THE DARING BAKERS OCTOBER CHALLENGE: 

Layering Up: Mille-feuille/Napoleon

Our October 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Suz of Serenely Full. Suz challenged us to not only to tackle buttery and flaky puff pastry, but then take it step further and create a sinfully delicious Mille Feuille dessert with it!

This is just the reason I joined the Daring Bakers, to make this kind of thing, the things I've looked at (and eaten) and always fancied making but thought they were really complicated.
These delicious slices are also known as Napoleons, and in New Zealand and Australia as custard squares, vanilla slices or pastry cream slices.
Here was my chance to make Mille-feuille ( say Meel Foy), starting off with making the puff pastry. Mille-feuille means a thousand leaves - all the layers of the pastry. Quite confusing really and nobody had the answer - because in Mille-feuille the pastry is compressed during cooking to prevent the layers from puffing up too much - so you don't see the layers ???
Making the pastry was time consuming  but not difficult and it had a 
wonderfully smooth texture - I'm going to make it again and use in a recipe where it puffs up, I'm expecting a good result.

Creme patisserie is spread between the pastry layers and topped with icing.

Melted chocolate is next and piped in lines along the top - this didn't have to be too precise, which suited me just fine.

The next part was just magic - I'd never researched making Mille - Feuille so always thought those swirly  arrows were amazingly intricate piping work - but all was to be revealed!

By simply lightly drawing a knife up and down alternately through the lines of chocolate those swirly arrows appear - this was my best part :) I never knew.

This was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge for me - Suz was a great host giving feedback to every one who shared their results during the month - thanks Suz for a great challenge.

Recipe and step by step instructions can be found here .

The Daring Bakers

August 2012 Challenge: 

FILLED PATE A CHOUX SWANS

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild! 
Recipe here

Since I was about 10 years old I've always wanted to make choux swans. I 

first saw them in a recipe book that belonged to my older sister. They looked so special, I hardly believed it was possible to make them at home. the recipe book was called Cooking Better all the Time - Katie Stewart 1966 London - I used to love looking through the pages - although the food styling and photos are now 46 years old - the pictures were very enticing.

So I was delighted when I saw this month's challenge for the Daring Bakers. I hadn't made  choux pastry for years but remembered from years ago when I made a lot of it - that you kind of get a feel for it and know the correct texture and consistency of the mixture.

This mixture was quite thin - it probably didn't need so much egg. I read in another recipe book to add the eggs 1 at a time when making choux, look at the mixture after each addition - sometimes it doesn't take all the eggs. Alternatively  if the mixture is too thick it can be thinned with an egg white or two - added one at a time.

I filled my swans with the Vanilla Creme Patissiere (in the recipes given) and Chantilly Cream.

This was a fun challenge ! I must make choux pastry more often :) 

THE DARING BAKERS' JUNE 2012 CHALLENGE: 

Going Batty for the Jubilee

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.


I had always looked at these cakes and thought "intricate" - "too hard" - "professional baker" ! So when Mandy challenged us with Battenberg Cake to coincide with The Queen's 60th Jubilee and highlighted Mary Berry's techniques I had to give it a go.


Recipe is here


There were a few hiccups and I ended up calling my posting on the site



Honey I Shrunk The Battenburg !


I used this tin that I have had for about thirty years and had never before used the divider - perfect I thought but didn't double my batter - hence the very shallow sponges. The tin was about 8 1/2 inches square.

I didn't use ground almonds (allergy) , so made the sponges plain - one vanilla, one coffee. Although small they were nice sponges. Had decided to make the white chocolate plastique and did - but it did not turn out well!

No amount of kneading was going to make this sorry mess pliable. In true British Commonwealth spirit I Kept Calm and Carried On! I decided to cover my miniature Battenburg in the Coffee Butter Cream ( as I don't like Marzipan and it contains almond)

Despite its size - almost Petit Four - the taste was excellent

Check out the site until about July 15 to see some of the wonderful examples of Battenburg

http://thedaringkitchen.com/

Wholemeal Ginger Crunch

from Jo Seagar's book The Cook School Recipes

This is a delicious slice, almost addictive, that I've been making lately - as with all Jo's recipes it is really easy with spectacular results.Extra nice because of the chopped crystallised ginger and wholemeal flour in the base.

Recipe

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a 20cm X 30cm slice tin with baking paper

Base

150 g butter

2 tablespoons golden syrup

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup long thread coconut

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup wholemeal flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup chopped crystallised ginger

Melt butter, golden syrup and brown sugar over a low heat. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl and pour in melted ingredients. Mix all together and press the mixture into the prepared tin.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Icing/Topping
100 g  butter
6 tablespoons golden syrup
2 1/2 cups icing sugar
3 teaspoons ground ginger

Melt butter and golden syrup, beat in ginger and icing sugar. Pour over still-warm base.

Chill before cutting into 24 pieces (I got 32 healthy size pieces!!)

Enjoy !

THE DARING BAKERS' MAY 2012 CHALLENGE: Challah Back, Y'all!

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

I got to the challenge really late this month but had been keeping an eye on the postings during the month. Lots of DBers were reporting that this challenge was easier than it looked and it was so much fun and that's the truth.


Ruth had given a lot of background about the history and cultural meaning around Challah which can be found here, there and over there.She had even made several videos on how to braid the dough into loaves,round loaves and rolls.


