The Porky Gourmand » Baking

Petit Pain au Chocolat

Kiplagat — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 14:47:00 +0000

What is there not to love about this buttery & chocolaty pastry, when warm & served with coffee it is pure bliss. That said, if you keep buying this stuff all the time you will left broke & overweight but on the flip-side your baker’s bank stash will be ample. So it was for purely economic reasons that I had to figure out how to make this pastry for myself. I trawled the interwebs & my cookbooks for ideas, and adapted the recipe below from all the info I got. In the end, I saved some money, learnt that making a laminated dough is tedious work and satiated my sweet tooth.

“Quick” Recipe for Petit Pain au Chocolat

250 grams all purpose flour.
115 mls water.
125 grams unsalted butter.
25 grams caster sugar.
80 grams chocolate bar.
5 grams salt.
5 grams(1tsp) instant yeast.

In a large bowl combine flour, sugar, salt & yeast.
Add water to the dry ingredients, combine well to form a dough.
Cover the bowl & let in rise/ferment overnight in the fridge.
Next day, knock down the dough. Form into a ball.
Dust working surface with a little flour. Roll out four flaps, creating an envelope.
Flatten the cold butter by bashing it with a rolling pin, form the butter into a flat square.
Place the butter in the centre of dough envelope, close the flaps over the butter.
Using a rolling pin, roll the dough to seal the flaps together.
Roll out the dough into a long rectangle.
Fold the dough into thirds as if you are folding a letter. This is the first turn, cover the dough with plastic wrap & refrigerate for one hour.
After an hour, roll out the dough into a long rectangle then fold into thirds as if you are folding an letter. This is your second turn. Roll out the dough again into another long rectangle, fold into thirds like a letter and complete the third turn. Refrigerate the dough for another hour.
After an hour, roll out the dough into long rectangle, turn the dough 90 degrees so that the long edge is parallel to you.
Cut 6 cm strips of the dough, you should yield about 11 strips.
Break chocolate bar into 11 small pieces.
Place chocolate piece at the bottom of each strip. Roll the strips tightly, place on baking tray seam side down.
Brush with egg wash, made from one beaten egg & a pinch of salt.
Proof in oven with pilot light on for 90 minutes.
Take out the pain au chocolat from oven, preheat oven for 10 minutes at 220 degree celsius.
After the 10 minutes, place baking tray in oven & bake the pain au chocolat for 15 minutes.
Take them out from oven & cool on wire rack for about 15 minutes.
Enjoy!!!!

Macaroon

Kiplagat — Mon, 25 May 2009 19:46:57 +0000

This is what I got upto this weekend. I made my first batch of macaroons ever, they tasted good. Never having made macaroons before, this was a fun bumbling experience. Will make some more next weekend, hopefully the next batch will grow some cute macaroon feet. Watch out Pierre Herme lol!

I want to give a shout out to Illy @ SAVOURY AND SWEET, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN for his great tips on making macaroons.

Simplicity: Banana Bread

Kiplagat — Mon, 04 May 2009 18:31:00 +0000

Just wanted to share this amazing banana bread I made today. I got the recipe,from joyofbaking.com, this is my favourite banana bread recipe. Try it out, its great.

Cheddar margherita pizza with pimento meatballs

Kiplagat — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:49:22 +0000

This is a really fast pizza I made for lunch, it is assembled rather than cooked from scratch. This is the lazy pizza that tastes better than anything Debonairs pizza or Pizza inn in Nairobi can do IMO. It is probably cheaper too.

Grill ready made meatballs. I used the KMC(kenya meat commision) one’s, sprinkled some pimento, tumeric & coriander on the meatballs before grilling.
Using a pizza base from the supermarket, spread some ketchup on the base.
Add tomato slices.
Place basil leaves on top of tomato slices.
Slice meatballs into halves. Place meatball halves on top of the basil leaves.
Grate some cheddar cheese & sprinkle on top of pizza. The more mature the cheddar the bigger the flavour hit
Season with black pepper.
Baking 240 degree centrigrade oven for 8 minutes.
Presto…. Voila….. Mambo kwisha!
Eat it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Espresso almond biscotti

Kiplagat — Wed, 04 Mar 2009 17:42:32 +0000

Baking racks my mind at times, its either because it’s unforgiving or everyone seems to complain about how hard it is. I have not baked bread,cakes or biscuits long enough to develop my own internal compass. So every time I bake it’s a learning experience, however Harold McGee’s “On Food & Cooking” book has been a great help to understand the science behind the great alchemy going on.

