STIR THE POTS

Baselbieter Läckerli

Flavors are reflections of things or places we have visited. One of my frequent flavors have been in Basel Switzerland, that being the Basel Läckerli. This simple confection resembling a glazed roof tile has two versions,one a city the other the countryside.  I learned from my brother in-law who gives me the historic tour of Switzerland and my sister the culinary side. The city of Basel had controlled  Baselland  since the 16th century but when Napoleon visited in 1789 he left lots of ideas like the metric systems, but also  left the Basellanders who were less educated with the feeling of equal parity with the City of Basels gentry and in 1833 there was a division. There was a battle as well and the Basellanders routed the city, my brother in-law even recounted a story of cannibalism! Whatever the case maybe even the cookies look different, like for instance the ones sold at most tourist shops or at the Läckerli Huus in the city of Basel.The country Läckerli are a bit thicker and have a more cake crumb texture than the cities leaner and drier version! There a humble but delicious treat.

Baselbieter Läckerli

375 F oven  Equipment: cookie or sheet pan covered with parchment paper and rolling pin.
4 eggs
500g Sugar
2Tbsp Honey
100g Candied Lemon zest
100g Candied Orange zest
250g Hazelnut flour or ground hazelnuts chopped fine
1tsp Cinnamon
1 ground clove
5g Baking powder
500g A.P. flour

Glaze:
1/2 cup Powdered sugar
1-2 tsp lemon juice
to make a loose glaze

Beat sugar and eggs till fluffy to  the ribbon stage, add honey, zests,hazelnut flour, spices and mix till incorporated.
Combine and sift flour and baking powder.Add flour into mix kneading lightly to gather dough into a ball. Place dough into cookie sheet that is covered with parchment and rolling it evenly until dough fills the pan.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes till firm and golden brown.
Glaze after the cookie has cooled and let the glaze set. Cut cookies in about 1.5 inch squares and keep them in your cookie jar if you can!

Baguette!

In New York city it's possible to get a baguette virtually on every corner, some not so good or just pretenders  dressed in the name. Though the trend of late is whole grain breads in the diet I can't help but give in  to the craving of a crisp egg shell crust and white crumb of a bag! Since I have been toiling like non-stop at work cooking endlessly, my baking has taken a back seat, though I can now figure out a way of making my loaf with the help of retarding the dough and waking at the wee hours of the am to bake! This suite of baguettes were an evening bake, with some left over pizza dough which was inoculated with levain liquide.
The best thing is spreading some butter and marmalade on the baguette for breakfast or some mustard, butter with ham for a sandwich! My next foray will be maybe a seeded bag, or poolish with some other flour  added in to give an un-orthodox version? Whatever way you shake it, enjoy your baguette! No, don't shake it bake it!

Apple Brustengolo in cast iron

Last week while laboring on some lamb racks an annoying waiter with a penchant for opera, (and they sure are annoying aren't they!) which whenever entering the kitchen asks if anybody speaks English, this to a predominantly Latino crew excluding me and he is Italian! Without even starting with a hello chef, right as if in mid sentence he blurts out and asked me how he could make a crust less apple pie? I rolled my eyes and suggested some flour, a tab of butter as well as some leavening to make a sort of crumble mixture and bake? I hadn't given it much thought, but today I considered apples as the weather though still spring like or even summery had hints of fall, the idea popped in my head of a dessert I had made before, brustengolo. Origins of this dessert are from peasants in Umbria, the ingredients are: apple, pine nuts, and corn flour. I had made this dessert before for an event; a funny thought was a peasant dish for elite New Yorkers! So today I put the two ideas together for a crust less apple tart, with a loose rendition of brustengolo of Mario Batali from his recently departed food network show, Molto Mario! His is in line with a batter as is the classic version, mine on the other hand was more a crumble filling with an egg folded in at the end and baked with the apples in a cast iron pan! I read that pine nuts or walnuts are common as well hazelnuts.In my case I only had almonds available. The cinnamon isn't classic either but I like the flavor.

   

Brustengolo for two

2 apples diced (rough, this is peasant food)
3 Tbsp. butter
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. corn flour
3 Tbsp. A.P. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp. sliced almonds, or whatever nuts you like?
2-3 Tbsp. golden raisins
1 egg beaten
squeeze of lemon
Pinch of cinnamon, not typical but I like it!

Dice apples, add raisins, drop of lemon and cinnamon. In a separate bowl make a crumble mix with flour, sugar and butter. Combine apple mix to dry ingredients,adding the egg last and folding till just mixed.
I used a 6.5 " cast iron pan that was lightly oiled and baked the brustengolo for about 25-30 minutes.

 

Food for thought!

