| Lissuns in the Galley | ||
| Breakfast Pastries | ||
| Return to the Gunroom Collections Previous Page Next Page |
||
| Andrew Midkiff's Brioche Sticky Buns Lois' Brioche suggestions Adam Quinan's Bunloaf Oven-Baked Nutmeg Praline French Toast Beard on Toast Lois' Blueberry Muffins and Nectarine Coffeecake Raun Burnham's Crumpets Mauricio Rodriguez' Plain Scones and Ginger Scones P. Signey's Hard Biscuit or Ship's Biscuit Return to the Gunroom Andrew Midkiff's Brioche Sticky Buns Make this recipe one day ahead and reheat to serve warm at breakfast Serves 12 From The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, William Morrow and Company, New York, 1988. Room Temperature Ingredients Brioche Dough Water 2.5 tablespoons (1.25 oz.; 38 grams) Sugar 3 tablespoons (1.25 oz; 40 grams) Fresh yeast 2 packed teaspoons (0.5 oz; 11 grams) or Dry yeast 1.5 teaspoons (4.5 grams) Unsifted bread flour, about 1.5 cups (dip and sweep method) (8 oz; 227 grams) Salt 1/2 teaspoon (3.5 grams) 1 large egg (6 oz or 170 grams) 2 large eggs cold - weighed in the shell Unsalted butter (must be very soft) 10 tablespoons; 5 oz (4 to 6 ounces may be used. The lesser amount offers a lighter texture, the higher amount a rich flavor); 142 grams) Filling Raisins 1/2 cup (2.5 oz; 72 grams) Dark rum 2 tablespoons (1 oz; 28 grams) Boiling water 1/2 cup (2 oz; 60 grams) Light brown sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed (2 oz; 56 grams) Granulated sugar 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz; 13 grams) Cinnamon 2 teaspoons Unsalted butter 2 tablespoons (1 oz; 28 grams) Topping Unsalted butter, softened 1/2 cup (2 oz; 56 grams) Light brown sugar 1/2 cup firmly packed (4 oz; 112 grams) Pecan halves 1/2 cup (2 oz; 56 grams) Glaze Reserved raisin-soaking liquid Unsalted butter 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz; 14 grams) One 8-inch by 2-inch square pan, lightly greased Making the sponge When using yeast always begin by proofing it to make sure it is alive. If using fresh yeast, smell it to be sure it doesn' t have a sour odor. To proof the yeast, use warm water (hot water would kill it). In a small bowl combine the 2 1/2 tablespoons water (ideally a tepid 100 degrees F, if using dry), 1/2 teaspoon of the sugar and the yeast. If using fresh yeast, crumble it slightly while adding. Set aside in a draft-free spot for 10 to 20 minutes. By this time, the mixture should be full of bubbles. If not, the yeast is too old to be useful. Place 1/3 cup of the flour and 1 egg in a food processor and process a few seconds until mixed. Add the yeast mixture and stir with a rubber scraper until smooth. Sprinkle the remaining flour over the mixture but do not mix it in. Cover and let stand for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Kneading the dough Add the remaining sugar, salt, and remaining 2 cold eggs and process 1 1/2 minutes or until the dough is smooth, shiny, and cleans the bowl. Let rest 6 minutes with the feed tube open. Add the butter in 2 batches and process for 20 seconds after each addition or until incorporated. (The butter must be soft so as not to overtax the motor of the processor. If the processor should stall, let rest 5 minutes.) First Rise Scrape the dough into a lightly buttered bowl. It will be very soft and elastic. Sprinkle lightly with flour to prevent a crust from forming. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (80 degrees F but not above or the yeast will develop a sour taste) until double in bulk, about 2 hours. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes to 1 hour. Deflate dough by gently stirring it and refrigerate for another hour. Redistributing the yeast Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently press it into a rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds (as in folding a business letter) and again press it out into a rectangle, lightly flouring the surface as needed to prevent stickiness. Fold it again into thirds and dust it lightly with flour on all sides. Wrap it loosely but securely in plastic wrap and then foil and refrigerate it for 6 hours or up to 2 days to allow dough to ripen and harden. Making the Sticky Bun Filling In a small heatproof bowl place the raisins and rum. Add the boiling water, cover and let stand for at least 1 hour. When ready to fill the dough, drain the raisins, reserving the soaking liquid. In another bowl combine the sugars and cinnamon. Topping In a small bowl stir together the butter and sugar until well mixed. Spread evenly in the prepared pan with a small spatula or rubber scraper. Top with the pecan halves top side down. Filling the Dough Roll out the dough on a well-floured surface into a 14-inch by 12-inch rectangle. Brush with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter and sprinkle with the sugar mixture and raisins. Roll up from a short end, brushing off the excess