Panini con l'uvetta-Raisin rolls

Well...I have some news...I have not been working for two months but I will spare the details for a variety of reasons. I can't believe that I haven't posted in so long, the past two months have been interesting to say the least, a whirlwind of things; my job ended, my husband broke his ankle and had surgery to repair it (guess who is doing all the driving?), we had a 15 year old visiting from Italy for two months, and then my best friend Paola and her daughter visited from Venice. It was such pleasure having Paola here, and being a great hiker and nature lover I took her to all my favorite places around town, what a blast! I wish she could come here often, two weeks just flew by.

The three months I worked were very exciting but really crazy, opening a brand new restaurant is really hard but very rewarding and I have learned tons. I had never worked such long hours in my life, sometimes 6-7 days a week, I had time for very little, and the blog was seriously neglected. I am now getting some well deserved sleep as waking up at 4:30 for weeks was taking a toll. I started exercising almost every day and I feel great. My garden and house plants are getting some TLC that they desperately needed, and I am enjoying the final days of string beans, cucumbers, tomatoes and basil. The house is getting organized and I am finally baking for my family.

Remember these? When I first tasted them I immediately recognized the flavor, having eaten something very similar all my childhood. I immediately loved the flavor and the texture of these little morsels, and in an effort to create a sweet treat to sell at my dream bakery, I took this recipe out and started working on it. I increased the butter and added sugar, eggs, and raisins to the dough. I didn't change the method, and the water content is the same because I wanted a dough at a higher hydration to compensate for the dry raisins that would absorb some water from the dough.

The resulting bread is really similar to the panini con l'uvetta I grew up eating in Venice as snacks after school, and that is exactly the flavor I was trying to replicate. I am submitting this bread to the wonderful weekly showcase of yeasted bread in Susan's blog, yeastspotting.


Pane all'uvetta-Raisin bread

Biga
200 g bread flour (if you don't have it, use all purpose)
5 g fresh yeast or 1/4 tsp dry yeast
170 ml water

- Dissolve the yeast in the water and quickly work the dough together in a small bowl.
- Cover the biga and let it develop for 15-24 hrs.

Dough
200 ml water, lukewarm
15 g fresh yeast or 2 tsp dry yeast

all the biga
500 g all purpose flour
25 g extra-virgin olive oil
2 large eggs
50 g sugar
12 g salt

50 g butter
150 g raisins

- Dissolve the yeast in the water.
- Add all the ingredients, except the butter and raisins, into the bowl of an electric mixer.
- Work the dough with the hook attachment until it is smooth and doesn't stick to the mixer bowl. Adjust the amount of flour to create a soft and somewhat wet dough.
- Add the softened butter slowly, then mix at low speed for 5 minutes to let the dough develop.
- Add the raisins and mix only until just incorporated (mixing more will break the raisins)
- Pour the dough onto a well floured surface and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Stretch the dough with your hands, fold it like an envelope and form it into a ball, cover it and let rest for 30 minutes. This will further develop the gluten and distribute the raisins evenly.
- Repeat the stretching and folding a second time.
- Put the dough into a container, cover it and leave to rise until doubled (at this point you can refrigerate it overnight).
- After the dough has doubled, divide it into smaller parts, about 70 g/2,5 oz each.

To see how to shape each piece of dough please check Ilva's or Lien's websites.

1. Roll out each portion into long strands and lay them out on a flat surface.
2. Make a semi-circle with a dough strand.
3. Twist the two ends together.
4. Bring the two ends towards the upper part of the circle.
5. Lift/fold the top part over the twisted part.
6. Take the two ends and join them together under the knot, this will make the knot part come out more and will hide the ends.

- Put the knots on baking sheets, brush them with an egg wash, and let them rise until they have doubled in size. Brush them again once risen, before baking.
- Bake in a pre-heated oven (200°C/390°F) for 20-25 minutes.

Happy Birthday Little One

This is not one of the best pictures, and I hope to take better ones tomorrow. Today, on my birthday, this little chick was born. One of our chickens stopped laying eggs and started brooding, which is really common in the spring, and she would sit on eggs constantly. Concerned that this cycle would not stop and she would get weaker and weaker we found some fertilized eggs for her and she has happily kept them warm. Today this little chick was born and I helped another one come out of a partially cracked egg, what an amazing experience. I am just amazed at the instincts of our bantam chicken, she was raised by us in a little box but she totally knows what to do and is so gentle and attentive. Nature rules.

