Kouign-amann: Part one

 

Wowza! I can’t believe it will be 10 years this autumn since I launched this blog. In September of 2014 my very first published post was on Kouign-amann (literally translated as butter cake), that tasty caramelized traditional Breton pastry.

This 2-part post provides a fresh look at making three different versions of these treats. Part one - muffin-like with turned in corners (header photo) and spirals (below). Part 2 - full sized 9” cakes (not really cake at all, just layers of buttery goodness baked in a pan).

spirals all baked up

A bit of back story: during my pastry school days in 2006 I recall my fascination upon seeing Chef Xavier Cotte at Le Cordon Bleu Paris demonstrate the creation of this delicious buttery, caramel-y pastry (and my delight in tasting it!).

A few years later, in early 2011, as Steve and I were celebrating the New Year in Brittany with our British friends Richard and Pauline, we discovered one of Georges Larnicol’s shops where many flavors of petite kouignettes were on display. We picked up a few but were disappointed in their texture and flavor. It seems they were probably sitting in the case longer than they should have been. Even a brief warm up in the oven did little to revive them. Bummer.

When I opened my French Tarte pastry studio in Pawtucket RI in May of 2012, my focus was baking French classics like croissant, croissant aux amandes, pain au chocolat, financiers, tartes, profiteroles, sablês and more. It was a trip back to Paris a year later that brought me to Alain Ducasse’s Paris école de cuisine for a chocolate themed class. Our conversation turned to laminated dough and, when I learned that the class’s chef for the day, Geoffrey Franck, had just taught a Kouign-amann class, I asked for his recipe. Et voilà - he was kind enough to share it with me! I tweaked it just a bit and began baking these babies for my shop. Here’s the recipe I use.

Putting up the shingle

 

Kouign-amann

I moved out of the Pawtucket teaching and retail space in the spring of 2014 as Steve and I prepared to move back to Michigan. I was eager to stay active in the baking and pastry world and so began the blog. When I launched it in 2014, I had my sights set on working my way through the recipes in Philippe Conticini’s La Pâtisserie des Rêves, but, alas, I soon discovered a number of inconsistencies from recipe to recipe. I moved on to other baking adventures, many of which are chronicled in this very blog.

So here we are in 2024. Writing a new/updated post on the subject has been whirling around in my head for awhile now. I’ll review the steps, look at three ways to shape/bake K-amanns and offer some tips along the way based on things I’ve learned about the process.

Lots of stuff coming up so take your time or just browse as you wish.

I’ll start with individual pastries, either as spirals (kouignettes) or muffin-like with corners turned in. These are popular all over the USA and certainly in France and beyond. The 9” cake version (coming up in part 2) is a more traditional way to enjoy it by the slice when in Brittany. A quick web search confirmed that Georges Larnicol’s kouignettes remain popular, with many locations in Brittany as well as shops in Paris, Nancy and Bordeaux.

Individual kouign-amann, just shaped

As is true of most any recipe topic you review, you’ll find a multitude of variations in ingredient proportions, mixing/kneading times, rising and resting times, numbers and types of folds for laminated dough and on and on. You just gotta do it and make it your own.

Let’s start this thing! Don’t forget the recipe here. There you’ll see standard measures as well as gram weights (my preference).

Place 350 ml tepid water in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add 50 g bread flour, 500 g all purpose flour, 50 g sugar, 20 g soft butter in pieces, 12 g salt, 5 g instant yeast. Give it a stir up with a spatula to get things moistened.

 

Using the dough hook, mix on stir for a minute then on speed 2 for three minutes (Kitchenaid settings) to achieve a soft dough.

 

Just after mixing

 

Cover the bowl and let it rest at room temperature for an hour. The dough should appear more pouf-y. It may look like a subtle change in the photos but rest assured the dough has risen and is softer and more lovely in texture after the hour repose.

 
 

Ball the dough up and wrap it in plastic wrap, giving yourself some leeway to allow you to push the dough out into an 8” rough square within the confines of the plastic wrap.

 

Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours or up to overnight. I usually make the dough in the late afternoon then fridge it and plan to finish things off the next morning.

You can prepare the butter block ahead and hold it in the fridge until ready.

For the block: weigh out the butter (in this case 400 g), lay it out on a piece of plastic wrap to form a 5-6” square of butter (cut chunks as needed), wrap it up, leaving some leeway around the edges to provide a 7-8” final size. Let it sit at room temp to soften then tap with a rolling pin and smush it around within the plastic to get rid of seams (you want the butter block pretty uniform).

ready for smushing and shaping

Keeping it in the plastic allows you to manipulate it without getting your hands all buttery. I roll and push it around to work at getting rid of seams.

 

Push, flatten and then unwrap to regroup.

 

Rewrap leaving room to roll the butter out to a square about 7-8-ish”. Then roll it out, all the while keeping it in the plastic. Chill until ready to use.

 

Bottom line - the best way to create a smooth butter block is soften your butter enough so that you can easily form it within your parchment or plastic wrap into a uniform block without seams. Then chill it until you’re ready to proceed with the beurrage and folds.

If you have access to solid pounds of butter (no sticks!), even better. During my stage at Pascal Pinaud’s pâtisserie in the 5th arr. we cut slabs of butter off very large blocks when making large batches of croissants. Then during my Providence/Pawtucket days I used Cabot full pounds, both when pastry chef-ing at Gracie’s and in my French Tarte business. It’s much easier to portion out what you need and have no seams! Yay!!

When ready for the beurrage, take the butter out of the fridge about 20 minutes ahead to allow it to warm enough to make it malleable yet cool. You want it to bend, not crack.

NICE!

There are at least a couple of ways to perform the beurrage (envelop the butter in the dough). Below is an image using felt templates - it’s a good way to show the participants in my classes how it can be done.

Either form the dough into a square with the butter centered at an angle or roll out a rectangle and center the butter on it.

Get it?

 

Then fold the corners of the square over the butter OR fold the ends of the rectangle over the butter. The end result is essentially the same. A dough/butter package!

 

Here’s what I did.

Dough and butter components

Roll the dough out to two times the length of the butter block. Keep the butter wrapped and set it in place to be sure you’re happy with the size/position before unwrapping it. Looks good.

 

Unwrap the butter and set in place.

 

Fold the bottom up . . . . .

 

. . . and the top down to cover the butter. Pinch all the seams closed.

 

Turn the dough over seam-side down with the pinched ends at top and bottom. Press down with your rolling pin along the length to get the elongation under way and “set” the package. Always rolling to and from yourself, roll the dough out to about three times length to width. We all roll with different pressure so I periodically flip the dough lengthwise (top becomes bottom and bottom becomes top) to keep the thickness of the dough as even as possible.

And remember to lift and fluff the dough, re-flouring lightly as needed to prevent sticking. If the dough becomes too warm and soft, wrap it and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes or fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm things up.

 

As you roll the dough out, pay attention to the edges. The butter won’t always get out to the very edge so it’s recommended that you trim those edges to expose the butter. This makes for more precise laminations. Create scrape buns with the extra dough.

Doughy edge

Here’s the cut edge showing the exposed butter.

 

Time to start the folds. Here are some choices: three 3-folds (letter folds) with flour then a final 3-fold rolling in sugar (my choice). Or two 3-folds with flour and two 3-folds with sugar. Or one 4-fold (book fold) and one 3-fold with flour and a final 3-fold with sugar. You can play around with it.

Here’s the start of the first 3-fold. Visualize the dough in thirds. Notice my scraps - you’ll see those later in a squiggle bun I made. Just as for the beurrage, bottom up . . . .

 

. . . . top down.

First three fold complete

 

After each fold rotate the dough 90 degrees so the spine of the book is on your left. If your kitchen is cool and your dough is behaving you can go right ahead with the second 3-fold. Otherwise chill the dough for 45-60 minutes before proceeding with the next fold.

No matter what fold approach I’ve chosen, I label the package with types of folds I’m planning, then cross off after each fold. That’s particularly helpful if doing several batches of dough - easier to keep track of it all.

After my second 3-fold I wrapped the dough, froze it for an hour or so to retard the fermentation then put it in the fridge overnight with plans to finish the process the next morning. That timing worked for me this time but it can all be done in a day too.

The next morning I completed my third 3-fold with flour then wrapped/chilled the dough while I prepped my pans.

I’m using 3” individual Fat Daddio cake pans for my muffin-like/corners-in version and a standard muffin tin for my spirals. Butter and sugar them. NOTE: I didn’t do the two center muffin wells at first, since I thought I’d get 10 spirals from my dough, but I prepped them after my yield was indeed a dozen.

 

When ready for your last fold, have 200 g granulated sugar on hand. Sprinkle sugar on your work surface, place the dough down, sprinkle more sugar on top then roll it out lengthwise

 

Ready for final 3-fold

At each step sprinkle more sugar on. Once again, bottom up and top down.

 

At this point lightly wrap the dough in parchment and let it rest for 20 minutes or so. The best tip I received on this was from the previously mentioned Chef Franck who cautioned a room temperature rest rather than a refrigerated rest. Sitting in the fridge gets the sugar melting and boy can it get messy!

OK. Now it’s time to roll the dough out for cutting and shaping. I needed a piece of dough about 7” x 10.5 inches to give me six 3.5” squares for my Fat Daddio pans. The rest went to spirals.

I rolled the dough lengthwise, keeping the width at 7-ish”. Using the lower half or so of the dough, I marked out and cut my squares.

 

Fold the corners of each square into the middle starting with two opposite corners and finishing with the other two. Push the center down firmly with your fingertip. Place each in the prepared pans.

 

Roll the remaining dough out to about 8” high and 12” wide and cut twelve 1”strips. Roll each one up into a spiral and place them in the prepared muffin tin.

 

Notice my squiggle bun sitting amidst the pans on the right below. I rolled the scraps in vanilla sugar and rather randomly braided and coiled them.

 

At the start of the rise.

Cover pans with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and give them a 60 minute rise.

