The Daring Braid of Goodness

I finally decided about a month ago that I really wanted to join The Daring Bakers group. I've been following them since conception and really looked forward to see what new challenges each month would bring. Since moving to Brooklyn almost two years ago I've become more and more interested and slightly obsessed with cooking/baking delicious foods. Before I came here I thought Apple bees/outback/olive garden had really good food, little did I know how nyc would open my eyes to all of the possibilities that come with the thoughtful creation and combination of quality ingredients. This pursuit has refined my taste and desire for real food made with love.

So, as I take a leap to the country in just over a month, I know I need to improve my culinary skills and that is where the Daring Bakers comes in.

I have to say, when I first found out that June's challenge was a danish braid I was very nervous and excited and curious. Could I possibly make a Danish? I love cream cheese danish, words cannot describe how many danish's I've consumed. Again, I seriously doubt I would have ever attempted to make one myself, ever. It never would have crossed my mind, that I could actually make one with my own two hands.

With all that, let me begin...

The ingredients:
I didn't have any difficult finding ground cardamon, it was $5.99 through fresh direct and I already had the vanilla beans from a recent ebay purchase.

My kitchen is seriously lacking, I don't have a standing mixer, and the mixer I do have is from the 1970's. I don't have a rolling pin (used a wine bottle.) I have about 16 inches of counter space. I have a one sided sink. My kitchen is tiny. And I don't have air conditioning. Not that I'm complaining or anything. I feel like I should win some sort of culinary award for achieving pastry goodness in my seriously lacking kitchen.

My Kitchen Counter:
I did a lot of research before I started putting the dough together. There were words used in the recipe that I had never heard of such as: Laminated dough – is layered dough created by sandwiching butter between layers of dough. Detrempe – ball of dough. Beurrage – butter block. And turn – each “fold & roll” of the dough produces a single turn in a 3-step process where the dough is folded exactly like a business letter in 3 columns. Each single turn creates 3 layers with this method.

I watched the method for laminated dough about ten times, I read the recipe thoroughly, and shakily made my way through the each step slowly and carefully. I started putting things together on a Monday. One of the requirements was to make the fillings from scratch so I decided that my braid would be cream cheese, with black cherry filling, streusal topping and vanilla bean icing. Pretty standard fillings for a danish.

I've never made a pie filling before, so I was amazed at how easy it was. Seriously easy and so good. I made it with frozen black cherries, sugar, water, corn starch, vanilla and a little lemon.
The next day I started making the dough, which seemed like an all day adventure. I can't tell you how nervous I was putting the butter block on the dough. Shaking would be a more accurate description. I started to gather all of my ingredients and realized that my orange was not grating at all. So, I popped it in the freezer and then grated the peel. Much easier!
Following the instructions I created a "fountain" which was really a flour well/wall to hold the wet ingredients. I really wish I would have created the well in a very big bowl. My untrained hands were so not ready for the liquid to start running everywhere. Literally escaping the flour mixture. I was also not prepared for how sticky everything was going to be. But, I just kept going, mentally coaching myself "its okay...don't give up...we'll get through this...COME ON!" And I did.
I finally got my dough together. Let it sit. Spread the butter block on it and followed the turns as instructed. I did have the same issue that some other people had with butter squirting out and getting everywhere. But by my second turn the dough was much better and easier to work with. After every turn it got easier and easier. The dough was a little elastic-y, but I just let it rest a little and it got easier. My raw dough did not have the layered appearance, which I'm still not sure how that was created or if I did something wrong. I'm was a bit confused about the rolling our process after each turn.


On my fourth turn, I divided the dough into two parts, rolled out thin and folded in half and wrapped for the freezer. I froze until Thursday and let the dough thaw in the refrigerator until Saturday morning.

On Saturday I took the dough out, and began assembling. I used a ruler to make the cuts for braiding. My measurements were slightly off, but I made sure the dough was 1/4 of an inch thick. I then made my cream cheese filling. I didn't follow any particular recipe, just cream cheese, one egg, vanilla and sugar. I just sort of guesstimated with that. And then put my cherries on top.


And then I added a streusal topping of brown sugar and butter. I'm still not sure if I should have added this before or after baking.

I baked it, for ten minutes at 400 degrees and about 12-15 minutes at 350 degrees. When it was done, I drizzled the vanilla bean icing and let cool for as long as I could stand not eating it!






