Daring Baker September 2011: Croissants

The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!

This is our second go at making Croissants, the first was in June 1 using the recipe in The Vegan Boulangerie (which I am embarrassed to realize I never posted about.) One of our issues with the results of that experiment was that the pastry ended up being very dense, and not fluffy at all. Allyson, Lila and I discussed trying the recipe again, using the yeasted pastry dough in the same cookbook - then this challenge came up. The recipe provided us was a yeast based pastry, and with a few substitutions (Earth Balance for butter, soy milk for milk and the egg-wash), we were on our way.

Our biggest challenge this month was scheduling - the recipe calls for many periods of different length to let the dough rise. We ended up deciding that I would start the dough on Friday night, and take it to the first "or overnight" resting period, and that we'd pick back up on Saturday morning.

Making the dough was relatively simple, and the biggest concern was getting my counter top clean enough to knead and roll the dough on, as I do not have a cutting board large enough. Once the dough was made, and briefly kneaded, I left it to rise. One variable in the dough is that though the recipe called for a 3 hour rise (or tripled in size), I was out of the house, and did not return to complete the next step for 5 hours. Other than that, we followed the recipe pretty much exactly.

Letting the yeast mixture proof.

Salt and sugar into tepid soy milk.

Yeast mixture and milk mixture added to  the flour.

I floured my counter top as a workspace.

Pastry dough.

Kneaded dough before rising...

... and five hours later.

One thing we noticed on our first croissant making attempt was that we continually had stop rolling and folding the dough to put it in the fridge to chill. Our task was aided this time by a hollow rolling pin my mom found for me - filled with ice and water, our rolling pin was chilled and help keep the dough cold as we worked with it.

Nifty hollow rolling pin - fill with ice and water to keep dough cool.

We ran into a few snags, where the dough tore, or stuck to the pin or the counter, and once or twice the butter that was folded in broke through, but we had better luck with the overall consistency of this dough.

One thing we learned following this recipe, that was unclear from our first attempt, was the rotation of the dough between folding and rolling steps. Not worrying about getting the length needed from the dough by rolling it the same direction each time helped a lot. We still had a problem with elasticity of the dough on the last step, and when we cut our rectangles into squares, then triangles, we found our squares contracted, and were never quite square. This resulted in oddly shaped triangles that we subsequently rolled to make the croissants.

The recipe calls for a lot of folding of the dough.

Fattened stick of butter laid out on the dough.

Rolling the dough and butter mix.

An hour to rise in shape, and then 13 minutes to bake, and my house smelled delicious.

Croissants!

Allowed to rise for 1 hour before baking.

The croissants were flaky and fluffy, though a few still had a dense center, it was no where near as bad as our first attempt with the pastry. My husband, faithful taste-tester noted that they were a little bitter/ salt. I realized the original recipe called for ½ cup unsalted butter, and I used Earth Balance which, a quick check confirmed, is salted. If I were to make this recipe again, I would certainly reduce the amount of salt added to the dough.

The finished product.

I was excited to see the challenge this month, and happy that our results came out so much better than our first attempt at this recipe. Overall, I had a good time, and look forward to making other pastries in the future.

New tools/ ingredients:  Hollow Rolling Pin
Recipes used:  from Daring Baker Challenge
Co-bakers:  Allyson
Date: Sept 24 and 25, 2011

Daring Baker August 2011: Chocolate and Candy

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

The challenge this month required us to make two candies - one of the following chocolate candies:

1. A truffle, dipped or not dipped in chocolate OR
2. A cut (square) dipped chocolate/bonbon OR
3. A filled chocolate/bonbon using a chocolate mold

and a second candy (chocolate or not) of our choice.

We were also provided information on how to temper chocolate, so that any dipped candy came out with a nice shiny finish. Unfortunately we did not have the right thermometer (I learned that a candy thermometer and a chocolate thermometer are two different things) to determine the temperature during the tempering process, so we opted for non-dipped truffles.

Rolled Truffles

We used Lindt dark chocolate, (and two semi-sweet bakers chocolate squares added to get to the right weight), and Silk creamer to make the truffles. Lila and I shaved the chocolate using Allyson's Mandoline slicer, while Allyson heated the creamer. The chocolate melted pretty quickly in the hot liquid, and we stirred it until we got a consistent color.

The makings of the ganache. The Mandoline was handy
to shred the chocolate into smaller pieces.

Chocolate flakes into the near boiling creamer.

The chocolate and creamer - turning colors
- when it was a consistent color, it was done.

