Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker's challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria's Collection and Jamie of Life's a Feast.  Ria and Jamie challenged the Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted meringue coffee cake.  I love breakfast and when I learned that this months Daring Baker's challenge would be a coffee cake, I was jazzed.  I've never made a yeasted coffee cake before and this was something new to try out. 

To just look at the pictures doesn't do this recipe service.  The dough was so smooth and springy, it was a treat to work with.  Many people called this dough "sexy" and after making it, I have to agree.  It was so easy to roll out and fill, it rose and baked up like a dream. 

When it came down to deciding what to fill this sexy dough with I thought to keep it simple.  When I was little, we would get an Entenmann's walnut danish ring for breakfast every weekend.  When picking out the ring, my dad would go with the ring with the most frosting on the top.  As a kid, I couldn't help but agree with this method of choosing breakfast.  More frosting = more sugar!  I decided to fill my coffee cake with something similar to the Entenmann's version.  Cinnamon sugar with dried cranberries and walnuts, coated in a delicious layer of orange icing.

How did this coffee cake compare to the Entenmann's version of my youth?  Listen up dad, THIS IS SO MUCH BETTER!  The meringue melts into the coffee cake making it unbelievably moist and the cranberries and walnuts give it great sweetness and crunch.  Give up your storebought danish ring and head to the kitchen with mom, you won't be sorry.

Orange Challah French Toast

The first time I ever worked with yeast, I decided I was going to make a braided challah. Talk about ambitious. It was in my fourth year of grad school, I had just moved into a new apartment and I was in the mood to cook. My roommate owned a breadmaker and she churned out loaves of bread with minimal effort. The apartment always smelled wonderful and she had warm bread to go with dinner. I thought that if a machine can make bread, then it can’t be that hard. Let’s say I was just a little naïve.

Back at this point in my culinary career I was the proud owner of about ten cookbooks. Leafing through the nearly pristine pages of my Bread Bible, I fell upon a picture of a braided challah. It was gorgeous. Golden, shiny and delicious looking. The instructions also seemed doable, some time to knead, a few rise periods and an egg wash before baking. I could definitely do this.

I just forgot to take a few things into account. First, I had no idea what I was doing. Okay, I guess that isn’t a very good first. Let’s start again… First, my kneading technique consisted of rolling the dough around on the counter, gently nudging it and poking it. This was after I added about one additional cup of flour, the dough just would not pull away from the countertop! Second, I had no idea how to tell when it was kneaded enough, I just went with what the book said, ten minutes. Third, it was winter. Wintertime in Wisconsin is a rather chilly time and our apartment was equally chilly. Gentle breezes also permeated the windows and doors, keeping my dough cool and preventing the proper rise. In the end I wound up with a braided challah. It was edible, but not the light and airy challah I was used to in New York.



My braid went a little crazy in the middle there...

Now, ten minutes of gentle nudging and poking most likely wasn’t enough to develop the gluten necessary for this bread. Lesson learned. Also, bread needs a little warmer environment than I had provided. These days I like to do laundry at the same time as I make bread, it heats up the apartment. Finally, I know to slowly add liquid ingredients, rather than try to bring the dough back with more flour. It’s been four years since my first attempt at braided challah and this recent attempt shows how much I’ve learned.

English Muffins

Has food ever surprised you? Like, you always wondered how they made gummy bears. Then you were totally surprised that they were molded in cornstarch? I was so amazed when I discovered how those little pictures were made inside of taffy (they start with a really big picture). Maybe you were amazed at how Hostess got the cream inside of a Twinkie, or how Tyson made chicken into little dinosaur shapes. Okay, maybe no one wants to know how Tyson does their magic.

On my current goal to complete the Bread Baker’s Apprentice challenge, I’ve been learning a lot of things I didn’t know before. Like patience. Lots and lots of patience. Why is yeast so slow at doubling in size? You know what helps? A DVR filled with Doctor Who episodes. Nothing like watching David Tennant run after monsters to pass the time. (I like you too Matt Smith, but your episodes aren’t running right now).

I’m also learning to measure. How can I tell when it’s exactly doubled? Luckily I’ve found something that really helps with my measuring problem. Granted I got mine in Interlocken, Austria and therefore my measurements are in metric, but it does the trick. I highly recommend this to anyone who wants to bake a lot of bread.

Recently, I’ve learned about English muffins. I’m a big fan of English muffins. Toast them up, add a layer of peanut butter or jam or add some egg whites and a slice of good old Kraft American and you’ve got a meal. I had never considered baking my own English muffins, they always seemed so perfect. Even the commercials touted Thomas’ years of practice to obtain the ideal nook and cranny filled muffin. How could I make something to rival that which took the Thomas people centuries to perfect?

