French Cruller Doughnuts

Last weekend, my family and I worked at the Isle of Wight County Fair. We have a mobile concession business where we sell funnel cakes, hot dogs, corn dogs, french fries, shrimp baskets, lemonade, etc. During the large festivals, we work close to 20 hours in a day. Those early mornings usually mean donuts for breakfast. Sadly, our only options for donuts around here are chains like Dunkin Donuts. Every time I open that pink and orange box, I get a quick rush from the donut glory, but I'm quickly let down as soon as I take a bite. My favorites are French crullers, but they're usually flavorless and waxy, and they always leave that grossy film on the roof of your mouth. I haven't been able to find a good cruller around here, so I took matters into my own hands this morning by making my own!I saw the recipe in "A Passion for Baking" by Marcy Goldman. This book is in my top 5 faves because it has never let me down! This recipe didn't give me my perfect cruller, but it did get close enough to get an A-. The problem is not in the recipe, but in the bake temp and time. I like my crullers on the dry and crispy side. These were very eggy in the middle. I'm pretty sure if the second oven temperature was lower and the baking time was extended, these could very well be the crullers of my dreams!
UPDATE: I made these again and lowered the 2nd bake temp to 300F. I left them in the oven for 30 minutes, then I turned the oven off, cracked the oven door open with a wooden spoon, and left them in for about 10 more minutes. They were slightly more crisp, but still not my dream crullers... *sigh* =/

There are really only two components of a cruller, the pastry and the glaze. While I give this pastry an A-, the glaze definitely gets an A++! The secret is in the imitation flavoring! Not just any imitation flavoring... vanilla butter nut flavoring! Or as I like to call it: liquid gold! It's definitely lick-your-fingers good!

French Cruller Doughnuts (from "A Passion for Baking" by Marcy Goldman)
Makes about 8

Choux Paste Doughnut Base
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup water
1 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Vanilla Butter Nut Glaze (my own recipe)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
3 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla butter nut flavoring
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tbsp hot water

Preheat oven to 400F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

For Choux Paste Doughnut Base: In a large saucepan, stir milk, water, sugar, and salt together over medium heat. Stir in butter and allow it to melt. Increase heat and bring mixture to a rolling boil. Stir in flour all at once. Blend well with a wooden spoon, adding vanilla and beating briskly until mixture forms a ball that leaves the sides of pan. Beat vigorously 1 to 2 minutes before removing from burner and turning out into a large bowl. Allow mixture to cool 5 minutes, but do not let cool completely.

Using a wide whisk or wooden spoon, add eggs, 1 at a time, until mixture is smooth and glossy. Spoon choux paste into a large pastry bag fitted with a 1/2 inch star tip (I used an Ateco 2D tip). On prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each pastry, make a 4-inch circle of batter with another circle on top -- concentric circles. If you don't have a pastry bag, use a soup spoon to spread out a ring of batter as best you can. It will be fine once it puffs.

Bake pastry 15 minutes; then reduce oven temp to 375F and bake another 15 to 20 minutes or until doughnuts are light in texture and medium brown all over. Cool slightly, about 5 minutes.

To make glaze, whisk everything together in a medium bowl to a thick glaze consistency. If mixture seems thick, microwave for 10 seconds. Dip each doughnut once, let excess drip off back into bowl. Let doughnuts set on a wire rack.

Pain Pesto (Pesto Swirl Bread)

UPDATE: I'm happy to say that it's only day 2, and the whole loaf is almost gone. Embarrassingly, I'm responsible for about half of it! ;D

I've been in the mood to bake bread this week. I set out to choose a bread recipe to use the 6 egg yolks I have in the fridge, but when I found this recipe for pesto bread in A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman, I could practically hear my basil plant screaming "yeeaahh pick that one!!" How can I say no to talking botanicals?? The recipes calls for a jar of prepared pesto, and I'm sure Buitoni would've done a fine job. But, HELLO!?!? It's summer! Pretty much the only thing I get excited about in the summer is Stephanie coming to visit and making my own pesto! I found the pesto recipe in the newest addition to my bookshelf, Eating the Greek Way by Fedon Alexander Lindberg, M.D. (got it for a whopping $3.99 at Ross). I couldn't stop eating the pesto by itself, but I knew I had to save at least 1/2 cup of it for the bread. Speaking of the bread...

