Wednesday, April 27, 2016

Made Lots ~ Posted Not

Look at what I've made since I've been home back on Cache La Poudre Street, and I didn't even write about it.  Tsk, tsk.


Baked Soft Pretzels made from discarded sourdough starter.  Waste never look so good!
Made these tender and fluffy popovers for Easter breakfast.  Dale had never had them before and he proved that it didn't make a difference.  He woofed half of these puppies down.  
It wouldn't be Easter without Deviled Eggs!  I make mine very simple like both of my grandmothers did.  Simple yet delicious.
Super sharp white cheddar mac & cheese.  Yes, those are Ritz crackers on top.  I'm fancy like that.
Brined a plump chicken and roasted it to perfection.
A tiny loaf of Sourdough made from the extras from my Pullman loaf.
This is the small Pullman loaf.  Look at those perfect sandwich slices of bread. 
This is the large Pullman loaf.  I have to cut it in half and freeze it.  It freezes beautifully by the way.
Good old classic German Farmer's Bread.  This is the whopping full loaf. 

My new pans make wonderful mini Frienship loaves to give to friends and family.  Or eat a whole loaf by myself.  Ahem.
This rich and delicious fish soup with assorted fruits from the sea.  That's Monk Fish upfront and centered.  It's called the "Poor Man's Lobster" and I can see why.  The texture was so good!
I helped in the sushi sweatshop at my sister, Dori's house.  Impressive isn't it?


Try My Lovely Buns?


Today's Note:  It's been such a long time since I've posted on my beloved blog.  I've been cooking and baking as much as I can, but I haven't been bragging about it.  Gasp!  I did find this post that I was working on last year while we were still in Ruston, Washington.  I thought I should finish what I started.  Plus I got a kick out of the title...

I found this recipe on one of my new favorite sites, ChefSteps.  These are the best hamburger buns you'll ever have and they are surprisingly easy.  With a little effort, and some extra time on your hands, you can whip up these beautifully soft buns. They are very much like store bought, but better tasting and sans those ingredients that one can never pronounce.

The recipe I'm going to post is not longer available on ChefSteps and I'm glad that I archived it in my "Recipe Box" app on my Apple devices.  The folks at ChefSteps love to weigh their ingredients, so yes, all of the measurements are in grams.  Someday, I may convert it to Imperial volume measurement. Someday.  But I say for the time being, you should invest in a gram/ounce kitchen scale.  I've had one for ages and I don't know what I would do without it!

Brioche Burger Buns

(Makes a lovely dozen)

645 g bread flour
360 g eggs, about 8
80 g sugar
200 g whole milk
45 g yeast
200 g butter
50 g diastatic malt powder, ordered mine from amazon.com
22 g salt

Place milk, egg, sugar, and yeast in a mixing bowl.  Use the paddle attachment on your mixer and mix on medium low speed for about 5 minutes, or until yeast is well dispersed.  Yes, this recipe also assumes you have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.  Again, I've had a KitchenAid for ages and I don't know what I would do without it.  You could use a wooden spoon or your hands to mix, and think of the workout your forearms are going to get!  Ahem, back to the recipe...

While continuing to mix, add the salt.  In a separate bowl, combine the diastatic malt powder and flour.  Gradually add this mixture by large spoonfuls into the mixing bowl while the mixer is running and until fully incorporated.

Switch to the dough hook.  Mix until a ball forms and pulls cleanly away from the sides of the bowl.  This can take up to 25 minutes or more.  Then, add the butter slowly unit it's fully incorporated and the dough develops a nice sheen, and pulls cleanly from the sides of the bowl.

Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Rest in the fridge for 2 hours or until very cold.

Meanwhile, you can make foil collars for each bun, OR you could try to use this nifty "muffin top" pan.  I bought two of these at a discount store just for these buns, but I have yet to use them. 

If you make the collars, fold several layers of foil into an approximately 14 inch long and  3/4 inch wide strip and staple into a round ring. Trim any excess foil.  Make as many as you need and lay collars on a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and spray the insides of the collars with non-stick spray.

Once the dough is cold, portion to 80 g pieces, and form spheres by rolling the dough between your pinky and your thumb, with the heel of your other hand.  Place the dough ball into the center of a foil collar.  Repeat until all of the dough has been used.  While you are working, you can keep the unused dough in the fridge to keep cold.

Lightly spray dough balls with non-stick spray and cover with a sheet of plastic wrap (or cling film if you're British - love that!).  Use a rounded bottom bowl to flatten each dough ball to spread out into the ring.  Do this for all of the buns and carefully lift the cling...er, plastic wrap off.  Spray the underside of the plastic wrap with more non-stick spray and lightly cover the buns to let them proof until doubled in size or about 2 hours in a warm place.  Be careful to not let them over proof.  The finished buns in the picture fell a bit, but Washington was not a good place to bake bread in comparison to Colorado.  I love making bread here!

While your buns are proofing, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and prepare an egg wash.

Carefully peel off the plastic wrap and carefully brush the proofed buns with egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds or anything else you would like to use.  Re-hydrated dehydrated onions would be delicious!  Or you can just leave the plain egg wash.

Bake buns for 15 minutes or until golden brown and the core temperature reaches about 200 degrees F inside.  Take out and cool.  Believe it or not, but for best results, place in a zip-top bag for two days before using.  This will allow the crust to reabsorb moisture from the crumb, giving the whole bun a softer texture.
Perfect for your juicy burgers!


Look at this great texture!




I will have to remake this recipe here in Colorado and use my "muffin top" pans.  I'll be sure to post the final results when I do. 

This recipe is a bit advanced, but with a little confidence and a good mixer, you can make these lovely buns!