Daring Bakers February: To read or to bake?

That's the question ...
My guess is that our lovely, lively, witty and knowledgeable bread baking hostesses this month; Sara of I Like to Cook and Mary of The Sour Dough must have had loads of fun in posing the challenge (to keep with bread terms: separating the chaff from the wheat girls?). They composed a work of prose which read as a short novel, foreseeing and answering (!) each and every hitch that could be encountered during the Baking of the Challenge. Truth or Dare my dear fellow Daring Bakers and look what glorious breads came from that!

First they chose an unquestionable source: Mrs Julia Child, (for my European readers: Julia who? Have to confess here, before I was swept up in baking sessions across the ocean I never heard of her before, and even now, now I know how much she is revered on the other side of the big pond I still can't help smile by seeing her -or hearing her voice- but she really seems to be a kind of icon for baking).
Our hostesses then picked a product that almost everyone loves; french bread, and made themselves available for any questions asked and even offered an online bake-a-thon to help out live when needed. Dedication people, sheer dedication!! For sure, I too, was a bit apprehensive when I saw the length of the recipe. Breaking it down in manageable bites; it turned out to be a straight forward dough with three lengthy rises. As much as I love to work with a preferment -either biga or poolish- in this case that was a definite no-no; not allowed! I pouted a little, went ahead with it anyway and discovered that the three rises made up for that big time. Another frown was reserved for the amount of salt, I'd like to stick with the 2% rule (amount of salt being 2% of the amount of flour). Hmmm. Did as I was told, no complaints here, although I'd like to bake again trying 1.1/2 tsp salt. I loved the 72% liquid in this one!! Watch Julia Child and Danielle Forestier in action (uh.. it's Danielle in action really) showing you how to make this exact recipe. As I said the recipe itself is not very lengthy, for the complete instructions and recipe visit The Sourdough. If you like a reminder how to handle the dough it's shown in pics here.

Recipe:
Makes 3 baguettes/batards OR 6 shorter loaves OR 3 round ones OR 12 pistolettes

1.3/4 tsp yeast
75 ml warm water (38C)
490 gr flour (I used "Frans Krokant" by Soezie)
12 gr salt
280-300 gr water (I used 280 gr)

Stir yeast in 75 gr water, and let liquefy completely. Add the mixture to the rest of the ingredients in your mixing bowl. Using the dough hook of your stand mixer start mixing on a low speed for about 6 minutes.
Empty bowl on a bare counter top and proceed kneading by using the method as shown in the videos or my pics. You'll see that after a while (might take anywhere from 5-10 minutes) your dough changes, as the air gets trapped, the dough gets more body, is easier to work with.
You know when you're done if the dough is springy, elastic and feels somehow light to the touch. (It will still be sticky) Try pressing a finger in the dough, it should leave a dent which will slowly fill again.
First proofing: 3-4 hours in a lightly greased straight sided bowl, covered with plastic bag or shower cap. It will at least triple and show large bubbles and even some huge blisters on top!
Deflate by turning out on a lightly floured surface, pressing all gas out of the dough. Fold like you would fold a letter and again let it rise.

Second proofing: in same bucket, somewhere around 2 hours, again till it's full of air and the top shows a dome shape. Maybe it won't quite triple but it sure will double!

Shaping: Cut dough with a bench scraper to desired pieces, and form the pieces of dough into whatever shape you prefer. For information on how to shape please check the instructions at Mary's / Sara's.
Third and final rise: 1.1/2 to 2 hours. Shaped loaves rest covered on baking sheet or couche.

Baking: about 25 minutes; oven preheated to 230 C, slice the loaves prior to baking, moisten the surface by brushing cold water on or spray. To simulate steam in the oven you can throw some ice cubes on the bottom of your oven. I like to place a baking sheet on the bottom of the oven during preheating and fill that with boiling water just after I put the loaves in.

Verdict: Rave reviews! Very happy kids, a doting Husband and a cheery sneaky Baking who tried snatching an entire loaf for herself.... Thanks so much gals, I loved loved doing this!

