BBA#21: PAIN A L’ANCIENNE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Among the breads in Peter Reinhart’s book, I put this one in my “top-five-list”! Having lived in Paris for several years, I always crave the amazing baguettes that we found in every corner of the city…

The recipe for “Pain a l’ancienne” is deceptively simple: flour, water, salt and yeast, followed by a brief kneading, and then into the fridge for several hours. But, if making the dough is easy and simple, shaping the bread is another story! This is a high hydration dough, that must be gently handled. It takes an expert baker to balance the gentleness and assertiveness needed to coax such a soft dough into the correct baguette shape. Maybe you can get an idea of how tricky it is from the photos…

This is the dough after spending the night in the fridge. Next morning it will slowly “wake up” at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours (mine took about 3 hours and 15 minutes to double in size).

Once it doubles, gently “pour” it out of the bowl, open it in a rectangle, and cut the dough in three “bread-like” pieces (the full recipe makes 6 baguettes, I made a half-recipe). Then they will be slightly stretched and placed in a very hot oven.

I need more practice with shaping baguettes, and not to mention the “slashing”. I didn’t slash two of them, and only practiced my skills with the blade on the third. Indeed, need more practice is a kind way to put it 😉

My baguettes had a “boat shape”, both ends rising up, which, according to Susan, from Wild Yeast, it means the oven was too hot. Note to self: bake at 475F instead of 490F next time!

But, even if they weren’t the best looking baguettes, the crumb and the crust were just the way we like them; they were delicious!

With this bread, we arrive at the midpoint of the “Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge“! Lots of great breads ahead, but I am starting to feel a bit nostalgic. It’s a lot of fun to “bake a book” like this, with so many other bakers doing the same. I’ll be a little sad when it’s over, but, for the time being, check out some other bakers’ pain a l’ancienne

Carolyn of Two Skinny Jenkins

Joelen, of “What’s Cookin’, Chicago?”

Oggi, of “I Can Do That”

Mags, from “The Other Side of Fifty”

Paul, from “Yumarama’s Artisan Bread”

Txfarmer from her gorgeous Chinese blog…

9Oct2009

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Talk about an American classic… I’ve seen so many recipes for chocolate chip cookies, and one of the major issues is… do you like nuts in your cookies? Purists want the flavor of chocolate, and little else. Others enjoy the scrumptious crunchiness of walnuts or pecans, and without them, something is missing. My beloved falls in the second category, and he’s set in his preference. I don’t care that much, as long as the cookies are chewy. Please, no dunking in milk, as my stepson loves to do, it grosses me out, and he dunks them right in front of me! 🙂 In fact, the first thing he said after my naturalization was: “now that you’re an American, you’ve got to start dunking some cookies in a tall glass of milk“….

Whether you are a purist or not, or a “dunker” or not, I’ll bet you’ll enjoy these cookies. I’ve made them several times since I first saw the recipe at Smitten Kitchen. In this batch my only adjustment was to chop some of the nut pieces slightly larger. These cookies will still please the purists, though…

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(as posted in Smitten Kitchen, original recipe from The Great Book of Chocolate)

(receita em portugues na segunda pagina)

100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
120g (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
8 Tbs unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
175 g (1 + 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
200 g (1 + 1/2 cup) good quality semisweet chocolate chips
130 g (1 cup) walnuts toasted and chopped

Heat the oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or use a Silpat lining.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2T balls and place them on a baking sheet separated by 3 inches. Bake for 18 minutes, until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 24 cookies.

to print the recipe, click here.

Comments: You’ll notice that these cookies bake at a lower temperature than most recipes call for. If you are like me, and enjoy chewy cookies, this is the best way to bake them. I like to make the dough and rest it in the fridge for a couple of hours. By doing so, the dough spreads less during baking, which also favors a chewy texture.

Toasting the nuts is an important preliminary step, but watch them carefully, because the difference between toasted and burned is just a few seconds!

Match made in heaven: a chocolate chip cookie with a mini-capuccino, served in a cup from one of our favorite cafes in Paris!

para receita em portugues, clique aqui

7Oct2009

A SPECIAL DINNER FOR TWO…

Posted in Lamb, Side dishes, Weekend Dinners by sallybr

Sometimes (more often than I care to admit…) I buy things on impulse, without knowing exactly what to do with them. Last week I saw a New Zealand rack of lamb, and couldn’t resist it. I hid the package in the fridge, hoping to surprise my beloved with a special meal. I think his top three favorite dishes are Beef Wellington, rack of lamb, and grilled salmon….sushi and oysters on the halfshell are also strong contenders… At any rate, I knew the lamb would be well received!

