Buttermilk Cluster Rolls - Ruhlman's Recipe

The weather in Paris lately has been frigid & bizarre. Sunny one second, flurry storm the next, followed by hail, more sun, snow....all in the same day....you get the idea. Sure feels like winter. Which is why I took so much comfort in making these buttermilk cluster rolls. The apartment smelled like a bread shop. A comforting scent wafted through the air and a warmth from the oven made it feel comfy. It's worth making these rolls just for that experience alone.

Click here for the recipe: Recipe for Buttermilk cluster rolls from Ruhlman's blog. There are very clear instructions & references to other blogs for detailed information on making them.

Here are my observations, conclusions, opinions:

1) Very good recipe. It's the kind of bread roll that's best served with something having a sauce (as the french say) or with gravy (as we say) because it's made for mopping up the plate, no matter what language you speak.

2) I proofed the dough in our oven at 35°C, the proofing setting. This worked well, especially since our apartment felt a bit on the cold side before I started all this bread making. After 1 hour it was at the double-in-size stage and normally I'd have proceeded with punching it down. However, this time, I followed the recipe & let it go 2 hours. Man did it puff up! Triple in size, I'd say. If I could hazard a guess, I'd say this had something to do with the texture being so nice. (Along with the revised recipe?)

3) I topped them with my favorite "everything" combo: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion powder, garlic salt & thyme. Délicieux.

4) Size of roll: too big for me. Mine were 100g each (3.5 ounces) before baking. I got a baker's dozen out of them. However, next time I'll try to make them 50g each. Seems plenty enough to me. Plus, it'd give me more of that topping-to-bread ratio which I think would be really nice.

5) I used the revised recipe (709g flour & 510g buttermilk, but added back a bit more flour when it was too sticky). The texture was extremely light & fluffy. I loved the texture the best. Can you practically feel how light & fluffy these are??!!
6) You gotta eat them straight out of the oven. I know, it goes without saying (...so why did I just say that?!)

7) There's no additional butter or olive oil in this bread. The only fat comes from the buttermilk (which counts for enough I suppose!). I tasted this difference. I must admit that I kind of missed that other kind of taste when it comes to bread...but that only happened when I ate them without anything else. When I had a sauce to mop it up with, I didn't miss it at all.

8) Would I make these again? Yes. I absolutely loved the texture of this. (Isn't that obvious by now?) But, here's what I'm thinking: wouldn't it be great to use this recipe as the base for a cinnamon roll?? I'd get the additional flavor from butter that I'm looking for, and then the sugar-cinnamon filling would add more goodness....

So, this is what I'm going to try next. Or sometime soon anyway. Will let you know how it turns out.

:/dma

Making Croissants! Video & Recipe

I was asked by Gillian, of gillianyoung.com, if we could make croissants together. I liked the idea. Croissants are a weakness of mine. In fact, when we first moved to Paris, I romantically thought I'd be eating croissants everyday. But in reality, I only eat them from time to time actually (they are very rich!). When I do indulge, however, I completely enjoy each and every mouthful. Usually, my croissant indulgence is on a Sunday morning which tends to be fairly typical for french people, or so I've been told.

Eating croissants is one thing. Making them is another! They're a bit of work. I hadn't made them in years. After all, in France, a great croissant is just a street corner away! However, Gillian's reason for wanting to learn how to make croissants got me thinking. She's leaving Paris shortly....and she wanted to take this back home with her as a souvenir that could be enjoyed anytime she wanted!

And then I realized, I, too, should be making croissants more often. Not only will we leave some day, some unknown day, but I should be practicing the technique because it takes a little practice to get it just right. And finally, there's perhaps nothing better than to taste deliciously warm, freshly made croissants straight from the oven.

Last Sunday was the day we set aside for making croissants and we made lots of minis. Despite our love for croissants, we could not possibly eat all of the ones we made. So, we hit the streets of the 1st arrondissement to say bonne année (Happy New Year) and to share the little, warm flaky treats. We met some friendly people along the way. Turned out to be a fun little adventure!

Here's a brief video demonstrating the general technique behind making a croissant, edited by Gillian herself (one of her many talents). I hope you enjoy seeing people's reactions as much as we did. Additionally, I've provided a recipe that I am using and have interpreted, thanks to my time at Ecole Ferrandi. Happy Croissant making & sharing, to everyone!

