Casatiello

This week our Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge was for the luscious Casatiello. While mine lacked perfection because for some reason it developed a big air bubble in the center, it was certainly one of the best tasting breads we have done this far and after slicing, the bread looked great. I did make a really big loaf, and on reflection, I should have made two smaller loaves.

This Italian version of Brioche, loaded with butter and eggs, though not quite to the extent of the Rich Man's Brioche. Cheeses and meats are added to the dough to make a rich and satisfying bread.

While salami is the suggested meat, I used pepperoni. I also used smoked gouda, caramelized onions and porcini mushrooms. From the minute the bread came out of the oven the aroma permeated the house and tempted us to cut into the loaf before the suggested 1 hour waiting period. I succumbed after 45 minutes. Wes proclaimed it "the best ever", which if you will remember he also did with the bagel dogs. Wes' brother who is here visiting us for two weeks also loved the bread. I thought it was delicious and looked lovely too, studded with the meat and cheeses amongst the buttery bread.

The dough starts with a sponge:

Ready to bake:

When this bread is served warm, the cheese oozes forth and when it is served at room temperature it is almost like eating a sandwich. My decision to include the porcini and onions made the bread even more flavorful, with complex flavors going on in all directions.

Wordless Wednesdays Double Rainbow

Brioche (BBA Challenge)

"Let them eat brioche!", Marie Antoinette (her last words correctly translated)

Another winner... Brioche!

This week's bread for the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge was Brioche. A rich bread baked in a variety of ways, using eggs and butter to achieve the delicious flavor and beautiful color. In The BBA, we were given a choice of three formulas to make Brioche: Rich Man's Brioche with 5 large eggs and an entire pound of butter, Middle Class Brioche with 5 eggs and 1/2 a pound of butter or Poor Man's Brioche, containing 4 large eggs and 1/4 pound of butter. Most of the formulas I have used for Brioche in the past have had more eggs and less butter than the Rich Man's or Middle Class Versions that Mr. Reinhart's formulas. The theme of my kitchen is "Indulge", I even have that word hanging over a dining room window. And so, of course, my first BBA Brioche choice was The Rich Man's Version using 80% butter to 100% flour ratio, about the same as pie crust, this is crumbly not flaky. Next, I decided to make one loaf with a filling of deep dark chocolate ganache and then to make some mini Brioches a Tete using the famous fluted French Pans. Lastly I opted for some hamburger buns, something I often make from brioche dough as it is not only great in flavor, it holds up to a juicy burger in a way that regular buns just don't.

The recipe starts with a sponge and for the Rich Man's version, that sponge of flour, yeast and whole milk (I did not have any, so I used half and half) rests for just about 20 minutes. I did notice that in other versions he suggests a resting time of 30-45 minutes.

Then the dough is made by adding eggs (I get the most beautiful eggs from my friend Liz, a story yet to come) to the sponge until smooth. From there the dry ingredients are mixed and then blended into the egg & sponge mixture.

Because this dough uses so much butter, it requires far less liquid than most formulas for Brioche that I have used. After all is mixed well, it is time for a rest so that the gluten in the flour has a chance to develop. Then, slowly, stick by stick, the butter is incorporated into the dough. This is a bit challenging and takes some patience and a few "scrape downs" with a spatula. I never switched to the dough hook as I usually do because this dough is quite different, very smooth and soft.

Reinhart then suggests that you form a 6 X 8" rectangle of dough and place it on greased parchment paper on a sheet pan and after covering with plastic, placing it in the refrigerator over night. He obviously has never seen my refrigerator. Getting a sheet pan in there would take some massive excavating skills. I used Big Blue (my bread bowl) instead.

This chilling process is extremely important, especially when using so much butter, it is the only way to make this dough firm enough to handle, but there are other reasons for the slow rise.

The Ganache Loaf was rolled gently into a rectangle and then a simple ganache made of 70% cacao that I made myself at Tom Sharkey's Cacao Plantation a few miles North of my house was spread on the rectangle, then the rectangle was rolled up and placed into a loaf pan. This was a sublimely delicious way to use the Brioche Dough and I took it to a Slow Food Hawaii function this weekend where it was gobbled up.

The ganache loaf with a topping of ganache and raw sugar granules. The ganache is not a sweet chocolate, it is a rich dark chocolate, so the sugar granules added a touch of sweetness.

And here are the mini tete, which were both delicate and delicious!

Here is an example of the crumb in the mini tete brioche:

I would love to encourage you to try a Brioche from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. I think that the Middle Class Brioche is probably a good one to start with. The butter ratio in the Rich Man's version is really something that is challenging to shape and the formulas with the lesser amounts of butter are really satisfying for most applications. That is surely what I would suggest for the hamburger buns. My Rich Man's Hamburger buns sort of melted more than rising as they usually do in formulas with less butter. There is always a learning curve and trying new formulas makes it especially challenging and fun.

One thing I learned in Texas

This post is going to be short and sweet. Texas meets the Big Island. 

