Faux Gingerbread Mushrooms

faux gingerbread mushrooms, gold dusted ferrero rocher balls and chocolate shards. 

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You're planning on making a Bûche de Noël (Yule log) for your Christmas centre piece? Add some quick and easy forest---y charm with faux gingerbread mushrooms and gold dusted chocolates.  

You will need Pfeffernüsse, the small spiced gingerbread cookie. I've used store bought but you could use homemade. 

Put a little melted white chocolate on the back of a cookie, using a skewer drag through the white chocolate from outside edge inwards to create the mushrooms "gills", remove any excess chocolate from the centre with the end of the skewer. Put the cookie to one side to dry and repeat. 

Once the chocolate is dry, with a small brush dust cocoa powder or brown cake dust (I used both) to colour and shade your mushroom cookies. 

Roll a piece of marzipan (or modelling chocolate, or fondant) into a snake shake and cut lengths for stems. Attach stems with a tiny bit of white chocolate, allow to dry and add shading colour if needed.  All done :) 

Add a golden touch to your truffles or bought chocolates...

I've use ferrero rocher balls.... unwrap your chocolates and using a soft brush dust your chocolates with gold cake decorating/food dust.  

Chocolate shards for surrounds: Spread tempered chocolate on a piece of non stick baking paper. Roll it up whilst still melted and pop in fridge to set, unroll and it will break into shards ready to use. 

I went with a sprinkling of crisp freeze dried raspberry pieces for colour and a burst of flavour, they are a last minute addition as they soften fairly quickly when exposed to air. We used fresh blackberries and tiny fresh strawberries with last years cake. 

Cacao nibs (often sold as cocoa nibs) are a nice addition for a more adult palate, crunch and a little bitter. 

Happy baking, don't forget the Christmas bling :) 

Pumpkin buns with salted maple butter -ABC

pumpkin buns with salted maple butter

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I was invited this month to bake along with a talented group of bakers that are a part of ABC (Avid Baker's Challenge) and how could I resist when I saw it was pumpkin dinner rolls shaped as pumpkins!! 

almost as magical as turning a pumpkin into a carriage, these pumpkin buns today are adorable.

You could be thinking Halloween or Thanksgiving for these cuties but my first thought was "fairytales"...more than a little Bippity Boppity Boo.  Imagine these as part of a fairy tale wedding or a princess party for the little ones. 

The buns are a little sweet, but not too sweet to be considered savoury or sweeten them further by sprinkling with sugar before baking.

Ainse or aniseed flavours the buns or there is an option to use pumpkin pie spice with it's pronounced cinnamon overtone. 

grinding the aniseed

We don't have tinned pumpkin puree in Australia so I had to cook my pumpkin and puree, I used a traditional Queensland variety though I suspect butternut pumpkin (squash) would have sufficed. 

Then bread flour, instant yeast, salt, water, pumpkin puree, egg, honey and spice are combined with a little extra water added if needed... I didn't need any, wet pumpkin I guess.  Softened butter is now beaten in. *Full recipe link at end of page*

The resulting dough is soft, smooth and easy to work with... a tiny bit sticky but not in a troublesome way the dough goes away to rest and rise.

Shaped into 12 round rolls (you could bake them just like this if mini pumpkins aren't your thing), and eight cuts are made around the rolls not going all the way to the center. The centre you make a hole all the way through so there is place for your "stem" at the end. Off for another rise now. 

I didn't add the extra sugar topping, nor the egg wash, I prefer breads a little less sweet.  Pecan halves are cut length ways to create the stems and are inserted after baking.

Baking time is relatively short and then you have the most light, fluffy yet moist buns.  

I loved these buns, you don't pick up much in the way of pumpkin flavour but the aniseed lends a sweetish note reminiscent of childhood aniseed lollies more than the night you downed all those black Sambuca shots.

Salted maple butter: there is salted maple butter to serve with buns, ok a bit too delicious this mixture of salted butter and maple syrup. 

The full recipe from the ABC bake can be found on Weekend Bakery .com 

Happy Baking :) 

You might also be interested an original Brothers Grimm version of Cinderella and make yourself a "fondant toe" cupcake. 

Or how about four and twenty blackbirds baked in a pie. 

