Nazook?

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake.

I chose to make the nazook. The dough was easy to put together and rolled out smoothly. I'm not sure I would make it again. My family seemed to like it (they disappeared quickly!) but I thought they should either be crispier or softer and more moist. They seemed a little like a dry cinnamon roll to me. Maybe I made them wrong? The pastry dough reminded me of rugelach, so maybe I should have picked a filling to match?. Not really sure. 

Dutch Crunch Bread

Sara and Erica of Baking JDs were our March 2012 Daring Baker hostesses! Sara & Erica challenged us to make Dutch Crunch bread, a delicious sandwich bread with a unique, crunchy topping. Sara and Erica also challenged us to create a one of a kind sandwich with our bread!

We made sandwiches with leftover Easter ham and cheese and had tomato soup

I know this is pretty late, but the last month has felt pretty crazy and I just didn't have the time or energy to bake more bread after the pretzel extravaganza. Today has been rainy and chilly, so soup and sandwiches seemed like a good idea. I made the dutch crunch topping with brown rice flour and spread it on the rolls with a small off-set spatula, one of my favorite kitchen tools (I think I have 6 or 7 of them)

The topping spread on the rolls 

The roll dough was easy and rose plenty in my cool kitchen and the topping was easy too. I see us eating this more often!

and, as always, Hunter wanted some too!

Dutch Crunch Rolls

1 1/2 T yeast
1/3 cup warm water
1 1/2 cup warm milk
2 T sugar
3 T oil
2 tsp salt
5-6 cups flour

Directions:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer  combine yeast and half the flour. Add wet ingredients and stir to combine.

2. With the dough hook in place add the remaining flour a quarter cup at time until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Let the mixer run for a few minutes to knead.

3. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled (or more) in size 

4. . Once the dough has risen, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 12 equal portions. Form into rolls. Place on greased baking sheets

5. Let rise for 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.

6. Coat the top of each roll or loaf with the topping (recipe below). 

7. Once you’ve applied the topping, bake in a preheated 375º oven for 20-30 minutes, until well browned. Let cool completely.

Topping:

2 T active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
2 T sugar
2 T vegetable oil
½ tsp salt
1½ cups rice flour, I used brown rice flour

1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and beat hard with a whisk to combine. It should be thick but spreadable. Add more water or rice flour as necessary. Let stand 15 minutes.

2. Coat the top of each loaf or roll with a thick layer of topping. You should err on the side of applying too much topping – a thin layer will not crack properly.

3. Put rolls directly in the oven. The batch that sat out to wait didn't crack as much.

4. When baking, place pans on a rack in the center of the oven and bake your bread as you ordinarily would. The Dutch Cruch topping should crack and turn a nice golden-brown color.

YAY! for quick breads!!

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles.

The first recipe I made was a lemon-poppy loaf (recipe) It was really good, but I should have used an 8x4" pan instead of the 9x5" pan to get a taller loaf.

I then made raspberry linzer muffins for a breakfast-themed potluck.  (recipe) They were really good, and I will probably make them again. 

The raspberry jam filling sank to the bottom, but they were still good!

YAY!! for Biscuits!

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

They were very flaky and fluffy, and I got to use my new baking rack!

The recipe provided was great, and quite similar to others I have used, with the one difference being the technique for incorporating the butter. I had never grated frozen butter into the flour, but it worked really well, and might be a good technique for other recipes, like pie crust.

They nearly tripled in height after baking!

I also made a batch with cheddar cheese and chives. They were fantastic with ham and green beans. 

Golden brown and flaky deliciousness!

I added the chives and cheese to the flour with the butter, tossing them all gently to mix, then added the milk and smooshed it together in the bowl with my hands. I patted and cut rounds and baked until golden and gooey.

Gooey melted cheese. Yum.

RECIPE

Ingredients:
4 cups AP flour

2 T and 2 tsp baking powder

1 teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1½ gm) salt

1/2 cup frozen butter, grated 

2 cup cold milk or half and half

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to  450°F

2. Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl. 

3. Dump in the butter, cut a few times with a pastry blender. 

4. Add all of the liquid at once, mix until it almost forms a sticky dough, then fold and press to mix in the rest of the flour.

5. Pat or roll out the dough to about ¾ inch thick, cut into rounds.

6. Place the rounds almost touching on a baking dish 

7. Bake in the preheated very hot oven for about 10 minutes (check at 8 minutes since home ovens at these high temperatures are very unreliable) until the scones are well risen and are lightly coloured on the tops. The scones are ready when the sides are set.


