Spaghetti alla Carbonara

It is believed that this Roman dish was developed during the Second World War when American soldiers stationed in Italy supplied bacon and eggs to Italians who made this pasta dish and cooked it over charcoal, hence the name carbonara which is derived from the Italian word for charcoal. But the origin of Spaghetti alla Carbonara is obscure and another theory is that it was fed to coalminers to provide them with a substantial and nourishing meal. Yet another theory is that it was made with squid ink that gave it a charcoal colour. I’d heard that it was called Spaghetti alla Carbonara because the generous sprinkling of freshly ground pepper resembled charcoal. How ever it originated it is a fast and delicious pasta to make and when I want to make something quick or don’t particularly feel like cooking, this dish fits the bill.

I was taught to make it by my aunt in Italy over thirty years ago where it was simply made with eggs, pancetta, parmigiano cheese and pepper. But I have since adopted the North America version of adding cream, onions and bacon. We will be visiting Rome this summer and my husband will no doubt order this pasta, if it is on the menu, as it is one of his favourite pasta dish. It will be interesting to see how the Romans make it.

Spaghetti alla Carbonara

2 tbsp. olive oil
8 slices of bacon or pancetta, chopped
1 small onion, diced
4 eggs
4 tablespoons cream
½ cup of grated parmigiano cheese
1 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste

Cook 450 gr. of spaghetti in boiling salted water.

In a large fry pan (I use a flat bottomed wok) heat oil and add onion and bacon and cook on medium high heat until the fat has rendered from the bacon without it getting crisp, turn down the heat to keep warm. In the meantime beat eggs and add the cream, parmigiano cheese and black pepper. Set aside. When the pasta is al dente, drain and add it to the bacon mixture and toss to coat. Quickly pour in the egg mixture and toss to coat the spaghetti, the heat of the pasta will cook the egg. Serve and enjoy.

Apple & Cream Cheese Braid for Easter

I was convinced that I had walnuts in the refrigerator but when I went to retrieve them there were no walnuts to be found and I couldn’t go out to buy some because every supermarket was closed for Good Friday. I had been to the market a least three times the week leading to Easter and it didn’t even occur to me that I might need walnuts. Why would I? I was convinced I had walnuts! I had planned to make the Blooming Coffee Rings which I usually make for Easter to take to my parent’s house for dessert. I had made the dough the day before and it was sitting very nicely in the refrigerator developing wonderful flavours. I couldn’t wait till Saturday when all the stores would be open again because I had a busy day planned and would be out most of the day. I was not too pleased with myself! What to do? What to do? Well I do make a braided loaf made with a sweet dough, not this particular recipe, but it was a sweet dough nonetheless, so why not make a braid. I had made a braided bread not that long ago for New Year’s Eve so it was still fresh in my mind. I had all the ingredients so yes, I would make the apple with cream cheese braid and like the blooming coffee ring the recipe yielded two breads, one for us to enjoy and one for the dessert table on Easter.

I removed the dough from the refrigerator to sit and warm up a bit and proceeded to make the apple filling. With a recipe from the Joy of Cooking as a guide I peeled and sliced a couple of Granny Smith apples and threw them into a pan with some butter, brown sugar and cinnamon to cook for a few minutes until the apples softened a bit. For the cream cheese filling I mixed cream cheese, an egg yolk, vanilla and sugar until smooth and set it aside. I divided the dough into two portions and rolled one out to a rectangle about 14 x 9 inches and placed it on parchment. If you omit this step it will be difficult to transfer the braided dough to the sheet pan.

Then I cut three inch diagonal cuts about ½ inch apart on both sides. I spread half the cheese mixture in the middle, topped it with half the apple mixture and then beginning at one end, criss crossed the strips of dough to the other end.

