Empirical Baker

Pumpkin Brioche Cinnamon Monkey Bread

I am part of the new Baking group for Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day.

Our first recipe was a secret recipe, given to just the baking group! It is also listed in the book, as Pumpkin Brioche, made with partial white whole wheat flour.

I swear I read Recipes. I dumped everything in the bowl (since this book uses Vital Wheat Gluten, you have to mix the dry ingredients first so it does not lump up. Then put in the wet ingredients.

I, for whatever reason, did not see the water in the recipe! I mixed it up, and it was really really dry. I thought I had done something wrong, but looking at the recipe I still did not see any water. The dough did not rise.

Then, I found the water in the recipe! And it rose beautifully. I doubled the spices in the recipe since a few people said that they did not come through in the dough.

To make the monkey bread, I used small pieces of the pumpkin brioche, rolled them in a mixture of cinnamon and sugar, and put into a large bundt pan. I was in a rush, so they only rose for about 45 minutes. The last time I attempted monkey bread (with the Brioche recipe from the first book), I let it rise overnight in the fridge, and it rose quite a bit higher.

The muffins I used a slightly larger piece, and baked them in muffin pans. they turned out well, they would be good at Thanksgiving with butter :)

Of course, what would this blog be (at least the idea of this blog) without a fail. I burned the mini loaves. And they were baked in silicone!

Attempted Mini Monkey Breads

There will be another secret recipe posted in December, then the actual baking group start in January! I am so excited :)

In true attempted cooking style, I burned Rice Krispy Treats.

I saw this awesome recipe from A Year of Slow Cooking Check our her Book!. Put butter in crock pot, top with marshmallows, then with cereal, then high for an hour.

I did low for an hour, then stirred. The marshmallows were not melted. I read the recipe again where it said high, so I put the slow cooker on high.

But, in that hour on low, the butter had melted. And, in the stirring that I did, some of the rice krispies ended up at the bottom of the slow cooker. Whereby they then caramelized. Some were burnt, but most were just dark dark brown.

So, there ya go. I burned rice Crispy treats.

So, with the failed Red Velvet Cake, I still attempted to make Petit Fours.

I made a simple cream cheese frosting with cream cheese and powdered sugar. I cut some of the cake layers in half, and for others just stacked half the cake on top of the other. In hindsight, the middle frosting was way too thick, and the cake slid around (hence, I was not able to get the fancy poured fondant to be all nice and pretty on the sides.

I used King Arthur Flour’s Poured Fondant recipe. I used Wilton Red Candy Melts, powdered sugar, corn syrup, and water. I melted this, then put it into a disposable piping bag to put over the tops of the Petit fours.

I *think* that if I had 1) a full cake, and not a fallen one, 2) a thinner icing for between the layers, 3) smooth squares, and 4) a whole lot more patience, I could get fancy looking petit fours. I think my next attempt might be with pound cake or something heavier. Or, maybe a pound cake to work on the icing of the sides before I attempt another layered petit four :)

Sometimes, you just need to recognize what something is.

I attempted to make a red velvet sheet cake, so I could make petit fours. I searched for a while, and came accross this recipe from Imperial Sugar for a Red Velvet Cake Roll. I figured that if I could use it to make a roll, then I could just use it in the jelly roll cake form and make a short stacked cake with it.

The start of the directions were to beat 4 eggs for five minutes. Okay, sure, they got light and fluffy, nice. Add the other wet ingredients, and it was all good.

It then said to beat in the sifted dry ingredients. Which was where (I think) the recipe failed. The batter deflated, and by the end of the two minute suggested beating time, it was more like a liquid than any sort of batter. I put it in the oven and baked it.

It was very uneven, and baked up with large air pockets. The top layer was like a crust, but it was done at 12 minutes.

I turned it out onto a cooling rack (as the recipe said to take it out immediately), and then decided to try one of the edges (since I would be cutting them off anyways).

Egg. It tasted eggy. Which meant that this really was a Sponge Cake. I had tried to make one before from The Simple Art of Perfect Baking. And that cake did the same thing, it tasted like eggs. But, on the good side, it was the perfect cake for petit fours, had it, ya know, been done like it should have :)

As with the previous cake, I knew that I could let it sit and the egg taste would go away. I also know (now) that the red velvet recipe is a sponge cake, and that beating in the dry ingredients was where it went wrong. The cake tastes fine, if a little flat, so I will try it again, and will then fold in the dry ingredients. :)

(The Poured Fondant and Petit Fours is the next post!)