London England.

End of my plum!

As you may have guessed I love plums, my sisters orchard is filled with four varieties including those elusive mirabelles,quetsche, and hmmm I don't remember the others? That must be because there also turned into some fierce schnapps! I made some plum crumble which I shared with you all recently, since I still had a little less than a kilo left and they were getting some botritis just sitting there, I made up a almond sable and filled it up with the very mature fruit! When we were harvesting this summer, my brother in law always has some scary looking blemished samples but says that they in fact are the best, full of concentrated sugar he claims...and you know he is right! Being an American who is used to getting anything at anytime in the global food chain, but not always being the seasonal best, it made me consider letting those little black and purple jewels get a bit more ripe in the cold of my fridge!( Actually I forgot about them and in the nick of time was able to save enough of them for what I find a simple but tasty tart!)

Makes 2 10 inch tart
Sable dough:

160g Cake flour
90g almond flour
50g confectioners sugar
150g butter
1egg

In a mixer combine sugar, almond flour,butter and egg till softened.
Add in flour and combine till just mix, refrigerate for 1 hour. Roll out dough in a circle to about a 1/4 thick, place in ring mold cutting off excess.

Finishing tarte:
600g plums
cinnamon
sugar

Cut plums in half and remove pits.Place the plums cut side facing in around the tarte shell until it is full.
Bake in a 440 degree oven until the plums look cooked and release there juices, about 35-40 minutes.Sprinkle the top

 

 

Bakers dozen

As I didn't get much practice in the lamination of dough in school, I have over the years spent some quiet 3 am mornings layering flour and butter to make some good, but mostly crappy renditions of the classics! Until my trip to Bethesda Wales, where Dan Lepard demonstrated under the most precarious conditions, rolling pin was a bottle of red wine and we were left the next day to proof them, we didn't have an egg to finally egg wash the specimens either! So a few weekends ago I sent some samples to a friend to see if he would offer them for his restaurant, this didn't come true but at least I got some practice! Nils that ever busy baker in Aachen is always a step ahead of me and has a great set of pictures of his apple and sultana danish! The recipe are actually Dieter Schorners,a student at FCI took pity on me and offered all the pastry formulas which I took without a wink of an eye! It's a treasure trove!

Chef Dieter Schorner's Danish

70g Fresh yeast

1cup cold milk

340g bread flour

225g cake flour

50g sugar

5g salt

1/4tsp cardamom

50g softened butter

2 eggs

340g roll in butter

Roll detrempe into triangle, chill 30 to 60 min

3 single turns 20-30 min rest between  each fold

batch yields 25 to 30 danish

Various shapes, rolled into pain aux raisin or filled with pastry cream then filled with poached fruits.

Sugar glaze for danish

1lb confectioners sugar with  130-150 g milk

White icing same as  above with only half milk or less.

Quarkkuchen mit schokolade streisel

Whenever I visit my sister I get a real kick from watching her baking some of the simplest "Mama" cakes, they remind me of my pastry days at the Drake Hotel making tartes and cakes with an American who had apprenticed in Austria. The Swiss confections are similar with nuts ,chocolate,  candied citrus  and lightened with egg whites. Rachel has old notes and books filled with collected recipes from her Grandmother, hand written with real retro pictures that look hand painted.
One afternoon she was baking with abandonment, kids playing outdoors, my niece Carla holding on to her leg and me snapping shots of each ingredient! This special cake I found interesting and well delightfully light considering the ingredients! Quark is a sort of cream cheese, but better! Lots of butter, eggs, sugar, etc. The texture is so light you can forgive yourself for indulging in one, two no, three pieces! it's like that usually when we are eating Rachels goodies! She made a meringue covered cake with currants we demolished in a single seating!

Quarkkuchen mit Schokolade streisel (Quark cake with chocolate sprinkles)

Serves 12-14 portions

150g Butter
150g Quark
150g sugar
150g ground almonds
4 egg yolks
1 pinch salt
4 egg whites
Apricot jam
Chocolate sprinkles

Combine butter and quark with mixer add sugar and continue beating.
Add yolks mix and fold ground almonds, pinch of salt.
Whip egg whites until they are  stiff, fold into the mix until just incorporated.
Put mixture into pan and bake.
Cool cake and carefully remove from pan,apply some apricot glaze which you make by adding some water and heating in a pan on the stove. Glaze the top of the cake and take some chocolate sprinkles and cover the glazed top of the cake.

