Bake My Day!

Chocolate-toffee slice, spreading the love

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:54:00 +0000

Oh boy and you thought you were done baking for the holidays? No way you're going to bake again?

Way!

Maybe I can convince you: easy, freezes perfectly, nice give-away. My kids strongly advise you not to. Give it away. (That's not Christmas spirit boys!) They changed their mind: bake up a double batch and consider giving one away. Tsk! Boys!

Recipe is found and copied from Recipegirl and she found and adapted it from: The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge

CHOCOLATE- TOFFEE SLICE

1 stick (4 ounces or 8 Tbsp. ) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup (4 ounces) firmly packed brown sugar (I used soft light brown sugar)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 large egg yolk
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup ( 4 1/2 ounces) all-purpose flour
5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 Tbsp. heavy whipping cream **
1/2 cup packaged toffee pieces (I used peanut toffee pieces***)
festive sprinkles, optional

1. Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9 1/2-inch tart pan with a removeable bottom. ****

2. In a large bowl, combine butter, dark brown sugar and salt. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well-blended. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat just until combined. Pour in the flour and beat on low speed until the dough begins to clump together. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan, scattering the pieces evenly. Using your fingertips (lightly floured, if necessary), pat the dough onto the bottom (not up the sides) of the prepared pan to form an even layer. Bake until the top looks dry and the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the pan, 25 to 27 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler or in the microwave (30 second bursts, keep stirring after each burst, until smooth). When the crust is baked, transfer the pan to the rack. Pour the warm chocolate ganache over the warm crust and spread evenly to within 1/2-inch of the edge (an offset spatula is a good tool to use for this). Scatter the toffee pieces evenly over the ganache and gently press them into the chocolate. If you’re using festive sprinkles, sprinkle those on top and gently press into the chocolate too.

4. Let cool completely until the chocolate is completely set, about 4 hours at room temperature or about 2 hours in the refrigerator. Remove the outer ring of the tart pan and cut the “cookie tart” into wedges. Serve the wedges chilled or at room temperature.

** Had to use quite a bit of milk to get my chocolate smooth and soft enough for spreading, however it didn't influence the end result, it was smooth and nice and exactly right in texture. I used a couverture quality bittersweet block of chocolate which I chopped and melted bain marie.

*** For my Dutch readers: toffee bit are non-existant here, (I had some hidden in my pantry, all the way from the USA) but do chop up a Mars/Milky Way bar or attack some chewy toffees with scissors, something like that.

**** Couldn't resist using my new rectangular tart pan with removable bottom, so I had a little left-over dough and chocolate ganache and used a mini springform (upper picture). My neighbors -an older couple- were happy!

Very much ginger cake

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:41:00 +0000

Loads of fresh ginger in this cake and although I really like ginger this looked like it was just too much of a good thing. I planned to take it to my parents; my dad happens to love ginger.
On second thought, and first sample, I'm happy this makes such a tall and large one so we can share, it's simply wonderful! The original recipe from is from "Room for Dessert" by David Lebovitz, is found here on Epicurious and here in grams. Yes, it really has 120 grams of fresh ginger in it, that's 4 imperial ounces for you.

Nothing rubbery, no hockey puck leaden-ness, and surprisingly with that amount it's not shout-in-your-face ginger. We really liked it a lot, I warned one of the ginger-fearing boys and he happily worked his way through a slice. No problem. The things I did in brown, my remarks at the bottom of the post.

Fresh Ginger cake

(from "Room for dessert" by David Lebovitz)

makes 1 9" round cake

4 ounces (120g) fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated (after grating I had 100 gr. fresh grated ginger)
1 cup (250ml) mild molasses (I mixed pear syrup, Dutch "stroop" and date syrup to 220 ml***)
1 cup (190g) sugar
1 cup (250ml) vegetable oil
2 1/2 cups (350g) flour

(added 1 tsp baking powder)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 cup (250ml) water
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 large eggs, at room temperature

Position the oven rack in the center of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9 by 3-inch round cake pan or a 9 1/2 inch springform pan with a circle of parchment paper.http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2701/4190160821_ff573996bf.jpg

Peel, slice, and grate the ginger. Mix together the molasses, sugar, and oil. In another bowl, sift together the flour, cinnamon, cloves and black pepper and baking powder if using**.

Bring the water to the boil in a saucepan, stir in the baking soda, and then mix the hot water into the molasses mixture. Stir in the ginger.

Gradually whisk the dry ingredients into the batter. Add the eggs, and continue mixing until everything is thoroughly combined. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for about 1 hour, until the top of the cake springs back lightly when pressed or a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. If the top of the cake browns too quickly before the cake is done, drape a piece of foil over it and continue baking.

Cool the cake for at least 30 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake to loosen it from the pan. Remove the cake from the pan and peel off the parchment paper.

My notes:

* I used one of those ceramic dishes with protruding pins usually used to grate garlic, it makes a nice puree.

** It's not in the original recipe but I added 1 tsp of baking powder. My cakes have a habit of not rising and I didn't want to chance it after I used every bit of treacle/syrup/stroop in the house. Furthermore I'm not a fan of very moist cakes so this was my way of trying to prevent that. It worked great but by any means follow the original, this is just me.

*** It was really a matter of using up all kinds of thick syrups I had, but if you can't find molasses, a mix of treacle and golden syrup will work as well. For the Dutch: our keukenstroop!