 

AFter the rise

During the second half of the rise heat your oven to 375ºF.

Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown and caramelized.

 

Taking great care not to burn yourself, turn out the baked buns onto a wire grid. Use an offset spatula to loosen the edges. If you wait too long, the caramel hardens and removal from the molds is difficult.

Notice below that some of the spirals aren’t as well baked as the others. I popped them back into the oven for 5-10 minutes to get them nicely browned.

 

Here’s the finished batch of both versions. Notice the scrap bun tucked in there.

 
 
 

After a short cool down (they’re deelish a bit warm!), Steve and I did a taste test. Yes!

Crisp exterior, caramel just right, light, airy yet buttery interior layers. We’ll take it!

 
 

Traditionally in Brittany you’ll see Kouign-amann served as a full 8-9” cake for breakfast or afternoon tea. Stay tuned for Part 2 - the full size version!


Mid-winter update

First and foremost I simply had to share this recent sunset that we viewed right from our living room windows. It’s been awhile since we’ve seen one this stunning here in west Michigan. It was a beauty and pictures don’t even do it justice.

Things are purring along here in GR with recent temps in the 50s and low 60s. Hard to believe it’s still February. Steve and I are going to fitness classes regularly which provide a wonderful boost to one’s physical and emotional well being.

I’m working on a Kouign-amann post which is becoming pretty exhaustive in scope. I’ll probably end up doing it as a two-parter. Watch for it in the next couple of weeks.

Kouign-amann Spirals

Otherwise January was pretty quiet, a time to take care of household stuff, get reorganized for the new year, take each day as it comes. My baking focused on some staples for our larder - scali (my fave bread for awhile now), focaccia and pizza dough.

Nephew Jon visited early in February so it was a simple caramel apple tarte with homemade vanilla ice cream for dessert.

 

It felt good to make croissants and pain au chocolat again after a several month hiatus in that department. These were requested by friend Kim, the activities director for an assisted living facility down the road.

Of course I made a few extra so Steve and I could have a little treat.

 

These are cherry almond scrap buns made with trimmings from the croissant dough.

 

Here’s a preview of the full sized kouign-amann cake I’ll be writing about.

Oh those buttery layers

Stay tuned for Kouign-amann!

Meanwhile, please enjoy a few more images - ahhhh . . . . the beauty of nature!

 
 

Cocoa spelt cake

As promised in my recent season greetings post, I’m delving more deeply into this cake that comes from Aleksandra Crapanzano’s book “Gâteau”. Made with spelt and almond flours, Dutch process cocoa, Greek yogurt and brewed espresso along with the usual sugar, butter, egg, baking soda, salt, its intriguing blend of flavors got my attention. Plus, this was the chance to use up some ingredients on hand after all the autumn and holiday baking projects.

Let’s pause a moment. You’re probably wondering “How many chocolate cake recipes does one really need?” (particularly when there are literally TONS of them out there). I already have a number of delicious versions in my repertoire, but it’s also about the discovery and trying something a little bit new, isn’t it.

My first attempt, all puckered up and sunken. Ouch!

My first attempt was NOT a resounding success although it tasted pretty darn good. I even served it for a Christmas dessert with an orange mascarpone custard (which I ultimately thought too heavy for the cake), topped with hazelnut crumble and ganache drizzle. Just a little whipped cream next time perhaps?

Hmmmmm . . . . lets call this one rustic

After that first attempt this project ended up as more of a tutorial on pan sizes and capacities than on the actual recipe! Bear with me - numbers and math coming up - I understand if your eyes glaze over! Just scroll on down to the ingredients image for more on actually making/baking the batter.

For frequent cake bakers (or even not so frequent), the general rule as to how much batter goes into different size pans or molds is typically 2/3 to 3/4 full. To determine your pan’s capacity, place it on a zeroed scale, fill it with water and record the gram weight completely FULL. Then add up the weight of your recipe ingredients, divide that by the full pan weight and you’ll figure out pretty quickly if the batter will work in your chosen pan.

Aleksandra’s recipe calls for a 9 x 5 loaf pan which is typically touted as having a capacity of 1900 g or 8 cups. Over the years I’ve used the slightly smaller 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 pan (holds about 1400 g / 6 cups) or my longer, narrower tea loaf pan (about 5.5 cups) for things like basic recipes for quick breads, pound cakes etc with good results. BUT what I hadn’t done this time was to figure it out FIRST!

In this case the total ingredient weight for the batter comes to about 1310 g (5.5 cups); divided by 1575 g capacity of my tea loaf pan = 0.83 (~7/8!). WAY over the fill-to-2/3-to-3/4 rule for that particular pan.

What I did do the first go around was blithely plunge ahead, make the batter, fill the pan and realize it was WAY too full! So much so that I had to scoop some batter out early in the bake to reduce overflow. I should know better.

The First BAtch

Life is full of lessons, eh?

Anyhoo - always determined, I went through two more rounds of baking this batter, one with a larger loaf pan and one with my favorite muffin size silicone molds.

I got my hands on a pan that was billed as 9 x 5 x 2 1/2” deep but was barely 2 1/4”. I did my water fill/weighing test and found the capacity to be 1600 g, very close to my tea loaf pan - far too small for this batter.

Shallow 9 x 5 pan

 

Next up - a 9 x 5 x 2.75 USA brand loaf pan which weighed in (water filled) at about 1787 g. Hmmm . . . . this might work after all. That comes to about 0.72 filled, just in between that 2/3 to 3/4 fill guideline.

I went for it! While a 5 quart mixer works, I had learned from the first attempt that the amount of batter was a bit much for mine, so I switched to my 6 quart for further batches. Much easier to work with.

Let’s make this! Here’s the printable recipe PDF for you. You’ll note some ingredient variation options.

As always, read the recipe and do your mise en place with particular attention to ingredients that should be at room temperature (butter and eggs in this case).

A.C.’s recipe calls for Greek yogurt although for my first, not so great batch, I used crème frâiche; then Greek yogurt for the second loaf and full fat buttermilk for the tea cakes. It doesn’t seem to matter which you use - all good!

You can also alter the amount of spelt flour by creating a blend of spelt, medium rye and whole wheat pastry flour. Or replace the almond flour with a different nut flour like hazelnut or pistachio - they go so well with chocolate and coffee flavors.

The process is much like many cakes - cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla, alternate dry and wet ingredients and, in this case, warm espresso is blended in at the very end.

Following are images of the steps.

Creamed butter and sugar

Even when eggs are at room temperature, it’s not unusual for the mixture to have a bit of a curdled look once the eggs are added. You should be able to appreciate that below. Don’t worry - it’s not an issue.

Eggs and Vanilla added

 

Dry and wet all blended in

Warm espresso goes in last - I will say it made me a bit nervous to add 3/4 cup of warm liquid but, with blending, it turned into a smooth and creamy mixture. Ahhhh. . . .

Final batter

Heat oven to 350ºF. I’m using the 9 x 5 USA pan below. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan (helps the parchment stay in place), line with parchment, lightly butter again and dust with cocoa powder (eliminates the chance of a white flour-y residue on the outside of the finished cake). You could also dust with raw sugar for a lovely hint of exterior crunch :-)).

You might think this buttering/lining thing is over kill, but I’ve had a few frustrating experiences with cakes not releasing from pans, so I tend to err on the side of caution. Having the parchment allows you to grab it and lift the cake out easily when the time comes.

 

I filled the pan, weighing the batter as I went. The final amount was a bit less than my calculated 1310 g based on ingredient weights, but let’s remember that egg weights will vary a bit and not every little scrap of batter ends up in the pan. Not enough to fuss about.

This should work!

Bake time is recommended as 50 minutes, rotating the pan about half way through. At my half point rotation things were looking OK with a still pretty jiggly center, and it looked like some edge overflow was about to happen. In another 10-15 minutes, this is what I found. Oh NO! Foiled again.

 

I scraped away the ooze and cleaned the edge up a bit. It took a good 20 minutes longer before I was happy that the cake had set and my tester came out clean. I even popped my digital probe into the oven and found my oven temps were pretty much on track.

Lesson learned (again) - recipe bake times are guidelines, every oven is different and always check sooner than later!!

Here it is! Sunken but not quite as much as the first loaf.

All baked up

It lifted neatly out of the pan and, once cooled, sliced easily to reveal a dense crumb and moist center.

 

In spite of these trials and tribulations, this cake is absolutely delicious! For my third attempt I went for small cakes, my avowed favorites when it comes to cakes of almost any kind.

Here I’m using an 8 well muffin style Silikomart mold SF028. Full capacity is 85 g / 3 ounces; if filling 2/3 to 3/4 full, you can figure 56 to 64 g per well (average it at 60 g - it’s easier). Take ~1300 g batch weight, divide by 60 g and you should have a yield of about 21 cakes.

Place silicone molds on a wire grid set into a half sheet pan. Pipe batter into wells, about 2/3 full. As opposed to scooping and spooning, piping is a much neater and easier way to dispense similar quantities of batter into the wells.

Here are some of the tea cakes, going in and coming out.

Ready for the oven

 

These bake around 20-25 minutes. You’re looking for tops to be dry with some cracking and a tester coming out clean.

All baked up

Let them cool in the molds about 10-15 minutes then gently turn out onto a wire rack. I decided to put some up and some down for you - different looks. If you’re going to dip them in ganache, I like the flatter bottom side up for a smoother finish, but either way works if you’re covering with a nice swirl of Swiss meringue buttercream or whipped mascarpone.

REady for dressing up!

For some I went with a spread of ganache on top followed by a swirl of caramel mascarpone cream and shared them with the neighbors for the New Year.

 
 

For New Year’s Eve Steve and I enjoyed a comparison bowl, each with a small piece of the second sunken loaf and half of a small ungarnished tea cake topped with vanilla ice cream, caramel drizzle and a favorite crumble. Both delicious but the small cakes edged out the slices with a slightly less dense texture and a lighter crumb.

