Pain Francais (French Bread) February 29, 2008

I am proud to say my first Daring Baker’s Challenge was a success! 

First of all, to explain to those who don’t know who the Daring Bakers are.  The Daring Bakers are a group of people who help each other to broaden their baking skills through monthly challenges. This is not a contest and there are no prizes for best of anything, just dedicated bakers testing their mettle, learning new techniques, and sharing what they’ve learned through their personal blogs.   (Read more at:  http://www.andreameyers.com/2007/10/25/profile-of-a-learning-community-the-daring-bakers/)

Back to the challenge, this month was French Bread.  Not any old plain jane French Bread, but Julia Child’s 15 page French Bread.  When I saw the long lengthy recipe and read that it was going to take me 7-9 hours to complete this challenge, I was asking myself why I joined this group.  Of course this recipe does not take 7-9 hours of actual work,  there is quite a bit of down time.  So one Saturday, off I went to give this thing a try, and it turned out great!  For those who have eaten at Connie’s Pizza in Chicago, this bread turned out tasting exactly like what they serve, possibly even better, so it was definitly worth the time. 

You can find the complete recipe on the blog of one of this month’s hosts Breadchick Mary.  Sara from I Like to Cook was the other host.  You can watch a video on how to make the bread here.  I suggest, if you attempt making this recipe to read it through at least twice and watch the video.  Also, for the rising, I used a heating pad to get the temp to 70 degrees so it wouldn’t take forever to rise, which looked ridiculous but worked great!

Pain Francais (French Bread)

(Recipe by Julie Child)

Step 1:  The Dough Mixture 

Ingredients:

1 pkg dry active yeast

1/3 cup warm water, not over 100 degrees

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups tepid water at 70-74 degrees

Step 2:  Kneading

    

Step 3:  First Rising (3 1/2 - 5 hours at around 70 degrees)

    

Step 4:  Deflating and Second Rise(1 1/2 - 2 hours at around 70 degrees)

    

Step 5:  Cutting and resting dough before forming loaves

 Step 6 Forming the loaves

 

 Step 7:  Final Rise (1 1/2 - 2 1/2 hours at around 70 degrees)

 Step 8:  Unmolding risen dough onto baking sheet

 Step 9:  Slashing top of the dough

 Step 10:  Baking - about 25 minutes; oven preheated to 450 degrees

Step 11:  Cooling (2 - 3 hours)

 

Step 12:  EATING!!!  (Finally)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I Challenge YOU to give it a try! :)

Lisa’s B 52 Chocolate Shots February 23, 2008

I don’t think I need to introduce these too much.  I changed the original recipe a little by not adding the orange zest.  The cordial cups were a bit tricky to make, but it was fun trying it out.

Lisa’s B 52 Chocolate Shots

(Recipe from:  Lisa Patrin, www.foodnetwork.com)

1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

6 oz chopped Semisweet Chocolate

1/3 Cup Bailey’s Irish Cream

18 Cordial Cups (you can either buy or make these.  I made them and followed these directions.)

Bring the heavy whipping cream just to a boil in a small saucepan, remove from the heat.  Whisk in the semisweet chocolate until smooth.  Whisk in the liqueur.  Place in a medium size bowl and refrigerate for about 45 to 50 minutes until chilled but not firm.  Using an electric mixer, beat ganache until thick and semi-firm (cover mixer with towel when doing this to prevent a splatter fest).  Fit a pastry bag with a size 6 round tip and fill with ganache.  Pipe ganache into chocolate cordial cups, fill almost to the top.  Serve immediately or place in the refrigerator in a covered container until ready to serve.

Happy Birthday Dad! February 18, 2008

I was put in charge of the cake for my dad’s birthday, which was Sunday.  I know he loves his Ice Cream Malt Shakes, so I decided to make a Malt Cake.  The malt flavor didn’t come out as much as I would have liked it to, but it was still good!  Very moist even with using the Weight Watcher’s Diet Coke cake recipe.  I used the icing recipe that Paula Deen used on her Chocolate Malt Cake, which is a very rich icing, almost too much for my taste. 

The whole family enjoyed this cake, even my little but bigger brother (yes, I’ll admit, he is now at least 3 or 4 inches taller than me,  but I’m still stronger!) with his two heaping scoops of chocolate ice cream on the side. 

Chocolate Malt Cake

1 Chocolate Duncan Hines Cake Mix

1 Can Diet Coke

1 Egg White

Handfull of Malted Milk Powder

Mix all ingredients together and bake in 8-9 inch prepared round pan for about 30-50 minutes.  (I use Wilton’s bake-even bake strips so the cake is evenly baked without the edges getting done before the middle, I love ‘em, but the cake takes longer in the oven.)

Frosting (I made half this recipe which was plenty!)

