Whole Wheat Ciabatta – Not Bad, Which is Great!

I’ve never had much of a taste for whole wheat bread, which is not surprising if you grew up during the Wonder Bread years. Whole wheat flour is significantly stronger tasting, and its earthy, bitter aftertaste is the reason white flour is the much preferred choice for, well, everything.

Besides the taste, it’s also a little harder to work with, and fairly easy to turn out something with a density that would make a brick blush. But, thanks to many years of requests, I decided to give the old no-knead ciabatta a higher-fiber makeover. Since I don’t have much whole wheat baking experience, I did what any good chef would do…I didn’t do any research, and just tried to figure it out.

I was quite happy with the taste and texture, and going 50/50 with the all-purpose flour provided just enough of that crusty, chewy “normal” bread experience, and we still get a decent amount of whole grain.

The procedure is straightforward, but as I point out in the video, pay attention to when you start. I recommend doing the sponge in the afternoon, mixing the dough at night, and baking it in the morning. Speaking of which, be sure to dust your dough with flour before covering. I didn’t, and had a little sticking problem.

I know many of you have made and enjoyed the traditional ciabatta bread we posted, so I’m looking forward to hearing from those of you who give this whole wheat version a try. Please let me know, and as always, enjoy!

Ingredients:

For the sponge:

1 cup tepid water

1/4 tsp dry active yeast

1 oz (1/4 cup) rye flour (you can sub wheat flour)

2.25 oz (about 1/2 cup) all-purpose flour

2.25 oz (about 1/2 cup) whole wheat flour

let sit until very bubbly, about 5 hours

Then add:

1/2 cup room temp water

1 3/4 tsp fine salt

1 1/2 tsp honey

1 tbsp polenta

1 tbsp ground flax seed

2 tbsp shelled sunflower seeds

4.5 oz (about 1 cup) all-purpose flour

4.5 oz (about 1 cup) whole wheat flour
-Bake at 450 F. for 30-35 minutes

Focaccia di Recco – Treating Myself

When I treat myself to a personal “food wish,” it’s usually something I’ve eaten out and become obsessed over, and this episode is a classic case. There’s a Ligurian restaurant called Farina near us, and I’ve become a full-blown focaccia di Recco stalker. 

After watching them make it in front of me so many times, I had to give it a try. It doesn’t look like the focaccia most of us are used to, but come to find out, “focaccia” simply means any flatbread cooked in a hearth, and varies region to region.

This particular example hails from Recco, and is nothing more than some Stracchino cheese trapped in between two, super-thin layers of dough. The dough is nothing more than flour, water, olive oil, and salt; but thanks to a very hot oven, and this probably ancient technique, some serious flatbread magic happens.

As I confess in the video, I was scared to use too much cheese, but I’ll use more next time. At Farina, you can see a thin layer of the molten Stracchino oozing out between the layers. My Crescenza cheesewas basically absorbed, but while you couldn’t see it, you could certainly taste it, and it was amazing.

The obvious question is, can you add other fillings to this? Yes, but don’t. It’s perfect…as long as you find the cheese. Please, find the cheese (no substitutions will be offered #toughlove). 

 By the way, I’m officially recommending the quarter sheet pan seen herein, which is what they use in the restaurant, but I think a round tart pan would work as well. In fact, from what I see online, the round pan seems to be the standard. I can’t wait to try this again, and sincerely hope you give it go as well. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 2 small or 1 large Focaccia di Recco (Tip for first timers: Make a double batch of dough so you have plenty to work with!)

*2 cups all-purpose flour (9.5 by weight)

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp water           

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 tsp fine salt

*use enough flour to form a soft, but not too sticky dough. Knead for about 5-6 minutes to from a smooth, elastic dough. Let rest 1 hour at room temp.

12 oz Crescenza or Stracchino cheese (6 oz for each focaccia) 
extra virgin olive oil and sea salt, to taste for the top

Bake at 500 degrees F.for about 6-7 minutes, or until well-browned

Cream Biscuits – The Best Biscuit to Risk It

Every year, you dream about putting out fresh, homemade biscuits on the holiday table; but fear of failure, and the convenience of those popping fresh tubes, makes it nothing more than an annual fantasy. Then, you found out about these cream biscuits.

