Baking with Lisa -

June2nd

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Brioche

Posted in: Bread

This weekend, I made brioche. I made the dough with help from a friend. We discovered, belatedly, that it was a two day affair, so I shaped and proofed the loaves the following day. After a few hours in the hot, humid Alabama weather on my porch, they looked like this:

I slipped both pans into the oven and stayed in the kitchen to watch them bake. I keep a little Ikea footstool near the dishwasher- primarily for reaching high-up baking pans, but also for sitting on and watching what’s happening in the oven.

If your entire apartment smelled like fresh baked brioche, you’d be this happy too.

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May17th

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Strawberry-Peach Preserves

Posted in: Jams & Preserves

Last Thursday I visited the Homegrown Alabama farmers market. Quite fortuitously, they had a good selection of strawberries and early season peaches- two fruits i’d been looking for since receiving my copy of Sarabeth’s Bakery: From my Hands to Yours, which includes a recipe for her Strawberry Peach spreadable fruit. I canned about six half-pints, and we’ve eaten our way through one of them (plus two sticks of salted Irish butter) in less than a week. They are excellent on the above-pictured French sandwich bread from the Continental Bakery and equally good on rosemary bread.

This was my first experience canning with proper equipment, and it was significantly less stressful than my previous attempts. The most onerous steps were prepping the fruit and waiting for the water to boil for jar sterilizing and processing. I’m beginning to think that what intimidates me about canning is not food safety, but cost. With baking, it’s easy to add things like butter and sugar to my weekly grocery list and not notice how they’re impacting my budget. I also have equipment i’ve collected over the past decade. Canning has lots of up-front costs. It also requires storage space for both the equipment and the finished product.

I’ve started reading Food in Jars, which may be my new favorite blog. It has extremely helpful tips and equipment reviews, and lots of step by step photos of how to do all these things. I’m not sure I will ever be that prolific a canner- but i’d like to at least learn enough to be creative and produce the flavors/textures I enjoy. This recipe was fairly straightforward, though my cooking time was much longer (I think I had the heat too low).
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May13th

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Learning to Can

Posted in: Savory Things

I’m trying to learn to can with confidence. To me, canning is a foreign skill perfected by 50′s housewives, pioneer women, and their descendants. I’ve always thought of it as a means to save money or combat scarcity- not as a way to preserve seasonal bounty or enjoy the luxuries of ripe summer produce during the depths of winter.

Maybe the tornado changed my mind. All week, i’ve been fantasizing about filling my cabinets with jams, jellies, pickles, relishes, and other condiments. I want something to spice up boring meals on the nights i’m too tired to cook. I want something to thrown on pancakes when there’s no syrup left in the fridge. So, I made learning to can a summer goal. I ordered a bunch of canning books from interlibrary loan and made a list of all the things i’d like to try.

My first few attempts were slightly nerve-wracking. I wasn’t ready to invest in canning equipment, so I used a soup pot, some metal tongs, an impromptu canning rack made of jar rings, and a ladle. In my first three tries (two jams, one relish), I dropped a jar, I burned myself with boiling water, and I spilled 220 degree jam all over the outside of the container I was trying to put it in. Tiring of the potential for mess and injury, I bought an inexpensive canning set. I hear you can find those for much cheaper, so keep your eye out.

This was the last recipe I made before acquiring canning equipment. It’s a tasty radish relish that’s great on steamed vegetables or fish. The recipe comes from Sherri Brooks Vinton’s Put ‘em Up!, which is a great book if you’re intimidated by canning and want to start with small batches. Canning & Preserving with Ashley English is another good title. It doesn’t have as many recipes, but it does a good job explaining techniques.

Over the next few weeks i’ll try to keep you updated on my progress. I have several books and types of jars coming in, and i’m looking forward to experimenting.
…continue for recipes
May3rd

4 Comments

Death Star vs Millennium Falcon Pie

Posted in: Pies & Tarts

I am still recovering (mentally, emotionally) from last week’s tornado devastation. We are lucky to have our health and our home intact. If you would like to make a donation to the relief effort, you can do so here: http://www.uwwa.org/donatenow.html.

