Homemade Crumpets

I like crumpets. They remind me of my mother who use to have them with butter and jam. So when I came across this recipe on Pinterest, I read through it, realized I had all the ingredients and figured I'd give it a shot.

Ingredients:
3 Packages Active Dry Yeast
3/4 Cup Warm Water
3 Teaspoons Sugar
1 Cup Warm Milk
3 Eggs
3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
Butter
Makes 25 Crumpets*
1. Mix the Yeast, Warm Water and Sugar in a glass bowl.  Let the yeast "proof" (get foamy) for 5-10 minutes. 

2. Into the Yeast mixture, whisk the Warm Milk, Flour, Eggs and Salt until no longer lumpy.  Cover with a towel and let rise for 30-45 minutes.

3. Cut 1/2 Tablespoon of butter and melt it on your griddle/frying pan at Medium-High Heat.  Scoop out about 4 Tablespoons of batter and pour it on to your griddle for each crumpet.  You can "eye" it up - pour enough batter to make the size of crumpet you'd like! 

4. Cook the crumpets on one side until they bubble through and appear mostly dry on the tops.  Then, flip them and cook for another 15 seconds

So this is what mine looked like:

Sorry, blurry picture of the batter - very elasticy

crumpets on the griddle.

They were ugly but tasted ok and we didn't need to freeze any because we all ate them within the next few days. I wish I had my homemade butter to go with it.

I tried making some in a circular form I had but it was impossible to pop it out without having some of the batter cake to the sides. I even tried a mason jar lid that someone on the blog had suggested. I gave up on that idea.

While making them, they reminded me of mini-pancakes. The yeast I used had expired back in December but it still foamed. I wonder what the results would have been like if I had used fresh yeast.

Wouldn't mind trying this recipe out again. Maybe with lactose-free milk (or maybe even leftover buttermilk from making real butter) and gluten-free flour.

Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread

I kept seeing all these post about pull apart bread on Pinterest (damn you, Pinterest) so last night I finally gave in and tried one out since I was making chicken soup for dinner. Here is a recipe for Garlic Parmesan pull apart bread:  http://smells-like-home.com/2012/09/garlic-parmesan-pull-apart-bread/

Garlic Parmesan Pull-Apart Bread
source: adapted from Pastry Affair

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) instant yeast
• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 tbsp (1/4 cup) salted butter, melted
• 1 tbsp dried parsley flakes or 2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp Italian seasoning
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Instructions:

The dough after the first proof

Butter, parsley, seasoning, and mmmm garlic!

1. In the bowl of the stand mixer, stir together the yeast and water. Let the mixture sit for 5 minutes until yeast is somewhat dissolved. Mix in the olive oil, salt, and flour. Using the dough hook, knead the dough for 5 minutes, or until elastic. (Alternatively, you can mix the ingredients in a large bowl then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is elastic, 7-10 minutes.) Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until it has doubled in size.   

 2. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, parsley, Italian seasoning, and minced garlic. Set aside.

 
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Ready to go in the oven

4. Gently push the air out of the dough. Tear off a golf ball-size piece of dough, roll in the butter mixture, and place in the bottom of a Bundt pan. Repeat this process until you have one layer of dough balls. Sprinkle on 1/3 of the Parmesan cheese. Continue layering the dough balls and cheese until you have 3 layers. (Note: We ended up with only 2 layers but the bread still turned out fine.) Cover the pan with a clean towel or plastic wrap and allow the dough to double in size, 20-30 minutes.

5. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until bread is golden brown. Let the pan cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then invert the pan onto a large serving plate and let the bread fall out of the pan.  Serve hot.

the end result

My notes: Since you have to proof it twice, it actually took a lot longer than I thought it would. But with my Kitchenaid mixer, this recipe was a snap. And fresh out of the oven? Heaven and loveliness. I modified the recipe by putting FOUR (yes, count them FOUR) cloves of garlic because the husband is Romanian and a bigger garlic lover than I (who would have thought it possible, but it is). I also used Trader Joe's romano parmesan instead of fresh because I was too lazy to actually grind it up in the food processor. I'm not sure if I had "Italian seasoning" (it's an Italian spice mix), so for good measure, I threw in a few dashes of Johnny's Garlic spread and seasoning. I use that stuff on EVERYTHING (goes great with roasted potatoes) and available at Costco in of course, Costco-size.