Instead of cutting butter into the flour, we’re using butterfat-laced heavy cream, which not only makes the recipe fast and easy, but also produces a biscuit that’s light, moist, and flaky. To that end, try and get some self-rising flour. You can make your own (see below), but for whatever reason, the pre-mixed stuff seems to work better. 

As far as cutting goes, I don’t like to roll the dough too thin just to get more cuts. I do it about 5/8-inch thick, cut six nice biscuits, and then use the trimmings to get 4 or 5 more. You can get 12, but that depends on the exact size of your cutter. The nice thing about this dough is that re-rolling doesn’t seem to damage the texture.

If you do decide to raise your biscuit game this holiday season, maybe think about adding some chopped rosemary or sage to the melted butter. That would add some extra aromatic savoriness, not to mention make your kitchen smell really good. I hope you give these easy cream biscuits a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for 10-12 Cream Biscuits:

2 cups self-rising flour (You can make you own by sifting together 2 cups of all-purpose flour with 1 tablespoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon fine salt)

1 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2-3 tbsp melted butter
Bake at 500 F. for 10 to 12 minutes, or until well-browned

Farinata – Why Didn’t You Wish for This Sooner!

The third best part of this job, after the fame and fortune, is learning about unique, new foods; and this farinata video is a perfect example! Until it was requested by a Vlad Kiperman (if that is his real name), I had no idea this tasty, and dead simple recipe even existed. It’s so good, I’m kind of sad the discovery came so late in life.

Farinata is nothing more than a simple garbanzo bean flour batter, which is spiked with olive oil and salt, and baked in a very hot oven. The surface gets crusty, the edges get crispy, and yet the inside stays moist and sort of creamy. The texture is easy to explain, but the taste, not so much.

This is so simple and subtly flavored that it’s a kind of hard to describe. You may be familiar with the taste of garbanzo (aka chickpeas) in things like hummus and falafel, but here it’s not combined with other strongly flavored ingredients, and so you’re getting pure, un-cut bean. It’s going to be easier for me if you just make it and taste for yourself.

Like I said in the video, if you’ve never made this before, you should probably try a plain version to get an idea of what this stuff is all about, but after that, the sky's the limit. The options for add-ons to the batter, as well as potential toppings are virtually limitless. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Pan Note: I know many will ask, so I’ll just say it now; yes, you can use any oven-safe 10-inch pan to make this, but I have a tough time believing it will come out as wonderfully textured as it would if you use a cast-iron skillet. Putting the batter into a smoking hot pan seems to be one of the big keys here.

Ingredients for 6 portions (one 10-inch cast iron pan):

2 cups lukewarm water

1 1/2 cups garbanzo bean flour (aka chickpea flour)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt (about 1 tsp fine table salt)

1/2 tsp finely minced rosemary leaves, optional

5 tbsp olive oil, divided (use 3 tablespoons for the batter, and 2 tablespoons for the pan)

freshly ground black pepper to taste

Gluten-Free and Loving It

By the way, since this is made from a legume-based flour, farinata is 100% gluten-free, which should make a small, but very passionate group of foodwishers happy. My usually modus operandi when it comes to such requests and questions is a referral to Allrecipe.com’s impressive, and extensive gluten-free recipe collection, or one of my many talented GF food blogger friends. 

Speaking of which, Shauna and Danny from Gluten-Free Girl (the Beyonce and Jay-Z of GF bloggers), have a new cookbook out called, Gluten-Free Girl Every Day. If you happen to swing that way, check it out. The recipes sound wonderful, the photos are gorgeous, and the book’s getting rave reviews.

Building a Bigger Baguette

People are asking if you can make larger loaves, and the answer is a definite yes. Here you see a batch of dough made into two larger baguettes, which took about 20 minutes to bake, I think. I should have timed it for you, but I was mesmerized by their beauty as I kept peeking to see if they were done, and never checked the clock. It's hardly my fault.

You can also make one giant loaf, but may want to reduce the temperature to 450 F., since the baking time is going to be longer, maybe 35-40 minutes or so. By the way, you can always test with a thermometer, and pull the bread at an internal temperature of 190-200 F. Enjoy!

Perfect French Baguette at Home – Only Impossible If You Don’t Try It

Whenever someone asked me why I hadn’t done a baguette video yet, I’d tell them because you just can’t recreate an authentic loaf of French bread at home. 

I’d explain about the water, the flour, the centuries old starters, and the steam-injected ovens. I told them what I’d been told; that it was simply impossible, or as the French say, "impossible!"