Irish Soda Bread: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

                             Irish Soda Bread 'The Bread Bible'

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I haven't been around much, my Dad passed away in October and I'm feeling sad. I didn't really want to bake but it has helped having something to do, even though I had lots of "family food memory" tears from the first scoop of flour.  

Ha, ha my Aunty Clare would not have been happy I didn't have any whiskey in the pantry, as Aunty Clare did believe whiskey made everything better. However, I did have a bottle of Irish Whiskey liqueur so I could go ahead and bake Rose Levy Beranbaum's rather special version of 'Irish Soda Bread'. 

Not a strong tipple that puts hairs on your chest but rather a gentler caramel, butterscotch Irish Whiskey concoction.  I love it!! It's whiskey dessert in a bottle.

My step son is living and working in Dublin at the moment and he tells me soda bread is common place and known simply as "brown bread'.

Daniel and his lovely Irish girlfriend Emer... Galway Ireland

Rose's deluxe version of Irish soda bread starts off with soaking raisins in *Irish whiskey (for me the liqueur) for at least 30 minutes.

I've used Australian raisins from the Walthcross and Lexia grape varietals, they are flattish, moist and sweet with a distinct muscat flavour.

Next wholemeal flour, white flour, sugar, salt and bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) are stirred together.

Butter is then rubbed in... Australians will be familiar with this method we usually use for scones. 

The whiskey plumped raisins are added and then buttermilk is stirred in. 

Shaped into a round loaf, a cross was cut in the top and the Irish soda bread was in baked in a preheated oven until golden. 

There was an option to make to whiskey butter with the soaking liquid from the raisins, sounded delicious but since I was serving with whiskey I didn't make it this time around. 

I liked the soda bread best warm, the texture is robust but not heavy and definitely suited to a swoop of butter whether that be Kerry Gold or Rose's recipe for whiskey butter.  

 A quick, easy and tasty bake. 

*Note I'd swap the whiskey out for the same volume of strongly brewed black tea for the raisin soaking liquid  if I needed to go alcohol free.  

Oh, and congratulation wishes to Emer who graduated this week!! 

Happy Baking xx

Today has been one of the 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers' bakes where a group of fabulous bakers get together and bake from the pages of 'The Bread Bible'.

The Bread Bibleby Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores. 

 You might also be interested in a recipe for  Half a Grasshopper Pie

or perhaps Tiesen Sinamon (Welsh Cinnamon Cake) cupcakes

Basic Hearth Bread: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

Basic Hearth Bread 'The Bread Bible'

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Yup, I'm running late with everything this month but I still had time to make this rustic bread from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Bread Bible'. 

A few simple ingredients are put together in a bowl....

white bread flour, wholemeal flour, instant yeast and *honey 

Warm water is added and the mixture is whisked to incorporate air. That's the dough starter (sponge) ready to be topped with more flour and a little more yeast. Off to ferment now, that's the sponge not me. 

Love this bit, the bubbles coming through the flour blanket.

Mixed altogether to form a rough dough. Salt is added, looks a lot in pic but it's only 10 grams. 

After seven more minutes mixing in the *KitchenAid the dough is smooth. 

There is rising time at this point, then business turning/folding going on and then more rising. 

After the rise and tying into the "running late" I was rushing and didn't take photos of the shaping/slashing bit, the instructions in the book are precise and detailed.  

The loaves went to rise for around an hour, before slashing and pattern making on the tops.

a lame: double sided blade used to slash loaves

I used a slightly concaved bread lame for the single cross slash and used round metal cookie cutters to cut a graduating circular pattern, I sprinkled flour on the circular pattern before baking. I also used a plastic Mickey mouse cookie cutter to "indent" a pattern in the smaller loaves I made.  Then they were all baked in hot oven on slipats, with trays and ice ... it's all explained in the book. 

And now the eating bit.

Fresh is good, Vegemite toast is better!! 

Vegemite on toasted hearth bread

I like the pretty edge that the circular cookie cutters created on the hearth bread, here topped with a Greek yoghurt beet and mint dip, pickled beet, feta and cashews.  

Would I change anything? No, this bread is a great all rounder everyday bread. I do want to bake this bread in a loaf pan as Rose suggests it would make a great sandwich bread. 