 

What have I learned from all this?? I still love baking. Recipes/baking times are guidelines, ovens are not the same and everyone’s experience will be a little different. Even when you pay attention, things may not turn out as you think. Perhaps half the batter in a 8 x 4 pan would be perfect - maybe I’ll try it some day.

If I could be a fly on the wall in Ms. Crapanzano’s kitchen, maybe I’d learn a trick or two. Perhaps a 10” x 5” loaf pan is the solution? Or just bake small.

But the BEST thing is that this cake is delicious no matter how you cut it! Going forward I’ll stick with my individual tea cake versions since I can divide the batter into as many molds as it will give me. The cakes freeze well. They’re great with ice cream or whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel and/or ganache and a crunchy topping like crumble or toasted chopped nuts.

You can’t beat that. Happy baking!

Oh - and winter has finally arrived in west Michigan!

 

Have a cheery, peaceful and happy holiday season!

Holiday shortbread all boxed up

It’s been a busy time these past few weeks and blogging has taken a back seat. BUT . . . . I’ve tried a couple of new cakes from Aleksandra Crapanzano’s book “Gâteau” which I hope to share with you in the upcoming weeks.

One is a classic French apple rum-scented cake which I’ve made several times now. The first time around was for a demo I did back in October at a nearby assisted living facility during which I made two 6” smaller cakes. The time frame required a shorter bake than for a full 9” cake and it worked out just fine. The residents LOVED it!

six inch french apple cakes

I’ve also made both standard “muffin” sizes (seen below at another assisted living gig) and petite teacake versions topped with whipped caramel mascarpone and oat crumble. Yum!

 

The other day I made a chocolate, spelt, crème frâiche, coffee enhanced loaf that I will definitely try again. The recipe calls for a 9”x5” loaf pan, but I used my mom’s Mirro pan that’s longer and more narrow than a standard loaf. I’ve done that a number of times with other cake recipes that call for a standard loaf but this time the batter was WAY too much for the pan, spilling over the ends like lava. I ended up scooping some of the batter out early on in the bake and then let it finish. Boy did I have my doubts.

Not a pretty picture - sunken right down the middle like a trough. All puckered up! Just goes to show ya that things don’t always end up as you might hope.

 

But wouldn’t you know it - it’s delicious! Deep cocoa flavor, moist crumb with just the right level of coffee flavor.

 

I’ll let you know how the Christmas dessert I hope to serve comes out. Slices and/or chunks of this cake with a vanilla/orange scented ricotta custard, some chocolate ganache and something crunchy to set it off. Maybe a nutty crumble or chopped candied hazelnuts or walnuts. Mmmmmm . . . sounds good!

Cheers and good wishes to all! Catch you later.

My vermont memories window display (No white christmas here!)

Afternoon tea at London House, Chicago

Street level entry hallway

Steve and I were able to squeeze in an overnight to Chicago right before Thanksgiving. Seeing some family, visiting the Art Institute and enjoying the city buzz were on the agenda, as was an afternoon tea at London House.

Located at the confluence of Michigan Avenue and Wacker Drive, the entrance was at street level while the tea event was on the second (“lobby”) floor. While it was a bit clunky finding the space due to an odd elevator system, the setting was lovely and comfortable, the staff attentive and pleasant and the menu intriguing and robust with its offerings of pastries, savories and sweets.

When asked if we were celebrating a particular occasion, I offered up our 40th anniversary. That happened to be back in August, but we see it as a cause for celebration all year long. Wouldn’t you??

The menu

We were served two glasses of bubbly on the house and made our choice of tea - lots of options. I went with a green tea almondine, a pleasant almond scented light tea. Steve opted for a fruity berry hibiscus number - hmmmmm . . . . not typical for him. Truth be told, we’re generally coffee drinkers, but, when in Rome . . . . .

Green tea almondine

Shortly after the tea was served, we received our basket of baked goods - two flavors of scones (triple chocolate and orange cranberry), eggnog cakes and Grinch cookies (green of course).

 

Steve’s favorite was the chocolate scone - so moist and cocoa-ful (I think I made that word up). The portions were more than generous, so much so that I thought the scones would be better as petite versions, leaving room for the rest to come.

We put the Grinch cookies aside - they were big and not at all enticing to us. Give me a petite shortbread cookie any day.

 

The savories (6!) and sweets (5!) came out together on an elegant, narrow three tiered stand. We had a lot of work to do!

 

The menu was creative although perhaps trying a bit too hard. On a positive note the truffle mushroom toast points (especially the fried crispy prosciutto!), the feta/spinach/artichoke spanakopita and the goat cheese/pesto/tomato on Ritz cracker were flavorful, but the textures of the sushi salmon crepe and the vegan “crab” cake (essentially chewy mushrooms) were not particularly enjoyable. Steve did like the duck spring roll with hoisin, but then he’s a sucker for Asian cuisine. You go Steve!

Savories

The sweets were presented in a cute holiday style with donuts hanging from the tier and treats dressed up as Christmas trees and wrapped gifts on the top shelf. There were also candy cane macarons and Rudolph domes with antlers and all.

Sweet treats

Steve and I agreed that the Rudolph dome was the best of the bunch - a smooth caramel mousse with a pear confit center set on a crisp speculoos cookie. The other choices were average at best, particularly the gingerbread donut which was redolent of frying oil and too chewy in texture.

I can’t help but wonder where and by whom the Christmas trees and wrapped gift sweets were created. Seemed like mass production to me. Or perhaps there were elves back in the kitchen doing all that decorating?

Bottom line - if you’re looking for a couple of hours of quiet enjoyment in a light filled and holiday decorated room, you’re on the right track. Just don’t expect the cuisine to send you over the top.

Happy holidays!

Chocolate ganache tarte

The holidays are here and, as each day brings its own tasks to be tackled or projects to delight us, I want to send all of you my wishes for a very peaceful season.

And what better time to talk about chocolate!!

This ganache tarte is one of my all time faves. The more I consider all of the goodies I’ve created and written about over the years and the things I so enjoy making, the more I realize that the simplest things are usually the best. This delicious treat has been often requested and frequently made, but, believe it or not, even though I’ve perhaps referred to it in various iterations over the years, I’ve never given it top billing. So here goes.

During my Providence/Pawtucket days I made 80 mm individual versions for my retail space, keeping ‘em clean with a sprinkle of chocolate crunchy crumbs and a dusting of confectioner’s sugar. Plain and delicious. Then it’s up to the buyer to leave it au naturel and eat it out of hand or dress it up for serving - dollop on some whipped cream and a few fresh raspberries (for you fruit and chocolate lovers) or top with crunchy candied nuts or some sesame brittle.

Individual ganache tartes

The process utilizes some of the basics in tarte making - cooled blind baked shell; ganache filling poured in and cooled; garnish as you wish; serve and enjoy. Pretty straight forward. You can use either a pâte sucrée au chocolat or a standard pâte sucrée.

As an aside, I’m not intending to overwhelm but to explore options with you for creating your own version of a delicious ganache tarte!

As for planning ahead, be sure you make your chosen dough either the day before or early enough to allow an hour or two for the dough to chill in the fridge before rolling it out. An even better plan-ahead step is to make a double or triple batch of dough a week or two ahead, divide it into approximately 260-280 gram / 9-10 ounce portions and hold them in the freezer well wrapped. The dough keeps for months. Just thaw it in the fridge overnight before using.

You’ll fully blind bake the tarte shell first. When you’re ready, roll out the dough (generally about 260-280 grams / 9-10 ounces for a 9”) and line a 9” tart ring or fluted pan. Place it on a parchment lined sheet pan, prick the bottom all over with a fork and pop it into the freezer for 15-20 minutes to firm it up.

I often do various sizes for different venues. Roll with it (hah! - get it?). You’ll learn to figure out how much filling will work for certain sized tartes. I gauge a double batch of filling should fill the rings below (not including the little brioche tins).

So many choices!

My favorite 65 mm rings - perfect!

7 inch and 5.5 inch rings

You can actually do the lining step a day or two ahead and hold it in the freezer until baking day. No need to thaw it - just line with a round of parchment, fill with weights or dried beans. Bake at 350ºF for 12-15 minutes, then lift out the weights and parchment and bake an additional 5-8 minutes to fully bake/dry the bottom. Cool completely before filling.

Fully blind baked shell

As if there weren’t enough options for this tarte shell, here’s one more way to help with the plan-ahead process. You can freeze the fully baked shell too! There have been times that I’ve had a baked shell in my freezer for several weeks before I decided it was time to fill and enjoy it. So many possibilities!

The ganache filling is as simple as ganache can be. Place 227 g / 8 ounces of chopped dark chocolate or discs/feves in a medium heat proof bowl along with 28 g / 2 tablespoons unsalted butter. Heat 360 g / 1.5 cups heavy cream to boiling then pour the hot cream over the chocolate/butter. Let it sit a minute then gently blend with a whisk or spatula until smooth. Don’t be aggressive with the mixing - you don’t want to aerate it. Blend in 30 ml / 2 tablespoons brewed espresso - I often make a mix of 1/4 cup hot water with a half tablespoon espresso powder as a substitute for the brewed and use 30 ml of that.

Once the ganache is made, pour it directly into the blind baked shell.

Let it sit out at room temperature uncovered for an hour or so to let the heat dissipate before placing it into the fridge (again uncovered) to fully set. If you put it in the fridge right away, you’ll get condensation on the surface - not attractive, believe you me. Plus chocolate doesn’t like that.

Once chilled, garnish away! Crunchy chocolate crumbs, a light confectioner’s sugar dust, whipped cream and voila! It keeps covered in the fridge over several days so don’t feel like you have to eat it all right away!

An option for you nut lovers out there is to spread some toasted chopped nuts of choice coated in caramel on the bottom and pour the ganache over them. You can do fewer nuts and more ganache or more nuts and less ganache. Below are images of a few different sizes I experimented with for Thanksgiving a few years ago.