Ohhh bread... what did I do wrong? I felt I was being so gentle and kind to you. I patiently waited for you to rise. I handled you tenderly when I rolled you out. I bathed you in glorious pesto. I tucked you into a nice warm oven. And you came out looking like the puniest swirl bread I've ever seen. Were you not fond of me halving your recipe? Did I roll you too thinly? Did I squeeze you too tightly? Did I possibly over-proof you? Will I ever know? Don't worry though, bread, because your puny layers were still delicious. We will meet again soon, and hopefully you won't be so deformed next time. Until then, I wish you a safe journey as you travel down the esophagi of my family and friends. Tata for now!

What? You say I was talking to the bread? Nooo! I'd never do that. I'm not a lunatic who talks to various inanimate objects such as televions, stoplights, and food! *subject change* Here's the recipe... ;)

Pain Pesto (from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman)
Makes 1 large loaf

1 1/4 cups warm water (100 to 110 degrees F)
1 tablespoon rapid rise yeast
4 cups, approximately, bread flour
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
5 teaspoons sugar
2 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 (10 oz) jar of prepared pesto (a generous cup)
Dustings of salt, pepper, Parmesan cheese, and parsley

Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper.
In mixing bowl, hand whisk water and yeast together and let stand 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Add one cup of flour and stir briefly. Then stir in oil, sugar, salt, and most of remaining flour. Mix ingredients and then attach dough hook and knead on lowest speed 6 to 8 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding more flour as required.
Remove dough hook from machine and spray dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire mixer with clear plastic bag. (Or remove the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and place it in a turned-off, warm oven [below 200 degrees F].) Let rise 45 to 90 minutes or until almost doubled.
Gently deflate dough on lightly floured surface. Let rest 10 minutes and then roll out into 20x20 inch shape. If dough resists, let it rest a few more minutes and roll out gently. Drizzle some additional olive oil on dough and then smear pesto all over surface. Roll up jelly roll style. Shape into "S" shape on prepared baking sheet.
Drizzle olive oil on top and dust with salt, pepper, Parmesan, and parsley. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until puffy, about 45 to 60 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press bread down slightly before it goes into the oven. Bake until it is well browned, about 35 to 45 minutes. Cool to warm on baking sheets before cutting.

Pesto Sauce (from Eating the Greek Way by Fedon Alexander Lindberg, M.D.)
Makes 1 cup; 6 to 8 servings

3 tablespoons pine nuts (I used a handful of walnuts)
1 ¼ cups fresh basil leaves
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (I used Parmigiano-Reggiano)
¼ cup olive oil (I added 2 extra tablespoons to loosen it up)
Salt and pepper

Toast the nuts lightly in a dry skillet over medium heat until just golden but not browned, 5 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Put the nuts in a food processor or blender, add the basil, garlic, Parmesan, and oil, and purée to make a smooth sauce. Season with salt and pepper. (I added about ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt and a few turns of the pepper mill.)

Supermarket Yellow Cake ...AKA My NEW Go-To!!

If you know anything about baking, you know that the search continues for the perfect vanilla/yellow cake recipe. Everyone has a recipe they will suggest to someone in need, but most of us are always willing to try a new recipe in order to find the perfect vanilla cake! There is some debate about what defines "vanilla cake." Is is white? Is it yellow? Egg yolks or no egg yolks, that is the question! I used to work in a bakery that used cake mix, and people asked us all the time... "What is the difference between white and yellow?" Other than one has egg yolks and one uses just whites, we didn't really know what to tell them.

