Friday, March 16, 2012

Not your grandma's bran muffins


Today was 75º and sunny. I went for a run, read on my roof, and had my windows open all afternoon. What an ideal day. But, no. A tornado decided to pay a visit to Ann Arbor. It has been hailing for a good hour, there are flash floods all over town, and there is an official Tornado Advisory Warning on Washtenaw County right now. Department of Public Safety sent around an email to the student body telling everyone to stay indoors. And a number of houses the next town over got destroyed by a funnel cloud. Funny to think that 5 hours ago I was basking in the sun in my bathing suit (Hell yeah, 75º is tanning weather. Don't judge).

So naturally, I stayed inside and baked. I'm now holding up in my kitchen with flour all over my arms, still sporting bathing suit bottoms and a big tee. And I've got these lovely little bran muffins in the oven. I guess it's still a perfect day. They are so moist and soft and surprisingly not dense and sweetened by raisins! I will for sure be making these again soon.

Update: I brought these into work and my boss liked them so much he's begging to pay me so I can make him more. Yeah. They're THAT GOOD.

For the muffins:


2 cup wheat bran
1 cup, plus 1/2 cup dark raisins
1 cup, plus 1/2 cup water
1/2 cup buttermilk or plain low- or non-fat yogurt
a few swipes of fresh orange zest
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt


Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper liners.

Spread the wheat bran on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for six to eight minutes, stirring a few times so it cooks evenly. Let cool.

While the bran is toasting, heat 1 cup of the raisins with 1/2 cup of the water. Simmer for ten minutes, or until the water is all absorbed. Puree the raisins in a food processor or blender until smooth.

In a large bowl, mix together the toasted bran, buttermilk or yogurt, 1 cup water, then mix in the raisin puree, orange zest, and brown sugar.

Stir in the oil, and eggs.

Mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and sift directly into the wet ingredients. Stir until the ingredients are just combined, then mix in the remaining 1/2 cup raisins.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins, making sure the batter is mounded slightly in each one. Because muffin tins can very in size, if your tins are larger, make fewer muffins.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until the muffins feel set in the center.

Recipe adapted from Pastries from La Brea Bakery by Nancy Silverton

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Bacon chocolate sable cookies

Yup, there's totally bacon in that cookie.

And she's at it again... this time with CHOCOLATE. 

For the cookies:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate
chips
12 strips high-quality uncured bacon, cooked until crisp and drained of fat

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together. Set aside.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and bacon, and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325ºF. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.a

Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

Thursday, March 8, 2012

Estonian kringle


How pretty is it?! So pretty. Now down to logistics. Here's the deal. I used the original recipe from Just Love Cookin for this dough, but found it to be  pretty dense and not as soft as I like. So I have the original recipe at the end of the post, but decided to post my go-to pull-apart loaf recipe because it's so much more light and airy. It makes the same type of dough, so if you prefer a softer bread like me, use the recipe below; if you decide you want a denser bread that doesn't rise as much but is still bread-y, go for the original recipe from Just Love Cookin.

For the Dough:

2 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 ounces unsalted butter
1/3 cup whole milk
1/4 cup water
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the cinnamon sugar filling:

1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground nutmeg
2 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned



In a large mixing bowl whisk together 2 cups flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Set aside.

Whisk together eggs and set aside.

In a small saucepan, melt together milk and butter until butter has just melted. Remove from the heat and add water and vanilla extract. Let mixture stand for a minute or two, or until the mixture registers 115 to 125°F.

Pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients and mix with a spatula. Add the eggs and stir the mixture until the eggs are incorporated into the batter. The eggs will feel soupy and it’ll seem like the dough and the eggs are never going to come together. Keep stirring. Add the remaining 3/4 cup of flour and stir with the spatula for about 2 minutes. The mixture will be sticky. That’s just right.

Place the dough is a large, greased bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel. Place in a warm space and allow to rest until doubled in size, about 1 hour. The dough can be risen until doubled in size, then refrigerated overnight for use in the morning. If you’re using this method, just let the dough rest on the counter for 30 minutes before following the roll-out directions below.

While the dough rises, whisk together the sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg for the filling. Set aside. Melt 2 ounces of butter until browned. Set aside. Grease and flour a 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Set that aside too.

A
t this point, place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. 

Deflate the risen dough and knead about 2 tablespoons of flour into the dough. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured work surface, use a rolling pin to roll the dough out. The dough should be 12-inches tall and about 20-inches long. If you can’t get the dough to 20-inches long… that’s okay. Just roll it as large as the dough will go. Use a pastry brush to spread melted butter across all of the dough. Sprinkle with all of the sugar and cinnamon mixture. It might seem like a lot of sugar. Seriously? Just go for it.

Roll the dough into a log so it stays 20-inches long. Using a large knife, cut the log in half length-wise. Braid the two halves together, keeping the inner dough layers exposed and the thickest outer layer facing the pan (confused? see the Just Love Cookin photo post, linked at the end of this recipe). 

Place the braid on a cookie sheet in the oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until the top is very golden brown. The top may be lightly browned, but the center may still be raw. A nice, dark, golden brown will ensure that the center is cooked as well.

Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 20 to 30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edges of the braid to loosen the bread. Serve warm on a plate or platter.

Original recipe from Just Love Cookin
This recipe from Joy the Baker