Notes

*Rose does include instructions for making the bread by hand. 

*Subsitute the honey for golden syrup for a vegan loaf of bread. 

Happy Baking :)  

Today has been one of the 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers' bakes where a group of fabulous bakers get together and bake from the pages of 'The Bread Bible'.

The Bread Bibleby Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores. 

You might also be interested in quick and easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Spiders

Cinnamon Raisin Loaf: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

Cinnamon Raisin Loaf 'The Bread Bible' 

Join me on Facebook    Fondant and chocolate work coming up in September.   

It's almost Christmas, or so said a facebook count down post this week and this cinnamon raisin loaf from Rose Levy Beranbaum would be just the thing for Christmas or an anytime brunch.   

It started with making a sponge... flour, water, honey and yeast were whisked until a thick airy batter was achieved. 

The "sponge" is a yeast starter. I did mine in the mixer. 

Next flour, dry milk powder and yeast were whisked together and sprinkled over the sponge. 

Off it goes now to ferment, for 1 to 4 hours. 

Bubbles broke through the flour blanket at the end of the fermenting stage.

Onto the mixer now where softened butter is added to the fermented flour mixture and beaten until a rough dough forms. 

A short rest follows, for that dough that is, but you do have time to get a cup of tea now. 

Back to the mixer, salt is added and the dough beaten to it forms a smooth and shiny ball. 

Yup, another short rest here. 

And back to the mixer to add the raisins. I used a mixture of sultanas and currants. 

After the raisins are added your dough goes off for a couple of hours to do the rising thing. Time for much tea or maybe a yoga class now. 

Back from yoga and it's time turn out the dough, form a rectangle, business letter fold the dough whilst maintaining as much air a possible.  

Covered, the dough goes into the fridge for now for an hour to firm up. I left mine for 24 hours at this stage to develop flavour. 

Make your cinnamon sugar mixture.

The dough is rolled out to the specified size in the book, Rose's recipe makes two loaves I made many mini loaves because we know I just like "mini food". 

Beaten egg is brushed onto the rolled dough, cinnamon sugar is sprinkled on leaving a border unsugared. 

Roll up you dough, just like we did for the sticky caramel buns last month. Place your rolled dough into greased tins to rise for one to two hours. 

Time to bake!

When the loaves are removed from oven and still in tins, melted butter is brushed on. 

Sssshhhh! You aren't supposed to cut your hot bread but here is the a hot mini loaf with the cut crust off, wanted to see if the spiral worked. 

Fantastic texture in this bread! Toasts beautifully, however it does burn quickly so keep an eye on it.

I served mine toasted with fresh cheese, berries and maple syrup but it was equally delicious toasted with butter. I liked it fresh and unadorned too reminded me of panettone, a nice one not the slightly dodgy ones the supermarket sells at Christmas. 

Would I change anything? No, perfect how it was.  

Want another flavour? Rose has a savoury version in the book and suggests you can leave out the dried fruit if preferred.  A friend suggested candied peel could be added, yes if you like peel go for it. I think chopped dried dates, orange zest and swapping out the cinnamon for cardamom would result in lovely loaf. A versatile enriched base dough suits many flavour combinations.  

Happy Baking :)  

Today has been one of the 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers' bakes where a group of fabulous bakers get together and bake from the pages of 'The Bread Bible'.

The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores. 

You might also be interested in  A Trip to the Moon (French: Voyage dans la Lune) cupcake

Sticky Caramel Buns: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

Sticky Caramel Buns 'The Bread Bible' 

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Oooo these buns today remind me of a cross between a Chelsea bun and golden syrup dumplings.

A soft and buttery enriched dough is filled and rolled, a "golden syrup dumpling sauce" with brown sugar, butter, golden syrup and touch of cream is added to the base of your cake pans. Bake it all together for today's light, buttery and certainly sticky 'Sticky Caramel Buns'.  

It's not a Tuesday night after work bake, it's the leisurely weekend type bake when you have a bit of time and can't make it through Sunday without a sweet treat.  

The recipe calls for a batch of Rose's basic brioche dough that begins with making a sponge.

The "sponge" is a yeast starter. I made mine in a mixer. 

A flour mixture is then sprinkled over the sponge and two hours later you'll have bubbles rising through the blanket of flour in parts. 