The recipe we were working with (provided with the DB challenge) said to let the chocolate sit until it was room temperature, or refrigerate it if we were dipping it in chocolate. Because we did not have gloves to keep our body heat from the chocolate, we decide to refrigerate it. We spread the chocolate out over a plate and left half in the pan, to provide more surface area for it to cool.

Spreading the chocolate ganache
on a plate to let it cool faster.

It was pretty easy to determine when the chocolate ganache was at the right consistency to roll, though we learned quickly that the body heat does play a role. Allyson's hands were too warm to roll the chocolate, so we set her to preparing the toppings to roll the finished truffles. Lila had the coolest hands, and the easiest time rolling the little balls of chocolate.

Naked truffles - and one with coconut.

We prepared a variety of toppings - toasted almonds, toasted cashews, dry flaked coconut, cocoa powder and matcha (green tea) powder. We found the toppings stuck more easily if we warmed the truffle in our hands first, making the chocolate sticky.

Toppings for the truffles.Cocoa powder,
ground toasted cashews, dried coconut flakes,
and ground toasted almonds.
We added Matcha, as well.

Finished Truffles - various toppings.

These candies were surprisingly easy, and the dark chocolate gave them a distinctive flavor. I realized after the fact that we should have probably used mini-muffin pan liners to place the individual chocolates in, to keep them from rolling into each other. Also, I look forward to working with a vegan milk - chocolate (even if we have to make an approximation ourselves) - the dark chocolate is a little bitter to me, and I'd love to get a milder flavor by working with the chocolate to see what we can do. (Though a quick Internet search tells me that Terra Nostra makes Ricemilk choco bars - I'll have to experiment with these...)

Turkish Delight

Water, sugar and lemon juice make
the first mixture for Turkish Delight.

The mix simmers until it reaches 240
on the candy thermometer,
or "Soft Ball"

The mix comes out clear.

For our second candy, we opted to make Turkish Delight, using a recipe we found at vegan-food.net. In preparation to make this candy, I had to call around town to find rosewater. Our local kitchen specialty store was out, and our two local supermarkets didn't carry it. Luckily I found it at Mother Earth market, though when I got there I was honestly surprised to find that it was shelved in the beauty products aisle. The clerk assured me it was food safe, and I was amused that the packaging suggested uses for it as a perfume, added to hair rinse, and a few other beauty uses, "or a gourmet flavoring."

Allyson provided the candy thermometer we used. The recipe is looks deceptively simple. I say this because the amount of stirring required by the recipe is tortuous. I would definitely recommend either working with someone who can switch out the stirring duties, or finding a way to automate the stirring
(I am pondering if there is anyway I can get my stand mixer close enough to the stove to let it do the "heavy lifting" on this recipe.

Once we tasted the end results, we discovered that we didn't do enough stirring - or that the heat we used to simmer was too low, or a combination thereof. We ended up with slightly lumpy Turkish delight, but the rosewater flavor was very refreshing, despite the odd consistency.

We let the delight sit overnight in the refrigerator, and used an oiled knife to slice it. This made the candy easy to cut - the entire thing was sticky. And while the recipe didn't call for food coloring, we added two drops of red food coloring gel to get a nice (well, flesh colored) pink.

The last step was to coat the candy in confectioners sugar - but the delight was too sticky, I think, because after a day the sugar had dissolved in the goo of the candy. We have taken to shaking each individual piece in a bag of confectioners sugar before we eat it. I would love to work with this recipe again to try different flavors, to try drying out the candy before coating it to prevent the confectioners sugar from dissolving, and to try to get those darn lumps out.

Cream of tartar, cornstarch and water
is the second half
of the mix. It starts liquidy.

When we first added the sugar water mix
we thought it wasn't going to blend well.

The second mixture simmered and stirred,
is done when it is the consistency of glue.

An hour of simmering later, it all came together.

A few drops of red food coloring added in at the same time
as the rosewater to get a nice pink.

Into a pan with greased wax paper to cool overnight.

Turkish delight out of the pan and onto
a cutting board with powdered sugar on it.

Slicing the Turkish Delight. A sticky mess.

Individual pieces into a mix of powdered sugar and cornstarch.

Finished Turkish Delight.

Overall, this was a fun challenge, and has whetted our appetite to try making our own candy.

New tools/ ingredients: rosewater, candy thermometer, mandoline slicer, soy creamer

Recipes used: Truffles from Daring Baker Challenge, modified; Turkish Delight Recipe 2 from vegan-food.net

Co-bakers: Allyson, Lila

Date: August 23 and 24, 2011

Daring Baker July 2011: Fresh Fraisier

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers' host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elizabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

I handled this challenge solo, due to time constraints (read putting off actually baking this month). The host was kind to provide links to a vegan pastry cream recipe (which I used) and a vegan sponge cake recipe - this was also a gluten-free recipe, however, and I did not have nearly enough variety in flour on-hand that this recipe called for, so I instead went with a simpler recipe that called for self-rising flour, which I did have on hand.