I lifted the dough with the parchment paper to a large sheet pan, covered it with plastic and did the same with the remaining dough, cheese and apples. After the dough doubled I brushed it with egg wash and sprinkled it with sliced almonds. It was baked in a 350 F. oven for about 35 minutes.
When the braids were cool I wrapped them in foil and put them in the freezer to maintain their freshness for Easter.
On Easter we were all going to my parents for dinner and I had an awful lot of food, a braid, a cheesecake and other items that I had to bring over. I asked my son to get one of the braids out of the freezer from the refrigerator in the basement so that it would be thawed before we went. I had everything written on a note so that I would not forget a thing. Olives, check, boconcini, check, bread sticks, check, cheesecake, check, cherry pie filling, check, lemons, check, coloured eggs, check, chocolates check, Easter cards, check, braids, check.
Randy loaded up the car and just before walking out the door I went to get the cheesecake out of the refrigerator but it wasn’t there. My husband called to me that the cheesecake was on the table. Oh I thought, I didn’t take it out of the refrigerator, or did I and forgot I did, oh well then I’ll just put it in the car. And we were off.
Fast forward to dessert time. Coffee is poured, cheesecake is sliced and being served, fruit tray of cantelope and mixed berries is on the table. 'Randy where did you put the braid'? 'What braid'?! So after all that the braid was left at home. My son had taken the cheesecake out of the refrigerator not the braid out of the freezer. When I questioned Steven about the braid his response was "More braid for us."

My computer is temporarily down so I had to use my husband's computer to post this. I have submitted this bread to YeastSpotting, http://www.wildyeastblog.com/ and since all my recipes are on my computer I will include the recipe as soon as I get my computer back.

Sweet-Roll Dough

2 pkg. dry yeast
¼ cup warm water
1 cup milk, warmed
½ cup sugar
2 tsp. salt
½ cup butter, softened
3 eggs
5¼ to 5-¾ cups all purpose flour

Note: If eggs are refrigerator cold, pour hot water over them and let stand for several minutes to warm before cracking.
Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water in a small cup or bowl, stir, and let stand for a minute of so to dissolve. Combine the milk, sugar, salt, butter, and eggs in a large mixing bowl, and beat well. Stir in the dissolved yeast. Add 2-1/2 cups of the flour, and beat until smooth and well blended. Add 2-1/2 cups more flour and beat until the dough holds together in a rough, shaggy mass. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for a minute or two. Let rest for 10 minutes.

Resume kneading for 8 to 10 minutes more, gradually sprinkling on a little more flour if the dough sticks to your hands, until smooth and elastic. Place in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until double in bulk.

Punch the risen dough down, and it is ready to be formed and baked according to other recipes which call for Sweet-Roll Dough. You can also freeze the dough at this point, or store in the refrigerator for a few days in a tightly covered container.

Apple Mixture

3 Granny Smith Applies
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

In a fry pan add all the ingredients and cook for a few minutes until the apples just begin to soften. If there is a lot of syrup remove some of it otherwise it will leak out of the dough. Set aside.

Cream Cheese Filling

1 cup cream cheese
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 tsp. Grated lemon rind
1 egg yolk
Mix together until smooth. Set aside.

Topping

1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp. water
¼ cup blanched sliced almonds

Assembly

Divide the dough in half. Roll each half into a 14” x 9” rectangle. Place on a piece of parchment. Spread with half the cheese mixture lengthwise down center third of rectangle. Top with apple mixture. Make diagonal cuts from outer edges one half inch apart and 3 inches long. Fold alternate strips of dough over filling. Cover and let rise 45 minutes or until double in volume. Brush the dough with egg wash and sprinkle with sliced almonds Bake at 350 F. For 30 to 35 minutes. Yield: 2 Braids.

Lacquered Birthday Cake

Normally for birthdays I just phone up a bakery and order a cake, simple, no stress, just pick it up and enjoy. However, having baked my daughter's birthday cake it was only fair that I would also bake my son's birthday cake and besides if I hadn't I know I would have heard something like -"mom loves me more because I got a homemade cake" to which my son would have responded with something like - "yes, but I'm mom's favourite".

I've been wanting to try the lacquered glaze in Heavenly Cakes by Rose Levy Bernanbaum for a while now so I knew for sure that I would use it on this cake. I also wanted the cake to be a genoise with a custard cream filling and frosted with a ganache. All of this sounded pretty good to me but in the end it wasn't the best combination of choices.