Using my stand mixer eggs and softened butter were beaten in. 

The dough goes off to warm spot to rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

After rising the resulting dough is off to the fridge. Brioche, like other enriched breads has a refrigerator period to solidify the butter and make the dough easier to handle.  Pictured I'm I'm gently deflating before another rest and chill time. 

The brioche dough was then turned out onto a floured bench top. 

Then dough is rolled out and given a business letter turn. Fold one. 

Fold two. 

Business folded once more. Fold three. 

Fold four.

Now it goes to "sleep" or you do, the dough is wrapped in loosely but securely in plastic wrap and placed in a zip lock bag. I didn't have a bag so I put mine in a plastic container. In the fridge it goes for between 6 and 48 hours to depending your schedule... you rule the brioche... something to tell yourself anyway. 

YAY! it's the next day your dough has matured.

You have soaked your sultanas (US raisins) in *rum and water and reserved the water to make the glaze later on. I used bourbon because there ummm "wasn't any rum in the cupboard". 

Rose uses light Muscovado sugar in this recipe but says light brown sugar would be fine. Muscovado is quite flavourful and worth seeking out on your next grocery run. 

Another bowl holds the rest of your sticky bun filling of light muscovado sugar, white sugar, cinnamon and roasted chopped pecans ready to be stirred together. 

Next the sticky bun topping.  Light muscavdo, golden syrup and unsalted butter are brought to the boil.  I did add something extra, a good pinch of salt.  Cream is added before boiling again and pouring into the base of your cake pan.

I have a lot cake pans and even though Rose does include an extensive cake pan size guide in the book I never seem to have the right ones, Australian cake pans are differently sized.  So I went with a six cup sphere silicone mould and a non stick 22cm cake pan. There is supposed to pecans in the bottom of the pan/pans but due to FUSSY ha ha people that don't like whole nuts I caramelised pecans to serve separately. I popped a food ring in the centre on the non stick pan so I could make a bun wreath. 

You're up to rolling the dough out now,  it's a wonderfully easy dough to work with rolls out beautifully to the 14 by 12 inch (approx 35 by 30 cm) rectangle. 

The dough is brushed with beaten egg and the filling along with the drained sultanas are sprinkled over the surface. The dough is rolled using the ruler to help guide the role if necessary.  

The roll is cut into four pieces, intern each piece is cut into three giving you 12 spiral buns. Six went in the sphere moulds, six in the cake pan, both went off covered with oiled plastic wrap to a warm spot to rise once more.  

A glaze is made by reducing the reserved sultana water and adding butter.

Once the final rise is over, it's time to brush them with the *glaze and bake! Oh you did preheat the oven for an hour and placed inside a baking tray or oven stone to heat.  They took about 25 minutes and were covered with foil after the first ten so they didn't over brown. 

Here is the cake pan buns hot from the oven. Turned out after a few minutes so the bottom becomes the top.

Torn apart to peak at the interior of the buns.  The texture is light and airy. Flavours of cinnamon, toasted pecans complement the juicy bourbon sultanas and butter caramel topping.   

My favourite shape was the half sphere ones, the spiral pattern was distinctive and round and they had the cute domed tops or is that bottoms?

How I'd serve them: either traditional afternoon tea style, tea with lemon or modern as in top pic, adding generous swipes of Crème fraîche on the platter, extra caramel sauce, scatter the pecans, a few fresh raspberries and break your buns, dip in Crème fraîche, drizzle more caramel ... it's sticky and fun eating. Both traditional and modern I would add an "acid" component, even though the golden syrup is slightly acidic I like more so lemon in the tea, berries, Crème fraîche etc.  

Would I change anything: I want more booze or at the other end of the spectrum swap the alcohol out for verjuice. Not sure about the sultana water glaze, I'd probably omit that as I don't think it added much. If I didn't add salt to the caramel I would have used sea salt flakes on top. 

Rose's brioche recipe is my all time favourite for sweet and savoury applications, it's always light but sturdy enough to become a burger bun, buttery but not too buttery, hits all the right notes for a "doing that again"

Fun making my first sticky buns, ha ha I definitely have a gap in my baking repertoire "America" pretty much the whole of America. I always say "it's the first time I've baked.........".  

