Can she bake a cherry pie? Sure she can.

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Rick and I went to the farmer’s market last Saturday and came home with some local (but frozen) pitted tart pie cherries- 4lbs to be exact. I had a desire to make a cherry pie and I love our local cherries and hoard them whenever possible. Sometimes I buy a 5 gallon container when I can find one. As a matter of preference I never use canned filling – I’d rather not have the pie if I have to use that stuff.

I know there is a big movement in the food world right now to “eat local” and so everything old is new again -as usual. I support slow food, local food, grow your own, preserve your own and prepare your own food. I think it the right and healthy way to live. My credo – to get to the root of the matter- is actually to have as few people as possible in contact with my food before it gets to me. Cut out the middle man, the processor, the food defiler and chemical adulterer. I frankly don’t want my food to be processed into some chemically stable Twinkies with a half life of a billion years. I also want my food to be handled well and prepared with love-something, alas, I can best do on my own I think. I applaud small organic farmers and buy their produce at every opportunity. Good practices and smaller production seem to me to reduce the chances of contamination by various bacteria and other organisms. I want to trust in my food and the people it comes from. Real food, real earth, real nature, real health and community. And by the way using all of it so none goes to waste is a good policy too, I believe.

This is all a long around way of writing that I made a pie from cherries grown locally on a family owned farm – I bought them from the farmer himself and that made me feel good.

AND I NEVER use margarine-it’s outlawed in my home!,  and I will only use shortening when absolutely necessary and then it’s non GMO non Trans fat from the health food store. Luckily for me, I have a wonderful pie crust recipe that uses all butter-(the secret to all good things in life.)  This crust tastes good, is flaky and doesn’t leave that shortening created greasy slick on the roof of your mouth.  Here’s the recipe:

  • 1 cup cold, cold, cold butter, cut into pieces
  • 2-1/2 cups unbleached flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar, omit if using crust for pot pies or other savory purposes
  • 1/2 Cup Ice water- fill a measuring cup with ice and water and remove the ice and pour out all but 1/2 cup when ready to use.

Mix flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Toss butter pieces in mixture to coat and then rub with your fingers or cut in with a pastry cutter until most of the butter is mixed in to resemble coarse corn meal. Leave a few pea sized pieces of butter intact (these will add to the flakiness of your crust). You can do the above in a food processor also to this point. Then, rub the flour-butter mix in one direction only between your palms making small “leaves or sheets” of crust. Only go through bowl once doing this quickly. Add ice water just to bring it a bit together with a fork. It should be very shaggy and not really cohesive- it will come together as it is rolled out. Pour out onto a marble counter or wood cutting board and form into 2 rough rounds. You can wrap in plastic and let it rest in the fridge or work it immediately. May be frozen for future use as well. If rolling out after chilling let it rest at room temperature for about 15 minutes to be able to roll it. Makes two 10″ crusts.

To make the cherry pie:

Preheat the oven to 400F

  • make the above pie dough and roll out the bottom crust
  • drain the pie cherries(4 bs or about 6 cups) well, collect the juice for another use
  • mix the cherries with :
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Flour
  • 4-1/2 Tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon pure Vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
  • a pinch of salt
  • mix all above well

Roll out the bottom crust to line a pie plate with a bit of an overhang and brush with a mixture of egg yolk and heavy cream (1 yolk to 2 Tablespoons cream) this stops soggy-bottom, Roll out the top crust and brush lightly with the egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar, cut for a lattice. Pour in the cherries to the bottom crust. Arrange the top lattice over the cherries as you like it – you know basket weave or diagonal etc. Work quickly so things don’t get soggy and warm. Crimp the two crusts together to seal and bake on the bottom rack for 20 minutes at 400F then reduce the temperature to 350F and bake on the middle rack for about another hour or until crust is cooked and golden and cherries are bubbling away happily. It is wise to put the pie plate on a parchment lined baking tray unless you like cleaning up boiled over and burned juices.

Serve how you like it- it’s really good with homemade vanilla ice cream….slurp!

I hope you enjoy and I hope you have good food wherever you may be.

Chicken Hazelnut Lasagna with Roasted Garlic Bechamel

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I meant to get this posted in time to join in on Danielle at Habeas Brulee’s blog event- “Yes, Of Course You Can Pair Garlic With That!” But, life being what it is these days I didn’t get the lasagna made until last night and her blog event closed on Monday. I thought well of course I can still pair garlic with tardiness and so here is my creation.

