May ABC challenge: English Muffins

For this challenge, the ingredients were nothing unusual, but the technique was new to me.  For one thing, you have to work with what is supposed to be a really wet dough (to achieve all those crunchy nooks and crannies, no doubt) and beat it for 5 minutes with a paddle attachment or in a bread machine.  Well, I don't have either.  I wasn't about to do all that beating by hand, and I didn't think my little hand-held Hamilton Beach mixer was up to the task.  Enter... the food processor.  I'm not even sure IT was up to the task.  (I've pushed the limits on more than one occasion.)  But into the container went the ingredients.  I used half whole wheat, but otherwise followed the recipe, adding the flour last, slowly, keeping an alert nose for the smell of a burning motor.

Shortly into this process, I decided to move the processor to a steadier surface.  A minute or so later, the processor started to over heat, so I stopped it to let it cool a bit.  Before turning the processor back on, I checked the dough and it was already extremely stretchy, so I decided to move on and set the dough to proofing.  (Since a food processor turns so much faster than a mixer, kneading time is shorter, so I wasn't too surprised at the quick results.)  Into an oiled bowl and a warm oven it went, while I headed to the couch and my book.

Some time later, the dough was nicely puffed and ready to be shaped.  And that's when I saw it -- the last 1/2 cup of flour still sitting on the counter, unincorporated.  What to do, what to do?  The dough didn't seem to need any more flour.  In fact, it was quite easy to handle -- not at all what I'd consider a "wet" dough like the recipe described.  (I was even starting to worry about my crannies!)  It must have been the "thirstier" whole wheat flour.  I decided to ditch the left-over flour, and next time I'll hydrate the flour in advance.  (This is why I say baking is more about technique than measurements.)

I wish I'd taken the photo just before flipping --  
they were SO poofy!

The rest of the process -- shaping and griddling -- went easily.  I have an old O'Keefe & Merritt oven/stove with a built in griddle; it held 8 muffins perfectly.  (I followed someone's advice on the recipe page and kept the rest of the dough in the refrigerator while the first half cooked.)  I cooked the muffins 15 minutes on one side and 10-15 on the other.

They could have been a little less toasty.

At first, I was really disappointed in how these turned out.  They were extremely soft and poofy and mashed into near nothingness under the butter.  They didn't have as open of a crumb as I would have liked, but that was my own fault.  Furthermore, you really need to be able to re-toast them on only one side, otherwise the cooked side gets too dark.  (This has always been an issue for me with English muffins.)  However, by the 5th day, they had lost some of their moisture and firmed up considerably.  When I bit into one this morning, it held it's ground and supported the butter and jam nicely.


Conclusion:  I would make these again, with a couple of adjustments.  I would reduce the salt slightly, perhaps increase the sugar a bit (to compensate for the slightly bitter whole wheat) and hydrate the whole wheat flour in advance.  I would also attempt to toast them less on the outside during griddling so they don't get over-brown when re-toasted later.


Recipe:  English Muffins via King Arthur Flour

Rum-glazed Coconut Bread Pudding

From the Bahamas.

5 slices firm white bread, cubed (about 6 loosely packed cups)
1½ cup light coconut milk (almost 1, 15 oz can)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Topping
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter , room temperature
1/2 cup shredded coconut

Rum sauce
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter , melted
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup rum (gold or dark)

Butter a medium/small casserole (Recommended:  10½-inch round, cast iron pan, although a 8×8 baking dish should work well, too).  In a large bowl, whisk together the light coconut milk, light brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, and cinnamon.  Add in the cubed bread and raisins; let the bread soak up the coconut milk mixture for about 10 minutes, then add to the buttered casserole.  Combine the topping ingredients and sprinkle on top of bread mixture.  (It’ll look like way too much.)  Bake at 375F for 35-40 minutes, or until bubbling, browned, and an inserted knife comes out clean.

For the rum sauce, heat all ingredients in a small pot and simmer gently until the sugar dissolves completely and the sauce thickens a little, about 5-10 minutes.

Conclusion: Very good!  But it didn't have much of a coconut flavor.

Recipe:  Rum-glazed Coconut Bread Pudding via Global Table Adventure

Caribbean-style Coconut and Rum Tres Leches birthday cake

My very kind and will-entertain-at-the-drop-of-a-hat neighbors offered to host a dinner party for my birthday.  I immediately offered to bring the cake.  

You need to start this one in advance so that the final product has a chance to soak and mingle and blend...  The upside is that on the "day of", you can relax.

