Cranberry Raisin Bagels

It's been about 5 days since I made these guys, so I suck at updating, but still... I so love bagels...

I used the same recipe from last week (or a few posts ago). Only I substituted half of the bread flour that I normally use for all of my baking purposes, for whole wheat flour. This provides a nuttier flavor and texture.

Then, with the flour and salt, I added 3/4 cup each raisins and cranberries. Everything else about the recipe was the same as before - knead, let the dough rise, make bagels, boil, bake. After I boiled the bagels but before they went into the oven, I sprinkled oats on top - more for affect than anything.



I have to say, these bagels well exceeded my expectations. They were so much better than last weeks. I think I may have been a little more liberal in my use of water and thus my used of flour. In the end though the dough itself seemed softer. I definitely want to recreate these results in the future.



Coming up, more bagels, this time I' making jalepeno-cheddar bagels for my friend Jess, and tomato basil soup with ricotta dumplings. If I'm feeling extra awesome this weekend, I may make some peanut butter and jelly cookies.

Beer Ice Cream

Featuring the best ice cream base I think I've ever made:

Beer Ice Cream

1 cup sugar
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp cornstarch
1 1/2 cups half and half

1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp vanilla

2/3 cup dark stout (I used Founders Breakfast Stout)

For the base:

Whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and corn starch. In a medium saucepan heat the half and half until it's boiling. Temper the egg yolk mixture with the hot cream, then return the mixture to the sauce pan and stir constantly, until thick. Then strain and chill. This is the best ice cream base ever, from here you can add 1 cup of milk and vanilla and whatever flavorings you want. Once you have the custard down, everything else is just making sure the liquids measure out correctly. For this recipe I also added 1 tsp instant coffee granules to the egg sugar mixture to give it a slightly coffee flavor.

For this recipe I reduced the whole milk by 1/2 cup and replaced it with 2/3 cup beer. Originally I planned on doing a one to one replacement, but decided I wanted a slightly beer-ier flavor. More water based liquid = larger ice crystals, so be careful of doing this.

Then I let the coffee/beer ice cream mixture chill in the refrigerator until it was nice and cold and put it in my ice cream maker for about 35 minutes.



*Gorgeous*



*Delicious*

Up next... cranberry raisin wheat bagels :)

Recipe Redux

I've been terrible at posting this week. My laptop has been removed from my room to our kitchen which, one would think, would equal more posting. However, the opposite has been true.

So let's look back, shall we?

I made some banana bread using my recipe for banana muffins. However the only nut I had were some almonds. This was only moderately successful. I really do prefer muffins, but I just need to find my old banana bread recipe and make a loaf of that.

I failed miserably at a recipe of the ultimate chocolate chip cookies. This failure prompted me to purchase a hand mixer. When making those cookies by hand they only seem to work part of the time. A hand mixer is both affordable and will have multiple uses, potentially making my baking life easier.

Last night, I made a steak. I had just turned in my prospectus and had drink with the head of Rhet Comp and some other second year MA friends. I went home and fired up the range. I set a metal (not non-stick) pan on and let it get warm. Then I poured in a little oil and seared the hell out of it. Seasoning-wise I just put some salt and pepper on it. After I had seared both sides I put the steak on a pan and slid it into a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. In the mean time I poured some beef stock and red wine into the pan to make a pan jus... poured it over the steak when it came out.

I haven't eaten any kind of meat in a few weeks. Not for any reason, I just don't keep it in my diet with any kind of regularity. This steak was heaven.

Up ahead, cinnamon raisin bagels and beer ice cream.

Bagels!

My friend Rebecca definitely has domain over these, but I had to give them a try.

I mean, they're amazing and so delicious, how could I not make them on my own? Also, I've been craving carbs like woah. I try not to keep many around the house - it helps keep the weight down - but once in a while certainly can't hurt. I think, before I get crazy, I'll start with some plain bagels - no frills, no bacon maple bagels, nothing crazy at first.

Bagels, plain and tall

2 tsp active dry yeast (1 package, but the measurement is handy for future reference in case of multiplying/dividing the recipe)
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 1/2 tsp sugar

3 1/2 cups flour (plus more for dusting)
1 1/2 tsp salt

Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the 1/2 cup of the water for 5 minutes. Don't stir the mixture. After the five minutes, stir the mixture. In another large bowl combine the flour and salt, and make a well in the center. Add the water/yeast mixture and half of the remaining water (3/8 of a cup for those keeping count). Mix and add more of the water until the dough comes together. It will be a little wet but still very firm.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes on a lightly dusted surface - a countertop works great, the back of your pet cat, not so much. After you've finished kneading, place the ball of dough (which should be smooth and elastic by now) in another bowl that's been lightly coated with oil. Cover with a damp towel and place in a warm, draft-free area to rise for about one hour.

