BAKING WITH THE HEART

Posted in Breads, Cake, Chocolate Bonbons, Cookies by sallybr

WELCOME TO MY 1700th POST!

Valentine’s Day is almost here! Some don’t care for it, some enjoy each minute. Whatever team you are on, here are some bakes that you can try this week, or anytime love is on your horizon… Without further ado, one recipe and eight ideas for you. Read on…

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BLUEBERRY CURD SWISS ROLL CAKE
(filling adapted from Caroline’s blog)

for the decoration:
50g butter, softened
50g powdered sugar
50g egg whites
50g all-purpose flour
black and red gel colors

for the cake:
130g cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
5 large eggs, at room temperature
200 g granulated sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled

for the filling:
https://www.easyonlinebakinglessons.com/blueberry-orange-curd/
I did not use plums, and used a little gelatin to thicken it further (see comments).

Make the piping decoration by beating the butter with powdered sugar in a small bowl until fully combined. I used a hand-held electric mixer. Add the egg whites and beat for a couple of minutes. Add the flour and mix by hand with a spoon, divide in one small portion to dye black, one larger portion to dye red.

Make a diamond pattern with a Sharpie pen on parchment paper, and add heart shapes. Flip the paper so that the writing is at the bottom, and pipe the outline black. Freeze for 10 minutes. Quickly fill the hearts with red paste. Freeze again while you make the cake.

Heat oven to 350°F. Sift the flour and baking powder into a small bowl. Reserve. Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until the mixture form ribbons, about 12 minutes. Add the lemon zest, lemon extract and vanilla. Beat until combined. Sift the flour mixture over the beaten eggs, fold gently. When the flour is mostly incorporated, add a little bit of the mixture to the melted butter, whisk well. Pour that into the cake batter, whisk gently to disperse. Pour over the frozen parchment paper placed in a half baking sheet, and smooth the surface.

Bake the cake until it begins to pull away from the sides, 12 to 17 minutes.

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack, cover the cake with a towel and let it cool for 10 minutes. Remove the towel, sift a little powdered sugar over the surface and flip it over parchment paper. Gently peel off the paper with the design, flip the cake again over a clean towel. Starting with a short side of the cake, roll the cake gently, using the towel to support the cake as you go. Let the cake cool all rolled up in the towel, seam side down.

Carefully unroll the completely cool cake, spread the blueberry curd filling, then roll it again. Wrap the cake in plastic and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, overnight is best. When ready to serve, slice a small piece of each of the ends, so that it looks more polished.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I haven’t made a patterned roll cake in a while, so I really enjoyed this little adventure. I messed up while making the curd (sorry, Caro!), did not cook it enough, so after 10 hours in the fridge it was still too loose. Lesson learned. I made a gelatin mass with 1 tsp gelatin + 5 tsp water, warmed it to dissolve in the microwave. I heated up the curd to about 60 C and added the melted gelatin. Mixed well and allowed it to cool slowly, then placed in the fridge overnight. It was perfect to use next morning. Huge thank you to my friend Gary for the advice to deal with the curd. I added a very small amount of pink gel dye to the cake batter, but that is optional. I did not include in the recipe, as the cake will look perfectly ok without it.

The cake was moist and tender, the blueberry curd absolutely delicious!
The combination of orange and blueberry is a real winner, thank you Caro!

And now, time to share a few ideas, you can use any recipe you like, or some that are already in my blog

CHOCOLATE-COVERED OREOS

I used white Wilton candy melts to cover Lemon-flavored golden Oreos, and once that was set I made the heart decoration with Royal icing. First piped the black outline, let that set a bit and flooded the center with pink.

COMIC-STYLE HEART COOKIES

Comic-style, so popular these days! I followed a recent tutorial from Amber (join her club here) to make these babies. Some steps shown below.

POLKA-DOT HEART COOKIES

Super simple design, just flood, air-brush with a stencil and add some Royal icing transfers. A little bead border is of course more than welcome…

ZENTANGLE HEARTS, TWO WAYS

For a modern look, just flood with any color of your choice, and then use a food safe pen to draw the design…

For a modern but romantic look, just play with flowers…

BICOLOR HEART COOKIES

For those who do not care for icing, these will be a huge hit. Just mix two recipes, chocolate and plain, cut shapes and mix-and-match the centers. Bake and you are done!

MINI-BONBONS WITH MARSHMALLOW FILLING

I used candy melts to coat tiny silicone molds with heart shapes (available here). Placed a mini-marshmallow in the center and covered the molds with melted chocolate. Once that set, I un-molded the bonbons and drizzled white chocolate for the decoration, adding a little sprinkle heart on some of them.

