Daring Bakers Challenge: Vols-au-Vent

Tah-dah! Today I'm revealing my first Daring Bakers challenge - vols-au-vent. Basically, it is a puff pastry that serves as a vehicle for various fillings, from sweet to savory. The challenge was to make our own puff pastry rather than just pick up a box of the frozen stuff at the store. I was a little concerned because the one time I tried to make croissants (a similar kind of dough) I had major problems and lots of leaking butter. Thankfully, the challenge included a link to a video of Julie Child and Michel Richard making puff pastry. This boosted my confidence because I could watch a professional at work.

I started by dumping my flours, salt, and water in the food processor. Once it was whirled into dough, I formed it into a ball and marked it with a tic-tac-toe pattern. While this rested in the refrigerator I beat my pound of cold butter into an inch-thick block. This butter got wrapped into the dough and then rolled and folded into it to create hundreds of layers. The thin butter layers make the dough puff in the hot oven. Surprisingly I didn't have any problems with this part of the recipe. My butter rolled out inside the dough perfectly.

I divided the dough into three parts, rolled each out, and cut them into circles. I used a smaller circular cutter to make half of them into rings. An egg wash "glued" these rings onto the circles. Then these got baked and turned into wonderful puffy "cups". (Of course, all of these steps required multiple trips to the refrigerator to make sure everything was always cold, cold, cold.)

Since I was bringing them for dessert at someone else's house, I chose a filling that wouldn't need refrigerating or last minute preparation. I whipped up some homemade caramel sauce and sauteed some apples with cinnamon, sugar, and lemon juice. Each vol-au-vent was drizzled with caramel sauce and filled with apples. Then I drizzled more caramel sauce on top.

This took me three days of work. One day to make the dough. One day to roll and shape. One day to bake and fill. The puff pastry was very yummy, much better than the stuff one buys at the store. BUT it is a lot of work . . . . Thanks Daring Bakers for a great challenge. I'm glad my first one was so successful!

Martha Monday: Donation Bag . . . er, Basket

This Monday's task was simple enough . . . a donation bag. Hang a bag in a central location and put unwanted items in it. When it fills up take it off the hook and bring it to a local donation center. This is a great idea! I'm always piling things away in drawers and odd places. Eventually my husband gets annoyed and gathers them all together and takes them to the thrift store at our local Navy base. I had two problems with putting this idea into practice. I didn't have an attractive bag to hang in a prominent location (nor was I going to spring for the money to buy one) AND I have children. Whenever I put together donation items in a box or bag the kids immediately get into it and play with the stuff or cry about what I've put in there.

So, first I found a basket instead of a bag. I had just reorganized the playroom with some great laundry bins from Land of Nod and so I had some baskets that needed a new home. I took one and put it up on a shelf in my closet. I'm hoping that it's high enough that the children won't see in it and get ideas. It's already half full and my husband loves it. Now he's hoping Martha can help me with the rest of the clutter in our house!

Martha Monday: Molasses Spice Cake

So, yesterday I set to work on this beautiful cake from Martha Stewart's website. The first task was to make the cake. Everything is supposed to be at room temperature. Butter, eggs, sour cream . . . sour cream? Who remembers to put sour cream out an hour before making a cake? Anyway, mine was cold but it didn't seem to ruin the cake any. All the usual things go into this spice cake but, in usual Martha style, one uses freshly grated ginger instead of powdered and mace instead of nutmeg, all things that are just a little more difficult and a little more "gourmet." My arm was sore after finely grating three tablespoons of ginger but in it went along with all the other ingredients. I confess I did not use parchment in the bottom of my pan. I'm just too lazy and my cakes have never stuck to my non-stick pan once it's been buttered. The cake baked to perfection in exactly 45 minutes and smelled heavenly.

While it was cooling, I went to work on the two icings. Yes, there are two. The first is made of butter, cream cheese and sugar. I thought the proportions for this frosting were WAY OFF! It called for 12 ounces of cream cheese. I only used 8 ounces. After all I was only frosting one single-layer nine-inch cake. I used the whole stick of butter along with the bit of sour cream. The recipe said to beat in 1/2 cup of powdered sugar but this left the frosting tasting very sour so I added another 1/2 cup. Sweet but not too sweet. I piped this onto the cake.

Then I made the brown sugar glaze. This was easy. Some butter and brown sugar get melted together and then boiled briefly with vanilla, cream, and salt. I'm thinking I might have measured the salt wrong because mine tasted a bit on the salty side. Once this cooled I spooned it over the frosting.

I served this for dessert after a light supper of soup and salad. Both of my children loved it although Jonathan declared that I should leave the "brown stuff" off next time. He'd rather have sprinkles than brown butter glaze. My husband didn't care for it but, in true Stall-Ryan fashion, kept eating it and then had a few more pieces. I thought the cream cheese frosting was still too sour but I loved the flavor of the cake itself. Surprisingly, I had a small piece the next morning and liked it much better. By this time the brown sugar glaze and the cream cheese frosting had married their flavors so I didn't notice any particularly strong sourness or saltiness in either. In the end, though, I wish I'd just sprinkled some powdered sugar on top of the cake and let its flavors shine.