Recipe

For 20 - 25 croissants:

500 g flour
12 g salt
50 g sugar
16 g fresh baker's yeast
276g water
25 g powdered milk
150g butter

1. Make the détrempe: flour in bowl, mix in powdered milk; make fountain & add in the center of it the yeast, sugar and salt. Add water and mix. Gradually turn onto table and work only until smooth. Takes just a few minutes. Wrap with plastic wrap & let rise in a proofing oven or on the counter, until doubled in size.
2. Punch down the détrempe; re-wrap with film & let rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
3. Roll out the détrempe and add the big block of butter in the middle. Fold over the flaps to enclose the butter inside. Let dough rest in fridge 20-30 minutes. Proceed to next step.
   
4. Do a "double turn", called "un tour double" in french. Roll out dough the length of a long rolling pin. Fold the 2 ends in, and then fold the whole thing in half.
5. Do a "single turn", or "tour simple" in french. Roll out dough the length of long rolling pin. Fold it into thirds. Let rest in fridge for 30 minutes.
6. Roll dough out to a thickness of around 2mm (very thin). Cut rolled dough into large rectangles & then cut each rectangle into triangles. Roll into a croissant shape, starting from base of triangle, rolling toward the tip. Let rise at room temp (or proofing oven) until puffy (around 20-30 minutes).
7. Brush with egg wash.
   
8. Bake approximately 15 minutes at 205C.

It makes more than the quantity indicated, if you them mini-sized like we did!

/dma

Flour Tortillas

This is not at all french....but
I can't help my American cravings from time to time. The cost of El Paso brand flour tortillas is ridiculously high in Paris. At the little food store below our apartment, a pack of 8 runs ~3.69 euros (they are the big size at least). At today's exchange rate, that's an outrageous cost of $5.48!!! I don't remember what flour tortillas used to cost us....but wasn't it pennies on the dollar? Half a dollar maybe?

A high cost of something I really crave is the perfect motivational tool for trying to make it myself! So, I found a recipe on YouTube and guess what...making your own tortillas turns out to be really simple, easy and fast. Really. Even if you don't have one of those spiffy tortilla presses (which is now something I added to my gadget wish-list!). And the cost: maybe 30 cents?

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
3/4 cup water
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening*

* Since I can't easily or cheaply find Crisco here, I substituted goose fat.....which I did have on hand, oddly enough....and which is not that expensive when you buy big quantities of it. This is just one of the things that has changed in my life. NEVER, EVER before would I have dreamed that I would be buying 5 liter cans of goose fat & gladly using it!

Steps
1. Mix all ingredients together
2. Let dough rest.
3. Portion off the dough into equal-sized balls (I think I made 10 x 6" tortillas)
4. Roll out until it's thin (or use tortilla press)
5. Heat pan until its really hot & cook dough ~ 1 min per side or until you see light brown spots
6. Store in cloth-lined pan, stacking them on top of each other until all are cooked. Wrap in towl.

2 Things worth trying with your home-made tortillas:

1.) A quesadilla pie -- this is simply a tortilla that has piled on it various ingredients (such as sauce, some cheese to bind it down a little, some vegetables like tomatos, red peppers, shredded carrots, some sliced proscuitto, and topped with more shredded cheese). Then broil until golden & bubbly. Serve with arugula salad on top. OK, so my version is a slightly european-ized by using french gruyère cheese (it's similar to a swiss), basil pesto for the sauce, and serving it with a nice red bordeaux wine!

This has a high yum factor, and guess what? It's easy & fast, which makes it a great meal to pull together when you're hungry & need to feed the family & kids in minutes (assuming the tortillas are pre-made). I think even the kids would have fun building their own pies! 2 quesadillas/person.