I made the genoise the day before using the recipe for Genoise Rose because it had five eggs in it and I thought it would give me more cake baked in a 9" x 3" round cake pan. This went off without a hitch. The cake baked up high, light and lovely and I could cut it into three layers.

Normally I use a recipe from The Five Roses Baking Book that makes a great custard cream that holds up really well in cake layers but I wanted to try something new. I decided to use a recipe for a chantilly custard cream in the Joy of Cooking and although it was good it just wasn't very stiff but once it cooled I managed to fill the cake layers moistened with coffee flavoured sugar syrup and all was well.

I made a simple ganache of chocolate and whipping cream and when this cooled I frosted the cake but this is where I realized that this wasn't the best choice for the light genoise because as I frosted the cake the cake's crust would lift off. I had to use a light hand so this would not happen. I also had to be careful frosting the sides of the cake as some of the custard was oozing out and made frosting difficult, but slowly I managed to frost the entire cake and by the time I was finished I thought the cake looked pretty good.

I had heard how easy it was to make the lacquer glaze and sure enough it was. Once it cooled to the proper temperature I poured it all at once over the cake making sure the sides were well glazed also. The only problem was that because the sides weren't prefectly straight, the glaze, which is unforgiving and shows any imperfections, was uneven here. The top was just fine and boy was it shiny.

After the glaze set a bit I wrote Happy Birthday Steven with royal icing and I was done.

If I had to do it all again I would not use a ganache for this cake because when it set it was just too stiff for the light cake and cream and slicing was difficult. A buttercream would have worked out better. We enjoyed it nonetheless and even had seconds.

Happy Easter!

Pollo Bianca

Many years ago the Toronto Star Starweek (a weekly TV guide) had a column called Mary McGrath's Chef’s Showcase where a reader could ask that a favourite recipe from a restaurant be featured. I have cut out many recipes from this section that appealed to me, especially if they were pasta dishes or great desserts. A wonderful carrot cake was featured here and has remained a favourite ever since. There are several recipes that I have torned out from this section that I've made over and over again and Pollo Bianca by chef Sandra Vattay of Pimentos is one of them. Pollo Bianca (gramatically I think it should be Pollo Bianco and that's what we call it), translated means White Chicken and the dish is aptly named because all the main ingredients are pretty much colourless; chicken breast, onions, garlic, mushrooms and cream, white wine and chicken stock. The only colour is in the sundried tomatoes and rosemary and the tri-coloured pasta.



It is one of those pasta dishes that you prepare when you don’t feel like cooking and spending hours tending a pot. It is also a recipe you make if you want to impress your guests - it's that good. That is also why I though this pasta dish would be a perfect entry for Presto Pasta Nights www.prestopastanights.com #156 hosted by Our Taste of Life and created by http://bernardosworld.blogspot.com. Pollo Bianca is a creamy chicken pasta dish simply flavoured with a bit of fresh rosemary which I snip off from two of my rosemary plants. I prepare all the ingredients before hand and place them in small bowls. Once this is done I put on a large pot of water to boil the tri-coloured fusilli (or rotini as I've use here) and then I cook the sauce. It could not be easier, and honestly you’ll wonder how something so good didn’t take hours to make.

It has been many years since I've cut out this recipe and I wonder if Pimento is still around and if Sandra Vattay is still chef there, probably not I imagine, as restaurants and chefs come and go and just as columns come and go as well, Chef Showcase is no longer featured in Toronto Starweek. I really miss it and I'm sure a lot of readers miss it as well.

Pollo Bianca

2 tbsp. butter
8 oz. boneless chicken breast, diced
salt and pepper
1 small onion
4 oz. mushrooms, quartered
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp. dry white wine
½ cup chicken stock
1 to 1½ cups whipping cream
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
1 oz. oil-packed sundried tomatoes, chopped
1½ cups cooked fusilli pasta (you can use 3 cups)
chopped fresh parsley, garnish

In a sauté pan brown chicken in hot butter. Season with salt and pepper. Add onion, cook 1 minute then add mushrooms and cook 2 minutes. Stir in garlic and cook 1 minute.
Deglaze pan with white wine, add chicken stock, cream, rosemary, and sundried tomatoes. Simmer gently until thickened. Add cooked pasta, parsley and spoon into two bowls. Garnish with fresh parmesan cheese if desired. Serve immediately.