Batter into the pans

Two sponge cakes

Rather than making one cake and cutting it in half, I made two cakes in 8" cake pans. While those cooled, I made the pastry cream. I was surprised at how thick it became. The first few minutes of stirring I thought that it would never hold up, but after about 5 minutes over heat, the mixture began to thicken nicely.

Pastry cream - thickening nicely.

The pastry cream went in the refrigerator, and I set to slicing the fruit I was going to use, and lining a spring-form cake pan with cling wrap. Getting it to go only around the side was trickier than I would have thought, but I managed. This was just one of the moments I wished I had a second (or third) set of hands to help. Also, because there were 5 parts to this month's challenge (the cake, the pastry cream, the simple syrup, the fresh fruit, and the marzipan topping) I'm sure a lot of time could have been saved overall if we could have made some of these at the same time.

I sliced strawberries and washed blue-berries. I had a second lemon that I didn't need for the zest / juice called for in the pastry cream, so I sliced off the rinds, and cut them into half-circle slices.

One cake went in the bottom of the spring form pan, and as I coated it with the syrup I was dismayed to see how much space there was between the cake and the edges of the pan (and the cling wrap). I pressed on, layering fruit against the cling wrap strawberry - blueberries - strawberry - lemon; repeat. Next the came the pasty cream. It was a bit too thick for piping, and the parchment paper piping bag I had made came apart, I ended up spooning the cream in place, then adding the layer of strawberries and blueberries to the middle, and covering them with most of the remainder of the cream.

1st layer is cake - a large gap around the edge :-|

Pressing on with fresh fruit. Yum.

Cream and more fruit for the middle.

The next layer was the other cake, and once it was in place, I could still see the fruit around the edges, sticking out from the sides. I pressed on. Syrup on the cake, then the remainder of the cream. I colored the marzipan pink as the main color in the sides will be strawberries. I rolled it out, and managed to transfer it onto the top using a few tricks I picked up in my cake decorating class working with fondant. Not perfect, but better than I could have managed a few weeks ago.

Another cake, and some cream as adhesive.

Pink Marzipan. Not quite circular, but close.

Marzipan on the top.

I trimmed the edge of the marzipan, and placed my Fraisier in the refrigerator. I have not had a chance yet to share it with my friends, and I am afraid that somehow the vegan pastry cream, or the mis-match of fruit I used, or the space between the cake and the cling wrap will make my dessert fall to pieces, so I don't want to remove the side until we are going to eat it, tomorrow. I'll post pictures of the finished sides (hopefully not as bad as I fear) once we eat them.

I am looking forward to seeing how this tastes as well.

Cake Decorating

I am currently in the second class of the Wilton three class series for cake decorating. Here are some pictures of what I learned in the classes so far, and how I've applied what I've learned out of class.

Class 1- Decorating Basics

Week 3: Filled and decorate cupcakes. Learned drop flowers, and the tip for filling. I had store-bought Bavarian chocolate filling (the pudding I made was too thin). I made strawberry cupcakes. I ended up giving them all away without tasting, though I was told there wasn't much filling in them.

Cupcakes from class - shaggy mums, drop flowers and leaves.

Week 4: Brought a cake to class. We learned roses, and writing, then had time to decorate the cake. We used piping gel in one frosting (peach, for me) to get a smooth, connectedness for letters. I held my breath while writing, and free-handed the words (instructor did mention there was a press you could use in smooth icing, and then trace with the piping gel, but I didn't have one, and probably won't get one - at least for a while yet).

Final class project - Basic Decorating class.

Birthday Cake - One thing we didn't cover in my cake decorating class, but that was in the book, was using piping gel to transfer an image onto a cake, so you have a clear outline to work with when icing. I tried to follow the instructions in the book to get the image of Hello Kitty onto this cake for my friend's birthday, but it didn't really work. I ended up doing the image, made with stars like we learned in the first class, free-handed, using the paper image for reference. 

Hello Kitty birthday cake for my friend, Rusty.

 
Good Luck cupcakes: One of my student assistant's recently graduated, and was hired at a full time job. For her good bye party, I made filled vanilla cupcakes. The flowers were color coded on the cupcakes to indicate which kind of filling they had (raspberry preserves or chocolate). I didn't consider that the letters would be wavy on the piped icing on top, so that was a lesson learned here. I enlisted help from my sister, teaching her how to add the center to the drop flowers, and how to do leaves, and she helped with the decorating.

