Daring Bakers' Challenge: Beautiful Bread

Once I read about this month's baking challenge, I have to admit that I got quite giddy. The photos showing what we'd (in theory) make were gorgeous!!

This month, we were challenged to make filled bread with either a cinnamon sugar filling or a Nutella filling. Not being a Nutella fan (or that much of a hazelnut fan, to be honest) made picking between the two recipes quite simple for me! Not only were we challenged to make filled bread, but pretty filled bread (akin to the gorgeous works by Valentina Zurkan, a VERY talented bread sculptor, for lack of better term).

The recipe was easy to follow and the process wasn't at all difficult. I did forget to pinch the outer corners together, which would have made the bread even prettier. The one thing I wish I'd done differently was stick with my gut on the baking time/temp. In the pit of my core, I knew that the temp/time would be an issue, and it was. The bread was WAY overdone (see photo below). That said, when I peeled off the top layer (then quite glad I'd forgotten to pinch the outer corners together), the bread was very tasty! It was basically a non-rolled cinnamon roll... and who can complain about that??? (This also inspired me to make a batch of Peter Reinhart's Sticky Buns a day or two later.. again, who could complain??)

I'll definitely try this recipe and technique again. Great learning opportunity and I got to experiment with a new bread-making method. :)

Cinnamon Sweet Bread

Ingredients

·         1/4 cup (60 ml) warm water

·         3/4 cup (180 ml) warm milk

·         1 large egg

·         1/4 cup (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) butter, softened

·         1/4 cup (60 ml) (50 gm) (1-3/4 oz) white sugar

·         1/2 teaspoon (3 gm) salt

·         3-1/4 cups (780 ml) (450 gm) (16 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour, approximately

·         2 teaspoons (10 ml) (8 gm) dry yeast

·         1/4 teaspoon (1 gm) cardamom, optional

For topping

·         1/4 cup (60 ml) of milk

·         1 tablespoon (15 gm) (1/2 oz) sugar

Between the layers

·         1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) (1/4 cup) (60 ml) (60 gm) (2 oz) butter

·         4 tablespoons (60 ml) (25 gm) (1 oz) cinnamon

·         1/2 cup (120 ml) (100 gm) (3-1/2 oz) sugar

For drizzling

·         1 can (400 gm) (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

Directions:

1. In a bowl whisk the egg with milk, water, sugar, butter and yeast. Set aside

2. In another bowl sift the flour with the salt and the optional cardamom.

3. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and knead until you get a smooth dough. 4. Place it in a bowl you have brushed with some oil and cover it with a wet cloth and leave it in a warm place to double .

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface

6. Divide the dough into 4 parts

7. Roll each part into a circle at least 20 cm (8 inch) in diameter 

8. Brush the first layer with butter then sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon

9. Place the second layer on the first layer repeat the brushing and sprinkling and then do the same

with the third layer.

10. Top with the fourth layer, this time only brush it with butter.

11. Using a knife make cuts that divide the dough circles into 8 triangles

12. Make cuts that go 2/3 of the way in the middle of each triangle. The cuts should not reach the base

of the triangle nor the tip as you can see in the picture 

13. Take the tip of each triangle and insert it into the cut you made and pull it from the underside

14. Arrange the triangles on your baking sheet

15. Pinch the two angles at the base of the triangle together 

16. Brush the dough with milk

17. Allow to rest for 15 minutes during which you would heat your oven to very hot

500°F/240°C/gas mark 9 (rack in the middle). (Go for the hottest your oven will do).

18. Bake for 5 minutes on very hot 500°F/240°C/gas mark 9, then lower the temperature to

moderately hot 400°F/200°C/gas mark 6 and bake for 15-20 more minutes (ovens do differ greatly, so

the time may differ; what you want is to bake it until the under side is golden brown). If you have a

broiler (grill) in your oven. Turn on the broiler (grill) for a couple of minutes until the bread is golden

brown on top.

19. Take it out of the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rick and drizzle with

sweetened condensed milk while it is still warm.

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled 
breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste?

December 2013 Daring Bakers Challenge: Whoopie Pies

It felt really silly to create more baked goods immediately after completing the marathon baking session that is Christmas, but oh well! I'm not one to shirk off a challenge... especially a baking one! :)

This month, we were challenged to make homemade whoopie pies. I chose the most direct route available, aka the first recipe listed in the challenge write-up. The main reason I chose it (aside from being listed first) was because it was a King Arthur Flour recipe and they tend to be quite reliable resources. The only change I made to the recipe was the size of the cookies; the original recipe called for using 1/4 cup of batter per cookie and that seemed like A LOT to me, so I used my 2 T scoop to measure out the dough instead. Because of the smaller cookies, I also changed the baking time to 11 minutes, down from the recipe's 15 minute bake time.