Why rabbits don't need glasses

because they eat their fair share of carrots of course! Well, it used to work, my kids loved their carrots but now they wrinkle their noses (toldya: rabbits!). So whenever we eat carrots there's bound to be some left.

Into the bread they go:

275 gr (9.3/4 oz) carrots, coarsely mashed with a fork
175 gr (6 oz) whole wheat
325 gr (11.1/2 oz) bread flour /USA ap flour
180 gr (6.1/2 oz) biga
2 tsp salt
1.1/4 tsp instant yeast
2 tbs vegetable oil
60 gr (1.3/4 oz) water

Knead, Rise, Shape, Rise, Bake. That's all there is to it. It's an easy dough for the breadmachine as well. Kneading in my standmixer (speed 2) takes 10 minutes. Rising 1 to 1.1/2 hour, I shape using a letterfold, tucking the sides in to form a log. Place seamside down in a pan. Second rise again 45 minutes-1 hour, till it's nicely domed in your pan, springing back when poked with a fingertip. Baking requires a medium hot oven (350 F- 190 C) for about 40-45 minutes.

Instructions can be so simple! I wouldn't mind eggwashing the bread and sprinkle it with cumin seeds but I know my rabbits would, so remains a thought for now.

Apparently this was on the bright side of good, can't find any pics of the finished loaf or parts thereof....

Bread Baking Babes rounding up February Buddies

I am happy to announce the following Buddies for this month. They all baked February's Royal Crown Tortano and in doing so deserved their Baking Buddy Badge!

First to ring the bell was Gea from the Netherlands, baking at: Koekje van eigen deeg

Next is Andrea, over at Andrea's Recipes with a gorgeous Crown.

Then we have Gretchen, all the way from Peru! at Canela & Comino

In Washington Madame Chow regains her baking with a crown at Madam Chow's Kitchen.

Judy at Judy's Gross Eats baked her monster bread almost blindfolded...

Edit to add another fabulous baker: please meet Pasticcera at Bella Baita View!

The Bread Baking Babes would like to say: Thanks all of you for baking with us, and maybe we'll see you next month with another bread, in another Kitchen!

2nd hand desserts / 2e hands toetje

(In het Nederlands? Even scrollen!)

Second hand and borrowed was the theme of this dessert. Not on purpose, it just turned out that way and I had so much fun making it. The kids had their share of fun too, wandering into the kitchen in irregular intervals to see what on earth their mum was trying to accomplish.

Why on earth would someone be dumping a whole bag of flour in a flat dish and make odd shaped holes in it? They whispered to each other: apparently this is going to be our dessert *raised eyebrows*, I think she read it somewhere *wrinkled their noses*, Do you think it's going to be good? *sticking out tongues*. Out loud: "are we supposed to eat the flour as well or are you going to bake it at some point?"No, I was not going to bake anything this time, nor were they supposed to eat the flour, and yes I had seen something somewhere... and was trying to recreate it, using whisky tumblers I found at the thrift shop. My search for glasses for our Christmas dinner ended at the thrift shop. I was determined to use glasses for appetizers and wasn't prepared to let go of a lot of money just because of that. I needed 12. Found 12. Spend 2 €. Skipjumped out of the shop.

2nd hand glasses, borrowed recipe. Where from? Why..our Queen of desserts of course; Tartelette! Please go there to find the recipe and see yummy photos. I changed the components slightly and was very pleased with the top layer which consisted of a mix of orange, tangerine and red grapefruit juices. The bottom layer was plum puree mixed with strawberries .... mwah. Bought two cartons of Greek yoghurt, one of them turned out to be the low-fat kind, not good, you'll definitely need the original, full fat creamy one to set off the tarty fruit layers.

Helene used an egg carton to set the glasses "on edge", that didn't work with our Dutch egg cartons (or maybe my glasses were just too wide), so in comes the flour. I was so pleased with the outcome, it looked so good and I was happy it actually worked! Sure, I need some training to make nicer layers but still for a first...