Pecans and caramel nestled in

Ganache poured over, ready to set

As for how you’d like to garnish your tarte, keep it simple by dolloping some Chantilly cream on each slice and adding some fresh raspberries. The pecan/caramel version below received a layer of chocolate crunchy crumbs, a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and a simple trio of toasted pecans. Yum.

For petite tartelettes, top the already set ganache with a lighter whipped version of chilled 2.5 parts cream to 1 part chocolate ganache and add a simple chocolate disc as decor.

Check out my ganache tips for more fun with ganache.

Petit fours tartelettes

Nothing like a day late and a dollar short. These images are from late October but I had to share a bit of seasonal beauty with you. They say snow’s a comin’!

Bejeweled burning bush

Late season color after a first snowfall - October 31, 2023

Here’s to comforting and grateful days, keeping our spirits and hearts bright, staying active and healthy and hoping for calm around the world. Cheers and, as always, happy baking!

Flan Parisien

 

OK! It’s time to get down to brass tacks. October is flying by, and I want to share one of my favorite baked goods ever. Being a huge lover of all things custard (think cooked vanilla pudding with melty chocolate chips as a child), my focus here is on le flan Parisien, essentially a custard baked in a crust. Yum.

Ever popular, flan has made its mark as a favorite le gouter after school snack for many French kiddos and is a staple in many pâtisseries across the country. There are many versions of flan across the globe - Mexico and Spain to name just two.

And let’s not forget the many classic custard based desserts that you’ll find world wide. Some of my favorites are crème brulée, pot de crème and my favorite ice cream base, crème anglaise, which I (and many!) consider the mother of custard sauces.

LIme coconut, raspberry/strawberry, chocolate almond, peach ice creams

I do digress. Sorry ice cream! I have to get back on track, but I couldn’t resist bringing you into the picture.

A custard is essentially a blend of dairy, egg and sugar with the occasional added thickener like cornstarch and/or flour, as is the case with crème pâtissière. You’ll see MANY variations in custard recipes using only milk, only cream, a blend of milk and cream, some yolks, some whole eggs - you get the idea. It would take me an entire post to try and explain the differences. Suffice it to say - all or mostly cream and all yolks in a custard make for a more unctuous mouth feel and richer taste. Switch in some whole milk for some of the cream and some whole eggs for yolks and you’ll experience a lighter, airier custard.

During my stage at Pâtisserie Pascal Pinaud in Paris’ 5th arrondisement, the house flan was made with puff pastry scraps for the crust and a simple crème pâtissière filling using whole eggs rather than yolks. Chef Pascal would line a 10-11 inch (25-28 cm) open ring with puff, hold it in the freezer and then I (oui moi!) would make the crème pâtissière that would be poured directly from the hot saucepan into the unbaked frozen shell. Into the oven it went. Always a hit.

At The French Tarte, my small shop in Pawtucket RI (2012-2014) , I occasionally made a version from Phillipe Conticini’s Pâtisserie des Rêves. His offered a unique approach whereby the custard filling was cooked, cooled then placed into unbaked puff lined rings and into the freezer for a couple of hours before baking. Right out of the freezer, directly into the oven! I looked back at my notes from July 25, 2013, having done a comparison between frozen and not - frozen won out for its creamier texture. Who knew.

I had already created my own flan custard base a few years back after doing a comparison of several recipes I had tried over the years. It incorporates whole milk, cream, eggs, yolks, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla bean. It was tasty back then so I went with it for this project. Plus, I hadn’t made a flan in forever!!

My goal here was not so much to revisit the custard portion BUT to compare using puff pastry scraps and my favorite pâte brisée for the shells. Blind baked or not and filling them with hot/cooled/frozen in the shell versions of the custard filling. While not a very scientific or well controlled experiment, it gave me the answers I sought.

I used my 80 mm (3”) diameter, 2.5 cm (1”) high open tart rings, lining three with puff pastry scraps and three with pâte brisêe. I blind baked one each of brisée and puff and left the rest unbaked.

Ready for Baking

As I suspected it would, the puff puffed up in spite of the weights, resulting in a pudgy crust.

 

I then proceeded to make a batch of my flan custard, filling both a blind baked and an unbaked pâte brisée shell with HOT cream and then right into the oven.

Look for the nicely browned (in some cases almost black) top and just a hint of jiggle in the otherwise set custard. Both crusts baked up brown and crisp, blind baked or not. Good to know.

pâte brisée/hot cream just out of the oven

The flans do deflate while cooling as seen below.

I allowed the remaining flan cream to cool about 30 minutes and filled a blind baked puff and an unbaked puff with the cooled cream.

Ready for the oven

Not a pretty picture since the unbaked puff puffed, essentially pushed the filling out and over the edges. Yikes! The blind baked one didn’t fare too well either. Too much filling on my part, although it did settle down once cooled.

rather a mess

Last but not least I filled my remaining two unbaked shells (one brisée and one puff) with cooled custard and froze them for a couple of hours before baking. I was a bit short on filling, but they were still good for the testing phase.

 

Taste test time! The first image is of the three puff crusted flans. You can see the inner layer of puff isn’t fully baked, even in the blind baked one. The custard was a winner in all versions, whether hot, cooled or frozen.

Here’s a closer view of the puff versions. Can’t have that doughy layer, no sirree!

The brisée versions all baked up beautifully. The crust so nice and crisp, browned and buttery and the custard silky smooth with a lightness that seemed just right.

 

Here’s a closer look at the brisée crusts.

 

The final analysis? Pâte brisée, hot custard and no need to blind bake. Straight forward indeed.

I simply had to do one final version using a 16 cm open ring. As seen below, I did the let-the-raw dough-hang-over-the-edge-of-the-ring approach, something I’ve seen in a couple of different pastry books. Once the whole thing is baked and cooled, you carefully cut away the excess dough to create a clean edge. It worked OK but I wouldn’t bother with it in the future.

Over hanging dough approach

Place lined ring/sheet pan in the freezer while preparing the custard. Fill shell with hot cream and bake.

Ready for the oven

All Baked up

Crust trimmed

Once cooled, trim off the excess crust (snack on it!), lift off the ring and cool the flan in the fridge overnight. This holds well refrigerated over 3-4 days, and I’ll admit that Steve and I each enjoyed a daily slice during that time. A keeper.

 

Have fun making your own flan Parisien!

Before I go, let me share this photo of a beautiful double rainbow seen out of our west windows this morning. The rising sun in the east was hitting the trees/oncoming rain clouds to the west to give us a vision of nature’s finest. Until next time - happy baking!

It’s baking season!

Zion lodge and the afternoon light

Yes, it’s officially autumn as of 2:50 am today, September 23! My absolute fave time of year, and baking is on the agenda. Even though It’s time to polish up my recipes and game plans for a number of classes and demo presentations on the fall calendar, there are other things I can’t ignore. Every now and then it’s fair game to veer off course a bit, eh?

If you’ve followed this blog for awhile, you know my penchant for sharing the beauty of nature. I love baking, but I also love walking and seeing the flora changing from season to season, whether in someone’s garden I happen to pass or out along the paths where wildflowers grow.

Roadside asters near the grand canyon

Back in 2020 Steve and I were planning a trip to Zion, Bryce and the Grand Canyon but had to postpone due to COVID. Well guess what - we just returned from that SW trip as a prelude to launching into fall activities. What grandeur and spectacular beauty. Pictures can certainly give you a hint, but you really have to see it in person to soak it all in.

OK - I admit this post isn’t really about autumn baking (although I’ll mention a couple favorites toward the end) but about experiencing just some of the different trees and flora of the SW. Prickly pear, juniper, scrub oak, desert holly, all of which tolerate dry conditions and are much more rugged and tough than plants in the midwest.

Prickly pear cactus

Juniper Berries

Desert Holly I think

Another oft seen bloom, particularly in Zion, was datura, a large white trumpet flower. Turns out this one is highly poisonous, belonging to the nightshade family, also referred to as jimsonweed, moonflower and thornapple. Whoa!

Datura - watch out!

Zion was my favorite - you gotta go!

So what are you thinking about baking this fall? Apples, pears and berries are all fair game.

Go as simple as a pâte brisée lined open tart ring, load in apple slices tossed in a squeeze of lemon juice and just a bit of sugar and flour, bake until golden then drizzle some cider caramel over the top. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’re good to go.

Don’t forget pumpkin, nuts, chocolate. How about a delish pumpkin financier?

Pumpkin financier

Or a buttery, crumbly pumpkin scone? And that’s just scratching the surface.

Pumpkin scone

Scroll through my blog for more ideas and have a blast with your own autumn baking. I know I will.

Lovely dahlia at nearby meijer gardens

Michigan peaches and some delicious teacakes

It’s August in west Michigan and you know what that means. Peaches!! Red Haven is one variety that has “ruled” the Michigan peach kingdom (in the minds of many) for years. One of my favorite childhood memories is that of my oft chosen August birthday dessert - pound cake, peaches and ice cream. Oh my.

For the eight years that we’ve been back in Michigan this blog once again gives me the chance to extol the virtues of this oh-so-summery fruit. A number of states brag about their peaches, and I’m here to tell you that Michigan peaches stand up to the rest of ‘em pretty darn well. Right now we’re deep into the season, not only with peaches but with blueberries, raspberries and more.

My current favorite breakfast or late morning “lunch” is plain yogurt (I go for Chobani plain whole milk) with a squirt of local maple syrup, sliced fresh peaches, blueberries and my favorite nutty granola. So delicious.

So many ways to bake with and/or use peaches - what to choose? Perhaps fresh peach ice cream or jalousie or peaches and cream Breton tart or rustic summer fruits galette? Why sure.

But . . . . this time let’s focus on petite peach teacakes, OK?

These were inspired by a Zoë François recipe for plum cake that I came across recently. Here’s my version for my favorite petite teacake size. Basic steps, delicious and moist. Can’t beat that!

 

A few plan ahead tips for the recipe - butter, eggs and milk at room temperature except for some small diced butter kept cold for the topping.