2) Tortilla Chips - Cut the tortillas into 1/8ths and fry in oil at 180°C until done (30 sec - 1 min). Sprinkle with salt. This is a really CHEAP way to make tortilla chips, and they are much, much better-tasting than the small packs of chips they try to sell here! When you do them yourself, the chips are light & fresh & have a nice crunch. Next time I'll try to flavor them with lime juice...will let you know how that turns out. It helps to have a deep fat fryer in your kitchen, which I do, thanks to the insistence of my Belgian husband, aka, master frite maker (master fries maker, who can't stand the fact that they're called "french fries" when it was the Belgians who invented them!! At least they're not referred to as "freedom fries" anymore...) :)

Best Recipe for American Hamburger Buns

Where to find the best American hamburger bun in Paris? Make it yourself! It's really hard to find a good bun here in Paris. By "good" I mean fresh, light & fluffy, but with a slight resistance to the crust when you bite into it. So, I googled some recipes & found one that looked promising. It turned out to be great. This recipe comes from Joe's blog, Culinary in the Country! Thanks again for sharing a winning recipe. His is an adaption from Canadian Living, and mine is an adaptation of his adaptation...

I highly recommend this recipe to everyone. I will warn you however, that they are addictive! And habit-forming. But also very versatile. For example, I made a batch last week, and I used half the dough for buns on Friday night, half of the remaining to make pizza Saturday night, and baked off the rest as a mini-loaf on a Sunday morning. Oui!

Recipe in US measurements, see Joe's orignal post
Recipe in metric measurements, see below

Makes 12 - 16 buns, depending on what size you make them.

1) In a large bowl, proof the yeast:
This means to put tepid/slightly warm water in a bowl; stir in sugar; add yeast & let rest till nice & puffy (~ 10 min). If it doesn't do this, your yeast is dead. Don't go further! Get new yeast!

205 g water
15 g sugar
9 g yeast (dried)

2) In a medium size pan, warm the milk, butter & other ingredients:
240 g milk (demi-écremé or skim)
27 g butter
15 g sugar
10 g salt

3) Add warmed milk mixture to bowl of proofed yeast & stir.
Being an ex-scientist type, I measured the tempurature of the warmed milk mixture to be 33°C before I added it to the bowl of yeast/water mixture. Don't want to kill the yeast with too much heat! All you really want to do is melt the butter. The milk felt tepid or lukewarm when I dipped my finger in it to see (if you don't have a handy thermometer). That's all you really need.

4) Add flour, divided:
Weigh out the two portions of flour shown below. Use flour from the 435 g bowl first. Add it to the yeast 1/3 of the quantity at a time. With a wood spoon, add the first portion of flour & stir like crazy till well mixed. Then add the 2nd portion, and stir like craxy. Finally, add the 3rd portion of flour. After 435g of flour is incorporated, add a quantity of the 300 g flour until the dough is ready to be turned out onto a work surface for final kneading. (See next step.)
435 g flour
300 g flour.

5) Turn onto work surface & knead the dough.
Using a floured surface, knead the dough, and again, encorporate only as much of the remaining 300g of flour as necessary. I've found that I've used almost all of the 300g of flour (~ 250 g) to get the dough soft, supple & so that it pushes back when I put my finger in it. Whenever it's too sticky, I just add more flour, a little at a time, until it's not sticky anymore. A temperature of the dough that is between 22 - 24C means it's ready go into a greased bowl (shown in picture). No more kneading necessary! Takes less than 10 minutes.

6) Let proof.
Depending on the day's humidity, air temp, etc, this can take 45 minutes to over an hour. Be sure to put oiled plastic wrap on it. It should double in size.

7) Punch down, roll into balls, put onto baking sheet & let rise a 2nd time. Pre-heat oven to 210°C: I portioned the buns to be 75g each. When putting onto the tray, use silpat or parchment paper. Also, I pressed down to make flatter (3" in diameter, to be exact...!) Cover again with oiled film for 2nd rising.
8) Brush egg wash on top & sprinkle with toppings.
Egg wash = 1 whole egg with some water mixed with a fork (or just whites if that's all you have). Toppings I like are sesame seeds (for the traditional bun), poppy seeds, or a combo of it. My personal favorite is "everything", ie, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic salt, and pepper. (That's what's pictured at the top of this post)

9) Bake 25 - 30 minutes until golden & hollow sounding when you tap the bottom. Make sure they are good & hard. They soften when they're cooled down, so don't be afraid to let them in the oven an extra 5 minutes after you think they might be done. But not too long, otherwise you risk burning or drying them out!