STIR THE POTS

Petit pain

I generally shy from any bread that strikes me as overly soft. That said, I think there is a place for quick and easy eating bread, such a a type I made recently during my Thanksgiving dinner. Known in French as "petit pain aux restaurant," it translates to simply "a roll."

They come in various shapes and names (e.g. "jockey roll"), and have a more slightly dense crumb then their cousin, the egg-shelled baguette. With a bit of pre-fermented dough and a touch of yeast for rising, this makes for a quick bread for a dinner or lunch party. There's even a bit of butter to soften the crumb for longer lasting qualities. For a while now, I have been looking back at my old school formulas, some of which I don't think we even covered during the nine months of the course, taken over ten years ago. My teachers, more often then not, tweaked and changed the curriculum and hydrations when finding some mistakes along the way. So I think with my knowledge and practice, I can go back and see for myself what is good or not good for baking

My best critic (my wife), surprisingly didn't like the crumb; too doughy, she said. I can't figure her out, either too crusty or too doughy, there's no pleasing her! I suppose I'll have to just make her baguette or brioche, her only favorite breads in my repertoire.

Fermentator

Sometimes choices between levain, commercial yeast or just a chunk of dough left behind from a recent bread dough, are just that - a choice. It's all on how to make your dough rise. For a long time,I preached that it was levain or nothing. Phewy! Yes I am a sourdoughist at heart but I live a life often imbalanced by my schedule or my wife tearing my ear about flour or too much bread, so I often sneak a piece of old dough in a mix, even some dry yeast just to give me a head start when I am in danger of spousal bread abuse!

Upon returning from visiting my mom, I wasn't sure I had enough levain built up for a bake, so I took out a piece of pizza dough. It was was a bit older then I liked, but still showed signs of life, nonetheless. Yes, I made a loaf with it, from Amy Scherber's book. I haven't used her book for sometime. I guess it's because I get her bread at work and also I think of always converting all the recipes to sourdough, when I get time! So here is a pretty picture of a simple loaf from page 55, Golden Whole Wheat bread (Old dough starter).

 

Leftovers...petit pain sandwich

Made some petit pain to fill with Turkey leftovers and whatever!

 

 

 

Yes that is stuffing in there, with cranberry sauce too!

Crack pie, it's a fix!

Crack Pie. What?

But wait. It's genius. A buttery, sugar and oat crust pie that gives you a boost like one of those caffeine energy drinks or, better yet, a sugar high. But it's all good, as they say. I found it at Milk Bar, one of the offshoots of the David Changs Momofuku mini-empire. This delicious food narcotic is a must, tasted best after full of his lovely ramen. Or bbq pork tail, which I recently had the pleasure to enjoy. Chang mingles Asian and American food, but this pie is pure Americana. Crack Pie. Oh yeah, baby, it's trademarked too!

Never ready for prime time I snap a lousy IPhone shot of this amazing dessert. Kind of like a junkie in a back alley. I had it after a lunch at Ma Peche (another of Chang's restaurants.) Waiting at the Milk Bar counter (where they sell this devilish confection), I commented to the staff, "that's some crack pipe..whoops, I mean crack pie!" She giggled, and told me "that happens alot."

Oh yeah, it's all organic too....

 

 

Thanksgiving 2010

Table set and ready...missed you Maman, get better soon.

Had a hard time snapping a photo of the foie, went so fast. Especially with the champagne!

 

 

Oh, les huitres!

 

 

Fabeuleux vin d'Argentine...

 

 

finalement les coups de grace, tarte de pomme!

A black Russian, bread that is.

During my classes on German breads at FCI, I came across this Russian black bread formula. It's not quite necessarily what I would call something from the Urals, more a faux pumpernickel of the kind more commonly seen,with coffee molasses additions, and curiously riddled with raisins.

My first attempts at this bread were all with leaven, but I decided this time to try a boost of yeast, as I needed a loaf quickly. In the end, it got the thumb's up from my wife who liked the softness of the crumb. Maybe it's that New York sort of softy pumpernickel loaf we know so well here.

The original formula calls for a stiff leaven, which I found made for a dry loaf in previous attempts.I decided to add some rye for flavor, and boost the total amount in the final dough with this addition. There is some cocoa, coffee, and molasses for flavor and color. I didn't know how the cocoa would work out, as I've heard it  has an effect on the rising of bread; alkalides or something.

Fine, I realized I didn't have blackstrap molasses, either, so I dug in my cupboard and used my carob molasses from Turkey. It's funny how carob substitutes for chocolate, but has a uncanningly faint resmeblance to something else. Fish sauce? 

Anyway, this time I opted to add raisins. Previously I made due without them, but the  bread ended up dry and dense. I figured that the raisins would add some moisture even though I didn't soak them in water. The finished loaf has a wonderful smell. And cocoa and carob make nice flavorful bread. Crumb is tight, and the flavor is just right with nuances of rye.

All in all, not a bad bread, an we even paired it with some hot sopressata and sheeps milk cheese from Sardegna, made for some great flavor profiles!

 

Russian Black Bread

Adapted from FCI bread course on International breads.

1 loaf 600g                           Bakers %

209g White flour (A.P.)                80%

52g  Rye                                     20%

5g  Cocoa                                   2.2%

115g Water                                 44%

30g Cold brewed coffee              11%

39g Molasses                              15.1%

5g Salt                                        2.2%

99g Raisins                                37.4%

3g yeast                                     1.1%

52g Rye levain                           15.9%

 

Dough:

1. Mix ingredients for 2-3 minutes on 1st speed, minus salt.
2. autolyse for about 20-60 minutes
3. add in salt mix on second speed for about 1-2 minutes
4. Add in raisins on slow speed till incorporated.
5. Bulk rise about 11/2 hours
6. divide into rolls or a loaf (depending how much dough you make.)
7. pre shape and rest about 20 minutes.
8. Rise 1 hour or more depending on variables, weather, water...etc..

