steamed buns

I was a bit under the weather yesterday.  I took it very slow.  It was a luxury.  I still got a lot done but it was lovely not to have to go into an office when I was feeling poorly.  I did all the things that I needed to do to take care of myself and I feel much better today.

I am obviously addicted to more of the PBS style of cooking shows.  Not the American compitetions or such.  I do enjoy what Netflix has been putting out with their Chefs Table.  The recently did one that was just on French chefs.  There was this French chef who was making steamed buns.  There was a lot of Asian flavours in her cooking.  

I have always liked steamed buns.  I used to buy them when I lived in Seattle.  I decided why not try them.  I had just gotten a recipe in my cookbook Eating with the Chefs so why not give it a try.  Even though I switched it up for what I had in the kitchen and I made my steamer from my roasting pan, I thought it was lovely.  It would be something I would like to take with me when traveling.  Traveling food.  Pocket food.  Life is good.

steamed buns

Note:  I adapted this from Eating with the Chefs to use what was in my kitchen and sourdough.

2 teaspoons whole cloves

2 teaspoons fennel seeds

2 teaspoons multi-colour peppercorns

1/3 cup (20 grams) star anise

2 teaspoons coriander seed

about 1 pound chuck roast

1 cup tamari (soy) sauce

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

2 ounce (a thumb size piece) fresh ginger sliced and peeled

1/2 head garlic, skinned and smashed

2 tablespoons brown sugar, packed

4 1/2 cups water

sourdough starter

100 grams water (1/3 cup)

100 grams flour (1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons sugar

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

2/3 cup milk

pinch of salt

about 2 cups of flour

In a large bowl, place the sourdough, 100 grams of water, and 100 grams of flour.  Cover and let sit in a warm place until bubbly.

In a cast iron skillet or Dutch oven, toast the cloves, fennel, peppercorns, star anise, and coriander for about 2 minutes.  Stir constantly.  The toasting is done with the spices are fragrant.

Put the beef on top of the spices.  Add the soy sauce, vinegar, ginger, garlic, brown sugar, and water.  Bring to a boil.  Cover and put into a 350 degree oven for 3 hours.

About an hour or a bit more before the meat is ready, uncover the sourdough and remove some for the next time.

Stir into the starter the sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar, milk, and salt.  Mix in just enough flour to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth and elastic, no more then 10 minutes.  Cover and let rise in a warm place for one hour.

While the dough is rising, take the meat out of the oven.  Strain the cooking liquid and reserve.  Shred the beef, removing any unwanted fat or ligament.  I chose to moisten the beef with the cooking liquid until is was of a flavour and moisture that I wished.

Divide the dough into golf ball size pieces.  I made about a dozen.  Roll each ball into an oval and fill with a large tablespoon or more of the beef filling.  

I had covered my roasting rack with a piece of parchment paper and put the buns here to rise.  Cover and let rise about 30 minutes.

In my make shift steamer, I have about an inch of boiling water.  Maybe a bit more.  Place the buns into the steamer but make sure they are not touching the water.

I sealed my roasting pan with aluminum foil.  Steam for 12 minutes.  

They turned out beautifully golden.  If they are not golden, steam them a few more minutes.

I served them with a bit of diluted braising/cooking juice.  It was so good.

These are a keeper.  My family is coming up with other things they might wish to be in the middle of the steamed bun.  The bread itself is good so that is not a problem.

bagels

The weekend did not turn out as planned.  I did not spend as much time at my sewing machine as I would have liked.  There were too many errands to run.  My hips were hurting so it was just hard to move and be upright.  There was not even time for baking.  But I had a lot of bread from previous bakings.

I tried a new bagel recipe that I was quite pleased with.  It was from the family meal cookbook I picked up.  There are still few recipes that I wish to try in that book.  This one I liked.  I do not buy bagels anyhow but I did like the flavour of this recipe.  I did use just sourdough and had no barley syrup in the house.  Still a good bagel.

I will make them again when I need bagels.

