#quarantine baking

[grumpywagon]

Tres Leches Cake with Piped Chantilly Cream and Cherries

[jewishmuseummd]

Here’s your #Shabbat Baking suggestion for the week:  Great Jewish Bake Off 2018 award-winner Chinese Scallion Pancake Challah by Lan Pham Wilson! #ShabbatBaking #GJBO #Challah

Chinese Scallion Pancake Challah by Lan Pham Wilson: Schmeer Surprise Winner

Makes one large loaf.

 Loaf Ingredients

1 tablespoon instant yeast

¾ cups warm water

2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon sugar

388 grams flour, plus more for dusting

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons honey

1/3 cups neutral oil

2 eggs

Filling Ingredients

4 1/2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil

5 stalks scallions or green onions, minced

2 1/4 teaspoons chili pepper flakes (or to taste) 

Egg Wash Ingredients

1 egg beaten

sesame seeds

 Steps

1. In mixing bowl, proof yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Set aside.

2. While yeast is proofing, mix flour, salt, and remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar in a large bowl.

3. In a medium bowl, mix remaining ¼ cup of water, honey, oil, and eggs.

4. Make scallion filling in a bowl, set aside.

5. When yeast has finished proofing, add it to the flour, followed by the wet ingredients. Mix with a large wooden spoon until dough becomes too thick to stir. Empty dough onto well-floured surface and knead by hand. Knead dough until smooth and no longer sticky, adding flour as needed. This step can also be done with assistance of kitchen aid mixer.

6. Press down and shape into a large rectangle. Rest for 10 – 15 minutes.

7. When ready, spread scallion filling, folding dough over scallions to “tuck” them in. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with greased plastic wrap and a damp tea towel. Let rise until doubled and puffy looking, anywhere from 45 to 90 minutes.

8. After rise, gently punch down the dough to deflate. Cover again and allow to rise for another hour.

9. Preheat oven to 375°.

10. Divide dough into three equal parts and then roll each part into a 1-foot log.

11. Braid

12. Place the loaf on a parchment lined baking sheet and then brush with egg wash.

13. Allow to rise for 30 minutes.

14. Brush again with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

15. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and the challah is cooked through.

16. Remove from oven, and rest on wire rack until completely cooled.

17. Cover well, will keep for a few days.

[ladeedadala]

It's always time for pumpkin pie!

[mashmaiden]

This weekend in baking adventures...

My best friend (mostly jokingly I found out later) requested a Croquembouche for her birthday... and because she's my bestie, I had to deliver!

To be fair, I really only made the caramel and glued the purchased, frozen cream puffs together, but even that was a bit of an ordeal! haha! (the flower on top is cuz I was like 3 cream puffs short... lol)

[mechadress]

I made bread today! It's a lovely Italian style loaf. Should be great for sandwiches.

[scone-lover]

Sour Cherry Scones

True to my name, today I’m sharing my tested-and-true recipe for incredible sour cherry scones! ❤️

THEY ARE SOOOO GOOD.

I’ve been thinking about these scones since reading Carry On, specifically the line: “I just can't pass up the scones if they're there. They're soft and light and a little bit salty. Sometimes I dream about them.” 

Me too, Simon, me too.

I use my own small-batch scone dough base recipe, which was originally adapted from the blog dessertfortwo. I also drew some inspiration from the recipe from fiction food cafe. I haven’t made @cookingmywaythroughcarryon‘s recipe but I’m hoping to try it soon!

These are quite different from all of those, and I’ve tested them about 4 times now (and not just because I want to eat them again... and again.) Fiction Food mentioned they might be round in canon, and while I prefer triangle scones, I cut these round with a mason jar lid and they turned out really nice—very English-teatime looking.