Bread Baking Babes: Gravity got my Viennese Striesel

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 10:48:00 +0000

as it will get me, given time -or should I say: is already getting me? Even this lovely bread seemed to be wriggling to get out of the picture. (I was convinced I had better pics somewhere, apparently not so this is it, blurry as is). Another month of Bread Baking by the Babes resulted in an excellent choice from Katie who invited us all into her brand-new home-made nearly-finished Kitchen of the Month over at Thyme for Cooking. (Phew.. did you read that in one breath?).

Katie had to make a choice of baking in December... not an easy one. You can go either intricate and daring or equally delicious and deceivingly daring. Which Katie did.

She made us bake this wonderful sweet loaf of bread, filled with dried fruits and flavored with a little cinnamon and mace.

She even provided for a Christmas Martha moment when we had to braid: first a 4-strand braid, topped with a 3-strand braid, topped and finished with a twisted rope... and then my whole thing slip-slided away during oventime! Never mind, it looked as good as it tasted. Although when I read through my fellow Baking Babes posts I suddenly saw I had to drizzle and finish the bread with a glaze and chopped walnuts... Ai! Go and check my fellow Babes results -and better pictures- in the right hand side column!

My changes to the recipe were to substitute the candied cherries for cranberries, and adding a small amount of cedro/candied citron, "sukade" in Dutch, which I happen to like in these kinds of bread (and "oliebollen") and my children hate. Not enough to attack the bread as if there was no tomorrow... See, they asked if there was any cedro in it and I chose not to listen so they just ate.

That does the trick. Sometimes.

Furthermore I added quite a bit of flour to the dough which in retrospect maybe I shouldn't have done, I feel the crumb could have been more fluffy. All in all I really liked the subtle flavours in this one, it behaved very good toasted as well. Thanks Katie, another good one to our list!

No-one, certainly not us, would frown upon you for just braiding a nice fat 3-strand and bake as such. We're all for fun, it's about the aroma of a fresh baked loaf and enjoying the goodies! So go ahead and bake yourself and your family this nice Viennese Striesel, mention it at Thyme for Cooking and get your Buddy Badge in the mail.

Pear - scone cake (-ish sort of... but real good!)

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 12:59:00 +0000

350 gr (12 oz) plain (all-purpose) flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

125 gr (4oz/1 stick) butter

130 gr (4 oz) granulated sugar

1 egg, beaten

4-8 tbs milk (I used 6**)

3 ripe pears, peeled cored and quartered (anjou or doyenne du comice)

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp cinnamon

lemon juice (enough to brush pear with; approx. 1 tbs)

milk to glaze, granulated sugar to sprinkle

** not sure if I need to use more as to get an easier dough to roll or just use the same amount of liquid and knead it longer.

Oven: 180C/350F, 24cm (9.1/2 inch) tart tin with removable base or spring form, buttered

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into a bowl. Rub in the butter with your fingertips until resembling coarse bread crumbs. Stir in the sugar, mix in the egg and enough milk to make a soft dough. Divide in half and roll each part into a round fitting your tart tin. One half is used for the bottom, the other will cover the pears.

(I tried rolling this dough but found it easier to push it over the base of the tin. Of course pushing the dough over the pears is harder hence the "rustic" look of my finished cake.)

Arrange the pear slices (quarters) on the dough and brush with lemon juice, sprinkle with cinnamon/ginger mixture. Roll, or spread out the second half of the dough over the pears. Score the dough with a knife around the pears so they will peek through the dough once baked.

Brush with some milk and sprinkle with a little sugar.

Bake for 45 minutes until golden.

Very nice when served warm for dessert with a little ice cream or whipped cream, equally delicious when cold with your mid morning coffee.

What I liked about it is that it's not too sweet, the crust has this nice bite/crumble and the pears are fragrant and still maintain their freshness. Very good!

Béééhh...

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 09:57:00 +0000

Het is stil... zo stil hier.

Kan geen enkel excuus bedenken behalve dan dat het makkelijker wordt om niet te bloggen naarmate het langer duurt. Kan ook niet bedenken hoe ik dat deed, voorheen. Het feit dat onze internet verbinding -en telefoon- net zo wisselvallig is als het weer is ook niet echt een excuus, hoogstens irritant en erg onhandig. Alhoewel... je houdt verbazingwekkend veelt tijd over zo zonder telefoon en internet.

Ik heb mijn huis gepoetst, achter de naaimachine gezeten, weinig brood gebakken, urenlang over bouwtekeningen en offertes gebogen gezeten, keukenbedrijven bezocht (en een keuken gekocht!!!), het is zover; we gaan eindelijk verbouwen! En jongens wat gaat het een puinhoop worden straks. Ik vrees met grote vreze....

Tot die tijd -en tot de eerste rekeningen binnenkomen- slapen we in ieder geval heerlijk.

Want een nieuw dekbed gekocht.

Lits Jumeaux.

Mega dus.

Vier seizoenen.

Dubbel mega dus.

Geen dons, geen polyester maar (h)eerlijke Texelse schapenwol. Voor alle duidelijkheid: dat is dus gevuld met wol.

Van schapen.

Milieuvriendelijk.

Ventilerend.

Veerkrachtig.

Warm in de winter (ja!)

en koel in de zomer (zou het?)

Heilzaam voor de spieren vanwege de lanoline=wolvet.

Daar had een belletje moeten gaan rinkelen....

Fijn he?

En het stinkt.

Naar schaap. Nee, naar heel veel schapen. In mijn bed. Wat zeg ik, onder mijn neus! Dát vertellen ze er nou net even niet bij. Toen wij ons de eerste nacht, vol verwachting klopt ons hart, onder het nieuwe dek nestelden, lekker frisse hoezen erop, was ik even stil.

