Focaccia - Take 2

Focaccia

It is no secret that bread is my kryptonite. Well, it's bread, cheese, coffee and red wine. But bread is a magic thing. It is magical that you can get so much flavor from a mixture of water, flour, yeast and salt. The fermentation makes all the difference. 

Last time I made a focaccia I opted for a more complex dough. It felt more greasy. This time I used the classic No-Knead Bread recipe, transforming it into a focaccia, and it turned out perfect.

Makes 1 bread.

INGREDIENTS:

• 400 ml water finger-warm

• 5-10 g live yeast (or little under 1 teaspoon dry yeast)

• 500 g all-purpose flour or a high protein flour.

• 2 teaspoons sea salt

Toppings:

• sea salt

• olive oil

• rosemary like spices (or jalapeño)

• cherry tomatoes

DIRECTIONS:

Dissolve the yeast in the water. Add a teaspoon sugar if you are using dry yeast, and wait until it starts to foam. Mix in most of the flour, befor adding the salt. Mix the rest of the flour in, mixing it until you are sure you have no lumps of dry flour. You do not have to knead this very sticky dough. 

Let the dough ferment covered on the countertop for 8-12 hours. The longer you ferment it, the more flavor you get. 

Gently scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface. The dough will be very soft. With a spatula or bench scraper fold the 4 "sides" of the dough unto it self 3 times, to stretch the gluten and to build up the surface tension on the dough. Place the dough on a large parchment paper lined baking pan. Gently pat the top of the dough with a little olive oil, to prevent the dough from drying out. Let the bread rise for 60-90 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 425℉ (220℃). 

Pour some good olive oil on top of the dough and gently poke your fingers into the dough, making holes for the filling to rest in. This will spread the loaf out making it more flat and ready to receive the filling. Sprinkle rosemary and more oil over the loaf and press it into the holes. Gently press the tomatoes into the dough.  Sprinkle with a little more oil and a good amount of salt.

 Let the focaccia rise for another 30 minutes before baking it for 20-25 minutes at 440℉ (220℃). I baked mine on a baking stone, but still on the parchment paper for easier handling.

Let the bread cool in the pan before serving. 

Enjoy!

Croissants

Croissants are made from a yeasted dough laminated with butter. It is so so good.

The trick is to keep the dough and the butter at the same temperature and texture, to prevent soft butter bleeding out of the dough. A too cold dough will crack a bit, so you are looking for a firm but yet soft dough.

There are different kinds of folding/turning when it comes to pastry and croissant dough. 

Letter fold or Single turn: Dough folded in thirds, like you would do a letter going into an envelope. (I did that for this recipe.)

1. Turn: makes 3 layers of butter

2. Turn: makes 9 layers of butter

3. Turn: makes 27 layers of butter.

Book fold or double turn: Dough folded to the middle and folded again on the middle like a book. This makes 4 layers per fold or turn as they are called.

1. Turn: makes 4 layers of butter

2. Turn: makes 16 layers of butter

3. Turn: makes 64 layers of butter

You can mix the folding methods to get the amount of layer you want. Theoretically you can make how many layers you want, but making too many layers makes you end up with a brioche dough, made the hardest way possible 😉.   

At the croissant class I attended I learned that Manresa Bread use 2 double turns (16 layers) for regular croissants, and 3 single turns (27 layers) for chocolate croissants. For traditional Danish pastry you normally use 3 single turns, giving the desired 27 layers of butter. If you are looking for a traditional puff pastry, you need 144 layers

Makes this 20-24 croissants. 

Ingredients:

Dough/Détrempe:

• 750 g bread flour

• 200 g water, lukewarm

• 187.5 g milk

• 90 g sugar

• 22.5 g salt

• 65 g live yeast (15 g dry yeast)

• 7.5 g malt powder

• 37.5 g butter, room temperature

Beurrage (butter):

• 450 g cold butter

• all-purpose flour for dusting

Directions:

Dough/Détrempe:

Mix the milk with the water, dissolve the yeast in this mixture. Add the sugar. If using dry yeast, let the yeast wake up for about 5-10 minutes, until creating a foam on top. 

