September 2011 Daring Baker Challenge = FRESH, FLUFFY, FRENCH

I was so thrilled when the challenge this month was Croissants, As they are on my baking bucket list (see for yourself). So I finally had an excuse to make them. Although, it would've been easier in a cold-weather spell.... Can't wait to try this again in the winter, now that I have done it once, I can learn from my mistakes. Not that there were many mistakes, They tasted AMAZING.

Thanks for the great Challenge Sarah!

Blog-checking lines: The Daring Bakers go retro this month! Thanks to one of our very talented non-blogging members, Sarah, the Daring Bakers were challenged to make Croissants using a recipe from the Queen of French Cooking, none other than Julia Child!



In the recipe notes, Sarah included a link to a Julia Child video on YouTube, which was VERY helpful, and pretty entertaining. I had just watched Julie and Julia a few days before I got this challenge also! Great Timing.



As Usual, I'm going to send you to the Daring Kitchen website to find the pdf file of this months challenge. Sarah included a ton of step by step photo's that were very helpful.




My Croissants didn't last long at all. We ended up eating half of them right after they were done baking, and then the rest for breakfast the next morning. I can't wait to make these again! Again, Thanks Sarah for giving me a reason to finally make Croissants!

Cornish Pasties

In 2007, I went a little crazy, and made a decision to find a job in England and go see a different part of the world before I had a real life and people to try and make me stay.
So In 2008, I was in England. More specifically, In Cornwall... Which is very beautiful and I definitely recommend going and checking it out if you ever get a chance.

I lived in the little village of Lerryn... actually outside of it, and I worked part time at the village pub where I met some AMAZING people, and truly witnessed the kindness of strangers... And drank a lot of Rattler (and you should to if you go there... just avoid unstable picnic tables after a few pints)

This is the part where I show you a bunch of beautiful pictures from my trip and tell you about the seagull that harassed me for my fish and chips in Looe, or the most amazing Cornish Pasty I had in Fowey (go there too! Very cool village)... But I updated my computer, and I still haven't put my pictures back on it, so they are on my external hard drive, which I forgot at my parents house last time I was there... So you'll have to google these places, or just harass me enough to put pictures up here.


Anyway... I've been a little nostalgic about England lately... My cousin is on a trip to Ireland, and a few days in London as well), and I am just a teeny bit jealous (however, she is a photographer, so you can check out her blog, She's put up some images already, and I'm sure there will be a ton more once she gets back)...
Where was I going with this???
hmmm
whatever... CORNISH PASTIES!!!

I made them
They are delicious
They are as close as I have tasted to the best one ever that I had in Fowey
So I'm pretty proud

REALLY proud actually
Not enough to work on my Cornish (pirate) accent... But pretty damn proud
So you should make them too
No idea what a Cornish Pasty is? Watch this video on Youtube

(I don't want the Cornish Pasty society to get mad at me, so I guess these are Alberta Pasties)




Ingredients you will need:
Flour
Butter
Water
Steak meat, cut into small cubes (whatever cut you want, just make your pieces kind of small)
Potato
Turnip
Onion
Egg (lightly beaten)
Salt and Pepper (to season)

Make a shortcrust pastry... There is a video of Gordon Ramsey showing you how on youtube too... Here
I used the recipe Here on my first attempt, and then Ramsey's recipe in the video on my 2nd attempt
Note: I think my pastry could use a little work to get closer to the real thing. Will need to play with it a little more

So if you follow the directions in the video(s), while your pastry dough is in the Fridge resting, use that time to cut up all your meat and vegetables and get ready to roll out the dough

Roll out to about a 6-8" circle

load the meat and veggies in the middle, season with salt and pepper ( you can mix all the veg and meat together and season in a bowl if you want, but I think its easier and makes less dishes if you just load and season on the pastry circle)

add a small slice of butter on top

brush egg wash all around the outside of the circle


fold the edges together to make a semi circle (watch some videos on youtube for technique)

Make sure they are sealed and then crimp the edge

Put your pasties on a parchment lined baking sheet


brush with the egg wash

Put in a 400F oven for about 45 minutes... cut into one to make sure your meat is all cooked.

Let them cool for 10-15 minutes and then enjoy every delicious bite!

Cinnamon Buns!

Cinnamon Buns just might be my favourite comfort food. Whenever my mom would make cinnamon buns, I always got to make the cinnamon sugar and spread it on the rolled out dough. She let me try and roll the dough out too, But I would always get mad that I couldn't get into a rectangle.
I Love my mom's cinnamon buns, but honestly, the bun part is kind of boring. It is a bread machine recipe from a bread machine she no longer owns. Plus, making dough is easy... So i went on a hunt for a cinnamon bun dough that i liked, and I think I finally found it!