Too bad my guinea pigs weren't too pleased with the way it tasted, granted, 5 out of 8 were kids, and as we're Dutch we're not used to Jell-O anything. I definitely want to try these again and figure out a way of using enough gelatine to set the layers without the Jell-O experience. Een 2e-hands toetje in alle opzichten; de glazen komen van de kringloop (ik wilde er 12 om te gebruiken tijdens het Kerstdiner, en was niet bereid om net zoveel geld te gebruiken voor de glazen als voor wat er in zou komen, dus...tadaaa 2€ en ik helemaal blij!). Het recept is ook "gebruikt" en wel door go Tartelette, ik heb haar recept en werkwijze gebruikt. De hoeveelheden heb ik anderhalf keer genomen en uiteraard kon ik het niet laten om iets te veranderen, dus mijn fruitlaagjes waren gemaakt van sinasappel-mandarijn-rode grapefruit sap en een mix van pruimpuree met aardbei (had ik nog in de vriezer, makkelijk!). Als je dit na wilt maken gebruik dan goede volvette griekse of turkse yoghurt, ik had per ongeluk 1 pot van de magere variant genomen en je hebt echt het romige nodig ten opzichte van het fruit.

Zij gebruikt eierdozen om de glazen op 1 kant te laten staan, dat werkte bij mij niet, maar zoals je ziet werkt het prima als je een zandbak namaakt van bloem (of zand haha) in een grote platte schaal. Het resultaat ziet er intrigerend uit maar is eigenlijk heel simpel, je giet het eerste laagje erin, laat het opstijven en vervolgens zet je de glazen andersom voor de volgende laag en...Voilá!

Denk er wel om dat je keurig schenkt en geen druppels maakt op de binnenkant, die blijf je zien. Nog een kleine waarschuwing.....wij vinden dit misschien helemaal niet zo lekker... het is namelijk wel erg gelatine-achtig. Amerikanen zijn verslingerd aan hun Jell-O toetjes, (niets meer of minder dan gelatine met een smaakje) en dat is niet helemaal ons idee van een toetje. Ik moet dan ook braaf vermelden dat er maar 2 van de 10 zijn opgegeten....(het geheel leek een beetje op yoghurt met erg stijve jam) maar oooh het zag er wel gaaf uit!! Niet verder vertellen, maar ik ben echt van plan om dit nog een keer te doen en dan te proberen om het gelatine-gevoel te verminderen. Sorry Nancy en kids...jullie waren letterlijk proefkonijn...volgende keer gewoon ijs ofzo?

Bread Baking Babes have Buddies!

We have the name, we have the logo but we're not keeping it all to ourselves. No, any one of you can join if you like and make the recipe we feature, in the week following our posts. We'll be happy to follow your adventures and grant you a Baking Buddies Badge.

If you would like to become a Bread Baking Buddy with us, here’s how it works:

• Each month one of us Babes is The Kitchen of the Month and you will be invited to bake along with us, using the recipe provided. She will mention the due date for posting your Buddy Bread at the end of her post.

• email The Kitchen of the Month with your name, name of the blog and the link to the post, or leave a comment that you have baked the bread.

• post your "baking the bread" experience on your blog with a link to the Kitchen of the Month. No worries if you don't have a blog, send a pic and we'll include you in the round-up

• The Kitchen of the Month will put up a list of our Bread Baking Buddies at her site and send you a neat BBB Badge for this bread that you can then add to your post on your blog.

C'mon, you know you want one of those Badges, so cleverly designed by Lien! (thanks Lien, you're a gem!)

PS: for this month: recipe in Dutch , in English at a lot my fellow Babes.