Polka Dot Cake

I can whip up an ordinary plain cake quite easily, but making a celebration cake, one with buttercream frosting and piping decoration appropriate for the occasion is quite another thing for me. Let just say that with my limited knowledge when it comes to decorating a cake, I could never take on a task of making a wedding cake. The stress just thinking about it would surely raise my blood pressure to the point of needing medical attention.

However, having said that, on very rare occasions I will make a birthday cake. My daughter celebrated a birthday last week and I decided that rather than order a cake from a bakery, I would bake a cake for her. Andrea requested a chocolate cake so that part was easy enough. After flipping through the Cake Bible and Heavenly Cakes both by Rose Levy Beranbaum I decided on the Perfect All-American Chocolate Butter Cake from the Cake Bible. I was sure that I had two 9” x 1-1/2” cake pans lying around in my “not often used storage place” but they weren’t there. I must have thrown them out some time ago, probably because they were old and rusted. I had one newer pan that came in a set (why would they not have included two pans? who uses just one 9” x 1-1/2” round cake pan?) but that wasn’t going to help me any and I wasn’t about to go out to purchase one. I had recently purchased a 9” x 3” round cake pan and, although I am sure this would affect the height of the finished cake, I decided that I would use this pan and cut the cake in half myself. The cake was easy to assemble and I could tell that it would be rich and chocolaty. I poured it into the pan and wrapped the pan with a homemade cake strip from the instructions on Virginia Taylors’ blog and set the cake in the oven. It took about 45 minutes to bake in the one pan but by the time it was almost done the kitchen smelled intensely of chocolate.

The last two times I made the Neoclassical buttercream I used the KitchenAid mixer and even though I had been very careful to keep the syrup away from the beaters, the sugar syrup landed on the beaters and hardened on the beaters as well as the sides of the bowl as I was mixing it into the beaten eggs. I was afraid that not enough of the syrup had been incorporated into the eggs so I boiled a bit more of the corn syrup and sugar to make up for the hardened sugar. I am sure I upset the balance of the ingredients by doing this but in the end it seem to have turned out alright, except that it left my confidence frazzled as to whether I could ever whip up a really good frosting.

I was determined to give this buttercream one more try, only this time I would use a hand held mixer instead. I began with the eggs, beating them until they were light and fluffy, and when the sugar syrup boiled I poured it into the oiled measuring cup and held my breath. If only I had used a hand held mixer the first two times I would not have been so stressed this time.
This time the sugar syrup mixed beautifully into the eggs and I was very happy that none clumped onto the beaters. Now I just had to keep beating until the mixture was totally cooled. This seemed to take an awfully long time. I opened up the kitchen window to let the cold air in to help the process along, but it still took a long time. When it was finally coolish I began beating in the softened butter, and this process seemed to go off without a hitch. I thought a coffee flavoured buttercream would be nice with the chocolate cake so I added instant espresso granules mixed with a bit of water as per Rose's recipe. I was all out of coffee flavoured liqueur so I added a bit of brandy instead. For the first time I had a really nice buttercream ready to frost the cake.

I plainly frosted the cake with all the buttercream leaving none aside for piping decoration. I am not very good at piping so I decided to decorate it in some other manner. All I knew at this point was that I would use a chocolate plate and write on it - Happy Birthday Andrea - and place it on the cake as I had seen bakeries do. That part was easy enough; I melted semi-sweet chocolate and with an off set spatula smeared the back of a baking sheet lined with foil as evenly and thinly as I could with the melted chocolate.