Happy Baking :)  

Today has been one of the 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers' bakes where a group of fabulous bakers get together and bake from the pages of 'The Bread Bible'.

 The Bread Bibleby Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores. 

You might also be interested in making a butterflies.   

or a little bit of happiness making the Partridge Family birds. 

Velvet chocolate spray and sphere piping tips.

red velvet sprayed chocolate decorations and sphere ruffle piping. 

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Ahhh ha, it might not be true love but I'm certainly enamoured with the "Russian" sphere tip that produces ruffles in one vertical squeeze of your piping bag. A real time saver for cake decorators and for the piping challenged... this is your tip! 

left to right: these tips were sold as large sphere, large sphere and small sphere. I used the centre tip today, finding the wider gaps piped a more pleasing ruffle. 

The tips are being sold as "Russian" or "Oriental" or just "Sphere" tips. There is a difference in manufacturers, the base diameters are the same in the ones I have tried but the gaps in the sphere differ in size between brands. 

All the tips fitted standard couplers.

Moving from a few dollars for a tip to many dollars for a can of cacao velvet spray.

Phew, these cans are pricey if I didn't have a birthday voucher I wouldn't have purchased this product. Having it now, it's so much fun and results look fab... tastes nice too which is an oddity for red colouring. If you are running a food related business you will have access to wholesale prices and possible tax rebates depending on where you are. 

Velvet spray is cacao butter in a can or using a compressor and spray gun. My can is a product from Belgium and contains cocoa butter, white chocolate, lecithin, flavouring and colours. Used by chefs and chocolatiers to give a smooth velvet finish to chilled chocolate, mousse, ice-cream, you will see it used often in entremets and chocolate show piece flowers. 

Chill some chocolate... but not to point that I did here with ice starting to form... just until cold. 

I moulded simple chocolate hearts, piped a few chocolate squiggles and popped them in the freezer to chill.  The spray can has to be at 25 cel or warmer room for a few hours, you'll hear the ball-bearing inside the can just like spray paint when you shake it. Set up a spraying box (I just used a cardboard box lined with baking paper) to protect your benches/kitchen from a velvet coating. Hold the can 25cm above what you want to spray, place you items close together, but not touching. Spray lightly in a sweeping motion, starting just before the beginning of your item and finished just after, exactly the same way you would use a spray paint can. Repeat as necessary. 

If the nozzle blocks it's easily removed, get it working again with a few seconds in a microwave or in hot water.

The velvet look contrasts beautifully with tempered shiny chocolate or used alone like on today's cupcake to add visual interest.

Use for special occasion baking, to add a luxury touch to wedding cakes and the like. I love the red for romance, Christmas and valentines day. 

Pros:  

Easy to use, if you can use a can of spray paint you can use velvet spray. 

Long life, my can has and almost two year best before date.

Convenient, just grab out the cupboard when ready to use.

Looks brilliant on chocolate to mousse. 

A little goes a long way.

Cans are available in assorted colours, red, milk chocolate, white chocolate etc.

Cons:

Cost, it's expensive at around $50 a can in Australia for this brand. 

Cans VS Compressor and spray gun: 

Both ways will cost you, if you just need need velvet spray for a special occasion a can is the way to go. If it's business the compressor and spray gun has a larger initial outlay, but gives you much more versatility in colour. 

Happy Baking :)

Dirt or Soil? Either way it's chocolate!! 2 ingredient chocolate soil. 

Flaky Scones: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

Flaky Scones 'The Bread Bible' 

Blame it on the Vegemite?? I'm feeling particularly like I'm from a foreign land, with these rich, flaky and moist (American) scones. The scones are nothing like the scones we, or the Country Women's Association bake in Australia.

I found these scones far, far too rich with cream and butter for my palate. A country to country difference perhaps, after all I start my day with black salty yeast paste spread liberally on toasted bread.  

The flaky scones began with whisking together flour, sugar, baking powder, bicarb (baking soda), salt. I added the zest of a lemon too.  

Chilled cubed butter was added by pressing with my fingertips to form large flakes. Cream was stirred in until the mixture was moistened and starting to come together in large clumps.

Currants were then added and after a brief knead the dough was turned out onto a board.