Bread Baking Babes are born, Kitchen of the Month February

The Babes present themselves. We're Beautiful, Boisterous, Brilliant, Bold, Buxom, Busy, Bewitching, Brash, Bourbon basted, Bread Baking Babes, that's 12 B's. And, as you know, B-12 is one of the essential nutrients that's found in....bread! We've gathered at the opportunity to be called Babes. (Read carefully: I didn't say our *sole* opportunity, I just said the opportunity, as in "one out of many" .... )

Let me explain a little. There are twelve of us, a happy little group with a passion for bread baking. What we share is a love for fun, baking bread and doing so together. Across country, across boundaries, across the internet. We are about the new coffee klatch in our virtual kitchens, the new over-the-fence talk taking place on the Internet, sharing knowledge, helping each other out.

The modern kitchen table may look just like grandma’s except for that laptop sitting next to the coffee cup. Through the magic of Instant Messaging and Skype all of us are chatting over coffee at the kitchen table, baking bread. All our different houses, all our different kitchen tables, same group. You know; a bit like these communities in earlier Europe where all the women of the village bake their bread on one day, share the communal oven, meet at the hearth, gossip and teach each other, sharing their knowledge. Some of us have known each other for different times; some of us have even met in person. Our experience with bread baking may vary but we all share a great passion and fascination for bread at the moment. And so once a month you can find us together in one of our kitchens: yakking, baking and laughing. Same recipe, different kitchens, using local flour and sharing what we found. You can read all about our monthly recipe at the Kitchen of the Month, our individual posts to be found at our respective personal blogs.

Let me introduce you our Baker's Dozen:

A Fridge Full of Food (Glenna, Alumni Babe), Bake My Day (Karen), Cookie Baker Lynn (Lynn), I Like to Cook (Sara), Living on Bread and Water (Monique), Lucullian Delights (Ilva), My Kitchen in Half Cups (Tanna), Notitie van Lien (Lien), The Sour Dough (Mary aka Breadchick), Thyme of Cooking (Katie), Canela and Comino (Gretchen).

We remember Sher at What Did You Eat (our Angel Babe, we miss her).

Our first combined effort is a bread in the "wet dough spectrum"; specifically the Royal Crown Tortano. (Recipe Maggie Glezer’s Artisan Baking) Characteristics of this bread are: a mild pre-ferment, the addition of a small amount of potato in the dough, very very long rising time but little handling of the dough, using the tiniest amount of yeast to produce a deep dark brown crusty loaf of bread.

The time required for this recipe: 19 hours.....effectively 20 minutes of active work. My kitchen was Kitchen of the Month February and I am supposed to give you the full recipe here. But... I don't want to discourage you with an even lengthier post so you can find the recipe in English at Mary's. I've made this bread several times before and already posted the recipe in Dutch and talked about the bread here and here.

You'd like a slice? Visit our Kitchens! It's warm and comfy in here, have a seat.

Weathered hearts for Valentine

No heart survives life without a little wear and tear. There's beauty in those hearts, they get this patina, flexibility, and show signs of being used. That's a good thing. It's a good thing when you remember to take the battery out, replace it and get your laptop to work again and make this post in time for Valentines Day. It didn't.

I used my grandmother's molds for making oh so sweet heartshaped Dutch treats. I remember using them in her kitchen, on the granite kitchen counter and she helped me pour the sugar and cream mixture in. Some of the clasps that hold the hearts together were lost but I used paperclips to seal and that worked.

Simple recipe for "borstplaat":
500 gr. granulated sugar
200 ml single cream

seeds of 1 vanilla bean
optional: food colouring (or any other flavourings you like instead of vanilla)

Cook sugar and cream together to soft ball stage (114C or 240F), stir every once in a while, mixture goes from clear to cloudy white and gets thicker. In the meantime scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean in a bowl. Let the mixture cool slightly and pour into the bowl while stirring.

Now, if you are using metal molds like I did, wet them with a brush with water and set them on a silicon baking mat. Let cool to an almost solid (this will go from liquid to solid in an instant, watch it!), just pourable mass and pour this into your waiting molds. Leave to set for something like an hour or so, when the surface is dry and hard to the touch, set them on one side to let the bottoms dry as well. (I remember doing that when I was like 6 or so). I don't think she used all cream, you can make this with water only which will make a more brittle heart (!) or milk as well.This concoction is called Borstplaat in Dutch, fondant or fudge if you like, the word translates to something like "breast sheet"..... Isn't that just so Valentine?

