For Vanessa + some suggestive quince

Mission Possible!

I am ecstatic to declare challenge #1 complete! In case you’ve forgotten, it was RLB’s Basic Sourdough Bread on page 444.

As you can probably gather, one of my many cultures managed to flourish into a starter. That being said it is a slow rising starter, and i blame it on the cold weather… *shifty eyes*… To help the culture along, i refreshed it the first three times with equal parts of pineapple juice, water, rye flour and white flour. It took a couple of weeks before it was able to double within 24 hours, but it got there. I then proceeded to convert it into a stiff starter and refrigerate it. I’m still not entirely happy with my starter; i prefer the reliability of commercial yeast… It behaves as it’s meant to! It’s not that i don’t like sourdough – I love it, just not trying to make it…

When it came to making the bread i was a little slack. You see, in order to ensure my dough would rise within the predicted time frame, i would have had to change the water in my makeshift proof box (a plastic box from Big W, with some mugs of boiling water inside) every half hour. With last minute study and all, i didn’t really want to do this and so i left it to rise in the cold overnight and through the days. This meant it took days to complete the bread, and i’m not entirely sure it was an acceptable way to do so. I used 30% starter, and boosted it with 0.06% instant yeast.

The bread turned out ok, the top and side crust was delicious and crunchy! The crumb was very dense and spongey… i liked the spongey quality, but would have preferred a slightly more open crumb. It had a very mild sour flavour (as to be expected), which was rather pleasurable. The most disappointing part of the bread was the bottom crust – it didn’t crisp or colour, it just (sort of) set. It was gross and hard and tasted of flour… and i baked directly on a stone! I will have to rectify this in proceeding bakes… Overall i am happy i completed this bread, and now have my own starter to nurture!

You will have to excuse the shocking photos, it was very late at night and as i’m sure you’ve gathered i’m no photo taking superstar…

Cumquats

Cumquats are a curious little fruit. They boast a thin sweet skin and super tart flesh. I’ve grown up with a cumquat tree in the garden, and every winter when the fruit would start to ripen into its glowing orange shade, I would insist on sampling one… Every winter after taking a bite and being bitterly disappointed, I would peg the leftover fruit at my brother.

Recently, I discovered that cumquats were actually edible (gasp!) and when the fruit on my tree started ripening and looking oh-so-delicious, I couldn’t resist picking it! I decided to make cumquat marmalade, and some glace cumquats out of my bounty. I would have included pictures of the marmalade, but it looks really ugly. I would have included pictures of the super dry and fluffy scones I ate it with, but they look like fat misshapen children.

~Just an aside; why is it that when chefs on cooking programs produce something a little odd looking, they can call it rustic and it becomes uber appetizing? Why is it that when I try and pass something off as rustic everyone cringes and runs away? Why do my scones always come out looking like fat misshapen children!?!~

I have yet to glace the fruits, but will post when I do. The marmalade inspiration comes from Cook Almost Anything, a blog I implore you to visit – especially if you love a good cheese! My marmalade didn’t set very effectively, despite the bagged seeds I cooked it with. Suppose there just wasn’t enough pectin… never the less this is really delectable, and the super tart flesh of my cumquats made the marmalade zingy and fresh. Give it a go

As i picked them off the tree, their delicate skins ripped and were left behind!

Correction: I now have a picture of the marmalade, though it probably isn’t good enough for food gawker… grr…

Nutty, Chocolaty, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

I’m not really in the mood for flouncy, i’m darn tired and hesitant to move from the comfort of my swivel desk chair… though some part of me is happy, warm and comfortable (it has to be!!!), as i’ve recently indulged in some swirly, nutty, chocolaty bundt cake.

Of course this recipe comes compliments of Dorie, and is better than any of other cakes i’ve tried (from her book… in saying that i haven’t baked that many cakes from BFMHTY). As soon i read “sour cream” i knew it would be special. If you take anything from this post, let it be that sour cream is an extraordinary ingredient, which is begging to be exploited!

