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Thursday, March 29, 2012

March 2012 Daring Bakers' Challenge - Potato and Rosemary Crackle or Dutch-Crunch Bread

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

Recipe Source: The recipe for the Dutch Crunch topping came from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s The Bread Bible. The recipes for the breads we’ve suggested came from The Bread Bible and an adaptation of a recipe found on bakingbites.com


I decided to make my own variation so it would be egg free. The recipe below makes a 35cm x 25 cm tray. That's a lot of bread. The dutch crunch directions are straight from Sara and Erica.

I created a lot of sandwiches etc with the bread, I was a slacker with the photos though.
My favorite dish that I will recreate was made with the last of the bread. I buttered the bread well and fried it. Once it was beautifully golden I took it out of the pan and cut it into quarters.
then I whipped up 3 eggs with a tablespoon of cream, finely chopped parsley and dill and 1/4 cup diced smoked salmon.
Back into the pan with the bread and and then I poured the egg mixture around the bread. when it had set on the bottom I flipped the whole lot over and cooked the other side. It was amazing with a little sour cream drizzled over the top.



Potato and Rosemary Dutch Crunch Bread
Preparation Time: 30 minutes + 3 rises of approximately 1 hour
Cook Time: 45 minutes
Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup water from the potatoes or 3/4 cup of milk
  •  1 cupcooked potato
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 tablespoons butter or oil
  • 3 cups plus 1 cups plain flour
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh  rosemary or 1 tablespoon dried rosemary.
  • 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry or instant yeast (not rapid rise)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
Preparation:
·       Peel and cut the potatoes into 2 cm cubes and boil until soft.
·       While the potatoes are still hot add the sugar, potato water or milk and butter, and mix by hand.allow to cool to lukewarm.
·       In a separate bowl mix 3 cups of the flour, yeast, and salt and combine with potato mixture and mix well. Cover and set in a warm place until it has doubled about 1 – 1 ½ hours.
·       Add remaining 1 cup flour and, using the dough-hook attachment, knead for 7 minutes (or 10 minutes by hand). Place the dough in a clean, greased bowl, cover and let it rise until doubled.
·       Punch down the dough, press it into a 25cm x 30cm baking tin, let the bread rise until half risen. Cover with the tiger topping and let it rise until for at least another 15 minutes or until double the pre risen thickness. Bake 45 minutes in a pre-heated oven to 180° Celsius degrees.


Dutch Crunch Topping

Ingredients
·       2 tablespoons (2 packets) (30 ml) (15 gm/½ oz) active dry yeast
·       1 cup (240 ml) warm water (105-115º F) (41-46°C)
·       2 tablespoons (30 ml) (30 gm/1 oz) sugar
·       2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
·       ½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (3 gm) salt
·       1½ cups (360 ml) (240 gm/8½ oz) rice flour (white or brown; NOT sweet or glutinous rice flour)
Directions:
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat with a whisk; beat hard to combine. The consistency should be like stiff royal icing – spreadable, but not too runny. If you pull some up with your whisk, as shown below, it should drip off slowly. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.
2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. We tried coating it with a brush but it worked better just to use fingers or a spoon and kind of spread it around. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.
3. Let stand, uncovered, for any additional time your recipe recommends. With the Soft White Roll, you can place the rolls directly into the oven after applying the topping. With the Brown Rice Bread, the loaves should stand for 20 minutes with the topping before baking.
4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Crunch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

Saturday, March 24, 2012

Egg Free Lemon and Passionfruit Layer Cake - Sweet Adventures Blog Hop

 


Layer upon Layer by Kitchen Crusader


It's time for another Sweet Adventure Blog Hop. This one is titled ‘Layer upon Layer’.
I had planned to use this cake for last months ‘Love at First Bite’. But time and life got in the way. This is a recipe I have developed myself to fit in with the allergies.
I made this for my birthday back in February and skipped the layer of cream and flaked almonds on the outside. It didn’t need it for the taste but it would have made it a lot prettier. As the cake was completely consumed at dinner and pronounced a hit no one missed the extra layer. We all love cake so most of us are watching our weight.
There was a great deal of debate over the cake. 
In the end the general consensus was a tie between ‘best ever’ and ‘not quite as good’ as the Lemon Overload Cake I made for Baby shower.




Lemon and Passionfruit Layer Cake


Equipment

Small saucepan
1 x 20cm spring-form high side tin
1 large stainless steel bowl
1 whisk
Bakepaper
Measuring cups for dry ingredients
Measuring cup or jug for wet ingredients
Measuring spoons
Fine grater
Strainer
Glass measuring jug
Hand juicer
Cutting board
Knife
Electric hand mixer
Medium stainless steel bowl
Large serrated cake knife
Plastic wrap
Serving plate

Egg Free Almond Cake

Melted butter and flour to prepare the tin.
½ cup lemon juice
1 cup milk
½ cup sunflower oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla paste
1 cup caster sugar
1 ½ cups self-raising flour
¾ cup ground almonds
½ cup cornflour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon bi-card (baking) soda

·       Preheat oven to 160° C.
·       Brush the cake tin well with melted butter and then dredge with flour. Shake the tin so the flour covers the bottom and sides.
·       Mix the wet ingredients in a large bowl
·       Mix the dry ingredients in another bowl.
·       Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir well and carefully pour into the tin.
·       Place the cake tin on a flat tray.
·       Bake in a 160° C Oven for 45 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer.
·       Allow the cake to cool and refrigerate overnight or at least cool to room temperature.