(Recipe from:  Paula Deen’s Holiday Magazine)

1 Cup Butter, softened

1/2 Cup Cocoa

3/4 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream

1/2 Cup Malted Milk Powder

5 Cups Powdered Sugar

Malted Milk Balls/Whoppers

In a large bowl, beat butter and cocoa powder at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.

In a small bowl, combine cream and malted milk powder, stirring to dissolve.  Add cream mixture to butter mixture, beating at low speed to combine.  Gradually beat in powdered sugar until spreadable.

Putting it all together:  Cut cake in half horizontally and spread part of the frosting on the bottom half.  Sprinkle chopped Malt Balls over frosting.  Place top layer on top of chopped Malt Balls and continue frosting the rest of the cake.  Decorate as desired.

Coconut Cream Pie February 16, 2008

This is another recipe I got from my mother-in-law.  This is one of those recipes I can see Sandra Lee making on her Semi-Homemade show.  It’s simple and quick.

Instead of using a pre-made pie crust, I made an Animal Cracker Cookie crust.  I was very happy how the crust turned out as well as the pie! 

 Coconut Cream Pie

2 Pkgs (6 serving size) Instant Vanilla Pudding

2 Cups Milk

1 Cup Coconut

2 Pkgs Dream Whip (prepared separately according to directions on box) or Cool Whip (8 oz)

Beat the pudding powder with the milk until well blended, about 5 minutes.  Add 1 Cup Coconut and fold in 1 Pkg prepared Dream Whip.  Pour into baked pie shell and top with the other prepared Dream Whip or Cool Whip.  Sprinkle additional toasted coconut over topping.

Animal Cracker Cookie Crust

1 1/4 Cups crushed Animal Crackers

6 Tbsp melted Butter

Mix cookie crumbs and butter together.  Put in pie plate and press down to cover bottom and sides.  Cook at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Payday Bars February 13, 2008

These bars are my husband’s ultimate favorite.  I don’t make them on a regular occasion since I don’t think he would enjoy them as much if he saw them sitting on the counter week after week.  These bars are similar to the Payday candy bar without the chocolate.  I’ve always thought about drizzling chocolate over the top but never actually have, probably because I’d end up eating more of them since I’m a chocolate lover which would leave my husband with less.  I got this recipe from my mother-in-law who passed it down to me when Justin and I got married.  I love seeing his reaction when he comes home and sees these bars sitting on the counter waiting for him to eat them up.  It’s priceless!

Payday Bars

1 cup Sugar

1 cup white Karo Syrup

1 cup Peanut Butter

1 tsp Vanilla

6 cups Rise Chex

1 cup Spanish Nuts

Heat sugar & Karo syrup together.  Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in Peanut Butter and Vanilla.  Pour over Rice Chex and Nuts.  Mix together in 9×13 pan lined with tin foil and cut while still warm.

Almond Bar Cookies February 12, 2008

I had some almond paste leftover from making Banket around Christmas time so I went on a recipe search to find another recipe that asks for almond paste.  I found this recipe on Epicurious.com.  The reviews turned me down a little bit saying how greasy and rich these bars were.  One of the reviews changed the recipe to make them healthier by using milk instead of butter, whole-wheat flour and a little less sugar.  I’m always up for making my recipes healthier so that’s exactly what I did. 

I really liked how these turned out.  They have a nice almond flavor and are very light.  I realized after making them that the original recipe below is probably what my mom uses to make her Almond Bars that everyone raves over, which I agree, they are delicious.  I think it all depends on what you are making them for.  If you are bringing them somewhere to share with a group of people, the original recipe is great.  If they were just for the family and something to grab when you need something sweet, I’d choose the “lighter” recipe.   

Here is the original Almond Bar Cookie recipe, my changes are in paranthesis.

Almond Bar Cookies

(recipe by epicurious.com)

1/2 cup packed almond paste, coarsely crumbled
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar (3-4 Tbsp less than this)
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (8 oz skim milk)
1 large egg, separated
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (1 cup whole-wheat flour, 1/4 cup all-purpose)
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Pulse almond paste in a food processor until broken up into small bits, then add salt and 1/4 cup sugar and continue to pulse until finely ground, about 1 minute.

Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan, then line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 opposite sides, and butter foil.

Beat together butter and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes in a stand mixer (preferably fitted with a paddle attachment) or 6 minutes with a handheld. Add almond mixture, egg yolk, and almond extract and beat until combined well, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to low, then add flour and mix until combined. Spread batter evenly in pan with an offset spatula. Lightly beat egg white in a small bowl, then brush some of it over batter and sprinkle evenly with almonds.

Bake until top is golden, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 hour. Transfer with foil to a cutting board, then discard foil. Cut into squares or rounds.