Goodbye Summer Blueberry Braid

I really mostly don't like the end of summer.  It always surprises me.  You think by now in subconscious clock would have aligned itself, but no.  The first streak of cool weather always sends me into an anxious mood, with thoughts like, "I didn't make all the food I wanted to this summer," and "I'm not prepared for Autumn." (Whatever that means)

But, this year I'm trying to be a little bit more rational about the whole thing because, of course, Autumn is coming, and is mostly here.  I decided I need to be okay with using that last of the summer finds along with the first of the Autumn.

I've had some frozen blueberries in my freezer for awhile and have been craving this favorite bread of mine.  I thought this is a perfect way to say a goodbye to summer.

Blueberry Cream Cheese Braid

Sponge
1/2 T. Instant Yeast
1/2 T. Sugar
3/4 C. Warm Milk
1 C. All Purpose Flour

Dough
1 Egg
3/4 t. Salt
1/6 C. Sugar (eyeball it)
Up to 1 1/2 C. All Purpose Flour
1/4 C. Butter- cut into chunks, slightly softened

Blueberry Filling
1 C. Blueberries
2 T. Sugar
2 T. Cornstarch
1 T. Lemon Juice

Egg Glaze
1 Egg
1 T. Milk

Cream Cheese Filling
3/8 C. Cream Cheese- softened
1 T. Sugar
1/4 t. vanilla extract
1/2 T. Egg Glaze

Sponge: In a stand mixer, mix the sugar, yeast, and flour.  Pour in the warm milk and beat until smooth.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.

Dough: Add to the sponge the egg, salt, sugar, and 1 C. of flour.  Beat until smooth.  Add the butter, one chunk at a time.  Add the remaining flour, a little at a time, until the dough is workable and the butter is fully incorporated. (I used the entire 1 1/2 cups)

Switch to the dough hook and knead until smooth and satiny, about 5 minutes.

Place into a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled, 1 1/2-2 hours.  Deflate dough, recover, and place in refrigerator overnight.

Blueberry Filling: Combine all ingredients in saucepan.  Bring to a boil over moderate heat, stir constantly.  Cook until blueberries have released their juices and it's thickened. Cool before using.

Egg Glaze: Beat egg and milk until combined

Cream Cheese Filling: Combine ingredients and mix until smooth

Assembly: Have fillings made before you roll out your dough.  Take dough out of the refrigerator, reflate, then roll it out to a thin rectangle (about 1 cm, thick)

Spread the fillings into the center of the dough.  Leave a 1 in. gap at the top and bottom and about 2 in. on the sides (just depends on the size of the rectangle).  Cut 1 in. thick tabs along each side of the dough.  Fold the top over the dough, and alternating each side, fold the side tabs over the filling to create a braid.  Gently press to seal when you can.  Finish by folding the bottom up.

Cover with plastic wrap and let rise about 45 minutes.  Preheat oven to 350 while it rises.

With the remaining egg glaze, brush over the top of the braid.  Bake for about 35 minutes, until it's a deep golden brown.  Let cool 30 minutes before slicing.

This recipe comes from the wonderful Peabody over at Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Danish

I've been craving Danish.  Sweet dough in general, but I kept coming back to Danish.  Danish is one of those fabulous things that is simply better homemade.  Don't get me wrong, it takes time and practice, but it's so good.  Soooo good!

Although I've done other laminated doughs, this was my first time to tackle Danish.  So, instead of making things my own, I used this is the recipe from On Baking, textbook of baking fundamentals. The results were good.  Practice will make them better.

Just for some background, Danish is different from other laminated doughs because it has butter in the dough, not just rolled into the layers.

Danish
Yields 16 

.25 oz Instant yeast
5 oz. Bread flour
5 oz. All-purpose flour
2 oz. Granulated sugar
2 fl. oz. Lukewarm water
2 fl. oz. Lukewarm milk
1 Egg
1/2 t. Salt
1/2 t. Vanilla extract
1/4 t. Ground cinnamon
.75 oz. Melted butter
1/2 lb. Butter

Combine the two flours.  In bowl of stand mixer, add 6 oz. of combined flour, sugar, water, milk egg, salt,vanilla, cinnamon, and melted butter.  With paddle attachment mix until combined.