Daring Bakers-Piece Montée or Croquembouche

I am not sure how I managed to publish this on time. The restaurant I am working at just got the permit from the health department yesterday and we are working like crazy to open next week, my life revolves around this now. I will write more about this new adventure in another post, there is so much to say. Knowing that the 27th would be crazy I made the little paté a choux on Saturday instead, as dessert for a group of friends that came over for dinner. I filled them with a meyer lemon cream and accompanied by a sinful caramel sauce (I will have to write another post with the recipes). They were delicious but I would love to try all the other variations of the pastry cream you can see below, but this is for another time.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.


Pate a Choux (Yield: About 28)

¾ cup (175 ml.) water
6 Tbsp. (85 g.) unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup (125 g.) all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt.

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F/220◦C degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Preparing batter:
Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely. Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly. Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes. It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Piping:
Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top. Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Baking:
Bake the choux at 425◦F/220◦C degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350◦F/180◦C degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Filling:
When you are ready to assemble your piece montée, using a plain pastry tip, pierce the bottom of each choux. Fill the choux with pastry cream using either the same tip or a star tip, and place on a paper-lined sheet. Choux can be refrigerated briefly at this point while you make your glaze.

Hard Caramel Glaze:
1 cup (225 g.) sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice

Combine sugar and lemon juice in a saucepan with a metal kitchen spoon stirring until the sugar resembles wet sand. Place on medium heat; heat without stirring until sugar starts to melt around the sides of the pan and the center begins to smoke. Begin to stir sugar. Continue heating, stirring occasionally until the sugar is a clear, amber color. Remove from heat immediately; place bottom of pan in ice water to stop the cooking. Use immediately.

Assembly of your Piece Montée:
You may want to lay out your unfilled, unglazed choux in a practice design to get a feel for how to assemble the final dessert. For example, if making a conical shape, trace a circle (no bigger than 8 inches) on a piece of parchment to use as a pattern. Then take some of the larger choux and assemble them in the circle for the bottom layer. Practice seeing which pieces fit together best.

Once you are ready to assemble your piece montée, dip the top of each choux in your glaze (careful it may be still hot!), and start assembling on your cake board/plate/sheet. Continue dipping and adding choux in levels using the glaze to hold them together as you build up. (You may want to use toothpicks to hold them in place – see video #4 below).

When you have finished the design of your piece montée, you may drizzle with remaining glaze or use ribbons, sugar cookie cut-outs, almonds, flowers, etc. to decorate. Have fun and enjoy! Bon appétit!

Ingredients:

For the Vanilla Crème Patissiere (Half Batch)
1 cup (225 ml.) whole milk
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
6 Tbsp. (100 g.) sugar
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
2 Tbsp. (30 g.) unsalted butter
1 Tsp. Vanilla

Dissolve cornstarch in ¼ cup of milk. Combine the remaining milk with the sugar in a saucepan; bring to boil; remove from heat. Beat the whole egg, then the yolks into the cornstarch mixture. Pour 1/3 of boiling milk into the egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the eggs do not begin to cook. Return the remaining milk to boil. Pour in the hot egg mixture in a stream, continuing whisking. Continue whisking (this is important – you do not want the eggs to solidify/cook) until the cream thickens and comes to a boil. Remove from heat and beat in the butter and vanilla.

For Chocolate Pastry Cream (Half Batch Recipe):
Bring ¼ cup (about 50 cl.) milk to a boil in a small pan; remove from heat and add in 3 ounces (about 80 g.) semisweet chocolate, finely chopped, and mix until smooth. Whisk into pastry cream when you add the butter and vanilla.
For Coffee Pastry Cream (Half Batch recipe)
Dissolve 1 ½ teaspoons instant espresso powder in 1 ½ teaspoons boiling water. Whisk into pastry cream with butter and vanilla.

Thanks go to Cat for choosing this month's challenge and to Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice, the creators of the Daring Bakers' challenge. To check other daring bakers' creations, please check the daring kitchen's site.

The Making of a Cake

I have been making cakes for friends and clients for a while. This doesn't happen too often, but once in a while I get asked. While I didn't go to baking school, I had some "formal" training on cake decorating while working for this insane but very talented woman who will remain unnamed. She made very traditional French cakes, and her decorating techniques were amazing. Decorating cakes is such a work of patience and you need hours and hours of practice to get the manual skills you need to execute perfect piping. I am a little of a perfectionist so it is really stressful to decorate a cake because I keep trying to get that perfect smoothness and perfect edges. By no means I am good, and I haven't mastered any of the designs that some people like on their cakes, however I can make cakes that taste really good and are simple but beautiful.