Slap your dough, a method

Richard Bertinet shows this method in his book "Dough" and live on the free DVD that comes with the book as well. I'd heard from this book, his shop and the hands-on classes he gives. Saw his book in the shop. Looked at it. Put it down again. Walked away. Who needs yet another bread book. Second visit to the shop, looked at the book, walked away with it. It seems I needed another bread book.

His doughs are quite wet, flour/liquid about 70%.
White dough recipe:

8oz/10g yeast, fresh if possible
1lb 2oz/500g strong bread flour
8oz/10g salt
12oz/350g water

Start with all ingredients in a large bowl. Mix with hands or dough scraper until all flour is moistened. Turn out on to an unfloured worktop. Yes, that is bare kitchen counter!
Next is messy (no pics here...) where you gather the mixture with your hands, using just your fingers as a kind of forks, pull it up like this: this is a little further in the process where the dough is becoming more coherent and somewhat less messy to work with, hands are getting cleaner.
and then slap it, really slap it, on the surface again. It is sticky enough to stay there and you can pull it up again and
fold it over onto itself like so:
turn the dough a quarter (or grab it the other way round) and repeat the pull-slap-fold again.
pull it against the counter to get that surface tension and repeat steps, you can feel the dough coming together and really see it puffing up; all that air trapped inside makes it supple, light and almost growing as you work it. It'll take less time than the traditional method; 5-10 minutes tops.

Resulting dough ball, ready to rise. True, this looks kind of messy (and to be honest, it is) but it is less troublesome and takes less time than kneading the old way by pushing and pulling where you (I) get dough up to your armpits. It's a good work-out as well, and I secretly smile at the thought of my first -and only- dough workshop where the baker in charge tried to convince us to slap the dough on the counter.... Believe it or not, the man was called: Meelmuts! (Flour cap). Apparently the man knew what he was doing, too bad he missed the flair, the good looks and marketability of Mr. Bertinet!

Knowing me and my fear of getting my hands dirty, this isn't exactly something I looked forward to trying...I did and was sold. First time I used it was on a 70% whole wheat dough which wasn't coming together. I had it in my stand mixer, and it wasn't going to get better than a sloppy gooey mass. Turned it out and followed above steps... lo and behold... magic dough. So I repeated it using Bertinet's white dough recipe and, convinced, decided to show you.

I'm not sure about the book yet, at first glance I was mesmerized (pics! beauty breads!) but when I discovered that he derives his breads from maybe 3 recipes and varies with shapes and additions...Hmm. On the other hand, isn't that what we all do, more or less? I like the method, I like the shapes he is showing, and I love the step by step pics and handy dandy charts of how things are supposed to look. Golden brown? Dark brown? It's all there. Haven't baked much yet out of this book but that will follow soon I hope.

Oh and another thing; Mr Bertinet gets all floury while kneading! YEAH! Unlike some other man kneading....

Fun and facts, a meme

A meme brought to me and you by Naomi of Straight into bed cake free and dried and Stephanie at Cupcake, my love. Naomi tagged me for 7 random things and Stephanie for 5 fun facts.
I took the liberty of combining the two, for fear that I can't come up with 12 curiosities that you would like to know about me...

1.
that's a whole lot of numbers up there, and I know for a fact that numbers aren't my thing at all. If there was something like "dyscalculia" when I was the age of my children I'm sure someone had diagnosed me as a minor case. As a matter of fact, when I was talking to one of my neighbours a couple of years ago and I failed to point in the right direction (not knowing left from right) he asked me if I could read my watch right.
I laughed and said well ...eh .. no, my watches always need to have numbers or at least pointers on the dial. He furthermore questioned me about my ability to do math.... which is near to none. He said: well, that figures. Those things are connected. And left me standing speechless.
He was/is a practising psychiatrist.....