Once the hour is over, punch the dough down. Yeah, I guess that means to physically punch the dough. Let it rest for 10 minutes. Divide it into 8 equal pieces (or as close to equal as you can manage). Shape each dough into a ball. Coat your finger in flour and press it through, slowly stretching the hole until it's about a third of the diameter of the entire bagel. The holes will close up when boiling so yeah, aim for width. Place bagels on an oiled baking sheet and let rest for 10 minutes.



In the mean time preheat your oven to 425 degrees and set a large pot of water on to boil. Carefully place the bagels in the boiling water and let boil about 2 minutes per side for delicious, chewy bagels. Remove to a paper towel or piece of parchment paper as you boil the rest. Very carefully place the boiled bagels on a lightly oiled baking sheet, and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes until beautiful and golden brown.



Mmmm... part of a delicious an nutritious breakfast.



Considering my fear of doughs and kneading, I definitely think these guys were a success. In the future, I'll definitely be sure to add more water into the dough and more flour in the kneading process, and probably make sure to knead even more thoroughly, heh.

Still to come: banana bread, curry, cookies YUM!

The Great Ice Cream Experiment: Part One

Sure, bacon improves most things, but ice cream?! I've been wanting to make maple bacon ice cream for some time now. Call it an obsession, but it's been in the back of my head for nearly a year. Something about the saltiness of the bacon and the sweetness of the maple syrup just creates an irresistible combination. Why wouldn't this work in ice cream form? I mean, after all what is ice cream but cream and eggs + bacon and maple syrup? It sounds like the makings of a delicious breakfast, certainly.

What seemed to work the best was pan frying the bacon until almost crisp. Then, I removed all of the fat (because something tells me that chunks of fat in ice cream would not be good eats), and chopped about 4 strips of bacon as fine as I could - basically I made bacon bits. Then, I put the bacon in a small pot to warm through and crisp up, and I poured roughly 1/3 cup maple syrup over it. This boiled almost instantly and reduced making a candy-like sticky bacon-maple syrup. I whisked this into the custard, placed it in my ice cream mixer and BAM bacon-maple ice cream.

It's definitely not traditional, but again it plays on the salty-sweet food pairing, like salted caramel.

Maple Ice Cream Base

1 cup maple syrup
6 egg yolks
1 tbsp cornstarch

Whisk this together until thick and well combined.

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Bring the cream to a boil in a sauce pan. Temper the eggs mixture by slowly whisking in about 1/3 of the hot cream. Once the egg mixture is warmed, add it back to the remaining cream in the sauce pan. Heat over medium low heat, stirring constantly until hot and thickened. It should coat the back of a spoon. The heating process took roughly 12-15 minutes. Don't let the mixture boil. Strain into a chilled bowl and stir to cool the mixture.

Whisk in the whole milk and the vanilla. Whisk in the bacon mixture mentioned above the recipe (ya know, if you want to go there). Chill thoroughly then freeze in your ice cream machine.



In the very near future: Curry. Bagels. Banana Bread. Cookies. Beer Ice Cream. It's going to be a fun weekend and start to the week.

Keeping it cheap and easy...

So I decided to mesh cheap and easy with ridculous and delicious this week. On the cheap and easy side is Lentil Soup from a previous blog post. It's affordable and good for warming the cockles of your heart. Not to mention it's high in fiber and protein - yay.

I started with the same Lentil Soup recipe that I used last winter.

I did make a few changes: I'm using these beautiful homegrown leeks in the recipe, melted, in place of onions.



I decided to use a 28oz can of crushed tomatoes, as well, in lieu of diced tomatoes. Since I don't have an immersion blender, this version was not pureed smooth (a factor that made me want to use the crushed tomatoes).

Also, due to my lack of an immersion blender, this recipe is not pureed, but it is a nice, chunky vegetable soup, and it's hearty and warming to boot.



Oh yes, and the "ridiculous and delicious" portion... that is to come but, be prepared... I'm thinking it's maple and bacon ice cream time.

...like warm apple pie

Similar to my fear of scones, my fear of pies stems from the pastry. I've made quiche before with moderate success, but I can never seem to get the crust right 100% of the time. For that reason, and the fact that a pie or quiche can basically be ruined if the crust isn't good, I've stayed away from pies. But the time has come that I must confront my pastry fears head on. Enter Gesine Bullock-Prado's book Confections of a Closet Master Baker.