8. Serve while still warm.

YAY! for Sans Rival Cake!!

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.

I made a cashew sans rival with a chocolate french buttercream (from my own recipe, it uses whole eggs not just yolks). The meringue came together quickly and easily. I traced 5 4"(ish) circles on parchment and piped a half recipe onto the rounds. I baked them for about 20 minutes and let cool. I cut a cardboard round about 5" (I just traced bowls for the circles so the sizes are approximate) to stack the cake onto.

The project wasn't too difficult or time consuming. The buttercream I used wasn't as solid as I would have liked, and if someone was paying me for it or I was trying to impress someone I would have added a second coat of buttercream after the first was cold (this makes it easier to get sharp corners with soft icing)

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 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 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 Plated Desserts!!!

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

I decided to go all out with the plating because I haven't done plated desserts since school. I made a half recipe by rounding up on the egg yolks, and didn't need all the meringue, but made it anyway. With the left over meringue I made these.

I borrowed the plate from work, and made a couple of less attractive ones for eating. I really wanted to do mine in a different shape and thought a heart would be fun. I made a croquante of hazelnuts, but forgot to put it on before pictures, so it's not there, but was really tasty.

YAY! for Maple Mousse

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!


I made a maple-flavored caramel mousse (made a caramel sauce with maple flavor instead of using maple syrup, I didn't want to buy anything for the challenge) in a florentine cookie cup. I tried to do a chocolate cup with a balloon, but the balloons popped (messy messy messy) and then tried to do a chocolate cup with a tartlet pan, but they didn't come out (grrr), so florentine cups it was! They were really good and reminded us of Hudson Bay Bread, which we always took on trips when I was growing up.

meringue filled coffee cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

I tried on saturday to make the cake, but something went wrong twice and the dough never rose. It wasn't the yeast, as it's from the same jar I used a couple of weeks ago to make whole wheat bread, and that worked, so I don't know what went wrong and wasn't up to washing the bowl again, so I'll try it later and hope it works. :(

I tried again and it worked! YAY! I halved the recipe and forgot to halve the sugar, which was too much for the yeast, I think. I spread the dough with sweetened red bean paste before I spread it with the meringue. We LOVED it!

YAY! for Panna Cotta!!!

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies. I made mine a raspberry panna cotta with chocolate ganache with heart shaped florentine cookies.




I changed the recipe a bit to make it raspberry flavored:


1/2 cup raspberry puree
1/2 tablespoon unflavored powdered gelatin
1 cup whipping cream (30+% butterfat)
1/2 cup half and half
1/3 cup granulated sugar

Pour the puree into a saucepan and sprinkle gelatin evenly and thinly over the top Let bloom for 5 minutes.
Put the saucepan over medium heat on the stove and heat until the gelatin is melted.
Add the cream, half and half, and sugar and heat until the sugar is dissolved.
Remove from heat and cool before pouring into ramekins.
I used creme brulee dishes, so they set in about an hour and a half.

They were creamy and not too sweet, but the fat content got in the way of our enjoying the dessert, it kind of coated our mouths and stopped us from tasting anything else.


So, I tried again, with yogurt instead of cream to keep the texture and loose the fat, and it was much better. I made a Meyer lemon panna cotta with raspberry sauce and chocolate filigree.



Lemon Panna Cotta

1/2 cup meyer lemon juice
1/2 tbs gelatin
1/3 cup sugar
zest of 3 lemons
1 cup Greek style yogurt
1/2 cup half and half

Sprinkle the gelatin over the lemon juice in a saucepan. Let sit for 5 minutes.

Blend the sugar and lemon zest in a food processor until fragrant, add to gelatin mixture. Heat over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved.

Measure the yogurt into a mixing bowl. Add the half and half slowly, stirring after each addition to avoid making yogurt lumps. Add the warm gelatin mixture and stir to combine.

Pour into serving dishes and chill 1-2 hours, or until set.

Top with raspberry sauce and chocolate filigree if you'd like!

YAY! for Fancy French Desserts!!

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

I did mine to be kind of like a Princess Cake, with raspberry and custard and marzipan.


I piped the colored paste in a scroll design to mimic the pink marzipan rope often around the bottom of a princess cake. I made an almond genoise and layered it with a gelatin set vanilla bavarian cream and a gelatin set raspberry mousse. I topped it with the traditional green marzipan and roses.



I decided to do a square because I knew I couldn't make a single piece go all the way around like I would want (and the design would be harder to match up) so I built a cardboard frame, wrapped it in plastic and put it on a square plate to set in the fridge. I forgot to take a picture of it in the frame, but I took one after I removed the cake.