POLKA-DOT HEART SOURDOUGH

For the recipe, check my blog post with a click here.

I hope you’ve found some inspiration in this post for your future bakes, and please enjoy the weekend ahead, particularly if you are a football fan!

ONE YEAR AGO: Roasted Cauliflower with Chickpeas and Quinoa

TWO YEARS AGO: A Savory Phyllo Pie

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12Jan2024

SOURDOUGH LOVE

Posted in Breads by sallybr

This post is dedicated to my sister Norma,
wishing her a very Happy Birthday!

A series of sourdough bread made in the past couple of months in the Bewitching Kitchen…

BASIC SOURDOUGH FORMULA
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

480g white bread flour
20g spelt flour
10g salt
350g water
75-90g sourdough starter at 100% hydration
1 tsp spice mix of choice (optional)

Make the levain mixture about 6 hours before you plan to mix the dough. It should be very bubbly and active.

When you are ready to make the final dough, place the water in the bowl of a KitchenAid type mixer and dissolve the starter in it, mixing with a spatula briefly, then add the two types of flour, salt and spices. Turn the mixer on with the hook attachment and knead the dough for 4 minutes at low-speed all the time. You will notice the dough will gain quite a bit of structure even with just 4 minutes in the mixer. Remove from the machine, and transfer to a container lightly coated with oil, cover lightly with plastic wrap and allow it to ferment for 4 hours, folding every 45 minutes or so. Because the dough is already a bit developed from the initial time in the mixer, you should get very good structure after 3 and a half hours, or even sooner than that.

After four hours bulk fermentation, shape the dough as a ball, and place, seam side up, in a lightly floured banetton. Leave at room temperature one hour, and then place in the fridge overnight, from 8 to 12 hours.

Next morning, heat the oven to 450F.

Place a parchment paper on top of the dough, a flat baking sheet, and invert the dough, flipping it out of the banneton. Flour the surface of the dough, add the stencil and air-brush if so desired. Score with a razor blade.

Bake at 450F for 45 minutes, preferably covered for the first 30 minutes to retain steam. Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Here is how to make the decorations on the loaf…

For the little hearts, the bread is painted using air-brush and a stencil, after scoring the surface with a grid pattern. The corners of each square get a small cut with scissors. One of the loaves had the little hearts outlined with black food pen, the other I left without the outline. Your kitchen, your rules…

Below, a design in which a large comb was brought to play… No, I never used the comb on my hair, it was bought just to play with bread baking…
Inspired by Nicola’s recent reel on IG.

I used the Sonic blade for the scoring of this and all other loaves in this post.

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

Before…

After…

ONE YEAR AGO: Zucchini-Prosciuto Parcels

TWO YEARS AGO: Double Peanut Sourdough Loaf

THREE YEARS AGO: Fennel-Rubbed Shrimp in Light Coconut Sauce

FOUR YEARS AGO: Puff Bread Balls, Two Salads and a Cookbook Review

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pistachio-Caramel and Apple Mousse Cakes

SIX YEARS AGO: La Couronne Bordelaise

SEVEN YEARS AGO: A Special Birthday Dinner

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Duck Confit for a Special Occasion

NINE YEARS AGO: Tuscan Grilled Chicken and Sausage Skewers

TEN YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with Pork Tenderloin & Apples

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Salmon Wellington

TWELVE YEARS AGO: The Green Chip Alternative

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Weekend Pita Project

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Let it snow, let it snow, eggs in snow

24Dec2023

CHRISTMAS SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

A sourdough loaf to celebrate the season…

RAS-EL-HANOUT CHRISTMAS SOURDOUGH
(from the Bewitching Kitchen)

480g bread flour
20g spelt flour
75g sourdough starter at 100%
10g salt
335g water
1/2 tsp Ras-El-Hanout

Make the levain mixture about 6 hours before you plan to mix the dough. It should be very bubbly and active.

Next morning, heat the oven to 450F.

Bake at 450F for 45 minutes, preferably covered for the first 30 minutes to retain steam. Cool completely over a rack before slicing.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I think I’m finally getting the gist of stenciling bread. You need to really keep the stencil tightly on the surface, and get just a drop or two of air-brush color in the machine so that you can hold it vertically and get the spray to go exactly where you need. Work in small passes instead of trying to add a heavy layer all at once. I did not even wash the container, I started with green, sprayed it, emptied the air-brush, added the red and tested on a piece of paper until the color came out truly red.