With the leftover frozen dough, I made cinnamon rolls with cream cheese icing.

Overall, it was a success. I've never had a better danish in my entire life. Seriously, this is up there with most desserts. Josh and I ate an entire braid (not a good idea) throughout one day. It was too good. The dough was savory and flaky. I kept saying "this is like a real danish, it tastes like a real danish, only better". I would definantly make this again, my mom already made requests for Christmas. I've been very braggy about my braid, I'm so proud of it. The cinnamon buns were equally delicious, while not too pretty, they were so good I had to throw them away. I knew it would turn into eating all of them, I have no self control and neither does Josh!

Thank you Kelly and Ben for a delicious challenge. You can find the recipe on Kelly's blog. And you can follow other bloggers on The Daring Bakers Blog Roll.

tandoori inspiration

In two months we will be without our favorite Indian restaurant. What to do? One solution is to try to recreate the dishes we have found comfort in, in the past two years. I'm not so confident in my Indian cooking, but we shall see.




What is tandoori chicken? Wikipedia explains.

I don't have a grill, so I used the skillet and just came up with a recipe myself. I believe you are supposed to marinate it in plain yogurt too, I didn't have that either.

I mixed turmeric powder, curry powder, a little cinnamon, a little cardamom, salt, pepper, cumin, garlic, and chili powder with one stick up butter. I coated four chicken thighs (most skin removed) in the butter/spice mix for about 15 minutes and then cooked in a skillet on medium/high heat until browned on both sides. I then turned the heat down and covered for about 15 minutes. Then I cut a lemon into fourths and put that in the skillet too. And let sit until the chicken was done. It was really good and flavorful chicken.

holey bowl

Inspired by Sweet Paul, I made some doily bowls about a week ago. I love them! And they were so easy to make. I put a doily in a plastic bag with fabric stiffening glue and then draped them over foiled covered bowls. After they dried, I carefully peeled them off of the aluminum.

I know I keep talking about...dun dun dun, the wedding, but I really want to use these as decoration somehow. Maybe a holder for wrapped candies? As I start planning I want to focus on creative/recycled/thrifted ideas for decor. We're getting married on Valentine's day so I really like the idea of a vintage/romantic theme. I'd like to stay away from foil hearts and all of that though. We'll see.

Movin' to the country

This is where I'm headed August 20th, come visit!

whole wheat pizza dough recipe

I'm a little obsessed with making pizza lately with homemade whole wheat crust and sauce.



Recipe:

2 C stone ground whole wheat flour
1 packet instant yeast
1 C warm water
1 t salt
olive oil

Get out a 1/2 measuring cup, a mixing bowl and a wooden spoon. Next, I run the tap water on hot until it is hot/warm. I put 1/2 cup of the hot/warm tap water in a bowl with the packet of yeast and wisk. Then I add one cup of whole wheat flour and mix. Then I add another 1/2 cup of warm/hot water and another cup of whole wheat flour. Then I add the salt.

Now gradually add another cup of flour until the dough is moist and movable, but not sticky. Add some olive oil to give the dough a certain hint of specialness. I don't know how much I use maybe 2 T. or maybe 1.5 T, it's hard to tell. I don't douse the dough.

Once the dough is nice and fluffy, I kneed it a little and then set aside for about 10 minutes in a warm place. This will give you time to gather your toppings. Don't forget to preheat the oven to 400 degrees. After 10 minutes, add your toppings, and bake for about 12-15 minutes.

the hunt for unqiue wedding bands

As we start planning our wedding I find myself more and more disappointed with the lack of unique/thoughtful items out there. Its become a real hunt to find something that isn't mass produced and out of our budget. Thank god for Etsy.

I've mentioned wanting to get bands here in Brooklyn, as a reminder to our time spent here, but I also want to consider some hand crafted bands on etsy as well.

Here are a couple that caught my eye:


Beth Cyr Jewelry


Beth Cyr Jewelry

wedding traditions?

After traveling down to my friends wedding this weekend, I realized that I'm getting married soon! Well, not for another 7 months, but time seems to pass really quickly.

I've been hit once again with the planning bug and I've got a lot of great ideas. Other than marrying the most special person in the world, I am excited about the creative aspect of planning. I've been clipping and doodling ideas for months now, and I'm starting to creatively find the direction I want to go in.

