Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Puff Pastry: A labor of love


Puff pastry means 1000 layers in French, and after making it homemade it doesn’t take long to realize how it got that name. It is an extremely labor intensive product due to the fact that those layers appear from folding and rolling the dough out a total of five times. It can easily take up hours and hours of the day and even go on to a second day before a product is ready to eat. After making it once I clearly see the joy and simplicity that comes from buying it, but to truly understand puff pastry it is not a bad idea to attempt making it homemade. The bonus is that as with everything homemade, your product will truly represent a labor of love, and your friends and family will love you for it.

The recipe I was given for puff pastry requires very few ingredients, but they are all essential.

Guidelines for Puff Pastry:
*You need strong gluten to support the height, since it raises 8 times its original height during baking. Therefore, bread flour is a good choice.
* In order to develop the gluten, it requires a high amount of mixing.
* In puff pastry there are two rounds of butter. The first amount of butter is rather small and the proportion is 1oz to every pound of flour. This first amount is used to condition the gluten. The second round of butter is much heavier and should be equal to the amount of flour. One pound of butter is used for every pound of flour. This round is essential for the flavor and flakiness of the product.
*There is no leavener used in puff pastry because steam acts as the leavening agent. Salt is still necessary for flavor and to condition the gluten.
*Egg is used for protein coagulation and water is essential for gluten development.
*Puff Pastry is a laminate dough which means it must go through a series of tourns (the folding and rolling of the dough).
A puff pastry will go through a total of five tourns until it is ready to bake. However, between every tourn the dough must be allowed to rest and this stage is called the retarding stage. This is essential so that the gluten can rest and the butter can be chilled before the next tourn. If the butter is too soft, it will not hold the steam and if the steam escapes the product the dough will not rise.
* There are two types of folds that are used during the folding process.
Single Fold- Fold the top third of dough to the center. Then fold the bottom third over the top.
Double Fold- This can also be called a book fold. You fold the top and bottom half to the center. Then you fold the entire dough in half again to achieve the book fold.
* Almost all forms of puff pastry are baked on parchment paper. While baking you do not want to remove the product from the oven until the dough is puffed, the product is golden brown and there are no moisture droplets on the outside.
RECIPE:
1 lb bread flour
1oz butter
½ oz salt
1 egg
8 oz water
1 lb butter for lamination
Combine all dry ingredients
Cut the fat into the dry
Make a well and add the egg
Add the water and knead until it springs back at you
Bench it for ten minutes
Roll into rectangle ¼ thick
Enclose fat (this is done by layering the fat in the center of the rectangle, leaving a 1 inch border and then folding the dough over)
Then put one thumbprint in the side of the dough. This is a mark used to indicate what stage of the folding you are on. Retard to 50 degrees
Do single fold, put in two thumbprints and retard to 50 degrees
Do double fold, put in three thumbprints and retard to 50 degrees
Do single fold, put in four thumbprints and retard to 50 degrees
Do double fold, put in five thumbprints and retard 30 minutes to an hour
Dough is ready for make –up or to store.

Once the dough is ready it can be used in a variety of ways from sweet to savory. Some options include napoleons, turnovers, bear claws and baked apples.
Happy Baking!!

Sunday, September 20, 2009

A simple love for pumpkin

It's that time of year again when the weather begins to get a little crisper and our taste buds begin to crave something a little heartier with all of the essential fall flavors in tote. Butternut squash, honey crisp apples, sweet potatoes and the essential spices of nutmeg and cinnamon all top my list of fall favorites. Yet, every year I immediately search for the arrival of one specific flavor, the simple yet extremely flavorful pumpkin. 

I cannot even remember when my love of pumpkin began, but I know exactly why it became my favorite. From the warmth it brings to food, the recognizable hint of orange that stands out and the versatility from sweet to savory, it packs the essence of fall in every bite.

Multiple foods carry recognition of season with them; from gingerbread and peppermint in the winter to tomatoes in the summer, but few foods characterize the change of season better than seeing pumpkin in your lattes and cookies.
From savory to sweet, I love finding new ways to bring pumpkin to the table. In celebration of the arrival of fall I wanted to create a pumpkin cookie that would please everybody, including those who are not huge fans of pumpkin (yes they do exist). Every time I try out a new recipe idea there is always a moment of anticipation and fear as I put them into the oven. Yet, from the rave reviews these cookies have gotten from family and friends I have a strong feeling they are going to be around quite a bit this fall.


