5 posts tagged “baking”
I tried this recipe for a Christmas party a couple weeks ago - oh, so yummy! I cut mine out in little circles with an herb jar lid. I would caution, though, that it's not necessarily a cookie children would like - it has a very adult taste, with the bitter cocoa very delicately offset by the light peppermint filling.
Today was the bake sale at church to raise money for White Cottage at Glade Run, so I spent the day yesterday baking (recipes follow). Of course, first it took an hour and a half to get the kitchen cleaned up after a week of not really having time to both cook dinner and clean up after it. Then I had to heat up some lunch for 2. Then of course the molasses cookies require a cup of cold coffee, which means I had to make some more coffee and sit down with the extra cup and some leftover butternut/apple bake Al made on Friday, and read my mystery book for a while (currently a German translation of an American author's series about an Italian detective...). Then I made each of the doughs.
They both had to chill, so I went grocery shopping, including 3 stops to try to find Fall-themed paper plates to sell baked goods on, with no success (since apparently Christmas is the only upcoming season at this point), so I ended up with white, just as well since they were recycled and pretty printed ones probably wouldn't have been. By the time I got home, it was 4:30, so I figured I'd better make dinner before getting started on cutting and babysitting batches of cookies. I had seen a pretty photo of beet soup here, and I have a lot of beets from the farm right now, so I made up a recipe that turned out really quite good! ...so good that the two of us ate it all and I have no leftovers :-(
After eating the beet soup & an Italian platter (bread, proscuitto, fresh mozzarella, kalamata olives, arugula, mmm), I finally got started rolling, cutting, and baking, first the Goldsternchen, then the molasses cookies, whilst running downstairs intermittently to watch the Penguins game. Everything was baked by the middle of the 3rd period, so I watched the end of the game, which went into OT, and then at 10:30 finally started filling and icing.
To bed around midnight, pretty well exhausted after a full day in the kitchen. As I recall, mom used to bake all her Christmas cookies in one mad day - I have no idea how she did this!
Here's what I woke up to this morning, but it was worth it.
My two favorite holiday cookies:
Goldsternchen (This is from a German cook-booklet called Weihnachts-Plätzchen [Christmas cookies]. Of course over the years I've adapted the recipe, so herewith is the current version. The original recipe is called Goldmonde [golden moons], but I don't have a moon cookie cutter, so I've always made Sternchen [little stars]. Also the recipe calls for sprinkling chopped almonds on half of them before baking, but since I don't "do" nuts, I've never done this. On this occasion I hadn't gone to the store to buy cream, so I tried substituting plain yogurt + extra light olive oil, which worked fine.)
250g flour [about 2 cups]
1/2 tsp baking powder
100g softened butter [just shy of 1 stick = just under 1/4 lb]
100g powdered sugar [about 1 cup]
1 pack Vanilla sugar [this is much more commonly available in the US than it used to be]
1/2 tsp ground coriander [the recipe calls for cardamom, but I've never had it around to use; coriander works]
2 egg yolks
5 Tbsp cream
2 egg yolks for glazing
5 Tbsp apricot preserves for filling [the recipe calls for orange preserves + rum, but I normally use apricot + water to make them more universally appealing for bake sales and such]
Mix flour and baking powder in a bowl. Cream butter, powdered sugar, vanilla sugar, and coriander. Mix in 2 egg yolks, flour mixture, and cream. Knead well and chill for about 2 hours. (This makes a dry dough, more like a pie crust than like most cookie doughs.)
Preheat oven to 400F. Roll out dough about 3mm thick [this is very thin, less than 1/8"; try as hard as you can to get it even - otherwise you end up with some much browner than others]. Cut out star shapes (or whatever, really), lay on baking sheets (I use baking stones for all my cookies, they brown so much more evenly, especially on something like this which otherwise is apt to burn). Whisk 2 egg yolks in a bowl [I like the German word for stirring up the eggs: verquirlen]; brush lightly on each cookie. Bake for 7-10 minutes; you have to be really careful here because they're so thin and delicate - I usually set my timer to 7 minutes, and then peek often - you want the egg to turn golden, and the edges of the cookies to be a lovely golden brown. If any get too brown, you'll have to eat them yourself - that's my favorite part :-)
Allow to cool completely before filling. To make the filling, stir the preserves and the water together. Put a little bit on the bottom of a cookie, then place another one on top, so the two un-egged sides are pressed together. With my stars, I turn the top cookie, so the star points are offset (I just think it's prettier that way) - see the photo. Allow the filling to set for a couple hours before putting the cookies away.
Makes all the cookies you see here: about 3 dozen 2-layer cookies.
[Another recipe to follow - sorry, it's time for Steelers v Jets]
[Well, that didn't turn out as expected...]
Molasses Cookies (This recipe is from my grandma - apparently, because that's what I wrote on the index card when I copied it from Mom's recipes - but now that I think about it I can't recall Grandma ever making these cookies, it was always Mom making them; maybe Grandma handed over that torch at some point... Anyway, unlike pretty much every other recipe, I have not messed with this one - um, well, except I've always substituted butter for the "shortening" the original calls for.)
