Just Baking

Madagascar Vanilla from the Spice House

Sandy Smith — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 05:48:34 +0000

Recently, I had the opportunity to sample a vanilla extract product from the Spice House, a self-identified “mom and pop” spice purveyor from the American Midwest. The Spice House celebrated fifty years in business in 2007, and after trying their double-strength Madagascar vanilla extract, it’s easy to see why.

I admit that I don’t always use top-shelf ingredients in my baking. When purchasing ingredients, I try to judge on the merit of the product itself and its intended application. There are some recipes where key ingredients must be of exceptional quality in order for the end product to succeed. There are other recipes where the flavor profile is less exacting, the individual elements less nuanced, so you don’t need to break out the best just because it seems de rigueur.

Let me give you an example. This week, I made two items that both required vanilla extract: cranberry almond granola bars and creme brulee. In the former, the vanilla is just one among many flavors, one layer in a conglomerate of more dominant flavors - cranberries, almonds, honey. For this recipe, I wouldn’t hesitate to use an economical but reputable mass-market brand of pure vanilla extract.

The creme brulee, on the other hand, is another story altogether. In this dessert, the vanilla must be excellent, because it is cast in the starring role. It is the diva! There’s no camouflaging poor flavoring when it’s square in the center of the spotlight, as it is in this classic custard. Therefore, I thought this would be the ideal vehicle in which to test-drive the Spice House’s version of Madagascar vanilla.

Because it is double strength, I used half of what the recipe calls for. It is a testiment to the quality of this product that half was perfectly sufficient. (This, of course, enhances the economy of this product. It’s not quite as costly if the bottle lasts twice as long as the store-shelf stuff.)

Upon first opening the bottle, I was immediately aware of the difference between this product and the run-of-the-mill mass-market products. The scent of this Madagascar vanilla is clean, true, and minus the almost molasses undertones that tend to be present in store-shelf vanilla extracts.

Because creme brulee has so few ingredients and I used no other flavoring agents, the vanilla was paramount on tasting. And from the first silky bite to the last, I was aware of subtleties that I’d never quite credited to vanilla before. Going forward, I’ll never think of vanilla as bland again. This flavor was fully developed and luxurious, as simultaneously simple and sophisticated as the custard that it lent its savor to.

I was sorry to see the last of the creme brulee but consoled by the possibilities the remainder of the bottle presented. And if the other spices in my sample box are even half as delightful as the Madagascar vanilla extract, I can hardly wait to dig in and start exploding my previously held expectations for those old favorites.

Photo of Madagascar Vanilla Extract courtesy of the Spice House.

Photo of Creme Brulee by me.

At the Baker’s Bench: Nonessential (but Handy) Tools

Sandy Smith — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 19:41:49 +0000

The last time we were at the Baker’s Bench together, we took a look at the essential tools every baker should have in his or her arsenal. This week, we’ll explore some tools that are wonderfully helpful and great to have but not necessarily critical to successful baking in the home kitchen.

With so many tools on the market, there are bound to be items that you find useful and fun, and maybe even some that you’ve come to rely on, that I’ve left off the list. When it comes to preferences, though, every home baker is different, and since we all work in different kitchens under different circumstances, we’re all bound to have our pet utensils and special helps. If you have a favorite baking tool or gadget that you just can’t seem to do without, drop me a comment and tell us about it!

Optional Equipment

Deep-dish and regular pizza pans
Additional sheet and baking pans of each essential size (1)
Novelty pans for decorated cakes
8-, 9-, and 10-inch springform pans
Tart pan with removable bottom
6-cup jumbo muffin pan
Mini-muffin pan
Silpat in various sizes and/or parchment paper to line baking sheets
2-piece tube pan
Citrus reamer
Cookie and biscuit cutters
Pastry blender
Pastry wheel
Candy thermometer
Offset spatulas
Ultrathin cookie spatula
Digital scale for small measures
Beam balance for large measures
Instant-read stem thermometer
Bench knife
Lame (blade affixed to a handle)
Melon baller
Mandoline
Serrated slicing knives
Kitchen shears
Apple corer
Tongs
Food mill, food processor, immersion blender
Couche, bannetons (for bread making)
Peel (for pizza, breads)
Baking stone or tile
Pastry bags, piping tips, decorating combs
Mister
Ice cream machine

When selecting cookie sheets, keep in mind that there should be 2 inches of space on all sides of the sheet when it is sitting on the oven shelf, for air circulation. If your oven is big enough, you can go with the 17-inch x 14-inch sheet for your large size. If not, choose 16- x 14-inch, or even 15- x 13-inch, pans. Medium cookie sheets can be the next size down from your large sheets, or significantly smaller; it’s up to you.