The cake was moist and light (but still substantial; as is anything with copious amounts of fat and sugar crammed into them). The swirl was really yummy – i added 70% excellence (Lindt); my favourite to eat out of hand, and subbed the white sugar for brown. The top of the cake – which is now the bottom – formed a wondrous crackly crust, perhaps the best part! Mine domed quite a bit, so i might adda squidgy more baking powder next time i bake it and save a little more of the batter to cover the second swirl.
I hope you too will be able to enjoy this cake, and maybe even use it to procrastinate from annoying history subjects like i am

Julie and Julia

This evening as I was (not so) madly revising for my impending statistics exam *gulp* I came across the trailer for the upcoming movie ‘Julie and Julia’. Stars Meryl Streep as Julia Child! I think the book will make for some enjoyable train reading – move over Galileo!

Check it out here.

Looks great!

Bills in Surry Hills

It’s a chilly Sunday morning, you’re semi-awake, have a very limited supply of disposable cash and an empty stomach; what do you do?

Go to Bills of course!

I think I like Bill Granger. Can’t commit though (not having met him). He’s unpretentious, his food is simple, delicious, well priced and you can find his most popular recipes online (“naughty Lauren – you should buy one of his cookbooks” says the voice in my mind… all in due time). He also has a TV series, but I have yet to see it (free TV works fine for me).

I’ve been cooking his ricotta hotcakes for a while now; which are positively scrummy(!) (isn’t ricotta fabulous!), and thought it was time to find out if I had been doing it properly.

It Poured!

When we (the awesome Sarah and i) arrived in the late morning there weren’t any tables available, but after a little browse in the nearby shops we managed to secure a table; for this reason I recommend you book! The staff were very cheery and helpful – a major tick!

Sarah had the Corn Fritters and I had to take the Hotcake. They were great: light and puffy with teensy bits of unblended ricotta strewn through (I think I do a fine job too ). Although embarrassing to admit, I discovered that the honeycomb to be used in his Honeycomb Butter is candy and not the real thing! It is a relief; I had always wondered why one would want waxy chunks in one’s smooth, creamy butter… Problem solved I had a little fritter too, they were yummy; corn kernels just held together with batter. The kernels were plump and sweet and just burst in your mouth, and the edges were nice and crisp – not soggy!

Ricotta Hotcakes with Fresh Banana and Honeycomb Butter $16.60

Sweet Corn Fritters with Roast Tomato, Spinach and Bacon $17.50

Pink Murray River Salt Flakes

After doing the restaurant rounds I’m sure we’ll return, but perhaps for lunch or dinner next time… Maybe even at another location (He has a restaurant in Darlinghurst and one in Woollahra).

359 Crown Street
Surry Hills NSW
9360 4762
http://www.bills.com.au/home.htm

Not quite ANZACs

As Australians and New Zealanders would know, yesterday was ANZAC day: a national day of commemoration for the Australians and New Zealanders who died during the war. In true ANZAC day tradition a batch of cookies were on the cards, only problem is ANZAC cookies aren’t the most appetizing (at least in my house; it’s hard enough to make any cookies appetizing… the horror!).

What does one do when in doubt? Turn to the books! I immediately started flicking through the pages of Dorie’s ‘Baking from my Home to Yours’. I don’t know why, but i just can’t pull myself away from this book! I have so many lovely books, but i keep on coming back to this one. I wanted to retain the oat theme, and had lots of Lindt chocolate of varying percentages to use up, so i chose the Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters.

I opted to beat up the ingredients and leave them to chill overnight, rather than fill another 4 hour early morning baking shift It’s not that i don’t enjoy baking them, it just takes a while to measure and shape the little darlings, and i prefer to be alert and awake when doing so (primarily out of fear that i’ll wake up with my head on the trays, dough in hair, and a major electricity bill for the oven that was running all night long).

The verdict: all i could get out of my family was “i can taste the sugar…” gee, thanks! I like to think of my sweet tooth as acquired, seeing as no one else likes sugar. Still love my savory though Back to the cookies: The peanut flavor was pronounced, and the cinnamon was virtually undetectable – adding a little something no one could put their finger on. If you found a chocolate chunk that’s all you could taste. Because of this, i would certainly reduce the chocolate and add raisins or some dried fruit as Dorie suggests. Next time! They were crisp while retaining some chew in the middle. As i was baking various batches i found myself progressively reducing baking times. I’m still getting used to these adjustments; everything i bake from this book needs time and temp. adjustments! Thanks for another great recipe Dorie! (which can be found here)

Posh What?