Once the chocolate was hard again I cut a rectangle with a sharp knife. I wrote Happy Birthday Andrea as best I could (not as easy as with a pen) with royal icing and placed it on the cake. Still the cake looked plain and it really did need to be jazzed up a bit. I had an awful lot of chocolate left so I decided that I would cut two sizes of circles using a melon baller for the larger circles and a decorating tip’s round end for the smaller circles. When I cut out enough chocolate circles I randomly placed them on the cake. As adornment this easy decoration did the trick and my daughter was very happy with her birthday cake.

The cake with the coffee buttercream was delicious, very chocolaty and dense.

Challah of a Mess

I probably I hadn’t baked a challah for well over a year. Before that I had been baking challah often and even became quite proficient at the fours strand braid, without having to refer back to the how-to diagrams in the Bread Bible. So having mixed up a bread machine recipe for challah in the morning I had a risen dough waiting for shaping.

Actually I thought I had it filed under memory and proceeded to braid the first challah without referring to the book. With four strands laid out before me, I began braiding that dough like it was nobody’s business, only to discover that as I was coming to the end, the whole thing wanted to lean over as if it wasn’t properly supported.

I tried straightening it out but that didn’t seem to help much, it just kept leaning over. I had done it all wrong – it didn’t look terrible but it wasn’t right. I wanted to take it apart and start over but by now the strands were sticking together and I would have made an even bigger mess of it all, so I left it as it was. There was one more challah to braid - I would redeem myself with this one - so I opened up the Bread Bible to the instructions for the four strand braid and sure enough I had completely forgotten that you had to bring the strands under instead of over as I had done. I had done this before so I thought I would get the hang of it again - this one would look like the challahs I had made in the past. Instead, the instructions were confusing me, and as I braided the strands I got a loose mess and not a tightly braided loaf. As though that wasn't enough, for some reason the dough seemed to be softer and it wasn’t holding its shape at all. Well now I was totally frustrated, and this time I just could not leave it as it was, so I tried to take the braid apart but the strands were sticking together even more than with the first challah because of the soft dough. What a mess! This one was worse than the first one so, exasperated, I bunched up the whole mass into a ball and divided it into three pieces, and rolled each piece out to braid the easier three strand braid. I began braiding from one end to the other, completely forgotting that you are suppose to start to braid from the center, braiding one end and then flipping it and braiding the other end. I hadn't shaped the strands very carefully either, so instead of having a nicely shaped loaf tapering at either end, it resembled a tornado.

Sometimes a loaf of bread just doesn’t turn out as well as we would like! The baked challah tasted good, it just didn’t look pretty. The next time I make challah I will practice on four pieces of strings like I used to before moving onto the dough.

As a comparison, I made this challah a while ago and is what I had hoped these challahs would have looked like.

Valentine's Days Dinner

I had been thinking about making an extra special dinner for Valentine’s Day all week and I knew exactly what it would be. For special occasions I like to make Short Ribs with Polenta and vegetables and Beranbaum's Best Buns. I will often make this for a dinner party because the short ribs are that good. I just couldn’t figure out what I wanted to make for dessert except that it had to be chocolate. The problem was this – I was intent on making a heart shaped cake but I could not find a heart shaped pan anywhere where I went shopping. I even went to the States on Saturday for a quick shopping trip and checked out three places including Target and I had no luck finding a heart shaped pan. I guess all the pans had been bought for Valentine’s Day and leaving it to the last minute didn’t help. The frustrating thing is that I will come across a heart shaped pan during the year and not pick it up because I figure I’ll get one closer to the occasion. Note to self: buy heart shaped pan when you see one.

At breakfast my husband Randy gave me a Valentine’s card and in it was a certificate for cooking lessons, privately or in a group, the choice was mine, with a chef. I looked at him and said “are you trying to tell me something?” In all honesty this is something I’ve always wanted to do so I was pretty happy. My gift to him was a nice bottle of wine to go with dinner, and I would bake a

chocolate cake (his favourite) for dessert.

