JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE À DORIE – CAKES

JOYEUX ANNIVERSAIRE À DORIE – CAKES

For all of us belonging to French Fridays with Dorie and Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julie, this is a very special day and opportunity to raise our whisks in celebration of our leader. Today, October 24th, is Dorie Greenspan’s birthday. We are honoring you, dear Dorie, with good wishes and baking efforts and love………..

First, Our Birthday Beauty Makeover

 

Mary & Dorie, International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle

Mary & Dorie, Au Naturel,  International Food Bloggers Conference in Seattle

 

Recently, at the IFBC in Seattle, many FFWD participants were able to meet you, Dorie. Knowing we each dreamed of a photo op to mark the occasion you were ever the good sport and didn’t disappoint. After posting our picture on my blog, Lights on Bright no Brakes, my good friend, artist Dale Hollinger (KarlHollinger), decided a beauty makeover would be a giggle. Since my birthday was October 22 and yours, two days later, Dale got busy and sent us her gift. You and Michael [Dorie’s husband] and I were amazed by the power of rouge, lipstick and airbrushing. We thank you, Dale, for a vision of “us” we never had.

 

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A Birthday Bash and Two Cakes

When my friends discovered your birthday was also this week, Dorie, they included you in my October  22nd celebration. Happy Birthday and a healthy year ahead from (l to r)  DonnaDeux (the two Donnas), Charlotte, Bernie, Kathy, Fred and me with Stephen and Michael, behind the lens. All of them have shared many FFWD recipes with me and consider you part of “the” family!

 

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While I will write about my delicious and unique birthday dinner in another post, I did want to show you our birthday cakes.  The blonder Donna made me a classic Hummingbird Cake using the same recipe that renown Chef Art Smith made for Oprah’s 50th Birthday Bash. It was a moist, amazing banana cake with a tropical pineapple twist and delicious cream cheese frosting. I’m a Birder. It was the perfect choice.

 

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For you, I made the Classic Banana Bundt Cake from your cookbook, “Baking, From my Home to Yours”.  To my eyes (and, I hope, to yours), this little beauty is a thing of wonder and amazement. Dorie, this is the first baking success I’ve had since returning to Aspen and 8,200‘ altitude. Although I haven’t yet made a cut, I just know it’s as ‘dense, moist and extremely banana-y‘ as you describe it to be.

 

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From a loyal member of your flock, Dorie,  I wish you a wonderful and happy day and a year ahead filled with good health, continued professional successes, and making more joyful memories with friends and family. To see the birthday greetings of other colleagues who also cook-the-books, go to our French Friday with Dorie and Tuesdays with Dorie:Baking with Julia links.

 

French Fridays with Dorie

 

 

CELEBRATING 2013: PIZZA with ONION CONFIT

CELEBRATING 2013: PIZZA with ONION CONFIT

New Year’s Eve, 2012

A generous and delicious slice of Pizza with Onion Confit, the Tuesday with Dorie Baking with Julia recipe choice for today.

A generous and delicious slice of Pizza with Onion Confit, the Tuesday with Dorie Baking with Julia recipe choice for today.

 

Tonight I’m celebrating and bringing in the New Year………with Dorie Greenspan, Steve Sullivan and Yotam Ottolenghi.

Let me quickly explain. I’ll be brief because I have to get back to my guests.

 

The Onion Confit, which can be made two days ahead, is simply 4 onions, red wine, red wine vinegar and seasonings. I added some Crème de Cassis to taste. It was New Year's Eve, afterall.

The Onion Confit, which can be made two days ahead, consists of 4 onions, red wine, red wine vinegar and seasonings. I added some Crème de Cassis to taste. It was New Year’s Eve, afterall.

 

Dorie, of course, is the well-recognized cookbook author and fearless leader of my Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia group. Greenspan wrote the cookbook, Baking with Julia, which was based on the popular PBS Series hosted by Julia Childs.