1-1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup molasses
1 cup cold coffee [the secret ingredient - this is the part where you make yourself another cup to relax with]
6 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
[it's true that there are no eggs in these cookies - kind of unusual]
Cream butter & sugar. Add molasses & coffee. Sift together remaining ingredients, and mix in. [Don't forget to lick the beaters!] Chill.
Roll dough thick (about 1/4"). Cut in any shapes (I used leaves & turkeys this time, but I normally use this recipe for Christmas shapes). Bake 15 minutes @ 350F.
Cool completely before icing generously with....
Confectioners Sugar Icing (this icing hardens after spreading; this recipe makes enough for about a dozen cookies - you have to make a bowl of icing for each color you want)
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt (I sift this with the sugar to mix completely)
Add: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract & about 1 Tbsp water. Mix thoroughly to saturate the powdered sugar. Add water a very little bit at a time, till it's the right consistency to spread. Tint with food color - a drop or two will usually do.
Enjoy!
I've had a rather up-and-down week with my starter...
After all those lovely bubbles in the previous post, when I checked on the starter Tuesday morning I found it had overflowed the jar during the night (which is a mason jar with a screwed-on lid, so, not easy to overflow), but it had collapsed back down, so I thought that was probably what it should be doing (my various instructions do talk about it rising and collapsing during the creation process). So, OK.
I wasn't able to feed it again till about 7:30 pm Tuesday night (giving a tour at work), but I fed it 1/16 liter warm water + 50g rye meal, per the Oetker book. It looked OK, sort of spongy. Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos during the rest of the process...
The starter looked OK Wed AM, with small bubbles. When I got home around 5pm, it had some liquid on top (which after some internet research I find referred to as "hooch"). Not so sure of its status at this point, as it didn't seem to have risen again, but I fed it again anyway: 1/16 liter warm water + 50g rye meal.
Thursday AM there was more hooch on the surface again, so I began to despair, but decided to let it stay in the dehydrator till I got home. Thursday was the final day according to the Oetker book, so I stirred the starter (if that's what it had indeed become), and put it in the fridge to deal with on Friday.
Friday evening I did some more research online, and found a site that describes the characteristics of a healthy starter, and how to revive one that isn't healthy. The site seemed to say that "early" hooch was a bad sign, but on the other hand, it said if you stir the starter and there are small bubbles on the back of the spoon, it's healthy. I did have the small bubbles, and I wasn't sure whether the hooch was "early", and I wasn't sure if the smell was OK (never having used sourdough starters in the past). So I tried "proofing" the starter according to instructions on this starter.doctor site (linked above). At least I think I was understanding it to say that I could follow these instructions to determine the status of my starter. At 7:30p I mixed 1T of my starter with 100g each of white flour and warm water, and set in the dehydrator at 80 degrees for 12 hours. Saturday morning the test jar looked... OK, some bubbles, but not risen, but it smelled OK I guessed.
Well, enough fooling around. Al said, just like with his beer brewing, sometimes you just have to go for it when you can't seem to get a definitive set of instructions. So I decided to go for a pumpernickel this weekend! I'm using the recipe on Samartha's site, so that meant planning for a 3-hour ferment and 24-hour bake, along with baking stuff for the church bake sale being held Sunday morning (I should have taken a photo of the end result of that 8 hours of kitchen time... Indonesian spice pound cake, autumn leaf molasses cookies, apple-raisin-oatmeal cookies, cinnamon biscotti ... mmmm). So I set my jar of starter out next to the crock pot to warm up Saturday morning. According to one of my bread books, it needs to come to room temp before either using or feeding (weekly).
At 6:15pm Saturday, having finished all my other baking, I measured out 120g of starter into a glass mixing bowl. I understand from my reading that the starter must always be replenished by the same volume of equal parts flour & water, so I fed it with 60g rye flour (I think maybe I'll alternate flour & meal) and 60g warm water, then set the jar in the dehydrator for the same length of time as the pumpernickel dough will ferment. So, back to the dough, according to Samartha's recipe for 1.2 kg of dough (sounded about right for 2 loaves to me), I mixed into the 120g starter: 640g of the rye meal, 430g warm water, and 7g (approx) of sea salt. Theoretically that's all that should be in pumpernickel. I kneaded it by hand for 5 minutes, and it had a lovely grainy consistency, very sensuous, if that can be a characteristic of dough :-) I set the bowl in front of the wood stove for the next 3 hours, in which time it seemed to have risen somewhat, though I didn't expect it to very much. Just before 10:00pm I formed the dough into 2 sort of cylindrical loaves, and rolled each one in heavy-duty foil, sealed at the ends, put them onto a baking stone, and put in a 250 degree oven with a large casserole dish full of water. Samartha used loaf pans and sealed the tops tightly with foil, right next to the dough, but my Oetker book describes a (different) bread which is baked for a long period in a foil wrap, and the original pumpernickel Nadia had sent me was in a foil wrap as well, so I decided to try that.