I lived in Texas for five years. I left Fort Worth 29 years ago. I remember a few good things, one being Pimento Cheese. There is also really great Chicken Fried Steak, Brisket cooked long and slow, Weatherford Peaches and fresh shelled Cream Peas, the later two coming from the Weatherford Farmer's Market. Every summer, I remember those glorious peaches and peas, no matter how far I am from them. And then there are days like today that I think about the Pimento Cheese that Gloria Copeland's momma, Mary taught me to make. It is absurdly simple as far as recipes go, but it is also complex in layered flavors and Southern Style. They eat it on white bread sandwiches, but I make grilled cheese sandwiches on sprouted wheat with it, use it as a dip and today I put it on home made bagels and put it under the broiler. Hot Damn... it is as good as ever. 

This simple concoction is not really a recipe, but you have to taste it to be sure that the right amounts of each ingredient are included. I take "about" 2 cups of grated sharp cheddar, 1 cup of mayonnaise (they use Best Foods, I use my own), 1 cup of chopped and drained pimentos, 1/2 cup chopped pickled jalapenos (my addition to the recipe), 2-3 grated dill pickles and some black pepper. It is that easy. It should then be chilled for at least 2 hours if you can stand the wait. 

Wordless Wednesdays: This Morning's Sunrise

Island Bagels

Typical day in Paradise...a cruise ship passes by the bagels

This week's Bread Bakers Apprentice challenge was to make bagels. The recipe was different in a few ways from previous bagel recipes I have made. Peter has developed a recipe including a sponge, a wet mixture of flour, yeast and water that is the base for the eventual dough. I used my new bread whisk to stir up the sponge and it worked great.

This sponge is allowed to rest, giving a richer flavor. Then additional flour, water and yeast are added to the sponge. I used my Kitchen Aid to do the dough and to knead the dough.

Thirdly, he suggests putting the shaped bagels into the refrigerator over night to retard the rise and add further flavor and chew. His recipe suggests balls of dough that are 4.5 ounces, but I made mine 4 ounces, as well as some mini bagels that were 2 ounces.

Tis is a water bagel, which has a chewy texture and great flavor achieved by retarding the proofing process over night in a refrigerator. In my first batch, I think I may have had a little too much yeast, as I used my sourdough starter for the sponge (longer proofed starter than just adding straight yeast) and then added the fresh yeast called for in the dough.

Another thing I did that varied from Peter's suggestion is that I baked my bagels directly on my hearth stone insert in my oven, instead of on pans. Except for breads that have to be baked in a form, I bake all of my bread this way. This means that I had to put them on a peel coated with cornmeal or semolina before baking. Here they are baking:

They were very puffy, but ever so delicious. The next batch I made came out more like I like my bagels, but it was done with just fresh yeast and no retardation. Having said that, I prefer Montreal style bagels, which are more pretzel like in texture, instead of the more puffy and bread like commercial bagels.

We took some of the first batch over to our friends Joey and Bonnie's for brunch. We enjoyed them along with Bonnie's Waffles, fresh fruit, Bloody Marys and Champagne while watching the incredibly blue sea from their lanai.

I also had some extra dough when I made the second batch... and a hungry husband. So I made a few "Bagel Dogs" and they came out great. He loved them and proclaimed them the best thing I have ever made. He is extremely enthusiastic sometimes. The good thing here and now is the best thing. Wes is famous for proclaiming, "That was the best dinner I have ever eaten in a private residence." I must have heard that at least 50 times. He is also a big hot dog fan, so that may have had something to do with his proclamation, but he has been eating a lot of my bread baking samples lately and I do think he liked the bagel dogs best of the BBA challenge recipes so far.  He has been having a bagel with creamed cheese every morning since the first batch came out on Sunday. Here is a close up of the bagel dogs:

Toppings are added to the bagels when they come out of the boiling water. I sweetened my water with malt syrup. Here they are in their bath:

I made a variety of toppings and all were delicious. I still think I like sesame best. Wes likes the onion. For the onion topping you can reconstitute dried onions and the same goes with garlic, or you can lightly sauté fresh onions or garlic with olive oil for a few minutes as I did and achieve a fresher flavor. I also used my smoked salt, poppy seeds, sesame seeds and a red Hawai'ian Salt mixture that has some garlic and herbs in it. I even added just a bit of cornmeal to a few of them. With the seeded varieties, I added a tiny bit of my smoked salt to the top.

Here is a bagel "just formed":

I still think I need to work on perfecting this particular recipe. If I use yeast as Mr. Reinhardt suggests instead of the sourdough starter, I can be more exact. The taste was incredible, but they were not as "pretty" as I wanted them to be. They should make great bagel chips and sandwiches! Of course if Wes has his way I will be making more bagel dogs.  I think I will try making small appetizer size bagel dogs someday soon.

This week we are doing Brioche, one of my favorite breads. It is a rich egg and butter bread with a glossy crust that also is incredible in French toast and sandwiches. Till then, Aloha.