Cake Ingredients at the ready

Topping ingredients

Below is a quick run down on the steps and here’s the recipe PDF for your perusal.

Flours, baking powder, salt and spices whisked in a separate bowl. In the bowl of a stand mixer with paddle, cream room temp butter and sugar for a couple of minutes; blend in room temp eggs (2) one at a time, scraping down after each, then add vanilla.

For you frequent cake bakers, you know the drill. Starting with the flour mixture, blend in 1/3 of it, then 1/2 the milk, 1/3 flour mix, 1/2 milk and final 1/3 flour mix. Those additions should be done on low speed, just until incorporated. I like to finish the last 1/3 flour addition using a spatula - avoids over mixing. And it’s so satisfying to finish it off gently and with purpose, making sure all the dry stuff from the bottom of the bowl is blended in.

Last third coming at ya!

Blended oh so nice and smooth

I find it easiest to pipe the batter into the silicone wells rather than scooping it into the small cavities - less mess. I had my peaches peeled, pitted and cut up, letting the moisture soak up a bit on paper towel before popping them on top of the batter. I think I used about a peach and a half for this batch (ate the other half of course).

 

Bake at 375ºF for about 10 minutes, then pull the tray out and sprinkle the spice/sugar topping mix on each.

Partially baked and Lightly sprinkled

Dot a few cold butter pieces on each cake and a bit more spice sprinkle.

 

Continue baking about another 10 minutes until golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

Oh so light and delicious with the perfect marriage of spices and peach. Enjoy these freshly baked or freeze for later. Next time I’m planning a nice swirl of caramel mascarpone cream and a bit of oat crumble to dress them up for an upcoming afternoon spread of delights. Yes.

Truth be told I’m ready for autumn, my FAVE time of year. Enjoy!

For the love of baking

Assorted goodies for a neighbor’s birthday party

Many of us pursue baking simply for the love of it - I know I do. Believe me, I know how fortunate I was back in 2006 to attend pastry school in both Florence and Paris. As a new career and later-in-life endeavor, it was exciting, emotionally charged, exhausting at times and well worth it.

Though I’m both “home schooled” and professionally trained, it’s not a search for fame or fortune that keeps me in the kitchen. Trying new things, reading about how others approach their craft, tweaking a recipe to create a different flavor combination all help to keep me coming back for more.

I find the process - planning, prepping and baking all the way to tasting and sharing - so calming and rhythmic. Even cleaning up, when all is said and done, is its own rite. Everything washed/dried, organized and stored in it’s own place, ready for the next baking adventure.

Just a few frequently used tools

 

Apricot blueberry danish

 

Cooling challah

 

Fresh berry tarte

 

Caramel knots

The remaining content is taken from a post I first published on March 14, 2022 in the early weeks of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. I posted it right on the heels of another post, and I suspect many of you who tend to follow this blog may have missed it.

“If pastry could change the world” still captures what baking means for me and so many others. Enjoy!

Valentine feuilletés

If everything could remind us of love . . . . .

 

If we could all share fresh bread, cheese and wine . . . . .

 

If a simple and delicious apple tart could make each day better . . . . .

 

If a bright, flashy, chewy macaron could shout “Be Happy”! . . . . .

 

If croissants could bring us together as one, multi-layered as we are . . . . .

 

If a buttery scone could make us giggle with delight . . . . . .

 

If creamy profiteroles could smooth out all the kinks amongst us . . . . .

 

If a shortbread sandwich cookie could hug each and every one . . . .

If caramelized Kouign-amann could roll us up in a big warm embrace . . . . .

Don’t you think the world would be a better place?

Here’s to all the bakers out there everywhere. Cheers!!

Summer beauty

Hazel-chocolate spirals plus croissant squiggles

Back on our stage once again - it’s time for more fun with croissant dough! Some weeks back I came across an article about the various ways that many baking and pastry folks are shaping their laminated dough - eye opening to say the least. I wanted to give one of those shapes a try in addition to making some spirals for a group event.

First let’s review the classic spiral process (here’s one version), using one of my favorite fillings - hazelnut remonce topped with chopped chocolate for a match made in heaven.

A quick sidebar: I first made remonce about 3 years ago based on Brontë Aurell’s recipe - 100 g each of almond paste (preferably 50% almond/50% sugar), sugar and butter. As I thought about that mix, I realized it’s essentially 50 g almond, 150 g sugar and 100 g butter. After my lovely class experience in Copenhagen in May of 2022 where we made remonce with 100 g each almond flour, sugar and butter - essentially créme d’amande without any egg or flour - I tweaked the almond paste version to 100 g almond paste, 50 g almond flour, 50 g sugar and 100 g butter for a more almond, less sweet version than Aurell’s. Add 300 g of toasted, ground hazelnuts to the mix for the hazel version. Did you follow that?? It’s all in the details.

As many of you know, the spiral is what we all use for cinnamon rolls - roll out a rectangle of dough, spread or sprinkle your filling on, roll it up into a log, slice, pan up, proof, bake and enjoy! There are tons of filling options, either sweet or savory, so use your imagination and go for it.

I’m using a half batch of croissant dough here - roll to about an 8” x 12” rectangle (20 cm x 30 cm).

Ready for the filling

Spread 227 g / 8 ounces hazelnut remonce filling over the dough and sprinkle with 50 g chopped chocolate. I use Guittard 61%.

Ready to cut

Cut ten 3 cm wide strips, roll ‘em up and place each in a standard sized baking paper. PSST - this is a new approach for me. Rather than tucking them in a pan cheek-by-jowl or setting them openly onto a sheet pan without any ring or form, the papers give them just enough of a boundary to allow for rising/spreading and baking very nicely. Yes!

Rolling, rolling, rolling

 
 

Cover lightly with buttered plastic wrap and let rise 1.5 to 2 hours. Not to confuse you, but I cut two additional strips from the half batch of dough I was using for the squiggle test (coming up) to give me an even dozen as you see below.

 

Toward the end of the rise heat the oven to 400ºF. Bake 10 minutes, rotate the pan and check the browning. If browning too quickly, reduce temp to 375ºF and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until nicely browned.

 

For a little shine I brush them with some simple syrup and then give ‘em a sprinkle of coriander sugar. Yum.

 

Time for the new shape! Squiggles. They remind me of fleur-de-lis.

 

Using a half batch of dough, I rolled it out to an 8” x 12” rectangle, this time with the short side parallel to the edge of the counter. I have only six 80-mm square tart forms so six pastries resulted from this experiment.

Butter and sugar the tart forms which serve as the boundary for the dough to keep it in check, so to speak, as it proofs and bakes. Cut six 30 cm (12”) long and ~ 2.5 cm (1”) wide strips. My cutting eye was a bit off and a couple came out a bit narrower - going forward I’d cut them all a tad wider, ~3 cm each.

 

Shape each strip into a squiggle (I had practiced with a strip of paper first and figured out the curves I was going for), tuck each into a prepped form at an angle as seen below and sprinkle with some coriander sugar.

 

Cover lightly with buttered plastic wrap and let rise about 1.5 hours.

 

Bake at 375ºF about 20 minutes until nicely browned. I also gave these the simple syrup, coriander sugar treatment.

 

All in all, a fun time in the baking kitchen! I hope you’re having fun too!!

Summer marches on.

Focaccia

This one is a dandy folks! What a wonderful, luscious and tasty bread.

Let me go back a number of years and tell you about my discovery of Claudia Fleming’s book “The Last Course”, a wonderful and delicious ode to pastry and desserts. Back in 2007 to early 2010 I was the pastry chef at Gracie’s in Providence RI. Being a newbie in the pastry/restaurant world, I was always looking for inspiration for desserts. As it turns out, the Providence Public Library was just a couple of blocks away from Gracie’s, and I would occasionally wander over there after my day’s work to peruse the baking book stacks. Thrilled by the discovery of this particular book, I would often turn to Claudia’s recipes and glean ideas from her creations.

Imagine my delight when learning of Claudia’s second book “Delectable” published in 2022 and dedicated to her late husband Gerry Hayden who, as I understand it, was a very talented chef. For many years the two of them operated the North Fork Table and Inn on Long Island (now under new ownership), and Claudia baked focaccia for the restaurant every day. That kind of experience and expertise is invaluable.

One of the things I love about acquiring new baking books is reading the introduction and gaining an understanding of the author’s philosophy and approach - and, let’s not forget, the recipes aren’t bad either!

I’ve made this recipe a couple of times so far and you can be certain that it will remain a staple in my bread baking repertoire from here on out. I topped mine with a pizza seasoning herb mix we keep on hand along with grated parmesan cheese, but you can create your own version.

I’ve adapted the recipe with some tweaks in ingredient portions based on %hydration (76% here) and the weight of a cup of bread flour that I use. If you’re a recipe reader/comparer as I am, you soon realize the variables that can appear in measures vs. weights, particularly for flour. Some may indicate a cup of flour is 5 oz (140 g), some 4.5 oz (128 g) and some 4.25 oz (121 g). I’ve tested out what a cup of flour weighs for me - typically 127 to 130 g - so that’s my benchmark. I take weights over measures any day.

You need only the very basic ingredients for the dough (bread flour, water, dry yeast and salt), plus olive oil for the pan. Dissolve ~6 g / 2 teaspoons active dry yeast in 483 g / 2 cups room temperature water in the bowl of a stand mixer and let sit about 10 minutes until creamy. This step activates the yeast, however you can skip it if using instant yeast which can be mixed directly with the flour, water and salt.

Add 635 g / 5 cups bread flour and 10 g kosher salt to the yeast/water mixture and mix first with the paddle until combined. Rest the dough for 30 minutes to hydrate. Here’s my dough after that rest.

After initial hydration

Now switch to the dough hook and knead on med-high speed for 20 minutes until smooth. My 8 quart Kitchenaid commercial mixer (with which I can also use my 6 qt bowl!) does a great job with it’s workhorse of a dough hook and powerful motor. It’s a beautiful thing.