Lemon and Passionfruit Pannacotta


½ cup lemon juice and the grated rind of the lemons used to make the juice.
Pulp and juice of 3 passionfruit
¼ cup white sugar

½ cup (125 ml) whole milk
½ tablespoon (1/2 packet) (7 gm.) (¼ oz.) Unflavoured powdered gelatine
1 ½ cups (365 ml) whipping cream
2 tablespoons (15 gm) (½ oz.) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon Natural Vanilla Extract
Pinch of salt
Directions:

·       Place the lemon juice and rind, passionfruit pulp and the sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently while stirring until the sugar is melted. Simmer over a low heat for 5 minutes. Strain the mixture into a bowl and leave to cool.
·       Reserve ¼ cup of the syrup for the final putting together of the cake.
·       Pour the milk into pot and sprinkle gelatine evenly and thinly over the milk (make sure the bowl/pot is cold by placing the bowl/pot in the refrigerator for a few minutes before you start making the Panna Cotta). Let stand for 30 minutes to soften the gelatine.
·       Place the milk/gelatine mixture in the saucepan/pot over low heat on the stove. Heat this mixture until the gelatine has just dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow it to cool while you do the next step. Do not let it boil!!! The gelatine will not set.
·       Whip the cream to soft peaks then fold in the gelatine/milk mixture and the remaining cooled lemon/passionfruit syrup. Don’t refrigerate this you don’t want it to set.


Lemon and Passionfruit Sauce

½ cup lemon juice
Juice and pulp of 5 passionfruit
½ cup white sugar
3 tablespoons cornflour
½ cup water

·       Place the lemon juice, passionfruit juice and sugar in a small saucepan.
·       Place over low heat, stir until the sugar melts.
·       Blend the cornflour and water together until smooth.
·       Add to the juice/sugar mixture and stir constantly until it boils and thickens.
·       Leave to cool. Stirring often so a skin does not form on the top.

Putting it all together

·       Line the washed wet cake tin with plastic wrap.
·       Cut the cake in half and place 1 layer in the bottom of the lined tin.
·       Brush with ½ the syrup.
·       Top this with 1/3 of the pannacotta.
·       Top the pannacotta with ½ the lemon/passionfruit thickened cool sauce.
·       Next cover the cool sauce with another 1/3 of the pannacotta.
·       Place the other layer of cake on top and drizzle over the rest of the syrup.
·       Top with the remaining pannacotta and then the remaining sauce.
·       Cover the tin with glad wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set. Overnight is fine too.
·       Remove the cake from the refrigerator and carefully take the tin off.
·       Remove the plastic wrap and  gently slide the cake off the base of the spring-form tin onto the serving plate.
·       Decorate the sides with a layer of whipped cream and toasted almond flakes if desired.
·       Refrigerate until ready to eat. Serve with whipped cream.



Saturday, March 10, 2012

Egg-Less Zuchinni And Lemon Loaf

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lis stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

Lis gave a couple of recipes and for more information on that you'll have to join the Daring Kitchen.

I didn't use any of those because No 2 son can't eat eggs.

Instead I adapted and fiddled and plotted and made the following recipe, then forgot to take a photo of it.


Zucchini and Lemon Loaf
Ingredients:

·        Grated rind of 1 lemon
·        2 cups sugar
·        ¾ cup vegetable oil
·        3 cups self-raising flour , sifted
·        2 cups zucchini (finely grated)
·        2 teaspoons vanilla
·        Juice of the lemon with enough milk added to make ¾ cup
·        1 teaspoon bi-carb (baking) soda
·        1 teaspoon salt
·        2 teaspoons mixed spice
·        ½ cup cocoa nibs
·        ¾ cup pecans or almonds – chopped into small bits
·        Grated rind and juice of 1 (another) lemon
·        ½ cup white sugar
Directions:
·       Preheat oven to 175° Celsius.
·       Grease two 9×5 inch (23×13 centimeter) loaf pans and place a strip of bake paper length wise, up over the ends with some overhang in each tin. This makes lifting the cool cakes out easier.
·       Place milk and lemon juice into a medium sized mixing bowl.
·       Add sugar and blend until creamy and slightly thick.
·       Add oil and mix well.
·       Add zucchini, vanilla, and nuts. Stir well.
·       Sift flour, mixed spice, baking powder, soda, and salt into another medium bowl.
·       Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients a couple of spoonful’s at a time until nicely combined.
·       Pour the 'batter' into loaf pans, and put into the oven.
·       Bake for 1 hour (60 minutes) and check to see if it is done (a skewer inserted should come out clean and the sides should have pulled away from the tin).
·       If you need to leave it in for any additional time cover loosely with some foil so the top does not overcook.
·       It is not unusual for quick bread such as this to crack along the top.
·       Mix the extra juice, rind and sugar in a small saucepan. Stir over low heat until the sugar melts and the mixture bubbles.
·       Take the cakes out of the oven and pour half the syrup over each cake. Leave the cakes in the tins to cool. Lift out with the baking paper.