Sunday, September 27, 2009
It's been fun...
...but I'm officially outta here! You should be redirected in a few seconds--if not, please visit Baked By Anna, Mediocre Chocolate's new and permanent home.
Friday, September 18, 2009
My Best Pizza Dough
What--you're still here?! I've moved!! Come visit me at the new place--Baked By Anna. All posts are available over there. Soon, I'll be redirecting automatically--so come follow me there!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Nanaimo Cheesecake Bars
This is a little bit of a cheat post, since it's not a new recipe to this blog. But, I haven't posted it since last year, or since I moved, and I have a new camera to take some beauty shots of the cream cheese-y goodness of these. It's chocolate...brown sugar...walnuts, coconut...with more chocolate. It's my little piece of heaven.
It all began when Sugar High Friday decided to go Canadian last year. I asked a good friend who had Canadian family if she had any ideas, since all I could think of was something maple-flavored or shaped like a leaf. (Maybe something icy.) She suggested the Nanaimo Bar, a purely Canadian treat made of a deliciously complex crust, a custard filing and a crisp chocolate topping.
I made the classic recipe, but found the combination of soft custard and crunchy layers to be a bit strange. Delicious, but odd--definitely fork and plate pie-style, not a handheld snack. I re-imagined it a bit, and came up with a cheesecake filling and a ganache topping. According to my husband, it was the most popular treat I baked for the San Diego Boys in Blue.
He requested that I make these again now that we've moved, before I make another thing! So here they are in their encore posting, the Nanaimo Cheesecake Bar.
Nanaimo Cheesecake Bars
by Anna
Crust:
9 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 oz (1/3 cup) cocoa powder, preferably Dutch-Process
7 oz graham crackers (2 cups crumbs, 1 package plus 4 sheets)
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1/2 cup (2 oz) walnuts, toasted
pinch kosher salt
Filling:
3 (8 oz) packages cream cheese, room temp.
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp heavy cream
1 egg plus one yolk
2 tsp flavoring--vanilla, rum, or liqueur of choice
2 tsp flour
Ganache:
3 oz best-quality dark chocolate
3 oz heavy cream
1 tsp honey
Make Crust: Heat oven to 350. Line a 10x13 inch pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray. In a food processor, pulse graham crackers until they become coarsely chopped crumbs. Remove all but 1/4 cup to a large bowl, and add walnuts. Process until nuts are finely ground, but not to a powder or paste (by leaving the crumbs, you prevent the oils from making them into walnut butter).
Add walnuts to crumbs, and add the rest of the crust ingredients.
Press firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Bake 8-10 minutes, until fragrant. Set aside. Lower oven to 325.
Make Filling: In the workbowl of a stand mixer or with a large bowl and electric beaters, beat room-temperature cream cheese until very smooth and no lumps remain. Add sugar, scrape after addition.
Add eggs, and scrape bowl again.
Add flavoring, and sprinkle on flour, then remove workbowl and scrape the batter down very well, making sure everything is blended.
Pour over warm crust, and return to oven. Bake 35-40 minutes, til center is no longer jiggly. If you have a thermometer, you're aiming for 160 degrees. Remove to rack, and let cool 1 hour at room temperature before refrigerating.
Make ganache--scald cream, add honey, and pour over chopped chocolate. Let sit a minute or two, then stir til smooth. Allow to thicken 15 minutes at room temperature, then pour evenly over slightly warm cheesecake, tilting pan to coat. Return to fridge and let cool at least 4 hours or overnight before slicing.
This post and recipe also posted on the new location of this blog, Baked By Anna. Come see the new digs!!
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Focaccia by Reinhart
And the bread baking continues! Next up on my Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge was Focaccia, beloved by Americans everywhere as a sandwich bread and pizza base. This recipe I liked from the get-go, as it began with a poolish (a wet starter) and was a very wet dough. You know what that means? Big, beautiful holes!
At least that's how his focaccia was pictured. And how how said it was supposed to turn out. Mine? Well...