My plan was to make the cookies and then take them to my brother's house so we could eat them as our families watched the UW Huskies play in the Fight Hunger Bowl. As the saying goes, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray"... twas not meant to be. Our nephew has come down with a stomach bug (hopefully not the one our kids had a few days ago!) and we were kindly uninvited to watch the game at my brother's house. (Only other parents really understand how wonderful it was of them to call and warn us ahead of time!)

Now we have more whoopie pies than 4 people can shake a stick at! I still haven't had one, but they look promising... will know how they taste in a few hours! GO DAWGS!!

Whoopie pies, captured with my new LensBaby lens!

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"

June Daring Bakers Challenge: The Life of Pie

Funny thing about going on vacation... no Internet access! Hence this month's baking challenge post is a wee bit late.

This month was THE PERFECT challenge for me: (A) it was a pie challenge and (B) it wasn't a time-consuming project, which was perfect considering how busy June has been for us. I think I set a record for how early I completed a monthly challenge; we got the challenge on the 1st and I completed it on the 2nd. We had a family get-together and I was in charge of dessert... how perfect!
I had hoped to make the chocolate caramel pie and the crack pie, but then realized that I was going to wind up making WAAAAAY more dessert than our group needed. So, I stuck with the crack pie and called it good at that. 

I had never heard of a crack pie (and our group had no shortage of crack jokes during the baking, serving, and eating processes!) but thought it sounded like a good one to try, so there you go! As it turns out, crack pie is basically a pecan pie without the pecans and with a slightly different crust. BTW, LOVED the oat-based crust of this pie. Really tasty!!

Our entire group really liked the pie and I am definitely going to add it to my binder of recipes so I can make it again!

Blog checking lines:  Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie! 

Crack Pie
Preparation time: 20 + 20 minutes
Baking time: 18 + 50 minutes
Cooling time: 1 hour + 2 hours, approx.
Chilling time: overnight

• 5 1/2 tablespoons (85 ml)(2½ oz) (70 gm) (packed) light brown sugar, divided 
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm) (1 oz) white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (210 ml) (80 gm) (2¾ oz) old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) (2½ oz) (70 gm) all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon (2/3 gm) baking powder
• 1/8 teaspoon (2/3 gm) baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
• 1/2 cup (packed) (120 ml) (100 gm) (3½ oz) light brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 ml) (8 gm) (¼ oz) dry milk powder
• 1/4 teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) (120mlk) (4 oz) (115gm) unsalted butter, melted, cooled slightly
• 6 1/2 tablespoons (100ml) heavy whipping cream
• 4 large egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Powdered sugar for dusting
  

Directions:

Oat Cookie Crust

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. Line a 13x9x2 inch/33x22x5cm metal baking pan with parchment (baking) paper. Lightly spray or butter a 9 inch/22cm diameter glass or ceramic pie dish.

2. Combine 6 tablespoons (85 gm) of the softened butter, 4 tablespoons (50 gm) of the brown sugar and the white sugar in medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Add egg and beat until pale and fluffy, about 1 minute.

4. Add oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute.

5. Dump oat mixture into prepared baking pan and press out evenly to edges of pan.

6. Bake until light golden, 18 minutes. Transfer baking pan to wire rack and cool cookie completely, about an hour.

7. Using your fingertips, crumble the cookie a into large bowl - there should be no identifiable pieces of cookie remaining. Add the remaining 3 tablespoons (45 gm) butter and 1-1/2 tablespoons (20 gm) brown sugar. Rub in with your fingertips until the mixture is moist and sticks together when pressed between your fingers.

8. Transfer cookie crust mixture to pie dish. Using your fingers, press mixture evenly onto bottom and up sides of pie dish (about 1 inch/2.5cm up the sides if your pie dish is deep). If your pie dish is shallow, place it on a baking sheet in case of overflow.

Filling

1. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4. If possible, use bottom-only heat, or the filling may brown too quickly.

2. Whisk both sugars, milk powder, and salt together in a medium bowl.

3. Add melted butter and whisk until blended.

4. Add cream, then egg yolks and vanilla and whisk until well blended.

5. Pour filling into crust.

6. Bake 30 minutes (filling may begin to bubble up). Reduce oven temperature to 325°F/160°C/gas mark 3. Continue to bake until filling is brown on top and set around edges but center still jiggles slightly, about 20 minutes longer.

7. Cool pie completely in pie dish on wire rack. Chill uncovered overnight.

8. Sift powdered sugar lightly over top of pie. Cut pie into thin wedges and serve cold.

October Daring Bakers Challenge: Mille-feuille/Napoleon

This month's Daring Bakers challenge really had me revved up from the minute I saw it. We were tasked to make napoleons ... including making our own puff pastry from scratch. Really? Puff pastry and pastry creme all layered on top of each other in one stack of heavenly goodness. Oh darn! :D

I found this challenge really straightforward and not tricky. The only difficulty I had was finding the time to do it. October proved to be a really busy month for us and mille-feuille is a two-day baking experience. Much like when making croissants, a dough (not yeast-based, unlike croissant dough) is made and rolled into a square (Day 1). Then, butter is pounded a bit and placed in the middle of the dough square. Then dough is folded in over the butter, rolled out, turned, refolded, chilled, rolled, folded, turned, etc. etc. etc. The pastry creme is also made on day 1. Both creations spend the night in the fridge to get nice and cold. The next day, the dough is rolled, folded, turned, rolled, folded, turned a few more times. Once the required rolling, folding, and, turning is complete, the dough is rolled out one more time, cut into thirds, and baked. After the dough has a chance to cool, the napoleons begin to really take shape because that's when the stacking of the pastry creme and puff pastry goodness takes place.