You know what, it’s all in the grilling. That’s right, I said grilling. Before my beautiful little orbs of dough were baked in the oven, they were cooked on the griddle. That’s it! That’s the secret! The curtain has been pulled back and the wizard is nothing but a square griddle. No magic, no special machine, just smoke and mirrors. But you might be asking, “How do they compare to the famous Thomas’ English muffin?” You know what? I’m never getting store-bought again.


Look at those nooks and crannies!



Daring Bakers: Christmas Stollen

Merry Christmas or Happy Chinese food and movie day to everyone! I hope that your day is treating you well, no matter what you are up to. I’ve been enjoying my Buffalo Christmas this year, spending time with family and friends. In the spirit of spending time with the ones I love, I decided to complete my December Daring Baker’s challenge with my mom! We had a great time, made a huge mess and came out with an amazing dessert.

The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge the Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends, techniques from Peter Reinhart’s book and Martha Stewart’s demonstration.

The original recipe called for lots of candied citrus peels and rum. Personally, I’m not really a rum person, and I didn’t feel like candying that much peel. I was feeling particularly lazy this Christmas. However I couldn’t be too lazy because this stollen has quite a few steps. I recommend getting a partner to help you with this recipe. This will help you make sure everything that needs to be added to the bread, actually is added to the bread. Also, you’ll have four different bowls of ingredients that need to be prepared before they are all combined.

We had a great time making this dessert. The best part of it was watching the bread grow. After we formed it into the wreath we watched it grow and grow (it’s alive!), then once it went into the oven it got even bigger. We decided to bring the monster to our family gathering on Christmas eve. After a little explanation the dessert started to disappear (it goes well with pizza and buffalo wings!). At the end of the evening there was some fighting over the remaining stollen, mostly because I suggested it would make an amazing French toast tomorrow morning.

Plan ahead and spend some time with someone special, baking this dessert. You’ll be enjoying it for days ahead. Make it into French toast, a bread pudding or just as toast with butter. If you coat it with sticks and sticks of butter and layers and layers of powdered sugar, then this dessert will last for weeks. (And also be buttery and delicious, BUTTER!)

Thanksgiving 2010 - Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

Now I know making your own rolls sounds like a lot of work, but they are completely worth it. Buying rolls leaves a big question mark on your plate. Unless you buy your rolls from a bakery, it is likely that they have been plumped up the preservatives. Being a chemist, I will be the last person to tell you not to eat chemicals, I just think fresh tastes better! The rule of “Don’t eat anything you can pronounce” doesn’t really apply to someone who got their PhD in organic chemistry. Not only can I pronounce it, I can also draw you a picture of it.

So I made you some rolls, which I suppose could classify under the Cupcake 24-7 project. Although I can’t take credit for these rolls being in the shape of cupcakes, the recipe made the suggestion. I digress! You’ll see I’ve prepared you some traditional pull-apart rolls as well as the clover-leaf rolls. Rolls are really my favorite part of the meal. I think that everything on the plate marries well with rolls. Dunk them in gravy, use them to corral some cranberries, even use them to clean your plate. Rolls are multi-purpose food entities!

By making your rolls, you control the health quotient. I’ve modified a classic dinner roll recipe to be higher in fiber and lower in fat. Except the butter, you can’t replace the butter in the babies. They just wouldn’t be the same! Now you can prepare the dough in the morning and stop before the second rise. Cover your rolls and put them in the oven to hold them until baking. Just be sure to bring them out about two hours before dinnertime. You need to give them time to warm to room temperature and complete their second rise before baking.

Whole Wheat Dinner Rolls

Adapted from Essentials of Baking

1 pkg active dry yeast (2 ½ tsp)

¼ c warm water

1 c milk (I went with skim, but use whatever you have on hand)

2 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp butter
2 c Whole wheat flour
2 ½ c all-purpose flour (plus extra as needed)
2 tsp salt

Combine warm water and yeast in a small bowl and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Once the yeast is awake and foamy, add remaining ingredients. Stir with a wooden spoon until the dough forms a mass. Dump out onto a floured surface and knead for 5-7 minutes. Your dough with be soft and tacky, but not sticky.

Shape dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl. Turn to coat the dough in oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in a warm spot for 1 ½-2 hours, or until doubled in size (It took me about 1h 45m).

While you are waiting, spray a 9-inch round cake pan and a 12-cup muffin pan generously with spray oil.

Punch down the dough and turn out onto the counter. Cut dough in half. For the clover-leaf rolls cut dough into 12 equal portions. Then cut each piece into 3 pieces. Roll these small pieces into little balls. Place 3 balls into each muffin cup. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside.

For the pull-apart rolls, cut dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll the dough into balls. Place 7 pieces around the edge of the cake pan and one in the middle. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside to rise for about 30-45 minutes. They should be puffy!

If you would like shiny rolls, take one egg. Beat said egg. Brush tops of the rolls with beaten egg. Heat your oven to 400 F and bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes. They should be golden brown and delicious looking. Serve as soon as you can!