1. Sultanas 2. currants 3. raisins... the three mainstay dried grapes in Australia. Currants are my favourites! The first written record of the thin skinned tiny grapes was in 75 AD, making them one of the oldest raisin varieties. The currants I used today are from the Carina varietal, a tangy plump currant perfect for currant buns and scones.

Back to the scone dough which is rolled out into a 8x12 inch rectangle.  

The dough is folded in thirds, rotated, rolled out again this step is repeated three more times. Refrigerating between turns for 15 minute intervals if your pastry is becoming too soft and sticking. 

My friends daughter Emma told me this week that high school Food technology does not let you make scones or muffins due to the processes being too simple, I would presume the lamination of these scones would make them the exception to that rule. What you are doing here is similar to making rough puff, trapping those steam producing cold butter flakes in the dough.  

Now it's time for cutting, your pastry is trimmed and cut into 2 pieces measuring 4 inches by 12 inches. Rose calls for triangles, four in total to be cut from each piece. Scraps are re-rolled and cut. 

I cut two round scones from the scrapes (the traditional shape of scones in Australia) with my vintage, well and truly vintage cutter. It wasn't only cooking I learnt at technical trade (alternative high school), I also had shop classes like woodwork and sheet metal... been using this scone cutter every since. 

Bake!! The scones are baked on baking trays placed on a pre heated baking stone or tray in a hot oven until golden. The resulting scones are moist, flaky but yet "substantial", my Mum would have said "rib sticking". Deep golden bottoms and lightly golden flaky top with a moist and flaky interior, these scones are best eaten warm or reheated following Rose's instructions.

Flaky scones might not be my cup of tea but they could be yours! That is the great thing about Rose's 'The Bread Bible' and the subsequent Bread Bible Bakers group, trying out new recipes and you're sure to find something for everyone.  

The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores.

Happy Baking :)  

You might also be interested in a food processor White Chocolate Plastique recipe

You might also be interested in something savoury with Shark Nuggets 

Blueberry muffins: Rose's Bread Bible Bakers

going, going, gone.  blueberry muffins. 

Going, going, gone!!   Well, I've just eaten my first ever blueberry muffin which coincides with my first blog post for the brand new bread baking group... 'Rose's Bread Bible Bakers'.

Same format as previously; once a month baking from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Bread Bible'. However, this time there is a few new bakers and we are starting earlier in the book.  I'm so happy to be involved, and looking forward to sharing my experiences. 

Oh and the rest of 'The Lone Baker' blog will continue as per usual with chocolate, fondant and the like. 

"It's a quick bread" 

In Australia I don't believe we generally think of muffins as quick breads or something to have for breakfast... it's more "like cakes, but not as good"... or at least that's how I think of them. I could count the muffins I've eaten in my life on one hand, until today that is when I've started the "other hand" with these ....

Blueberry Muffins

It began with butter, sugar and lemon zest being beaten together until light and fuffy. Egg and vanilla were added. 

Then flour was whisked together with baking soda (bi-carb to Australians) and salt. 

Oooo I know people that don't do the whisk or sift step (you know who you are!). Whisking makes for an even bake if the raising agent is evenly incorporated. 

The flour mixture plus some sour cream were then folded alternatively into the whipped butter mixture.

The resulting batter is thick.

Blueberries Ok they were supposed to be tiny in season Maine blueberries, instead in Australia as blueberries are out of season I've used large frozen blueberries. 

Once I folded through my "land of the giants" blueberries in their frozen state as to not stain the batter too much. I then used to an ice cream scoop to portion the batter into muffin cases. 

Nutmeg laced sugar was scattered over the top of the muffins. 

Rose called for fresh nutmeg, I used my microplane to grate a little nutmeg.

Nutmeg fruit photo courtesy of wikipedia.

Nutmeg fruit, contains this seed... the red you can see is "mace", under the mace is a seed similar to a stone fruit... that's the part that is dried and sold as nutmeg. 

Here just starting to fill the empty cake pan holes with water as Rose suggests. 

Then they were baked, five minutes longer for mine because they contained frozen berries.

