Laura Attempts "Baking Illustrated"

[kitchenetc]

Hi , longtime lurker here.

Admittedly inspired by Julie Powell, for awhile now I've been trying to find a book I could cook my way through. Two possibilities were "The Yellow Farmhouse Cookbook" by Christopher Kimball and "Get in There and Cook" by the late great Richard Sax.

But the recent thread on "culinary nemeses" spurred me towards baking, as pie crust has always been the enemy. I have never even tried to do rolled cookies, and as for layered doughs like Danish or phyllo, fuggedaboutit!

Plus: I can bring desserts into work for easy disposal. My retail staff is constantly hungry and not too picky.

So....it's time to get over my fears and who better to hold my hand than Cook's Illustrated? I started baking yesterday and I'll give a brief summation of each recipe as I do them. I won't be going in order but will try and do basic recipes early on.

[kitchenetc]

Banana Bread page 24

I'd been using a very simple banana bread recipe from "Better Homes and Gardens" for years but this one was a huge improvement. Butter instead of shortening, and a whopping 1 1/4 cups of (toasted) walnuts in the loaf. I used a Pyrex 9 x 5 pan and found that it needed about 10 minutes more then the 55 minutes specified, but that could just be my oven. The batter was very thick, almost doughlike.

Edited April 8, 2004 by kitchenetc (log)

[kitchenetc]

Date-Nut Bread page 27

Another success...I used the same type of Pyrex loaf pan as before and again, I had to add about 10 minutes of baking to get the center to dry out. Time to buy an oven themometer.

I had never made date-nut bread but seem to have some memory of eating a canned version when I was little (am I imagining this?). It's dense but not bricklike and the dark brown sugar gives it almost a honey taste.

In this recipe, the chopped dates are soaked in a boiling water/baking soda mix and then the whole bowlful is stirred into the batter. Toasting the pecans really intensifies their flavor, too.

Edited April 8, 2004 by kitchenetc (log)

[fredbram]

The canned bread that I remember from my childhood is boston brown bread, which has neither dates nor nuts I believe, but it is a dark molassesy bread. It came in a can which we always opened both ends of, and then pushed out from one end, to cut slices off the other end. Spread thick layer od cream cheese on, and it was one of my favorite after school snacks as a kid.

[rickster]

I rememer the date nut bread in a can, I think it was maybe a predecessor of this product:

Dromedary Date Nut Roll

An oven thermometer is the best thing you can buy.

[sued]

I agree, get an oven thermometer. Mine runs 25 degrees hot, I found.

And then bake the lemon cheesecake from Baking Illustrated. Mmmmm...

[kitchenetc]

Took a little break (from writing, not the baking), and I'll now attempt to catch up on what I've been doing, in no particular order.

Today I'm making Eclairs (page 262), which also requires Cream Puff Pastry (page 259) and Pastry Cream for Eclairs and Napoleons (page 227). I've never done this kind of thing and the worst part so far was dealing with the pastry piping; I used a Wilton gadget that is more a less a gentrified caulk gun and of course the first time I filled it I somehow did it backwards. Right now they are drying out in the turned-off oven and look pretty good. I made the pastry cream first and will glaze them right after dinner.

[kitchenetc]

Gingerbread (page 31)

While this was not my family's favorite (they're heavily biased toward chocolate) I thought it was pretty good, as did my fan club at work. It stayed moist even after several days and I have yet to find a buttermilk recipe that didn't work. I used plain old ground ginger but the variation using crystallized and fresh ginger intrigues me.

[jgarner53]

Any chance you could post pictures of your results?

I've also got the BI book (signed!), and have so far made the currant scones and the yellow cupcakes and the pizza dough, all good.

[Dahomechef]

kitchenetc, nice project! You definitely need an oven thermometer for all this heavy duty baking, if only to find out just how far off your oven is... mine runs 25-50 degrees cooler than it should, so now I know to adjust.

Pictures would be awesome. I've baked a lot of the CI recipes and would love to see your results.

Good luck!

[yorkshirepud]

Good luck with your project kitchenetc. Like you, I feared pie crust but I won over that challenge last fall with my first apple pie. Once you do it once you can't stop.

I have been thinking about doing something similar. Working my way through a cookbook and charting it. Just need to decide on which book!

I hope you can share pictures. It always helps when you have a visual. It's also inspiring.

Have fun!

[LaurieA-B]

I used plain old ground ginger  but the variation using crystallized and fresh ginger intrigues me.

Have you tried Penzey's spices? Their ground ginger is one of my favorite things that I've ordered, because when you open the fresh jar and sniff, it is nothing like "plain old." I love gingerbread, but will probably wait till fall/winter to try that particular recipe. So far I've mostly used BI as a reference for magazine recipes we've previously made (like chocolate chip cookies), and Matthew made the calzones which were really delicious. Hope your eclairs turned out well.

[JustKay]

An oven thermometer is the best thing you can buy.

What is a good oven thermometer for a home baker? Are the ones on e-bay good enough? Thanks.

[jgarner53]

What is a good oven thermometer for a home baker?

You can get an oven thermometer at most hardware stores, or a place like Bed, Bath & Beyond. Most specialty kitchen stores will have them, too. Bulb thermometers are reportedly more accurate, but I've only ever seen the spring type (with the dial and a needle that goes 'round). I have an old oven that doesn't tell me when it's preheated, so I have one in there all the time. They're only about $5 or $6.