Not only do I have to read this book for the purpose of writing a book review in class, but I also thought it would be a good idea to try out some of the recipes. The previous scones, for example, were a take on a scone recipe from her book. So far I've had success, and I figured, if I want to make a pie from scratch, without first starting with the universe thankyouverymuchCarlSagan, I may as well start with what seemed like a full-proof recipe. And, hey, the less time I spend researching various recipes and creating a hybrid of my own, the more time I have to actually spend with the confections, right?

I should note that I quoted basically her entire recipe, interjecting pictures and captions of my own. Somewhere, right now as I post this, at least three MLA scholars are dying, but it made the most sense to me to present the information in the author's own, if not unauthorized, words, rather than my paraphrasing.

Apple Pie a la Confections of a Closet Master Baker

For quick puff pastry
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 pounds (5 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 tsp lemon juice stirred into 3/4 cup cold water

For the filling
8 Granny Smith apples
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split
1/4 cup heavy cream

1 large egg
sanding sugar

For the puff pastry
"Place the flour in a large bowl. Cut the butter into 1-inch pieces. Add to the flour and incorporate with your hands, pinching and massaging the butter into the flour, making sure to leave discernible chunks of butter intact. You don't want to incorporate the butter so well that it is starts [sic] to look like cornmeal. Chunks of butter are good.

Dissolve the salt in the water. Add to the flour and butter and mix gently with your hands until dough comes together slightly.

Shape the dough into a rough square and let it rest for 10 minutes."


This is my giant mass of dough... it's just begging to get molded into a miniature sculpture of Mr. Belvedere... I don't know why...

"On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Give the dough three single turns, followed by one double turn. If the dough feels rubbery after you have completed a few turns, let it rest a few minutes before you continue. Cover and refrigerate. Your dough block should be approximately 12/6 inches.

For the filling
Peel and slice the apples. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Combine the sugars, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in a large bowl, add the apples, and toss to coat. In a sturdy pot large enough to hold the apples, melt the butter with the vanilla and cream. Add the apples and cook until the fruit is soft and the mixture thickens. Remove the vanilla bean."

The before shot...


And the after shot... so gooey and so delicious


To assemble the pie
"Once your quick puff is nice and cool, take a sharp knife and cut in half. Take a look at the dough where you've sliced through. You should see layers of dough and butter. Some larger chunks of butter will be peeking through. This is a wonderful thing. When you roll, you want to press down on these layers. You don't want to lay the cut side down; make sure the layers are parallel to the rolling table and you are pressing the layers down into each other, maintaining the layer structure and ensuring maximum puff and flakiness. Roll each piece into a 10-inch circle. Transfer the first circle to a pie plate and crimp the edges. Freeze for at least 1/2 hour. Wrap the second 10-inch round in plastic and refrigerate until you are ready to assemble the pie.
When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Take the frozen pie shell from the freezer and with a fork, stab the bottom of the shell a few times. Line the shell with foil or parchment and fill it with dry beans or rice as a weight. Bake until the edges are slightly golden and the bottom of the shell no longer looks wet and raw, about 15 minutes. This is called blind baking and ensures that the bottom pastry won't be soggy."


Clearly, this is one of my first pie crusts... and with the exception of quiche, it really is

"Beat the egg with 1 tablespoon water to make an egg wash.

Remove the foil and the rice or beans and transfer the filling to the shell. Place your second dough circle on top of the apples. Brush the top of the dough with the egg wash and sprinkle with sanding sugar*"


*The one thing I changed in this recipe - I didn't have sanding sugar, so I used raw sugar

"Bake at 350 degrees F until the top crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes."


I have to admit, I'm incredibly happy with this, visually... it's nice and golden and perfectly imperfect.


A PIE SERVER! My kingdom for a pie server!... and a cup of hot, strong coffee with just a wee bit of sugar and milk... mmm

All in all, I would definitely consider this a successful recipe and a great pie to start with for beginners. I will say the crust takes some getting used to and is a bit challenging. I think, for my purposes, this recipe will go through some modifications for when i make it again. Not out of any particular necessity, but I'd really love to try some brown butter in the filling and try half of the crust recipe, since half seemed to make more than enough for a bottom crust and decorations or lattice work on the top...

Chili goodness

It's that time of year again - time for some delicious chili. With my new found love of tempeh, I've decided to start by marinating a pound of tempeh that I broke up in 1 1/2 chipotle chilis, 2 serrano peppers, 1 jalepeno, 2 cherry peppers and 4 cloves of garlic. I tossed in about 1 tsp of salt as well. This has basically sat for a day and, I can tell you, is spicy and delicious.



I'm a fan of heat, but not crazy, burn the hell out of my mouth heat. I like the flavor that accompanies it as well. So typically, I use a lot of chili peppers, but stay away from scotch bonnets and crazy fire like that.

Once the tempeh has sat for about a day or two, really the longer the better, it's ready to go.