flour as you go. The dough will have that lively, silky, "soft as a baby' s bottom" feel. Using a very sharp knife, cut the roll into 4 pieces and then cut each piece into thirds. Place each piece cut side down in the prepared pan, pressing tops so that the sides touch. Cover with well-buttered plastic wrap and let rise until the dough reaches the top of the pan (about 1 hour if using fresh yeast, up to 2 hours if using dry). Making the Sticky bun Glaze In a small saucepan over high heat or in a 2-cup heatproof raisin soaking syrup to 1 tablespoon. Add the butter and stir until melted. The glaze should be lukewarm when used. Set a foil-lined baking sheet on lowest shelf and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. (The hot baking sheet will boost the "oven spring" of the brioche; the foil will catch any bubbling caramelized syrup.) Brush the buns with the glaze. Place the pan on the not baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 375 degrees F and bake 15 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. If becoming too brown, cover loosely with foil after 5 or 10 minutes. Let the buns cool in the pan for 3 minutes before unmolding onto a serving plate or foil-lined counter. Sticky buns may be eaten at once or reheated in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes, loosely wrapped in foil. Notes: The butter and raisin syrup glaze keeps the tops of the buns soft. My friend Shirley Corriher swears by the plumping raisins method. She says she hates finding a hard, dried-up raisin in an otherwise soft dough. Paula Wolfert (in her superb articles on brioche in Pleasures of Cooking, which greatly influenced the development of this recipe) recommends melting and browning about one fifth of the butter (2 tablespoons) for an extra rich, delicious flavor. Be sure to let the butter cool before adding it along with the rest of the butter. Add the browned particles as well. Brioche made in a food processor is a speedy and simple operation. If you wish to double this recipe, it is safer to use the heavy-duty mixer method as a larger amount of dough might overheat some food processors, causing them to stall. (I have successfully made a double batch using the Cuisinart DLS-7 by melting the butter and allowing it to cool to barely tepid before adding it, with motor running.) You can prepare both the brioche dough and the sticky bun topping and filling a day ahead to speed up preparation. Store the bread airtight for 2 days room temperature, 3 months frozen. Pointers for Success: Use bread flour. DO NOT use rapid-rise yeast. Be sure the yeast is active. Do not allow rising dough to be in an area over 80 degrees F to 85 degrees F. Do not allow the dough to rise more than the recommended amounts or it will weaken the structure. Do not deflate the dough before chilling or the butter will leak out. If this should happen inadvertently, chill the dough for 1 hour and knead the butter back into it. Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Lois' brioche suggestions... If you don't have brioche pans, you can use muffin pans or cupcake papers. The brioche is sort of cupcake or muffin shaped, with a ball placed on top of it. So put your dough in the pan or papers, then make a little ball about the size of a walnut, and stick it on top. Now you need a recipe for sweet yeast dough. And that little pot around your waistline would be called a "brioche", if you were living in France. Adam Quinan's Bunloaf Bunloaf is a bit like a spiced bread with currants or raisins in it formed into a loaf shape. I have tasted it and it was pretty good with a bit of butter. BUNLOAF - makes two (5"x9"x3") loaves: 1 teaspoon sugar 1 (1/4 oz) pkg dried yeast 2 cups warm water 2 teaspoons salt 2 Tablespoons corn oil 5-6 cups unbleached all purpose flour 1 cup raisins 1 1/4 cups currants 2 Tablespoons chopped orange zest 1 teaspoon allspice 3 oz (2/3 stick) butter, melted and cooled slightly Dissolve sugar, yeast, and salt in 2 c warm water. Add oil to yeast mix. Gradually add flour one cup at a time to the liquid and mix well until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Turn dough out onto floured board and knead it, adding dustings of flour to board as needed to prevent sticking. Knead until smooth. Return dough to cleaned bowl which has been lightly oiled. Coat dough with the oil, cover with a damp cloth, and let dough rise is a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1.5 hr. When doubled in bulk, knock dough back. Work the dried fruits, zest, allspice, and melted butter into the dough until it is smooth. Don't be discouraged by the large amount of fruit or the pond of butter -- keep kneading and shortly the dough will be slippery and studded with fruit and lightly scented with spice. Divide dough in half, and shape each into a loaf (much as you would a meatloaf), and place each half in a