Mix in half of the flour and malt powder, forming a sticky dough. Mix in the softened butter. Finally mix in the rest of the flour and knead the dough until you have a shiny, slightly sticky and elastic dough, for about 3-5 minutes. The dough will be a bit on the dry/tough side.
Shape dough into a ball and place it in a dough rising bucket, or another large covered container. Let the dough fermented overnight, this will give you a good flavor.

Beurrage (butter):

Place the cold butter on a well floured surface. With your palms press the butter a little flat. Using a rolling pin pound on the butter to flatten it. Fold the butter into it self, and keep pounding and folding until the butter has the same consistency as the dough. You want to end up with a 30x32 cm (11x12.5 inch) sheet of soft but still cold butter. If the butter is too warm or too hard, it will be hard to roll it out in the dough, and it might make holes in the dough, instead of the lamination.
If you don't want to add any flour to your butter, you can pound and roll out the butter between sheets of parchment paper. Chill the butter while you roll out the dough. 

Laminating:

Place dough on a lightly floured surface, roll it out to 62x32 cm (24.5x12.5 inch), so the dough is the width of the butter, but a little over double in length. Clearly I rolled my dough longer than necessary, but it worked fine anyway. Place the butter on the dough, and wrap it with the dough, pinching the edges, meeting in the middle of the dough, together. Chill the dough package covered in the refrigerator for about 15-20 minutes, before starting the folding/turning.

Roll the dough to a rectangle, 3-4 times as long as the height. Keep it lightly floured so the dough do not stick to the surface. Make sure to roll the dough with straightedges. This will ease the folding.

Fold the far edges into the middle and fold again on the middle like a book. Now you have 4 layers of butter. Place the covered dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes to cool the butter again, and to relax the gluten.

Repeat this one more time, making 2 double (book) turns and ending up with 16 layers of butter. If you want to use this dough for Danish pastry or chocolate croissants, I would make 3 single turns, so you end up with 27 layers.

Before shaping the croissants you want the dough to rest covered in the refrigerator for at least 45-60 minutes. And letting it sit covered for 5 minutes on the kitchen counter, letting the butter to soften up a bit.

Shaping the croissants:

Roll half the dough out to a 20x40 cm (8x16 inch) rectangle. Using a knife or pizza slicer to cut the dough. Cut the croissant triangles as shown in the picture. (you get 7, not 5 croissants from the dough, I missed the last 2 in the picture, sorry). Let the dough rest covered 5 minutes to relax the gluten a bit. 
Stretch the triangle, so you elongate it, be careful not to rip the dough. Roll the dough towards the tip of the triangle, making sure that the tip is on the underside of the croissant.Place the croissant on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, spaced at least 5 cm (2 inch) apart.

Proof the croissant covered at maximum 85℉ (29.5℃) for 45-60 minutes until doubled in size. I have a proof setting on my oven, so I can use that, with a cup of boiling water sitting next to the baking sheet. But you can also proof the croissant on the kitchen counter, in a large air filled plastic bag.

Presheat oven to 350℉  (177℃) convection or 375℉ (190℃) foer non-convection.

Gently brush the croissants with egg wash, covering the exposed surfaces not allowing the egg wash to drip or pool.

Bake the croissants for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Let the croissants on the baking sheet on the kitchen counter. 

Serve the croissants within a day. 

Enjoy!

Tip:

The unbaked pastry can be frozen just, after shaping, individually, and can be baked straight out of the freezer, just add about 5 more minutes to the baking time.

Tip:

Leftover croissants can be used for almond croissants. Make some frangipan (125 g almond flour, 125 g butter, 125 g powdered sugar, 12 g all-purpose flour and 1 large egg, all mixed together) and smear it inside the croissant, and on top, before baking it for xx minutes.

Bourbon Apple Pie with Bourbon Whipped Cream

Bourbon Apple Pie

Most people like Apple pie, but adding bourbon, just makes the pie a little better. It's not like you get drunk by having a piece of pie. The pie filling get so hot, that the liquor from the bourbon evaporate in the oven. But off course having the bourbon whipped cream will be classified as an adult dessert. This pie is a serious contender in any Thanksgiving pie-off.