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This lasagna is based on one we used to get at a local restaurant that has since closed. Their lasagna was rich and delicious with the hazelnuts adding that certain something to the chicken and cheese in this dish. So since I can’t go out and get it anymore I had to try to come up with my own version and I have tweaked it and continue to tweak it- it is always work in process…

Chicken Hazelnut Lasagna with Garlic Béchamel Sauce

  • a double recipe of homemade pasta (recipe follows) rolled through your pasta machine to make lasagna noodles – I roll it to a 7 on my Atlas hand-roll machine.
  • 3 cloves roasted garlic, (you know… cut the top off of a head of garlic drizzle a little olive oil on it wrap in foil tightly and roast until soft (350F 30-50 minutes). Cool it squeeze the cloves out of the head and store in a jar covered with a little good quality olive oil and a pinch of Vitamin C crystals (to ward off bacteria)  store jar tightly closed in the fridge for up to 3 days.)
  • take 1/2 of a medium sized butternut squash and peel, seed and cut into 1/2″ cubes, sauté in a little olive oil until tender, adding salt, pepper a pinch of rubbed sage and a pinch of oregano to taste.
  • 1 can San Marzano tomatoes drained and diced. Add to cooked squash and sauté to evaporate some of the liquid.
  • 1-1/2 cups shredded beet greens or Swiss chard. Add to tomatoes and squash and cook down.
  • 2 boneless chicken breasts, grilled and chopped
  • 1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned and coarsely chopped.
  • 6 slices prosciutto
  • 2 cups shredded low moisture mozzarella
  • 2 cups fresh mozzarella, squeeze to dry  a bit if very moist, slice
  • 1lb ricotta, mixed with 1 beaten egg, 1/4 cup minced parsley and 1 teaspoon prepared pesto
  • Béchamel sauce or Parmesan Mornay (see recipe on Croque Monsieur Gougeres recipe) – add the 3 roasted garlic cloves from above with the hot milk and they will dissolve into the sauce.
  • Minced fresh Italian Parsley, about 3 Tablespoons
  • 1 cup shredded fresh Parmesan cheese, use the good stuff!

In a roasting pan or 9 x 13 glass baking dish, start with a layer of garlic béchamel on the bottom, cover with the squash -tomato-chard mixture and top with a little more garlic béchamel. Add a layer of noodles, then ricotta, then chicken and hazelnuts together, intersperse all with shredded cheese and sauce and more noodles, use prosciutto for the top layer and cover with sliced fresh mozzarella and the last of the garlic béchamel. Sprinkle with a little chopped parsley and the parmesan cheese. Please layer it the way you like it – it’s all to your taste anyway. Be your own boss here!!!

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Bake at 350F for about 1 hour or until golden, heated through and bubbling. Cool a little and cut and serve. I think all lasagnas are better the next day when reheated but just my opinion. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers if there are any.

Home made Pasta Dough , one recipe – double this to have enough noodles for the above lasagna and since there are few ingredients make sure they are good quality and fresh.

  • one cup flour
  • 1 egg
  • good pinch salt
  • enough sprinkles of water to pull it together

Mix flour and salt in a bowl, mix in egg with a fork making shaggy particles not a smooth paste, add a few drops of room temperature water to start to pull together a dough. Turn out on a lightly floured board and add more water or flour as necessary to make a knead-able dough, it should be slightly tacky but not stick to the kneading surface. It is easier to add more water as you go along than it is to add more flour, I find it easier to flour my board and rub it lightly then knead on it if I need to add more flour and to wet my hands and shake them off and knead to add more moisture. NOW knead for 15 minutes, meditate and get that upper body workout you’ve been promising yourself. After 15 minutes you should have a very different dough than what was in the bowl at the beginning. It should be smooth with a very fine surface. Cover it with plastic wrap to prevent it forming a skin and let it rest for 45 minutes before rolling and shaping.

Enjoy!

The Daring Bakers and the Cinnamon Bun and Sticky Bun Challenge

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When I began to find so many wonderful food related blogs out there on the net I noticed that some of the best were displaying a logo from a group called the Daring Bakers. I was intrigued- “Who are these Daring Bakers and what do they do?”, I asked myself.