Well I'm here to offer my answer to the question! I think the terms "white" and "yellow cake" are most recognized as boxed cake mix flavors. (Tell me, Mr. Hines, since when is "white" a flavor? And what exactly does "yellow" taste like?) I think most of us have figured out that white = vanilla. But what does yellow equal? "Ohh I know! Pick me! I know!!" ...Yellow = vanilla butter nut!! I found this imitation flavoring called vanilla butter nut at Kroger . It's pretty much yellow cake mix in a bottle!! It tastes just like yellow cake mix, AND it's yellow! So now you can make homemade yellow cakes that really taste "yellow." Yes, it's artificial, and yes, it contains Yellow 5. But if you like yellow cake mix, I doubt you have a problem with either of those. I used it in this recipe for Supermarket Yellow Cake from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman. It was wonderful! It has the moist, rich texture of a cake baked from scratch. And it has the flavor of yellow cake mix, without all the harsh chemical stabilizers and preservatives of cake mix!
Did I mention this it my new go-to for yellow cakes?? It's fantastic!! Both Josh and my dad kept eating hunks of it with no strawberries or whipped cream. They loved it plain! And it was still moist after the third day of sitting on the counter! Love it!!

So there's MY answer to the white cake/yellow cake debate. It's my understanding that people used to use vanilla butter nut all the time back in the day. It was the secret ingredient in many old-fashioned cakes. It's somewhat hard to find now. At Kroger I could only find the store brand. I've never seen it at Wal-mart or at our local grocery store, Farm Fresh. I have seen it at our cake supply store, Wine and Cake Hobbies, but it was in a huge bottle. If you look for it, leave me a comment and tell me where you find it! :D

How about a bite??

Supermarket Yellow Cake for Strawberry Shortcake (from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman)
Makes 6 to 8 servings

“Whew--a long recipe name but a shorter-than-shortcake recipe to make. You know those tender, light yellow cake layers they sell in the supermarket to top with berries and whipped cream for shortcake? This recipe makes that sort of cake. It has cake-mix texture but homemade, from-scratch taste.”

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar, finely pulverized*
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (I used vanilla butter nut flavoring to give it that cake mix flavor and yellow color!)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup warm milk

Finishing Touches
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Whipped cream
Fresh berries, diced or whole

*Pulse sugar in a food processor 1 to 2 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Generously spray a 9-inch round cake pan with nonstick cooking spray and line with a circle of parchment paper. Put pan on a large parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
In a mixer bowl (or use a food processor), cream butter and sugar until &fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and blend well.
Fold in flour, baking powder, and salt. Drizzle in milk, blending well and ensuring that nothing is stuck in bottom of mixer.
Pour into prepared cake pan. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until cake tests done when gently pressed with fingertips (Mine was done at 32 minutes in an 8 1/2-inch pan. Check it with a toothpick to make sure only a few dry crumbs stick.). Let cool 15 minutes. Remove from pan and place cake on a serving plate.
Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve with whipped cream and fresh diced strawberries, or ice cream and any mix of berries.

Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread

At the last Greek festival we went to my parents bought a 10,000 pound can of dolmades (am I exaggerating?). Dolmades, also called dolmas, are grape leaves stuffed with rice and sometimes meat, and they're packed in olive oil and lemon juice. They look like short, fat, slimey green slugs, but they are delicious!! Anyway, my parents bought what I consider to be the world's largest can of them! Then more recently, my mom came home with a GIANT tub of storebought tzatziki. Tzatziki is that deliciously creamy yogurt sauce that comes on gyros... Mmm oh yeah, that's the stuff! Normally I would prefer to make it myself, but how can I let 25 gallons of tzatziki go to waste? Am I exaggerating again??? Oh well. Stay with me.

So for like a week, I've been promising Josh that I'd make Greek food for dinner so we could put a hurting on all the dolmades and tzatziki we've acquired. I knew I wanted to make bread because every time we go out for Greek food the bread is always FABULOUS! At our favorite Greek restaurant, Orapax, I could seriously eat nothing but their bread! It's THAT good! I recently found the book, A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman at Ross for $6.99 (a major steal), and as I was flipping through it I found a recipe called "Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread." My best memories of Greek bread are from a Greek restaurant so this recipe seemed perfect! Now, please excuse me while I step onto my soap box...