Steve Sullivan is a talented baker who successfully established his own bakery, Acme Bread Company, in San Francisco. His sourdough and levain breads are legendary.

 

Sullivan's dough for this pizza "has enough texture and flavor to hold its own under any topping." Although you first make a sponge before making the dough, necessitating two risings, this isn't difficult.

Sullivan’s dough for this pizza “has enough texture and flavor to hold its own under any topping.” Although you first make a sponge before making the dough, necessitating two risings, this isn’t difficult. When ready, roll and work the dough until it is about 1/4 inch thick before transferring it to a baker’s peel rubbed lightly with cornmeal.

 

London Chef Yotam Ottolenghi who is becoming one of the most respected chefs in the world, owns five remarkable restaurants in that city and has written two well-received cookbooks, Plenty and Jerusalem.

This coming week’s recipe choice is the very tasty Pizza with Onion Confit. Julia Childs collaborated with Steve Sullivan to create this rather involved, somewhat complicated dish. After tasting the Provencal-inspired Onion Confit, as the base, I’m not sure I will ever return to classic tomato sauce again.   Admittedly, it was a two-day process, a sponge and two risings,  but perfect, I thought,  for my New Year’s Eve supper. Champagne? Maybe not. Beer? For sure.

 

After preheating the oven to a toasty 475 degrees, I transferred my pizza tiooed with precooked pancetta lardons, roasted artichoke hearts and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese.

After preheating the oven to a toasty 475 degrees, I transferred my pizza topped with precooked pancetta lardons, roasted artichoke hearts and Parmigiano Reggiano Cheese, from the peel to my baking stone which had been also preheated in the oven.

 

Intriqued by Ottolenghi’s culinary talent and impressed by reviews of his recently-published cookbooks, I ordered both of them last month. Unfortunately, they’d been shoved aside on my kitchen counter, victims of the holiday hustle and bustle.

 

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New Year’s Eve has never been a hoop-and-hollar event at our house. And, this year, especially, I needed quiet. To me, it felt right to just cook something delicious and settle in with a good (cook) book.

 

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The finished product. Everything about this pizza —- perfect.

 

I must return to my friends, Dorie, Steve, Yotam (we’re channeling Julia). I’ll let my pictures speak for the pizza. Thanks to our host-with-the-most, Paul of The Boy Can Bake, for providing the recipe for this delicious pizza-confit combo to all of you. Check out his link. To see how my colleagues did this week, go to our Tuesdays with Dorie link.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2013, FAITHFUL READERS AND DORIE COLLEAGUES. MAY THE YEAR AHEAD BE HAPPY, HEALTHY and OVERFLOWING WITH THE FELLOWSHIP OF FAMILY, FRIENDS, AND GOOD FOOD.

Not a Man nor a House, JUST GINGERBREAD

Not a Man nor a House, JUST GINGERBREAD

Gingerbread Baby Cakes, a festive holiday dessert and this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe.

 

Do you love gingerbread?  I mean, really, really love gingerbread. The kind that is spicy and pungent but still maintains its softness and moisture? With a darkness in color that Dorie calls “mysterious”? Gingerbread at its most robust?  If you’re starting to drool, just a smidge, you are going to love this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia recipe, Gingerbread Baby Cakes.

 

Despite using 1 tablespoon of ground ginger in this gingerbread mixture, the recipe also calls for 2 1/2 tablespoons peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger.

 

The ingredients in this batter offer the clues to guide us to that delicious end result. Besides flour and dark brown sugar, the dry mixture also includes instant espresso powder, unsweetened cocoa powder, ground ginger, baking powder, kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper. Yes, that’s right, black pepper.  (Note: Do not substitute instant coffee for espresso powder.)

 

A whole lotta finely chopped ginger – that’s why it’s called GINGERbread!

 

The wet ingredients include eggs and butter, of course, but also 2 1/2 tablespoons of finely chopped fresh ginger and 2 cups of unsulphured molasses.