2 tbsp oil
2 medium purple onions, chopped
2 bell peppers, the color is up to you, chopped
1 pablano pepper, chopped

tempeh mixture

1 dark beer (I think Rogue's Shakespeare Stout is perhaps my favorite chili beer, but since I couldn't find any, I'm using the Edmund Fitzgerald Porter made by the Great Lakes Brewing Co.)

1 can crushed tomatoes (strangely, italian style works really well as the subtle sweetness pairs well and cools down any excess heat brought on from the peppers.

2 cans of beans, mashed (I use cannelini beans as a default)

Chicken broth for extra liquid (about 1 1/2 - 2 cups worth).
1/2 - 1 tsp cumin, to taste
Salt and pepper

Start by heating some oil in a large pan. Add 2 medium or 1 1/2 large onions to the oil and saute until transluscent and beginning to brown. Next, add the bell and pablano peppers. Once those guys have started to soften, add the tempeh mixture and increase the heat to medium high in order to begin browning everything in the pot. Brown food is good food. Add salt and pepper at this stage, but don't go crazy... you can always add more later.

After about 10-15 minutes, add the beer, scraping up delicious brown bits along the way. Next add the tomatoes, broth, and finally the mashed beans. Bring this to a boil over medium high heat, then cover and reduce to low for 45 minutes to an hour.

Once the time is up, check the chili, add salt and pepper to taste. If it's a little too thin, cook uncovered for about 20 minutes longer. Cool, cover with cheese and crumbled tortilla chips and enjoy. This would also be delicious over a baked potato... omg drool...

Sconed to Death

I've had traumatic experiences with biscuits and scones.

What can I say? I'm a super efficient kneader and, before I know it, I've got hard little rocks instead of moist, delicious scones. But I decided, since it's literally been years since I last attempted either of the confections, that I need to get over my fear and try out some scones. Also, I've been missing bread and bread-y things lately - to the extent that I woofed down a whole pizza for lunch. I'll chalk that up to a "metabolism booster" and run it off later or tomorrow hehe :P

Either way you can't combine 'classy' and 'morning pastry' without getting a scone. These delicious, moist little guys were a basic cream scone recipe with slightly more sugar, zest and cranberries. Who doesn't love dried cranberries?

Cranberry Orange Scones

1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 cup water

1/2 cup heavy cream, plus additional for sprinkling
1 large egg
1 tbsp orange zest
1/4 cup sugar, plus additional for sprinkling

6 tbsp butter, chilled and cut into tiny bits
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder

Warm the water in the microwave and pour over the cranberries to rehydrate them. Let them set for 15 minutes, but the longer the better.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Whisk the cream, egg, orange zest, and sugar together in a small bowl until well combined.

In another bowl, stir together the bread flour, salt, and baking powder. Blend in the butter with your finger tips or a pastry blender just until the mixture resembles coarse meal.

Stir the cranberries and the cream mixture into the flour mixture until it forms a sticky, but hopefully manageable, dough.

Knead the dough gently for, like, 30 seconds. Don't knead to much or this shit will get tough. Pat the dough into a 1/2 inch thick circle. Cut dough with a round biscuit cutter (although you could always freehand triangles with a knife - don't go crazy and buy special stuff for this). Gather the scraps and gently, super gently reform into a round and cut out the rest of the scones. Using a 1 1/2 inch round biscuit cutter, I got about 8 out.

Place the scones on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. Brush with a little extra cream and sprinkle with sugar. Bake the scones for about 15 - 18 minutes or until golden and delicious.

These guys are awesome and not terribly sweet. :)


I feel like this recipe could easily be altered for use with blueberries or most any fruit

Mini-update

Sadly, the town of Athens, Ohio does not have anything like a CSA. I don't really even know what a CSA is - it seems to be something that you pay money into and each month you get fresh vegetables. It definitely sounds like a good investment to me.

However, what Athens does have is a colleague of mine, Kate Nuernberger and what Kate has is chickens. About 8 of them. And they lay rainbow colored eggs. And they're delicious. Two dollars a dozen. How can you beat that?!


Effing picture... I need some adobe software like woah

Also in this update - whatever happened to those Nocino walnuts? Well those little guys are good for lots of things. After the Nocino is bottled, I put some sweet marsala wine over the walnuts and made this delicious fruity, cinnamon-y, walnut-y, apperetif. It's also perfect for this weather. Let it sit for a month, and you're good to go. I'm ready to bottle this and enjoy it nearly every chance I get.



Even after this, I've heard of the walnuts being removed from their shells and used in homemade spumanti. I don't think I'll go quite that far, but the apperetif allows you to enjoy some delicious walnut-y booze right now. What's not to love?