Throughout the years I have learned that planning is essential for my sanity and to avoid disasters. The more prepared I am the better the end result (sounds simple, right?). The cake layers are made two days before the event (this in case a baking disaster happens and I have to start again), assembled the day before, chilled for hours in the fridge so the flavors can come together. The cake is then crumb coated, chilled again, and frosted with a rough layer. The day of the event, the cake is "polished" and any final decorations are piped on. Then comes the most stressful part, the delivery. Moving the cake to the car is the first hurdle, then comes the ride of the precious cargo, then the walk from the car to the final destination. Imagine walking in slow motion, checking steps, people around you, doors that can swing open at any minute, all carrying a very heavy cake and sweating cold bullets. The sense of relieve when you finally lay that baby down and you admire the final product is priceless.

I made this cake for a very special person, a woman I met when she waited tables at a restaurant where I worked six years ago. She was my favorite person there, her attitude was remarkable, without an ego and no sense of entitlement, a very mature young person indeed. She is also a phenomenal babysitter, who comes with two huge tool boxes full of things to make fun projects with the kids. She also believes in saving and recycling, and uses salvaged items for her art work. She chose a vintage dress for her special day, how cool is that? She is also always smiling, I actually think that she walks few inches above the ground, I kid you not.


When she asked me to make this cake for her wedding I was really touched, and I put lots of love into it. The cake consisted of a lemon raspberry bottom tier and two tiers of chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse in between. Then I made a second little cake because she also wanted an amaretto cake. I always fear that the cake I made was not perfect, so I was waiting patiently to hear back from her. Bre loved the cake and since she didn't get to try the amaretto cake I promised to make one for her first wedding anniversary.


Congratulations Bre!

Daring Bakers-British Pudding

This month I am late, surprised? I even considered not participating this month because I don't have much time but then I thought that this challenge can be made pretty simple, and since I never made a steamed pudding I was intrigued. The upside is that we can have dessert for dinner tonight. Here I am at 5 PM pacific time waiting for the pudding to finish steaming. There isn't much sun so I am not sure of the quality of the photos I will take.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

Traditionally British pudding is made either with a pastry shell or as a steamed spongy cake. The pudding can be sweet or savory. The must have ingredient is suet, which is the fat that surround the kidney of the cow. I had to pass on the suet because I was sure not to find it in my town, and I didn't have time to look for it. Esther included a recipe for a steamed sponge pudding that calls for bread crumbs but since it didn't sound too appealing I went to one of the web sites she suggested and found this recipe which calls for butter.

I steamed the pudding into heat proof ramekins covering the tops with a piece of parchment paper like the recipe describes. The pleat is important because the pudding expands while cooking. After 30 minutes the center were still uncooked so I steamed them for 1o more minutes.


Strawberry Rhubarb Steamed Pudding

Ingredients

• 200g caster sugar
• 125g unsalted butter
• lemon zest
  
• 2 medium eggs , beaten
• 175g flour
  
• 1 tsp baking powder

1. Cook the rhubarb and the strawberries with sugar to taste over a gentle heat until thickened. Remove from heat.
2. Grease a 900ml pudding basin. Put butter and remaining sugar in a bowl and cream together. Stir in vanilla extract, then beat in eggs, a little at a time. Sift in flour and carefully fold into the mixture.
3. Spoon some jam into the bottom of the basin, then spoon the sponge mixture on top and level off surface.
4. Butter a piece of greaseproof paper slightly bigger than the top of the pudding basin. Make a pleat in the center and secure over the top of basin. Repeat with a piece of foil, then secure the whole thing with string. Place in a pan half filled with simmering water. Cover and cook for 1½ hrs, checking regularly that the pan does not boil dry. Remove cover, invert the pudding onto a plate, then carefully lift off the pudding basin. Serve with crème fraîche or single cream.

To check other creations and find the original recipes, please check the daring kitchen's site.

Multiple Sclerosis Walk-Why I am participating

No food post today, but a message on a very important cause that touches me in my core. Below you can read a little excerpt from my friend Jane's blog. She was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis when she was 27, and continues to inspire me with her strength and attitude by living with this incurable disease. Sunday I will be walking in her honor and in the honor of all people I know who have autoimmune diseases, for their dignity, and for the hope of a cure. If you would like to support me on Sunday's walk please click here. Thank you!

Triple rainbow seen from my window this morning

"Yesterday, at Walk MS, I was reminded of the potential devastation of MS. Before the walk, a man talked about his wife who died last year from MS related complications. She was 52. He said she was the love of his life. We had a moment of silence for everyone who has died from MS related complications this last year.

That made me cry and makes me scared. I know we all die. But I don't want to die young or be disabled. I want to stay strong and healthy and continue to play with my kids.

Just because I don't talk about my symptoms all the time, doesn't mean that there aren't any. My right hand has numbness all the time and especially when I'm tired. Also when I'm tired my vision gets blurry in my right eye. When I go for a hike, after about 20 mins, my legs get wobbly. A couple of times recently I've had to walk back to the car holding onto my friend for support. I'm 36. I've watched that happen this last couple of years. So although I'm in remission, the disease is slowly, slowly progressing.