I followed the recipe from HERE almost exactly... So you should go there to check out the beautiful photo's she has. http://sweetapolita.com/2011/03/cinnabon-style-gourmet-cinnamon-buns/

I did have to change a few things... And I learned a very basic lesson also... Before making Cinnamon Buns... Make sure you are not going to run out of Cinnamon. (or milk for that matter)
Also, I just used All purpose flour, because I don't have any bread flour to add, and I used Butter instead of Margarine, because I like cows more than Canola... Cows don't produce pollen that makes me want to die and my throat try and close up.... (I'm not allergic to Canola.. just the pollen that it makes... btw, I'm not looking forward to spring/summer around here... Also, Canola plant's stink... worse than stink weed... worse than skunks... worse than towels when you forget about them in the washer and they sit there for a few days not that i would know *shifty eyes*)
ANYWAY onto the Buns...

Cinnamon Buns with Cream Cheese Frosting

Dough:

1 (1/4 ounce) package dry yeast

1 cup warm whole milk (I used 2%... and had JUST enough for the recipe)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup margarine (I used Butter)

1 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour (I used all AP flour)

Filling:

1 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

1/3 cup margarine (I used Butter) - Softened



For the Dough:
Warm the milk, then sprinkle yeast on top and let dissolve (about 10 minutes)
Add in all the ingredients except the flour into the mixer with the dough hook and beat at whatever speed you feel works for you (would probably be better to have used the paddle attachment for this part, and then switched to the dough hook after)
Add in the flour 1/2 cup - 1 cup at a time until formed into a smooth but slightly sticky dough.
Also, (if you have enough cinnamon... sprinkle a bit of cinnamon in the dough... That's what my mom always used to do, and it just gives it an extra bit of cinnamon flavour)
put in a greased bowl, covered with a towel and let rise for about an hour... Make sure you let it rise in a warm area (But if it is -40C outside in March where you live too, Then, just turn the oven on for a little bit so its warm in there...just make sure you shut it off and its not Too hot when you put the dough in there to rise.)

Once your dough has doubled in size, punch it down (this is my favourite part of making bread), then roll out to a large rectangle, about 1/4 inch thick... You could make them thicker or thinner, it just kind of depends on your taste.
Spread the softened butter on your rolled out dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar around.


Make sure to leave about an inch on one long side without any butter or sugar on it, so that you get a good seal (this doesn't seem important, but it kind of is, they just seem to taste better when they seal properly)

You can leave an untouched edge on the short sides too, but this just makes the 2 end pieces look a bit weird and have less sugar in them, so just do what you feel is best, since you'll be eating them.... Your counter stays a bit cleaner if you seal the end pieces though.
Roll up the dough tightly, making sure everything stays even.
When you get to the edge you left to seal the dough, pinch to seal and then you can kind of roll the entire log of dough, pushing the ends in so the size of everything is pretty uniform (otherwise your buns will not bake evenly)

Now, cut the log in half... then cut those halves in half, so you have 4 even pieces. Divide each of these 4 logs into 3 pieces, so you end up with 12.


You can either do this with a clean, very sharp knife, or the fun way... with a piece of string. Just take the string, put it under the dough-log, then wrap the string around, and pull tightly. Here is some inspiration

(hehe, you can see my camera's reflection on the knife)

Place the 12 pieces, swirl side up, on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet (or you can make them in glass baking dish... this is my mom's way, but I really like the way they turned out on the cookie sheet... so do whichever is easiest for you). Push them down slightly (so they are all the same height). Cover the tops with a piece of plastic wrap, and then a towel (i use the plastic wrap just so the towel doesn't stick to the buns, and so the buns don't become string and lint collectors)
Let the buns rise for another hour in a warm place (like the slightly heated oven)



Once they have risen, pre-heat the oven to 375 F and then pop them in there for 10-20 minutes until they are golden, then let them cool on a wire rack.


Your house will smell wonderfully like Cinnamon and fresh baked bread,


and If you are anything like me, you won't be able to wait until they are cool, and will be forced to do a "quality assurance" test.



During the 2nd rising (once they actually start to look like cinnamon buns), Make the Frosting:

Cream Cheese Frosting

4 oz Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 cup powdered sugar (or more if you need to firm it up a bit)
1 tsp vanilla

Let the cream cheese and butter sit at room temperature for a while, then beat them together with the paddle attachment of your mixer for about 5 minutes.
Switch to the whisk attachment and beat on high speed for about 10 minutes, slowly adding in the brown sugar during this time
Then add in your powdered sugar (a little bit at a time, unless you like cleaning up icing sugar from every surface in your kitchen), and then the vanilla. If you want/need it a little thicker, add more icing sugar, If you went a little overboard with the sugar, you can add a little water, but i would recommend not having to do this, and just being careful with your sugar additions.
Also, You could follow the Frosting Recipe on the other site, and I probably would've too, but I only had about a cup of icing sugar, and I didn't know until i was already making the frosting, AND I do like the taste that the brown sugar added... AND the colour it added as well.
Let the frosting chill in the Fridge while your buns are in the oven/cooling.

Don't frost the buns too soon, or your frosting will just melt and you will be disappointed that you wasted your time making pretty frosting for your pretty cinnamon buns. Patience is a virtue...



But if you truly can't wait, just taste the frosting with your quality assurance taste test sample... You can eat it before it melts into the bun that way. (see I've thought of everything)


Look at How long those Legs are getting.... 10 weeks old... Wilson can walk underneath her already




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