French Bread

Welcome to another wonderful instalment of baked goods on The Daisy Cake.
I know I haven't done a lot of cake recipes lately but I had to share with you a recipe I love to make: French bread.

I learned how to make this French bread recipe in my baking class and the recipe comes from "Professional Baking" by Gisslen, 5th edition. The only thing I've changed from the original recipe is the amount of bread it makes. This recipe makes a small loaf that will feed 4. The way you make it isn't all that difficult you just need to set aside enough time for the dough to rise and have it be done by the time you want to eat it.

Ingredients for French Bread:
Flour - 9.5 oz (2 cups*)
Water (warm) - 5.7 oz
Yeast - 1 1/2 tsp.
Salt - a little less than 1 tsp.
Malt syrup or brown sugar - 1/4 tsp.**
White Sugar - a little more than 3/4 tsp.
Shortening - a little more than 3/4 tsp.

*Here is the reason for my measurements in ounces. Baking is more of a science or if you want things to be perfect you have to exact. Even when a recipe says 2 cups of flour the way I measure two cups may be different than the way someone else measures 2 cups. When you weigh your ingredients things turn out a lot better.
Water is a lot easier to measure in ounces because liquid measuring cups have the ounces marked on them. But because it's an odd number just remember that .25 = 1/4  .5 = 1/2 .75 = 3/4. So with 5.7 just go a little under 5.75.

**Malt syrup is expensive and isn't used in a whole lot of other things so just use sugar. The malt syrup is only to feed the yeast so sugar will do the job just the same as the syrup.

If you enjoy baking and want to do it right invest in a small kitchen food scale. They are only about $10 and it is worth it to have for any recipe you may be using not just in baking.
For those of you without the use of a kitchen scale You can use the cup measurements I put up but do not pack your flour let it be loose in the cup. You don't even have to level it with a butter knife just level it by shaking the measuring cup back and forth. (Example below)

Step One: Dissolve the brown sugar or malt syrup in the warm water. Then add the yeast to the water and sugar mixture and let it sit until it starts to foam.
Mix the flour and white sugar together. Put the salt and shortening in a separate dish apart from each other.

Step Two: Place the flour sugar mixture in a bowl and make a well to pour in the water yeast mixture. Use your fingers to mix in a little flour at a time to look like the picture below:

Then pour in your salt and shortening and mix it in with your figures to spread it evening through the mixture. Once your salt and shortening is in then mix in the rest of the flour until you get a ball of dough.

Add more flour to your dough until it is no longer sticky. Knead your dough for 8 to 10 minutes till firm.

Step Three: Place the dough into a bowl sprayed with cooking oil so it won't stick and put plastic over it to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours until it has doubled in size.

Step Four: When you dough is done rising punch it down lightly to release the air. Then you're going to beat your dough to help in the gluten development in the dough.
Hold your dough in one hand slam it down on the counter then fold it in half and slam it down again. You can stretch the dough in order to fold it again and again after each time you beat the dough on the counter.

Beat it for about 5 minutes. Once you've beat it for a while the dough will become more elastic and you will be able to tell a difference.
Then place the dough back in the bowl and let it sit for 10 minutes to rest.

Step Five: After your dough has rested roll it into a rectangle:

Then fold it into thirds on top of itself:

Fold in the ends and lightly roll it to form a cylinder:

Step Six: Place your dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and cover it in plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1 hour till it doubles in size.
While it rises preheat your oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Step Seven: Get a very very sharp knife and cut slits in the top of your loaf. Hold the knife at a 45 degree angle when cutting and cut the slits parallel to loaf. Do not cut diagonally over the loaf.
The reason you put slits in your loaf is to give it a place to expand when it bakes. This way your loaf will not split on the sides.

Before you place your loaf in the oven get a dish with part ice part water and place it on the bottom rack in your oven. Then place your loaf in the over above the dish of water:

You put the ice water in the oven because you need to steam the French bread for the first 10 minutes. When you steam the French bread it makes the crust crispy and flaky. Take the dish of water out after 10 minutes.

Keep an eye on your loaf and take it out when it is golden brown. I only baked my French bread for maybe 20 minutes.

When your french bread is done baking let it cool but eat it while it is still warm to enjoy a delicious treat!
It takes a while to make French bread but the end result is totally worth it!

Leave a comment about your adventures in making French bread.

No more cake cone

Have you ever baked a cake and it didn't rise evenly? You ended up with a tall cone in the center that you ended up having to cut off, right?
Well never fear here is a way to help your cake rise evenly!

