6 Years In The Making

I love to cook and bake and have plenty of time to do it. The one thing I can't do well at all is bread. And I don't mean the fluffy white stuff in loaf pans. Sitting on my kitchen counter right now is the most perfect loaf of bread I have ever baked. It's not perfect, but compated to my past attempts, it is. I've always wanted to emulate the crusty, spongy loaves I can only find in European bakeries, but mine always come out dry and crumby. You know when you cut a piece of bread and there are so many crumbs falling the cutting board can't even contain them. I had tried and failed too many times, so I figured I'd leave it to the professionals. Target and even Walmart carry artisan bread, but I had to boycott it once they started selling it in crust-sogging plastic (instead of paper) bags. Now my closest supplier for the once-in-a-while treat is Kneaders. If we want it more often than that it could get expensive. And we all know how I react to that. I wasn't quite ready to try my hand at it again until I started looking at the long ingredient list of the fluffy bread sold at regular grocery stores. Since I'm trying to keep processed foods out of our most eaten foods, I decided to try one more time.

Setting out to make ciabatta from this book, I had already done some homework and gave it my best. Unbleached flour, distilled water (so chemicals in tap water couldn't be blamed for my bad bread), sea salt, and yeast from a fresh supply went into the dough that my Leilani's baker extraordinaire husband, Ben, advised me should be more on the wet side and rise longer than I usually allow. The recipe was a snap. The dough came together perfectly in the mixer (usually I have too much flour), rose only once and went in the oven. Maybe 10 minutes of hands on time. Because it only rises once and you have to have delicate hands to deflate it as little as possible when forming the loaf, mine turned out much more dense than ciabatta's supposed to be, but more like the spongy bread I was after in the first place. It better not be a fluke. Now I can allow myself to buy that breadbox at Ikea. Maybe some day I will be as skilled as Ben who grew and keeps his own sourdough starter in the fridge. I hope having good homemade bread around doesn't offset the money saved by needing imported cheeses to go along with it.

Birthday Cakes

Birthday season is approaching. In the next month we have Brian, Eli, Brian's mom, my three siblings and my nephew. I have much planning, especially since I'm trying to do homemade gifts. I made my sisters' yesterday, actually, but I can't spill the beans.
And now onto the planning of cakes. Poor Brian will be getting the same flourless, chocolate-mousse-filled, ganache-covered cake as last year. If you want something so decadent you can only eat 5 bites, this is it. Luckily Brian's dad will be here to help us take care of it.
For Eli's birthday we will be in Oregon with Brian's parents and so, as with most things, I was wanting to keep his cake simple. Probably cupcakes again, with rectangle candies and chocolate chips forming a little train on each one, like unto the cover of this book to the right, classic and minimal. I like it.
In my cupcake research I happened upon a blog just about the mini-confections with all kinds of unique ideas and recipes. And this website will give you endless ideas of theme cakes, from easy (Pac Man,for your retro gamer made of a round cake with 1/4 cut out for his mouth which is chasing yellow dots on the pan) to extravagant (Sushi platter for your foodie with fishes made of fondant). I came across so many amazing cakes made by regular people on that website I must do some matching of some folks with their ideal cake:

Kim- Brian's Sister

The Taco

Brian
Sushi

Eli
Thomas The Train (the mountain is the cake)

Leilani (friend)
Mac & Cheese (from our starving student days)

Anna (friend)
Spring Shower Almond Petits Fours by Martha (for a decadent bite of the picturesque)

Everyone can tell me if I'm wrong about their cakes. And now I must request that everyone goes here to check out the amazing birthday cakes by Martha's people. I'm inspired now. One cake at a time, Helena.

Clafouti- Perfect Summertime Dessert

Don't ask me how to pronounce it, but it's easy and quick to make, healthy, and delicioso. With some apricots getting wrinkly in the fruit bowl, I had to do something. I whipped out the Williams Sonoma baking cookbook and found this recipe, Apricot Clafoutis. It's basically a tart without the pastry; fruit and custard are baked in single serving ramekins or a 10 inch tart pan. I threw in some aging cherries to use them up and add some color. Apricots can often be dry, but when baked they are perfectly juicy and a little bit tart. I added a couple tablespoons of sugar and a couple of dashes of cinnamon to the fruit before placing in baking cups. The recipe makes a bit too much custard for only 4 servings, so I double the fruit and use all 8 of my ramekins. (I'll double the fruit below)

2 Pounds fruit seeded and cut into chunky bites(apricot, cherries, plums, or pears)
2Eggs
3/4 C. Milk
6 T. Sugar
1 t. Lemon Zest
1 t. Vanilla
1 Pinch Salt
1/3 C. Flour
Powdered Sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 350, butter ramekins, and place them on cookie sheet. Drop in prepared fruit. In blender combine eggs, milk, sugar, lemon zest, vanilla, salt, and flour. Pour over fruit, dividing evenly among dishes. Bake 25-35 minutes until bubbling and tops are browned. Cool on wire rack and you can sprinkle with powdered sugar once cool.

Simple, huh? It's a painless do-ahead dessert and anything served a ramekin is classy, not to mention it's French. I'm just glad I have a figure-friendly dessert to give to friends that I know are trying to eat healthily. Maybe I should, but I sure don't feel guilty after a buttery tart and some ice cream.

Martha has some great seasonal fruit recipes (including Cherry Clafouti), although they are more complicated and extravagant, as usual.

Quick and Easy Desserts

I've come across a few recipes that make dessert easy and fast.
PIE: For the first one I just googled "fool-proof pie crust" and this is what I use now. I was never able to get the traditional recipe of flour, shortening, and a few tablespoons of water to come together into a perfect, crumble-free pie crust like my mom can, but this one works for me. Plus, the recipe makes enough for 4 crusts and the remaining dough can just be divided and wrapped in plastic wrap and/or foil before going in a ziploc bag in the freezer for months. It's so easy to thaw and roll out between sheets of plastic wrap sheets and there are no dishes.
CAKE: Personally, I love this Home and Garden's Cookbook recipe for visiting teachee treats. It literally takes two minutes and you don't have to remember to bring butter to room temperature. It is a small recipe so you won't have cake around the house for a week getting stale and the batter works well for cupcakes (others, I have found, fall in the middle- cupcakes with craters are not quite so beautiful). I couldn't find an equivalent online, so I will write it out:
One-Bowl Chocolate Cake (recipe for Eli's birthday cupcakes, video to the left)
1 C. flour
1 C. sugar
1/2 C. cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. milk
1/3 C. cooking oil
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour an 8 or 9 inch square or round pan or line cupcake pan (will make about 10).
2) To dry ingredients add milk, oil, and vanilla, mix for about 2 minutes until well combined, then add egg and beat.
3) Spread in prepared pan, bake 20-35 minutes, depending on pan.
-For an extra treat in cupcakes, pipe some instant pudding into their centers.
-No-Cook Fudge Frosting: add boiling water a tablespoon at a time to 2 C. powdered sugar, 1/4 C. cocoa powder, 1/4 C. butter (softened), and 1/2 tsp. vanilla until it reaches spreading consistency. If you add too much, just refrigerate and it will firm up.
CARAMEL: I learned about this from my friend Shannon. To make caramel, simply simmer an unopened (unbelievable to me too) can of Sweetened Condensed Milk in some water on the stove for two hours. That's it! She used it to sandwich two cookies together and so far I've dipped apples in it and added it to the bottom of a chocolate cream pie. You could drizzle it on ice cream or put between layers of cake.