Posts have been sparse lately, so I wanted to leave you with this pie I made over the weekend. I used a half shortening-half butter crust, but feel free to use your favorite.
…continue for recipes
March28th

1 Comment

Lemon Cake, Glazed and Iced.

Posted in: Cakes

A perfect, plain pound cake is wonderful. A mediocre pound cake is boring.

That’s my conclusion having tried Ina Garten’s recipe for Lemon Cake. This zest-studded cake is first drenched in a puckery lemon syrup, then iced with a crisp sugar glaze. It’s powerfully lemony, in a good way. Thinking back, all my favorite pound cakes have bold flavor additions. Things like candied orange or ginger, rum syrup, brown-butter icing, or chocolate ganache. When I eat plain pound cake, I toast it and eat it with fruit. Or smother it in ice cream. It always needs something extra.

Here is the recipe, if you’d like to try it. Do make sure your ingredients are at the proper temperature- it really makes a difference!
March26th

1 Comment

Chocolate Truffle Tart

Posted in: Pies & Tarts

I’ve been working my way through Joanne Chang’s Flour: Spectacular Recipes from Boston’s Flour Bakery + Cafe. It’s the sort of baking book I like- one that’s been adapted for home cooks, but still offers a challenge for readers with advanced skills and specialty equipment. I have similar feelings about Kate Zuckerman’s The Sweet Life and Sarabeth Levine’s Sarabeth’s Bakery.

So far, Chang’s recipes have been reliable and delicious. I especially liked this tart- the pate sucree is crunchy, delicate, and punctuated with bits of kosher salt. The filling is indulgent, not too sweet, and smooth on your tongue. When I visited Flour Bakery in Boston, my impression was that Chang appreciates well-browned baked goods. All the breakfast pastries were crisp, flaky, and flavorful. I’m particularly obsessed with the craquelines, brioche pastries stuffed with candied orange and topped with a crunchy sugar-almond glaze.

Some notes: the tart pastry is quite delicate. If it tears, just press some extra dough scraps into the pan. You can also chill the dough briefly before transferring it to the pan. Enjoy!
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March11th

6 Comments

On Birthday Cakes and Pies

Posted in: Pies & Tarts

Most of the people I know eat cake on their birthday- a special cake that’s reserved specifically for the occasion. Growing up, I’d ask my mother for one of three cakes: a lemon cake, a German chocolate cake, or an angel-food cake. They were the cakes she made most frequently. I wonder- did she make them because I liked them? Or did I like them because she made them often?

I’m not sure how we choose our favorites. For a long time, tradition dictated my choices. Now, they are more influenced by personal taste and rarity. I pick things I haven’t had in a long time, or things that take considerable time and effort to execute. I was home for my birthday this year, and I asked my mom for an apple crisp. There was a year in college when I desperately wanted an impeccably decorated birthday cake from Whole Foods. Mom let me buy two.

Perhaps it’s not about what we want to eat on our birthdays, but how we want to feel. People rarely bake for me, so I feel extremely indulged when someone makes me a cake. It is a gesture that expresses great thoughtfulness- much like buying someone the perfect Christmas gift instead of giving them a gift card.

This is my third year making my husband a lemon meringue pie for his birthday. I make it for him because he likes it. I also make it because it gives me an occasion to perfect a single recipe. There are many recipes I make repeatedly, but few I make predictably, with such intense focus. It’s not just a pie- it’s a gift of time, effort, and care.

I’ve added some new notes to the recipe below, which appeared on my old blog. If you compare the above photo with this photo, you can see how mistakes can impact the texture. One has a dense filling and a creamy meringue- the other has an aerated filling and a stiff meringue.To swirl the meringue like I have in the photo, shape it into a dome, and then angle a spoon or spatula into the meringue. Rotate the pie to shape a swirl, moving your spatula from the bottom of the meringue to the top.
…continue for recipes
March6th

10 Comments

Win 2 Tickets to Farm to Table Pittsburgh

Posted in: Uncategorized

Thanks to a donation from American HealthCare, I am pleased to offer 2 tickets to the Farm to Table Pittsburgh local food conference. Here’s the list of speakers and demonstrations. If you’re interested, entry details are below!