Use a greased and parchment papered 9" spring form  pan
572 F (300 c) pre-heat and cook for ten minutes, turn oven down to 320 for 35-40 minutes

Naked barley sunflower levain and ciabatta redux

Naked Barley sunflower levain

The chance to bake bread is something I can never say no to, but making a great loaf and without making some dud with the moniker lazy baker hanging around my neck has made me work a bit harder! So I used Dan leaders book as a guide and used some naked barley given to me  and other bakers in Bethesda by a visiting professor Dr. Edward Dickin who gave us a some information regarding naked barley. One of my newest tricks is to wake up before the crack of dawn, say 4 am, that is when bakers usually are making bread? Proceed by quietly kneading in short Dan Lepard method, fermenting and all the while enjoying the quiet serenity, much different than a restaurant where you are dealing with cooks, managers, maitré d's and lazy waiters! So I find that all though difficult physically in a commercial context, baking is a zen like exercise in a home environment, sort of yoga with dough?  Dr. Dickin will know that I like this barley, it gives a different texture and flavor for sure to the bread, as Dan Leader said using different flours does change the character of the levain dough that is a standard wheat beast, with a bit of percentage changes a wholesome loaf will come out!

Ciabatta for Nils

Not to escape a challenge by any means my friend Nils ,who makes some famous loaves and is a great hand for translating German for me posted a ciabatta recipe. Ok so I have made them before, but this time I was looking around my multitude of bread files and found a formula  based on Dan Lepards suggestion on how to make a ciabatta with limited time!That fit my work schedule and I would be  retarding for twelve hours, I did the math and well it was a beautiful and big success!

Ciabatta di Dan Leopardo:

Levain 30% (mine is hydrated @130 %)

Do the math according to how you feed yours!

Final dough:
215g flour (I used KA bread)
124g H20 (water)
142g liquide levain
3g yeast (if you think you need the push, I did)
salt 4.3 (I threw in 5, my scale is a bitch!)

mix dough, ferment twelve hours, remove from fridge give one fold and sit for another 2-3 hours.
Shape your ciabatta, I fold the two halves over, the first half way and the other over the first. Lay the seam side down on a well floured couche or parchment paper and rise for about an hour or until it is full of bubbles.
I baked mine around 450 F for 15- 25 minutes

Bier und brezel!

I used to go to a restaurant when I was soldiering in the 80's in Germany. This particular place was a homey restaurant owned by an policeman and his Yugoslavian wife. It was my escape from spam or jello at the mess hall where I worked and I could enjoy a healthy meal and a beer. The name of this establishment was the bier und brezel, so when this last august I was invited to a wedding with my sisters family, I was actually hoping just to relax at home and skip it, wedding buffets are really not my thing! We got stuck in traffic and the ceremony had already begun, children squirmed in their seats,and my stomach was ready for something! Finally the wedding couple got there blessing, a kiss and we made our way to the exits. A line was made to shake hands where we finally got to the bride and groom. I turned around to snap a photo of the handshakes when I caught site in my cameras view finder a site so lovely and inviting that I snapped a picture to record it's beauty, a brezel stand! This was not just one brezel but many, stacked on a pole with pegs and shiny with small bits of salt. We were invited to the buffet tables where it looked actually like a nice spread, I noticed a barrel of famous Ueli bier, dark and light varieties. On the other tables were crudites and little  brotchen with cheese and ham , my kind of party for sure! There was even a guy wearing an anti-bush shirt, so when I started saying I was the millionaire uncle from America, everyone laughed! My brother in-laws former boss suggested I lay off the bier and get something to eat, I concurred, that bier is strong! The guy pouring the bier asked where I was from and told me had studied in New Jersey, in some town I didn't even know where it was I thanked him for the chat but pleaded for a bier, "you don't want a budwiser?" he said jokingly! I guess buffets aren't that bad, especially with bier und brezel, I suppose you need to go to Switzerland for that sort of wedding?

Salmon fume tartine and monster Miche

After baking some fabulous levain and a tricky volkornbrot from Maggie Glezers book I was really satisfied with the final product! I had attempted Thom Leonards French country loaf several times without success as well as the volkornbrot, the reason most likely being I am the lazy baker. Steve Sullivan so rightly recommended I write a children's book about bread baking with that title. I realized why I am so lazy, it's just a matter of following carefully some steps,read through the formula well you may get a nice loaf! Shooting from the hip doesn't work in baking. I had already had some of the levain and gave some away to my friend John.This miche being a monster loaf of 4 Kilo's and after waiting a day for the crumb to set on the  volkorn loaf I wanted to make a smoked salmon tartine, open faced sandwich for some of us in the USA. It's just a layering of flavors, a light coating of butter first on the bread, followed by some lettuce,salmon, sliced onion, avocado, tomato and finally a crack of fresh pepper! Mmmmm, a nice Viognier or some beer like a white Belgian beer, awesome!