdough starter fed with whole wheat flour before being incorporated in the dough. It makes a huge loaf, but I divided it in two and baked them on consecutive days, retarding one of the “boules” in the fridge overnight. Kneading this dough is not for sissies. It’s impossible to knead the full recipe in a KitchenAid mixer, no matter how powerful. He recommends kneading by hand – which I’ve done in the past, but had to reconsider this time – my wrists simply could not take handling such a large amount of dough.
So, I improvised – divided the dough in 4 small portions and… used the food processor to knead it. Twenty to thirty seconds per portion did the trick, the dough ended up very smooth and elastic, with clear gluten development.
Here are some photos of the process, which, fortunately, went quite smoothly….
The whole wheat starter….
The dough, ready to rise for 4 hours….
The final shaping and slashing…. right before going into the oven…
And the result: a dough with impressive oven spring (I wasn’t expecting that, because I was a little too enthusiastic with my blade and probably slashed it too deeply), tight crumb, complex flavor (you’ll have to take my word on that one…)…
Don’t you love a happy ending? 😉
as to the second bread: it did not have as much oven spring, even though I kept it at room temperature for a full 4 hours before baking. But the flavor was better than the first loaf.
I am submitting this post to Susan’s Yeastspotting….
If you want to see the “real” Poilane…. jump to next page….
Fruitcakes have a bad reputation because many people find them dry, tasteless and chock full of artificially colored and flavored “fruit” ingredients. I was among the anti-fruitcake group, until my beloved introduced me to his recipe, that originated from Juanita Neilands, the wife of his doctoral adviser, the biochemist Joe Neilands at UC Berkeley. They’re completely natural, which is consistent with their popularity in the hippie era of the San Francisco Bay area. Each year Juanita and friends would bake a big bunch of these incredible cakes and distribute them to each of Joe’s lab members.
The remarkable man Joe Neilands passed away a little over a year ago at age 87. He was an outstanding scientist and political activist, a true free-spirit. You can read about him here. In our current lab we still continue the research that he began decades ago, and in our kitchen we still bake this favorite fruitcake, “an old Southern family recipe”.
HOLIDAY FRUIT-NUT CAKE
(from Juanita Neilands, an old Southern family recipe)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup flour
4 eggs
1 T vanilla
1/2 cup white grape juice
1 t baking powder
1 lb pitted, chopped dates (unsugared)
(or 1/2 lb dates + 1/2 lb mixed dried fruits of your choice)
1/2 lb dried apricots, chopped
1 lb pecans, chopped
3/4 lb walnuts, chopped (about 3 cups)
optional: Tawny Port wine
Beat the eggs and sugar together. If you can only find chopped dates that are coated with sugar, then reduce the sugar by 2 T. Mix in the flour and baking powder, then add vanilla and grape juice. Dust the dates and apricots with flour, add them to the batter, then add the chopped nuts. The batter will seem very dry, do not worry about it.
Prepare six mini-loaf pans by greasing them with butter. Line with 2 layers of parchment paper, greasing each layer. Spoon the batter into each pan, and decorate the cakes with half walnuts or pecans on top.
Bake at 350F for 50 minutes to 1 hour, and remove the loaves from pans as soon as you can touch the cake. Remove the parchment paper, and put cakes on a rack over a pan. Pour Tawny port (or brandy or bourbon), about 2 T each, over the fruitcakes and and allow them to cool. Add more Port later, if you desire, and wrap for storage. Enjoy the cake right away, or store for several months, if Port wine (or brandy) is added.
Happy Holidays!
to print the recipe, click here
This post will be my first submission to “Bread Baking Day”, this month’s theme is “Baking Under the Tree”
for step by step photos and comments, read on….
Or…”I say tomato, you say tomaato.” When we lived in Paris our great friend and co-worker sometimes invited us for dinner at his place. We relished those special evenings with he and his wife, who is a beautiful, elegant French woman, and a fantastic cook. The French culture is quite private, so an invitation to dine in someone’s home is a true gesture of friendship. Before the meal she often prepared some “cake“. Cake? To start a meal? Well, it wasn’t a typical American cake, which in France would be a “gateau“. Instead, this kind of cake (which the French pronounce more or less as “caak” ) is a rich and savory loaf with the approximate texture of a banana bread, usually leavened with baking powder.
We loved those dinners, from the first to the last course (the latter always being a selection of cheeses), but the opening “cakes” were likely my favorite part. When I left France I brought along photocopies of her recipes, and also managed to buy two cookbooks that exclusively describe those savory loaves. Yes, that’s how much I loved them! So, I dedicate this post to our friends, Alain and Corinne!
This version comes from “Sophie’s Sweet and Savory Loaves.” It’s a delicious blend of zucchini and feta cheese. As you can see from the photo, I leave the feta in large chunks… for little bursts of sharpness and flavor.
FETA CHEESE-ZUCCHINI LOAF
(adapted from Sophie’s recipe)
2 T olive oil
1 medium zucchini, cut in 1/3-in slices
3 large eggs
1 cup + 2 T all purpose flour, sifted
1 + 3/4 tsp baking powder
salt and black pepper to taste
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk, hot
1 cup grated Gruyere cheese
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
3 T cilantro leaves, minced
Heat the oven to 350F. Grease a loaf pan with butter or shortening.
Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the slices of zucchini until they get soft and golden on both sides. Remove from the pan, drain over paper towels to remove excess fat. Reserve.
Combine the eggs, flour, baking powder, 2 pinches of salt and pepper, and beat with an electric mixer until well combined. Add the hot milk and the oil, and beat until smooth. Add the Gruyere cheese, zucchini, feta, and cilantro, mixing well with a wooden spoon or spatula.
Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan, bake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack, allow it to cool for 15 minutes, then remove the loaf from the pan. Serve warm or at room temperature.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: Savory cakes embellish the cooking repertoire of anyone interested in entertaining, potlucks, picnics, brunches, or late night munchies… They are simple to make, and you can add almost anything you wish in the basic mix. Leftover roast chicken? Dice it and add it, maybe with some roasted red peppers and basil… Smoked salmon, ham, black olives, sundried tomatoes, roasted eggplant… they all have their place in such recipes. Just combine flavors that match together, to the delight of your guests.
For this loaf, I prepared the zucchini the day before and saved it in the fridge. Next day, I only had to assemble the ingredients…
… eggs, milk, oil, flour, feta cheese, sauteed zucchini…
Add them to the prepared loaf pan….
and bake it!
Allow the cake cool in the pan for 15 minutes, remove it, slice it, and serve it to your lucky guests!
The BBA Challenge has had its ups and downs. Unfortunately with this bread I hit the lowest point in the whole challenge. I had problems from the very beginning, my dough refused to get smooth, it felt like a mixture of sand and water, “breaking” as I tried to knead it. I moved on, shaped the bread, allowed it to rise – which, it did not, I barely detect any changes – and baked it.
It was dense, and too chewy for my taste. I definitely need more practice with this kind of a dough. Rye won big time, I got a lesson in humility….
Next day I cut the bread into thin slices and turned them into rye crisps, which were ok, but not great.
I look forward to the reports of my fellow bakers following the BBA Challenge, maybe they can give me some tips to deal with such a tricky dough.
Bewitching Kitchen 