greased 9"x5"x3" loaf pan. Cover and let rise in a warm place till doubled, about 1/2 hour, then place in a preheated 450 degree oven. After 15 min, reduce the heat to 375 degrees, and continue baking 30-40 min longer, or until loaves are golden and sound hollow when tops are tapped. Turn out of pans and cool thoroughly. I have had success storing completely cooled loaves in zip-lock bags and freezing. When a picnic opportunity comes up, the loaf will thaw between breakfast and lunch. You can also use a serrated knife to slice a hunk off a frozen loaf, taking only as much as you want. Bunloaf is crusty and tastes very good plain, or spread slices with butter or marmalade. It is also delicious lightly toasted. *This recipe, by the way, was found in British Cookery by Lizzie Boyd, 1979, Overlook Press, NY, and I found a copy in my local library. Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Oven-Baked Nutmeg Praline French Toast 8 slices Italian bread, cut about 3/4-inch thick 4 eggs 1 cup milk or half-and-half 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur or orange juice 1/2 teaspoon EACH vanilla and nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup butter 1/2 cup chopped pecans 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tablespoon butter, melted Place bread in single layer in 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking dish. Whisk together eggs, milk, sugar, liqueur, vanilla, nutmeg and salt. Pour over bread, turning once to coat evenly. Refrigerate, covered, several hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Place 1/3 cup butter in 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan; place in oven to melt butter. Remove from oven; tilt pan to coat evenly with butter. Arrange bread in single layer in prepared pan. Bake, uncovered, about 25 minutes or until firm and golden brown. Meanwhile, combine pecans, brown sugar and 1 tablespoon butter in small bowl. Sprinkle over baked french toast. Broil, about 5 inches from heat, watching carefully, about 1 minute or until topping begins to bubble. Variation: Omit praline topping (made with pecans, brown sugar and the 1 tablespoon melted butter). Bake french toast as directed, but carefully turn bread halfway through baking time. Do not broil. NOTE: Other toppings include softened cream cheese combined with maple syrup, sweetened whipped cream or butter with fruit preserves. Yield: 8 slices Serving Size: 2 slices Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Someone asked "Who is James Beard?" From Bob Spencer: A highly regarded chef from some years back, considered by many to be the 'dean of American cookery'. He wrote more than a dozen cookbooks. His Beard on Bread is one of my favorites. About toast, he had this to say: "It seems to me that one seldom finds toast that is really toasted. Usually it is a flabby piece of warmed bread with a slight color to it. My thoughts go back a long way to the days when I first lived in England and one would still use a toasting fork in front of the fire to toast bread, crumpets, and muffins for tea. Never, never, never has toast smelled or tasted so good, save when it has been done over a toast rack on a stove or over coals. Our electric toasters are extremely efficient, but people do not use them correctly. Bread is not toasted when it takes on color; it must have a change of texture as well. So don't be afraid of darker toast, and put in a rack afterwards so that it crisps instead of sogs. Nothing is as revolting as the plate of toast one usually receives in a restaurant or hotel; this comes buttered and wrapped in a napkin, and while it may have been crisp when it came from the toaster, it has, in the meantime, steamed to a most unpleasant texture. On the other hand, English toast is often kept too long in a rack, so it becomes cold, although crisp. I am not sure which is the greater crime, particularly when a perfect piece of toast made from a good bread is one of the most delicious foods -- and one that any fool can make." Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Lois' Blueberry Muffins and Nectarine Coffeecake Ingredients: 1 stick of butter (1/4 pound) 1 cup of flour 3/4 cup of sugar 2 eggs fruit--2 cups of blueberries, e.g. Soften the butter--in microwave is fine, doesn't matter if is part melted. Add the flour and sugar, and the eggs. Blend all the ingredients, doesn't muc h matter how you do it, you don't need a mixer, should NOT be well beaten. Add the fruit--e.g. blueberries--and mix in. Bake at 350 or 375 until done. Makes a small cake or 4 large muffins or 6 small ones, and needs to be doubled for hungry kids. Comments: This makes a stiff batter, and you can add a dollop or 2 of sour cream, a crushed banana, some applesauce, a bit of milk, if you want to make it more workable, BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO, and shouldn't add