Silicone bakeware is flexible and may be difficult to maneuver into and out of the oven. Additionally, some types of batter have a tendency to stick to the surface of the silicone bakeware.

If choosing Pyrex bakeware, select the clear, untinted variety so you can easily see how well your crusts are browning.

Roasted Plum Tsimmes

Sandy Smith — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 13:01:27 +0000

Looking for something a little different to add to your Rosh Hashanah table this year? I developed this spin on a classic Tsimmes recipe for my dear friend Deborah. I chose foods that, to me, represented the symbolic elements celebrated at Rosh Hashanah: “sweetness, roundness, and fullness.”

Shana Tovah!

Roasted Plum Tsimmes with Honey-Apple Juice Reduction

In my adaptation of the classic dish, I chose to cut the traditional carrots into coins (roundness), to use plums (fullness, roundness), and to incorporate both honey and apple juice (sweetness).

4 medium carrots, washed and peeled
4 purple or red plums (not Italian)
1-inch-piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and coarsely ground pepper to taste
1/2 cup apple juice
2 tablespoons honey
1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon butter or margarine (optional)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts, toasted (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice carrots into coins with a crinkle cutteror a regular chef’s knife. Place in a medium mixing bowl.
Using a very sharp paring knife, cut around the circumference of the plums, going all the way down to the pit. Taking one half in each hand, twist gently and the fruit will separate into halves. Remove pit with the tip of the paring knife. Slice plums and add slices to carrots in bowl.
Sprinkle grated ginger over carrots and plum slices; drizzle with olive oil. Season to taste with kosher salt and pepper; toss to coat evenly.
Line a baking sheet with foil and spray or brush with oil. Pour carrot mixture out onto baking sheet and spread into a single layer. Roast at 400 degrees F until fork tender, about 15 minutes, turning over once with a wide spatula.
While the carrots and plums are roasting, prepare the honey-apple juice reduction sauce. Place apple juice in a small saucepan and stir in honey and lemon juice.
Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Lower heat to medium-low and let simmer actively until the sauce is reduced by half and is somewhat syrupy, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter or margarine, if using.
Place roasted carrot mixture in a serving bowl and pour sauce over. Garnish with toasted chopped walnuts if desired. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 4 to 6 side-dish servings.

Photos by me.

Cranberry-Orange-White Chocolate Chip Scones

Sandy Smith — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 14:06:39 +0000

Of the countless versions of basic scone recipes out there, I tend to like cream scones, which I find stay fresh and moist a bit longer than the butter-based variety. Because scones are at their best eaten soon after they leave the oven, I like to bake these right before I serve them. Because they come together so quickly, that’s not usually a problem.

When I recently was called upon to bring scones for forty to a tea party, I simply prepped the dry ingredients the night before, then mixed and baked them the morning of. This recipe lends itself particularly well to that method. If you have leftovers, don’t refrigerate them, which hastens staling. Wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and store them on the countertop for a day or two. For longer storage, wrap and place in a resealable plastic bag and place in the freezer.

Cranberry-Orange-White Chocolate Chip Scones

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 teaspoon orange extract
1 1/4 cups heavy cream or whipping cream
1 egg, beaten
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling, optional

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
Combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl. Add white chocolate chips and dried cranberries; toss to combine. Stir orange extract into cream and pour cream over dry ingredients. Mix just until dough clings together. Flour hands and fold - don’t knead - dough over a few turns until it coheres. (You really do not want to overhandle the dough - just pat it into shape. Kneading will develop the gluten in the flour and give you tough scones.)
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter). Cut into 8 or 10 wedges or use a circular biscuit cutter to cut into rounds.
Place scones on baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.
Brush scones with beaten egg; sprinkle with sugar if desired. Bake for about 15 minutes, until tops and bottoms are golden.
Let scones cool slightly on rack; serve warm or at room temperature.