I'm usually not particular about where I get my recipes from. I do like them to be from trusted sources, but after that it doesn't matter at all. However, it's a totally different case when it comes to Greek recipes. I want them to be from cookbooks that are all about Greek food. This bread recipe is not from a Greek cookbook, and therefore it doesn't taste like any of the bread I ate while I was in Greece. And most importantly it doesn't taste like the bread I get at my favorite Greek restaurant. It is delicious, don't get me wrong. But it tastes like simple whole wheat sandwich bread. Nothing wrong with that, but there's nothing Greek about it.

As you can see, I take Greek food very seriously. I'm 25% Greek, my dad is %50 Greek, and his grandparents were Greek immigrants. I've also been to Greece, so I know what the food tastes like. I hold my Greek standards very high, and this bread just did not cut it for me. But if you want yummy whole wheat bread that makes great toast AND perfect tomato sandwiches, this is the recipe for you!

*Steps down from soap box...*

Click the photos for details of the step-by-step process:

One GIANT loaf of whole wheat bread... coming right up!! For breakfast, how about some toast with butter and raspberry jam!
For lunch, a juicy tomato sandwich with Dukes mayonnaise and LOTS of salt and pepper!
And for dinner, use it to mop up all that tzatziki sauce!Click here for chicken kabob recipe!

Greek Restaurant Whole Wheat Bread (from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman)
Makes 1 large loaf

“Add a touch of white flour to mostly whole wheat and include a judicious use of olive oil and some honey, and what have you? A heavenly, rustic whole wheat bread. Mop up your Greek salad with it or smear halved garlic cloves on a thick slice, drizzle on olive oil, and lightly grill. Then add some feta slabs and partially melt. Top with sliced toma­toes, minced kalamata olives, salt, pepper, and a dusting of oregano.”

2 cups warm water (100°F to 110°F)
2 tablespoons rapid-rise yeast
1 cup white bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 tablespoons honey
5 tablespoons olive oil
4 to 5 cups stoneground whole wheat flour, all-purpose or bread flour, or mixed, preferably organic (I used 3 cups of whole wheat and 1 cup of bread flour)

Finishing Touch
Whole wheat flour, for dusting

Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper; set aside.

In a mixer bowl, hand-whisk water and yeast together and let stand 2 to 3 minutes to dissolve yeast. Stir in white bread flour. Then mix in salt, honey, oil, and half of whole wheat flour. Attach dough hook and begin kneading on lowest speed of mixer 8 to 10 minutes, adding additional whole wheat flour, as necessary, to form a soft but firm, somewhat tacky dough.

Shape dough into a rounded mass in mixing bowl. Spray inside of bowl and dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray. Cover entire mixer and bowl with a large clear plastic bag (I just covered the bowl with plastic wrap). Let rise about 45 to 90 minutes until almost doubled. (To speed this up, boil a cup of water in the microwave. Leave the bowl of dough in the turned off microwave with the hot water for about 30 minutes, or until doubled.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently deflate. Shape dough into an oval and place on prepared baking sheets. Spray dough lightly with nonstick cooking spray and dust with whole wheat flour.

Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 45 to 70 minutes until dough is quite puffy (This only took about 30 minutes for me. At this point I slashed the top of my dough. The recipe doesn’t say to do it, but it makes it prettier to look at!).

Preheat oven to 375°F. Bake bread 15 minutes; then reduce oven temperature to 350°F and bake until it is well browned, another 20 to 30 minutes (I did 25). Cool on baking sheets (I cooled mine on a rack to keep the bottom crust from getting too soggy).

“For the fullest flavor, use organic whole wheat flour for this recipe, if you have it, as well as Greek honey, Greek olive oil, and Greek sea salt.”—A Passion for Baking