8 qt mixer with attachments/6 qt bowl

After the 20 minute knead

Place the dough in a lightly olive-oiled bowl and do a folding of the dough to develop the structure by stretching and pulling up one edge of dough into the middle, then the opposite edge, then the other two edges one at a time. This forms a tighter ball of dough. Flip the dough over to coat with oil, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at warm room temperature for 1 to 2 hours until doubled. You can also do an overnight fridge rise if it better suits your schedule.

The first time I made this, I did a 4 hour fridge rise (must have had something unexpected come up?) which I followed by an additional hour at room temperature. It worked. For my second batch I followed the room temperature approach, completing the project over the course of several hours.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured work surface, pat it into a square of sorts and stretch it out to about 16”x20”(ish).

Now fold it in thirds length wise (à la the letter or 3-fold we use for laminated dough).

Now fold in the short sides in thirds (another letter fold). Press out air pockets.

Dough package before panning

Pour 6 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil onto a half sheet pan, put the dough on the pan and turn to coat with oil. Let rest 10 minutes.

Stretch the dough to fit the pan as best you can. I did this in two steps, letting the dough rest 10-15 minutes in between. Dimple it all over, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise about 30-40 minutes. It will become more puffy.

Before the rise

Heat the oven to 500F. When ready, top with herbs and grated cheese (or your chosen topping(s).

Bake 8 minutes, rotate the pan and bake an additional 7 minutes until beautifully browned.

Mmmm, mmmm!

I slid the whole thing onto a cooling grid and gave it just a few minutes before Steve’s and my tastebuds just had to be put to work. Oh boy. Just the right chew and lightness of texture.

After our initial pre-dinner taste test, we enjoyed more with our evening pasta dish and then divided the remainder to wrap and freeze. It thaws and warms up beautifully in the oven and is great to split for sandwiches or open-faced baked with grated fontina and tomatoes on top or whatever your little heart may desire.

AbsoLUTEly delightful! Thanks Claudia.

Lemon lime toasted coconut tartelettes

Spring’s celebrations always bring out a wave of lemon, lime and coconut themed recipes, and I’m certainly one who hops on the band wagon tout de suite. I made these for Easter as well as for a spring pastry event right down the road - a big hit.

After our return from a late spring trip to New England and Nova Scotia, I was determined to write at least a bit about these, since, even with summer upon us, there’s always room for citrus.

So delicious!! Plan ahead friendly! Tart lemon lime filling baked in an already blind baked pâte brisée shell then garnished with whipped lemon mascarpone cream and toasted coconut. Yum. Yum. Yum.

I know I go on (and on and on) about the classic bases of pastry and these babies fit the bill big time. Using three of the top components on my A list, the result is a match made in heaven. I like to think of tart preparation as a build-your-own process in which you can change up your chosen dough, filling and garnishes to suit your tastes and occasion.

If you already have pâte brisée in your freezer, you’re one step ahead. If not, make the dough and chill it a few hours or overnight before rolling it out, lining your chosen rings/molds then blind baking the shells. TIP: wrap and freeze the dough up to a couple of months for even more plan ahead fun.

Check out this post for so much more on pâte brisée.

example of rings lined for blind baking

The lemon-lime curd is a favorite based on Yotam Ottolenghi’s recipe in “Sweet”, a book I highly recommend. It can be made several days ahead and holds well in the fridge - another win-win for planning. If I have leftover curd, I’ll add it to whipped mascarpone as I’ve done here. It’s also great added to Swiss meringue buttercream, ice cream base during processing or blended into crème pâtissiére to fill choux puffs.

If you prefer, you can make the filling while the shells are baking. I then typically fill the blind baked shells immediately with the warm curd then pop them into a 325ºF oven for about 10-15 minutes to set with a hint of a jiggle left. Cool at room temperature about 30 minutes then chill completely before adding your chosen garnish.

Some may wonder why I bake the filling since it’s already cooked. While not absolutely necessary, I find it makes for a more luscious, creamy mouth experience by taking that extra step.

Option - chill the curd separately then fill the baked/cooled shells, garnish and enjoy .

In the image below the two tartelettes at bottom left and right are examples of the option just mentioned. You can appreciate a looser texture than the others that have been baked which have a certain sheen and appear more set.

Before the final garnish

Whichever way you do it, the final task is the garnish - whipped mascarpone cream which I prep just ahead of use. In this case I used half of the base recipe, adding lime zest and 3-4 tablespoons (or to taste) of lemon-lime curd to the cream as I whipped.

Decorate the tarts with your favorite swirl pattern and top with a bit of lime zest and toasted coconut. You’ll be so happy.

One more thing - Steve and I can attest to the staying power of these lovelies in the fridge for 4-5 days. Whoopee!!

Enjoy and have fun with it!

Butter tarts in Nova Scotia

For those of you who follow this blog you may remember my post on making Canadian butter tarts back in July of 2021. Well I’m here to tell you that I’ve now enjoyed the real deal on a recent trip to Nova Scotia.

Steve and I met up with our British friends Richard and Pauline in Halifax from whence we drove to Cape Breton Island to explore the local beauty and culture. Lo and behold, on the Atlantic side of the Cabot Trail we came upon the Clucking Hen café and bakery - a perfect stop for a morning coffee and a pastry. And what to my wondering eyes did appear? Butter tarts, both raisin and pecan versions.

Steve abstained but Richard opted for the raisin version and Pauline and I went with the pecan. While butter tarts can be (and are!) quite sweet, this version was superb based on my limited experience. The crust was oh so buttery and flaky, a huge win in my book.

The filling was butterscotch-y with just the right balance from the pecan. Oh my!

Now that we’re back from our travels to New England and Nova Scotia, I have more posts up my sleeve - hmmm - how about focaccia or toasted coconut lime tarts? Sounds good to me.

Focaccia

Toasted coconut lime tarts

I admit that not all thoughts turn to baking this time of year but, even so, bake I must in some way, shape or form. Meanwhile, taking my morning walks and tuning into nature is oh so grand.

Be careful out there and have a grand summer!

Cheerful blooms along the walking path




Macaron musings

True confessions - I’ve had a love-hate relationship with French macarons over the past 17 years. When I first tasted these popular delights in Paris in 2006, I found them way too sweet for my taste. No thanks.

However, as is often the case in life, things changed. Having finished my pastry schooling in 2007, I began working at Gracie’s in Providence RI and was asked to start making these little cookies that were, still are and will probably continue to be, all the rage. I generally had the best results with my chocolate version filled with a basic chocolate ganache, but there were times, boy oh boy, when they came out mottled or too sticky or cracked or whatever. Frustration!

After leaving Gracie’s I taught some well received macaron classes in my shop at Hope Artiste Village in Pawtucket RI. Yet once I turned that business over in anticipation of our move to Michigan, I put macarons aside to focus on my true loves - tarts, puff, croissants, brioche, shortbread, choux and financiers/teacakes just to name a few. My heart simply wasn’t pining to make les macarons.

raspberrry white chocolate ganache filled

Fast forward a few years later - Steve and I had settled back in Grand Rapids and I started teaching pastry classes at the newly opened Sur La Table (sadly closed after the early months of the pandemic - bummer!). Wouldn’t you know one of the most popular class offerings was les macarons!! And so I taught many classes on these babies - sometimes they turned out beautifully and sometimes not so. The questions were always the same - what went wrong??

And so began another period of research, recipe comparisons, trials and macaron making. I even wrote a couple of blog posts about the different types of macarons out there, hoping to open peoples’ eyes to how easy some of the varieties are to make.

macarons de nancy

Yet the so called “jewels” of the pastry case remain on most budding and seasoned bakers’ minds.

chocolate all the way around!

After a number of tests and tweaking the weights of the confectioner’s and granulated sugars, I’ve finally landed on a recipe that’s been working well for me. I’ve always made macarons using the French meringue method as opposed to what I view as the more fussy Italian version, and I continue to be most comfortable with that approach.

Multitudes have written about macaron making, citing factors like low humidity, aged/room temperature egg whites, freshly opened almond flour and blitzing/sifting the almond flour/confectioner’s sugar as all being important to success. I take all of that into consideration for sure, but for me what stands out is the actual process - making the meringue, then the macaronage and finally the macaroner.

In a squeaky clean bowl (I give mine a quick wipe with vinegar or lemon juice) start whisking room temperature egg whites and a pinch of salt on low to medium-low speed until the mixture changes from a straw color to more white with foamy bubbles. Then gradually shower in the sugar over a couple of minutes - the egg whites accept the sugar more readily that way.

here’s where you start adding the sugar

The next important step is whisking the meringue to the proper stiffness (think bec d’oiseau or bird’s beak). Once the sugar is fully added to the whites, increase to medium speed, allowing some time to watch the lovely shiny, stiff meringue develop. It may be 3-4 minutes before you see some thickening and then a few minutes more to reach your goal. Remember always check sooner than later!

In days past I used to amp up the mixer to full speed right away, but I have since adopted this lower and slower approach - breath deeply.

Now the macaronage - with a spatula blend the dry ingredients into the meringue in three additions - it should look thick and a bit rough . . .

then work the mixture to the lava like stage (macaroner) during which it becomes smooth and glossy, ribboning off the bowl scraper or spatula. Here it’s important not to take it too far. Too loose and things will spread in a way that will make you unhappy.

Pipe evenly in circles of about 1.25”, leaving room for the mixture to settle. If you pipe too much, the mixture will spread more than you’d like. In other words, smaller footprint, less spreading, better result.

vanilla speckled

You’ll find fillings ranging from confitures (too sweet for me) to almond paste/butter/flavor mixtures to ganache but frankly, what I’ve really gotten into is Swiss meringue buttercreams paired with ganache to fill the macaron shells. So many choices. One of my faves is a chocolate ganache center ringed by roasted strawberry SMBC. Oh so good.