2.
Three kids and no career. Fun fact. Especially when people used to think it would be the other way round for me. I remember once dutifully oohing and aahing when a co-workers showed her newborn baby and walking back to my office one of my other co-workers said to me: you really don't like children do you? Well I think I do like children, just not all children. Or maybe I just learned how to over the years.

3.
Ever waltzed into a wedding reception, chin up, head high with your skirt tucked in your panty hose?
Yup, been there, done that.

4.
I'm a creature of habit.
NOT
Never been able to do things twice in the same way. No traditions in this house that I can think off. Only habit I am a creature of is smoking. Yuck! Wish I could get rid of that one! Although I am fairly happy that I was able not to recreate nr. 3.

5.
Scents take me back in time. My memory of things past is not great but smelling something can transport me back and show me a mind picture of when, where, and what.

6.
I have a very large head. Or a big mass of hair. Whichever you choose. (I prefer the latter or maybe it's both which is even worse I guess). Fact is that I can almost never find hats that are big enough to wear comfortably. It's a good thing I wasn't born when women were supposed to wear hats at all times.

7.
Yes, that's me. Red jacket, big head, lots of hair.

8.
when re-reading the introduction I noticed that I stated that the 7 random and 5 fun combined were 13.. need I say more?

- Lien, I don't know if you've ever done this one, but you're on girl!
- Marli, here's one for you as well! (Nieuw blog, nieuwe ronde?)
- Kansas, I've been reading you for a while now and love it, in for a meme?
- Jes, care to join the 7 or 5?
- New to me blogger, Kickin' up Dough, play along?

For the rules to these memes I gladly refer you to the two ladies on top of this page. It's about how to play, what to do, who to tag...

I need help! (Caramel Walnut Torte)

There is something wrong with my all time favourite sweet recipe! This tart is something I don't make too often because I'm likely to carry it off, hide me and my tart in a dark corner and eat it all in one sitting.

That's pretty bad for someone who considers herself a real savory person. It's caramel, walnuts, chewy with a nice crust. Caramel. Chewy. Observation: caramel is like bacon. No really. It makes almost everything better. (oh..caramel and bacon pancakes...yum!)

Well, obviously I made it several times before, and I gave it away as many times, got rave reviews and wrote the recipe for the people that begged for it. I started a new recipe book and in copying and writing down the recipes I'd like to keep, I think I've made a mistake somewhere.

Now, it's not a sophisticated recipe, nothing fancy, just caramel and walnuts in a pate sucré crust but I love it and I want it back!

So, I'll give the recipe as I have it here, would you be so kind to take a look at it?

For the dough:

175 gr ap flour/pastry flour

150 gr soft white sugar

pinch of salt

125 gr cold butter in small pieces

Combine in the bowl of your food processor and pulse until mixture is crumbly and holds when pressed together. Divide in two and flatten into disks. Rest in fridge until thoroughly chilled. Roll out to line a 20 cm tart pan. Two rounds, one bottom and one top layer.

For the filling:

125 gr sugar

1 tbs hot water

125 ml single cream

100 gr walnuts, chopped

pinch of salt

knob of butter

In a heavy bottomed saucepan heat sugar until it's caramellized. Add 1 tbs of hot water (be careful for hot splatters) and add cream while stirring continuously. Add chopped walnuts and the knob of butter, leave on heat for two more minutes while stirring. Pour filling onto bottom layer, fold overhanging edge inwards and top with second layer. Pinch edges with a fork.

Bake in preheated oven (175C) for 45 minutes.

This is what happened! Flavour is still amazing but I need an electric drill to get it out, edges are very very toothbreaking hard. I happily ate a eehrm.. quarter while it was still luke warm but I fear the result when it's cold. Ouch!

What's wrong? Temperature? Too long in the oven? Caramel to dark to begin with? Or maybe it's the pan I baked it it. It's a tad too large, meaning that the layers are too thin to shield and support the caramel and caused overheating and leaking?