I'm feeling rebellious against traditions that make little sense to me. Such as: why do we need to save the first tier to eat a year later? This seems really wasteful, but my mom is insisting I follow tradition. For one, it won't even be good a year later. I'd much rather eat a fresh dessert on our one year anniversary! And two, I don't know if two people can eat what could be about seven or more slices of cake. Okay, we probably could, but its probably not the best idea.

This tradition seems like it was started by cake bakers to get people to buy more layers. I keep hearing "you will remember your wedding night", I'd much rather look at a memory book.

Another thing I don't understand is all of the monogrammed, name and date party favors. There is something seemingly silly and wasteful in buying napkins that have our name on it. Usually these are kind of pricey, but price aside, its a napkin. Again, I've been told it is for "keeping memories", but that is what pictures are for.

Oh! Whats the deal with wedding programs?! Seriously, we've all been to weddings, why do we need a program to tell us what is going to happen in the 30 minutes we are there?

Okay, I'm starting to rant here, but I'm really going out of my way with the wedding planning to prove that you can have a really nice ceremony and reception without spending a ton of money on wasteful stuff. I really want a creative/handmade wedding and I believe I can achieve that with some thought and recycling.

Right now, I'm saving all of my glass jars from jelly and salsa to use for flowers and candles during the reception. I've been looking at a lot of crafty ideas on blogs and magazines for inspiration. Cork boards and chalk boards are really popular right now. Wouldn't it be really neat to have a giant piece of cork cut out in a fancy shape with pictures of us and quotes tacked to it at the reception?

Or what about the curb side painting I got off the street that has the fancy frame? I could paint it with chalk paint and let people sign it with their wishes to us. Then I could photograph it to remember the evening.

I have a ton of creative ideas running around in my head!

Coney Island

I was under the impression last summer that the Coney Island amusement park was going to shut down, however, its still standing. Now they are saying this is the last summer.
If thats true, it's highly unfortunate. Sure, Coney Island really old, but it's historical and mystical and special.





I went there a couple of weekends ago when my mom and sister came to visit and I loved it. This is my last summer in NYC, I really hope when I return again someday it is still the spectacular and slightly seedy place that it is today.

Levain: finally

This picture alone speaks for itself. After reading and drooling over these cookies in what seems like every food blog that I read lately, I couldn't pass up a trip the the upper west side to try them myself.

What could this cookie possibly taste like to create such a huge internet following?

Let me start by saying that I am not a proficient baker nor a food scientist, so I'm sure my food review will pale in comparison to those who are actually trying to recreate this monster of a cookie.

When we arrived at Levain I left the cookie ordering to Josh as the tiny shop had a constant strain of people filtering in. I watched him from the window as they put our cookies in the bag and actually thought they weren't that big. Where were the giant cookies everyone was talking about?

When he came out the first thing he said was "these were expensive cookies!" $7.50 for both, he got the double chocolate and I got the chocolate chip walnut. As he pulled my cookie from the bag I soon realized exactly how big this thing was. It wasn't big in circumference, no, it was very dense and thick. I'm a good dessert eater, and I was overwhelmed.



I took the first bite and it was bliss. Exactly what you'd want a chocolate chip cookie to be: slightly crispy on the outside/chewy and gooey on the inside. I read many recipe theories around this cookie. As in: lots of butter, yeast, no shortening or vanilla. I'm still suspicious about the yeast, but very curious as to how these cookie baked so perfectly brown on the outside, creating a sweet and slightly crispy crust without spreading. AND leaving the middle soft and gooey.

I do believe these cookies have shortening in them as well as butter, and I tasted vanilla, sugar and brown sugar. Perhaps, my pallet has yet to pick out various flavors, but I swear I tasted vanilla in the dough. My idea as of right now, is that the cookie is baked at a medium/low temperature for a certain amount of time. Maybe 15 minutes?

Many people talk about the center being similar to raw cookie dough. I didn't feel that way. To me, raw cookie dough is grainy. All of the chips were soft and melting, and the dough in the middle was gooey and not under or over cooked. I just don't know! And now I want to make them myself.

The Levain cookie mystery continues...

PS: I tried the double chocolate chip too. Equally as good. Like a delicious, soft, fudgey brownie.