For my birthday in September, my daughter gave me three Julie Child books; Mastering Vol. 1, My Life in France which I enjoyed very much and Julie & Julia by Julie Powell which I haven’t started yet. So I’ve been on a Julia Child kick lately - I even find myself thinking French phrases while making a JC recipe and I can’t speak French for beans, except that being Canadian you can’t but be exposed to some French. I had made a Reine de Saba (Chocolate and Almond Cake) iced with a Glaçages au Chocolate (Chocolate-butter icing) in the fall from Mastering Vol. 1 and it was quite good. So that's what I finally decided for dessert; it met the criteria for chocolate, and though it was baked in a round pan it was made from the heart.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Braised Short Ribs in Red Wine

by Bonnie Stern

· 6 lbs. short ribs, cut in thick chunks or strips
· 1 tbsp. each salt, pepper and smoked paprika or regular paprika
· 2 tbsp. olive oil
· 2 onions, chopped
· 3 cloves garlic, chopped
· 2 cups dry red wine
· 28 oz. plum tomatoes, crushed with juices
· 1 cup beef stock
· 1 tbsp. chopped fresh parsley

Heat oil in Dutch oven or roasting pan. Brown short ribs well on all sides. Remove from pan. Discard all but a few tablespoons of oil.
Add onions and garlic. Cook until tender. Add wine. Bring to a boil. Add tomatoes and stock. Heat. Place ribs in sauce; cover directly with parchment paper and then with lid or aluminum foil.
Place in a 350 F. oven for 2½ to 3 hours or longer, until meat is very tender. Remove to serving plate and keep warm. Skim fat from the sauce. Reduce sauce, if necessary, by cooking without a cover until slightly thickened.
Combine the sauce with the ribs and sprinkle with parsley.
Note: If you like you can add a sprig of rosemary tied in cheesecloth to the sauce.

Beranbaum's Best Buns

These delicious, preservative-free buns can be made in just 3½ to 4 hours with no more than about 45 minutes of actual work — less than 30 minutes if using a food processor (see TIP, below). The recipe can be doubled and the extra baked buns frozen to have on hand for a speedy summer supper. The added crunch of sesame seeds sprinkled on top of the buns is nice; a mixture of seeds and grains kneaded into the dough provides still more fiber and flavor.
· 3 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour, plus more as necessary
· ¼ cup whole-wheat flour
· 1¼ teaspoons instant yeast, such as rapid-rise or bread machine yeast
· 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
· 1⅓ cups room-temperature water
· 1 teaspoon mild honey, such as clover
· ¼ cup olive oil
· ¾ cup toasted mixed seeds, such as cracked flax, sesame, poppy, sunflower and pumpkin, or 1 tablespoon sesame seeds for the topping (optional)
Milk or water, for brushing the tops of the buns (optional)
In the bowl of a stand mixer or in a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, whole-wheat flour and yeast, then the salt. Add the water, honey and oil. Using a mixer with a dough hook on medium speed, or by hand, knead the dough for 7 minutes (10 minutes by hand) until smooth and springy. The dough should be soft and just sticky enough to cling slightly to your fingers. If it is still very sticky, knead in a little flour. If it is too stiff, spray it with a little water and knead it. Allow the dough to rest, covered, for 20 minutes and then knead in the seeds, if desired.
Set the dough in a large, lightly oiled bowl and lightly spray or oil the top of the dough. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set in a warm spot. Allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour or until it has doubled. (The indentation from a finger stuck into the center of the dough should remain.)
If you plan to bake the hamburger buns the next day, press down the dough and place it in a large, oiled resealable plastic food storage bag, leaving a tiny bit unzipped for the forming gas to escape, and refrigerate it. Take it out of the refrigerator about 1 hour before shaping.
When ready to shape the dough, set it on a very lightly floured work surface and form it into a log. With a sharp knife, divide it into 8 equal pieces. (If you prefer very large buns, you can divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.) Shape each piece into a ball by cupping your hand over the dough and rotating it. It works best if you use only as much flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking. A little resistance helps to form a round ball. Keep the balls of dough covered with damp paper towels to prevent drying; allow them to rest for 5 minutes.
Transfer the dough balls to a parchment-lined baking sheet or inverted sheet pan, leaving enough space between them to allow for a 4-inch bun. Flatten the balls to a height of about 1 inch. (If the dough is very elastic, you can flatten them again after 15 minutes of rising.) If using the sesame seeds, brush the dough lightly with milk or water and sprinkle with the seeds. Cover the balls with a large inverted plastic box or with plastic wrap lightly coated with baking spray, and allow them to rise for 1 to 1½ hours, or until almost doubled; when the dough is pressed gently with a finger, the depression should very slowly fill in.
While the dough is rising, set the oven rack toward the bottom of the oven and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it. Set a cast-iron skillet or heavy baking pan on the floor of the oven or on the lowest shelf. Preheat the oven to 425° degrees for 45 minutes or longer.
Mist the dough with water, quickly but gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone or hot baking sheet, and toss ½ cup of ice cubes into the pan beneath. Immediately shut the door and bake 15 minutes. Rotate the pan front to back and bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until the buns are golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean. (An instant-read thermometer inserted into the center will read 200 to 210 degrees.) Transfer the buns to wire racks until they are completely cool or barely warm.

