February 2008 Archives
This month's Daring Baker's challenge was French Bread. Mary and Sarah picked a classic Julia Child's recipe. I've made the Peter Reinhart version a few times, and the recipe is drastically different. I decided to make both and compare the two outcomes.Like all my breads, I take a very hands on approach. I don't use mixers, I like the feel of the dough, and I can tell when it is ready by how it feels in my hands. The Julia Child's recipe was the first batch I made, so I will start with that. The recipe was pretty straight forward, the bread proofed up well the first day, but because of my work schedule, I had to take one liberty with the set of instructions. I retarded the second rise in the refrigerator. To make this all in one day is a VERY time consuming venture. Some of the other Daring bakers were quoting 9 hours or more to get the bread into the oven. With work and the little one, there is no way I was going to find that time in one day.
The dough was very supple and easy to work with. It formed up well, and the last rise was effortless. I used a kitchen towel rubbed down with flour - one tip - If you do this, make sure the towel is not treated with fabric softener. The smell can pass over into the dough, I've had trouble with getting dough to release from my slip, so I bake all my dough on parchment now. About halfway through cooking, I pull the parchment out. This prevents the bunches of seminola from forming on the bottom of the bread. I formed three shapes. 2 baguettes and one 'mini loaf'. I use a lame to make my slashes, and cook on a bakers stone.
The Julia recipe looks beautiful, came out with a great crust and a good crumb, but it was a little too salty for my taste, and the bread did not have a lot of heartiness to it. Two of my loaves came out perfect, the other one split lengthwise. It still looks good from one angle, and tastes just like the others. It had the smallest crumb, that is because the steam decided a quick side exit was the easiest way to get out. I thought I had the surface tension correct on that one, but apparently, I misses a pinch somewhere. Overall, the bread was quite nice and easy to make, but lacked something in the flavor category.
I attempted the Peter Reinhart version a week later. This recipe uses both bread and AP flour, this changes the crumb, flavor, and gluten creation. It also uses a pan fermentate - this adds a lot of flavor to the final recipe. The preferment is a mixture of instant yeast, water, and flour. You mix it up, let it rise for a few hours, then cool it overnight. This allows a little fermentation to take place, and adds a lot of that 'bready' flavor. This recipe uses less salt, which removed the saltiness that was present in the Julia's recipe. The final product was not as light as Julia's recipe, but it had more depth.
Which one do I like better? I'm not sure. Both recipes can be broken into two day events without affecting the final product. One was salty, but that is easily corrected by using less salt. I do think there is a disservice to the Julia recipe by not utilizing a preferment, but the lightness of the inside was great. I think I will try a hybrid batch in the future. Take the bread flour preferment and salt content from Peter's recipe, and the yeast and AP ratio from Julia's.All in all, I had fun, and the house was full of bread for a few weeks. Check in tomorrow to see how my new sourdough starter turns out! I've got a loaf forming up in a brotform now :D
My wife and I sent to Sensi this weekend. It's an Italian Chop House that has little to no advertising. I've seen two reviews of it, and you have to look really hard to find them. Veronica has one over at kitchenmusings, and I found another at citysearch.com. They have a registered URL - www.sensirestaurant.com -- but sadly, there is NOTHING there. It returns dns errors. This is either an oversight, or someone dropped the ball. The url is on their business cards.When I found the restaurant online, we were a little worried. No ads, no press, 2 reviews. We were either going to have a great dinner, or we would be on the next episode of Kitchen Nightmares. When we got there, all fears were left at the coat check. The restaurant has a very urban feel, ambient trance music, bold colors, metal accents, high ceilings, string lights. We were seated immediately. The tables were large, seats were comfortable, and the wait staff was very fast and receptive.
The drinks came out rather quickly, the waiter even checked to see if they had a hard to find wine in the back (they didn't). We decided to give the 7 course tasting menu ($80 a person). I asked if they would be able to do a shellfish free version for me, the waiter didn't even have to go back and check, he said it would be no problem. The table side bread service was fast, but the bread was mediocre. My wife commented on it before I even tried it. It was a lackluster French baguette, bland and unexciting. About halfway through out meal, a warm foccocia was making the rounds, but we were well past the stage of eating bread.
When the first course came out, the waiter brought both of us soup. Someone from the kitchen came out with him and asked which one of us had the shellfish allergy, he then switched the plates and explained to the wait-staff how to serve us from then on (this was quite impressive, usually I have to mention it over and over and over). My first course was a butternut squash soup with cream fraiche, nutmeg, sauteed mushrooms, and panchetta. It was SO good. I think the mushrooms were sauteed with the panchetta. It was nice to have the contrasting saltiness in the otherwise sweet soup. My wife got the lobster bisque, she was going to send t back and ask for a shellfish free meal (for my benefit), but I told her to give it a try. She loved it.Our second course was an appetizer sampler. Proscuitto wrapped melon, rare tuna, and an heirloom tomato with fresh buffalo mozzarella and micro greens. The plate was drizzled with a few condiments: reduced balsamic with wasabi, herbed oil, olive oil, and chives. My wife got a small crabcake instead of the tomato.
Our third course was strikingly different. My wife got seafood risotto. Shrimp, clams, oyster, mussels - very much like a Spanish paella with arborio rice. I got a sausage gnocchi. The wife got to try both, she preferred the risotto. This was surprising, I liked mine, and she typically doesn't eat seafood. I think I missed out on something special there :D
The fourth dish was a seared rockfish in a creamy sauce. The center of mine was wonderful, but the edges were a little overcooked and tough(I prefer rare fish).
The fifth dish was a microgreen salad with passion fruit emulsion, yellow and red beets, and goat cheese.
The main event was a rack of lamb, potatoes doppio, and broccoli rabe. I only have post destruction pics left... The lamb was cleaned well, seared very well, and quite good. The potatoes were excellent, but it was getting hard to eat at this stage. The broccoli had an almost Asian feel to them. Sesame, red pepper flakes, garlic - they were good, but almost felt out of place on the plate.Dessert was amazing. A trio of small desserts to make you feel uncomfortable. If you were able to keep up with the previous six courses, you would be very full by now. And you just had to eat them, they looked and tasted SO good. The 'worst' of the three was the bittersweet chocolate tart - I saw worst because it was out least favorite, not that is was bad, it was quite good. The semifreddo was our second favorite, very creamy and luscious, but the nutty base (hazelnut possibly) was a little hard to eat. We both liked the bodino the most, it was excellent with the fresh fruit and compote.
By the time we left, the place was pretty full, which means that word of mouth has done wonders for Sensi. We were both quite pleased, and will be returning in the future.
Ok -- updates!
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.
-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.
He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
I promise! I've been sick for the last two weeks, so I've not done
much cooking. I'm starting to feel better, and the antibiotics are
helping tons. I hope to have some new posts and pic's up pretty soon.
Off to work.
Dave
Dave
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