Not so much. It was gorgeous, though--light and airy, very soft, and a wonderful flavor from the pre-ferment. I skipped the herbed oil and went with a light brushing and some coarse salt. It reminded me a lot of my favorite restaurant bread, the rosemary loaves you get at Macaroni Grill (if you have one of those near you.) So it wasn't bad bread, not by any means (as evidenced by the huge chunk of it I consumed while it was still warm and crisp), it just wasn't what the author envisioned. He said in his instructions that I may need to add more flour than his recipe called for, to get a ball of dough instead of doughy soup, and I definitely did. Really wet doughs like these frequently take a long time mixing before they begin to form any real gluten, so I waited until his recommended kneading time was up before I began adding in flour. I added just enough to get a dough ball that was still extremely sticky, and clung like mad to the bottom of the bowl. I guess I added a bit too much, though, because my focaccia, although very light and soft, didn't have those gorgeous holes I wanted.
I actually want to try this one again. The bread was really, really good. I can only imagine what it would be like if it were a wetter dough!
This reminded me of a similar recipe I like, a Pizza Bianca I found in a Martha Stewart Magazine. That dough was so wet, I had to knead it in the mixer for 20 minutes before I even started to get any gluten. It's crazy when it actually happens with a dough like that--suddenly, long stramds of dough begin to form like spiderwebs around the edge of the bowl, and then in an instant you go from hearing the slapping of the shapeless mass, to the thwap-thwap of a ball of wet dough.
I'm thinking this dough may benefit from a similar treatment. Keep it very wet, without adding additional flour, and then just let it knead until I see some action happening. I always get very big holes on the Pizza Bianca that way--maybe I can accomplish the same thing here. It's worth another shot--the flavor was great.
I had started to think maybe I just screwed this one up, but looking at the other BBA'ers breads, I see the result was similar. OK, I don't feel so bad now!
We are nearing our last few posts here...if you haven't already, I'd like to invite everyone over to Baked By Anna, Mediocre Chocolate's new and permanent home due to technical issues. I love my followers, please join me at the new blog! I have transferred every post, so you won't miss a thing. And very soon, one of the favorites will be making an appearance, and hopefully get some new glamour shots taken.
At least that's how his focaccia was pictured. And how how said it was supposed to turn out. Mine? Well...
Not so much. It was gorgeous, though--light and airy, very soft, and a wonderful flavor from the pre-ferment. I skipped the herbed oil and went with a light brushing and some coarse salt. It reminded me a lot of my favorite restaurant bread, the rosemary loaves you get at Macaroni Grill (if you have one of those near you.) So it wasn't bad bread, not by any means (as evidenced by the huge chunk of it I consumed while it was still warm and crisp), it just wasn't what the author envisioned. He said in his instructions that I may need to add more flour than his recipe called for, to get a ball of dough instead of doughy soup, and I definitely did. Really wet doughs like these frequently take a long time mixing before they begin to form any real gluten, so I waited until his recommended kneading time was up before I began adding in flour. I added just enough to get a dough ball that was still extremely sticky, and clung like mad to the bottom of the bowl. I guess I added a bit too much, though, because my focaccia, although very light and soft, didn't have those gorgeous holes I wanted.
I actually want to try this one again. The bread was really, really good. I can only imagine what it would be like if it were a wetter dough!
This reminded me of a similar recipe I like, a Pizza Bianca I found in a Martha Stewart Magazine. That dough was so wet, I had to knead it in the mixer for 20 minutes before I even started to get any gluten. It's crazy when it actually happens with a dough like that--suddenly, long stramds of dough begin to form like spiderwebs around the edge of the bowl, and then in an instant you go from hearing the slapping of the shapeless mass, to the thwap-thwap of a ball of wet dough.
I'm thinking this dough may benefit from a similar treatment. Keep it very wet, without adding additional flour, and then just let it knead until I see some action happening. I always get very big holes on the Pizza Bianca that way--maybe I can accomplish the same thing here. It's worth another shot--the flavor was great.
I had started to think maybe I just screwed this one up, but looking at the other BBA'ers breads, I see the result was similar. OK, I don't feel so bad now!