Eh..echtgenoot?

Ruik jij ook schaap?

Echtgenoot rook ook schaap maar dat dondert niet hij slaapt toch wel. Het bleef nog lang onrustig aan mijn kant van het bed. Mopper mopper schapenlucht, getver, mopper. Uiteindelijk riep echtgenoot:

Ah joh, da's toch gezellig in deze tijd van het jaar, denk maar dat je in een kerststal ligt. Ja, met mijn neus in de *** van een schaap!

Ik krijg subiet hele andere ideeën waarom er géén plaats was in de herberg maar wél in de stal. Vind ik niet zo gek opeens.

Afijn het hele hussie hangt vrijwel elke dag buiten. Lekker luchten. Moet het niet gaan motregenen. Dan heb je nat schaap. En die stinken nog véél meer!

Béééééh!!

Gadgets that work! Is it a clock? Is it a frisbee?

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 21:36:00 +0000

Nooooo, but what is it? I know, do you?

You both are right and what David said in the comments is what had me grinning all the way from the back of the store to the register... Ah great minds...

This plate will help you divide a round whatever into odd parts. Or rather even parts. Odd numbers. Hmm. Picture a pizza on the plate and in this example 5 hungry family members. Your first cut will be starting at the "0" on the bottom of the picture and then slice starting at every "5" you see on the plate. Ofcourse we tried it immediately and it really works.

Not sure what the crèpe recipe is doing there in the center, can't imagine dividing a crèpe into so many parts but since we bought in Britttany I figured a crèpe recipe and this plate was the ideal souvenir.

Bread Baking Babes: Bake Brioche Mousseline

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 18:04:00 +0000

~~start classical music~~ Mellow Voice over:

As you all know we are foodies. We're all about quality, fine dining, perfect patisserie. We're torturing each other about methods, ingredients, fresh herbs, the best butter, heirloom everything and free roaming all. The Bread Baking Babes are no different.

~~end classical music~~

Let me pull you back to reality. That's not how things go all the time always. This month our hostess Monique in her Kitchen of the Month had us scrambling for the cheapest canned food! We shared our finds: apple sauce! tomato puree! White beans, brown beans! Coffee isn't sold in cans not in Europe anyway but dog food is....

All this to bake really great brioche, using the cans as our baking tins. Can we bake brioche?

Yes we can!

For the recipe I refer you to Monique, I need to say that I accidentally forgot to add two eggs and only used four in total. That never compromised the end product, we all loved it. We loved it fresh out of the oven but we adored it as much the next day toasted.

Think about it for a while: lovely soft yellow-crumbed slices of brioche, dipped in poached egg, or smeared with some more butter or home made preserves. (I won't tell on my son who had two thick slices toasted and made a burger out of it. I had a bite and it was great!).

The brioche dough is made -buttery! eggy! yellow! soft! pliable! perfect handcream!- and then after the first proofing it's carefully balled up and slid into the waiting cans prepared with a lining of parchment paper with a high collar. Definitely make the collars high because these babies grow to enormous lengths. *cough*

I filled my tins up until 2/3 of the way. You can use any size cans but make sure they're not lined with the poisonous-when-heated white plastic stuff. Hence the search for cans.... Difficult to find unlined ones.

Can we be a Buddy and bake this in regular size tins? Yes, but why would you miss out on the fun of these eh...peculiar shaped breads? Well? Let Monique know that you've baked, check her blog for the details and the recipe!

Don't forget to check with my Bread Baking Babes right there in the right hand column! Lovely challenge Monique, great fun and gorgeous breads.

Real Dutch? Liquorice ice cream / Echt Hollands: Drop ijs!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:48:00 +0000

Dit is echt de hit: drop ijs! Hoe Hollands kun je het maken? Ik heb allemaal hele blije jongetjes in huis nu. Niet zelf verzonnen, was het maar waar, maar gelezen en schaamteloos rechtstreeks gekopieerd van Mangerie. Zij noemde het een succesrecept, ooit hier geproefd en ik kan het alleen maar beamen; gewoon maken dit ijs!

150 gr zachte drop (favoriete smaak, geen suikervrije) of van Melle droptoffees <- jaa!! doen!!

280 gr halfvolle melk

120 gr. slagroom

75 gr. suiker

Drop in kleine stukjes knippen met een schaar (of snijden met een mesje) en onder voortdurend roeren laten oplossen in de melk in een pannetje boven laag-middelhoog vuur.

Het ziet eruit alsof het een beetje schift maar de drop lost niet volledig op in de melk, komt allemaal goed straks! Laat het dropmengsel afkoelen in de koelkast.

Slagroom met de suiker stijfkloppen en door het dropmengsel spatelen.

In je ijsmachine doen en volgens de gebruiksaanwijzing ijs van draaien. Overdoen in een geschikte diepvriesbak en nog een nachtje laten opstijven in de vriezer. Dit ijs blijft tamelijk zacht en keurig schepbaar rechtstreeks vanuit de vriezer. Het smelt dus ook behoorlijk snel, scheppen en opeten dus.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dutch Liquorice Ice cream (yes really!)

Never knew it could be done until I had my first taste of a similar flavour in Sweden! Vanilla ice cream popsicle coated by a greyish-black liquorice ice.... So good! Ice cream is not something I normally crave but I walked the boys happily to the store during that holiday, want some ice cream boys? Inge over at Mangerie hunted down a recipe for liquorice ice and I love it! Moreover the boys are crazy about it as well. And the best thing is: it's so easy to make at home.