Makes 8 to 10 scones.
Picture by me.

Lemon-Poppy Cream Scones

Sandy Smith — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:36:49 +0000

Whenever I’m called on to bring a baked good to a gathering, my thoughts immediately turn to scones. They’re easy, delicious, extremely versatile, and quick to make. That combination of characteristics make them one of my favorite go-to recipes. This version, Lemon-Poppy, features the nutty flavor of poppyseeds rounding out the mild citrus of lemon zest. If you like, you can increase the amount of lemon extract or zest for a more intense flavor.

Although cream scones are relatively moist and stay fresh for at least a day or two on the countertop, they come together so fast that I always make them right before I need them. And arguably, fresher is much, much better. Refrigerating these (and most other baked goods) will hasten staling, so keep them on the counter or freeze them if you must store them for future use.

The cream in this recipe acts as both fat and liquid, so please don’t try to substitute it with a lower-fat version - the results will be disappointing.

Lemon-Poppy Cream Scones

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons poppyseeds

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1 teaspoon pure lemon extract

1 1/4 cups heavy cream or whipping cream, plus additional for brushing

For Topping

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

Combine flour, 1/4 cup sugar, baking powder, salt, and poppyseeds in a mixing bowl. Stir lemon zest and lemon extract into cream and pour over dry ingredients. Mix just until dough clings together. Flour hands and fold - don’t knead - dough over a few turns until it coheres. (You really do not want to overhandle the dough - just pat it into shape. Kneading will develop the gluten in the flour and give you tougher scones.)

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat or roll into a 1-inch-thick round (about 8 inches in diameter). Cut into 8 or 10 wedges or use a circular biscuit cutter to cut into rounds.

Place scones on baking sheet, spacing them about an inch apart.

Brush scones with cream. Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle evenly over scones. Bake for about 15 minutes, until tops and bottoms are golden.

Let scones cool slightly on rack; serve warm or at room temperature.

Make 8 to 10 scones

Picture by me.

Baker-Writers Wanted

Sandy Smith — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 05:51:08 +0000

Seized with a burning desire to tell everyone about what’s coming out of your oven these days? Now’s your chance! If you love to bake (cakes, cookies, pies, souffles, tarts, casseroles, quiches, roasts, vegetables, custards, breads, whatever goes into the oven!) and have some writing or blogging experience, why not consider joining the Just Baking team?

Just drop us a note at info@wellfed.net and let us know a bit about yourself (writing and/or blogging experience, including the URLs of any blogs you currently write for; what kinds of things you like to bake; what your level of baking expertise is — from beginner to pro, we’ll learn from you or alongside you).

If you have an enthusiasm for baking that keeps your oven hot, and enough passion about it to share your recipes and photos with others, we hope to hear from you!

Dorie’s Rugelach

Sandy Smith — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 13:48:56 +0000

Several years ago, when I was in high school, I worked at a little gourmet deli in a very well-known town. We had a sandwich station, of course, and perhaps 8 or 10 barrels filled with different types of coffee beans that customers could grind themselves, and the owner/chef made all her own salads, sauces, and soups. It was altogether very charming.

Opposite the deli counter stood the bakery case, where thick slices of iced poppyseed and marble cake stood next to piles of airy scones, softball-sized muffins, crackle-crusted hard rolls, and some of the best rugelach in the county. And up until recently, that was the extent of my experience with rugelach - those apricot and walnut pastry rolls that flew out of our store as fast as we could stock them, it seemed.

When I found myself with several pounds of cream cheese on hand, I set off on a search for ways to use it up before it expired. Sure, there were conventional recipes - but I didn’t really want to do a cheesecake, and after I’d made eggplant rollatini and coffee cakes and countless cream-cheese-and-jelly sandwiches, I was intrigued by a recipe I found in Dorie Greenspan’s epic Baking: From My Home to Yours, a rugelach pastry that required cream cheese. Why not? I thought. I gathered my ingredients and set off.