That was, until I actually tried to make some. Much to my amazement, not only was it possible, it was really pretty simple. The key is water. That goes for the dough, and the baking environment. The dough must be very sticky, as in hard-to-work-with sticky. This is nothing well-floured fingers can’t conquer, but I did want to give you a heads-up.

Besides the water content in the dough, the oven must also be moist. This humidity, in addition to some occasional misting will give the crusty baguettes their signature look. How does this work? You know how when someone pours water on the rocks in a dry sauna, and suddenly it feels way hotter? It probably has something to do with that.

Anyway, who cares why it works, the important thing here is that real, authentic, freshly-baked baguette is now an everyday reality. One thing worth noting; I adapted this no-knead version from a recipe I found herelast year. The original is in metric, so I’ve converted it, but also included the original flour and water units in case you want to get it exact. I hope you give this easy, and so not impossible baguette recipe a try soon. Enjoy!

For 4 smaller or 2 large baguette:

1/4 tsp dry active yeast (I used Fleischmann's Rapid Rise Yeast)
(Note: if you want to use a traditional bread technique, add the whole package of yeast (2 1/4 tsp) and proceed as usual)

1 1/2 cups water (325 grams)

1 3/4 tsp salt

18 oz by weight all-purpose flour (500 grams), about 4 cups

- Mix dough and let rise 12-14 hours or until doubled

- Punch down and shape loaves, let rise covered with floured plastic 1 to 1 1/2 hr or until almost doubled

- Bake at 550 F. about 15 minutes or until well-browned

- Spray with water before baking, at 5 minutes, and at 10 minutes during cooking time

Cheesy Crackers – The Simple Joy of Homemade Crackers

Making homemade cheese crackers has never been very high on my must-do baking list, but with entertaining season rapidly approaching, I decided to give it a try to see just how vastly superior they are to their store-bought cousins.

I’m happy to report that they are better anything I’ve ever had out of a factory-sealed package. They have a much better texture with more crunch, and way more real, cheesy flavor. The only thing they have less of is ingredients; like by 45 to 5.

By the way, these cheesy crackers are based on a recipe I found on my friend, Joy the Baker’s blog. If you’re not familiar with her fine work, I encourage you to go check her out. She’s one of my favorites!

As far as the cheese goes, I went with three parts sharp cheddar to one part Parmigiano-Reggiano. I’m giving the cheese measurements below in weight, as the proportions to the rest of the ingredients are critical, and as you’ll see in the clip, measuring by cup is highly inaccurate. Since I used a fine grater on the very dry, hard cheese, it looks like well over a half-cup of cheese, but in fact was only one ounce.

This is why when recipes call for a cup of Parmesan cheese, some people will be adding 2-oz of cheese, and others 4-oz, simply depending on how they grated the cheese and packed the cup. But, when portioning cheese by weight, one ounce is always one ounce. 

Okay, I feel better. I hope you give these delicious homemade cheese crackers a try soon. Enjoy!

Ingredients for about 36 crackers:

(Note: This is a half recipe, you should double to make enough for a party)

Based on this recipe from Joy the Baker

2 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter

3 ounces sharp cheddar cheese, grated (about 3/4 cup lightly packed)

1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, finely grated (about 1/3 cup lightly packed)

1/2 tsp paprika

pinch of cayenne

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup all-purpose flour (2.25 oz by weight)

1 tablespoon cold water

Cronuts! Part 2: The Sights and Sounds

As promised, here’s the finale to our two-part cronut extravaganza! The series concludes with me frying the two batches – the first half fried as prepared in the last video, but the second half of the dough received an additional tri-fold, which resulted in a much higher, but less crispy cronuts.

Both were very good, and the second batch was more impressive looking, but I’m thinking that for a true croissant/doughnut hybrid, thinner and with less layers may be the way to go. 

Of course, if you’re going to fill yours with vanilla custard, as is the custom in NYC, then the taller, airier cronut is probably a better delivery system. Rest assured, further exploration is inevitable.

In case you’re wondering, the second half of the dough was frozen overnight, and then thawed in the fridge until soft enough to work with, so it seems as though making and freezing this would not be problem. I hope you give this a try soon. Enjoy!

Note: These cronuts were fried in grapeseed oil, at 350 degrees F. for about 1 1/2 to 2 minutes per side. Click here to watch Part 1.

View the complete recipe