We are nearing our last few posts here...if you haven't already, I'd like to invite everyone over to Baked By Anna, Mediocre Chocolate's new and permanent home due to technical issues. I love my followers, please join me at the new blog! I have transferred every post, so you won't miss a thing. And very soon, one of the favorites will be making an appearance, and hopefully get some new glamour shots taken.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
BBA Challenge English Muffins
You thought I'd forgotten about the BBA Challenge, didn't you? My last post was a little while ago, I admit, but cut me some slack. It's been hot! Even where I live, it's been too hot to think about turning on the oven most days.
Which doesn't actually excuse me from this particular challenge--English Muffins. They're cooked on a griddle, and only go in the oven for a few minutes to finish them up. So I suppose I could have done them by now...just been busy. I've got cupcakes on the brain, two new blogs to set up. Just in case you forgot, come follow me at Baked By Anna, my new blog, with no technical difficulties. I have moved this blog in its entirety, so everything you find here is available there. I'll be posting me last post here soon. Also, work continues on The Sprinkles Project blog, the new cupcake-dedicated project. That I really should be calling the Sprinkles and Crumbs Project, after reading their much more interesting menu the other night. Sprinkles is simple and classic--carrot cake, chocolate, vanilla. Crumbs has crazy flavors, filled cupcakes, wild toppings...we'll get there.
Anyway. Back to the English Muffins. I'll be frank--I did not like this recipe. It was easy, but that only counts for something if the end result is good, and these weren't. The crumb was way too tight for an English muffin, which should be as open and airy as a no-knead bread. These had the right taste to then, but reminded me of little flat sandwich buns, rather than muffins.
I have made English Muffins once before, and it was closer to a batter bread than a dough--very wet, which would make the holes pop out. And yes, I did use my chocolate chipper to fork-split these guys, and it helped, but not a lot.
So, I might make this one again, perhaps increasing the water a little bit to make a better dough. They were really fast to do, and they did all get eaten. Slap a little peanut butter on those bad boys, no one was complaining too loudly about fresh-baked bread. (I know, it's been awhile.) We'll see, but like I said, I have been really into cupcakes and cakes lately.
If you would like to try these, here's an excellent blog with the recipe and tutorial. Perhaps it was just me that didn't quite get the dough right--other bloggers seem to have more open muffins than mine! But Peter said not sticky! Oh well.
Which doesn't actually excuse me from this particular challenge--English Muffins. They're cooked on a griddle, and only go in the oven for a few minutes to finish them up. So I suppose I could have done them by now...just been busy. I've got cupcakes on the brain, two new blogs to set up. Just in case you forgot, come follow me at Baked By Anna, my new blog, with no technical difficulties. I have moved this blog in its entirety, so everything you find here is available there. I'll be posting me last post here soon. Also, work continues on The Sprinkles Project blog, the new cupcake-dedicated project. That I really should be calling the Sprinkles and Crumbs Project, after reading their much more interesting menu the other night. Sprinkles is simple and classic--carrot cake, chocolate, vanilla. Crumbs has crazy flavors, filled cupcakes, wild toppings...we'll get there.
Anyway. Back to the English Muffins. I'll be frank--I did not like this recipe. It was easy, but that only counts for something if the end result is good, and these weren't. The crumb was way too tight for an English muffin, which should be as open and airy as a no-knead bread. These had the right taste to then, but reminded me of little flat sandwich buns, rather than muffins.
I have made English Muffins once before, and it was closer to a batter bread than a dough--very wet, which would make the holes pop out. And yes, I did use my chocolate chipper to fork-split these guys, and it helped, but not a lot.
So, I might make this one again, perhaps increasing the water a little bit to make a better dough. They were really fast to do, and they did all get eaten. Slap a little peanut butter on those bad boys, no one was complaining too loudly about fresh-baked bread. (I know, it's been awhile.) We'll see, but like I said, I have been really into cupcakes and cakes lately.
If you would like to try these, here's an excellent blog with the recipe and tutorial. Perhaps it was just me that didn't quite get the dough right--other bloggers seem to have more open muffins than mine! But Peter said not sticky! Oh well.
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