The recipe isn’t complicated, but there are certain steps that will make the process and the end result much more pleasant.

The dough is quite soft and sticky. Be sure to flour your surfaces and use waxed paper when rolling out the dough.

The dough triangles will be easier to handle if you don’t roll them too thin, but the thinner the pastry layer, the more pleasing the texture of the rugelach will be once it is baked. Experiment with rolling your dough as thin as possible; practice makes perfect!

Per Dorie’s suggestion, a pizza wheel works beautifully for cutting the dough - be sure to use a plastic wheel if you are cutting on a silicone mat.

Chop your nuts and chocolate into small bits to make rolling the crescents easier.

I used seedless raspberry jam, chopped Ghirardelli baking chocolate (60 percent), omitted the called-for currants, and chose walnuts over almonds. Feel free, though, to eliminate the chocolate if you wish, or to vary the flavor of jam and type of nuts. Experimenting with these ingredients is half the fun!

The exact recipe, which appears on pages 150-152 of Baking: From My Home to Yours, can be found online here, along with some of Dorie’s cookie-baking tips.

Photos by me.

At the Baker’s Bench: Essential Tools

Sandy Smith — Wed, 17 Sep 2008 13:59:41 +0000

For the first installment of At the Baker’s Bench (AtBB), I thought I’d start at the very beginning: the baker’s arsenal of essential tools. You might be surprised at some of the items you’ll find in this list, and at some of the items I’ve left out. The key word is essential, and some tools might be extremely useful but not essential.

In the interest of highlighting those tools that you must have on your “baker’s bench” to get started, I’m going to omit those handy-but-not-critical items from this list. We’ll save those for a future installment.

Numbered notes follow the list, to explain preferences and offer suggestions. I’ve left the most obvious piece of equiptment - an oven - off the list, assuming that one’s a given. I generally don’t recommend specific brands, though if I have personal experience, positive or negative, with a product, I might mention that.

Essential Tools

Hanging oven thermometer (1)

Stainless steel mixing bowls of various sizes ~ at least small, medium, and large

Measuring cups and spoons for liquid and dry measurements (2)

Set of sharp kitchen knives for chopping and paring

Handheld or stand mixer

Whisk

Sturdy wooden spoons

Rolling pin

Fine sieve for sifting (3)

Grater/microplane zester

Oven mitts or pot holders (4)

10- x 15-inch nonstick rimmed jelly roll pan (5)

Large nonstick cookie sheet

Medium nonstick cookie sheet

9- x 13-inch baking pan

9-inch square baking pan

2 8- or 9-inch round cake pans

8 1/2- x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan

9- x 5-inch loaf pan

12-cup muffin pan

10-cup Bundt pan

9-inch deep-dish pie plate (6)

Footed cooling racks

Silicone spatulas and pastry brushes (7)

A calibrated oven thermometer is a must. It doesn’t matter if your oven is a top-of-the-line late-model AGA or a thirty-year-old Frigidaire . . . there’s no way to know if it’s accurate unless you have a thermometer.

I like to have at least two sets of both; that way, if a recipe calls for a lot of measuring, I don’t have to wash cups and spoons midway through.

Using a mechanical sifter is either a great fist workout or a sure way to bring on carpal tunnel syndrome, whichever way you want to look at it. Either way, I dislike it. It’s much easier to put the ingredient to be sifted in a fine sieve, hold the sieve over the mixing bowl, and tap it gently against the heel of your hand.

I like the new silicone oven mitts by Orka. They come in petite through large sizes, various colors, and are equally effective wet and dry. They resist heat up to about 450 degrees F.

I’ve called for one pan in each of the major sizes here - the barest minimum. A better idea is to invest in two each of the sizes you use most. Gradually build up your collection by purchasing pans as you need them. You can do without a jelly roll pan until you find a recipe that calls for one, but you may find yourself in need of two large cookie sheets from the get-go.

I have used all kinds of pie pans - my favorites are those made by Pyrex. Easy to clean and they cook the crust evenly all the way through. A plus for the Pyrex - you can bake a pie or quiche, store it in the same pan (won’t convey a metallic taste, unlike some metal pie pans), then reheat it in the microwave or oven.

