Chocolate Bread

admin — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 22:34:16 +0000

I took a friend’s suggestion and made this recipe for chocolate bread by David Lebovitz. It’s nice and chocolaty, but definitely has the texture and yeastiness (is that a word?) of a traditional yeast bread versus a quick bread.

Beautiful Burger Buns

admin — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 00:17:25 +0000

Grilling season is upon us and I’ve decided that rather than buying buns this summer I’m going to make them. Armed with this recipe and this pan from King Arthur Flour’s Baker’s Catalogue, I made my very first batch of hamburger buns.

I forgot to let the butter come to room temperature, so I used this butter gun contraption that turns sticks of butter into ribbons. The ribbons warmed up to room temperature very quickly and I was able to easily incorporate the butter into the dough.

After the initial rise, the dough was shaped into 4.5oz balls and placed in the bun pan to proof for another hour.

I brushed the dough with butter and baked them for 18 minutes at 375F. They came out pretty nice, don't you think?

Bun bottom. I was actually worried they would be burned based on the golden edges, but the pan is so heavy it shielded them from the heat quite nicely.

Crumb shot! The buns had a really great texture and aroma.

Bri was in charge of the burgers. They came out delicious but very thick!

These buns were fantastic. Slightly buttery, very soft with just the right amount of chewiness. If you've considered making your own hamburger buns, give this recipe a try. It will definitely be my go to recipe this summer.

S’more!

admin — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:59:41 +0000

I made this little s’more without a pattern. I think he is pretty darn cute.

Apple Plushie!

admin — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 03:51:23 +0000

Baltimore Photoshoot

admin — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 19:00:13 +0000

Adam and I are fortunate enough to be sponsored by Custom Performance Engineering and while we were down in the area for the weekend visiting the shop for a dyno day, we went out with Paula into the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore for a little photoshoot. Fun times. Photos were taken on the ride down, a Fells Point parking deck, and dyno day.

BBA Challenge – Cinnamon Buns

admin — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:17:52 +0000

YUMMY!

mise en place! Egg not pictured. I took this waiting for husband to get home from the grocery store with eggs!

butter, sugar, buttermilk powder & salt creamed together

kneading with the help of my kitchenaid mixer

ladies and gentleman - i give you the window pane!

the dough is a balmy 80.4 degrees

sticky bun glaze - butter, sugar, brown sugar, salt & corn syrup

glaze & toasted pecans

cinnamon and sugar spread over the dough

all rolled up and ready to be cut into rolls

rolls ready to be parked in the refrigerator over night

my husband was kind enough to take them out at 5:20am. At 9am they were warmed up, proofed & ready for the oven.

halfway through the 25 minutes in the oven

out of the oven and ready to be flipped

drooooooooool

looks delicious at any angle

my masterpiece! (and my breakfast)

crumb shot! check out that swirl.

BBA Challenge – Ciabatta

admin — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 00:05:29 +0000

I have a love-hate relationship with this bread. The first time I made it, I used Peter Reinhart’s Poolish starter. The bread had a very tight crumb. Good flavor but definitely bared no resemblance to ciabatta. Refusing to accept defeat, I made the bread again, this time using the Biga starter, max hydration and the optional olive oil. I also elected to sprinkle freshly grated asiago onto the dough during the two stretch and fold manuevers. The dough was super sticky and nothing like any of the doughs I had worked with so far in this challenge, so I figured I must have finally gotten it right. I was extra careful with the dough, trying as hard as I could not to let any of the gasses escape. I was extremely confident that this time I had it right.

When I checked on the loaves half way through baking, they were massive! They ballooned in the oven. My confidence in this bread had started to wane. The bottoms were done, but the top wasn’t nearly as browned as I would have liked – but I pulled the loaves because I hate burned bread bottoms. After an hour on the cooking rack, I cut into the first loaf. It wasn’t what I expected. The crumb was too tight, but the slice was very light and had a nice flavor. I was mad. I started cursing the ciabatta. I went onto twitter and complained about my failure.

Then came dinner. My husband and I decided to have sandwiches. I started slicing the ciabatta and low and behold – by the second slice in I had holes! I immediately tweeted by appologies to the ciabatta and then enjoyed a salami sandwich. Up next is either cinnamon rolls or sticky buns. I haven’t decided which. Maybe I’ll split the dough in half and make both.

Baby Gift!

admin — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:15:26 +0000

I crocheted this hat, no scratch mittens & booties for a friend’s baby. The want to be surprised about the sex of the baby, hence the yellow and green!

Crochet Turtle

admin — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 23:13:15 +0000

I made this crochet turtle for my neice for christmas. I got the instructions from Ana Paula Rimoli’s book “Amigurumi Two“. Take a peak at what is stored inside this turtle’s shell

BBA Challenge – Challah

admin — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 21:59:48 +0000

Peter Reinhart goes into detail about how to make a traditional braided challah, but much like the Artos and Casatiello formulas, it was going to make an enormous loaf. I opted to make 2 oz rolls instead. I think next time I would make 4 oz rolls – which would be the optimal hamburger bun or sandwich size. The 2 oz rolls would make smaller sandwiches or decent sized dinner rolls. If you wanted to use these for sliders, I would go 1.5 oz. I found instructions to shaped “festive knot rolls” from The Secret of Challah. I would definitely make this challah again. It rose like a champ, was very easy to work with and tastes fantastic.