For the cake:

6 eggs, separated

2 cups sugar

2 cups flour

1 Tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup milk

For the milk mixture:

12 fl oz can evaporated milk (1 1/2 cups)

5.5 fl oz can coconut milk (1/2 cup)

1 cup sweetened condensed milk (see Note)  

1 shot rum

Topping:

2 cups heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4-1/2 cup shredded coconut, toasted

Preheat the oven to 350F.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  In the bowl of a standing mixer, beat egg whites on medium until soft peaks form.  Stream in sugar until stiff peaks form.  Incorporate yolks, one at a time.  In a small bowl, add vanilla extract to milk. On  low speed, add the milk mix and dry ingredients to the egg mixture, alternate between the two, about 1/3 at a time.  Pour into greased 11×13 baking pan.  Bake for 35-40 min. Let cool for at least 30 minutes.

For the milk mixture:

In a medium bowl, whisk together the three milks and rum. Make sure you break up all the coconut milk lumps, if there are any.  Using a fork or toothpick, prick holes all over the top of the cooled cake.  Pour milk mixture evenly across the top, cover and refrigerate for about 8 hours.  The milk will soak in overnight and virtually disappear.

For the topping:

Whip the cream with sugar until spreadable; spread over the top of the cake.  Sprinkle with toasted coconut.

Note:  You can substitute heavy cream here.  Sweetened condensed milk adds sweet, traditional flavor, while heavy cream is mild flavored.  If you want the traditional flavor of sweetened condensed milk but prefer a less-sweet cake, reduce the sugar in the cake and/or topping.

Conclusion:  Delicious!  And even better the second day.  And the third.  However, it did not have a pronounced coconut flavor.  You could substitute more coconut milk for evaporated milk in the soak, or add some coconut extract.

Recipe:  Caribbean Tres Leches Cake via Global Table Adventure

Milk and Honey Bread

Sometimes you just need a soft, fluffy white bread.  But as much as that's what I was craving, I couldn't bring myself to indulge, so I added white whole wheat flour.  Here's what I used:

2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (1 packet)
1¼ cups warm milk
1/4 cup honey
3 tablespoons butter, melted + 1 tablespoon
1½ teaspoons kosher salt
3½ cups all-purpose flour (half white whole wheat)

In the bowl, mix yeast, warm milk and honey and allow to bloom.  Add 3 tablespoons of butter and 2 cups of flour, mixing on low using a dough hook until smooth.  Add the salt and enough remaining flour to form a soft dough.  Allow to knead for about 5 minutes -- you should have a ball of tacky (not sticky) dough.  Turn onto a floured board; knead about 10 turns. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease top. Cover with a damp cloth and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch dough down and shape into a loaf; place in greased, 9 x 5-inch loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 45-60 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350° for glass and dark pans (375° for light metal pans.)  Brush top with melted butter.  Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.  Cover loosely with foil if top browns too quickly. Remove from pan and brush top and sides with remaining melted butter.  Allow bread to cool before slicing.

Conclusion:  This was good, but not as decadent as the picture indicates.  It was that whole wheat flour -- I didn't end up with the soft, white loaf I'd anticipated.  (White whole wheat is still whole wheat, after all.)  Otherwise, a perfectly fine loaf.

Recipe:  Milk and Honey White Bread via The Slow Roasted Italian 

March ABC challenge: No-Knead Chocolate-Cherry Pecan Bread

This title is a false advertisement, sort of.  Yes, the bread is no-knead, but that implies it's easy to make, and it's nothing of the sort.  The reason it's no-knead is because the dough is hardly stiffer than batter, and it was very hard to work with!

But first things first...

I modified the recipe only slightly. If I recall correctly, KA AP flour is higher in protein than grocery AP flour, about equivalent to grocery bread flour.  And with all the whole grain and add-ins, I thought it could use some extra gluten, so I used bread flour.  The quantity of salt seemed high to me, so initially I reduced the salt, but then decided that, because of the sweet add-ins, I might want that additional salt as balance.  The dough did taste VERY salty to me, but the end result was perfect (for American tastes).  Lastly, I was forced to use walnuts, as the bag of pecans I thought I had was evidently a hallucination.

I was baffled by the instructions to soak the fruit, nuts, and chocolate overnight.  I was sure I didn't want the nuts absorbing the moisture from the dough -- that ruins their texture.  I didn't know about the cherries -- did the recipe account for the amount of moisture the cherries would absorb?  Would it even be enough to make a difference?  Interestingly, the step-by-step instructions on their blog does NOT include the add-ins in the soaker!  I left them out of the soaker, adding them at the very end.

Soaker after some time in a warm oven.

The soaker was not very bubbly after 10 hours, but the house had been very cold overnight.  A couple hours in a warm oven improved the texture.

