Weekend Dog Blogging

Let's start this wonderful day with a revelation from our dog Tippy: I need to stop blogging around and do some laundry...darn!

Check out the round up of the latest Wekend Dog Blogging at Sweetnicks

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Pains Au Lait - The Recipe

Sorry it took longer than expected to add the recipe for these great little rolls. Here it is, found on a site I visit often and where I found great brioches recipe (and you know how much i love them).
Baking bread is a daily ritual for me, I start when I get home from work and bake the bread in the morning. I use my bread machine for making the dough just as much as I use my KA, it really depends on my mood, I never used the machine pan for baking, as I found the pan quite ugly and too square.

Milk Rolls, adapted from La Panetiere:
- 260 gr. milk ( regular, almond, rice, soy, goat, buttermilk,...)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp.salt
- 50 gr. sugar
- 5oo gr. all purpose flour
- 2 tsp. instant yeast
- 40 gr. butter

-If you use a bread machine, put all the ingredients in the pan and set on the dough program. After it is over, portion the dough into 15 pieces, let rest 15 minutes. Form into shapes. At this point you can leave them plain, or add chocolate chips, or dried fruits ( I used dried raspberries).
- Let rise for another hour or so and bake in a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. I brushed mine with milk and sprinkledwith sugar before baking.

If using a regular stand mixer: dissolve yeast in the milk at 110-115 degree. Let rest until foamy. Put into the bowl of a mixer and add the flour, egg, salt, sugar. Mix until dough forms, slowly incorporate the butter which should be soft. Let rise 1 1/2 hours.
-Proceed with the recipe as above.

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Job Security

Here is a why I will always have a job as a pastry chef:

Life's a beach Cake by Sandra Lee

and here is why I will always have a job as a personal trainer:
Fried Chicken by Paula Dean

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Pains Au Lait

These are also called Viennese Rolls, but literally translate from the French as "Milk Rolls". They are traditionally made like a brioche, with less butter and a higher amount of liquid, milk instead of water, hence the name. You can go for regular old milk, but I chose almond milk this time and it added a nice softness to the bread. You could use orange blossom water or a touch of orange juice to perk it up, instead of the almond milk. I added dried raspberries, but you could use chocolate chips, or again...leave them plain.
They are traditionally of oval shape, but you can make rolls or pretend they are palying bagels...!
They are awesome served warm for breakfast or toasted for foie gras and pates.

Recipe to come later on today...I am beat.

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Bakewell Tart: Did Grandma know?

When I was growing up my grandmother used to make this tart with a very nice shortbread crust, jam at the bottom and covered with a nice cream sometimes flavored with almonds, sometimes not. The other day I was perousing the various foodie events for June and the words Bakewell Tart made me raise an eyelid: what was that? A tart I did not know existed? There I was checking Andrew's site to get more details about it and decided to go online and try to find a recipe.
Dang! It was my grandma's tart! or should I say Grandma borrowed it from the English?! I love this tart but I never really saw her follow a recipe nor did she leave me with one. After looking at about 5 or 6 recipes online I kind of understood that even without the exact same ingredient amounts the concept of the bakewell Tart is the same: a shortbread crust, a layer of jam and an almond flavored cream. I used the one found here but modified it like so: I doubled the amount for the filling part, added a good handful of toasted and ground almonds and used homemade nectarine and rhubarb jam instead of a berry one, most commonly found in the Bakewell Tart.

Bakewell Tart (includes modifications)from The Green Chronicle

Ingredients:
Pastry :
2 cups plain flour
4 level tablespoons shortening
4 level tablespoons butter or margarine
pinch of salt
cold water

Method- Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl.- Add the lard and the butter and chop it up roughly with a knife.- With cool fingertips, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.- Add 2 tablespoons of cold water and then, using a knife, mix lightly into a dough.- Add a little more water if necessary but be careful not to add too much.- The dough should not be sticky.- Gently bring the dough into a ball by hand, gathering up any stray bits of dough.- Leave to rest in the fridge for a couple of hours before using.- To use, roll lightly with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface.

The Tart:
1/2 cup jam
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup caster/superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
a good handful of ground almonds

Method- Line an ovenproof dish with the rolled out pastry.- Spread some strawberry jam on the pastry base.- Cream the sugar and butter together.- Add the egg, flour and baking powder, beating until smooth.- Beat in the essence.- Pour the mixture into the pastry case over the jam and bake in a hot oven until the pastry is cooked and the filling is firm to the touch.

It's really good, very easy to put together and most pleasing to everybody, great for all season if you want my opinion.

Note: I now it looks like the bottom crust is not cooked through and you would be right but there is a reason for it: the Cookie Monster likes his pie crust like his cookie dough: undercooked...yikes! I usually finish baking my slice separately.

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Milk and Cookies

Yes...this is what I have just eaten as I got back from work but it is also the title of a blog I have come to visit everyday. JenJen at Milk and Cookies never ceases to tempt me with cookie creations and since I live with the Cookie Monster I need more than the traditional chocolate chip or oatmeal varieties to keep this household straight.

Since she posted about Jaime Oliver's Orange and Polenta Biscuits, the demand has been high for a recipe and she finally caved in the other day. Thank you!

I foolowed her recipe but my first batch did not spread in the oven, and I ended up smashing the little thing down with the back of a spoon. The flavors are just right, they are nice and crispy and great dunked in tea.

Here is the recipe:

Orange and Polenta Biscuits
170g unsalted butter
170g sugar
255g polenta
100g plain all-purpose flour
zest of 2-3 oranges, finely chopped
2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 190C. Combine butter, sugar, polenta and flour in a bowl and rub them together until the mixture becomes crumbly. Mix in the orange zest and two eggs and beat until well incorporated.If necessary, cover the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge until slightly firm. Take a portion of dough and roll it into a ball and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Space the balls approximately 5 cm apart, as the biscuits will spread upon baking.Bake in the oven for 6-10 minutes, or until the outside edges are lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

(Hers)NOTE: I found that there was no need to refrigerate the dough as I was baking these on a very cold day and the dough was firm enough. This step is optional, depending on the temperature in your kitchen.

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