I used half of the Honey Challah Recipe

THE DARING BAKERS' APRIL 2012 CHALLENGE: 

Armenian Nazook & Nutmeg Cake

The Daring Bakers’ April 2012 challenge, hosted by Jason at Daily Candor, were two Armenian standards: nazook and nutmeg cake. Nazook is a layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling, and nutmeg cake is a fragrant, nutty coffee-style cake. 


I only got to making the Nutmeg Cake (without the nuts). It's quite a plain looking cake but has a great flavour and was just fine without the nuts. Also it is really easy to make in a stand mixer. Follow the instructions for the food processor version - a stand mixer will rub butter into flour - remove half the mixture as per the recipe and continue mixing the other half in the bowl.


Here is the link to the recipe

Try this cake - it is wonderful !

THE DARING BAKERS' JANUARY, 2012 CHALLENGE: BACK TO BASICS: SCONES (A.K.A. BISCUITS)

Scones Scones and More Scones

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

Scones - loved this challenge - have been brought up making scones as many my age in NZ have - they are a staple. One of the first things most of us learned to bake in school cooking lessons too.
Watching the video of the host's lovely sister brought back memories of my chldhood in 1960s NZ - it was just like; watching Mum, watching my aunties, watching my friend's mothers, watching the neighbourhood women "knock up a batch of scones" - probably not PC to say that now.

I know women who are now in their 70s and 80s who make the most wonderful scones and don't even measure anything - I guess decades of practise makes perfect - they are amazing to watch - just shake the flour out of the bag - scoop some butter off the block and they are away - pour the milk in from the bottle/carton - usually cut them into squares or rectangles - glaze them with milk - into a "hot" oven and voila !- an awesome batch of scones.

I tried the challenge basic recipe and also made three others that are tried and true - one especially for people who don't care for "rubbing in".

First batch of challenge Basic Scones (a.k.a. Basic Biscuits) made- turned out pretty well as scones go - nice texture and very light, not a hint of baking powder taste. Well recieved by home tasters

In 2011 there was a TV show screened here in NZ called The Great British Bake Off and in one of the episodes the contestants had to make scones and I took a few notes from the judges - one in particular said - "only egg wash or glaze to the edge of the top - don't let it drip down the sides as this prevents rising or causes uneven rising" - for what it's worth



Healthy Food Guide Scones

These next scones are made from a recipe out of the New Zealand Healthy Food Guide - meant to be a slightly more healthy version of a scone - use margarine, low fat milk and yoghurt. Whether or not they are healthier is a discussion for another day - but why I use this recipe is that the margarine is really easy to rub in and they make a fantastically light scone. I've also used them at school for when I take cooking lessons with my class - they are fail-proof. It is a very wet mixture, I wouldn't even attempt to use a cutter, just a sharp knife. This recipe halves easily. Link to recipe below




NZ Healthy Food Guide Plain Scone Recipe

Griddle - Girdle SconesMy Mum often made "girdle" scones for us to have as morning tea in the weeknd or during school holidays / vacations - good filling food for active kids ! As you don't need an oven they are great for camping etc. If you don't have a griddle an electric frypan does the job. There's a bit of history around gridle / girdle - this posting in Lisa's (Sunday Hotpants) blog tells the story really well (go to Index and look under scones for Girdle Scones). I used her recipe which is a fairly stock standard one for griddle/girdle scones in Zew Zealand.




Girdle Scones
- variation from the Edmonds cookbook.

Note: this is not a sweet scone - the mix is plain, if you like a sweet scone you may add 3 Tblspns sugar in the dry ingredients stage.

1 cup flour
2 tspns baking powder
1 Tblspn of butter
pinch of salt
1/2 cup of currants
aprox 1/2 cup of milk
Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl

Cut or rub in the butter until it resembles fine breadcrumbs

Add enough milk to make a soft dough and shape into a circle on a lightly floured board. Roll out to roughly 1.5 cm (1/2 an inch) thick and cut into eight wedges.

Cook on a hot greased girdle, hotplate or frying pan until golden and cooked in the centre - this will be roughly 5 minutes on each side.

Snuggle them up on the girdle arranged in the same way you cut them.

When you turn your scone wedges place them gently on the hot surface and only turn once.
Serve hot from the pan, slathered in your favourite jam.

If You Don't Like Rubbing Butter Into Flour ......these are the scones for you
The recipe is from Dame Alison Holst - a New Zealand cooking icon. It is easily scaled - I made a half recipe but used a little more milk than half.Following is the recipe with a note from her;


My Mother’s Date Scones
No one could make scones better than my mother. They melted in your mouth. Sometimes, over a weekend, she’d make six batches of scones, feeding all and sundry.
2 cups high grade flour (bread flour) – spoon the flour into your measuring cup without packing it
½ tsp salt
2 level Tbsp baking powder
½ cup dates (chopped in half)
50 g butter (melted)
¾ cup milk

1. Sift dry ingredients into a medium sized bowl.
2. Add chopped dates.
3. Add milk to melted butter and stir into dry ingredients. Careful not to over-mix. Mixture should be lumpy.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Pat into a rectangle shape (work with dough as lightly as possible). Should make 6 to 8 good sized scones.
5. Spray oil onto a baking tray. Place scones closely together to the tray and bake at 225°C for 10 to 12 minutes, until tops are golden.