425 F oven, bake for 35-40 minutes.

 

We meet again, at Savoy.

You know when you like a place, because going back, it's not enough to spoil its freshness. Savoy is such a place. It's simple, unpretentious, and lovely. Gourmet without being fussy. Offered lunch there on a lazy weekend, I jumped at the chance, well worth a subway ride down to Prince Street in Manhattan from my neighborhood in Queens.  Great food and service make for a relaxing meal.

Here are some pictures from my latest lunch, and yes I will be going back...

Fried duck livers...divine, better then the Colonel's!

 

Teenage lettuces with herb vinaigrette.

 

Poached egg on spaghetti squash with bacon.

 

 

Matsutake, celery and grano padano.

 

 

 

Charred octopus, fennel, kalamata olives and citronette.

 

 

Pear and walnut and olive oil cake with kisumi ice cream.

For the love of pizza!

You know those food warnings on labels; carbs, fat, etc.? All those media hyped stories on the evils of this and that - well, it's enough to make you just stop eating. Or you can do what I do, just live and pay less attention to the 24-hour media cycle. Yet there can be a lesson learned.

As some of you may know, I love pizza. Sometimes attempt more nutritious dough formulas, both yeasted or naturally leavened. But in truth, there's nothing better then an airy crust with some fabulous topping. It's simple and so comforting. Barraged by a big lunch at work the other day, and getting prep done for an evening event, I looked at what the staff was eating and headed straight for my pizza dough.

It was a great alternative to the regular over-cooked meat dishes my cooks usually prepare for staff meals. A  pizza made in my work kitchen's broiler oven (which can hit 800 + degrees Faranheit!) is a great alternative.  I stretched my dough, put on some tomato sauce, sliced up some leftover meatballs from the previous day's lunch, popped on some fresh mozzarella and boom.... ended up with a lovely pizza, though it did burn my lip and chin.

Holy cannoli, who would of thought a 3rd degree burn from a bit of dough, cheese, an excess of gluttony? Be warned, though it was worth the pain. 

    

Videz les garde manger...faites une tartine!

Ever get home from a long day in the coal mine of work and wonder what you're going to eat? Imagine you're a chef and have been cooking all day for people. Now you're in no mood to start banging pots (or stir them), nevermind cook a roast, even for yourself.

And if you're like me, you may be sick of eating out. Yet, you haven't consulted your fridge in days because... you've been at work all week. You've barely consulted with your bed!  So it's awfully meager pickings, as home inventory is the least of your worries when you're a chef.

So imagine this one night you catch a break, take an early night, head home to recuperate. You open the fridge and find....nothing - save for a few over-ripe fruits (okay, rotting), half eaten yogurts, a plate with a couple of unhappy anchovies, another plastic container filled with a leftover weekend meal (from two or three days ago). Is it really worth reheating in the oven? Is it even safe?  In fact, at first glance it sems the only safe thing at home is the always dependable fruit known as autumn apples.

 

But wait, there's some fabulous bread you baked. And a can of lightly smoked sardines. Oh, and look there, under the half piece of red onion,a chunk of fennel bulb! Your head starts feeling positively dizzy with glee when you find some nice tomatoes.

Now it's just a matter of slice the veg, saw the loaf, mix in some spice, oil and vinegar. Et voila... tartine. No, not the Chad Robertson book it seems that everyone is talking about. Can I get pretentious on you with some home made French? Non mon ami, le tartine. That means a good old fashioned Gallic open faced sandwich - starting with a slice of bread with whatever strikes your imagination or, in this case, what is in the cupboard or fridge!

 

Heart of the loaf

As I am getting into the holiday season, my posts will be irregular, sort of like my baking.

The tweaking of time and bread is an art. And then life throws in its own variables and constraints. Time is, by far, both the hardest denominator and the final arbiter of what leads to a great loaf of bread. Or a dud. Well, with Thanksgiving about to descend, followed by Christmas, I'm at work preparing brioche, terrines, ravioli's, menus and all other things delicious or just requested by our crowd. Ah, the day-to-day mechanics of wrapping one's love of cooking in the mandate of a profession known as "the chef."

Busy as I am, I still have to get in a loaf, or two. With my wife's bread-related support (and sometimes criticism) as a background chorus in my own kitchen, I bake at home knowing that my loaves can sometimes be too hard, too chewy, or "too" something else.Though, in truth, I have no attraction to creating the soft and spongy loaf too often today served as "bread."  I am rustic and coarse like bran, but I need something made from my own hands. And bread is the most honest, basic of foods, really.

You can't mask breads as you can pastry - where you can add a ganache or some adornment to hide a flaw. You can't cover it with sauce as you can with many dishes, adding a flourish of some powdered spice or floral herb leaf. If you forgot salt, sure you could say it's a pale Tuscan saltless bread, but if it is underproofed and blown out, you're not going to be able to call that rustic.

Great bread at its core is monolithic, set in its brown and golden hues from the heat of the oven. It speaks its truth in how it looks from its first removal from its baking. And while some bakers think artisan breads should be airy affairs, blessed with lovely however irregular holes, success doesn't always mean a big bubbly loaf frequently associated with sour dough bread. Even with sour dough breads, in truth, they're not overly sour, if sour at all!

In the end it's all about managing resources, from time to dough. Starting with the mix and ending when set by fire and ash to its most beautiful state, a finished loaf to be adorned with your favorite food or, maybe, as is.