I have always loved the twice baked italian biscotti, the recipe below is for espresso almond biscotti’s. I adapted this recipe from Gail Sokol’s About Professional Baking based on available ingredients & my taste preferences. The book is a great read, it is a baking science book, all the recipes have their scientific basis explained. I had brief access to this book last year, hoping to buy a copy this year.

Baking at Nairobi’s altitude does produce unexpected results to most recipes which have been developed at around sea level. What i’ve learned so far to bake at altitude.

Reduce leavening(yeast,baking powder) by about 25%
For sponge cakes, whisk eggs to soft peaks instead of hard ones.
Increase baking temperature by 10%, this helps set baking items quickly otherwise they will over expand.
Increase amount of liquid, to counter evaporation from increased temperatures.

Their is still plenty more for me to learn………..

My Ingredients for the espresso almond biscotti

225g all-purpose flour
75g whole wheat flour
2 tbsp instant expresso powder
1tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
100g silvered almonds
125g granulated sugar
zest of 1 lemon
2 large eggs
125mls vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

How I did it

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celcius. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flours, expresso powder, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and almonds. Set the mixture aside.
In another bowl whisk the two sugars, the zests, and the eggs until the mixture is slightly thickened.
Gradually add the oil, vanilla, and almond extracts.
Add the dry ingredients and blend until just combined.
Form the dough into a log approximately 35cm long by 8cm wide. Place onto a sheet pan covered with baking paper. The logs will rise and spread as they bake.
Bake the log for approximately 30-32 minutes or until they are firm but have little colour. The top of the logs should look crackled.
Allow the log to cool for 5 to 10 minutes and then cut each log crosswise on the diagonal into 2cm slices using a serrated knife. Place the slices cut side down on the same sheet pan.
Return the slices to the oven and bake for 4 minutes on each side. Cool completely.

Pizza Margherita

Kiplagat — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 18:00:54 +0000

My first pizza, margherita pizzas are simple & all flavours work perfectly together. This pizza is just my homemade dough, homemade tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella & extra virgin olive oil. The processed mozzarella was great, it’s from Browns Cheese. I have not been able to track down any fresh mozzarella in nairobi yet.

My home made bread – Whole meal boule

Kiplagat — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 14:17:06 +0000

I love baking bread by hand, it is a slow but rewarding process. This bread took about 4 hours to prepare & bake. I am still a novice at baking, but the results so far have been very rewarding. You cannot compare home baked bread to the commercial crap in the supermarket. The only bread I buy now are from little bakeries that do artisan style bread. The bread at these bakeries may cost more, the taste & craftsmanship justifies the premium.

The first bread I baked was a foccacia, it turned out so good I thought I was born baking. Second bread was a white boule, it was a total disaster….. really bad. I always try to get better with every bread, the perfect loaf seems elusive. I’ll get there on my 10,000th loaf……

Recipe for this boule

I have adapted this recipe for myself from a variety of sources. Still trying to achieve the perfect bread.

300 grams sifted whole meal flour

200 grams plain flour

250 ml water

100 ml milk(room temperature)

2 teaspoons instant yeast

1.5 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon caster sugar

Prep & Baking

Sift flour into large bowl. Add salt,yeast & sugar. Mix well

Add water & milk to flour. Mix well creating the dough

Let dough rest for 30 minutes

Take dough out of bowl, knead on floured surface for about 15-20 minutes until gluten in dough is well developed

Place dough in a bowl, cover with cling film, let it rise till it doubles in size. That will take about 2 hours.

Remove from bowl, knock it down. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

After rest, turn out the dough on floured surface, shape the dough then place on baking tray. Cover with tea towel. Let dough proof for 45 minutes.

Bake in 220 degree oven for 45 minutes……Then let bread cool on wire rack for about 15 minutes.

This bread does not need any spread, I just dip it into some extra virgin olive oil with balsamic vinegar. yummo!