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Well, the answer came when I visited the blogs of the co-founders: Lisa at La Mia Cucina and Ivonne at Cream Puffs in Venice . They had formed an online friendship and decided to make some pretzels together from the same recipe to share and compare notes – and voila!…another great Internet union was formed. Others joined in and the group has grown exponentially- until now I am lucky enough to join what is referred to as the “Kappa class” on the eleventh tier of this group. The Daring Bakers are a greatly creative supportive group of people who each write a blog (or blogs!) around the world and who come together to share in a common baking experience. Basically they are interacting in the spirit of all that’s good and great of the community of humans.

So, I am now a Daring Baker and my first challenge- hosted by the lovely and talented Marce of Pip in the City , is Cinnamon Buns and Sticky buns.

The rules are that we all bake from the same recipe with only the deviations allowed as stated by the host and then we all post on the same day. We are all posting together in a  world wide storm of yumminess.

Here is what we were given:

Cinnamon buns and sticky buns (from Peter Reinhart´s The Bread Baker´s Apprentice)

DAYS TO MAKE: 1, =15 minutes mixing; 3 1/2 hours fermentation, shaping and proofing; 20 to 40 minutes baking. Yield: Makes 8 to 12 large or 12 to 16 smaller cinnamon or sticky buns

Ingredients:

  • 6 1/2 tablespoons (3.25 ounces) granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 5 1/2 tablespoons (2.75 ounces) shortening or unsalted butter or margarine
  • 1 large egg, slightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon lemon extract OR 1 teaspoon grated zest of 1 lemon
  • 3 1/2 cups (16 ounces) unbleached bread or all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast*
  • 1 1/8 to 1 1/4 cups whole milk or buttermilk, at room temperature OR 3 tablespoons powdered milk (DMS) and 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar (6 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar plus 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, or any other spices you want to use, cardamom, ginger, allspice, etc.)
  • White fondant glaze for cinnamon buns or caramel glaze for sticky buns (at the end of the recipe.)
  • Walnuts, pecans, or other nuts (for sticky buns.)
  • Raisins or other dried fruit, such as dried cranberries or dried cherries (for sticky buns, optional.)

*Instant yeast contains about 25% more living cells per spoonful than active dry yeast, regardless of the brand. Instant yeast is also called rapid-rise or fast-rising.

1. Cream together the sugar, salt, and shortening or butter on medium-high speed in an electric mixer with a paddle attachment (or use a large metal spoon and mixing bowl and do it by hand); if you are using powdered milk, cream the milk with the sugar, and add the water with the flour and yeast. Whip in the egg and lemon extract/zest until smooth. Then add the flour, yeast, and milk. Mix on low speed (or stir by hand) until the dough forms a ball. Switch to the dough hook and increase the speed to medium, mixing for approximately 10 minutes (or knead by hand for 12 to 15 minutes), or until the dough is silky and supple, tacky but not sticky. You may have to add a little flour or water while mixing to achieve this texture. Lightly oil a large bowl and transfer the dough to the bowl, rolling it around to coat it with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

2. Ferment at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.

3. Mist the counter with spray oil and transfer the dough to the counter. Proceed as follows for shaping the buns.

(A) Roll out the dough with a rolling pin, lightly dusting the top with flour to keep it from sticking to the pin. Roll it into a rectangle about 2/3 inch thick and 14 inches wide by 12 inches long for larger buns, or 18 inches wide by 9 inches long for smaller buns. Don´t roll out the dough too thin, or the finished buns will be tough and chewy rather than soft and plump. (

B)Sprinkle the cinnamon sugar over the surface of the dough 

(C) roll the dough up into a cigar-shaped log, creating a cinnamon-sugar spiral as you roll. With the seam side down, cut the dough into 8 to 12 pieces each about 1 3/4 inches thick for larger buns, or 12 to 16 pieces each 1 1/4 inch thick for smaller buns.)

4. For cinnamon buns, line 1 or more sheet pans with baking parchment. Place the buns approximately 1/2 inch apart so that they aren´t touching but are close to one another.

