YAY! for Fancy Bread!!!

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

I used the recipe provided but made my own filling recipes because I wanted to use ingredients I already had. The first filling was made by combining almond meal, cinnamon, sugar, and egg whites in the food processor until smooth and spreadable. 

 The second loaf had a poppy seed filling with lemon zest. I used 2 cups of poppy seeds and boiled them with water. I blended them with sugar and lemon zest

 The dough was wonderful to work with. It rolled out so thin so easily on the sheet. It was very silky 

Recipe:

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp flour

1/4 cup warm water

1 T yeast

1 cup milk

6 T sugar

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted

4 cups flour

Stir together the first four ingredients, let stand until foamy.

Heat the milk to a simmer. Remove from heat and let cool to 105-110F. Stir in yeast mixture, sugar, and salt. Mix in beaten eggs and melted butter. Mix in flour until just barely sticky. It could take more or less than 4 cups, depending on the flour you use and the weather. 

Knead the dough until smooth and elastic. Let rise until doubled in size.

Divide the dough in half. Dust a sheet with flour. Roll and stretch the dough on the sheet until super thin. Spread with filling of your choice. Lift the sheet to start the dough rolling. Coil the dough into a greased loaf pan. Bake in a 350F for 15 minutes. Reduce temp to 300F and bake another 30 minutes. If it browns too much, cover with foil.

Let cool completely before cutting.

YAY! for Cupcakes!!!

I got these yesterday and just HAD to get flowers to put in them.

They are SO CUTE I can hardly stand it!

YAY! for Candy!!!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!

The first candy I made was taffy, from this recipe.

I made root beer and orange with citric acid for tartness.

The second candy I made was dulce de leche bonbons, with Ikea ice cube trays as molds.

I cooked down sweetened condensed milk until thick and caramel colored and let it cool while I tempered chocolate.

Then I put the chocolate in the mold, scraped, and let it drip and set. Then I put in the filling and topped with more chocolate.

The third candy I made was a homemade mounds bar.

I mixed together:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 stick softened butter

2 14-oz bags sweetened shredded coconut

and chilled for a couple of hours in the fridge. Then I scooped (with my #70 scoop) and shaped into rounds, and chilled again until it was firm (overnight)

Then I dipped using my special dipping forks:

They're just Wilton forks, but I bent them to the angle I prefer.

Then I rigged my special chocolate dipping tool:

Yep, it's a rice cooker. I like that I can turn it on to melt, and take the chocolate off to cool, and put it on Keep Warm to keep the chocolate fluid. I couldn't find my chocolate thermometer, so I used the infrared instead.

The last candy I made was a gummy candy that starts with Jello

Once again I used my handy-dandy Ikea ice molds. Next time I would use less gelatin, as it had a really firm texture.

YAY! for new toys!!

I need to find a way to store the blades, they don't all fit inside the bowl, but I'm pretty excited. The slicing blade is adjustable from 1 to 6 mm

YAY! for Noodles!!

Steph from Stephfood was our Daring Cooks' July hostess. Steph challenged us to make homemade noodles without the help of a motorized pasta machine. She provided us with recipes for Spätzle and Fresh Egg Pasta as well as a few delicious sauces to pair our noodles with!

I made Käsespätzle, which is spätzle with cheese and onions. It was really good. I have a spätzle maker (looks like this ), which makes it really easy. I layered the noodles with cheese and browned onions and baked until bubbly. YUM! For sure a once in a while treat.

YAY! for Baklava!!

Baklava is one of my favorite WOW desserts, something that's easy, delicious, and impressive. I usually use Alton Brown's recipe, except for the rose water, and make the syrup with orange blossom honey. Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava. I do like it better with the store-bought phyllo, but it was fun to make my own.

YAY! for Potato Salad!!!

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

I made a warm potato salad using red an yukon gold potatoes, with blanched snow peas, asparagus, and green beans, crispy turkey bacon, sliced scallions, and a mustard vinagrette:

1/4 cup oil (I used olive oil)
2 T mustard (I used Maille hot dijon, my favorite)
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste


It was really good, and made good leftovers later in the week. Yum!