Recipe couldn't be simpler:

150 gr soft sweet liquorice (your favorite or liqourice flavored toffee)

280 gr low fat milk

120 gr. double cream

75 gr. sugar

Cut the liquorice in small pieves (or snip with scissors) and combine them with the milk in a small saucepan. Heat on low-medium and stir while the liquorice melts and combines with the milk. (looks a bit curdly but all will be well in the end) Let cool in the fridge. Once cold, whisk cream with the sugar and mix with liquorice mixture.

Proceed and follow the directions of your ice cream maker. Transfer to a suitable container and freeze overnight. This ice cream will stay soft-ish but nevertheless very delicious! Scoop and enjoy right away!

Bread Baking Babes they're multiplying: Tanta Wawa's or baking babies!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 11:35:00 +0000

I wonder how many creepy onlookers we'll get with these kind of headlines! Of course we're not making babies, nor are we baking babies... We joined Gretchen in her kitchen this month, she drafted from her sweet memories of Peru and provided us with a recipe and a beautiful story behind the Tanta Wawa's we're baking this month.

Referring you to her post for the story and the recipe, I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment (really should have posted yesterday, oops). I just wanted to show you the arts and crafts that made my dough into eeh... well... what can I say? The one baby I thought I had fabricated was christened a bug by my sons, the whale morphed into a shark when transferred from workbench to cookie sheet and I won't even show you the lovely lady-doll that became a Dancing Derwisj during baking... Luckily there's one nice lady left.

The dough itself was dry by account of my fellow Babes, I ended up with a very soft and smooth Play-doh, guess I used more liquid and my use of a liguid butter product helped it tip over to a very soft dough. It didn't rise much. Or... didn't rise at all! Hours later not an inch! Shaped, set to proof, again... nothing. Baked and yes we have movement.

All the figurines ended up with nice full bellies -and some cracks-. The smell however was wonderful!

Peeling

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 20:43:00 +0000

pumpkin peel, originally uploaded by BakingSoda.

For the color, the lines and note to self: remember the recipe that convinced the family to eat pumpkin soup and finish the post!

Yes we bake: Orange date-fig wreath for World Bread Baking Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 15:44:00 +0000

It's on again; Zorra announced the annual celebration of Bread Bakers: World Bread Baking Day 2009.

I really needed such a kicker to start baking bread again, my kitchen hasn't seen much flour explosions lately and when this bread came out of the oven it showed.... high hopes, slack and tacky dough, cumbersome but nice braiding, miserable slashing!

So out came the powdered sugar... Disguise disguise thy name is powdered sugar! Hmmm now that I write this I suddenly remember that I planned an Irish Coffee Cream Icing to go with the bread. Guess my brain has been sugar powdered as well.

What I baked? A true fall flavoured bread packed with: orange juice and zest in the dough, chopped medjool dates, nice plump dried figs and small green apple chunks for a filling, adding enough sugar and butter to make the endresult more cakey than bready. Tango fresh and sweet!

Orangey-Date and Fig bread

2.1/2 ts instant yeast

1 cup milk

3/4 cup orange juice

1/4 cup sugar

2 ts salt

60 gr butter, melted

1 egg

grated zest of 2 oranges

---

5-6 cups bread flour

1.1/2 cup chopped dates, dried figs, steeped in the orange juice or 2 tbs orange liquor

1 green apple in chunks

Make a sludge from all the upper ingredients plus 2 cups of the flour, using the paddle on your standmixer to beat until smooth.

Adding flour by 1/4 cups at the time to get a smooth and soft dough that just about clears the bowl. Switching from the paddle to the dough hook when the dough gets more substance. Leave to double in a greased covered container for about 1.1/2 - 2 hours.

Tip dough out on your counter and pat into a rectangle, sprinkle the combined fruits over the dough, fold it over itself and carefully knead dough to distribute the fruit. (This is where I went wrong, I used all of the liquid in the bowl as well, tipping the scale from a soft smooth dough to a sloppy tacky one...yikes! So ... caution here!).

Now that the fruit is evenly distributed in the dough you can proceed to either divide the dough in two portions making two smaller loafs or leave it whole to make one giant braided wreath. A simpler variation would be to make two ropes and twist them together.

(I braided which was rather difficult with the tackiness).

Place in a pan large enough to hold your choice of amount comfortably and cover. Leave to rise at room temp for about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375F/175C and bake for 40-45 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

This amount of dough makes one huge wreath which we will enjoy for breakfast but I must say I'm very much looking forward to toast it (mmmm with some butter and/or jam!) or even make breadpudding....

Het is herfst: Kruidcake!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 07:15:00 +0000

Ik vind de geur van speculaaskruiden heerlijk, maar eerlijk gezegd vind ik ook dat alles waar je het in gebruikt een beetje met hetzelfde "sop" overgoten wordt. Het gaat zo op elkaar lijken.... Maar toch... het ruikt zo lekker he, dus toen ik Dit recept vond bij Canadese Hélène van La Cuisine d'Hélène vond ik dat een goede om de herfst mee op te starten. Grappige is dat de jongens nooit zo weg zijn van zelfgebakken kruidkoek maar dit lijkt kennelijk voldoende om cake om ruimschoots door de ballotage te komen. Hij schijnt goed te bewaren te zijn, (tot vijf dagen in de koelkast, goed verpakt; eerst in plasticfolie dan in alufolie) wat in ons geval niet is gelukt ;D!

