A rainy weekend was spent in the kitchen baking Sour Cherry Focaccia. The same master dough recipe that was used for making Vanilla Cloverleaf Sweet Rolls, was the foundation of this delicious focaccia with tart cherries and almonds. Again, as with the Vanilla Cloverleaf Sweet Rolls, the only change I made to the original recipe was to add additional flour (about 3-4 tablespoons) to the dough while mixing. Both times the dough was wet. I slowly added spoonfuls of flour to the dough until it was still soft, but did not stick to the sides of the mixing bowl. I have a busy day ahead of me in the kitchen, making a Pavlova birthday cake for my daughter's 20th! Find the recipe for Bon Appétit's Sour Cherry Focaccia HERE. TAKE a LOOK:
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Pain aux Olives -- Olive Rolls -- filled with small, salty, Nicoise olives. Olive bread has always been a favorite of mine. Big, crusty, rustic loaves of olive bread; slices spread with a thick layer of salty butter. But these small olive rolls are also a favorite. I bake the rolls and store them in the freezer; rewarming in the oven when ready to eat. During the summer months, when I have fresh thyme in my garden, I will add that to the yeast dough. In the winter I substitute 1/3 the amount of dried thyme leaves. I'm planning on serving them with a fresh Orange and Olive Salad (recipe HERE) and a Chickpea Purée with Crisp Croutons (recipe HERE). The small balls of yeast dough can be placed on parchment-lined baking sheets, or onto oiled baguette pans as I did. I like the oval shape the rolls get from baking in narrow channel pans. • 1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) dry yeast • 3 3/4 cups unbleached flour • 1 tablespoon salt • 1 tablespoon sugar • 1 tablespoon wheat gluten • 2/3 cup warm milk (lukewarm) • 3 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled • 1 cup pitted, coarsely-chopped Nicoise olives • 4 teaspoons finely-chopped fresh thyme • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 1. In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast in 1/3 cup lukewarm water and set aside for 10 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar and wheat gluten and mix well. 2. Add milk and melted butter to yeast mixture. Mix thoroughly, then gradually add to flour mixture, stirring with wooden spoon. Mix in enough lukewarm water, up to 1/3 cup, to form a soft, sticky dough, then turn out onto a lightly-floured surface and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, 10-15 minutes. Form dough into a ball; wrap with plastic and set aside for 5 minutes. 3. Working on a lightly-floured surface, flatten dough with your hands into a rectangle about 8-inches-by-11-inches. In a small bowl, combine olives, thyme and olive oil. Evenly spread olive mixture over dough, then form into a ball and knead until dough is smooth - about 5 minutes. It's a slow process incorporating the olives, but be patient. Shape into two 16-inch long cylinders, then cut each into 8 rounds. Shape each round into a tight ball. Arrange on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets (or well-oiled baguette pans as I've done), loosely cover with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. 4. Preheat oven to 450˚ F. Place pan of water in bottom of oven, then uncover rolls and bake until lightly browned, 10-15 minutes. 5. Remove from oven and serve warm. Makes 16 rolls. TAKE a LOOK: Do you like walnuts? I do. In fact, I am extremely fond of every single nut that's out there. That isn't the case, however with my husband. Or at least it wasn't always the case. That's all changed. When I married my husband (40 years ago...) he wouldn't touch a nut. He made it very clear that his family didn't like nuts and didn't eat them. That mindset even rubbed off on our daughters. They wouldn't eat anything that contained nuts, because... that's just not what our family did (well, except for me). When I come upon stubbornness (as far as eating is concerned) I take it on as a challenge; a challenge to change what I view as undesirable behavior. It took work -- an unbelievable amount of work, and years; but I can now say that my husband and two daughters eat nuts, and seem to even like nuts. I constantly drilled the health benefits of walnuts. They are rich in mono-unsaturated fatty acids and an excellent source of Omega-3, both of which contribute to lowering "bad cholesterol" and raising "good cholesterol" (read about walnuts and their health benefits HERE). And aside from the fact that this bread is loaded with chopped walnuts, healthy olive oil and walnut oil are also added to the batter. Could this Walnut Bread be any better for you? Serve with flavored butters, cream cheese, or goat cheese and a drizzle of honey. CORRECTION: My husband just told me he still hates nuts, but he has no choice in the matter... He should be thanking me! recipe from the New York Times | October 1, 2009 • 1 cup whole wheat flour • 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • 3/4 teaspoon salt • 4 large eggs • 1/2 cup buttermilk or plain yogurt • 3 tablespoons olive oil • 3 tablespoons walnut oil • 1 cup chopped walnuts PREHEAT OVEN to 375˚F 1. Oil a loaf pan and line with waxed paper, if desired. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk or yogurt, olive oil, and walnut oil. 3. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and quickly whisk to combine. Fold in the chopped walnuts. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and bake on the middle of the oven for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the bread is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. 4. Remove the walnut loaf and cool for 10 minutes before unmolding. Continue to cool on a wire rack. TAKE a LOOK: I am going to tell you something that you may not know -- I am happiest when I'm in my kitchen baking. You're not surprised to hear that, you say -- I do, after all, have a blog called Passions to Pastry. But I loved baking, or at least the concept of a bakery, at a very young age; before I even knew how to bake. I remember when I was about seven years old, searching our property and my aunt's next door, for the perfect "retail outlet". This would be a huge, hollow tree with a large hole in the trunk. I would stock my pies, tarts, cakes, and cookies inside the tree and sell to hungry customers through the walk-up window (i.e. hole). I can still remember my total and utter disappointment at not being able to find anything that met my specifications. To this day, if I ran across the perfect tree, I would probably entertain serious thoughts of setting up shop. I've never told my husband about this either, but I don't think he'd be the least bit surprised. He's always asking me (with great trepidation) what's going on inside my little head. (Oh... he knows me well, and also knows from experience that he will be roped into becoming an accomplice to any plans I have brewing.) Today I was able to spend an entire, happy day in my kitchen baking. These are buttery, brioche-like rolls infused with vanilla (take note of the tiny black specks of vanilla seeds in the yeast dough above). Spread with the easily-made fresh strawberry jam, they are quite a treat. Before baking, the yeast rolls are brushed with milk and sprinkled with sugar. I used strawberry sugar, purchased at G. Detou on my last trip to Paris, but coarse or pearl sugar would be suitable substitutes. Vanilla Cloverleaf Sweet Rolls with Strawberry Jam |
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