BTW - notice the plain shells below. I like my shells au naturel, preferring to avoid the use of artificial colorants. Not to worry - there are ways to work around that.

roasted strawberry SMBC/Ganache center

You can dress ‘em up with a dusting of strawberry powder for some color. Fruit powders are available from various online sources, but you can also find freeze dried strawberries and raspberries at Trader Joes. It works well to crush them through a fine strainer/sieve as you dust away.

A few other ways to add some color - use ground pistachios or hazelnuts in place of half of the almond flour for a a nice speckled look. Use espresso, cocoa or fruit powders like raspberry with the dry ingredients to add some color. Add in a bit of spice (cinnamon or coriander anyone?) or ground tea whisked in with the dry ingredients. Top the piped shells with finely chopped nuts, ground cocoa nibs, fine coconut or crushed gavotte crêpe crumbs before allowing the shells to dry before the bake.

pistachio speckled with apricot honey SMBC/raspberry coulis center

chocolate shells/white chocolate sesame pistachio ganache

I admit these next shells are kind of messy - it was harder then I expected to sprinkle some crushed gavotte crêpes evenly but what the heck, eh? Hmmm . . . I wonder if crushed corn or rice chex would work? Great with something blueberry me thinks.

gavotte crêpe topping

I do keep a few concentrated gel colors on hand mainly for class purposes, and on occasion I’ll use a schmear to fit the project. I recently made a batch with lemon-lime SMBC/ toasted coconut and did tinge the shells with a bit of yellow. Looks pretty nice- and tastes good too!

When using concentrated colors, go small - you can always add more. Here’s one instance where I got more heavy handed than I intended but the recipient of these strawberry macs reportedly said “These would make a dead man get up and speak French”.

more roasted strawberry smbc/ganache center

I’ve also taken to heart the importance of letting the filled macarons sit in the fridge for a day or two before enjoying (although many find that difficult!). It’s amazing what that cool rest can do for the texture of this little cookie.

I usually store the baked shells in the freezer, especially if they seem a bit sticky when attempting release from the Silpat. Once frozen they lift off nicely. Then I can fill them when I’m ready.

Even after filling, the freezer is my go to for storage where the texture continues to improve. You can move them into the fridge a day or two before enjoying or give them just a few minutes out of the freezer and enjoy right then and there. It works.

These days, as I look back, I’m a firm believer that attitude and being zen with it all makes a big difference. Ahhh . . . . the pastry gods can look favorably upon us.

It’s tulip time!

A trio of chocolate teacakes

Spring is here and chocolate is still on the table. What better way to enjoy it than with three delicious cakes topped with equally delicious garnishes. You can’t go wrong.

Using two favorite cake bases that have been in my repertoire for some time now, plus a new-for-me chocolate olive oil cake thanks to Melissa Clark, I created this trio for a spring family gathering. Each cake’s topping has its own flavor profile and involves ganache in some way.

I admit this is a lengthy post so here are the links to the recipe PDFs so you can go directly to them if you’d rather not scan through all the steps and photos of preparation: Chocolate olive oil cake; chocolate financier; Easter cake.

Mister Steve made a great observation in that regard - I include all this information not only for you but also for my own records. How cool to go back over the years and see how I described and carried out various baking projects.

I baked each recipe in a different silicone flexi-mold for a nice variation of shapes and looks - square savarin, mini-Kugelhopf and simple round mini-muffin. My chocolate of choice is Guittard’s 61% lever du soleil discs. When cocoa powder is called for I use Bensdorp Dutch process. Delicious stuff.

First up: chocolate financiers in the simple round muffin molds. Let me tell you there are tons of financier recipes out there. As a matter of fact, the one I used for years was the one we learned at Le Cordon Bleu Paris, always delicious, tried and true. As the years have gone by I’ve adjusted the ratios of ingredients and reduced the sugar content. The basics are butter, egg whites, almond flour, all purpose flour, cocoa powder for this chocolate version and sugar. You’ll see choices for granulated or confectioner’s from recipe to recipe - I typically go with confectioner’s.

The big difference in this chocolate recipe is melting the butter, not browning it, as is true for classic financiers.

In a medium-large bowl whisk confectioner’s sugar, almond flour, all purpose or whole wheat pastry flour and unsweetened cocoa powder together; in a smaller bowl lightly whisk the egg whites until frothing a bit; melt butter and let cool slightly.

Blend the whites into the dry ingredients in two additions then blend in the butter. Contact cover and fridge for a few hours or a couple of days.

When ready to bake, heat the oven to 375ºF and fill your chosen wells about 3/4 full.

Bake about 15 minutes, check for doneness (no center goo; set). Bake an additional 5 minutes if needed.

After a 10 minute cool down pop them out of the molds and set aside until ready to garnish. For these I used a small melon baller, scooped out the top center and filled that with a 1:1 ganache. A sprinkle of toasted coconut gave them the “almond joy” sense I was looking for.

Then a swirl of chocolate almond butter Swiss meringue buttercream, an additional sprinkle of toasted coconut and some candied sliced almonds - voila! NOTE: for 2/3 of the base SMBC recipe I added 227 g /8 oz dark chocolate, melted and cooled but still liquid and 1/2 cup of almond butter. So tasty!

The next cake is from a recipe I’ve had for many years but, for the life of me, I can’t recall where exactly I found it. It’s a gateau de Pâques or Easter cake, made with the basics - chocolate, butter, egg, sugar and flour.

The fussiest part is separating the yolks and whites, the whites being whipped separately to be gently folded in at the end. Remember - eggs separate best when cold!

Over a bain-marie melt the butter and chocolate gently - once things get melty, turn off the heat and let the melt continue over the still warm water. Chocolate loves that.

Separate the yolks and whites then whisk the yolks with the sugar for several minutes until thickened, pale and ribbon-y.

Blend in the chocolate butter mixture then sift the flour in and blend.

In a separate clean bowl whip the egg whites to soft peaks . . . . .

then blend them into the batter in three additions, folding gently.

Fill your chosen molds 3/4 full and bake at 325º about 20-25 minutes.

You want them set but note that a slightly shorter bake will give a more fudge-y result.

For the finish I filled the wells with a basic 1:1 ganache, let it set and then topped ‘em off with a swirl of caramel mascarpone cream and some sesame brittle. Yum.

Cake number three is a chocolate olive oil cake from Melissa Clark written for a 9” round cake. Oh so moist. I made this one twice, each time making 2/3 recipe using Earl Grey tea as the liquid. Liquid options include coffee, red wine, orange juice or water.

You create a paste by bringing already brewed tea to boil in a small saucepan, turn the heat off and whisk in Dutch-process cocoa powder, spices of choice (I used a mix of cinnamon, coriander and ginger) and salt. Let it cool.

Once the paste is made, the steps are basic cake simple - beat sugar, olive oil, eggs and vanilla for a few minutes, then add the tea-cocoa mixture followed by flour and baking soda.

Fill your chosen molds about 3/4 full and bake at 325ºF for about 20 minutes. My yield using 2/3 recipe was 19 lovely Kugelhopf treats.

These baked 8 minutes, rotated, another 8 minutes then an additional 4 to be sure they were set with a tester holding a scant few crumbs.

Let sit 10 minutes or so then gently turn out of the molds. Once cool, I filled the little top cavity with basic ganache and let that set.

These received a top dunk in Earl Grey lavender ganache which I had allowed to set enough so the ganache would coat nicely with some holding power on the top.

It’s made by infusing 3 teaspoons of loose Earl Grey tea plus 1/4 teaspoon dried culinary lavender buds in 160 g / 2/3 cup heavy cream then straining the infused cream into 130 g / 4.6 ounces melted chocolate. Blend it up until smooth, then blend in 18 g / 4 teaspoons unsalted butter. There you go.

This cake is deelish, so moist and delectable with the perfect hint of spice. I’m intrigued by the red wine or orange juice options for next time. Hmmmmm.

As for the ganache, the taste of lavender has never really grabbed me, but I’ll admit this Earl Grey ganache grew on me. I adore versions of herbes de provence that have lavender in the mix (not all do), but have always shied away from using lavender on its own.

A brief review reminded me that lavender is actually part of the mint family and I could sense that light minty floral flavor which was not at all overbearing. I much prefer my flavors on the mellow side. Just ask Steve.

Wow! That seemed to go on forever. I hope you give these three cakes a try and create your own garnishes and flavors.

Happy spring!

Chausson aux pommes - a classic

You know when you’ve made something so many times using the method you were taught because, well duh, that’s how we did it? That’s what chaussons aux pommes have been for me. Ever since my Paris pastry schooling and internships in 2006-2007 I’ve done the preparation/assembly the same way, the process unchanged throughout the years. Roll out the dough, cut circles of your desired size, let them rest a few minutes then roll out a bit more to an oval. Egg wash the lower edge, scoop prepped apples on the bottom half, fold the top over and seal the edges. ONE. BY. ONE.

Well low and behold, as I was planning to teach a recent puff pastry class here in Grand Rapids and reviewing one of my favorite books “Pastry, Savory and Sweet” by Michel Roux, I realized that through all these years I had NEVER noticed his method of creating chausson. Eureka!

Hint- think ravioli.

Let’s start at the beginning and work through the steps. I’ll assume you have your puff pastry already made or purchased. The next thing is to prep the apples. I love Granny Smith for this since the caramel-y tart apples go so well with the buttery, flaky puff. Yum.

If you’re wondering how many apples to prep, I find that a good sized Granny Smith will yield me three to four chaussons of medium-ish size (I tend to lean smaller in my pastries - just sayin’). I peel, core and small dice the apples and sauté them in butter and sugar until softened. My “rule” is to use about 10 g sugar and 10 g butter per medium apple soooooo . . . . . if I’m prepping 5 apples, I use 50 g (about 1/4 cup) sugar and 50 g (about 1/2 stick) unsalted butter. You can play around with the proportions to suit your taste.

Have some water on the side so when the apples start browning and sticking a bit and their liquid evaporates, you can splash a bit more water in to deglaze. Toward the end of sautéing I also add a big splash of boiled apple cider and a couple of big squirts of my home made caramel sauce, always at the ready in my fridge.

