I still have to figure out where I’m going with both blogs. But if you’re looking for light savory recipe check out my latest post at the The emBRACEABLE Gourmand . Don’t miss a recipe.
Category: Baking
Baking
Beer Bread / Pain à la Bière from The Art Of French Pastry
A few years ago I invested in a few professional level courses at French Pastry School Chicago. The extensive workshops were a game changer for me and my level of confidence in the kitchen. I had some great instructors who are really pushing the scene the pastry arts . One of the co founders of the school Jacquy Pfeiffer just released a wonderful book for serious bakers called The Art Of French Pastry. It’s the definitive book on pastry. You may also remember him form the film Kings Of Pastry. I highly recommend this book. When I first heard of its existence in a press release I snapped it up. This book is percise and demanding . Recipes are given in weights and approxmiate measures, although weights are preferable for this type of baking. The layout of the recipes is how I remember from my course books at French Pastry Chicago and very exact in order of use. One needs to read and reread each recipe, because you will miss something. Its that precise. He even gives Before You Begin tips. I love how he finishes each recipe with a It’s Done When It’s Done and few helpful tips to look for. Sweet to Savory, this book has it , with delightful stories of his learning the craft of pastry.
This recipe takes two days. I made my first part of fermented dough mid morning day one. The next morning I finished the rest of the steps. The ovens need to preheat at a high temp for an hour with the baking stones. Be careful and have proper ventilation as my oven started to smoke. So make sure your baking stones are clear of any residue, etc and high temperatures are needed to achieve the proper technique.
It’s really important to let the bread in its final rise set and form a tiger crust with the beer mixture. I used a very dark Köstritzer Schwarzbier. As this is complex recipe with many details , I’m just giving an adaptation with the ingredients and basic techniques. For the wealth of all the other information, you need to get the book. Temperatures of ingredients, kneading techniques,etc are gone into more depth in the actual book.
Beer Bread / Pain à la Bière from The Art Of French Pastry
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Adapted from The Art of Pastry by Jacquy Pfeiffer
Recipe type: Bread
Cuisine: French/ Alsatian
Ingredients
- Fermented Dough
- Water 63 grams or ¼ cup
- Dry Yeast 0.4 grams or ⅛ tsp
- Bread Flour 100 grams or ¾ cup plus 1 tsp
- Sea Salt 2 grams or ¼ tsp
- Dough
- 15 grams Potato Flakes or 65 grams Unsalted mashed cooked Potatoes or 2½ tbsp or ⅓ cup
- Water ( if using potato flakes) 50 grams or Scant ¼ cup
- Bread Flour 125 grams or 1 cup
- Rye Flour 60 grams or ½ cup
- Sea Salt 5 grams or ¾ tsp
- Dry Yeast 2 grams or ¾ tsp
- Butter softened for pan( Low moisture, European Style )
- Beer Mixture
- Rye Flour 25 grams or 3 tbsp
- Beer 45 grams or 3 tbsp
- Sea Salt 1 gram or ⅛ tsp
- Dry Yeast 0.5 grams or rounded ⅛ tsp
- Rye Flour for dusting 15 grams or 2 tbsp
- Water for steam 50 grams or scant ¼ cup
Instructions
- Day 1
- Combine warm water and yeast in bowl of stand mixer .
- Add flour and sea salt.
- Using the paddle attachment mix at first low, then switch to dough hook to medium speed for 5 minutes.
- Rev up the speed a bit and continue to mix for 2 minutes.
- Scrape down the dough hook and bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
- Shape the dough into a ball, place in small bowl, and cover with plastic wrap overnight.
- Day 2
- Remove the fermented dough and bring to room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Mix either your potato flakes with water or prep your mashed potato. Set aside.
- Combine water , bread flour, rye flour,sea salt,dry yeast, and the fermented dough in the bowl of stand mixer.
- Mix for 2 minutes with dough hook.
- Add potaot mixture and continue to mix for an additional 2 minutes on medium speed until dough is smooth,
- Scrape down dough, mix on medium speed for sevral more minutes until dough forms a smooth look and makes a slapping sound.
- Cover dough in bowl with palstic wrap and let rest for 1.5 hour.