Add remaining flour gradually.  Switch to dough hook and knead for 3 minutes.  Place dough in bowl lightly dusted with flour.  Cover and refrigerate 1-1/2 hours.

While the dough is chilling prepare the lock-in butter.  Place the butter between sheets of plastic wrap.  with rolling pin, shape the butter to about 5 in. by 4 in. What I like to do is hit it a few times to get it moving and then roll it out.  Make sure the butter stays in the plastic and that it stays cool.  Keep in refrigerator until ready to use.

Here's where the fun begins.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 10 in by 5 in.

Place butter on one half, with a border of dough all the way around.

Fold the other side of dough on top of the butter and press edges together to seal.

Again, roll out the dough to about 10 in by 5 in.  Fold the dough into thirds.  Place into refrigerator wrapped in plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.  This step completes one turn.  You need to do six turns.  Get excited.  You want the dough to be pliable but not too soft.  About 66 degrees.  But, if you do one turn and have to go away for a couple of hours it's okay just let the dough rest at room temp before you roll in out for the second turn.

Some things to remember while completing the turns.  You don't want the butter to peek through.  If some does, cover with some flour and move on.  Also, before you fold the dough into thirds, you want all flour removed from the dough.  Use a pastry brush and brush it away.  All of it.

After the six turns the dough has to rest again in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or overnight.  You could also freeze the dough for later, or half of it for later and then let bring it out to thaw a couple days before you're ready to bake.  

When you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cut the dough in half, keeping one half in refrigerator and working with the other.  Roll out dough on slightly floured surface to 10 in by 6 in.  Mark every 3/4 on the dough 

Then, with a pizza butter slice the dough into eight strips.

Twist the strip.

Then, coil into a snail shape.

Place on parchment lined baking sheet.  Fill with some jam or sprinkle with sugar.  Bake for five minutes then lower temperature to 350 degrees and bake until deep golden brown.  For me it was 13 minutes.  While still hot pipe on some glaze and enjoy!

Grilled Peach Sandwiches

I don't know how many times I start eating something and think, "I should have taken a picture of this and blogged about it."  Maybe one day when I get serious about this I'll be a better planner, but until then you get a great recipe without any pictures because it was too good not to share.

S said he thought they were more of a lunch thing, but I thought they were fine for dinner.  I adapted this recipe from one I found on tartlette, but it was a couple of years ago and I couldn't find it again.

Grilled Peach Sandwiches
Makes 2 really big sandwiches


Baguette or other thin loaf sliced in half lengthwise
4 oz Cream cheese
Herbs/spices (I used salt, pepper, tarragon, and rosemary.  Thyme would also be good)
3 Peaches
1-2 T. Honey

Lightly toast the bread under a broiler.  I like it so that it has a crunch but doesn't brown.  Mix the herbs into the cream cheese to flavor as desired.

Heat a grill pan over pretty high heat.  I think I did mine on 7.5 for an electric stove.  Slice the flesh of the peaches away from the pit.  If you can do it in half great, if not slice off in four pieces.  Grill until dark brown.  The high heat helps to brown fast so they don't get too mushy.

Pour the honey onto a plate.  When the peaches are done place into honey, grill side down to coat.  Roughly chop or slice the peaches.

Spread cream cheese on one side of bread, top with peaches and other side of bread.  Enjoy!

Chipotle Peppers in Adobe Sauce

If you don't know what these are you seriously need to go to your grocery store and find out.  The flavor of these peppers is smoky and spicy.  It craves a creamy addition and makes you want to come back for more.    It's perfect for Mexican cuisine, but can be used in lots of other applications.  The one problem is the can size.  Sure, the can looks really small. But, after you use the 1t. necessary for the recipe you realize that you could feed a whole lot of hungry Mexicans with this can of peppers.

The good news is that it keeps well in the refrigerator for a couple of weeks.  I'm thinking about trying to freeze it as well.  Whenever there's a leftover can I keep my eye out for an new recipes to use it up.  This week I found a star.  Bonus, you'll never have to buy the expensive bottled version of this sauce ever again.