Ik heb het recept hier en daar wat aangepast.

Kruidkoek net even anders:

325 gr gezeefde patentbloem
1/2 tl zout
3/4 tl baking soda
2 tl gemberpoeder

1 tl kaneel
1/4 tl gemalen nootmuskaat
1/2 tl koek-en speculaas kruiden
2 tl cacoa poeder
100 gr boter, gesmolten en afgekoeld
4 el stroop
4 el appel-perenstroop
135 gr kristalsuiker
1 groot ei
125 ml karnemelk
125 ml melk

- Oven voorverhitten op 175C, tulbandvorm invetten en met bloem bestrooien, klop de overtollige bloem eruit.

- In een grote kom de droge ingredienten: (bloem, baking soda, zout, gemberpoeder, kaneel, nootmuskaat, cacao en koekkruiden) samenvoegen en met een garde mengen.

- Met een electrische mixer de boter, stroop en suiker mengen in een aparte kom. Voeg het ei toe en mix tot een homogene massa. Al mixend geleidelijk karnemelk en melk toevoegen.

- Voeg de droge ingredienten toe aan het stroop/botermengsel en mix totdat je net een glad mengsel hebt, ongeveer 1 minuut. Voorzichtig, niet te lang mengen. Giet het beslag in de tulbandvorm.

- Bak ong. 40 minuten in de voorverwarmde oven. De bovenkant moet veerkrachtig aanvoelen als je er met een vinger op drukt, de randen zijn iets teruggetrokken van de zijkanten van de vorm. Laat de cake in de vorm op een rooster afkoelen (ong. 10 minuten) voor je hem eruit haalt.

Dit wordt een luchtige kruising tussen kruidkoek en cake, minder zwaar, minder heftig speculaas-achtig en prachtige rulle binnenkant. De cacao geeft er net even een ander smaakje aan. Na een lichte maaltijd is het heerlijk als dessert, warm geserveerd met bijv een bolletje ijs. Koud ook niet te versmaden bij de ochtendkoffie! De kinderen vonden hem erg lekker!

Ander recept: classic Dutch spice cake/Stroopkoek

Nice pumpkin soup

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 06:49:00 +0000

Is there a need for nailing a pumpkin soup that gets the family thumbs-up when you live in Holland? Where pumpkins are on loan from the United States and only seen as decoration? Not the carved kind, not yet, we haven't fully embraced Halloween here but pumpkins are inching their way into windowsills, out at the front door or amiably dressing the deserted garden furniture.

Once or twice a season I buy pumpkin just to try. I made pumpkin pie (family: meh why bother?) soup (equally dismissed as too earthy, could be nice but it's just bland). Stubbornly I tried again, bought another one. Not sure if it was the variety, the fact that it was organic or the recipe but this pot of soup was emptied in no time. Everyone liked it! I was as surprised as you are. Now to remember what I did....

First of all the variety; a deep orange, smallish, organic one, found at Lidl €1,99. I saw it advertised as a Japanese kind a hokkaido?

Second: I peeled -using a vegetable peeler-, cubed, sprinkled with olive oil, cumin, flecks of dried ancho chillies, roasted in the oven. Lovely fragrant smells emanating from the oven! (Note to self:...use it as side dish?)

potatoes

lime juice!!

salt and pepper

1 hokkaido pumpkin, peeled, cubed

1 tbs cumin (less of the ground variety, 1 tbs of whole cumin seeds)

sprinkle of dried ancho chili flakes

Preheat oven to 400F/200C. Toss pumpkin cubes with olive oil, cumin and chili flakes in a roasting pan and roast for about 45 minutes or until nice and tender.

1 tbs olive oil

2 onions, chopped

1 large carrot, peeled, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped

1.1/2 - 2 liter vegetable broth

2 large potatoes, peeled, cubed

finish:

squeeze of lime juice

1 tbs toasted sesame seeds

pepper/salt

Heat olive oil in a large pot and softly saute/sweat garlic, onion and carrot, covered until soft and fragrant. Add the roasted pumpkin and the potatoes, toss and saute for a couple of minutes more. Add broth and bring to a soft boil to get the vegetables soft and tender approx. 15 minutes. Puree using a vegetable mill or a hand held blender and taste to add pepper and salt if needed, squeeze in some lime juice.

To serve with a sprinkling of sesame seeds and some nice artisan bread.

Happy Halloween!

Another pumpkin soup using mustard, cinnamon and creme fraiche

Some days you need brownies

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 18:21:00 +0000

when you read the paper. It's a good thing this King Arthur recipe makes lots of them. Lots! Enough to give away when one of the boys has a movie night and still have some to sample at home.

I'm not going to give you the recipe because it's right out of the King Arthur cookie book, "on the fence brownies". The only thing I changed is substituting half of the cocoa with chocolate. Simpel, easy, delicious. I scored huge points with his friends when son #2 walked in with his batch of brownies! (that counts when they're 13).

I hope someone is baking you brownies when you feel down.

WCB We're not supposed to.. (1)

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 22:18:00 +0000

Sample the cantaloupe while the Mrs is getting her camera...She wasn't too happy about me climbing the Christmas tree either but that was some time ago when I was younger. Can't say it's very clever to drag a tree into the house huh? I was allowed to use the strawberry basket though.

