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Chocolate Biscotti

Mar 9th, 2010
by amanda.
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Lately when I’ve gone searching for something to bake, my requirements have been:

  1. Doesn’t require me to spend any money
  2. Isn’t something that Spencer would like (because of his diet)

I thought I’d covered both of those when I was thumbing through Dorie’s book and saw chocolate biscotti. I adore biscotti and spent my Starbucks years wishing and hoping for broken biscotti every time I was in charge of unloading the truck. Spencer never liked them. He did however really like these. Like, really. He told me that they tasted like “extra baked brownies” and I guess they kind of did. I’m not too into chocolate (especially something made with cocoa powder AND mini chocolate chips) but these were excellent. They would’ve been great with coffee if only they’d lasted long enough.

Chocolate Biscotti
adapted from Baking: From My Home To Yours 

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

With a mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes until light. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the eggs and vanilla; beat for another 2 minutes. Decrease the speed to low and mix in the dry ingredients in 3 additions, mixing only until a dough forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix in the chopped nuts and chocolate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead a few times just to incorporate any dry ingredients that didn’t get mixed in before. Divide into two portions; on the baking sheet, shape each portion into a 12 x 2 inch log. Sprinkle each log with a little sugar. Bake for 25 minutes.

Remove the sheet from the oven and let it cool on a rack for 20 minutes. Then, with a very sharp, serrated knife, slice the logs into about 3/4 – 1 inch slices and leave the slices standing up on the baking sheet. Return to the oven for another 10 minutes of baking.
Transfer biscotti to a rack to cool.

Posted in: chocolate, cookie.
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Risotto with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, and Chickpeas

Mar 8th, 2010
by amanda.
1 comment

I’ve been feeling pretty uninspired in the kitchen lately in case you haven’t noticed. That’s why there’s been lots of bread. Bread is easy. I don’t have to think about it, just have to follow directions. Especially the BBA breads! I don’t even have to search for a recipe, I just have to open my book to the next one. Ahh… laziness.

Yesterday my 3 year old went on his first boat ride leaving the baby & I to watch whatever we wanted. After my DVD player flashed “BAD DISC” at me when I tried to watch Twilight (stop judging me), we settled on Food Network. It was my first time watching in forever. Okay, so who decided it was a good idea to give Brian Boitano a show? That was a very painful 30 minutes. Never again. I stuck around for Big Daddy’s House (which I’d never seen) and was so excited by the sandwiches he was making. They looked amazing! And he totally inspired me to get up and make something.

I went for my no-fail risotto method but used up some mushrooms that were on their way out and added my favorite chickpeas. Oh my gosh, this was so good. I think risotto will always be my favorite easy meal.

I’ve said it before and I’m sure I’ll say it again… don’t go out and spend $7 on a pound of Arborio rice. If you can’t find it around you, the regular white rice works. It won’t be as creamy but as long as you add the broth in batches and continue to stir it, it will be creamy enough.

Risotto with Caramelized Onions, Mushrooms, and Chickpeas

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup Arborio rice
1/3 cup dry white wine
5 – 6 cups broth (veggie or chicken), heated
1/2 cup chickpeas, rinsed
salt and pepper to taste
fresh herbs (optional)

Heat oil in a large pan over medium-low heat. Add onion and cook for 5 to 10 minutes, just until it begins to caramelize. Add mushrooms and cook about 5 more minutes until the mushrooms are soft and the onions are good and caramelized. Stir in garlic and rice; continue stirring until the rice is completely coated, about 1 minute. Pour in wine and simmer until it has just about evaporated.

Begin adding broth, 1 cup at a time, stirring until each cup is absorbed. The rice should be creamy but not mushy. Add chickpeas once you’re happy with the texture and warm until the chickpeas are just heated through. Add salt, pepper, and any fresh herbs to taste.

Posted in: Meatless, rice.
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Bread Baker’s Apprentice – Pain de Campagne

Mar 7th, 2010
by amanda.
1 comment

I cheated on this bread. Just wanted to get that out there.

The next bread on my list was the Pain de Campagne which is similar to French bread but has a teeny bit of whole wheat (or rye) flour in it. It requires a pre-ferment and needs hearth baking to get the best results.

I was having a bad day week month when I made this bread and I really just wanted to make some bread to take my mind off everything. I started this one and a sourdough thinking at least one would be done that day (because I always fail to read ahead) but no luck, they both were 2 day’ers.