Comment to Win a Pair of Tickets

What: 5th Annual Farm to Table Pittsburgh Conference
When: Friday & Saturday March 25 & 26, 2011
Where: David L. Lawrence Convention Center

To Enter:
1. Leave a comment below on this post.
2. I will choose the winner at random. The winner will receive two tickets, which can be used for a 1 or 2 day registration. Note: this does not include the Friday food tasting or Saturday breakfast.
3. Deadline to enter is Wednesday March 9th at 12pm CT. I will announce the winner Wednesday afternoon.

See the winner below! …continue for recipes
March3rd

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The Pleasures of Functional Kitchen Equipment.

Posted in: Things

Here are two recipes I made right around Super Bowl Sunday. The first is my usual go-to pizza recipe (note that Cook’s Illustrated has an updated recipe in the latest issue). The second is Ree Drummond’s Spicy Shredded Pork, which fueled a near-endless supply of tacos, quesadillas, sandwiches, and other lunches.

Looking at these photos, I feel more compelled to talk about equipment than food. Cooking can be more enjoyable and less stressful when you have the right tools. The few times i’ve using the ‘wrong’ tools, i’ve ended up with lopsided cakes, giant messes, broken glass, and burned fingers. In most cases, good equipment can reduce errors and improve product. You’ll bake better cakes in pans that heat evenly and hold their shape. You’ll get a better sear on meat in a pan that’s not non-stick. And so on.

Good equipment doesn’t have to be expensive. I buy a lot of my cook and bake ware secondhand. In some cases, the stuff you find in thrift stores or relatives’ garages (or on ebay) will serve you better than the newer stuff. I don’t especially like it when I buy something new and it breaks after one or two uses. Recently, this has happened to me with 1) a cheap nonstick skillet and 2) a citrus juicer. Hence another reason to buy cheap or secondhand- if it breaks, you aren’t out much on your investment. When I find older things in good condition, I’m inclined to think they will stand the test of time. I especially love vintage baking pans, cake carriers, table ware, and serving pieces.

This isn’t to say that there aren’t new items of quality and value. Recently i’ve acquired a number of new kitchen doo-dads, some which i’m using more frequently than others. I have a few new things that have brought me a lot of pleasure in the kitchen including:

1) A fancy-pants garbage can.

2) A pizza stone.

3) A set of small, locking tongs. (Pictured above)

I try not to buy anything new unless i’m sure I will appreciate it and use it often. I also try to shop TJ Maxx or restaurant supply stores before going to more expensive retailers. I’m also really wary of online product reviews- they’re often unreliable, and most of the time they don’t account for wear/longevity. I’m more likely to buy new kitchen products when i’ve test-driven them in a friend or relative’s kitchen beforehand. The one exception is when I travel- when i’m buying ‘souvenir cookware,’ I’m not always thinking about function…

So that’s my two cents. Look for things that will last, and try to get them free, cheap, second-hand, or on sale. If you have to buy new, do some research first.

How have you built your collection of cookware/bakeware?
February4th

4 Comments

Black & Gold Cupcakes

Posted in: Cakes

If you are familiar with my old blog, you may recall that the last time the Steelers went to the Super Bowl, seemingly every grocery store in the city ran out of yellow food coloring (as it is the key to Steelerfying your average baked good). Luckily, I found some just in time to make a black & gold marble cake and black & gold rice krispie treats.

Keeping with my Steeler baking tradition, I used most of my yellow food coloring to make frosting for these chocolate cupcakes. While i’ve been tempted to recreate this fabulous Steelers cupcake display, I generally like all my garnishes to be edible (which, in my opinion, fondant is not). I have also been aesthetically impressed by some of Dozen Bakeshop’s tasteful creations, especially this giant rice krispie treat. Flickr also has a number of fabulous Steeler Cakes you can peruse for inspiration.

I’m not a huge cupcake fan, but I enjoyed this recipe from Joanne Chang’s new cookbook. The meringue-based buttercream is fabulous- light, creamy, and just salty enough for my taste. Conveniently, the frosting can keep for a few days at room temperature. I used the leftovers to frost a quick batch of mini vanilla cupcakes, using this recipe from Food & Wine. With all cupcakes, keep an eye on the baking time. Mine were done a good 10 minutes early.
…continue for recipes