Contradiction in terms? Not quite :)

I picked up The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion from the library (I love libraries :) It had a recipe for Devils Food Cake that seemed really good. I have also been on a whole wheat kick, and had bought King Arthur Flour White Whole Wheat flour to try.

Then I found their recipe for whole wheat cake!. Its not 100% whole wheat, but it is slightly healthier than pure white flour :)

I liked the mix of brown sugar and white sugar, I think I will keep that. Next time, I want to try it with my whole wheat pastry flour, and with about 2tbsp cornstarch replacing part of the flour. (Make my own cake flour!). I do not think I have tasted enough made from scratch cakes to notice a difference using the white whole wheat; as it was, it was great :)

Of course, I burned the bottoms of the pans. I tried to do 2 9 inch layers, and it did not work, because my racks had to be so low to the bottom. I also ended up with a very moist upper layer, which I had with my box mix cakes, so I should figure out how to change that. Any ideas?

I love baking, but I dislike how it seems that there is a lot of refined foods in it. (Ahem, cake aside.) :)

I am trying to incorporate more whole grains and fiber into my diet. And, an easy way to do that is through cookies!

Yes, cookies.

Bakers Banter at King Arthur Flour posted a blog about using White whole wheat and oatmeal to create a whole grain cookie. They also made it will all butter, so no shortening is involved.

I only had regular rolled oats, so I did blend mine a bit to get a more flour like consistency. I did not have orange juice, so I used milk. I think I will try the orange juice next time, the cookies do have a bit of “wheaty” taste to them (but not nearly as much as the cookies made from Whole Foods Whole Wheat).

In addition, the cookies have an added step of refrigerating the dough overnight. It made a remarkable amount of difference in the taste, the overnight cookie dough was smoother after a stay than the dough right after mixing. I might try doing this with cookies from now on :)

I had one batch with dried cranberries and dark chocolate chips, and one batch with mini chocolate chips. This recipe also has the added bonus of twice as much “stuff” as the typical Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, so there is a lot of chocolate in the cookies. Yum!

You can find the full recipe, without the wonderful banter, at King Arthur Flour’s Website

I am not sure where we originally found the recipe. It called for a can of chicken and rice soup, salsa, cheese, and tortilla chips.

As I am 1) sick, and 2) without canned soup, I made my own version by mixing a can of chicken broth, 1/2 cup of water, and 1/2 cup of rice. Simmer until rice is done. Add salsa to taste, cheese (I used the rest of my pepper jack), and tortilla chips.

Just spicy enough to overpower the nasal congestion, and enough carbs to get me through.

Sorry, no picture :)

I signed up to take a Cake decorating class. Saturday was our first class, which basically discussed supplies and icing. I bought a fancy “Wilton 50-Piece Tool and Caddy Decorating Set,” and of course had to come play with it.

Yet, even with knowing how to make the icing? I still have to remember to grease my silly silicone baking cups. Yeah, I didnt do it, and I think the cupcakes (from a mix, I was in a hurry) were slightly underdone. Still, it was an excuse to play with my camera, and show you the attempt. :)

(By the way, if you ever want to at least keep some semblance that cake is, well, not horrible for you, then please do not read the recipe for the decorators icing. I think salt is the “healthiest” ingredient that is there. Which, adding the pinch of salt really did cut down on the super sweetness.)

You ever have those days? The end of the night, and you want something sweet?

I originally baked the Pound Cake to make Grilled Chocolate. And, the cake was wonderful, but I burned it attempting to grill it, and the chocolate was very thick.

Still, the concept was interesting. So, I tore the last few slices of pound cake into small pieces, and topped it with marshmallows and chocolate chips.

Fancy? No. Healthy? Not at all. Yummy? Yes.

Pound Cake, Chocolate Chips, and Marshmallows

Two cans of diced tomatoes, juice and all.

One can of tomato sauce.

One garlic clove, minced

One tablespoon Italian Seasoning, and salt and pepper to taste.

Red Pepper flakes for heat. A shot of vodka if you like.

Put into a 1.5 Quart Slow Cooker. Set on low, or high, it doesnt really matter. Let it cook until bubbling, then let it sit. Really, this type of tomato sauce gets better the longer it cooks.

I would either boil the juice separately, or take the lid off the slow cooker for about 30 minutes towards the end of cooking to let the juices concentrate down to a more sauce like consistency.

You can use this sauce liked jarred sauce. It is about as much sauce as you would need for one pound of meat. I might combine this with a jar of sauce and two pounds of meat for lasagna. Yum!