TWD- Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee is this weeks excellent pick for this weeks Tuesday with Dorie Bake.  Big Thanks to Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake.

I have always thought of creme brulee as a very grown up desert.  Maybe that has something to do with best results being obtained when a blow torch is involved…  I thought about messing around with the flavours but Matthew my good husband just wasn’t keen on messing with one of his favourite foods.

My custards took a while in the oven (closer to 80 minutes) but the heat was low (only 200F) and I wasn’t in a rush.  They had a long chill in the fridge.  I used raw (refiners) sugar for my topping

I didn’t have a blow torch until last Christmas.  I hinted so intensively that I ended up with 2 of them!  Each Brulee only takes 30 seconds to crisp up.  I had tried this with using a grill/broiler in years gone by, but the blow torch is entirely the way forward.

The custard from this recipe is very silky.  It doesn’t set very firm but it is firm enough to hold a tablespoon of caramelised sugar.

Now go and check out the Tuesdays With Dorie Blogroll and see the other creations for the week.

Daring Bakers- Lavash Crackers

This months Daring Bakers challenge choosen by Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and co host Shellie from Musings From The Fishbowl was Lavash Bread from Peter Reinharts The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  It is a recipe that can be adapted to be gluten free and is vegan.

I love baking bread.  I am a fan of the no-knead techniques and tend to bring some of the ideas from no knead into any bread recipe.  An easy way to do this is to include an auto-lyse step.  (My version writen here is a rough and ready version of an ancient technique). In a nut shell you mix the flour, water and usually everything but the salt together (with a spoon) until it is a rough shaggy mess.  Walk away (for this I hung the laundry on the clothes line).  Come back in about 20 minutes (add the salt now).  Mix or knead away.  This gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid the gluten starts to unravel itself.  The resting period usually shaves a couple of minutes off the total kneading time required.

Aside from reducing kneading time (handy if you don’t have a mixer) it also means you preserve the caritonoids in the flour.  Caritonoids give flour it’s creamy yellow tinge.  Most mixers introduce lots of air into the dough.  The oxygen bleaches the flour, so does the salt which is why lots of bread recipes have you hold the salt back until well into the mixing process.  If time allows, I include 2 minute breaks when using the mixer as it lets the dough do some of the work for you.

I gave this a ferment in the fridge overnight to develop more flavour.  I used my pasta maker to get this dough nice and thin.

When it came time to add flavours to the crackers I used a technique usually reserved for adding herbs to pasta.

I rolled out the dough to the correct thickness and then sprinkled on my herbs and seeds.  I then folded it over (like closing a book) and put it through the pasta maker again.  This meant the seasoning wasn’t as pretty as in Reinhart’s book but became integrated into the cracker.

These took 15 minutes to bake.  I precut most of them, and they baked the most evenly.  You really do need to let these get golden brown if you are after the crispy thing.

I served these with baba ganoush and a baby spinich, cashew and chili dip.  I wish I could say I made them but time got away (I am typing this up on the 27th-the posting date and I only baked this evening) and I went to some very good bought dips.  I will make these Lavash again and will make my own dips…

TWD- Dimply Cherry Cake

For this weeks TWD treat, Michelle of Bake-en selected, Dimply Plum Cake on page 41 of Baking From My Home To Yours By Dorie Greenspan.

I have written many times about being on the other side of the world to the other Dorie Bakers so alas, no stone fruit in season for me right now.  After high level negotiations with my good husband we decided to try the cherry with lime zest version.  I used pitted morello cherries in syrup.

This is the first cake I have over baked in a long time.  I did only bake the cake for 35 minutes. I am still getting used to my new oven (3rd times the charm right?) and I think the recipe depended a bit on leaching of juices from the stone fruit to make it super luscious.  The cake had a lovely taste and texture in the middle but the edges were, as I mentioned, a bit dry.  Day one and still warm from the oven was still quite good with a scoop of ice cream.  Day 2 required something extra.

I am lucky enough to have a Makrud or Kaffir lime in my garden.  It is not big enough yet to give me any of the super knarled fruit but the leaves finely chopped give a great lime hit to any dish.  I used some of the left over cherries in syrup thickened with just a teaspoon of corn flour and spiked with the kaffir lime chiffonade as a accompaniment.  Magic.

Life gives you slightly dry cake make cherry sauce I say! Now go check out the Tuesday’s With Dorie Blogroll and see what culinary adventures were had by the other Dorie Bakers.  Stay tuned for next weeks blow torch action!

TWD- Chocolate Chunkers

For this weeks TWD bake-fest , Claudia of Fool for Food selected, Chocolate Chunkers on page 70 of Baking From My Home To Yours.

Chocolate Chunkers doesn’t hint at the fact that these are QUINTUPLE chocolate cookies.  I have had death by chocolate deserts that are less generous with the cocoa bean than these little darlings.

I was pleased to use my baking chocolate brought back from Singapore.  I have never seen unsweetened chocolate in Australia.  There may be some hiding in major capital cities, but not in Darwin!  My good husband just accepted me stocking up (6 bars) in Singapore back in July.  Usually I use 70% dark chocolate and reduce the sugar in the recipe.

It is starting to heat up in Darwin again.  The chopped chocolate (a great way of using up the half used bars of white, milk and dark chocolate lurking in the fridge) even though I kept it in the freezer until just before mix in, started melting as I scooped it out.  Bless living in the tropics!

These are seriously good.  I used a combination of pecans and cashews (toasted up in the oven) as the nuts in the mix.  I also included the sultanas (although I had a moment where I thought about leaving them out).  The nuts and fruit give balance and texture to something that otherwise could ‘just’ be a fabulous chocolate cookie.

These are the cookies I will crave when I have had a tough day and need a chocolate hit.

I just love how you can see the 3 different chocolates in the above shot!  Easily amused I know.

Now go and check out Tuesday’s With Dorie blogroll to see what other yummy things the Dorie bakers have gotten up to this week.

TWD- Chocolate Malteaser Malted Drops

For this weeks Tuesday With Dorie Bake, Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart chose, Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops on page 85 of Baking From My Home To Yours By Dorie Greenspan.

These cookies are surprisingly rich, well, maybe not so surprising when you read the ingredients.  Cocoa, malted milk powder, dark chocolate and malteasers are just some of what make up these little darlings.  They are quite soft, almost cakey in texture.

One thing about these those is gluttony is almost impossible.  One is fantastic, two is still good but at three- even my boys needed a break and a big glass of milk.

I enjoyed these but I am a chewy cookie girl.  Now time to check out the TWD blogroll and see what other intrepid Dorie Bakers came up with.

TWD- Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

For this weeks Tuesday’s With Dories Bake, Stefany of Proceed with Caution chose,Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters on page 73 of Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

These cookies have a lot going on.  They skate the line of an identity crisis and come out on the more-ish side.  The peanut butter is the dominant flavor, the oatmeal adds texture and the chocolate is just plain yummy.

My tasting panel (the grown up ones anyway) suggested that raisins would be nice.  I am really happy with the chocolate and think it harmonises with the peanut butter more.

This has been a very busy week.  I had my birthday on Sunday.  I will post pictures of the cake (and my first fondant covered cake that I did for my sister in laws birthday soon).  Time management has been a issue but intentions are good.

Now check out the TWD blogroll and see what other other Dorie Bakers came up with.