Homemade Ricotta

A few of you have been asking me to blog about my homemade ricotta. Yes, I do make homemade ricotta. I first began making it just as a challenge. There was an article in Cooking Light a few years back that boasted about the better flavor and texture of this easily made cheese compared to store-bought brands. So, I tested their recipe and it was a winner. I have made this cheese many many times using 1%, 2%, and whole milks. Not surprisingly, whole milk ricotta tastes better and is creamier but 1% is very good too. Here's the general directions. For more detail follow this link to Cooking Light's version. Combine 1 gallon of milk (any percent will do as long as it is not skim) with 5 cups of buttermilk in a large, heavy pot. I use a Le Creuset French Oven. Attach a candy thermometer or use an instant thermometer to check the temperature regularly. Cook over medium heat until the temperature reaches 170 degrees, stirring occasionally. STOP stirring once it reaches 170 degrees. The curds will begin to form and separate from the whey at this point. Stirring will make your ricotta grainy. Turn off the heat when your thermometer registers 190 degrees. Using a slotted spoon gently spoon out the curds and place them in a few layers of damp cheesecloth that you have draped over a colander. I find that whole milk curds will generally all be floating on top and are very easy to scoop out. 1% milk curds tend to stay at the bottom so you'll have to gently scrape the bottom to get them off. Sometimes the milk scorches the bottom so don't scrape too hard or you'll get burned bits in your ricotta. Drain in the colander for 10 minutes. Gather the cheesecloth and tie it into a bundle. Hang it where it can drip safely. I like to hang it from a cupboard handle over a bowl. You can keep the whey left in your pot and use it in place of milk or water when making oatmeal, pancakes, and the like. It is very nutritious. Once your ricotta has drained for about 15 minutes dump it out of the cheesecloth into a container. Toss gently with 1/2 teaspoon salt using a fork or your hands. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use. (Of course, I always recommend eating a spoonful or two before refrigerating. It is most divine right at this moment before it gets cold.)

And that's that. It generally makes about a pound of ricotta so if you want to try it in a recipe you have an idea how much to make. Good luck!

Martha Monday: Apple Honey Challah

Sooooooooo . . . this Monday we got to do Apple Honey Challah from the September issue of Living, thanks to ME! I've always wanted to make challah and couldn't resist the opportunity to make this our Martha Monday challenge.

This bread is loaded with all kinds of good stuff - butter, eggs, egg yolks, honey, yeast, flour. All this gets stirred together and kneaded for about 10 minutes. I cheated and used the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid. This dough was very wet so I'm not sure I would have been able to knead it without adding lots of extra flour. (I've learned thanks to Rose Levy Beranbaum that it is NOT a good thing to add lots of extra flour when kneading. In fact she ultimately recommends using a machine to knead bread doughs because you can avoid adding any extra flour and making your dough too dry.) Once kneaded, this dough had to rise until doubled. Mine rose faster than the prescribed time of one and a half hours. Perhaps my kitchen was a bit warm.

Then I sliced some granny smith apples and tried to knead them into the risen and punched-down dough. This was a disaster. They did not stick into the dough and they kept popping out. So, I just tried to fold them all in the best I could and let the dough rise again until doubled. Again, this took less than the prescribed hour.

Finally you were supposed to twist this dough into a rope and coil it into a buttered cake pan. This was too hard. The dough wasn't sticky but it was just so jiggly and difficult to shape. Plus, the apples still kept popping out. So, finally I plopped it in the pan the best I could and let it rise. This time I forgot to check it early so my dough practically rose up and over the pan. Oops! I brushed it with honey butter and popped it into the oven at 400 degrees. I baked mine for about 30 minutes. It got was getting really brown so I pulled it out and brushed it with the rest of the honey butter. It cooled for about an hour before we lit into it.

The verdict? This was a great bread! The honey butter brushed on top was scrumptious. My only complaint was the apples tasted too sour and were all clumped together. In making it again, I would use a sweeter, softer baking apple and perhaps chop rather than slice them. My husband declared this the best bread he'd ever had.

Martha Monday: Pom Poms

Interested in joining the fun? Check out the Martha and Me Blog for details. It's fun. I promise!

This week's activity was making these pom poms. I'd made tissue paper flowers like these a few years ago at a Cinco de Mayo celebration and found them easy to make so I thought I'd have no problem with this Monday's assignment. Wrong! I had the idea to make a few large pom poms to hang from the ceiling of the playroom. First I started with green. I folded eight sheets into an accordion shape and secured with wire. I trimmed the ends so they were nicely rounded.
Then I tried to pull the layers apart. Some of my tissue paper tore. Some just didn't want to come apart. It certainly didn't look as nice as Martha's. In the end I think it looked like a big head of lettuce. Ugh! I threw it in the trash instead of hanging it in the playroom. Maybe purple would have been a better pick?