The NMSS talks about 'Living with MS'. That's just it. You live with it. It doesn't go away like a cold or a bug. Even when it's in remission, it's there all the time, you just get good at ignoring it or making decisions to not let it control you."

Venetian Easter Bread

To celebrate Easter, Venetians eat a special bread called Focaccia Pasquale. The best one I ever had was made by Mr. Colussi, an awesome baker who still makes this tasty Easter treat, and despite its price (of which the locals complain constantly), it always sells like crazy. Mr. Colussi's pastry shop was one of my favorite destinations as a kid, only blocks from my home, his craft legendary, his pastries unforgettable (I remember thinking that I would be an overweight child if I were his daughter, stuffing my mouth constantly). One of my dreams is to learn the craft by working with Mr. Colussi before he retires for good, which might be soon. He has three daughters and sadly none of them is taking the craft in her hands, so he and his wife are still making people happy when they should be retired and enjoying their old age. He has been trying to sell his laboratory for years, and I guess he can't simply close it, it has meant everything in his life, it is his child, his soul is permeating every corner, like flour particles.

Which came first, the chicken or the egg?

Last year for the first time I made the more traditional Easter bread shaped as a dove, or Colomba Pasquale. It turned out really tasty and beautiful. This year I plan to make another colomba, and when I saw a recipe for a Venetian fugassa posted by Paoletta, at Anice e Cannella, I decided to try it. Paoletta is always experimenting and finding great recipes on the wide web to keep us wanting for more. She recently posted this recipe not knowing whether it was truly for the Venetian focaccia so I was not only intrigued to try it but to taste it as well.

The bread takes more than half a day to make. I supposed it would be faster if the first two doughs are allowed to rise overnight in the refrigerator. The bread was super springy with a nice crumb and tasted very close to the traditional focaccia from Venice. It would make two small colombe and two small focacce. I was so tired the night I made it that I forgot to bake it before going to bed, luckily it was a super cold night so the bread rose very slowly and by the time I woke up it was perfect. I would make this bread again, but probably I would use the glaze I made last year as it was thicker and really tasty. If using an electric mixer I assume you can add all the ingredients for the third and final doughs at once, except the butter which has to be added after there is some gluten development. Adding the butter beforehand prevents the gluten from developing resulting in a very heavy bread with little holes.

Please read the instructions well, as this is a slow rising dough so you have to plan accordingly.

Focaccia veneta
adapted from Paoletta

Ingredients:
575 gr bread flour
7 gr dry yeast (15 gr fresh yeast)
135 gr water
4 eggs
3 yolks
125 gr sugar
125 gr burro (50 gr of which melted)
10 gr salt

Flavorings:
1 tablespoon of rum
zest of one lemon
40 gr candied orange zest
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or the seeds of one vanilla bean)

For the topping:
1 egg white
whole almonds
sugar
Cake pan with a capacity of 10 cups or two smaller ones.

Method

Sponge:
Dissolve the yeast in 135 gr of warm water, add 125 gr of flour to make a smooth batter. Let rise one hour at room temperature.

Second dough:
to the sponge add one egg, mix well, then add 125 gr of flour, 10 gr of sugar and mix well. Let rise in a bowl for 1h30m.

Third dough:
Add in succession, mixing well after each addition:
1 yolk
20 gr of flour
10 gr of sugar
30 gr of flour
1 egg
30 gr of flour
15 gr of sugar
30 gr of flour, mix well.
Add slowly 50 gr of cooled melted butter. Add 15 gr of flour and mix to develop the gluten, 10 minutes. Cover and let rest for 2 and half hours. The dough should triple its volume.

Final dough:
Grind the orange peel and the lemon zest with 90 gr of sugar.
To the third dough add:
1 yolk
20 gr of flour
10 gr of the prepared sugar
1 yolk
20 gr of flour
20 gr sugar
1 egg
30 gr flour
30 gr sugar
1 egg
50 gr flour
30 gr sugar
Add the salt, then the rest of the flour saving few ounces for the final shaping. Before the final mixing add the rum and the vanilla. After the gluten has developed add the butter slowly, then mix until the dough is elastic and shiny. Turn the dough into a ball and let rest for 20 minutes. Butter one or two cake pans (depending on the capacity), divide the dough into two balls, shape again and add to the pans. Let rise in the pans for 3 or 4 hours. Brush the tops with the egg white, add the sugar and the almonds. Bake at 375 for 15 minutes, lower the oven to 350 and bake until nicely brown and a tooth picks comes out clean or the dough has reached 180F, about 30 minutes.

Buona Pasqua!