By the way, all the initial pictures of my breads look the same.  I cannot figure out which are which anymore!  What a problem to have.

bagels

Note:  Adapted from Eating with the Chefs.

sourdough starter 

100 grams water

100 grams flour

120 grams water

200 grams flour

1 tablespoon agave

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon baking soda.

The night before mix the starter with the 100 grams flour and 100 grams water.  Leave overnight until it gets bubbly.  Take a bit out for next time.

Mix in the flour, agave, sugar, and salt.  Add enough water from the 120 grams to make a soft dough.  Knead until smooth, no more then 10 minutes.  Cover and let rise until double.

Put parchment paper or a silpat on a baking sheet.  I divided the dough into six balls.  Stretch each out into a snake.  Connect the ends in a round and roll them together on a flat surface to make sure they are connected.  Put on the baking sheet.  Cover with cling wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for twenty hours.

Pull out of the refrigerator and let the bagels come to room temperature and start to rise some more.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add the baking soda.  Dissolve.  Drop in each bagel for about 30 seconds.  The bagel has proofed enough when it comes up to the surface.

Place back on the baking sheet.

Bake the bagels for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.

Just a lovely bagel.  I might make some this weekend.  I have two left.

more lamination practice

Food poisoning.  That has been what my week has been about.  I thought lunch Tuesday was just not settling but it did not settle for two days.  I am slowly doing better.  My energy was low due to stress but it got even lower.  I am not quite right but I am better.

I tried a new kouign amann recipe this last weekend.  Levee Baking Company posted a recipe that looked like it was getting very good results.  The recipes do not change that much but the technique does and her technique was spot on for me.  She is also the first person who I have seen post that they used any whole wheat flour at all in their kouign amann so that was of interest.  

I figured why not, and of course using sourdough, made it.  It turned out quite well.  There were a few more tweaks on my part due to a very warm kitchen, sourdough, and my oven but I was pleased.   The last of the kouign amann were turned into a bread pudding for breakfast.  That was fabulous!

kouign amann

Note:  Adapted from Levee Baking Company to use sourdough.

sourdough starter

100 grams flour

100 grams water

135 grams flour (total flour can be up to half whole wheat.  I used white whole wheat flour)

6 grams salt

75 grams water

14 grams butter

168 grams butter  (I am going to make it easy if you are cutting from a measured block, 12 tablespoons)

1/4 to 3/4 cup sugar (VERY much an estimate, I just sprinkle)

Four to eight hours before it is needed, mix 100 grams flour, 100 grams water, and the sourdough starter together in a large bowl.  Cover and let get bubbly.  When it is bubbly, it is ready for use.  Save some of the starter back for next time.

To the starter sponge, mix in the rest of the flour, salt, water, and butter.  Start kneading in the bowl and when the dough has come together, turn out on a floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic.  No more then ten minutes.  

Put the dough in a clean bowl and cover or into a large ziploc.  Let rise until double.  When the dough has doubled, gently shape into a rectangle.  Put in a plastic bag and place in the refigerator (a couple hours) or the freezer (20 minutes) until the dough has cooled.

While the dough is cooling, shape the 168 grams of butter into a 6 inch by 6 inch rectangle.  It is easiest to do this between two pieces of parchment paper and using a rolling pin.  Refrigerate until the dough has cooled.

Once the dough has cooled, place the rectangle on a floured surface.  Roll out into a rectange that is about 12 inches by 12 inches.  Place the butter in the middle.  Bring the corners of the dough into the center and seal the dough.  

Roll the dough/butter out into a large rectangle.  Make a letter fold:  left to middle, right over left.  My kitchen was so warm at this point, I needed to refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Roll the dough out into another rectangle, and do one more letter fold.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Prepare pan.  This can be a cake pan if it is a family style kouign amann you are going for or muffin tins that are butterd and sugared.

Take the dough out of the refrigerator.  Roll out onto a floured surface into another large rectangle.  Sprinkle with sugar.  Most recipes I have seen use too much sugar for me.  I usually use about four soup spoons of sugar.  Make a letter fold.  Roll out into another large rectangle.   