Eating time, bite through the buttery sugar crust into the open textured but soft and moist interior, where you pick up hint of lemon and a burst of warm blueberry (mine were giant bursts of blueberry!!). The nutmeg flavour is more of a whisper than a shout but adds a bit of the "oh what is that flavour?"

Loved the blueberry muffins warm, not so much cold, so I'd eat them quick or reheat later on. Rose has reheat instructions in the book.

The Bread Bible  by Rose Levy Beranbaum is available from Amazon and all discerning book stores.

Happy Baking :)  

You might also be interested in individual chocolate pavlovas

or no bake Speculoos (Biscoff) tarts

Sacaduros 'The Bread Bible' Alpha Bakers

Sacaduros:  crisp crusted, soft interior dinner roll with a burst of salty butter. 

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“But he who dares not grasp the thorn Should never crave the rose.” -Anne Brontë

Dang, I had a "dinner roll shaping problem" this week. These little dinner rolls are Rose Levy Beranbaum's favourites from restaurant 'Daniel' New York. Thanks to the 'Bread Bible' I got to make them, firstly lets see what they are supposed to look like ....

Serious eats has a fabulous gallery of bread baskets in New York, including the bread basket from restaurant 'Daniel'. You can see the sacaduros front left, those round rolls were what I was aiming for. Mine didn't have the "petal like" pulled up sides you see pictured here. Even though I experienced "folding fail" the resulting dinner rolls are so incredibly delicious I can live with my misshapen little fellas.  

Here we go...

Three quarters of a dough batch from Rose's 'Basic Hearth Bread' was called for so I started by whisking together bread flour, wholemeal flour, instant yeast, honey and warm water for the sponge (dough starter). 

Bread flour combined with instant yeast was sifted over the sponge and left to ferment. 

Sponge bubbling through the flour topping. 

I used my Kitchen Aid to beat the sponge, flour and added salt into a dough then off to rise once more.

Cubed butter and salt are needed for the filling.

Fleur de Sel French salt: distinctly moist and often used as a finishing salt. 

I also made a flavoured butter by adding fresh coriander, garlic, chilli and grated ginger to softened butter. The butter wasn't whipped as in the standard compound butter technique but rather the flavourings were beaten in with a wooden spoon as to not incorporate excess air. Form the butter into a square and refrigerate before cutting into cubes. 

Time for pinching off 33 gram balls of dough (Rose recommended one at a time, I did four at a time... maybe my downfall part) and gently flattened balls into discs.  A half inch cube of butter and a pinch of fleur de sel on top of the butter are placed in the centre of each flattened ball.

And then I started talking about napkins:  I'm presuming the folds in the rolls were inspired by Escoffier's famous "rose" fold napkin technique, including "pulling" up pieces to form petals. 

Shaping the rolls; pull two sides of dough out and fold bringing them to the centre to cover the butter without squashing it down, then pull out the other two sides and bring to centre. Rotating the dough so a pointed end is facing you, repeat the folds.  Then in the written instructions there is "for the last two pulls, take only pinches of dough". The diagrams don't have this bit in my Kindle version. I was confused and also my dough did not want to stretch for those final two pulls. I tried to force it (yep, ok shouldn't do that) and ended up with my misshapen rolls that were placed upside down in a tray of flour. 

About a third of the rolls burst in the oven and the butter leaked, these were my "I bet I could stretch that dough with brute force" ones.     

At the end I had sacaduros with super thin hard and crunchy crusts that gave way to light and fluffy interiors with bursts of salty butter. Shaping aside these are the best bread rolls I have baked, so pleased with crust and interior texture. The long oven pre-heat and other tips within the book are yielding excellent results. 

Would I bake again? Yes, loved them. You could do so many different butters/flavours by changing herbs and seasonings. From a straight garlic butter to a lime zest black pepper butter, lemon and dill, black olive, or vanilla salt and butter to go with your scallops and white fish. 

Would I change anything? Yes, I wouldn't do the flour on top step, messy stuck in lipstick eating. Ha, ha if I folded them correctly next time that would be nice.  

How it works... joining the fabulous existing alpha bakers, once a month I will post about what I have baked from Rose Levy Beranbaum's 'The Bread Bible'. I will be posting how it went and photos of making/baking the gorgeous baked goods.

Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Bread Bible available from Amazon and all discerning book sellers. 

Happy Baking :) 

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