Tips:

butter: I actually don’t like to use frozen butter. It tends to result in a crumblier texture than I would like. These scones are flaky on the outside and dense inside. I don’t use a pastry cutter or food processor—I cut cold butter into cubes, then rub/smush it into the flour with my hands. I’ve found that results in the best texture. 

cherries: I did a lot of research on sour cherries (this post from The Kitchn) and used dried Montmorency cherries from Trader Joe’s. A friend recommended soaking them in liquid (water, OJ, rum) to plump them, which I haven’t tried but might do next! The dried cherries worked great for the texture. Although fresh would be ideal, obviously, I would be careful with the amount of liquid they add during cooking, which can lead to a soggy scone.

baking powder: My first two batches fell flat because my baking powder was expired! You can easily check this by adding some to hot water and seeing if it fizzes.

salt: The amount of salt in this depends on what kind of salt you have on hand. I used pink Himalayan and ½ tsp was the perfect amount so you could taste it and have that salty/sweet combo. If you’re using kosher salt, ½ tsp should also be fine. If you have sea salt I’d reduce to about ¼ tsp. You can use table salt in a pinch (I prefer not to bake with it) and I’m guessing that would be ¼ tsp as well.

egg: I think dessertfortwo uses just an egg yolk in order to maintain proper liquid proportions for the small batch recipe. However, I found that using just an egg yolk also reduces fluffiness, which is ideal—we want a scone, not a muffin. An unexpected perk is that it contributes to that beautiful golden colour!

Notes:

The photos in this post are mostly from the best-tasting batch I made with the recipe posted here. However, they spread out a little in the oven because my baking powder was expired. The paler scones were made with an experimental recipe which turned out far worse, but I used non-expired baking powder (lol) so I’m putting them here for a height reference.

Recipe is below, and scroll/click “keep reading” below that for a step by step with photos!

SOUR CHERRY SCONES

Makes: 6 scones

Ingredients

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ cup sugar

¼ to ½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 tablespoons salted butter, cold

⅓ cup cold heavy cream, plus extra for brushing

1 egg yolk

¼ cup dried sour/tart cherries

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400ºF (205ºC).

In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.

Cut the butter into squares and add it to the flour mixture. Work the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter, forks or knives, or your hands. It should be evenly distributed in pieces the size of peas.

Add the sour cherries and mix. (You can also do this after adding the wet ingredients for a better sense of how many cherries you want.)

Whisk together the egg yolk and heavy cream in a separate bowl. Pour it into the dry ingredients and incorporate using a spatula.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and shape it into a circle about an inch thick. Using a cookie cutter or anything round (I used the top of a mason jar), cut the scone into circle shapes.

Place the scones on a baking sheet (optional lined with parchment paper). Brush the top of each piece with heavy cream.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the scones are golden brown on the edges and a toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy with butter or cream, tea, and a book :) (Preferably Carry On)

STEP BY STEP PHOTOS

Mix the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

Cut the cold butter into squares and add it to the flour mixture. Use your hands (or a pastry cutter or utensils) to distribute the butter until the chunks are pea-sized.

Combine the heavy cream, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, then add it to the flour/butter mixture.

Stir until it forms a shaggy dough. Add the sour cherries if you haven’t already.

Flip the dough onto a floured surface and push it together with your hands until it forms a ball. Pat/roll it into a circle about one inch thick.

Use a circular cutter or whatever you have on hand, cut out the scones. Do not twist the cutter -- the ragged edges are part of what helps them rise.

Place the scones on a baking sheet either greased, lined with parchment paper, or a silpat mat.

(Can you tell which photos I edited for my blog, lol)

Brush the tops of the scones with heavy cream. DO NOT SKIP THIS - it’s heavenly and gives them a wonderful crunch on the top. Much better than egg wash. It’s seriously decadent.

Bake the scones at 400ºF (205ºC) for 13-15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Make a scone-butter sandwich and pretend that you’re Simon Snow. 

Enjoy, my loves ❤️ 

[ghostis-plonts]

🍪 against my better judgement, I made cookies 🍪

[asunsetinacup]

@criticalbakes

Week 10- Taryon Darrington: Hem of Brilliance Danish/Croissants

Man it’s been a while since I made a laminated dough by hand! I forgot how much work it is, but the results are definitely worth it! It is flaky and delicate and rich, which is just like Tary. Hard work at first, but when you put in the time, you find out what a great character he is.

Also like the rod of mercurial form, there is a lot you can do with croissant dough once it’s put together. Make a helm of brilliance Danish, fill the dough with dark chocolate, or even shape croissants to look like a ring of the ram. Of course if you don’t want to make your own dough, the store bought kind is great for danishes and filled croissants too!