All you need is a flower nail. You cake buy them in any cake department at the store. Then cut a circle of parchment paper the size of your cake pan to line the bottom. Poke the flower nail through the center of the parchment and lay it head up in the bottom of the pan.
Then pour batter in bake and viola! No more cone. Having the nail in the cake helps it rise evenly.
Also don't forget to spray the parchment paper and the bottom of the pan so nothing will stick.

But whatever you do don't spray the sides of your cake pans. The cake batter needs something to grab onto as it rises and if you spray the sides it can effect how he cake rises.
When you bake a cake correctly it should pull away from the sides of the pan all on its own leaving a clean release after it has cooled.

Let me know how your cakes turned out and if you won't bake another cake without a flower nail again. ;-)

Baked Pumpkin Seeds

With Halloween coming up on Wednesday I thought I would venture off the cake path and give you a holiday recipe I love, baked pumpkin seeds!
 

Here is what you'll need:

1 pumpkin
Colander
Kitchen knife (one you don't mind cutting into a pumpkin with)
Bowl
Olive oil
Tin foil
Baking sheet
Salt or season all



 
What you do first is buy a pumpkin and gut it, pardon the expression.  If you are going to also make your pumpkin into a Jack-o-lantern you can cut a little notch in it so the lid can be replaced easily.

 Then you'll want to separate the seeds from the goo and wash the seeds off. I put mine in a colander so I don't loose any in the process.

Once you're seeds are clean lay the seeds out on a towel in a single layer and let them dry. You can leave them out overnight or for a few hours during the day. You want the seed to be all the way dry through so they can get crispy when you bake them.

Once the seeds are dry transfer them to a bowl and swirl some olive oil over them. I make a couple rounds with the oil and add a little more later if I feel like they could use it.

Stir up the seeds to make sure they all get coated with oil. You don't have to use olive oil you could also use vegetable oil or melted butter.

 Then you want to stir in your seasonings. My family likes Season All instead of just plain table salt. I like to use a generous amount.

 Next you'll line your baking sheet with tinfoil and spread out the seeds on it. After they are spread out I then add more seasoning, but it is up to you how much you want. Bake your seeds at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 20 minutes.

 Half way through the baking processes take the seeds out and scoot them around and try to flip them so they can get evenly baked.

 When they're close to being done you will be able to smell them so watch them so they don't burn. You could let them cook longer than 20 minutes but not too long.
Once they're done cooking they cool pretty quickly and then you can enjoy a delicious salty treat!

You can also put your pumpkin seeds in a jar and make them part of  your fall decor!

 

Leave a comment about your experiences with baked pumpkin seeds and if you have any tips on how to make them even better!

It's alive!

This week I made a Halloween cake for a party I'm going to Saturday. I got a new cook book from my in-laws for a birthday present and this Frankenstein cake was in it so I knew I had to try it out.

For this cake I used fondant and frosting to decorate it. I'm not a huge fan of fondant so I thought about using just frosting, but I hadn't made fondant in a while so I thought I would make some to keep my skills from getting rusty.

To make fondant all it is is: 

16 oz mini marshmallows

2 lb powdered sugar

2 Tbsp water 

1/2 cup vegetable shorting.

Either over a double boiler or in a microwave safe dish mix the marshmallows and water together till melted. If you're using the microwave heat it in 30 second increments. 

Clear and sanitize some counter space where you will knead the fondant. Generously coat the counter with some of the vegetable shorting as well.

When the mixture is melted and smooth put about 2/3 of the powdered sugar on top of the mixture and kind of stir it in just a little. Then dump all of the mixture onto your greased surface.

*Grease your hands with shorting before kneading: palms, backs, in between fingers, treat it like a natural moisturizer*

Now you're ready to knead in the powdered sugar. Knead just like bread. Incorporate all of the powdered sugar and re-grease the counter and your hands as needed. If your fondant tares easily add some water to it, only 1/2 Tbsp at a time.

If you want to add color to your fondant you can mix in the food coloring before you knead in the powdered sugar you can can knead in the color, either way works great.

Than Once I had made my fondant I rolled it out and covered my cake.

Than I started to form the monsters face and started piping chocolate frosting for his hair.

It took a lot of frosting to cover the top and 3/4 of the sides so make sure you have enough on hand if you're going to attempt Franken-cake.

The finishing touches are always the best part. I added some stitches and of course the eyebrows to give my creation some character!

Post your own comments about your journeys in fondant making. Also let me know if you attempted your own Franken-cake creation and how it turned out!

Leftover cake

What do you do with that delicious cake after the guests are gone and the numbers on the scale are starting to increase?

Never fear the cake ball is here!