Finally it's my turn now to do some blogging, I guess the big white guy with the blue eyes looks good in pics but let us not forget who is her favourite! *retracts claws and purrrrrrs*

He never gets any extras but since I can tell time I always know when she is in the kitchen doing the real interesting stuff. Not the doughslapping and mixing but the stuff that smells good you know? Meat, bacon, cutting sounds... aaah... I will come and stand straight up holding the kitchen cabinet handles and nudge her with my paw. (No nails, absolutely no nails here). And then she will drop a little something, sometimes.

Oh yeah it pays to be all cute and cuddly unlike some other big white cats I happen to come across!

Weekend Cat Blogging is hosted by LB and breadchick at The Sour Dough.

Geen gymshirt, wél humor ..

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 20:32:00 +0000

Vond ik op de wasmachine geplakt.....

September Bread Baking Buddies round-up

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 06:44:00 +0000

Edited to include and present you with all our Bread Baking Buddies!

My initial thought was that the roundup this month wasn't very long, but it seems I called too soon. Already 6 Buddies -and still counting!- showed up with their Chinese flower buns. Thanks for baking all of you! (Please let me know if you baked and I didn't include you in the roundup, I'll add your name to the list!).

I think the overall opinion was that however pretty, the buns could be a bit bland and really needed a dip of some sorts. The recipe itself needed some tweaking as well, the chinese flour mentioned may have resulted in softer buns but most of us baked with what we had; I have a feeling that better buns were created using a mix of flours, substituting a part of regular flour with a less gluten flour such as rice flour, corn starch etc., upping the baking powder and yeast a bit. (Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the notes on my tweaks).

Aparna was steaming buns in My Diverse Kitchen, she used rice flour in addition to regular ap flour and served them with a nice nice sauce!

AnneMarie had a go at them at Rosemary&Garlic, decided to go for all cake flour and was happy with the outcome, maybe trying some other variations soon!

More buns were found by Singing Horse in her kitchen over at Vox, using a blend of ap flour and tapioca starch.

Karin steamed at Karin's Kitchen, she didn't like the outcome but she did it anyway!

Jane made these as a true Jane of many trades for a birthday treat, together with her own recipe for filled steamed buns and I must say that those look delicious!

And... Andreas send in his steamed buns as well, ingenious knotting didn't keep him from enjoying them.

Nidhi over at Charche Chauke Ke agreed that flour is key here, found the required Chinese flour for the buns and as a result got the sought after soft and tender knots! Bravo!

Sweet and sour vegetables with pork

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:08:00 +0000

There it is! The other half of the pineapple, and I kept my promise to post soon! Lots of colour, lots of crisp veggies and a little bit of meat. It's usually the other way around in these kind of dishes but I just happen to love the colours and soft crunch. It made me feel very adequate, adding all these vitamins and fibers to the kids diet. Although I'm not complaining, they do eat a fair amount and all kinds of vegetables. Granted, I frequently found myself in a clash of wills, losing my patience more than once in the process of teaching them to eat -almost- everything. "Yes this is good. It's red but it's good. Sure you can eat red vegetables." Aaargh!! (Beetroot, cabbage).

For this dish I used the fresh pineapple cubes that were not used here and the juice I saved. However, there's no problem with using canned pineapple.

Sweet and sour vegetables and pork

approx. 8 ounces pineapple in cubes

1/2 cup syrup / pineapple juice

1 Tbs corn starch

1-2 Tbs plum sauce/tomato ketchup

2.1/2 tsp nam pla (fish sauce)

1 Tbs brown sugar

1 Tbs vegetable oil

10 ounces lean-er pork in thin slices

1 Tbs vegetable oil

2-4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 large carrot, in slices

1 medium onion, in thick slices

1 red bell pepper, cubed

1 small cucumber, halved, deseeded, in thick slices. No need to peel when the cucumber is young.

cherry tomatoes... 5? 10? Whatever you like

For garnish: dry roasted cashew nuts and cilantro!!

(there's a hole in my brain that hides the translation of cilantro. In Dutch it is called koriander, in English it's called coriander as well for the seeds but cilantro for the leaves?)

In a small bowl mix syrup with cornstarch, add plum sauce, (or ketchup if you can't find any, it's different but will do) fish sauce and sugar to a smooth paste.

Heat oil in a wok and fry the pork until it's coloured, use a slotted spoon and transfer to a plate with kitchen towels to get rid of excess fat/oil.

Add oil if needed and fry garlic, when that has colored add carrot, onion, bell pepper and fry for another 2 minutes.

Tip in cucumber, pineapple, tomato. Stir fry for another 2 minutes, adjust with salt and pepper and add the sauce. Quickly bring to a boil, lower the heat and add the meat again, warm and serve immediately, garnish with cilantro. Yum!!

Apple update from my garden

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 21:09:00 +0000

My lonesome apple tree is silently working hard, the apples with their beautiful red blush turned green and are almost ready to harvest. I guess some little birdie thought they looked very appetizing as well, there are little blemishes all over. (I hope it's birdies not crawly creatures...)

So cute! Small and Tall

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 08:47:00 +0000

This is the most adorable age! Little nephew TT held by son nr. 1.

(Sorry son nr. 1 you are adorable too but in a slightly different way; you're 16 and somehow less cuddly... I'm sure you understand no?)

Fried rice with pineapple

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 19:15:00 +0000

(In 't Nederlands? Even scrollen)

Wouldn't it be fun to have your own personal rice-filled pineapple bowl? As it is I filled the two halves and put the remainder of the rice in an ordinary bowl. The boys thought it was fun to refill the pineapples from the bowl. You won't believe the amount of food that disappears at the moment! There is some correlation between food going down and seams of clothing going up...

