No-Knead Bread

At our annual pot-luck, Jeff Wigley brought in this great rustic bread.  When I found out how easy it was to make and how great it tasted, I had to get the recipe.  It comes from the New York Times: No-Knead Bread.  I made it last night and I will definately be making it again.  I think it would be great with some additional spices because it is pretty basic.  It takes about 1 1/2 hours to prepare, plus 14 to 20 hours' rising time.  It makes a 1 1/2 lb loaf.

Ingredients:
3 cups bread flour, more for dusting
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be very sticky.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.  Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18-24, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles.  Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice.  Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quicklyshape dough into a ball.  Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more cornmeal.  Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours.  When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.  (Mine didn't rise much during this step, but it still turned out great!)

4. At least a half-hour before the dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees.  Put a 6-8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex, or ceramic) in oven as it heats.  (I used a 3 quart dutch oven.)  When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from the oven.  Slide your hand under the towel and turn dough over into the pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is ok.  Shake the pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes.  Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes.

5. Then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes.  This is what it looks like when you remove the lid.

6. After 15 more minutes it is beautifully browned. 

7. Cool on a rack.

8. Enjoy!

Vanilla Bean Scones

Whew!  I thought I lost this recipe so I'm going to share it with everyone and that way I will never lose it.  I decided to try baking these after paying over $3 for one at Starbucks.  I think these are better than theirs anyway!  This recipe is adapted from Iowa Girl Eats.  I will post more pictures, including how to scrape a vanilla bean, when I make them next.

This recipe makes 18 scones.

Scone Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1/2 cup half & half
1 egg
2 vanilla beans, scraped

Glaze Ingredients:
3 cups powdered sugar
6 tablespoons half & half
1 vanilla bean, scraped

Before you cringe at the fact that it calls for a total of 3 vanilla beans, check out the prices at Beanilla. Right now they're advertising 10 beans for $12.45 or 25 beans for $22.45.  Compare that to 2 beans for $7 at Kroger.

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees then line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper and set aside.

2) In the bowl of a large food processor (or in a large bowl) add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt, then pulse or whisk to combine.  Add cold butter and pulse until well incorporated and mixture is the texture of cornmeal.  Alternatively, use your fingertips or a pastry cutter to blend butter in.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together half & half, egg, and vanilla bean seeds.  Add to flour mixture and pulse until just combined.  Alternatively, stir until the dough comes together in a ball.  Turn the dough out onto a floured surface then gently knead 4 or 5 times to bring the dough together.  Roll dough into a square about 1/2" thick.

4) Use a bench scraper to cut the dough into 9 squares (3 squares by 3 squares).  Then cut each square diagonally in half to make 18 scones.  (If you want to make mini scones, cut those in half.)  Transfer to prepared baking sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes, or until edges are just starting to turn golden brown.  I like to turn the pan around half way through baking so that they brown evenly.

5) Remove scones to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together glaze ingredients.  Dip colled scones in glaze then place back onto cooling rack to harden completely.

"Like A Boss"

I keep hearing my son and his friends use this phras "like a boss" so I thought it would be fun to use that phrase on Boss's Day cookies.  I made a custom cookie cutter using the techniques I've covered in previous posts.  Then I used Royal Icing Transfers for the letters.

1) I found this image online using the search "Facebook Like Button."

2) Next I imported it into CookieCaster.  I learned something new about CookieCaster this time.  When using the Magic Trace tool, I first clicked in the middle of the hand.  It found the edges of the hand, but I wanted the cuff included too.  So then I clicked on the cuff and it added the cuff to the shape I had already selected!  I didn't know it could do that.  I exported it with a size of 4", but had to come back and export it as 3.5 inches because that size worked best for the import into TinkerCad. (TinkerCad needs to import at 120% in order for the cutting edge to be the right thickness.) 

3) Then I imported it into TinkerCad at 120%.  That is the percent that works best for taking the .5mm cutting edge from the CookieCaster export and making it just a little bit thicker.  Be sure to check the size of your cutter in TinkerCad using the measuring device under Helpers.  Measurements are much more precise in TinkerCad than CookieCaster.

4) Take your file to the library and in a few days... voila!

5) Next make a ton of sugar cookies using my Favorite Sugar Cookies recipe.

6) Before decorating, make the letters.  These are called Royal Icing Transfers.  I made a Word document with letters the size that I needed.  I printed it out and taped it to the kitchen counter.  Then I covered it with wax paper and taped that down too.  Then I traced them with royal icing.  I let the letters dry over night and carefully removed them the next day.

7)  I made lots of extra letters to account for breakage.  I found this really great tutorial on removing them from the wax paper.  I wish I had found it before I made them.  

8) When decorating the cuff, I added a little sugar pearl from Wilton for the cuff link.  Just drop it in while the icing is still wet.

9) Then I decorated the hand in white and carefully placed the letters where I wanted them while the icing was still wet.

10) The next morning I added the dark blue border.  (Hmm... I could use this cutter upside-down too!)

11) Ta da!  Boss, with cookies, on Boss's Day!  

