Recipe Notes: Brown Soda Bread

27 October 2018

Recipe from Bread Illustrated, America's Test Kitchen, 2016, p. 48; also available on-line

I have long been curious about Irish soda bread. So as I worked my way through Bread Illustrated I was happy to try its recipe for Brown Soda Bread, which I presume is similar. I use bread primarily for sandwiches for lunch. Would this be a good sandwich bread?

This is a quick bread, using baking soda and baking powder as leaveners rather than yeast. I started by toasting wheat germ in a skillet on the stove top. This was whisked together with the other dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. The liquid ingredients—buttermilk and melted butter—were combined in a measuring cup and added to the dry ingredients and stirred with a spatula until the dough can together. The dough was briefly kneaded, shaped into a round, and baked on a baking sheet. Total time from start to taking the bread from the oven was 1 hour 15 minutes, it took 30 minutes to get the dough into the oven. 

The appeal of this recipe is speed. With only 30 minutes of work you can have a homemade loaf in the oven baking and ready to eat a few hours later. The bread tastes good and has a nice crust, crispy though not chewy. The texture of the crumb is not the same as that of a yeast bread, it is coarser and not as chewy. It makes a reasonable sandwich bread. I will probably not make this often as I prefer the texture of yeast bread, but it is good to have in mind should a loaf be needed on short notice.

Recipe Notes: Dark Chocolate Fudge Sauce

24 October 2018

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, July 2018

I enjoy the occasional ice cream sundae: ice cream, salted Spanish peanuts, mini chocolate chips, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream. Mmmmmm. We have tried several dark chocolate syrups which we have enjoyed. So when CI published an easy recipe for homemade chocolate syrup, well I just had to try it.

Milk, sugar, and salt were combined in a sauce pan and heated over medium low heat while whisking gently. When bubbles appeared around the edges of the sauce pan the heat was reduced to low and cocoa powder was added, whisking until incorporated. The pan was taken off heat and unsweetened chocolate was stirred in until fully melted. Butter, then vanilla extract were added to finish the sauce. It took me about 40 minutes to make the sauce and it was very easy.

This is a very good chocolate sauce with a nice, dark chocolate flavor, not too sweet, and easily stored in the refrigerator for reheating when needed. Being homemade it has the advantage that I can now fiddle with the recipe, maybe reducing the sugar a little or trying different types of cocoa and chocolate. Testing these variations will be tough but I am up for the challenge.

Recipe Notes: Chicken Vesuvio

14 October 2018

Recipe from September 2018 Cook's Illustrated

Chicken Vesuvio is a Chicago restaurant dish. The Cook's Illustrated article about this recipe is titled "One-Pan Chicken and Potatoes". The promise of a simple-to-make dish with chicken, potatoes, and a garlic, white wine pan sauce was very appealing and seemed worth trying. It got even more appealing when I found the Test Kitchen web site had a "for two" version of the dish which suited us much better than the original recipe that serves 4 to 6. 

Four bone-in chicken thighs were trimmed of excess skin and seasoned. Four Yukon Gold potatoes were cut in half and tossed with oil and salt. Oil was heated in a 12-inch skillet, the chicken was added skin side down and cooked briefly to render its fat. The potatoes were added cut side down, they just fit in the 12-inch skillet with the chicken. Dried oregano and thyme were added and cooking continued until the potatoes and chicken were deeply browned. Six halved garlic cloves were added and white wine was poured into the skillet. Cooking was then completed in the oven. To make the sauce, the chicken and potatoes were removed to a serving dish and the skillet was heated on the stove top, scraping up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. The halved garlic cloves were transferred to a cutting board, minced, and smeared then returned to the skillet. The sauce was reduced, lemon juice and fresh parsley were added, and it was poured onto the serving platter. The chicken thighs were not all the same size which may have affected the overall cooking time. The garlic was not done cooking when it was time to remove the chicken and potatoes, it did not smear into a smooth paste. The meal took 70 minutes to prepare.

This was a good meal and worth having again. The sauce was good, it had good acid producing a pleasing tang and good garlic flavor that was not overwhelming. The sauce did not taste bitter even though it was too dark because some of the chicken and potatoes burnt during browning. The potatoes could have cooked a little longer but the chicken was perhaps a little over done. Despite these issues it was still good. We got two meals out of this recipe and it was good as leftovers, too, just requiring warming in the microwave.

Recipe Notes: Summer Peach Cake

20 September 2018

Recipe from Cook's Baking Book, America's Test Kitchen, 2013, p. 252.

There aren't many things better than a tree-ripened peach, one where the juice runs down you chin when you bite into it. This juiciness, however, is a challenge when you bake peaches in a cake. As the cake bakes the juices are released from the fruit into the batter making for a sodden, gummy cake. America's Test Kitchen took on this challenge and developed a recipe for a summer peach cake. Did they succeed in getting lots of peach flavor into the cake while maintaining a good texture?

I bought peaches at the supermarket rather than using local tree-ripened peaches. I assumed the recipe was developed using peaches that are more widely available at the market. The recipe includes peach schnapps to provide additional peach flavor; I used an orange liqueur rather than investing in peach schnapps for just this one use. Peaches were cut into ½-inch wedges and tossed with the liqueur, lemon juice, and a little sugar. The wedges were cut into thirds and roasted to remove some of their juice. They were then coated with panko bread crumbs. The batter was made by whisking together brown sugar, granulated sugar, and eggs. Melted butter was whisked into this mixture followed by sour cream, vanilla, and almond extract. Finally, a flour mixture (flour, baking powder, and salt) was whisked in until just combined. Half of the batter was added to a greased springform pan. The roasted peaches were layered on top of the batter. The remaining batter was poured over the peach layer. The top was decorated with more peach wedges plus a topping made with sugar mixed with almond extract. This was baked at 350°. The estimated time in the recipe is 50-60 minutes but I didn't take it out until after 70 minutes; even then a tooth pick was not coming out completely clean. Total time from start to removing the cake from the oven was about 2½ hours.

I served the cake at a meeting and received many compliments, people did enjoy the cake. I enjoyed it too, but being the baker I was a little more critical. I thought the cake was too moist, even a little gummy, despite the steps taken to minimize moisture from the peaches. Perhaps I didn't have realistic expectations for how the cake would turn out, and I was a little disappointed because of my fondness for peaches.