Panettone

Merry Christmas everyone!!

This year, I decided not to make gingerbread men like I always do and try something different. My boyfriend really loves panettone, especially the chocolate chip one, so I tried making orange chocolate chip panettone! And to tell you the truth, I don't really consider what I made panettone, since it's supposed to be sort of fluffy and light on the inside and mine turned out a bit dense. Kind of like a cake :(

I'm still posting the recipe in case any of you want to give it a try. I made a few changes since I didn't want to add dried fruit. But I'm sure I did something wrong mainly because after the 15 hours of rising, my dough hadn't rised! I searched online to see what can be the cause and there were a few alternatives:

1) The yeast is dead (or expired).

2) Proofing is done in a cool place.

3) The dough wasn't kneeded enough.

I thought maybe my oven was too cool for the rising, so I preheated it a bit, let it cool and placed the dough inside for another 5 hours (first rising). It did rise a bit, but not even close to triple the size. I still decided to continue with the recipe and bake it to see the ending result. It wasn't bad at all, just not a panettone!

**********

Slow Rise Panettone

Adapted from Andreas Recipes (Gourmet Magazine 2008)

Makes one 6x4-inch panettone

3-3/4 cups all purpose flour

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

Zest of one orange

1/2 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

3 large eggs, at room temperature

2/3 cup lukewarm water
1 tbsp warm honey

12-1/2 tbsp unsalted butter (10-1/2 tbsp softened and cut into tbsp, 1 tbsp melted, 1 tbsp chilled)

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

6x4-inch panettone mold

In the bowl of a mixer, combine flour, sugar, salt, yeast, orange zest and seeds of the vanilla bean and mix at low speed. In a small bowl, whisk together the eggs, 2/3 cup lukewarm water and the honey.

While the mixer runs at low speed, pour the egg mixture into the dry ingredients slowly. Increase speed to medium-high and continue mixing. Add the softened butter, 1 tbsp at a time, mixing completely after adding each tbsp. Increase speed to medium-high and mix until the dough is smoothe and elastic, about 8 minutes.

Melt the 1 tbsp of butter, let it cool and mix it into the mini chocolate chips. Stir the chocolate into the dough with a wooden spoon.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise in a cold oven with the door closed for about 12 to 15 hours, until the dough has nearly tripled in volume.

Rub your hands with flour, sprinkle the dough lightly with flour and turn it onto a floured board. Sprinkle a little more flour onto the dough. Fold the edges into the centre and place seams side down into the panettone mold. Cover with a damp tea towel and let it rise in a draft-free spot at room temperature for about 3 to 5 hours, until the dough is just above the top of the mold.

Place the rack in the lower third of the oven (closer to the bottom than the top) and preheat it to 370 degrees F. Place the mold with the dough onto a baking sheet. Use a serrated knife to score an X across the entire surface of the dough and place the 1 tbsp chilled butter into the centre of the X.

Bake for about 1 to 1-1/4 hours, until a wooden skewer inserted in the middle of the panettone comes out moist but not wet. The top of the panettone will be dark (but not burnt). (I covered it with foil paper after 1 hour in the oven so the top won't burn.)

Pierce the skewers all the way through the panettone and through the papers. (This part I found weird!) Hang the panettone upside down over a large pot or between 2 objects of equal height. Cool completely, then slice into wedges for serving.

Croissants

Croissants were one of those things that I've always wanted to make, but were afraid to. It's as if I didn't believe that even if I followed the steps in my copy of The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Pastry Arts, they would never turn out like those flaky, light and buttery ones from the bakery.

The other day when I was about to buy the ingredients to make the Hachis Parmentier for last week's FFwD, I realized that I didn't really want to make it, but sort of felt like I had to because I had bought the book to participate in the FFwD. Instead, I really had the urge to make croissants! Plus I didn't have to buy all those ingredients; I already had everything I needed.

There are a few things that I would change next time I make these. First I found the croissants to taste great right out of the oven, but when at room temperature, they were too sweet so I would decrease the amount of sugar. Also I didn't roll out the dough thin enough before cutting it into triangles so I only ended up with half the amount of croissants than I was supposed to. This is probably the reason why they didn't end up as light as the store-bought ones.

Making croissants wasn't very difficult, it just demands a lot of time. There's a lot of rolling and putting the dough in the fridge, then taking it out from the fridge. But the final result makes it all worth it.

Baking Bagels

During the school semester when I had to keep up with my readings, assignments and constantly study for tests, I longed for summer holidays. I even dropped the summer class I had intended to take to have a stress-free vacation and to be able to enjoy the good weather.

But I've been having a little bit of trouble occupying my time these past few weeks. I started a puzzle which ended up being too long and lost patience pretty quickly. I never miss the opportunity to tan in my backyard when the weather is sunny and warm, even if the view isn't comparable to the one we had last year on our trip to Greece.

This time 2009, a couple of friends and I were exploring the beautiful island of Mykonos located in the Aegan Sea. Mykonos is known as the party island of Greece so its streets are filled with tourists at any time of the day. Ahh Mykonos..

So when not working or playing that ridiculously addictive game Zuma, I'm in the kitchen making yet another ice cream from The Perfect Scoop. This time, I wanted to try something different. I was craving something simple, something savory. I have a huge sweet tooth but I can never resist bread and cheese. I can go on eating that for days!

I've never ever baked anything with yeast before. Sure I've helped my boyfriend, V, bake all sorts of breads (his ciabatta and sour dough are my favorite) and we have made some really good bagels. He uses The Bread Baker's Apprentice like I use my copy of The Perfect Scoop! So when I got that sudden urge to bake bagels, I was going straight for that recipe, except I didn't have any bread flour! Then I rememebered that lovely post Elissa had made on 17 And Baking. There was no bread flour used and her homemade bagels looked perfect!

My bagels might not have turned out as perfect as Elissa's (V told me to knead more to get a smoothe dough... they look a little deformed...), but they sure were delicious!