I didn't measure my ingredients very carefully, I just added what I thought looked colorful and in harmony with each other. The pineapple is scooped out, leaving a inner rim of about 1/2 inch placed on a baking sheet and roasted 10-15 minutes in a preheated oven 350F. In the meantime combine the rice filling as follows:

Fragrant rice:

1 fresh pineapple

See above for directions, you'll only need half of the pineapple flesh in cubes for this dish! The other half of the pineapple cubes can be used for the accompanying vegetable dish -or breakfast ;-).

vegetable oil

sweet corn

peas (fresh/frozen)

small amount of cooked ham, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 tbs grated fresh ginger

2-3 garlic cloves

cooked cold white long grain rice

1-2 tbs light soy sauce

1/2 tbs rice wine / sherry

an omelet made from 2 eggs, in thin stripes*

for garnish and extra flavour: 1 red chili pepper thinly sliced and coriander leaves

Heat oil in a frying pan, add garlic and ginger until light golden and fragrant, add ham, corn, peas, bell pepper and stir fry for about 2 minutes. Add cooked rice, soy sauce, sherry and pineapple, lower heat to medium and stir for another 5-10 minutes. Make sure you keep moving the rice or it will stick. Adjust flavour with salt and pepper. Fill the roasted pineapple halves with the rice and garnish with omelet stripes, chili and koriander.

* Instead of making a separate omelet I really like this way of making fried rice:

Heat 1 or 2 ts of -sesame-oil in a wok, tip in 2 beaten eggs mixed with 1 teaspoon of sesame oil, stir like crazy while you add the cold rice. This way the egg will coat the rice grains adding an almost sweet flavour. You will have to cook the other ingredients separately adding them after you've put in the rice.

Bread Baking Babes get all steamed up: flower steam buns

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 09:16:00 +0000

Dear readers, from this Kitchen of the Month we interrupt our regular programming to bring you this important announcement:

the Bread Baking Babes haven't been baking this month.

You read that right, we're not baking we're steaming! (Obvious huh, we're Babes!) So what's keeping you, get out that steam pan, upend the plant to get to its bamboo container, relieve your son from his make-shift helmet (aka your colander) and steam along. You want a recipe with that?

This is from a book I really think interesting, Global Baker by Dean Brettschneider and there are more than a couple of things in there on my to-bake-wishlist. This recipe is one of them.

Xiang Cong Hya Juan Bao

(Chinese flower steam buns)

makes 10 buns

"Everywhere you go in China you see people eating steam buns, also known as mantong Typically Chinese, a sweet bread is combined with a savoury filling, such as red bean paste and barbecued pork, but take care and avoid using too much filling or the bun will fall apart during the rising and steaming stage. The baking powder helps to open up the texture and gives a little tenderness to the eating quality of the buns. If you can, use imported Chinese flour from a specialist Asian food market or store".

Dough

300 g chinese flour (use low gluten flour such as cake flour)

15 g sugar

15 g butter

good pinch of salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp active dry yeast

150 ml chilled water, placed in the refrigerator overnight

Filling

rice bran oil, for brushing on dough

40 g finely chopped spring onions or chives

25 g finely chopped red chillies

salt to taste

To make the dough, place all the ingredienst into a large mixing bowl and, using your hands, ocmbine to form a very, very firm dough mass. Dont'be tempted to add any water or the steam buns will be flat after steaming.

Place the dough on a work surface and, using your rolling pin, roll out to a thin strip, fold this in half and roll again. Repeat this 10-15 times with a 30 second rest in between each time. This is a way of mixing a very firm dough, the dough will start to become smooth and elastic as a result of the rolling process.

Put the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave in a warmish place (23-25C) for 15 minutes. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out each piece to a 25cm square. {{this is strange...he never states that you divide the dough in this stage, so use and roll the one ball of dough you have}}

Brush the dough surface lightly with oil and sprinkle the chopped chives and chillies evenly over the dough. Season with salt.

Fold the dough in half and then cut into 2.5cm strips so that you end up with 10 folded strips. Stretch each strip and, starting at the folding edge, twist the two pieces of each strip over each other to form a rope.

Take the twisted rope and tie into a double knot, tucking the loose ends underneath. Place each bun with ends facing down on a 5cm square of non-stick baking paper** and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Prove for approximately 30-45 minutes in a warm place.

Bring a wok or saucepan of water to the boil with a bamboo steamer sitting on top. Remove the bamboo steamer lid and place the buns on the paper in the steamer 3-4 cm apart to allow for expansion during steaming. Replace the steamer lid and steam for 20 minutes. Repeat until all the buns have been steamed and are firm to the touch.

Note: you might want to adjust the steaming time from 10-20 minutes, keeping the water at a low blub.

I made this 3 times, here are my notes on the recipe:

- the paper: the pics in the book show him using paper circles, sort of perforated. (as in: paper circles with rather large holes in them). I'm using a regular steam pan with a metal insert and I preferred oiling the base of the metal insert not using any paper, re-oiling when needed. Another thing: I used a teatowel between the lid and the pan to catch any condensation.

- On flour: couldn't find chinese flour.

First batch: I used our Dutch regular bread flour and didn't add any water (obedient as I am ;)). Really really firm dough, fighting me every inch of the way. Nicely defined buns, good to look at but quite tough/chewy.

Second batch: I used ap flour and added a little more water about 3 tbs. Better to work the dough, more compliant. Better texture, still good definition.

Third batch: I went all out here, leaving the recipe.... used half cake flour/half low gluten flour plus 6 grams of maizena (corn starch), upped the baking powder to 1 teaspoon, upped the yeast also to 1 teaspoon, added far more water to a resulting dough with the feel of pizza dough...

