THE DARING BAKERS’ JUNE, 2011 CHALLENGE: FROM PHYLLO TO BAKLAVA!!

Erica of Erica's Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker's June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Never thought I'd be making phyllo pastry - wasn't difficult just fiddly and time consuming. Certainly something you could make very easily as the ingredients are so basic. I was pushed for time on this challenge and my phyllo sheets ended up sticking together after I rolled them despite using plenty of flour but I didn't have time to redo it. So although I layered the filling twice it's not a pretty picture.

Can't use nuts so made a filling of pumpkin seeds (pepitas), glace cherries, pomegranate molasses, cinnamon and allspice - yum!

Thanks to Erica for the challenge :)

THE DARING BAKER'S MAY CHALLENGE

MARQUISE ON MERINGUE

The May 2011 Daring Baker's challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of PurpleHouseDirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Here is my version of the challenge.

I made the 1/4 recipe and set my marquise in a loaf tin - made it easy to slice off like a terrine, also made almond brittle instead of the spiced almonds.

THE DARING BAKERS’ APRIL 2011 CHALLENGE:

MAPLE MOUSSE SERVED IN AN EDIBLE CONTAINER

Here’s my take on this month’s challenge. I nearly didn’t do the challenge this month due to shifting house at the very end of March, having no instructions left with the oven in the new house and the general chaos that accompanies a house move. But find it hard to let a chance to bake go by!

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container.
After a bit of thought I decided to make mini-pavlovas to contain the maple mousse. Both turned out fine but was a bit disappointed with the presentation – because I usually bake at night I didn’t put the mousse into the pavs until the next day – the mousse had set beautifully in the bowl but didn’t look so great spooned into the pavs.
It was also a very sweet combination and can appreciate the idea for having a savoury container

The mousse is a great recipe and thanks Evelyne for the challenge :)

THE DARING BAKERS FEBRUARY 2011 CHALLENGE: Here's to a Creamy Dreamy Crunchy Sweet February!

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Here’s my effort – Giada’s Vanilla Panna Cotta, Nestle Florentine Cookies with Watermelon Sorbet. We have recently been on a big trip (for us from New Zealand) to London – our grown up kids for Christmas had booked for us to visit two Gordon Ramsay restaurants in London and on both occasions we had panna cotta with watermelon sorbet – delicious – my inspiration for making the sorbet and of course watermelons are in abundant supply down here just now.

My Panna Cotta was very soft, I think due to the gelatine ( Davis brand– very limited range down here and no setting data on packet ) – when I make again I will increase the amount a little. But the texture was otherwise very smooth, tasted a little sweet for me though.

The Nestle Florentine Cookies turned out quite big and I certainly didn’t get the 2 ½ - 3 dozen stated in the recipe, also I used golden syrup in place of dark corn syrup. Also delicious but quite sweet.

I found the watermelon sorbet recipe on line and had fun making it – it teamed well with the quite rich Panna Cotta – our cream in New Zealand is really creamy.

I enjoyed this challenge – it wasn’t too complicated and I produced 3 things that I will most definitely make again and again either together or separately – thanks Mallory.

Download the printable .pdf of the challenge HERE!

A slide show of other Daring Bakers results can be seen here http://thedaringkitchen.com/

Daring Bakers' January 2011 Challenge

Biscuit Jaconde Imprime/Entrement

The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

This was all very new to me and a challenge - a challenge because at the moment I'm in a really busy phase, we have our house on the market - so it needs to be in a pristine state of tideness and decor perfection most of the time !!! Additionally I'm just starting back at work after a six week summer break, am busy preparing for the new school year and having professional development days. I almost opted out from this challenge but seeing I had last month thought I'd really challenge myself to achieve it.

The filling is a blackforest mousse - chocolate mousse made from scratch with cherries macerated in Grand Marnier, topped with whipped cream, fresh cherries and chocolate shavings - I used left over jaconde to make the base.

Haven't been able to upload other photos but will try again later :(

NOVEMBER 2010 DARING BAKER CHALLENGE: CROSTATA!

The 2010 November Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Simona of briciole. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make pasta frolla for a crostata. She used her own experience as a source, as well as information from Pellegrino Artusi’s Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well.

Short and Sweet

Am a short on time this month but this turned out sweet ! Fortunately the challenge is something I’ve made many of over time. I also watched my Mum make them time and time again – they were only ever called pies or tarts, but came in all flavours, sizes and varieties, with lattices and lids.
My in-house tasters report this was delicious.

OCTOBER DARING BAKERS CHALLENGE:

Let's Go Nuts for Doughnuts

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge the Daring Bakers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious -recipes here

Wow - this was really good fun. I made the first recipe by Alton Brown and made doughnuts with and without a hole. The dough really rose up as you can see and I took the advice of another experienced Daring Baker and added very little extra flour throughout the rolling and resting process. The dough is certainly silky !

I made sure the oil for deep frying (Alfa One Rice Bran ) was heated to the correct temperature and the doughnuts cooked so quickly - could only manage one in the pan at a time. Some Daring Bakers were concerned about frying and greasiness, I can honestly say that this recipe cooked in Rice Bran Oil is not in the least fatty or greasy - the crust is very thin and light.

I coated the ring doughnuts with cinamon sugar (1/2 cup caster sugar + 1 Tbs cinnamon).

The whole (round) doughnuts were injected with strawberry jam (preserve) and dusted with icing sugar (confectioner's, powdered).

This challenge was great ( thanks Lori)- it's really interesting making something at home that you have only ever tasted the commercial version of. I've been thinking about that a lot lately - of course most things were home baked before they were ever commercially produced but so often your first experiences of a product is the mass produced variety - I'm thinking especially about icecream - how delicious home-made is and doesn't have all those emulsifiers and additives - guess the same goes for doughnuts.

Look for other Daring Bakers' efforts here !