- Dust surface with flour and turn dough out. Divide in two pieces.
- Knead each piece by hand until you ba achieve a smooth round sphere.
- Repeat with second piece.
- Cover both pieces with plastic and let rest for 20 minutes.
- Grease parchment lined sheet pans with softened butter.
- Shape each loaf into a triangular shape ( fold the sides into the center and press and pinch the seams).
- Place seam side down on parchment lined baking sheet apart from each other.
- Prep your beer mixture by mixing all beer mixture ingredients in a small bowl.
- Spread the beer mixture on each loaf with a pastry brush.
- Sift rye flour over each beer mixture covered loaf .
- Leave loaves uncovered now.
- Preheat oven to 450 F and place pizza or baking stones in .middle of oven.
- Place a small sheet pan on bottom rack of oven.
- Preheat oven and stones for 1 hour to insure a crust is created on bread.
- Continue to proof the loaves as the oven preheats for at least and hour. The beer mixture will start to crack to create a tiger skin.
- Slide an oven peel under the parchment where the loaves are,open oven quickly and and slide onto the stones. Pour the 50 grams of water on lower baking sheet to create steam for crust.
- Don't leave the oven door open longer than 30 seconds as you dont want to loose heat.
- After 10 minutes open oven quickly and remove the parchment paper from under the loaves. Close door and continue to bake for another 25 minutes or until loaves are dark brown and form a hollow sound when tapped on bottom.
- Cool on a wire rack.for at least 1 hour or more.
- Pour 50 grams of water
Perspectives and Influences : France
Pillsbury Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls
How was your Thanksgiving ? I have to say its one of my favorite cooking holidays, even if I’m just cooking for two. Things are picking up at this time of year, and I love quick tasty ideas to whip up. Certain Someone and my new work colleagues declared this recipe for Pillsbury Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls a winner. I adapted a hero recipe from Pillsbury and added my own flair to it. It immediately took me back to my favorite snack as a student in Paris, Pain au Chocolate, with a luxurious almond twist, so perfect for the winter holidays.
The Pillsbury Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls take one back to a French Boulangerie. Warm flaky Crescent Rounds filled with chocolate and almond paste are sure to be holiday breakfast or brunch treat.
Check out some more Pillsbury Crescent recipes here.
Pillsbury Chocolate Almond Crescent Rolls
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
Author: Coco Cooks
Recipe type: Pastry
Serves: 8
Ingredients
- 1 Package of Pillsbury Crescent Rounds
- 7 oz or less of Almond paste
- 1/ 2 cup milk or dark chocolate chips
- 1 egg beaten
- 1 teaspoon heavy cream
- ½ cup blanched slivered almonds
- Confectioners sugar for dusting
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
- Take out a non stick baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat
- Carefully unroll the Pillsbury Crescent Round Dough,
- Taking each round, unroll it to make a long strip.
- Add pinches of almond dough along the strip and top with chocolate chips.
- Carefully roll back into a round and place flat on the baking sheet.
- Seal edges.
- In a small bowl beat egg and cream to form an egg wash.
- Brush the egg wash over tops and sides of each roll.
- Top each roll with blanched slivered almonds.
- Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.
- Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.
- Dust with confectioners sugar.
Happy Holidays. I really enjoy thinking outside of the box and creating these recipes for General Mills. Don’t stress these holidays and learn to utilize tasty shortcuts when the occasions call for it.
Disclosure
*I have a received compensation from General Mills and my opinions are my own.
Apple and Toasted Almond Pillsbury Crescent Waffle Bites with Cardamom Whipped Cream
Thanksgiving is right around the corner and holiday planning is in overdrive. I was commissioned by Pillsbury to come up with some food ideas for the classic Pillsbury Crescent Rolls. I remember loving these as child. They are a great medium as short cut if you are really not baking inclined.