Makes 1 pie (9 inch).

INGREDIENTS:

Pie Crust:

• 260 g butter, salted and cold

• 360 g all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 75 ml water, ice-cold

Filling:

• 6-7 apples*,

• 100 g butter

• 120 g sugar

• 75 g brown sugar

• 50 g water

• 3 tablespoon cornstarch

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 3 tablespoons bourbon

• 30 g all-purpose flour

• 1½ tsk cinnamon

• 1 egg yolk for brushing the crust

Bourbon Whipped Cream:

• 1 cup (2½ dl) heavy whipping cream

• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• 2-3 tablespoons confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)

• 2 tablespoons bourbon

DIRECTIONS: 

Crust:

Cube the butter and place it in the refrigerator.

Put the flour and sugar in the food processor and pulse just until combined. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse until the mixture looks like small coarse crumbs. Drizzle the water over the flour and pulse again until the dough just comes together.

Divide the dough in two discs and wrap them separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate the dough for 3 hours.

On a floured work surface roll the dough out to about ⅒ inch thickness. You want the dough yo be larger than your pie pan, so you end up with a ⅓ inch overhang on a 9 inch pan. Place the pan with the dough in the refrigerator, until ready to fill.

Preheat the oven to 430℉ (220℃).

Filling:

Mix flour, cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter, sugars in a saucepan. Mix the water with the cornstarch, and pour it in the butter/sugar mixture. Add vanilla and the flour/cinnamon, stir the mixture while the sauce thickens. Take the sauce off the heat and stir in the bourbon.

Peel, core and slice the apples in thin slices. Do not soak the apples in water, this will make the filling to watery. Place the apple slices in the pie pan, and pour the sauce over the apples.

Brush the edges with egg wash. Roll out the rest of the dough for the lid, as thin as the other part. Place the lid on top, and firmly press the edges together to seal them. you can do this by hand or with a fork. Use the excess dough to cut out decorations for the pie. 

Optional: brush the lid with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar on top.

Cut 4-8 slids in the dough lid, to allow the steam to escape during baking. 

Bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 360℉ (180℃) and bake it for another 50 minutes until the pie is a deep golden brown. 

Let the pie cool completely, before slicing. This part is the hardest. The smell of this delicious apple pie, makes you want to dive in immediately. But if you let it cool first, and then reheat, it will make the slicing so much easier. 

Bourbon Whipped Cream:

Whip the cold cream to soft peaks. Whisk in vanilla, sugar and bourbon.

Serve the pie with bourbon whipped cream or some vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

Lobster Benedict- Sous Vide

Lobster Benedict- Sous Vide

Lobsters are a creature with a delicate taste and texture. So by poaching it in butter, you get the purest and cleanest lobster taste ever. Making it Sous Vide you are getting the perfect texture to your liking. The temperature is controlling the texture. Well time is too, but by poaching the lobster for 45-60 minutes, temperature is the controlling factor. 

Different cooks choose different poaching temperature. Thomas Keller calls for 139℉ (59℃) and Modernist Cuisine calls for 115℉ (46℃).

Serious Eats tested different temperature, and this were their finings:

Temperature - texture

120℉ (49℃) - Soft and translucent

130℉ (54℃) - Tender and succulent

140℉ (69℃) - Firm

I decided to go with 135℉ (57℃) and the result was fantastic, I got a tender and somewhat firm juicy lobster. This one is a winner.

Serves 2.

Ingredients:

Butter poached lobster tail:

• 4 lobster tails, shells removed and deveined

• 113 g salted butter (1 stick butter)

• sprinkle of salt

Benedict:

• hollandaise sauce*

• arugula

• 4 poached eggs

• 4 half slices toasted bread

Hollandaise in blender:

• 250 g salted butter, clarified

• 4 egg yolks

• ¼ teaspoon salt

• ¼ teaspoon ground white pepper

• ½ lemon, the juice from

• 1 pinch cayenne

Directions:

Butter poached lobster tail:

Set you sous vide to 135℉ (57℃).
Place the lobster tails and butter in a vacuum sealer bag, sealing with the moist setting. Place the bag in the water bath, making sure that the lobster is fully submerged. Set timer for 50 minutes.
Remove lobster tails from the bag, discarding the liquid, when it is time to serve your benedict.