I recently made a chocolate Bundt cake for my own birthday and since I didn’t throw myself a party and it’s just me and my husband at home we had a lot of left over cake.

Not wanting this amazing cake to go to waste I decided to clean the canvas and make something new, cake balls.

When I was first making my Bundt cake I ended up with a lot of left over batter that I made into cupcakes to give away. But during the baking process the cupcakes decided to cave in and I knew I couldn’t give away such a hideous creation. So that’s when the first cake ball was made.

So here is how to make cake balls out of left over cake.

First leave your cake uncovered on the counter over night or for a few hours so the frosting on it can harden. If you’re afraid the cake will dry out you can place some plastic wrap on the exposed cake but not covering the frosting.

The frosting needs to be hard so you can take it off more easily than if it is moist. You don’t have to take off all of the frosting if you’re having trouble. Just get the majority of it.

Next once the cake it clean of frosting you can cut it into equal parts to form into balls or you can just grab chunks, squish it together and form balls. Most of mine were between the size of a walnut and a golf ball.

Now with your cake balls formed put them on a cookie tray covered in wax paper and place them in the freezer to harden. They don’t have to stay in the freezer very long 45 minutes to an hour is plenty of time. But they will be perfectly fine if you leave them in their longer.

*Baking Tip* It is better to put things in the freezer than the fridge. The fridge dries things out very quickly while the freezer locks in the moisture.

While the cake balls harden it’s time to assess the frosting situation. I had a good amount of frosting left over after making my cake, which I saved in the fridge in an air tight container. I let the frosting sit out so it would soften. I also added in the frosting I scraped off my cake so it wouldn’t go to waste.

Some of you might be concerned about crumbs in the frosting but if you have enough crumbs it can give your cake balls a speckled look. Or you can leave out the scraped off frosting.

If you don’t have any leftover frosting you can just make more.

With the cake balls now hard it is time to frost them. I found that with the cake balls hard and frozen they were easier to frost. You can frost them using a piping bag, a spatula, or by dunking them in the frosting. I used a spatula.

After you’ve frosted the cake balls put them back in the freezer to harden the frosting.

When you’re ready to eat the cake balls or give them away transfer them to the fridge so they can defrost. When you put them in the fridge be sure to cover them to keep them fresh.

I took my cake balls to book club and they were a hit. You will not be disappointed with the finished product I can assure you!

Also cake balls keep very well in the freezer. I had leftovers from book club and I put them in a Tupperware container in the freezer and when I want a yummy treat I take one out and eat it frozen. They taste great and are semisoft making it easy to eat.

Feel free to post your experiences with leftover cake and with cake balls. I would love to hear from you!

The Bundt & the frosting

I absolutely love Bundt cake! So I decided to treat myself to one for my birthday.  But I didn't make just any Bundt cake I made a chocolate fudge, from scratch, with buttermilk and melted chocolate that made a melt in your mouth, super moist cake you wouldn't believe!

Although I love Bundt cake, I think that one of the hardest things about it is trying to frost one. Not only is there a hole in the middle but every side is a slope so I also have to make sure the frosting I use will be stiff enough to stay where I place it.

I believe that chocolate cake should be accompanied by cream cheese frosting. But cream cheese frosting can have a thin, runny consistency so I was in a fix with trying to frost my chocolate bundt cake. I was determined to make a more solid cream cheese frosting to pipe (instead of spread) onto my cake.

In the recipe I use it takes:
1 8 oz package of cream cheese
1 lb powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup butter

To make it thicker though I added:
1 cup powdered sugar (in addition to the 1 lb)
1/4 cup Crisco

Crisco, unlike butter, holds things together to have a more full and dense consistency.I didn't want to use just Crisco though because I enjoy the flavor that butter brings to the frosting.

With my new frosting I loaded it into a piping bag with a number 10 tip and proceeded to pipe thick single and loop strands onto the Bundt cake.

I was quite pleased with the appealing look of the cake when I was finished. I was even more pleased that I was able to frost a Bundt cake with frosting that didn't run down the sides.

Feel free to tweak the cream cheese frosting recipe and post comments about what worked and didn't work for you. I would love to hear from you!

Mint Cake

My husband just had a birthday and he requested a mint cream cake that his mother made a lot for him growing up. I was a little nervous to make this cake since it was a family recipe and I didn't want to mess up.

I think the best part of this cake is the frosting because it's a mint flavored whipped cream frosting. Each layer is super thin too, which makes the inside look really nice when you cut into it.

The cake was a success and my mother-in-law also made a gluten free chocolate cake to put some of the whipped cream on and that was delicious too!