I was surprised that the only yeast in the recipe was the tiny 1/4 teaspoon in the soaker.  Again, the step-by-step differs, adding another 1/2 teaspoon in the main dough.  I thought surely this was necessary, especially due to the heaviness of the dough, and really debated whether to add it or not.  All the commenters seemed to have success without adding any additional yeast, so in the end I didn't either.


I ran into trouble, however, when it came time to add the add-ins.  There was strong advice to make sure nothing remained on the loaf surface, lest it burn.  Many commenters said they had luck rolling out the dough, spreading the add-ins around and then rolling it all up.  Yeah, well, this didn't work for me.  Something was sticking out, and when I poked it deeper into the dough I got a hole in that top layer that revealed a cavity layer full of the goodies.  They didn't seem well mixed in at all.  The dough was far too stiff to stir, so I decided kneading was necessary.  Mistake!  That just turned into a big, sticky mess!  (Another difference between the original recipe and the step-by-step was that she reduced the water by 1/4 cup because she felt the dough was too wet.)  Perhaps this is why the recipe called for putting the add-ins into the soaker, to avoid this problem.

My other issue with such a wet dough was how to bake it.  I don't have a bread crock.  All these recipes I've seen for crock pot baking, I wondered why anyone would bother.  Now I see why -- for the really wet doughs, it's necessary in order to support the loaf.  In the step-by-step, she uses a cake pan.  I didn't want the loaf to come out looking like cake.  Besides, that would ruin the artisan crust we're trying to achieve.  I used a pie tin, hoping the sloped sides would give enough support to create a nice loaf while still allowing for plenty of crust area.  Since several commenters had complained about the loaf sticking, I put parchment paper on the bottom.  I'm glad I did this, as the chocolate did stick badly to the tin where it made contact and took some scrubbing to get off.

Before the last rise.  This is not a good look for me.

I wasn't happy with how the loaf looked sitting in the pan.  There was no skin, and it was impossible to get all the add-ins pushed beneath the dough.  But by this time I was done fussing and had resigned myself to a dismal failure.  When it had finished the second rise, I placed the tin on a heated bread stone and covered it with a large metal bowl, then baked as directed.

In the end, I was very pleasantly surprised!  The texture is good -- crusty exterior and chewy interior with a somewhat open crumb -- and the taste is excellent!  The loaf spread more than I'd hoped and didn't get very high -- you really do need something with sides to support it.


Here's what I used:

3 2 cups all-purpose bread  flour
1/2 cup rye flour
1/2 1½ cups white whole wheat flour
2½ teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1¾ cups cool water
3/4 cup chopped dried tart cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1½ cups chopped pecans walnuts, toasted

Mix flours, salt, yeast, and water in a large bowl. Add cherries and chocolate chips. Stir well to make a very soft dough, and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let rest at room temperature overnight, or for at least 12 hours; the dough should be bubbly and puffy.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.   Roll out slightly and sprinkle on the toasted nuts.  Roll up tightly, then knead gently a few times to disperse the nuts.  Let it rest 15 minutes, then form it into a ball. Place it in a lightly greased bowl, smooth side down*. Cover and let rise at room temperature about 2 hours, until a slight indentation remains when poked with a finger.

During the last 30 minutes of rising, preheat the oven to 450°F and place a bread crock (or a heavy, 4- to 4 1/2-quart oven-safe pot) in the oven while it heats. When the dough has risen, remove the crock from the oven, and turn the dough out of the bowl and into the crock; the smooth side will be facing up*. Shake the crock gently to settle the dough, then cover with the lid and return to the oven. Bake the bread for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and continue to bake another 30 to 40 minutes, until the bread is deep brown in color and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers about 205°F. Remove the crock from the oven, turn the bread onto a rack, and cool before slicing.

*Alternatively, you can line the bowl with parchment, and then transfer the dough, parchment and all, into the crock.  Leaving the smooth side down will produce some interesting crenelations on top that become nicely crusty.

Conclusion:  This is a great recipe that I will certainly make again, but I'll need to figure out an easier process and a preferred baking method.  I would also make it into two or three smaller loaves.  It's a large loaf, and after about 5 days it started to get a little tough (though still tasty).  With smaller loaves, I could freeze one.  Although the chocolate wasn't overwhelming by any means, I don't think it added anything and I'll be leaving it out in the future.  I'll also play with the add-ins, using perhaps apricots and/or raisins.  Maybe some citrus peel.  Lots of options here.

Recipe:  No-Knead Chocolate-Cherry Pecan Bread via King Arthur Flour