So I turned this one into a 1 day bread. I let the pre-ferment sit as long as I could but you could definitely tell a difference in flavor from this one and one that has been allowed to sit overnight in the fridge. I was also pretty horribly at shaping and slashing these.

You can laugh at that one. I know I did.

I think I want to try this one again when I’m not so impatient because it’s supposed to be a really good bread.

If you’re interested in making the bread as the book instructs you too, go check out the The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It’s on page 195. Make sure you visit the BBA blogroll to see how the other bakers are doing.

One year ago: Italian Mac & Cheese

Posted in: BBA, breads.
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Loaded Blondies

Mar 5th, 2010
by amanda.
5 comments

When I first joined Tuesdays with Dorie (<—all my TWD posts) my intention was to bake every recipe in Dorie’s book, even though the book calls for too much dried fruit for my tastes. I managed to get about halfway through before giving up on the group which means I need to get my booty in gear.

Yesterday I just wanted something I could throw together quickly but would also make my 3 year old happy. He suggested a birthday cake because he’s pretty convinced that his birthday is coming around again soon but we settled on Dorie’s blondies.

I liked this recipe because it called for small amounts of chocolate chips, nuts, butterscotch chips, and coconut. I managed to get rid of all those mostly empty bags of baking supplies that have been taking up too much space.

The blondies were also very tasty. The chocolate chips and the butterscotch chips aren’t a combination that I thought would work but we really enjoyed it. And you can never go wrong with coconut! These were definitely a winner!

Loaded Blondies
adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sweetened coconut

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 325. Butter a 9 x 13 baking pan and put on a baking sheet.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until well incorporated. Add the eggs 1 by 1, beating for 1 minutes after each addition, then beat in vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing just until they disappear into the batter. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chips, nuts, and coconut. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and use the spatula to even the top as best as you can.

Bake for 40 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the blondies come out clean. The blondies should pull away from the sides of the pan a little and the top should be a nice honey brown. Transfer the pan to a rack to cool for about 15 minutes before turning the blondies out onto another rack. Invert onto a rack and cool the blondies to room temperature right side up.

Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2 1/4 x 2 1/2 inches.

One year ago: Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Posted in: bars, cookie.
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Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge – Pain a l’Ancienne

Mar 3rd, 2010
by amanda.
14 comments

Okay, I’m done. I found the bread. The one I’ll make once a week for my entire life. I can now retire the BBA book and move on with my life. Well maybe I won’t quit the challenge but I’m pretty sure there won’t be a bread to top this one.

Not going to lie, I wasn’t excited about this. More often than not, baguettes get turned into croutons since we prefer sandwich-type bread or rolls. I finally decided that if I ever wanted to get to the fun breads at the end of the book I just needed to get started on the boring baguettes.

This bread is made with ice water and then you put it in the fridge to retard overnight. Weird, right? I had my doubts and was so shocked the next morning when my dough had almost doubled in size. I pulled it out to take the chill off and it just kept on rising.

There was a ton of dough! A ton of super sticky dough! This was enough dough to make 6 baguettes but since we aren’t huge fans, I decided to only make 3 baguettes and use the other 3 portions as pizza dough.

(It was rainy yesterday. Sorry for the poor pictures!)

The dough was very easy to shape since it’s supposed to look rustic. I just gently pulled until it was the length of my baking sheet and ignored the funky shapes. Once they were shaped they didn’t need another rise which I thought was strange. I swear I read the instructions 20 times just to make sure I wasn’t overlooking a rise somewhere.

This bread called for the hearth baking method which I’m starting to enjoy. Not the spraying of the oven walls but I think I’m starting to appreciate what hearth baking does for the bread.

As I mentioned, this is easily the best bread I’ve ever made. I thought it was almost identical to baguettes Panera has but my husband said it was even better. Yeah, that good. Just look at this:

I’ve never seen a prettier crumb.

I wasn’t, however, a huge fan of the dough as pizza crust. It was tough to roll out – I had to let it rest after every roll it seemed. Plus, it took a very long time to brown and crisp and I finally gave up after all my veggies started burning. I’ve got 2 more portions in the freezer so I’ll pre-bake the crust next time. Hopefully that will solve the problem.

(I gave up cheese recently and haven’t missed it at all! Crazy, right?)

If you don’t own the Bread Baker’s Apprentice book, you should check it out. If you do own it, turn to page 191 and get started on this bread. Be sure to check out the BBA blogroll to see how the other baker’s are doing!

This post submitted to Yeastspotting.

Posted in: BBA, breads.
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