I don't own a bundt pan so I used my tube pan instead. Hopefully I didn't ruin it by spraying Pam all over it. It didn't make three layers of dough, just one and a few balls in the second layer. Still took about 20 minutes to bake.

The end result was a little salty but tasty! It was fun pulling it apart and dipping it into our soup. To store, I put in a plastic bag and knotted the top to seal the air out. Had another piece today and it's still soft and lovely and yes, very garlicky. Will make this again but will consider using another pan instead of the tube pan. Maybe a loaf pan instead?

Cinnamon Rolls

lo and behold, Sandy has given me yet another recipe that is another go-to. She recently purchased a bread machine and tells me that it's on practically every single day in her house. One of the most requested items? Homemade cinnamon rolls!

before the rise

Now I'm sure if you were as daft as me, you're sitting there scratching your head wondering how a rectangular contraption like a bread machine, can produce cinnamon rolls. As in, how you toss in all the ingredients, walk away and POOF, voila, out come a dozen perfectly formed cinnamon rolls in a couple hours. Yeah, not one of my finer moments. Apparently you only do the dough until after the first rise (the dough needs to rise twice). After it rises the first time, you have to take it out, roll it, sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar, roll and then wait for it to rise again.

Well, I haven't convinced myself to buy a bread machine yet so I had to use my parents. Now, my parents own EVERYTHING under the sun. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean that what they own is new, or even usable. So when I attempted to make this for the first time at their house, I made a few key errors:
1. The order in which you add ingredients to a bread maker is CRITICAL. I did not realize this and apparently dumped everything in the wrong order.
2. Everything needs to be room temperature. I was trying to rush it and added the eggs in cold.
3. The yeast was kinda expired. Ok, it was expired but only by a month so I figured it would be ok.
4. They only had whole wheat bread flour.
5. My mom wasn't 100% sure if the bread maker worked.
6. It doesn't help if you fall asleep and then forget about the contents of the bread maker for a day. Ok, ok, I admit I didn't' *forget* about it, but when I took a peek inside and realized it was nothing like how it was suppose to look, I couldn't face it and escaped to work instead.

It was probably a combination of all the errors above that resulted in my failed first attempt. So gathering my wits about me (and after a few emails to Sandy), I summed up the courage to try this again at home. Without a breadmaker!

after the second rise, before the oven

And you know what? It worked! I took them to work and got thumbs up all around. I personally thought they were above average but not GREAT.

Then I made it again at my parents house. Then again at home, then again at my parents house, then again for a girls night. In a week. Yup, Nica overdosed on cinnamon rolls the last couple of weeks and now he's in recovery mode. lol.

After the oven

If I get it right, I'd give this a solid 9.5 out of 10. I did a couple of batches with whole wheat bread and it wasn't too bad. I have to research how to substitute whole wheat bread flour for regular because it seems like whenever I use it, it's always more moist and sticky before the rise. Also, for one of the batches I made (for girls night), I took some cream cheese out of the freezer and let it come to room temp naturally. Unfortunately, after whipping it in the kitchenaid for practically ten minutes, it still had lumps. When Ali put it in the toaster oven for a couple minutes, the lumps melted but still - lumps in cream cheese icing? Yuck. Next time I'll remember to nuke it right off the bat to melt.

All in all, it's actually a pretty straightforward recipe, it just takes a LONG time because of all the waiting you have to do because of the double rise.