For sticky buns, coat the bottom of 1 or more baking dishes or baking pans with sides at least 1 1/2 inches high with a 1/4 inch layer of the caramel glaze. Sprinkle on the nuts and raisins (if you are using raisins or dried fruit.) You do not need a lot of nuts and raisins, only a sprinkling. Lay the pieces of dough on top of the caramel glaze, spacing them about 1/2 inch apart. Mist the dough with spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a food-grade plastic bag.

5. Proof at room temperature for 75 to 90 minutes, or until the pieces have grown into one another and have nearly doubled in size. You may also retard the shaped buns in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, pulling the pans out of the refrigerator 3 to 4 hours before baking to allow the dough to proof.

6. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) with the oven rack in the middle shelf for cinnamon buns but on the lowest shelf for sticky buns.

7. Bake the cinnamon buns for 20 to 30 minutes or the sticky buns 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden brown. If you are baking sticky buns, remember that they are really upside down (regular cinnamon buns are baked right side up), so the heat has to penetrate through the pan and into the glaze to caramelize it. The tops will become the bottoms, so they may appear dark and done, but the real key is whether the underside is fully baked. It takes practice to know just when to pull the buns out of the oven.

8. For cinnamon buns, cool the buns in the pan for about 10 minutes and then streak white fondant glaze across the tops, while the buns are warm but not too hot. Remove the buns from the pans and place them on a cooling rack. Wait for at least 20 minutes before serving. For the sticky buns, cool the buns in the pan for 5 to 10 minutes and then remove them by flipping them over into another pan. Carefully scoop any run-off glaze back over the buns with a spatula.

Wait at least 20 minutes before serving.

White fondant glaze for cinnamon buns

Cinnamon buns are usually topped with a thick white glaze called fondant. There are many ways to make fondant glaze, but here is a delicious and simple version, enlivened by the addition of citrus flavor, either lemon or orange. You can also substitute vanilla extract or rum extract, or simply make the glaze without any flavorings. Sift 4 cups of powdered sugar into a bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of lemon or orange extract and 6 tablespoons to 1/2 cup of warm milk, briskly whisking until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the milk slowly and only as much as is needed to make a thick, smooth paste. When the buns have cooled but are still warm, streak the glaze over them by dipping the tines of a fork or a whisk into the glaze and waving the fork or whisk over the tops. Or, form the streaks by dipping your fingers in the glaze and letting it drip off as you wave them over the tops of the buns. (Remember to wear latex gloves.)

Caramel glaze for sticky buns Caramel glaze is essentially some combination of sugar and fat, cooked until it caramelizes. The trick is catching it just when the sugar melts and lightly caramelizes to a golden amber. Then it will cool to a soft, creamy caramel. If you wait too long and the glaze turns dark brown, it will cool to a hard, crack-your-teeth consistency. Most sticky bun glazes contain other ingredients to influence flavor and texture, such as corn syrup to keep the sugar from crystallizing and flavor extracts or oils, such as vanilla or lemon. This version makes the best sticky bun glaze of any I´ve tried. It was developed by my wife, Susan, for Brother Juniper´s Cafe in Forestville, California.
NOTE: you can substitute the corn syrup for any neutral flavor syrup, like cane syrup or gold syrup.
1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature.2. Cream together for 2 minutes on high speed with the paddle attachment. Add 1/2 cup corn syrup and 1 teaspoon lemon, orange or vanilla extract. Continue to cream for about 5 minutes, or until light and fluffy.

3. Use as much of this as you need to cover the bottom of the pan with a 1/4-inch layer. Refrigerate and save any excess for future use; it will keep for months in a sealed container.

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What I made was a recipe of 1/2 Cinnamon Buns and 1/2 Sticky buns as I don’t usually care for sticky buns. I suspect that what I don’t like about sticky buns has to do with the raisins burning in the caramel- I don’t care for that taste. So I elected to use dried apricots and dried pineapple, with almonds for the nuts. I also used orange extract where there was a choice for the fondant and caramel glaze.

The sticky buns were SO yummy! The caramel was soft and buttery and the fruits were the right amount of tart and sweet. I could have eaten every one on the spot- then and there. I actually liked them better than the cinnamon buns (which were very delicious) but the sticky buns were exceptional.

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And there it is!, my first Daring Baker challenge complete and reported. And so-we’re off and awaiting the next challenge. I want to say thanks to Marce for hosting and to all the DBs who share their efforts I feel very honored to join you.

Please take a moment to check out the other Daring Bakers fabulous creations.

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