Pumpkin cookies with white chocolate 

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup pumpkin
2 ¼ cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. nutmeg
¼ tsp. ground cloves

1 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350˚
Cream the butter and sugars just until blended. Be careful not to over mix, because it will put to much air into the batter. You may have to scrape the bowl down once or twice, to make sure all the butter is blended.
Add eggs one at a time, blending in after each addition.

Add vanilla and pumpkin; mix in.
In separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Whisk together.
Slowly add to wet ingredients and mix just until flour is absorbed to avoid overstretching the gluten.
Fold in white chocolate chips.
For larger cookies use a large cookie dough scoop to place on cookie sheet about 6 cookies per sheet.
Small cookies can be made using a smaller cookie dough scoop, and can fit about 9 cookies per sheet.
Bake for about 10 minutes. At this point the cookies will most likely need more time, about 3- 4 minutes. However, depending on the oven I would say 10 minutes is a good point to check on them.
Let cool for about 10 minutes on a cooling rack.
If desired, you may sprinkle powdered sugar on top for an extra garnish.

Option:
Skip the white chocolate chips and top cookies with a cream cheese frosting once cooled. The cake like texture of the cookie will be the perfect foundation for a creamy frosting.


Tuesday, September 8, 2009

A Breakfast ritual

Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.
- Julia Child


Julia Child had a passion for food that she was able to share with the world. She created a trend in making food more than simply a meal. Her work led to shows, networks, blogs and magazines solely dedicated to the joy of food. Through this blog I want to continue sharing the joy of food with others on a more personal and engaging level. Whether it is through the posting of unique or delicious recipes, discussing food topics, or sharing food experiences I hope to help people reconnect with the simple love of food. Whether or not you are a foodie, I want you to stop for a moment and think about all of the momentous occasions in your life. Whether it’s a family holiday, graduation, birthday or anniversary one common thing can unite them all: and that is good food. What I have realized over the years is that the joy does not simply come from sitting down to the meal, but the whole food experience. Through the food preparation, coming up with the recipes or remembering the feeling you have when you see a young child try cake for the first time, I can definitively say food is so much more than a meal.

I want to share a food experience I have treasured for over ten years. It is an experience that can be filled with so much love, yet one often taken for granted as the days become quickly filled. Breakfast is a meal my father and I have continually shared every weekend since I was eight years old. While it often requires me getting up slightly earlier on a Saturday morning it is a ritual I will always treasure. During this short period of time my father and I are able to discuss topics in our life and simply enjoy the company of one another. The tradition started with my father making the classic Bisquick pancakes every Saturday morning. As I grew older and tried to recreate those ever so simple pancakes at college, they always brought back those fond memories for me but never tasted quite as good. I realized it was because of the whole experience of those morning breakfasts. Waking up to the aroma of fresh pancakes and helping set the table as my dad continued to flip every pancake individually ( making sure each one came out as good as the last). As the years went by, my father and I became connoisseurs of going out for breakfast as well. We have tried multiple breakfast hot spots around the Chicago land and have become regular weekenders at many of them. Going out for breakfast became a ritual I looked forward to every time I came home from college. When I think back to all the memories I have shared with my father, breakfast will always top the list. Breakfast can be a granola bar on the go or a quick coffee, but none of those meals will create the same memories of sitting down to breakfast with the ones you love.

Two Breakfast spots I love:
Egg Harbor: A charming café that offers it all. From breakfast to lunch Egg Harbor consistently brings delightful flavors together.
Bonus: At egg harbor the experience is made even more delightful by the fact that they don’t make you wait for your waiter or waitress to bring you refills on coffee. They immediately provide you with a personal carafe of regular or flavored coffee, allowing you to refill as you please. At the end of the meal they will provide, upon request, a to-go cup to enjoy the rest of your coffee.
A Must Try: The Blackberry- Banana pancakes are simply delicious. Thin and delicate, they offer a nice change of pace from the thick traditional pancake. A delightful bonus is the combination of fruit rarely found elsewhere.
Walker Bros. Pancake House- Nothing beats an original. At Walker Brothers you will simply taste the best. Their signature items include the Apple pancake and Dutch baby. These are items that can be found at many other restaurants and diners, but if you consider yourself a breakfast aficionado, you MUST try the original.
Bonus: One serving is enough to feed at least two people. Meaning you can taste the best and share the cost.