A Tribute to A Woman Who Dared So Many To Be,To The Queen of All Daring Bakers, Lis
I never actually physically met Lisa Cifelli, or more known as Lis, a co founder of the Daring Bakers along with Ivonne, but it’s weird looking back on the far reaching influence she had on my own life.Lisa passed away suddenly too soon this week. Her tenacity, spunkiness, and spirit caused a ripple effect in my life, formed through my curiosity as I stepped gingerly into the Blogosphere in 2007. You see I wasn’t much of baker, that was my my late mothers thing. But being inspired by bloggers such as Tartelette, a few Wilton Classes, I found the then small group of the Daring Bakers, which was just starting to catch a giant wave . I signed up and began the far reaching adventure of baking, challenging , and perfecting my overall culinary skills. I always had the food bug, but the Daring Bakers instilled in me a healthy sense of competition,accomplishment , and wanting to tackle, the until then hit or miss,science of baking. Month after month we posted at the stroke of midnight, took creative license on recipe challenges from world renown authorities, photographed, commented,waited for and plotted the next months announcement. It was a dizzying ride. The group grew and grew the world over. Many Daring Bakers became accomplished in the culinary fields branching into food styling, launching their own culinary businesses, writing books,signing up for culinary school, going onto television, food writing, or growing their blogs into super blogs.
As with any good thing, one can outgrow it. The small niche group expanded to over the thousands, and those from a close community can start to feel jaded, lost,overwhelmed,disinterested,non challenged, or their individual lives just got to be too much , along with the expense and growing waistbands. I remember once on Twitter, some smart ass tweeted how he avoided Daring Baker posting days on Tastespotting and Twitter because it was everywhere. Have you ever seen a thousand links and interpretations of a Yule Log in a single day? It was a like a flash mob of gluten, sugar, butter , and spice.Today’s Daring Bakers is still going strong and barely recognizable to many of the older past members. Not to mention the off groups, and events that splintered off the Daring Bakers.
When Kelly informed us Lisa’s passing on Facebook, we reminisced and I remarked how refreshing it was to blog back then with a genuine passion and yearning for knowledge and sharing. Today’s activity of blogging is a more slick , cynical world that’s more consumed with PR, page views, followers,stolen content theft,expensive camera apparatus ,advertising fill rates,shares, link backs, the limelight, and seemingly less about having and sharing an authentic culinary experience.
I left the Daring Bakers after participating in 22 challenges. I suspect I’m missing a few. That’s basically two years of my life where I met many friends both on social media and in real life in locals all over the world ( Sweden, Austria,Italy,New York, Chicago, Toronto, the UK, San Francisco). I learned so much about myself, the science of baking, blogging, photography, culture, and what I really want in life through these challenges. I think the cookbook publishers, camera manufacturers, web hosting sites ,Amazon, culinary schools, King Arthur’s Flour,Kitchen Aid, and bakeware companies should give a nod to the late Lisa Cifelli for adding boost to their industries, and inspiring so many people to Dare to Be. Without the challenges of the Daring Bakers , I would never have become so emboldened to start my own catering business, write for Ebony Magazine, attend French Pastry School, meet fellow like minded strangers in locals across the world, and develop a confidence in my abilities. Thank you Lisa. Aside from sharing some emails and random comments, you will never know the impact you’ve had on myself and countless others.
Next time you dust off your rolling pins, take out your cake pans, and preheat your oven in this ever increasing gluten, fat and sugar intolerant world, think of feisty Lisa, the Daring Bakers, and the ripple effect she and Ivonne caused in this pool of ganache we swim through called life. She welcomed and encouraged all culinary persuasions to interpret a challenge and share. We Daring Bakers didn’t always agree, but my how we rose to occasion. I remember when I emailed Lisa about leaving the group, she said the door was always open to come back.
Rest In Peace. You truly made a lasting impression in this world.
It was fun flashing back on these Daring Baker Posts I completed. These posts show many personal and culinary evolutions.I still use many of these recipes today. I just might attempt that Gingerbread House again this holiday season. Enjoy.
My favorite post. The Yule Log and the Misunderstood Rabbit/Rat
Dorie Greenspans Perfect Party Cake
Opera Torte, My Second Favorite Post
Shuna Fish Lyndon’s Carmel Cake
Floureless Chocolate Cake and Adzuki Ice Cream
Cheesecake , A Winner Till This Day
Strudel, Hosted by Yours Truly