You might also want to get quarry tiles to line your oven, for bread baking if nothing else. You can get them at a big box home store like Home Depot for about $1 each. Far cheaper than a pizza stone.

Though maybe the PC's here have another suggestion?

[JustKay]

I see a lot of the dial 'hanging' type on e-bay. I'll have to check for the bulb one. Thanks for replying.

And now I must ask what are quarry tiles?

I don't have pizza stone (never seen them anywhere in the stores), don't think I've seen pizza peels either. I usually bake my pizza on a ceramic plate lined with lightly oiled unbleached baking paper.

p.s. : I am in Malaysia. No Home Depot or Bed, Bath & Beyond here.

edited to add : I googled for ceramic tile Malaysia. Can you please have a look at this site and see if this is the tile you mean. quarry tile Malaysia Should I get the untreated ones then? Do you know if they are naturally colored or are color added? Is it safe then? So many questions ... I know ..... Thank you so much for all the new things I'm learning from eGullet.

Aaah ... I've found the answers and posting them here just in case someone else don't know what they are. It seems that the colors are obtained naturally from either shale or clay, so I suppose that's safe. what is quarry tile

Edited May 20, 2004 by kew (log)

[JustKay]

kitchenetc, thank you for sharing your experience with us. Please continue to do so.

[jgarner53]

Can you please have a look at this site and see if this is the tile you mean. quarry tile Malaysia Should I get the untreated ones then? Do you know if they are naturally colored or are color added? Is it safe then?

Those look like the quarry tiles I have. They are naturally colored clay tiles, fired at some ungodly heat (like 2500F), so the heat in your oven shouldn't be a problem. Quarry tiles are not glazed, and you should get the untreated ones (I suspect that treated tiles would be suitable for outdoor use, or perhaps a floor, where slipperiness would be dangerous).

Here in the states, they come in 6x6 inch tiles. My small (14 1/2 x 18 1/2) oven just needed six tiles, with two cut down by an inch or so to allow 1 inch air flow around. They just sit on the lowest oven rack.

[tanabutler]

Gingerbread (page 31)

While this was not my family's favorite (they're heavily biased toward chocolate) I thought it was pretty good, as did my fan club at work. It stayed moist even after several days and I have yet to find a buttermilk recipe that didn't work. I used plain old ground ginger but the variation using crystallized and fresh ginger intrigues me.

Try substituting cardamom for cloves, if cloves are in the recipe. It's sublime.

[JustKay]

jgarner53 - thank you.

[kitchenetc]

Wow thanks for all the positive feedback!

Catching up...I was disappointed in how crispy the eclairs came out. I think I would have been better off if I had opened the oven door wider when it instructed me to turn the heat off but leave them in the oven "propped open by a wooden spoon". Anyhow, they got so brittle that when I tried to cut off the tops to fill them, they ended up in shards. I made a sort of trifle by throwing the pieces into a 9 x 13 pan, globbing some pastry cream all over it and spreading some of the chocolate glaze over it all. It was edible but not really worth all the time and effort.

Also...I was none too impressed by the glaze I made. It called for 3 tab half and half and 2 oz semi or bittersweet chocolate (I used my usual, Hershey's Special Dark bars). So far, so good. Then you WRECK it IMO by adding a full cup of confectioners sugar. Way too sweet...the sugar just overwhelmed the chocolate completely.

[kitchenetc]

Rustic Italian Bread page 98

This is a true winner...I've made it twice (once was in a very badly equipped kitchen, eek no stand mixer!) and both times it came out great. You do have to start the day before and it does require a bit of babysitting but it's well worth it.

I used a pizza stone when I had one but it also worked okay without one. This bread actually improved in taste by the second day. Couldn't tell you about what happens on the 3rd day since it didn't last that long.

[kitchenetc]

Challah page 105

This would have been better if I hadn't burnt it (*cough* technically dh was in charge of baking since I had to run out)....while we were still able to eat it, the crust was very dark and thicker than it should have been. The shape was gorgeous and the loaf turned out smaller than other versions I've made. I used poppy seeds, not sesame seeds. I will definitely have to give this another shot.

[kitchenetc]

Crescent Rolls page 112

I'm not sure exactly why these went wrong but this was another where I felt the time invested didn't justify the "meh" results. I will say I loved the convenience of being able to make then 3-4 days ahead of time and just refigerate the formed rolls until baking time. My 11 year old loved them but most of the family found them not "puffy" enough....they stayed kinda damp inside and never developed all the layers that they should have.

[kitchenetc]

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie page 189

Boy do I wish I had taken a picture of this!! It was one of my proudest moments as a cook as I had not one but TWO piecrusts come out wonderfully flaky and perfect!

The recipe incorporated Basic Pie Dough from page 181 and I managed somehow to get a really good result while thinking I screwed it up completely...I got lazy and ignored the commend to cut the cold butter into 1/4 inch pieces, so when I was rolling out the dough I still had large chunks of butter all through it. I was sure that while in the oven, these chunks would melt and leave gaping greasy holes all over my pie.

What dh and I really loved about this was the subtle tartness of the rhubarb. My strawberries were not outstanding but I always seem to run into a timing issue with this pie...when rhubarb is plentiful and perfect, the strawberries are not local.

Confession....I still haven't mastered the art of rolling my dough into a circle and had to do a little patchwork on both crusts. But the rustic look worked for me, and the texture was the best I have ever accomplished. The dough contains both butter and chilled Crisco.