So let me finally get to it. Here is the link on the allrecipes website:
 http://allrecipes.com/recipe/cinnamon-rolls-iii/detail.aspx

and as usual, here is the recipe for laziness sake:

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water 1/4 cup butter, melted 1/2 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix 1 cup warm milk 1 egg, room temperature 1 tablespoon white sugar 1/2 teaspoon salt 4 cups bread flour 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast

1/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup brown sugar 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon 3/4 cup chopped pecans 1/2 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup butter, softened 1 cup confectioners' sugar 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 1/2 teaspoons milk

Directions:

1.	In the pan of your bread machine, combine water, melted butter, vanilla pudding, warm milk, egg, 1 tablespoon sugar, salt, bread flour and yeast. Set machine to Dough cycle; press Start.
2.	When Dough cycle has finished, turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 17x10 inch rectangle. Spread with softened butter. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar, cinnamon and pecans. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over dough.
3.	Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Slice into 16 one inch slices and place in 9x13 buttered pan. Let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4.	Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. While rolls bake, stir together cream cheese, softened butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla and milk. Remove rolls from oven and top with frosting.

This one reviewers comments was the most helpful for those who don't own a bread machine:

Reviewed: Sep. 25, 2006

Absolutely wonderful!!! I used the traditional method, without the bread maker. I dissolved the tbs. sugar (I used brown) in the water, along with the butter. If you use cold butter, just boil the water, and pour it over the butter while stirring. By that time the temp is quickly brought to the ideal temp for adding the yeast. Cover with plastic wrap, and fix the pudding while the yeast foams. I add the egg, pudding mix and milk together and stir. Then, I measure out the flour, adding 4 tsp of vital wheat gluten to all purpose flour, (I had no bread flour). By that time, the yeast is ready for mixing. I add the pudding mixture, mixing well, followed by the flour. I knead the dough until it forms a ball-all done in same bowl. After I remove the ball, I pour a bit of oil in, and replace the dough and roll it in the oil. The rest is pretty self-explanitory. After rising for about 1 hr. I roll out, spread filling, cut, and rise again. I cook for my boyfriend and the mechanics at his shop and they wont stop raving about them! My boyfriend says that it's the only time the ENTIRE SHOP just sits in silence, awing over how good they are!! A++++ recipe! Thanks Miss Alix!

815 users found this review helpful

Update Feb 2013:

The sad, never-rising defrosted bun.

I wanted to give these to a friend who likes hot cinnamon buns but how to get this to him right out of my oven?!. I thought I'd give him frozen ones instead that he could bake at home so he'd have warm cinnamon buns. I froze the dough after I had rolled it out with the cinnamon and sugar and before the second proofing. I had it in the fridge for a few days but when I took them out to try and bring them to room temp and have them rise again... it never happened. The rolls looked so pitiful I didn't even bother trying to bake them in the oven. I don't know when in the process you're suppose to freeze this, but I have decided I will never freeze baked goods ever again. Fresh is best! Frozen is gross.

The hunt for Starbucks banana bread

Ali's son, Ben, will only eat banana bread from Starbucks. So I have made it my mission to try and find this recipe. Usually, my staple banana bread is the sour cream recipe. However that recipe results in a lighter coloured moist bread. Starbucks is a lot darker.

So in the wee hours of the morning during another one of my insomniac nights, I googled "dark banana bread" and found this recipe: http://www.grouprecipes.com/51782/black-banana-bread.html


Ingredients:

• 3 large black bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp. baking soda
• dash salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

Directions:

• Line two loaf pans with tin foil and heat oven to 275 F.
• In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas with the sugar and then mix with the salt and soda. Blend in the eggs, then, in order, the oil, flour and buttermilk.
• Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Buttermilk had proven itself to be the key ingredient in making chocolate cupcakes moist - why not banana bread?

Some alterations:
I didn't use two loaf pans, I just used one.
I added probably 1/4 cup more buttermilk.
I used 4 small-ish bananas that weren't black.
I couldn't stand waiting 2 1/2 hours so I put the oven at 325 F. It took 90 minutes to cook.

My parents gave it 9 out of 10, Nica only gave it 8. I'm with Nica. In comparison to the sour cream banana bread, this wasn't as tasty (but probably just as moist). The colour was definitely darker though.

The true test? Ben wouldn't eat it. he took one look and had a "I'm not eating that" face. Back to the banana board.