"Good Luck" cupcakes with drop flowers.

Class 2 - Flowers and Cake Design  

Week 1: We worked with a combination of gum paste and fondant to make the flowers this week. It was very tiring to kneed them together. It reminded me of therapy clay, but I had to work it longer than any therapy session in order to get colors mixed. Button flowers were created using a press, and the  pansy using a cutter and other fun tools.

Gum paste and fondant flowers -Button Flowers and Pansy.

Cherry Cream Cheese Muffins - May 25

Cherries were on sale this week, so on a whim I picked up a bag. I could vaguely remember the not-quite-pie we had made with cherries previously (Cherries and Cream Pie), and could have sworn the recipe called for cream cheese, so I picked up the last tub of Tofutti that the supermarket had, as well.


The next step was to find a recipe. Talking with Lila, we decided to try to find a muffin recipe. After an unfruitful search through my cookbooks, I turned to the Internet, and found the Cherry Cream Cheese Muffin recipe on the Wilton site.


We made some adjustments to veganize the recipe, and used fresh cherries rather than frozen. The first step was to wash and pit the cherries. We cut the cherries in half, and measured them out by weight using the scale (around 120 grams = about 1 cup [conversion from the Joy of Vegan Baking cookbook, which lists not only measures, but also weight of ingredients]).


We used up the tub of Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese, made our own tofu based sour cream from a recipe found on fatfreevegan.com, and used Ener-G to replace the eggs. Overall the recipe came out okay, and I'm going to include it below, for anyone who is interested. The sour cream is not something I would use for non-baking purposes, honestly, but I think it worked well in the recipe, though we had lots of it left over.


We haven't made a lot of muffins, and the batter for this reminded me more of  biscuit dough than anything.  I'm not sure if this is normal, or if this was unique to this muffin recipe, but I guess we'll find out as we make more muffins. With the cherries halved, we had to make sure that each muffin got at least one cherry. If we were to make this recipe again, we would certainly chop the cherries smaller than halved. One other thing we realized is that by using fresh cherries, rather than frozen ones we may have reduced the liquid in the recipe.

Cups half full - the batter was doughy.

The recipe made 12 regular sized muffins, and three larger muffins baked in stand-alone aluminum muffin cups.


The almond extract added a nice flavor, and worked well with the cherries, though there wasn't a lot of texture to the muffins, other than the cherries. More liquid (using frozen cherries) may fix this, but we also considered almond slivers as a solution. This is definitely still a work in progress, but I think we've made a great start.

The muffins - we may look for a way to add a bit of color.

Vegan Cherry Cream Cheese Muffins (as we made them)


Ingredients:
¼ cup tofu sour cream
    (what we used)

• 1 10.5 oz package firm tofu
• 4 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp agave nectar
• ½ tsp salt

Blend all items in food processor or blender until smooth and creamy. (Makes 1 ¼ cups)

 
3 tsp Ener-G Egg Replace (2 eggs worth)
4 TBSP warm water
120 grams (a smidge more than 1 cup) fresh, pitted cherries
8 oz (1 package) Tofutti Better than Cream Cheese (Plain)
4 TBSP Earth Balance non-dairy butter, softened
½ Cup granulated sugar
½ tsp almond extract
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
½ tsp salt

1. Make sour cream first, set aside (the recipe makes ~ 1 ¼ cups, but you only need ¼ cup for the muffins).
2. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line muffin pans with muffin pan liners, or spray with baking spray.
3. In a small bowl whisk together the Ener-G Egg Replacer and water until frothy. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, blend cream cheese and butter with electric mixer until creamy. Add sugar, egg-replacer, tofu sour cream, and almond extract. Mix well.
5. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Beat flour mixture until cream cheese mixture, until just moistened.
6. Stir in cherries - do not over mix.
7. Fill muffin cups ½ full. Bake 18 - 22 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean.

Possible changes to Recipe (untested)


Use 1 cup frozen cherries (juice squeezed out) instead of fresh cherries
   OR
Cut fresh cherries into smaller pieces than halved (quartered or smaller)


Reduce almond extract to ¼ tsp, and mix in almond slivers (1/2 cup??) into batter


Top with brown sugar and butter mixture
   OR
Sprinkle top with white sugar and candied almonds

Yum.

New tools/ ingredients:  Reynolds ® Foil Jumbo Baking Cups
Recipes used: posted above
Co-bakers:  Allyson, Lila
Date: May 25, 2011