Normally I’d simplify the preparation of a rack of lamb: salt and pepper, and nothing else. The meat is so flavorful, it shines on its own. However, a recipe in Ming Tsai’s book (Ming’s Master Recipes) changed my mind, as it had “Autumn” and “Romance” written all over it… 😉

CRANBERRY-TERIYAKI LAMB RACK with COUSCOUS SALAD
(adapted from Ming Tsai’s Master Recipes)

2 lamb racks
1 cup cranberry-teriyaki glaze (recipe below)
1 cup couscous, cooked
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1 T Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
3 scallions stalks, sliced (reserve green part for garnishing)
1/4 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Marinate the racks of lamb in the glaze for a couple of hours or overnight. Prepare a hot grill, remove lamb from the marinade and grill it to medium-rare. For our small racks of lamb, I grilled for 12 minutes, turning them halfway through. Allow the meat to rest for 5 minutes before slicing it between the bones.

Prepare the couscous salad…
Cook the couscous as instructed in the package, and reserve. In a large bowl, whisk together lemon juice, zest, and mustard. Slowly add the oil, still whisking, to form an emulsion, and season it with salt and pepper. Add the white part of the scallions, the cranberries and the cooked couscous, tossing well to combine.

To serve, place the couscous on a plate, top it with the lamb chops, garnish with scallion greens, and spoon some extra cranberry glaze on top of the lamb.

CRANBERRY-TERIYAKI GLAZE
1/8 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 shallot, sliced thin
1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger
1 cup cranberry juice
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sugar
zest and juice of 1 orange
salt to taste

In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon of the oil, add the dried cranberries, shallot slices and ginger and cook over high heat, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the cranberry juice, soy sauce, sugar, orange zest and juice and simmer over low heat until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Let it cool slightly and then transfer it to a blender.

Blend the sauce, adding the remaining olive oil with the machine running. Do not blend it until it is completely smooth, the sauce is supposed to contain little bits of cranberries. Taste and adjust seasoning; it keeps for 1 week refrigerated.

Couscous salad, a perfect match for the lamb…

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here.

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6Oct2009

From our backyard…

Posted in General by sallybr

Maybe not the most beautiful, definitely not the largest figs around… but they came from our own tree, and that makes them the sweetest figs we’ve ever had!

4Oct2009

BBA#20: MULTIGRAIN BREAD EXTRAORDINAIRE

Posted in BBA Challenge, Breads by sallybr

Hard to believe it’s number 20 already!

This bread is made with commercial yeast and a mixture of water-soaked grains. Two things to remember: soak the grains, and cook some brown rice the day before. Or, as Carolyn (on Two Skinny Jenkins) and I did, find yourself in full panic mode when it’s time to make the dough, realizing too late that brown rice takes AGES to cook! However, she pulled it off nicely by cooking the rice in the microwave. My own saga didn’t have such a happy ending. Let’s just say that I had some issues yet again. But, first, here’s the final product, the loaf of multigrain bread extraordinaire….

As usual, we can’t post the recipes for breads made in the “challenge“, but here are some photos of the process.

Soak a mixture of grains (cornmeal, rolled oats, and wheat bran) overnight in water, and then added them to bread flour with the other ingredients (yeast, salt, honey, brown sugar, and water).

My mixture lacked…. cooked brown rice… my apologies once more to Peter Reinhart, but after my initial panic I attempted to use the microwave, got “slightly distracted” and by the time I felt a strange smell coming from the kitchen, this was the state of my brown rice.

Needless to say, I skipped the rice. Instead of kneading in the KA, I folded the dough three times at 20, 40, and 60 minutes, formed into a loaf, sprinkled poppy seeds all over, allowed it to rise one more time, and sent it into the oven ….

The bread is just a little too sweet for my taste, so next time I would reduce the amount of honey, or maybe skip it altogether. For a multigrain bread I prefer a sourdough base. Still, my husband liked this bread quite a bit: “great flavor and succulent crumb” were his comments. I probably shouldn’t have slashed it, but I’ve been practicing this skill at every opportunity.

I wonder what the brown rice would bring to it in terms of taste or texture – I guess the only way to find is to make it again… 😉