So now, there's been a great smell in the house all day today, but I can't see how it's going. I'd love to know when (or if) it turned black, but I have to wait another 2 hours to take it out of the oven, and then both Samartha's instructions and the Oetker book (for other similar long-baking breads) say DO NOT cut it open for another 12 hours, as the process is still completing. It's a good thing I'm a patient person...
But it really does smell right, so I'm hopeful!!!
I'm so excited I'm practically jumping up and down! (OK, maybe I actually did jump a little...)
I stopped in to Frankferd Farms Thursday at lunch to see if they had some rye meal (something between flour & cracked). They didn't, but said if I was willing to buy 25 lbs of it they could mill it however I wanted it. I agreed, and by the time I got home there was a message on my machine that it was done already! Although it turned out to be 27 lbs; the woman on the machine said she guessed it's not an exact science when they start grinding. But it was still only $16, so I call that a bargain. I picked it up Friday after a meeting, so now I think I'm ready to go!
The rye is gorgeous ... I feel really down-to-earth, beginning to create my rye sourdough starter with freshly milled rye right from the farm.
So now today I'm venturing to create my rye sourdough starter from scratch. I've decided to use a combination of the instructions from Samartha's site and my Dr Oetker's cookbook. Nothing like experimenting on the first attempt! (pretty much my normal MO when it comes to baking)
Samartha said to mix 1/4C water & 1/2C whole grain rye flour in a 1-quart glass jar. My German cookbook said (in German) to mix 200g finely milled rye with 1/4 liter lukewarm water in a large earthenware bowl. So to compromise, I mixed 1/8 liter lukewarm water with 100g organic rye flour I had from a previous trip to Frankferd. The German recipe calls for moving from fine rye flour to begin, up to the coarser meal for tomorrow's feeding, whereas Samartha calls for rye flour throughout, I suspect because he didn't have access to the coarser grind, but I think I really want a more whole-grain finished product. I cut the German quantity in half because I don't want to tie up a large bowl this long, so I'm using a quart-size mason jar. Hopefully it won't overflow... The German recipe calls for 2-3 T of buttermilk also, but Samartha's recipe doesn't require any additional ingredients, so I'm going to try that.
They both say to set the covered mixture in a 75-85 degree location, so Al rigged up a shelf in the food dehydrator that should do the trick (see photo). I'll check it with the thermometer periodically for the first several hours to get the temp adjusted to at least 75. The German recipe says to leave it for at least 24 hours, and then feed it with the coarse rye meal and more water, and again after 4 days. Samartha says to add a little more flour & water after bubbles begin to form (12 hours), and again at 24 hours. I think I'll follow the German recipe at this point, but it might depend how it looks.
More later . . .
Wow, we'd forgotten how good real German pumpernickel was till Nadia sent us a cylindrical package of it from Germany last week!
As we were marvelling at the sweet/sour flavor & moistness in so dense a bread (when most of our whole grain breads turn out like hockey pucks if we don't add gluten & an egg), I noted how short the ingredient list was: only rye meal, water, salt, and barley extract. So of course I had to look it up. How can you bake a bread like that?
Turns out, real pumpernickel is not so much a bread as it is a fermented, steamed grain pudding-like substance. The most authentic recipes call for a rye sourdough, and baking in a steam oven for 12-16 hours. The dark black color comes from something called the Maillard Reaction which occurs during the lengthy "baking" process, not from any ingredients such as molasses or cocoa which are usually called for in Americanized "pumpernickel bread" recipes. Sounds like something I must attempt!
One of the keys seems to be to get rye ground to something between whole rye and rye flour -- the rye "meal". I'll have to check with Frankferd Farms on that one -- I should be able to get it organic there too, in addition to being freshly ground.
The other key will be the sourdough. Since I don't have a starter, nor do I know anyone with a rye sourdough going, I'll have to try to make one myself (a first attempt at that). My Dr Oetker's "Backen Kostlich wie noch nie" cookbook shows how to create a rye sourdough from scratch using freshly ground rye meal and buttermilk, so that should be a good method. I imagine though that I'll need to find real cultured buttermilk like one would probably get in Germany, as opposed to the powdered mix I usually substitute in recipes. But first, again, the fresh rye meal. And the biggest trick I'm sure will be doing the steps at the proper times, and not forgetting to babysit it (something I'm afraid I know I'm not good at).
Also, I need to find a definitive pumpernickel recipe. I found one at a website called Samartha, but it seems a little experimental and not necessarily a finished procedure. On the other hand, he also has a recipe for rye starter from scratch which does not involve buttermilk. My Oetker's cookbook has a recipe for a whole grain rye-wheat bread, which looks similar, uses the rye sourdough, and involves about 13 hours, so I think I might start with that. Thing is, it also calls for something called Backferment, which I can't find either at Baldinger's (our local "Food from all Nations" store), nor at GDH, which is where I get my German coffee fix. So I have a plea out to Karsten to ask his mother about it. It apparently comes in either powdered or granulated form, and is some sort of enzyme derived from honey.
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