Raspberry Chipotle Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Adapted from here and here

(Sorry for the awful pic- Have I mentioned recently that I'm not a photographer?)

1 Bone in, skin on chicken breast- poached
2 Heaping T. of mayo
2.5 oz. Cream Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
6 Slices bread
1/4 C. Raspberry chipotle sauce (recipe to follow)
Spinach leaves

To poach chicken, put chicken in saucepan and fill with water to cover.  Add bay leaves, salt, onion, celery, carrots, etc. to add flavor.  Bring to simmer then reduce heat.  You want it to cook slowly in order to keep it tender.  About 45 minutes.  Cool and shred.

Soften cream cheese and mix with mayo and salt/pepper to salt.  Mix in chicken to coat.

To assemble sandwich, spread chicken on one piece of bread, pour on 1-2T. of sauce.  Top with spinach and other piece of bread.


Raspberry Chipotle Sauce

1 T. Olive oil
2 T. Diced onion
1 Clove garlic, minced
1 T. Chipotle peppers- I used the sauce in the can with a little bit of the pepper.  Use more pepper for a hotter sauce
1 Pint raspberries
1/6 C. Apple cider vinegar
1/4 t. salt
1/6 C. Brown sugar
1/6 C. White sugar

Heat oil in small sauce pan.  Sweat the onions and garlic until soft and translucent.  Add pepper, sauce, and raspberries.  Cook until raspberries are soft, about 3 minutes.  Add vinegar, salt, and sugars.  Simmer on medium low until reduced by a third.

Using an immersion blender, blend the sauce until smooth.  Press the sauce through a mesh sieve to remove seeds.  Cool before using.  Makes about 1 cup.

The Oven

When Steve and I moved to Fort Worth we lived in a Duplex that didn't have central air.  The months of May-September were mostly miserable.  The living room and bedrooms did have window units, and this worked fine while we were sleeping or watching TV, but meals in general didn't really work very well.  The kitchen had zero ventilation and I'm positive I was cooking in 100 + temps some days.  The dining room was pretty blocked from the living room air, so eating warm foods wasn't really appealing.

During those two summers I forced myself to leave the oven off.  This effort was mostly futile because I was drenched in sweat most days, but for some reason I felt better about it.

I realized this week that I'm still cooking in the oven, a lot.  Part of me feels guilty about this.  It's June after all, so shouldn't I be oven free, eating fresher foods, more salads and sandwiches.  But, then the other part of me thinks, "I'm not sweating, so who cares?"  Plus, when I use the oven for food that screams summer, it just seems right.

I feel like drumsticks are very summer; I'm not sure why.  Maybe because I can eat them with my fingers and that somehow feels summery to me.  In any case, I'm kind of having a love affair with them.

They, like so many things I cook, have a lot of room when cooking times are concerned.  You don't want to leave them in the oven forever, but you have some leeway and security to know that your product not only is done but still moist.

Italian Grilled Drumsticks


Chicken drumsticks
Garlic cloves
Dried basil
Kosher salt/pepper
Olive oil- not extra virgin

Preheat oven to 375 degrees or higher.

Mince the garlic and add basil, salt, pepper, and oil.  Spread over drumsticks so all areas are covered in oil.

Preheat grill to medium-medium high.  I use an indoor non stick grill pan, but use whatever you have.  You could also do a regular saute pan.  Add drumsticks.  Make sure they aren't too close or they won't brown well.

Cook to deep brown on all sides, about 20 minutes.  Place in glass baking dish and bake until done, about 30 minutes in 375.

How to: Yogurt

Recently I was shopping with a friend and she asked if I liked Greek yogurt.  "No," I replied.  Maybe I would like it if I tried the blueberry or chocolate or whatever else, but I've only had the plain and it's a little too tart for my taste.  I felt like my answer needed some explanation, so I explained to her that I make my own yogurt and mostly I just prefer the stuff that I make.  "You make," she commented, "your own yogurt."   I could feel her slightly rolling her eyes in a "of course you do" kind of sarcastic way.

Sometimes I feel bad for making things that most people purchase but then I remember that it's more delicious from my kitchen so... oh, well.