 

I haven’t added the 2 cups of unsulphured molasses yet. Hence, the light-colored batter.

 

 

Four eggs. Last summer I mixed up a rather complicated bread recipe. Complicated,  meaning lots of ingredients. After putting the loaf pan in my oven, I found the three required eggs still nestled safely and unused in a bowl, hidden behind the flour canister on my Mise en Place tray. Since then, the egg shells always sit alone, the last to be tossed, as cracked proof that they’ve completed their job.

 

Although this makes a stiff  batter when mixed together, it pours easily into the small baby cake pans, one 10-inch round pan, or the mini-bundts that I used. I was careful to brush each inside with melted butter and then lightly dust with flour and had no problem with unmolding. However, I added an extra five minutes to the suggested 25 minutes at 350F cooking time.

 

These little darlings, sprinkled lightly with a dusting of confectionary sugar, are delicious for breakfast or a late afternoon snack. Note the crusty bottom of my mini-bundt gingerbread in the foreground. I filled my molds too high and didn’t leave enough room for the rise.

 

Although Dorie suggests dressing the gingerbread cake with whipped cream and candied lemon peel, I chose to sprinkle peppermint candy pieces over the lightly whipped cream. A festive touch for the holidays.

Thanks to Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories for hosting this week. If you’d like to try making this gingerbread yourself, link to her Blog for the recipe. To see what others did this week, go to Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking with Julia.

 

A plate filled with holiday goodness (if you love gingerbread).

HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Take three deep breaths.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Sit down, take a cup of tea-break.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Call a friend. Take a minute to catch up.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.  Yes, you have time to watch Jeopardy.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS. You’ll never have a replay of December 2012. So, enjoy.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS.
POPOVERS X THREE = TUESDAYS with DORIE

POPOVERS X THREE = TUESDAYS with DORIE

In Dorie Greenspan’s description of this week’s recipe choice, Popovers, she writes, “Many of us have fond memories of the messy thrill of eating popovers dripping with butter and honey.”

Popover Batch #2, Baked in Henderson, Nevada, Elevation 2190′

 

Although I searched my personal Memory Bank very carefully, I have no such messy memories. Growing up in Manchester, Iowa, a small Midwestern farm community of 4,000 people, I don’t recall a popover ever crossing my path. As a 30-something adult, I first discovered these lovely puffy critters and enjoy them whenever the opportunity arises.

Making them myself?  Really?

 

Mise en Place for Popover Batch #1. Question: What ingredient is missing from this photo? Answer: Eggs

 

Since for this week’s Tuesdays  Post I would be back in Aspen (elevation 7890’), I decided to bake the popovers last Wednesday, just before leaving Nevada (elevation 2180’).  While preparing my first batch, I experienced a Mise en Place-Fail. Note to Readers: If you don’t add 3 large eggs, at room temperature, to your Popover batter, the result will be hockey pucks.

 

JEOPARDY: Answer: Hockey Pucks. Question: What do you get when you don’t add 3 eggs to a Popover recipe?

 

Before leaving Nevada, I had time for one do-over and the result was Good, not Better or Best, but Good. To be honest, “Good” really doesn’t work for me. I needed a Better and Best.

 

The custardy interior of Batch #2, baked in Henderson, Nevada, elevation 2180′.

 

After arriving in Aspen, I fired off an SOS e-mail to my new friend, Marilyn Kakudo aka Piebird, a member of our Tuesdays with Dorie group, who lives in Boulder, Colorado.  I consider her blog, Cook Teach Learn Grow, a must-read because she so clearly explains, through words, the art of baking. If I was going to attempt Popovers at high altitude, I needed Marilyn’s high altitude expertise.

 

Popover Batch #3, baked in Aspen, Colorado, elevation 7890′.

 

In what I now know to be true Kakudo-style, Marilyn wrote a rather lengthy instructive e-mail explaining how to bake Popovers à la Aspen. Yesterday I did just that and the result was Better. At almost 8000’, I’m okay with Better because this week’s Post does have a Best.

