STIR THE POTS

Cotechino

Pigs trotter can be the making of a great meal. Braised tender or roasted to crisping its skin, it is terrific for the German specialty schweinshaxe which I made recently. That dish led me to try using it for a batch of cotechino (or zampone), a trotter stuffed with its seasoned  deboned meat. It's an Italian winter delicacy which is tied to the Modena area. Anyway, it's something I wanted to try for its simple charcuterie characteristics that made the work involved interesting. It also made for a surgical maneuver to taste it. It went down great topped with a classic garnish of lentils.

 

Stollen

Every year I try to sneak a stollen in my Christmas-time baking. I view it as my "naughty dough," a nod to a Kurt Vonnegut story. It also serves as a narrow window to my birth country, Germany. To me, it's a baby Jesus bread, whose fruit and nuts give it a slightly pagan feel. Beyond my own personal take on stollen, it's just a great bread that incorporates the flavors of fruits, nuts, and umami sugar rum goodness. This year's effort included more time for fermentation and a roaring lievito madre that I had used for making panettone. 

 

Inside Büchë de Noel

While preparing buttercream for my annual Christmas bûche de Nöel, I decided on praline as flavoring. Carefully caramelizing the sugar, I mixed in the nuts, my eyes watching carefully for any attendant burn. The final result was worth the vigilance. I finalized it by incorporating melted chocolate. The end result was a nut and chocolate confection spreadable on bread - or just a great fill for bûche de Nöel. 

 

Panettone

There's an art to mixing up panettone. Ignio Massari, a master of this annual holiday bread, says he changes the structure of his panettone annually, using variations around salt, fruit and raisins. But for Ignio, the base egg quantity stays the same. 

In addition, a focus is refreshing the fermentation vehicle, namely the "lievito madre." In my own effort this year, the lievito madre seemed very active. As panettone involves two doughs, I mixed the first with one method and formula, but then decided to make the final dough with a completely different style and method. Would it become Frankenttone? Nope, this year's panettone bake rose magically and feels super light..

Bûchë

This low key holiday didn't diminish tradition of my annual spree of Christmas baking. That included a  Bûchë de Noël. Always yummy. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rugbrød

Back before everything was taught on Zoom, a few years ago I took an actual real-time class to make rugbrød. Fast forward to the present where I work both as a chef and baker at work (and spend my home hours focused on baking), I decided to try this bread again from smørebrod chef Adam Amaan. It's a superb looking (and tasting bread) perfect for smorrebrød. In the future, I will try some of Adam's other creations to combine with this fine brød.

Panettone en Français

Panettone is a distinctly Italian masterpiece steeped in tradition and artistry. In my own efforts to achieve this level of skill, I have  tried following Italian masters of those traditions. My technique has had its ups and downs. And this year's first effort was unorthodox, using an array of resources as well as it giving it a French approach, such as Thomas-Treffi Chambelland founder of the L'ecole international de boulangerie's book on bread, levain and more. I've relished using his set of books, even if I have to translate sporadically on google. This foray into panettone made the mystery and secrets of this art so easy to do even in French.

 

Scrap Dough

"Discard" is a term used by some bakers for excess sourdough. I think it's a terrible name as it reminds me of waste, something no one in the world of food much wants to encourage. Recently I found out that a niece of mine in Switzerland had quit her bakery apprenticeship at what was supposedly a first class establishment. I asked why she had quit.  It seems waste was rampant, discarding trimmings. Discard wasn't recycled or used. She was disgusted and couldn't see herself in that vicious circle. Thinking about her commitment and passion, I experimented with croissant scraps - incorporating them into a milk dough. Viennoiseries, for instance, can be layered into non-laminated dough, introducing a different feel (feuilletages) of flakiness. No waste, just pastry... kaboom!