Tag: Baking

Some baked goods today

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First I did Buttermilk biscuits. They’re just flour, butter, buttermilk and goats milk.

Here’s the dough:

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Yes, it’s a somewhat sticky dough so flour is a must.

But this is that dough, cut up and baked:

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Those brown spots are the bits of goats milk that splattered. And why I use parchment paper.

And then I got an email from the New York Times to a recipe on their Cooking page for a Gruyere cheese puff.

Now you know I’ve sung the glory of Gruyere. I say it’s what Swiss cheese wishes it could be.

The recipe reminds me of the one for Dutch Baby, or even popovers. It uses eggs, milk, flour, salt, pepper and 3/4 cup shredded Gruyere cheese. It’s awesome.

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Did that one in the cast iron pan. Buttered the pan up and it didn’t even stick – just wiped the pan out with paper towels. That’s why I love cast iron.

Baking Day Today

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So I baked a couple things today.

First I did my favorite buttermilk biscuits. Pretty easy to make. As evidence:

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Then of course because I was in the mood to bake and had three very ripe bananas I made Banana bread.

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Not a bad looking loaf if I do say so. And I used a non-stick loaf pan and buttered and floured it so I was assured it would come out of the pan. It’s cooling off right now.

It’s just every now and then I like to bake things particularly when the temps get below 40F.

Took the plunge

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By plunge I’m talking about Sous Vide cooking. It’s a a way to keep water at a certain constant temperature.

I’ve been a subscriber to Chef Steps on YouTube for a long time now. I’ve tried their crispy waffle recipe and their Crispy Creme donut recipe. Both were big hits around here.

So they’ve been talking about their Joule Sous Vide cooker. It’s a stick that is controlled by a phone app.

This means that in addition the the $199 I spent on the sous vide cooker I’m going to have to spend another $169 to get a new phone with enough on board memory to install the app and another $60 for a vacuum sealer and $25 for some bags.

So the total to do sous vide will be $453. Add to that the $339 I paid for the KitchenAid Pro 600 mixer and we’re up to $792 just for necessary gear. And almost forgot the $10 for the Diastatic Malt Powder necessary for both the waffles and donuts and we’re at a grand total of $802.

So cooking in a new way is expensive. Well – not that much over time.

Going down the natural path

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I realized something. In my quest for culinary adventure one thing has stood out among all. Using natural ingredients to create really tasty stuff. 

For example – I tend to use exclusively unbleached all purpose flour now. It’s pretty easy to come by, even the local Price Rite carries Gold Medal Unbleached. 

I’ve always loved baking and roasting anyhow. I’ve done Ciabatta bread, banana bread, cranberry orange bread, cheddar biscuits, corn bread, cookies, etc. I’ve also done Strawberry Cake, Peach Upside Down Cake, and my favorite, the Blueberry Crumble. 

Plus I’ve gotten into pickling. First try was with pickled cucumber aka pickles. All natural, just a brine, garlic and dill. Next into the fray was pickled peppers – this one saw 1/3 cup white vinegar added to the brine. And now that I’ve done the pepper I was thinking, maybe I should throw in some garlic and red pepper flakes just for a kick. 

It’s fun using new and different techniques for pickling, bringing, etc. I want to naturally ferment some broccoli and cauliflower too. Maybe some carrots in there too. It’s easy to do too – just make a brine of 2 tablespoons of salt per quart of water. Boil it up. Then sterilize jars and lids – pack jars with veggie of your choice and then pour brine in. Let nature ferment it, turn it a little sour and delicious. 

Blueberry Pie

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So I found a recipe on Epicurious for Blueberry Pie. I had the requisite ingredients – flour, unsalted butter, salt, blueberries, sugar, starch, lemon etc.

This one only used 2/3c of sugar. And it had lemon zest and lemon juice in it. Very tart when fresh out the oven, but once chilled in the fridge I kind of liked it. Someone else didn’t. Ah well.

Blueberry PieIt certainly looks tasty. But this evening I’m switching it up. First of all I added 2tbsp of sugar because the crust needs a little sweetness.

Then I’m using strawberries this time – and deleting the lemon juice. Maybe just go with lemon zest although that’s more potent than the juice. And I’m upping the sugar to a full cup.

I’ll update with pix when the strawberry version is done.