The name is Posh Nosh. It’s a hilarious TV series i’ve just discovered on Youtube! Basically it’s a parody of TV chefs and cooking programs, and it stars Richard E. Grant Yey, parody! Here’s a link to the first episode.

“I go by many names…” ~Rudi Van DiSarzio

I’ve been making scones for quite a few years now and it’s been a rough and bumpy journey. It was never the technique that stumped me; I’ve always been cautious, I hardly work the dough and my fingers are generally pretty darn cold!

No, my expectations were askew… for some reason (actually, reason being my non-baking, anti-butter mother) i’d always imagined scones as really big and almost cake like, and spent all of my scone baking time trying to reach this ideal. You can imagine how that turned out!

Before I go on, let me clarify what a scone is, what I’m calling a scone, as it may cause some minor confusion. The scones I am referring to are English. They’re petite, and often round (though originally I think they were baked in massive rounds and then sliced into wedges, or baked in wedges… I prefer some curvature), chemically leavened (they can be leavened with yeast) and somewhat dry. This is because they’re destined to meet an untimely death through a smothering of jam and cream! Perfect! What’s better, scones are used in strawberry shortcake too!

These English scones are strikingly similar to what the Americans call biscuits. To my knowledge, biscuits are very popular in the south – they’re considered a quick bread and are commonly paired with savoury dishes and not just eaten as sweets. According to Wikipedia, sweet biscuits are now starting to be referred to as scones.

When Americans use the term scone, they’re generally referring to a moist, rich wedge of goodness. They tend to be more liberally flavoured than their English ancestors, with fresh berries as well as dried, fruits and spices. They don’t need jam or cream; they’re certainly sweet enough as is. Now, I have found ‘scone’ recipes that produce flat dense round things, and I can’t say I’ve ever tried to make them… they look like rock cakes, or English scones gone wrong!

I’ve had a mild love affair with American scones, though I wouldn’t actually call them scones; they’re just yum bites. So far RLB’s Rich and Creamy Ginger Scones have been popular (assuming we’re happy to eat ginger, and we don’t over bake them!), as have Cooks Illustrated Sour Cream Blueberry Scones. For more of an English scone, Belinda Jeffery is your woman. She has a great collection of scone recipes in Mix and Bake, my favourite being her Buttermilk Scones. NB: anything with buttermilk, sour cream and butter is sure to be a winner! Another great unorthodox variation is her Pumpkin Date scone, which I’ve likened to a Mr Darcy… the epitome of a perfect man!

Pumpkin Darcy

Though today I will share with you RLB’s Butter Biscuits, which were thoroughly enjoyable and flavoursome! They could pass a scone any day, with or without jam and cream I will bake them again, eventually, after i try a million other recipes A simplified version of the recipe can be found here.

R.I.P.

To start, I’m sorry for having left the blog for this long.. not a great way to start…

I assume someone somewhere is wondering what happened to Mr. Starter… He died. I was right.

I did give the project a second shot – Mr. Starter #2 died too. In fact I poured him into the garden this morning, poor dear.

The problem only becomes apparent on days 4 and 5. After it’s feeding, the starter should increase to 3-4 cups in volume and begin to dome. This never happens. I continue to feed and nurture it, day by day, and it remains dormant… poo. After doing a little reading, I came across Peter Reinhart’s explanation.
In the happy mish mash of yeast and bacteria, a particular strain of bacteria, the evil leuconostoc masquerades as yeast by releasing lots of carbon dioxide and making it seem as if Mr. Starter is active. Unfortunately, at this time the Mr. Starter is not acidic enough to support the propagation of yeast cells and, once the evil leuconostoc has died away due to new found acidity of the mix, nothing appears to be happening.

To solve the problem, Peter recommends replacing the water with pineapple juice during the first two feeds, or to simply aerate the starter 2-3 times per day. More info can be found here.

Now, i can’t be sure that this is what’s going on in the little world of (my) starter(s), but I’m going to try and grow another one, most probably adopting the pineapple juice technique. Fingers crossed

I really wanted to leave a more interesting post, preferably with pictures and a recipe, but that was not to be – sorry. On a happier note, i’ll be allowing a new special person to choose a book and recipe If you can bear the waiting… and the problems…