It was delicious, and fun to make.

YAY! for Tarts!!

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

I added orange zest to my crust and made a cranberry jam. I cut out circles of dough, piped jam on top, and pinched corners to make tiny tartlets. Everyone loved them.

YAY! for doughnuts!!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

I decided to use Alton Brown's recipe as a pattern and used it to make a recipe for pumpkin spice doughnuts in cinnamon sugar.


Pumpkin Yeast Doughnuts

2 1/2 oz butter
1 cup canned pumpkin
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 T instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
22 oz AP

Oil for frying

Cinnamon sugar

In a saucepan melt butter. Add pumpkin, milk, and sugar and heat to lukewarm. Pour into bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle. Add eggs, mixing well. Add yeast, salt, and spices. Mix well, scraping down the bowl. Add flour in two stages, mixing until no flour is visible, scraping down occasionally. Change to the dough hook and mix at a medium low speed for 3-4 minutes. Remove the bowl, oil the top of the dough, cover with cling film, and refrigerate overnight.

Roll dough out on a well floured surface, cut with doughnut cutter or 2 round cutters, place on floured surface and cover with a towel for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a deep frying pan or electric frying pan to 350F, place doughnuts in hot oil (don't crowd the pan) and cook for about one minute on each side. Remove to a paper lined sheet pan to drain then shake with cinnamon sugar.

YAY! for cookies!!!

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking.

This month we did sugar cookies, which I've done before. I'll stick with my own recipe for the cookies in the future as they are nice and soft.
The rounds are going to my brother in Singapore and the leaves are going camping with my sister.

YAY! for food on a stick!!

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I made my pound cake with hazelnut meal in place of some of the flour to match my chocolate hazelnut ice cream and then decided to put it on a stick! Everything's better on a stick. They were melty but yummy.

Chocolate Hazelnut Ice Cream

8 ounces hazelnuts, toasted and cooled
3/4 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 1/2 cups whole milk
3 tablespoons cornstarch
4 ounces dark chocolate

Grind nuts with sugar in food processor. Place in saucepan with milk and salt and bring to a boil. Cover, remove from heat and let steep for 20-30 minutes. Strain in a fine sieve.

Pour the milk into a clean saucepan, reserving about 1/4 cup. Mix reserved milk with cornstarch, whisk into saucepan. Bring the milk to a boil and let boil a couple of minutes. Pour into a sealable container and cover the top surface with cling film. Let cool several hours or overnight.

Process in ice cream machine according to manufacturer's directions.

YAY! for Ice Cream!!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

When I saw the title I thought it would be for an ice cream filled swiss roll, and that was exciting. Then I saw it involved a whole lot more and lost excitement.

I made mine with chocolate cake, chocolate whipped cream, milk chocolate ice cream, strawberry ice cream and fudge. I like chocolate.
It wasn't something I'd ever make again, it was way too involved for the result, which I could have gotten by making the cake and serving it with ice cream, but it tasted fine.

YAY! for Chocolate!!

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard.

They were pretty good.

I made my chocolate meringues (they weren't really like pavlova at all) a day ahead and they kept really well. I made homemade ricotta with whole milk instead of doing mascarpone cheese because I don't like it. The ricotta beat really smooth and was okay for a mousse. I think I prefer the chocolate mousse I usually use better, but just because it takes less work.
I made my sauce with a caramel creme anglaise, which I make by using pre-caramelized sugar in a regular creme anglaise recipe.
For pre-caramelized sugar just cook sugar on the stove until light amber, pour out onto a silpat to cool and blitz in the food processor until finely ground. Use an equal weight to replace plain sugar in any custard recipe (makes great ice cream) or for easier brule making.

I found that they were better an hour after assembling than they were right away. The mousse softens the meringue so it's not so chewy and tough.

I might make them again, but I'm not sure.

YAY! for English Pudding!!

I'm super late this month (last month?) because of a super-fantastic wedding our family pulled off a couple of days ago. It was DIY wedding with friends pitching in to help with everything from photography to the flowers, to decor and food. We did the food ourselves last minute, which made things extra busy and I wasn't able to get to the computer to post this.

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet.

I made a chocolate pudding from The Pudding Club Unfortunately Nestle changed their chocolate chips and they didn't melt to make a soft chocolate sauce, instead they remained chips and stuck to the pudding bowl, making for a really ugly pudding, that I did take pictures of but my camera is lost in the mess of wedding stuff and I'll try to post a picture later.