For the scoring I used a razor blade combined with scissors, and after 6 minutes in the oven I opened the lid quickly and scored it deeply again around the design to make sure it would lift during baking.

We all loved this bread, I think the mixture of spices gives it a super subtle extra flavor, not overpowering at all. And of course, the stencil on top is perfect for the season!

ONE YEAR AGO: Christmas Sourdough

TWO YEARS AGO: Star-Shaped Sun-dried Tomato Bread

THREE YEARS AGO: Cranberry White Chocolate Tart

FOUR YEARS AGO: I dream of Madeleines and a Tower of Cheesecakes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Dominique Ansel’s Chocolate Mousse Cake

SIX YEARS AGO: Slow-Roasted Eye of the Round Beef

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Steam-Roasted Indian-Spiced Cauliflower

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Creamy Zucchini-Mushroom Soup

NINE YEARS AGO: Ken Forkish’s Pain au Bacon

TEN YEARS AGO: Carrot and Cumin Hamburger Buns

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Potato Galettes a l’Alsacienne & Book Review

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Caramelized Carrot Soup

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Miso-Grilled Shrimp

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Pain Poilane

24Oct2023

IT’S SOURDOUGH, WITCHES!

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Once again I put a little wafer paper to work for some bewitched sourdough bread. I used just a basic recipe with my default method described many times in this blog of mine (click here). I lowered the hydration a bit to try to control the expansion of the design (for 500g total flour I used 335g water).

I was inspired by a Halloween bread from Kelsey (@3catsandapig) to come up with my design.
She is an incredibly talented bread artist.

It all starts with cutting the wafer paper in the spider web shape, and painting a little witch’s design (I used a stencil and air-brushing). Make sure to cut the wafer paper shape twice, as you will use one of them to cover the dough as you either rub cocoa powder or air-brush with black all over. Then you will peel that off and place a clean one on that spot, proceeding with the scoring around it.

After covering the surface with black, score the design with a razor blade, and then immediately spray some orange (or red) air brush color in the cuts. That will give a nice contrast, but of course you can omit this step.

Bake the bread normally, I do 30 minutes with the lid on, and 15 minutes without the lid. Allow it to cool completely before slicing.

I find that air-brushing the whole surface makes the crust a bit soft, so depending on how you like your bread, rubbing with cocoa powder or charcoal might be better. What I dislike about those options is that they rub off on your hands as you cut the bread later. But it is not a big deal, really.

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TWO YEARS AGO: Black Tahini Shortbread Cookies

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FOUR YEARS AGO: Halloween Entremet Cake

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pork with Prunes, Olives and Capers

SIX YEARS AGO: Kansas Corn Chowder

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Impossibly Cute Bacon and Egg Cups

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pulling Under Pressure

NINE YEARS AGO: Cooking Sous-vide: Two takes on Chicken Thighs

TEN YEARS AGO: Miso Soup: A Japanese Classic

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: On my desk

TWELVE YEARS AGO: A must-make veggie puree

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Vegetarian Lasagna

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Brazilian Pão de Queijo

9Oct2023

POLKA DOT LOVE SOURDOUGH

Posted in Breads by sallybr

Once again I played with wafer paper to decorate sourdough bread, but this time I coupled it with a few strings to generate a cute shape, often used to turn the bread into pumpkin shape, but I opted for a more romantic outcome… Nothing personal against pumpkins, I do love them and honored them in the past (click here).

Start by cutting wafer paper in small heart shapes…. You will need three, and three long strings that you should rub very lightly with oil to facilitate removing later.

Place the strings equally spaced over the proofed dough, flip the dough over parchment paper, and tie the strings on the top, trying to hit the center as closely as possible. Gently insert the paper, coat the surface with flour and score the bread in any design you like. I used the Sonic blade and small scissors, as I often do.

Bake as you normally do, I keep the lid for 30 minutes and remove it for a final 15 minutes, all at 450F. Remove the strings, and allow the bread to cool completely before slicing.

You can use different patterns for the small hearts, or cut plain wafer paper and paint it yourself.

It is really amazing how well the colors in the wafer paper stay pretty much unchanged with baking, much better than air-brushed or gel colors. I hope you give this technique a try and have as much fun with it as I am having…

ONE YEAR AGO: Plum Sorbet

TWO YEARS AGO: Grilled Chicken with Sesame Roasted Carrots

THREE YEARS AGO: Let’s Get Spooky!

FOUR YEARS AGO: Miso and Sesame Roast Chicken with Revelation Quinoa

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EIGHT YEARS AGO: Paleo Moussaka

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TEN YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, October 2013

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