My yogurt making days began after I was married.  Steve wanted to register for a yogurt making machine.  I agreed because I loved him.  I honestly never thought we would use it, but we received one and we made it and I didn't really like it.  A couple years went by and it turned from a slightly inconvenient gift to a money saving tool to a regular thing because I love fresh yogurt.

I got good at turning the plain yogurt into gourmet treats, like strawberry banana and pina colada.  But I realized that sometimes I didn't want to make exactly 7 1/2 cup servings.  I new there was a way to make it sans machine.  So, this week I figured it out.

I based my method off of this website: make your own yogurt

How to: Yogurt

1. The milk

What I really do love about this method is that I can use whatever milk I have on hand.  All of my leftovers.

2. Heat it

Pour milk into saucepan.  (You'll notice in the next picture that I moved to a larger pot.)  Heat on medium until it's 185 degrees.  I don't use a thermometer.  Just, watch it.  Stir frequently.  The milk will get frothy and steam a little.  The important things are that it doesn't scald or boil.  Don't let it boil.

3. Cool it

Cool the milk to lukewarm, about 110 degrees.  In the website I read it suggested using a water bath in the sink.  This took about 5 minutes because the water was really cold.  Again, you want to stir frequently.  You can also stick the pot into the refrigerator.  This takes about 20 minutes, stir every 5 minutes or so.  Again, I don't use a thermometer, just feel it with my finger- you want it slightly warmer than the hot tub :)

4. Yogurt Starter
Sorry, no picture.  Take a container of yogurt, a use Yoplait french vanilla low fat.  If you have plain, please use it.  Stir it in slowly to the milk.  You want it well distributed.  

5. Leave it Alone

Cover with a dishcloth.  Place in a corner and don't touch for at least 7 hours.  You want it to be warm.  I used a homemade heating pack- dried corn sewn into some cotton fabric- and then I made some cookies and had the oven on and then I turned the air off and it was like 95 that day.  Later, I reheated the hot pack. So, you know, be creative.  If you have an electic heat pad, use that.  Or, if you have a gas stove, put it close to the pilot.

6. Chill

Stir the yogurt a little bit and pour into whatever containers you have.  It will seem a little runny.  Chilling will thicken it a little bit, but remember that store bought yogurt usually has some sort of thickener.  The recipe with our machine makes a thicker yogurt and it includes some dry milk powder, maybe that does something?  Chill for at least a couple hours.

7. Eat

Enjoy a bowl of fabulous yogurt! 

First Meals and More

We have moved!  It was a crazy two day drive here,  but we made it safely.  And, since S drove ahead of me I came home to a box packed house.  Very cool.  It's still crazy to think that we bought a house, but here we are.

In the first couple of days I rearranged the kitchen about three times.  Then a couple days later I moved a couple more things around.  After a shopping trip today and C discovering not only how to open the lazy susan but also that it contains things like sprinkles, cookies, and cocoa I think I may need to find a new home for some items.  But, it's coming together.  I like the flow of the kitchen more than our last place.  I never really thought about it before.  But, it works here and it made me realize that it really didn't before.  Don't be afraid to pull everything out of your cabinets and move them around.

For my first meal in my new kitchen I pulled out the tenderloin.  If any of you haven't used pork tenderloin you should start.  It's about as versatile as boneless, skinless chicken breast, and, bonus, is almost fool proof against drying out.

What I'm realizing more and more is that most foods just taste good.  It doesn't take much, just proper cooking technique and flavor enhancement, to make a beautiful meal.  With the tenderloin I rubbed on a seasoning mix- rosemary, sea salt, oregano, basil.  Not too much, just enough to add some flavor.

Heat an oven proof pan- like cast iron or stainless steel, over medium heat. Lightly grease and add the tenderloin. Notice that the pork isn't completely covered with seasoning.

Brown on all sides.  If your pan in smaller than the pork, you can do like me and cook like a "J", or cut it in half and cook side by side.










Place in an oven preheated to 375 or so and bake until done, about 20-25 minutes.

Some other favorites this week have been grilled asparagus, grilled veggie pizza, and peach and chicken salad.