As soon as I tried the new silicone pastry brushes, I immediately discarded all my bristle brushes. I always harbored a suspicion that they were never completely clean - all those tightly-packed bristles . . . all that raw egg. But the silicone brushes do a great job of distributing liquid, from egg wash to barbecue sauce, and you can throw them right into the dishwasher. Love them!

Welcome to the Baker’s Bench!

Sandy Smith — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 13:08:40 +0000

School is in the air! What a great time to learn something new about our favorite activity in the kitchen, apart from eating. With this in mind, I’m putting together a new series of posts collectively titled At the Baker’s Bench. This series will feature informative posts explaining techniques, terms, recipes, and tools that will help you to expand your repertoire of skills as a baker whether you’ve been baking for years or are just getting dough under your nails for the first time.

We’ll learn about things like yeast: What’s the difference between bread machine yeast and instant yeast and can one be substituted for the other? (Answer: There is no difference; they’re the same item, so yes.) Yeast breads are a bit tricky, but only until you learn a few essential steps - and we’ll present them here, At the Baker’s Bench.

We’ll take an in-depth look at terms, both familiar and unfamiliar, that you will see repeatedly as you pore over recipes in baking books: bain marie, mandoline, dough docker, pastry cloth, blind bake. You’ll learn which of the three main types of meringues (soft, hard, Italian) to use on a baked Alaska (soft), and why. And if you don’t already know that castor, invert, Demerara, and turbinado are types of sugar, you will! Plus, you’ll learn the best applications for each one.

If you’ve always been vexed by a particular baking problem, tune in. We’ll cover cracked cheesecakes, cone-shaped muffins and quickbreads with ledges on their edges, and cakes with tunnels and runnels.

If you have a question you’d like to see answered, please comment here or on any future At the Baker’s Bench post, and I’ll do my best to track down an answer. Same goes for topic ideas you’d like to see explored in this series.

I’m excited to set off on this journey of learning, and I invite you to come along! Look for a new post in this series every first and third Wednesday of the month. I hope you’ll step up to the Baker’s Bench with me!

Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia

Sandy Smith — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 12:30:25 +0000

Fragrant Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia is the perfect accompaniment to soups and salads. This is a flexible, forgiving recipe, so even if you don’t have much experience with yeast breads, you’ll have a hit with this one. Don’t worry if you don’t have fresh rosemary on hand. Feel free to substitute parsley, thyme, or oregano—whatever suits the dish you’ll be serving it with. And that goes for the cheese, too. This is lovely with almost any grated hard cheese, or even a good crumbled blue cheese. Serve it warm, fresh from the oven.

Rosemary Parmesan Focaccia

4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 envelope (.25 ounce) quick-rise yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons olive oil

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

11/4 cups very warm water

3 to 4 sprigs fresh rosemary, rinsed and patted dry

Extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese

Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper

Combine 4 cups all-purpose flour, quick-rise yeast, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a large mixing bowl. Stir to distribute yeast. Add olive oil, vegetable oil, and water to dry ingredients in bowl. Using a wooden spoon, stir until the mixture comes together into a soft dough.

If your bowl is large enough, you can knead the dough directly in the bowl. Sprinkle the surface of the dough and your hand with flour, and knead for a few minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Brush the surface of the dough lightly with oil and cover the bowl with a cloth. Place in a warm area free from drafts to let rise.

Let dough rise until it is at least double in size. (With quick-rise yeast, this will take between 30 and 45 minutes, depending on the temperature of the place it is rising in.) In the meantime, prepare the topping ingredients. Strip enough fresh rosemary leaves from their stems to equal approximately 2 to 3 tablespoons. Chop rosemary.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly oil a 15-inch x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.

Place the dough in the oiled pan and use your hands to stretch it to fit. Lightly brush the dough with extra-virgin olive oil. Sprinkle dough evenly with chopped rosemary, chopped garlic, shredded Parmesan cheese, coarse salt, and freshly ground black pepper. Bake at 450 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes, until golden brown. Serve warm or at room temperature.Makes 15 to 20 pieces.