 

Colorado Popover…….Better.

 

The “Best” is what I discovered about “Chef Marilyn” as she is known in the Denver-area. Among our midst of dedicated home bakers (like me) are some phenomenal cooks with remarkable resumes who add so much depth to our Tuesday group. (It’s not for nothing that I was an investigative business reporter.) What I discovered is that Marilyn, who left a successful high tech career to pursue a culinary one, is in the latter group. Her food and wine credentials are impressive. As for me, I’m quite pleased and appreciative that she takes the time and makes the effort to share her considerable knowledge and experience with all of us. And, she does it very quietly.

Because I was moving back to the Colorado High Country with its high altitude baking challenges, I questioned whether I should continue baking with this Tuesday group. Considering that I think Marilyn will have my back, I’m all in.

 

A smokey Sunday afternoon view of the Rockies from the Aspen Mountain Club at the top of Ajax. The smoke continues to roll in from the fierce Pacific Northwest fires.

 

Thanks to Paula, our Buenos Aires baker and Amy, who bakes for a family of five, for hosting this week and sharing with everyone the Popover recipe, originated by the late Marian Cunningham. Cunningham, an American culinary icon, died last month at the age of 90.

BERRY GALETTE, Rustic, Free-Form and Delicious

BERRY GALETTE, Rustic, Free-Form and Delicious

“J’aime la galette, savez-vous comment? Quand elle est bien faite, avec du beurre dedans.”

The Berry Galette, up close and personal. The Tuesday with Dorie Baking with Julia recipe choice for this week.

 

French school children sing a silly, nonsensical tune about this week’s TWD/BWJ recipe choice, Berry Galette.  Translated, the lyrics are,“I like galette, do you know how? When it is made well, with butter inside.”

This afternoon, as I was putting together what I considered a simple recipe, “est bien faite” , the “made well “ part, became a problem. My dough wasn’t coming together for me. Not at all.  Frustrated, I combined the two small disks into one and tossed them back in the refrigerator.

 

What started as two, wrapped tightly and chilled for two hours, failed to live up to their task. Two became one and were returned to the fridge to “chill out”.

 

Next, I’ll even admit pulling out my “if all else fails” emergency back-up, hidden in my freezer: Trader Joe’s Pie Crust. Just couldn’t do it. Instead, I walked around our community’s Loop ( it was 106 degrees), huffed and puffed and returned to try again.

 

Thought about it. Seriously. Considered it. Seriously. Couldn’t do it.

 

My second attempt was successful and I managed to roll out one 11” circle that was about 1/8” thick, discarding the rest of the dough. After transferring it to a parchment-lined jelly roll pan, I spread blackberries, raspberries and blueberries, within two inches of the border. Then I sprinkled sugar, poured honey, and sliced butter over the fruit. I wrapped and pleated the dough to seal in the fruit (hopefully).

 

In the oven, pleated and wrapped.

 

Although my galette sprung a leak, my sleuthing suggests it’s quite difficult to not have seepage. Even master baker and cookbook author Flo Braker, who shared this recipe with Julia, believes a juicy galette is a well-baked galette as shown in her photo on pages 344-345 of our cookbook, Baking with Julia.

 

Whoops.

 

The only change I made to this recipe was substituting one-half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. To add more flavor, a small amount of Licor 43 could be poured on the fruit mix but I choose not to add more liquid this time. To see the full recipe go to the websites of our hosts this week:  Lisa,  http://tomatothymes.blogspot.com, who is from Ohio and Andrea,  http://kitchenlioness.blogspot.com , who now lives in Germany.  Andrea is also my colleague as a member of French Fridays with Dorie. To see if others huffed or puffed this week,  go to http://tuesdayswithdorie.wordpress.com

 

Served warm, with a scoop of ice cream, Berry Galette is very tasty.