Cut the rectangle into 3 inch by 3 inch rectangles if you are making individual portions.  Place the rectangle into a muffin cup and bring the corners to the center.  Try to get them to stick.  Cover and let rise while the oven preheats to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

Bake in the center of the oven.  I started checking at 20 minutes and it took about 35, 40 minutes to get this colour.  I checked every five.  I actually had one tin on a bottom shelf and that tin of pastry had the bottom catch a bit.  The center shelf tin just had a dark carmel.

I cut these when they were still too warm.  Nice laminations and nice flavour.

I keep learning when it comes to sourdough and laminations.  It is fun!

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

When I was off to the mountain, I saw my parents at both ends of the trip.  Koda Bear asked every time the car stopped or he woke up if we were going there.  Of course!  He is my Dad's favourite grandchild even if he is a great.  It has been mentioned.

On the way up, we went with my Mom to one of our favourite bookstores.  I always walk out with books.  Not a place I will be able to go shortly.  The small bear always asks how many he may have and gets just that number.  They are usually pretty good too.  Knowing this, knowing that I usually get cookbooks from the library before I decide to buy them, I bought a cookbook just because.  Eating with the Chefs.  I have already made three things from it and have plans for a few more.  It also means I will be getting more cookbooks from the library because I need to make Massimo's ragu!

This cookbook is all about dishes that are served at family meal.  What chefs and crew feed themselves.  It talks about their philosophies.  Food.  It is good.  And along those lines, we have been cooking all our own meals as we travel.  I have also tried to make all the snack food.  Sometimes that means apple and cheese or veggies and dip.  Usually there are some cookies.  It cuts down on how much ice cream is purchased.  For our way back to work, I chose a cookie recipe from this new find to be one of those.

The chefs at NOMA make a chocolate chocolate chip cookie which appealed.  I usually try to do one chocolate type cooke and one other for traveling but I have admit that on the way back, there were two chocolate.  These and toll house chocolate chip cookies.  I do get teased about how small I make my cookies but I would rather have two then have a cookie that is actually four and I cannot finish it.  I am odd.

The cookie is excellent.  When it comes out of the oven, it is a bit crisp.  It softens over time.  And we had a tin get misplaced.  Those cookies were soft but still quite good.  I did tweak the recipe.  I used salted butter and a splash of vanilla.  (Okay, I tweaked technique more then I remembered.  Oh well.)  Things my palate are used too.  But I would not change them much after that.

Now.  All the pictures were taken with my phone, which was what I had.  And some did not come out as well as I would have hoped.  But that is life.

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

Note:  I adapted this from the recipe in Eating with the Chefs.  I also used the smallest portions because that is what I like.  Small batches.

7 tablespoons salted butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line the baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.  Mix in the egg and vanilla.  Mix in the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa (I did not have my fabulous sifter with me so I did not sift).  Mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoons on a cookie sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool for a few minutes and then remove to a rack or a granite counter top to cool.  Use what you have.

My traveling snacks.  Makes me smile.

when red was the favorite color, a week ago

A week ago, Koda Bear's favorite colour was red.  Now, it is light blue.  But, between the three days he changed his favorite colour he asked for a red cherry cake.

I decided to make him a red cherry buckle.  I used my blackberry buckle recipe, but I used 10 ounces of dark cherries and red food coloring.  A sprinkle of granulated sugar before baking just like with the blackberries.

Because of the fruit, it takes almost an hour and half to bake.  I sprinkled it with powdered it with sugar for a finish.

The small bear liked the cake.  I would say the cherries did not add much flavor, more texture.  Those who liked the cake, seemed to be very pleased.  Me?  The plain version or the blackberry is my favorite cake if I have to have cake but I am not a cake fan.  I find I toast it and then I like it better.  I do not know why but it is what I do.  Oh well.

The favorite color is light blue now.  There is a blue cake in the house.