Hilo Hula with HOT Lava and more

This is what you get when I cannot sleep! I was wandering through YouTube and found a few great Hilo

Videos for you to watch. Everything from Lava, to BJ Penn and local mushrooms! Enjoy.

Wordless Wednesdays Whale and Cruise Ship

1959 The Beginning of Hawaiian Paradise Park

On this day fifty years ago, the first jet service began from Honolulu to Hilo with Aloha Airlines.

On the same date in the Tribune Herald, there was an article about the settlers of the newly sub-divided Hawaiian Paradise Park in Puna. The article read, "Eight Californians known as 'the first settlers' in the Hawaiian Paradise Park, midway between Olaa and Pahoa hope to begin construction of their 4 bedroom home soon... At present, the Californians are living in tents in the site where they will construct their home."

According to an interview with another early settler, Rick Edwards in 1978, HPP was part of a land deal between two well known and wealthy land owners from Hilo. Mr. Watumull bought the land where HPP is now located from the Shipman family. The Wataumull Building in Hilo became the Shipman Building as part of that trade. The first lots were sold for $795. By 1967, the last available lot was purchased for $1995. The rest is history.

Mr. Edwards goes on to name those first Californians, the Pipers who, in anticipation of statehood bought the lot and camped on it as they built their structure. Keep in mind this was totally off the grid and it would be a very long time before even telephone service reached HPP. That first lot was #226 in block 8. Unfortunately, Mr. Piper's dream was bigger than his abilities to build his home. The home was built without proper support and Mr. Watamull actually had to hire someone to come in and finish the house properly.

Today, I have many friends that live in HPP and love it. Lots today sell for $40,000. to over $100,000 there today, depending on location and size. But of course, they do have electricity and telephone service these days. There is no county water or sewer service as of now and cable is also not available to much of the sub division.

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.