This recipe called for topping the napoleon with royal icing and a chocolate drizzle, but I found that to be unnecessary ... too sweet. I would have preferred an unsweetened whipping cream with raspberries instead... it needed a little tartness to the dish. Another thing I decided was to pre-cut the puff pastry before stacking the napoleons... aka make a bunch of little ones instead of making one big one; cutting got a bit messy because the knife's downward pressure made the pastry creme ooze a bit. That said, it still tasted good!

All in all, though, I was pleased with how my dessert turned out. Hurray!

Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full. Suz challenged us to not only tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

September Daring Bakers' Challenge: Empanadas

This month's baking challenge was interesting for me. I'm not quite sure why, but I never could really bring myself to getting into gear and completing the challenge. The challenge itself—empanadas—wasn't intimidating or even hard sounding, but it wasn't until tonight (aka when the blog post was due) that I got around to getting the silly thing done.

I decided to make a sweet empanada instead of a savory one; not really for any reason except that I like to make sweet things. Inspiration struck when I saw some apples from our deaf family friends, the Simons. (Back story: Our family and the Simon family have known each other FOREVER.... as in since the mid-60s, which is well before me, making it FOREVER ago.... like how I do that? Yeah, me, too!)

ANYWHO!

The Simons have a wonderful backyard apple orchard and they are kind enough to share their bounty with us each year. Most of the apples from their trees are turned into our family's applesauce supple. This year, they also became some apple/cranberry pies for our church's fall festival's pie booth. I had a few straggler apples, which sparked my theory that making an apple dessert empanada was the way to go, and I was right!

I found a recipe online and decided it was best to get into gear and make the darned thing. I had all of the ingredients on hand, which helped me decide which recipe to choose. While putting the empanada dough together, I realized that I've made a VERY similar dough in the past and it was courtesy of another very dear and longtime family friend (Mary Elzy); her dough was used to hug a mushroom concoction (sorry, the exact recipe is eluding me at the moment and I'm too tired to look for it) that was definitely in the savory department. That said, the dough similarities were striking.

The recipe recommended eating the empanadas warm, and being one who follows directions well, I did just that. They turned out to be quite a tasty treat and the absolute perfect size. I cut approximately 4-inch dough circles, which resulted in 3-4 bite empanadas. I equate them to a cake pop or cupcake ... just enough to give you a good taste, but without all of the guilt associated with a bigger dessert. :)

We were supposed to use one of the dough recipes provided by the challenge host, but I forgot that fact until right now.... WHOOPS!!! That's what I get for waiting until the 11th hour and being so tired!

Sweet Apple Empanadas

Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Filled Pate a Choux Swans

This month's Daring Bakers challenge was really tasty and fun. We were challenged to make filled pate a choux swans (please don't ask me to pronounce it ... French is definitely not one of my go-to languages!). I was initially intimidated by the thought of shaping the swan necks/heads, but was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was.

During my first attempt at making the dough for the swans, something went wrong and I wound up making a runny paste instead of a nice dough. I scrapped the gunk and tried again; this time, using Martha Stewart's recipe. I definitely had more luck with that one! I think the extra 1/4 cup of flour made all the difference.

I was a bit shocked by how easily everything came together and was thrilled with how the final products tasted. In the interest of time, I only made a few swans; the rest were more standard cream puffs.... sooo good! I even wound up bartering a dozen of them with a gal I know who offered us some of her plum harvest.Talk about a win-win!!

Swan heads, swan bodies, and general creme puff balls

A completed swan. Who knew I'd be such a fan of eating swan?!!?

Two swans "swimming" in my grandmother's china saucer

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

Daring Bakers Challenge Revealed: CROISSANTS!

I am so excited to announce this month’s Daring Bakers challenge! Croissants ala Julia Child. I have wanted to make homemade croissants for years, but was too intimidated by the idea to try. Well, the Daring Baker’s challenge made me face my croissant fears and look ‘em square in the flaky eyes.I’m officially addicted to baking croissants now. In fact, I’ve made 4-5 different batches of them this month and plan on doing more (once my knee heals!). I even ventured into making chocolate-filled croissants. There was definitely a learning curve and I had a few flops (especially when using the pre-corrected recipe that called for WAY too much flour), but also enough successes to make it worthwhile. This is not a fast process; it takes about 12 hours to make a batch of croissants, but it sure seems to pay off once you take a bite of the warm, flaky goodness.The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!