Peach Hand Pies

Over the 2 1/2 years I've been blogging, baking and mistaking, I haven't shied away from sharing some fairly total disasters with you. I've dropped cakes, I've left out key ingredients, I've made inedible yeast doughs, seven disastrous attempts at caramel, and I even ended up with ice cream all over the walls, couch, floor and counter one night. But sometimes, sometimes I just have to pat myself on the back for creating a dessert so addictively delicious, which such...limited resources. So seriously, these peach hand pies were incredible, as is the fact that I managed to whip them up in my current kitchen. 

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Well here it is - the first full post - recipe and all - from pastry school. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about sharing some bread recipes, but we've moved on to cookies and well...how could I resist. These are chocolate almond biscotti, and while I never thought I was a big biscotti fan, these are exceptionally tasty.

Marbled Coconut Bread and adapting

There are still a whole bunch of delicious recipes I have to share with you from my pre-move days, but I wanted to tell you about this one first. A simple, homey and uncomplicated cake, this marbled coconut bread is the first thing I have baked in my newly adopted kitchen, a place that is, well...not without restrictions.

This Week in Pastry School

I'm back...and I have more photos of delicious breads! This week we moved in to complex breads, with starters and sponges and poolishes. What this means, is that a portion of the dough is prepared a day, a few days or even a week in advance, and left to rest and develop flavors, before being used in a recipe. The most common of these is a sourdough starter, but there are in fact many types.

First up - Multigrain bread! This bread is filled with wonderfully healthy things like oats, flax and sunflower seeds. This recipe was made with what's called "pate fermente" or old dough, which is just how it sounds - a piece of dough left for 24 hours.

Next up is a fougasse - a traditional French flatbread, similar to focaccia, cut to resemble a leaf shape. It is brushed with a light coat of olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, and is crispy and chewy and delicious. 

This here is a white sourdough loaf, The sourdough is a starter made of flour and water that is left to develop for at least a week before use, for extra complex flavors.

This beauty is a crown made of rye sourdough rolls, filled with sunflower seeds and topped with some decorative oats, flax and sunflower seeds. We made two sourdoughs, one with white bread flour, used in recipes like the loaf above, and one with rye flour, used here.

These are more rye sourdough rolls, that are a little denser and richer, and filled with the oat-flax-sunflower seed mix instead of just straight sunflower seeds. It should be noted that no rye breads or rolls are actually 100% rye flour, but really a mix of rye and bread flours. All rye would be inedible. 

This is a loaf of whole wheat sourdough, shaped in to a cylinder shape. In case you were wondering, a slice of this, fresh out of the oven, with a touch of butter on it, is basically heaven. Also, lunch.

Not pictured: rosemary bread - which I actually have a loaf of in my freezer but have yet to try,  olive bread - which I did not eat because I hate olives and pita bread - which I devoured too quickly to photograph. Yep, I've been busy!

I promise, I will share some bread recipes soon - just wanted to share these delicious photos first.

Chocolate Muffins - Three Ways

I made a batch of chocolate muffins a few weeks ago. Or...did I make three? Well, I mixed up one big bowl, divided it in to three, and went to town. Each third of the dough got its own fun mix-in. Can you guess what they were?


First up - crystallized ginger! Ginger and chocolate are a fun combination, the spice of the ginger playing well with the richness of the chocolate. I find people either love or hate ginger, so make sure you know which you're dealing with when making these muffins.

This (Last) Week in Pastry School

So I've been super busy in the kitchen the past couple weeks, but I've yet to share any of that with you. 
So without further ado, here are the things I've been churning out of the oven recently. 

 

Pan de Mie - a French sandwich bread

Lean whole wheat loaf

Rye rolls with caraway seeds

 Challah

Whole wheat Pullman rolls

French baguettes

 "Epi"s

So, I've been busy - and that's just one week! I'm not intentionally leaving out recipes, but everything I have is in grams - and since the majority of my audience is American, I don't know how much help that would be. If there is a specific recipe you want, let me know!

Be back soon with more delicious food (and recipes!)