Definition was all over the place, the ropey twists hardly recognizable: they puffed hugely during steam stage. Not as nice to look at but very good to eat; this last batch resulted in soft pillowy buns with a shiny outside. These took not as long to steam: 10 minutes.

My fillings were spring onions and chillies, spring onions and chili sauce, wasabi paste with bits of ginger (Yum!), and to please one of the boys I did two with cinnamon and sugar haha.

I loved the spring onions and chili sauce ones and the wasabi buns were so good! We dipped in soy/chili sauce.

Different filling:

Sweet red bean paste

110 g dried red beans

water for soaking and boiling the beans

120 g sugar

5 tbs vegetable oil

Wash the beans, discarding any that are damaged. Place beans in a small saucepan, cover with water and soak overnight. The next day bring the beans and the water to the boil. Simmer for 1.1/2 - 2 hours, until the beans have softened, adding more water as necessary. Remove from the heat and drain.

Put the beans into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth, adding the sugar and blending again. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the bean paste and fry on a medium -to-low heat for a few minutes until the paste begins to dry, pressing with the back of a wooden spoon to form a cohesive paste. This will take a few minutes and you will be able to see the oil mixed wvenly through the bean paste. Cool before use. This paste will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to one week.

Although this is a lengthy story, the "making of" is not very involved, the dough is pretty much straight forward, no long proofing times, you'll have buns on your table in under 2 hours? So what's keeping you? Be a Buddy, earn a Badge and come and ~~bake~~ steam with us, all of us on the right of the side bar would love to see what you make!

The Buddy date is set for Monday 5 October, please leave me your link through email (bakemyday AT gmail DOT com) or in the comments, I'll be happy to visit and send you your Badge!

Trying to add more pics later today!

WCB Blue on white

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 07:47:00 +0000

Never thought it would happen, but Jaws (officially called Milo but with his great white appearance nicknamed Jaws) is getting a little friendlier. He actually comes and cuddles up to you but you have to make sure you don't notice. He even started purring! Granted it's quite funny to hear such a soft modest purr coming from such a big cat, it's almost as if he doens't quite know how to.

Master headbumper; reaching incredible height on his hindlegs to bump heads with the boys. (I think it's probably his love for hairgel rather than love for the boys... naaaa... he adores son nr. 1)

Now you see 'm, now you don't!

This belongs to WCB this weekend with Samanta and Tigger

Gadgets that work! Shiitake update

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 07:23:00 +0000

Aren't they beautiful?
I'm still in no-move-mood but these shiitake sure don't need their behinds kicked, they keep growing fast! Maybe I should try and photograph their progress every couple of hours, it seems to me we can see them grow.

I've already harvested 5 large shiitake and this morning there were 4 more ready to pick. I thoroughly enjoy my birthday present! Shiitake for dinner tonight.

Een schimmeltje voor je verjaardag! / Happy fungus day!

noreply@blogger.com (Baking Soda) — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 06:25:00 +0000

(Please scroll for English)

Het is hier zo stil geweest, ik kon na de vakantie gewoon niet op gang komen. Het is niet zo dat ik in een stoel heb gehangen en gewacht tot het beter zou worden, om eerlijk te zijn heb ik best een behoorlijke berg werk verzet maar er kwam gewoon weinig naar buiten zullen we maar zeggen.

Het ultieme verjaardagskado om weer eens wat aan mijn blog te doen. Vanmorgen angstig vroeg op bed verrast door het gezin met koffie en weinig gezang (voor zevenen is alleen koffie prima) en kadootjes natuurlijk. Vanmorgen kreeg ik een doos, netjes ingepakt, leek verdacht veel op een doosje wijn... maar nee. Ik mag mijn krachten beproeven op het laten groeien van schimmels. Nou is dát niet een fijn kado? En ik was er nog blij mee ook!

Het is een compleet pakket; in de doos vind je een grote bruin-wit beschimmelde klomp (ja sorry kan het ook niet helpen) keurig verpakt in een plastic zak. Volgens de handleiding van Casa Foresta is het een "stevig baaltje zaagsel verpakt in een groeitas, in een gecontroleerde omgeving ontwikkeld dus absoluut veilig". Dat is fijn om te weten. Mijn klomp belooft een rijke oogst aan shii-take en weet je, ik kan de eerste knopjes al zien zitten.

Zoals mijn kinderen zouden zeggen: Vét!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

You know that your family loves and understands you when you get a bag ful of funghi for your birthday! This morning they woke me up with coffee and presents (no singing, no breakfast which is perfectly fine for me at 6.30 in the morning). A very nice coffee mug, lovely aromatic bath oil, a Thai cookbook (wink wink), and a large cardboard box.... Wine? Limoncella? Nope, a plastic bag filled with a big mouldy lump of sawdust! Why thank you honey, you sure know how to treat your wife!

Really this is so much fun. It's a "grow your own" package for growing mushrooms, according to plan mine will sprout shiitake! They need to be sprayed with water every day but already I can see the first signs of growth. Isn't that amazing? Promise is of harvesting 3 to 4 times depending on growing conditions, totalling to 500 grams of shiitake. The growing bag is a product of Casa Foresta, there seems to be a choice of mushrooms, the pics they show on their website are almost fairy-like.

DH also got me a copy of Julia Childs' "The art of French cooking 1&2", there might be just the recipe for excellent fresh mushrooms in there.

Spoiled I am.