Homemade Bread

Now that I've mastered chiffon cakes, I thought I'd give my family a little respite from all the cakes and turn to... BREAD! There is nothing like fresh bread, straight out of the oven. I refuse to use the bread maker because it seems like the lazy man's method and I want to to fancy bread - with roasted garlic or olives.

A few months ago, while hooked on the Food Network, I watched this show called "Chef Academy" starring Jean Novelli. In Season 1, episode 4, he showed the students how to make bread and he stuffed Camembert inside with sundried tomatoes. God, it looked delicious and I drooled, just thinking how good it must have tasted.

I finally looked it up online and found the recipe: http://www.bravotv.com/foodies/recipes/whole-baked-camembert

You can put anything inside the bread so I'm really only going to follow his instructions and ingredients for his basic bread dough. Here is the recipe:

Basic Bread Dough
1 lb Strong flour (this is about 3 1/2 cups)
2 teaspoons Salt
1 oz unsalted Butter (= 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons Action Bread Yeast (available from most food stores)
1/2 qt warm water (made from 1 part boiling, 1 part chilled) 1/2 qt = 2 cups
1 pinch of sugar

1. In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt, butter and yeast.

2. Stir in the water and mix into a soft dough.

3. Turn out onto a floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes by hand or 5 in an electric mixer with a fitted dough hook.

4. Shape the dough into a ball and place in a floured bowl. Cover with damp cloth and leave in a warm place until doubled in size.

just before the oven

5. Once doubled turn out onto the table and gently press out the excess gas from the dough.

6. Knead a couple of times to smooth out the dough. Divide into 2.

7. Roll each piece out 1 times bigger than the cheese.

8. Preheat the oven to 450F, Gas Mark 8.

9. Place the cheese in the centre and fold over the dough adding some of the ingredients from the marinade.

10. Turn over onto a floured baking sheet so as the folds are on the base. Brush the top with olive and finish with sprigs of thyme, bay leaves cumin seeds, salt and pepper and finish with a dusting of flour.

the final result

11. Allow to double in double in size before baking in a pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Spray with an atomizer before placing in the oven and again 5 minutes before the end of cooking.

12. Remove to a large serving board and allow to cool before serving.

Good luck to me! I'm making it for the first time tonight with some homemade chicken soup.

Update: March 23, 2011
Well, I made this bread on March 17th. Used all purpose flour instead of bread flour but they turned out pretty good. All the photos that you see in this blog so far are from that batch. I put brie in some, and some sundried tomato soft cheese in others. Sprigs of rosemary in all. The photos don't make them look very large, but they were pretty big. Mom couldn't eat a whole one.

Yesterday I made it again, but I figured I'd try it with the whole wheat bread flour that was in the house. The dough was pretty sticky so maybe whole wheat bread requires more flour. Hmm. Something to research before my next batch. In any event, the bread turned out pretty well. All of them were smaller than the first attempt. I didn't use rosemary as much. Lots of garlic. My nephew, Calvin, made me proud as that was the only thing he'd eat for dinner. heh heh. The bread itself once baked felt heavy and I'm not sure if that was because they weren't fully cooked (some of them weren't totally all the way through) or because I had stuffed them with filler.

I wouldn't mind trying this as a pizza dough. Or filling with tomato, sausage and some green pepper to make homemade calzones.

Apple Spice Cake

Living at my parents is... challenging. Not only are they pack rats with non-consumables, but their fridge, freezer and deep freeze are all overflowing with food. (I will admit that me moving my refrigerated goods from my old North Vancouver home to this one didn't help). One of my "resolutions" was to help them eat all the food that hadn't expired yet.