too much, not over 1/2 cup or so of "liquifier". If you're the earthy crunchy type, you can sub some whole wheat flour for some of the white, some brown sugar for some of the white, and add some oats or wheat germ. Add too much of the good stuff and you end up with a pretty heavy gummy work product. You can also spread the basic batter in a cake pan, and pat fruit into the top, to make a small cake. Don't worry about the batter being stiff, it'll spread out in baking. You can sprinkle sugar, cinnamon, on the fruit. To make a nectarine coffeecake: Cut the fruit in half. Leave the peel on. Make the basic stiff batter, butter, flour, sugar, eggs. Spread it in a small lightly greased or non-stick cake or brownie pan or pie plate, as best you can. Cover the batter with the nectarine halves, skin side up, side by side, in one layer, as many as it takes. Bake at 350, could take up to an hour to be "done". The cake will cup up around the nectarines. That can do it, we like things pretty plain, though if you like cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice, you could sprinkle them on top of the fruit. Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Raun Burnham's Crumpets This [recipe for crumpets] is from Great British Cooking, A Well-Kept Secret by Jane Garmey, Random House, NY 1981. 2 1/2 cups Flour 1 teaspoon Sugar 2/3 cups Water Salt 1/4 Ounce Active Dry Yeast 2 tablespoons oil Sift the flour into a bowl and stand it on top of the stove. Heat the water in a saucepan over low heat until it is lukewarm. Take out 3 tablespoons of the water and mix with the yeast and sugar in a cup. Make a well in the flour and pour in first the yeast mixture and then the remaining water and a pinch of salt. Beat hard for 3 minutes, cover the bowl and stand it in a warm place until the dough is well risen. (This should take about 45 minutes). Beat the dough down and add a little warm water to turn the dough to a batter consistency. Grease a pancake griddle or a large frying pan with a little of the oil. Place round cookie cutters (you'll need 3 or 4, and you can make these by removing both ends from an empty can that is approximately 3 inches wide and 2 inches deep. [A tuna fish can might work if you can soak out the odor]), and when the oil is hot, pour in enough dough into each cutter to reach about 3/4 inch high. Cook them for a few minutes until the bottoms are brown, the tops have become solid and holes have appeared all over the surface. (If the batter is too thick, this will not happen and you should add more water to it). Remove the rings, turn the crumpets and cook them for about 2 more minutes before removing them from the heat and draining on a paper towel. Repeat this process until you have used up all the dough. This makes approximately 12-15 crumpets. Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page Mauricio Rodriguez' Plain Scones and Ginger Scones Plain Scones 2 cups flour 1/2 cup powdered sugar 1 and 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup butter or margarine 1/2 cup raisins 2/3 cup milk Mix dry ingredients together. Cut in butter with a pastry blender. Mix in raisins. Mix in milk with a fork. DO NOT OVERMIX. Pat into a circle on an ungreased cookie sheet, pie tin, or 8" square cake pan. Cut into 8 triangles or 9 squares. Bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes in the upper third of the over to avoid burning. Ginger Scones, from the January, 2000 issue of Bon Appetit 2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour 1/3 cup sugar 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon peel 11 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whipping cream 1/4 to 2/3 cup diced crystallized ginger, depending on your fondness for ginger Preheat over to 400 degrees F. Lightly butter baking sheet. Place flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon peel in processor; add butter and cut in using on/off turns, or use a pastry blender, until mixture resembles coarse meal. Transfer mixture to large bowl. Make a well in center and add 3/4 cup cream. Using a fork, stir until just moist. Mix in ginger. Transfer dough to floured surface and gently knead until smooth, about 8 turns. Divide dough in half; pat each portion into a 3/4-inch/thick round. Cut each round into 6 wedges and transfer to prepared baking sheet, spacing 1 inch apart. Brush tops with remaining 2 tablespoons cream. Bake scones until light brown, about 16-18 minutes. Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page P. Signey's Hard Biscuit or Ship's Biscuit This is from Mrs. Beeton's Cookbook:Hard Biscuit 1 lb Flour 2 oz Butter 1/2 Pint Skimmed Milk Melt the butter in the milk, mix with the flour until smooth; roll it out thin, cut into circles, pierce all over with a fork, bake 6-10 minutes (no oven temp, this is for a coal oven!). Return to the Gunroom Return to top of this page |