The apples should become golden brown and caramel-y and start sticking to the pan. Once they’re fork prick tender (but NOT mushy), I scrape them onto a paper towel lined sheet pan to cool and soak up any remaining moisture.

A side note: when sautéing the apples, I figure I might as well go for the “more is better” approach since they keep well in the fridge for several days. Plus you can assemble a bunch of chaussons and freeze them unbaked until you’re ready. Have some house guests coming soon? Pop a few onto a sheet pan and into the oven (no thawing needed) for some freshly baked morning treats.

Ready for assembly? Let’s go!

I usually get about 12 chaussons from a half batch (~600 g) of my puff. Save the scraps to roll out for palmiers or as the lining crust for quiche or flan Parisien or for blind baked mini tart shells that you can fill with lemon curd or ganache or coconut cream or . . . . . you decide.

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to a 16” across and 18” top to bottom rectangle, about 1/8” thick. Divide the dough into three strips of 6” by 16”. A pizza cutter works great here! You’ll create 4 chaussons from each strip.

In the image below I did a practice run using my spelt rough puff (had some in the freezer, don’t ya know). Without cutting the dough, mark it into four 4” sections.

Also mark (don’t cut!) the midline across the length of the piece. Now put a nice scoop of apples on each of the sections.

You can use water or milk or egg white or egg wash - just something wet to brush around the apples. Now fold the dough from top down, covering the apples, pushing out any air pockets and pressing down around the mounds to seal.

I tried two different forms to cut the dough - a 3.5” fluted tart pan and a 3.25” fluted cutter. The tart pan didn’t cut sharply enough but the fluted cutter did the trick.

Shoot! I didn’t get a pic of the cutter placement - set it so that a little over half of the cutter is over the dough and a little less than half is over the counter, straddling the folded edge.

Make slashes to create a leaf like pattern. Pssst . . . I’m using some regular puff below, having done my assembly in a couple of different sessions.

Brush them with egg wash or milk, sprinkle with vanilla sugar or coarse raw sugar and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan. Pop ‘em into the freezer to firm things up and stabilize the butter while you heat the oven to 425ºF.

Bake 10 minutes, rotate your pan and check on the browning. If browning too quickly, reduce temp to 400ºF and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until golden brown.

 

Mmmmmm . . . . these are tasty indeed!

Not only that, but spring is finally springing. Enjoy!

One great bread a few different ways

Sesame braid

Hi all. I gave you a sneak peek at this one awhile ago. My how time flies - seems like eons! I packed a lot into this post so get ready.

I LOVE this dough! It calls for an overnight preferment, a process that not only lends itself to planning ahead but also to a stellar end result.

This is my adaptation of scali bread from King Arthur Baking Company. I first came across it in the spring 2017 issue of SIFT magazine (now defunct -awwww!) and made it for the first time back in April of 2022. It’s said to be a staple in Boston’s North End, and, as is the case with the internet, I found a bunch of references/posts about it on line. Meatball sandwiches anyone?

 

Classically made as a three strand braid coated in sesame seeds, I started with KA’s base recipe for one braid but then doubled it and created my own recipe, subbing in some rye and white whole wheat flour. I’ve tried several different approaches - braid it, twist it, torpedo it, loaf it, herb it, cheese it, seed it - they’re all good!

Let’s take a look at the steps. Make the preferment the evening before. Please note - the dough/proofing images are for my recipe which would make TWO braids. I’m showing the shaping steps for ONE braid.

Give it 13-15 hours at room temperature after which it should be actively fermenting. It’s more stiff than let’s say a typical poolish which is equal weights flour and water.

Mix the preferment with the other dough ingredients and knead to a nice smooth end result.

Give it a 90 minute rise until nice and pouf-y.

That’s what I call a rise folks!

Proceed with your desired shaping. Here are the steps for one sesame coated braid using HALF of the above dough.

Deflate the dough gently, divide in three equal pieces (each should be about 230 g or so). On a lightly oiled surface roll each piece into a rough log and let rest 10-15 minutes.

Now roll each log out to a 10-12” length then brush each with egg white and coat thoroughly in sesame seeds.

Pinch top ends together and do a typical three strand braid. Tuck the ends under to neaten things up. I placed mine on parchment on an overturned sheet pan in preparation for sliding it onto my heated baking stone.

Cover with lightly oiled film wrap and let rise about 90 minutes until pouf-y.

Toward the end of the rise, heat the oven to 425ºF (400º convection) with your baking stone if using.

Bake 25-35 minutes until golden brown.

Cooled, sliced, buttered - oh so good!

Here are a few other things I made with my full batch recipe. Two basic loaves, one braided and one slashed before baking.

Butter basted braid and a simple loaf

Another full recipe went into making a couple versions of rolls and a cheesy braid.

For the rolls I used a tad less than half the recipe to make fifteen 45 g rolls - 8 as sesame knots and 7 as butter basted. The rest became the cheese loaf.

I formed eight “logs” that I rolled in sesame and knotted up and left the other seven as standard round rolls (with a top snip before baking).

shape, shape, shaping!

The rolls enjoyed a nice long rise of ~100 minutes.

REady to bake, Before the snip!

Oops! Forgot one snip!!

Sesame knots and butter basted dinner rolls

This cheesy braid is just like the sesame approach except I coated the ropes in grated cheese the quantity of which I eye-balled. I used sharp Cheddar but gruyère, emmental (or a mix of your faves can all work) and topped with more cheese. I’d use more next time. You could add herbs if you wish. Mmmm good.

Cheesy braid

Had enough yet?? Almost there, I promise.

I wanted to try a filled wreath, using half a recipe (~700 g) for that and dividing the rest into two for a couple of simple boules.

Ricotta herb wreath and two small boules

For the filling I mixed 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta, 1/4 cup cream cheese, a few pinches of dried oregano and herbes de provence plus ~2 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary, one grated clove garlic and 4 ounces of grated sharp provolone which I ultimately thought too over powering - too much!. Live and learn, eh? Next time . . . . .

Roll the dough out to a rectangle of 8-ish by 16-ish inches.

Spread the ricotta filling over the dough and top it with the grated cheese. Press it down lightly.

Log roll it up and cut slits along one side every inch of so, half way through.

Form it into a wreath and pinch the ends together. Separate and twist the sections out a bit. Hmmm . . . looks like some sort of sea creature.

Cover lightly with oiled plastic wrap and let rise about 90 minutes.

Lightly brush top with egg white or water and grate more cheese on top - parmesan or locatelli work well.

Bake 25-30 minutes, let cool and enjoy.

Whew! The end. It’s a good dough to work with and so tasty no matter how you choose to bake it. Have fun!

Banana rye walnut chocolate chunk cakes

I learned something about bananas some years back. Once they’re ripe and you’re not ready to eat them right then and there, peel ’em, chunk them up and freeze them! You can then use them in smoothies, cakes or quick breads where they lend a special creaminess to the batter. Yum.

This recipe calls for 4 medium bananas which I figured came to about 480 g of banana mash (~120 g per banana). I’m sure you can give or take the amount without negatively affecting the final result so don’t fuss too much as to the exact quantity of said banana.

This is my take on banana rye bread from Brontë Aurell’s book “Brontë at Home - baking from the Scandi Kitchen”. I’ve made these babies a bunch of times and realized that I’ve never written about them. I’ve done variations subbing maple sugar (thanks sister Joyce!) for some of the brown sugar, subbing ground oats and/or whole wheat pastry flour for some of the all purpose flour, adding in chopped toasted nuts like hazelnuts or walnuts, adding chocolate chunks and topping with a nutty streusel. So moist. All good.

Here’s the recipe (including some of the variations I’ve made) and my mise for this version in the image below. It’s a pretty straight forward cake batter - mashed banana, yogurt, lemon juice and vanilla in a separate bowl; dry ingredients in another bowl; cream butter/sugar, add egg then add wet/dry alternating. Basic right?

In this case I’m also adding 170 g / 6 ounces chopped chocolate to the batter and topping with chopped walnuts and raw sugar for a bit of crunch.

You can bake these cakes in buttered/floured muffin tins but I prefer (and love) my Silikomart silicone flexi-molds - so many different shapes and sizes. This time I’m using the 8-well SF028, rather like a standard muffin size. The recipe yield is about 20 cakes using that particular mold. I also often use the 11-well SF022 which is a tad larger than a standard mini-muffin pan - I get about 33 cakes with that mold. NOTE - I have several of each mold.

I place the molds on a wire grid on a half sheet pan - that allows for better air circulation and more even baking.

You can find a large selection of Silikomart molds at bakedeco.com. By the way - I have no affiliate links with any companies - I simply like sharing the things I find useful and fun in the baking kitchen!

Heat the oven to 350ºF. Fill molds about 3/4 full. Sprinkle chopped walnuts and raw sugar on top.

Bake 20 minutes or so - always check about half way through. Your oven may take longer than mine. You want the center to feel set and just the barest hint of a moist crumb on a tester.

Let them rest about 10 minutes then gently turn them out onto a wire cooling rack. If you can’t wait, try one a bit warm when the chocolate will still be gooey, otherwise cool to room temp and enjoy.

These freeze well too. Even better!

Let me add my official Happy New Year to all of you. Time for new projects and, as always, staying active and keeping our collective chins up. OK.

Cheers to all!

As we get ready to say goodbye to 2022, another interesting year to be sure, here’s a quick note to say hi, wish you all good cheer and offer up a toast to many happy baking experiences to come.

It’s been weeks since I’ve posted. The time just goes! Family visits, teaching classes, baking cookies and cakes, simply moving from day to day as we continue to navigate through life - and now here it is Christmas Day. Wow.

Having finished up various holiday baking projects and staying hunkered down during our recent snow storm, yesterday I turned back to bread baking - English muffins and simple loaves for our larder. As they say, bread is the staff of life.

Peace to all and a Happy New Year!