The Carrots and Brussel Sprouts recipe is in Epicurious and the Reine de Saba is in Julia Child's Mastering Vol 1. and if you don't have the book you can google it.

Duivekater - A Lazy Bakers Project

This is my first entry as a Lazy Baker and I must admit that in the past I secretly wished that I was part of the group so when Melinda invited me to participate, I was thrilled. The Duivekater, a sweet Dutch bread usually made between St. Nicholas, December 6, and Epiphany, January 6, was chosen by Melinda as a Lazy Bakers project and you cannot get much lazier than this.

Most breads are lazy projects, after all there are only a few minutes of actually prep time and then while the dough is rising you can go about your business or just continue to be lazy. The recipe is straightforward with no pre-ferment, no toasting or skinning of nuts (an exercise in futility especially with walnuts), no soaking of fruit, and no fancy shmanshy ingredients that you can’t find in your local supermarket.

I threw all the ingredients into the KitchenAid and using the dough hook mixed the dough. The dough was quite stiff I thought, and even though the recipe states that it should be on the stiffer side, I thought it could use a bit more milk. I carefully added a few drops of milk until the dough softened somewhat and continued kneading for a few minutes.

I placed it in my dough rising container. This large bread crumb container is the perfect size for many of the breads I make so rather than throw it out I converted it to a dough rising container. I measured and marked it with a permanent marker to accurately show when the dough doubles. I was quite pleased with myself and for my contribution to a greener earth.

After about two hours I removed it from the container and shaped it into a ten inch torpedo shaped loaf. I made a four inch cut in the middle of each end and pulled the pieces to elongate them. I looked at the cut dough and thought it looked like a huge deadly virus sent by aliens to invade our earth. It does look rather sinister doesn't it? I was surprised how easy it was to stretch out the cut pieces without them receding back especially since I hadn’t rested the dough. I coiled the ends inward as the picture showed and placed the dough in a plastic bag for the final rising. About an hour later it was ready for the egg wash and decorative slashes.

I wanted to be creative with the slashes but after some thought I combined a couple of designs I had seen on the internet. Slashing was pretty easy too – I thought I might have trouble with the intricate design but the stiff dough allowed the sharpened knife to slash the dough effortlessly. I placed the Duivekater into the preheated oven and set the timer for 35 minutes. As it was baking a lovely scent of bread baking and citrus wafted through the kitchen. Halfway through baking I looked in to see how it was doing and everything looked good except some of the deeper slashes had opened up a bit too much making the design not as sharp, otherwise I thought the bread was quite handsome and not alien at all.

I had a slice after dinner and thought it was quite nice with the flavour of citrus and cardamom coming through with just a hint of nutmeg and I thought it would be perfect with a cup of tea. My daughter said it reminded her of panettone and my son said he really liked it and went for a second slice. The next day I brought some over to my parent's for them to enjoy and by evening the entire loaf was gone. I enjoyed making this bread – I hope the Dutch approve.