Note to self: When using humor in baking, make sure the recipient gets the joke.  Several people at work, including my boss, thought it meant "Thumbs Up A Boss."  I'm glad we got that straightened out!

Blueberry Supreme

Blueberry Supreme is a long time family favorite.  It was often requested instead of birthday cake by my brother Garr.  This time I made it to welcome back Apnesh, a former employee, at the company where I work.

Ingredients
8 oz 'Nilla Wafers crushed and divided into 2/3 and 1/3
1 1/4 cup sifted powdered sugar divided into 1 cup and 1/4 cup
1 stick room temperature butter
2 eggs
1 can blueberry pie filling
1-1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup shaved pecans or walnuts

Equipment
7" x 11" pan (or something equivelent)
Offset Spatula
Large Ziplock bag
Large drinking glass

 1) Put 2/3 of the 'Nilla Wafers in a large plastic bag and using a glass crush them.  Spread evenly in a 7" x 11" pan.

 2) In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the butter and 1 cup of the powdered sugar.  Add the eggs one at a time.  It will be the consistency of a creamy soup.  Spoon it gently over the 'Nilla Wafers and spread with an offset spatula.

 3) Gently spoon in the blueberry pie filling and spread it out the best you can.

4) In a stand mixer with the whip attachment, whip the heavy whipping cream.  Slowly add the 1/4 cup powdered sugar to taste.  Spread on top of the blueberry pie filling.

5) Sprinkle with nuts and 1/3 of the 'Nilla Wafers.

 6) Cover and chill at least 24 hours.

Chocolate Raspberry Ruffle Cake

This is one of three cakes from a Craftsy class called Decadent Chocolate Cakes.  I'm just going to share some pictures as it was too complicated to explain all the techniques I learned.  However, I did have a post on how I make the Ruffled Chocolate Fans.  The instructor is Alice Medrich and she is excellent.  I highly recommend the class. 

3-D Printer Cookie Cutters Simplified

Now that I've created several cutters with the 3-D Printer at our local library, I feel like I can make any shape cutter that I want.  This post is my attempt to show the process in a way that is easy to follow and uses minimal software.  Basic computer skills will be needed.  A browser, CookieCaster and Tinkercad are the only software needed, and they are free.  If you have Photoshop or Gimp it can be helpful but is certainly not required.

1) First, do a google image search (www.images.google.com) that includes the shape you want and the word Silhouette.  When you find the image you like, click on it and you will see this next to the image.  Click on View Image.

2) You will then see the image by itself in the browser.  Right click on the image and select Save Image As to save it on your computer.  I recommend creating a folder specifically for this cutter as you will have several files related to it.

3) If you have Photoshop skills, you may want to open the file in Photoshop and make some modifications.  I removed the eye lashes on this girl because they are too small.  If I got the dough to come out of the cutter, it would burn in the oven.  When you are done, save your file.

4) Next go to CookieCaster (www.cookiecaster.com) and upload the image you either saved from the web or edited in Photoshop.  To do this, click on Trace, Upload an Image.  

5)  With your image loaded, click on the Magic Trace tool.  It will turn blue like in the screenshot below when it is selected.  Now click in the middle of your shape.

6)  The Magic Trace tool puts an outline around your shape.  If it doesn't, open a new browser tab and try again.

7) Set the download options as shown below and click on Download 3D File to save the .stl to your computer.

8)  Next we will bring the file into Tinkercad (www.tinkercad.com).  If you have not created an account, do so now.  It is free.  Click on Create New Design.

9)  On the right side, you will find the way to import your file.  Leave it in millimeters and bring it in at 120%.  Remember that the cutter has a very narrow cutting edge (.5 mm) from the CookieCaster export.  If we bring it in at 120% it will be a little thicker and stronger, but not too thick.  It is somewhere between .5 mm and 1 mm.  Click on Import. 

10)  Below Import you will find Helpers.  Drag the ruler tool onto your work surface so that you will be able to see how big your cutter really is.

11)  The height and width of your cutter will be shown as in the image below.  101mm equals 4 inches, which is the cutter size that I prefer.  This one was a little bigger.  You can convert from millimeters to inches in google by typing something like "4 inches in mm."  If your cutter is in the wrong size, you may want to go back to CookieCaster and export that file again with a different value for Max Size.  Or you select the shape and hit the delete key on your keyboard and import it at a different percentage.

12)  To export your file from Tinkercad, click on Design, then Download for 3D Printing.  

13)  You will see this dialog box.  Click on .STL.  Save it to your computer, then copy it to a jump drive.

14)  When you get to the library, ask them to print it with a Raft at 15% Infill.  You can break off the raft after they print it as it is only for support.  Infill is the honeycomb structure is created in what would be hollow areas.  Normal infill is 10% but I have had problems with it at that level so I prefer 15%.  

15)  With a little luck you will get something like this in a few days.  Mine cost about $1.50.

16)  My favorite sugar cookie recipe can be found here.  Notice the space between the back of her head and her pony tail before they are baked.

17)  Now notice the same space after it is baked.

18)  Make some Royal Icing and find some decorations if you have them.

19)  These were some of the results.  I brought them to work and they went like hotcakes.

20)  Kelley, she looks just like you!