A quick peruse of their "fruit" drawer (none of the drawers were really organized but the majority of the items in this drawer appeared to be fruit) identified that there was an abundance of apples. A quick search on the internet resulted in this Martha Stewart recipe:

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/apple-spice-cake?autonomy_kw=apple%20cake

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups vegetable oil
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
3 to 4 Granny Smith apples, cored and cut into 1/2-inch pieces (3 cups)
1 cup chopped assorted nuts, such as pecans and walnuts (optional)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Caramel Sauce
Nonstick cooking spray with flour
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 12-cup Bundt pan with cooking spray; set aside.
Working over a large sheet of parchment paper, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt; gather sifted ingredients into center of sheet; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine vegetable oil, sugar, and eggs; mix on high speed until lemon yellow.
Fold reserved parchment in half lengthwise; with mixer on medium speed, gradually shake in dry ingredients until just incorporated.
Add apples and, if desired, nuts, to batter; mix to combine. Add vanilla, mixing until incorporated.
Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 75 to 90 minutes.
Remove from oven, and cool slightly on a wire rack.
Invert cake onto rack; turn cake right-side up to cool completely on rack, and serve drizzled with caramel sauce

Here's the recipe for the caramel sauce:

1 cup light-brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

Combine ingredients in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring, until thickened to desired consistency.

My first attempt wasn't so great - mom didn't have her bundt pan readily available (it was in the depths of the crawlspace) so I had to use a 9 inch square pan. This resulted in the mix being more concentrated so it didn't rise so well. also, I used four apples instead of three and finally I didn't use any nuts. It took FOREVER for the cake to finish baking (at 325 degrees in a convection oven). Plus I was trying to juggle a crying baby.

The caramel sauce made loads - more than the "one cake" it said it would cover. I used golden sugar which I assumed was the same as "light-brown" sugar. My review? 6 out of 10.

My second attempt was much better after Mom finally found her bundt pan. Instead of 2 cups of regular sugar, I used one cup Splenda and one cup regular sugar. I still used 4 apples which I think was probably too much and I need to cut up the apples a bit more. I still didn't use any nuts. I used the regular "bake" function on the oven instead of the convection option. the result? MUCH better. after 75 minutes of baking, it was done although in my opinion it was too dry. It looked better but tasted ehhh. I would give it a 5 out of 10.

Easy recipe and both cakes were consumed within a day but will probably try another recipe next time.

The cake is still still in the pan because I didn't trust myself to take it out.

Cranberry Bonanza

Nica worked an event a couple weeks ago where some guy had a cranberry stand. At the end of the night, he decided it was too much of a hassle to take all the cranberries back so all the techs took a box home. Nica, bless his Chinese-influenced-soul, decided to take 2 boxes. I don't know why because I never ever cook with cranberries and these were honking huge boxes. I gave one to my sister and the other to work for all to take for Thanksgiving. I did keep a few, since all my colleagues started coming up with cranberry recipes. Here's one that I tried:

Cranberry Orange Loaf

By The Canadian Living Test Kitchen
33 people added this to their Recipe Box

Tested Till Perfect

The combination of cranberry and orange makes this loaf from food writer Carol Ferguson absolutely delicious.

Servings: 1 loave, 16 slices
Ingredients:

1 orange
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1 cup (250 mL) granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp (7 mL) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2 mL) baking soda
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1 cup (250 mL) chopped cranberries (fresh or frozen)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup (50 mL) butter, melted

Preparation:
Grate rind from orange. Squeeze juice into liquid measure; add enough water to make 3/4 cup (175 mL). Set aside.

In large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and orange rind; stir in cranberries. In small bowl, whisk together egg, butter and orange juice; stir into flour mixture just until blended. Spread in greased 9- x 5-inch (2 L) loaf pan.

Bake in centre of 350°F (180°C) oven for 50 to 60 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes; turn out onto rack and let cool completely. Wrap and let stand for 12 hours before slicing. (Make-ahead: Store at room temperature for up to 2 days or overwrap with heavy-duty foil and freeze for up to 2 weeks.)

I made this recipe for my family Thanksgiving dinner and it was a little bread-y but it was nice and moist and not too bad! It was a little crumbly though. Would definitely try it again and maybe add another egg to try and bind it better.

Naan

NAAN:
INGREDIENTS (Nutrition)

* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 1 cup warm water
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 4 1/2 cups bread flour
* 2 teaspoons minced garlic (optional)
* 1/4 cup butter, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.
2. Punch down dough, and knead in garlic. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.
3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.
4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.