Unique tip’s to spice up Breakfast at home:
· Instead of making your traditional French toast with milk, try substituting orange juice for a nice citrus flavor.
· Try adding different extracts, spices and fruits to your favorite pancake recipe to give it a nice change of pace. Nothing is off limits.
· Try putting flavored chicken sausage into your favorite omelet recipes. Check out al fresco for some of their great flavors.

Sunday, September 6, 2009

Beyond the recipe: Focus on Gluten



Being a home baker I have spent years following and creating recipes without truly understanding how my product went from being a bunch of ingredients to a finished product. I would pick up tips here and there, such as the importance of unsalted butter, but when a recipe would come out unexpected I was always left back at square one wondering where I went wrong. I continued to gain knowledge (thanks to the Food Network), but I desperately wanted a source that laid it all out for me. These past weeks I finally found my source at Elgin Community College. I am spending a semester learning and taking in as much as I can about the culinary world. Since this is not an opportunity we can all take advantage of, I don’t want to keep the knowledge to myself. After just one session in Baking I my eyes were opened to the baking process and all of those little bits of knowledge from multiple years all came together.

As a little kid I always asked why and wanted to know everything and anything. At some point, I lost that wonder and excitement and began to accept things the way they were without knowing why or how. Yet, as I learned WHY baked products came out the way they did and WHY every step in a recipe is so important, I somehow felt like a little kid again who wanted to learn as much as I could. I realized that learning the process of baking is not that complicated, but requires looking past a recipe.

When I learned the science behind baking, a term I heard over and over again was GLUTEN. This is the protein strand, present in wheat flour and provides the STRUCTURE and STRENGTH of baked goods. However, the way most people tend to hear about gluten these days is through the explanation of celiac disease. Celiac disease as defined by the Mayo Clinic is “ a digestive condition triggered by the consumption of the protein gluten, which is found in bread, pasta, cookies, pizza crust, and many other foods containing wheat, barley or rye”. The amount of people affected by celiac disease is on the rise causing those in the food industry to completely transform how they make everything from pasta to cookies.

Whether you need to eat gluten- free or not, understanding the function of gluten in baked goods is essential. My explanation below outlines its reaction with other ingredients as well as ways to control for gluten development.
· Gluten and leaveners- The leaveners in a baked product give off gases when they react with heat. The gluten traps these gases so they can’t escape the baked good. Without the gluten the gases would escape and the product would deflate.
· Gluten and eggs- The protein from the gluten and the protein from the eggs form the structure through the process of coagulation or thickening of the proteins. The process of coagulation only begins when the proteins are heated to a high enough temperature. During the process the gases continue to expand, but once the process is complete the product can no longer rise and the structure is set. This stage is also known as the par- baked stage because the product has reached its final shape and if you removed it from the oven it would not collapse. The par- baked bread you can find at the grocery store would be an example of this.
· Gluten and fat- Whether you use butter or actual shortening any fat in a baked good is called shortening because it shortens the gluten strands to keep them from getting tough. Fat is the tenderizer of a baked good. This is why French bread which is meant to stay chewy has a very low amount of fat.
· Gluten and sugar- Similar to fat, sugar can also stop gluten development. Sugar attracts the water that is primarily used to hydrate gluten, so when the sugar is present the gluten is no longer the only source soaking up the water.
· Gluten and water- Water is essential for gluten to develop. During the coagulation stage stated above, the extra moisture absorbed is released because it no longer has a purpose to serve in the baked good and is evaporated as steam. Water is also a main component for the starches in a baked product through a process called gelatinization. During gelatinization the starches absorb water and add a great a deal of bulk to a baked product.

If you want to be in control of gluten development there are three ways to alter the outcome.
1) Control the amount of liquid
Less liquid equals a tender product – pie crust
More liquid equals chewy product- bread
2) Control the amount of fat
A good balance between fat and gluten development is essential. When you have a high fat content, but little gluten development your product will come out short.
3) Choosing the right flour
Flour ranges from strong to weak and the type you use for every product can produce a different result. Strong flours have higher protein content and will lead to stronger gluten development compared to weak flour.
4) Amount of Mixing
This is an extremely important step since it affects the development of gluten.
If you mix a product to long the gluten will be overstretched and your product will come out sticky and stringy. For products meant to be tender, such as cookies, the mixing should be kept very minimal. For chewier products you will need to mix a little longer for the gluten to develop.