Hollandaise:

Melt the butter in a sauce pan over very low heat.  Let simmer gently until the foam rises to the top of the melted butter. Once the butter stops spluttering, and no more foam seems to be rising to the surface, remove from heat and skim off the foam with a spoon. The foam is the milk solids from the butter. Ladle the butterfat into another saucepan leaving the water and residue behind. You can also pour the butterfat through some cheesecloth. Keep the butterfat warm.
The clarified butter should be about 172℉ (77℃).

Add the rest of the ingredients, except cayenne, in a blender. Blend until foaming. With the blender running add ⅓ of the butter in a slow steady stream, yes it will splatter. Once it emulsifies, turn the blender speed up to high and add the remaining butter. Season with salt and pepper and blend for another second. Sprinkle the cayenne on top when serving.

* Instead of regular hollandaise sauce, you can use the more healthier avocado hollandaise 

Benedict:

Toast the bread, place a handfull arugula on it, placing a lobster tail and a poached egg on top. Ladle a spoonful warm hollandaise over, sprinkling with some cayenne.

Serve immediately. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate & Walnut Babka

Chocolate & Walnut Babka

Babka is an Eastern European brioche sweet yeast bread. Kinda similar to the Cinnamon Bread I knew from growing up in Denmark. Same but different.
Every slice reveals pockets of molten chocolate with crunchy walnut bites in the soft and sweet brioche bread. The intense chocolate filling makes this loaf a really great cake. As a not that chocolaty girl, all I can say is YUM, YUM, YUM.
 

Makes 2 loafs

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 1½ cup (3 dl) whole milk

• 113 g butter, salted

• 100 g live yeast, or 8 teaspoons dry yeast

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla paste

• ¼ teaspoon cardamom

• 100 g sugar

• 1 large pinch salt

• 750 g all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 185 g dark chocolate

• 125 g butter, salted

• 100 g confectionary sugar (powder sugar)

• 4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

• ¼ teaspoon vanilla bean paste

• ½ teaspoon strong coffee

• 125-150 g walnuts
  
  Glaze:

• Honey

• lemon juice

• hot water

Directions:

Dough:

Heat the milk until warm and melt the butter in it. Pour the mixture into a bowl. Make sure the milk is only finger warm before adding the yeast.

Add yeast, sugar, salt and vanilla paste and stir until the yeast is dissolved. Add all the flour, and finally the eggs. The dough is very wet, but keep stirring, it will form a dough.

 Let the dough rise until it's doubled in size, for about 1 hour. 

Melt butter and chocolate, and mix in sugar, cocoa, coffee and vanilla. Let the mixture cool down, set aside.

Pour the dough out onto a flour dusted workspace, and fold the dough 4 times, to deflate it. Divide the dough in 3. Roll out each part so they are twice as long as your loaf pans and about four times as wide.

Spread the filling evenly on the dough, leaving a strip along the short side free of filling. Sprinkle with the chopped walnuts. Roll up the dough, like you would cinnamon rolls, ending with the part that is free of filling.

My rolls were a bit soft, so I chilled them in the freezer for no longer than 20 minutes, just to firm them up.

Cut all 3 the rolls in half lengthwise, so you end up with 6 half circles, and braid 3 of the halves, with the filling "lines" facing upwards. Fold the end in under the braid, and place it in a parchment paper lined loaf pan. Repeat with the other 3 of the halves for the second loaf. 

Let the loafs rise for about 30-45 minutes.

Preheat the oven for 375℉ (190℃).

Bake the loafs for 45-60 minutes, covering the loafs with aluminum foil the second half of the bake time, to prevent burning the crust.

Brush a little glaze on the loafs after letting them cool for a while.

Enjoy!