Ever Heard of Copha?

Dennis picked up a cookbook at an Op Shop.  It's entitled The Big Book of Beautiful Biscuits by The Australian Women's Weekly.  Most of the recipes are sweet but there are also some savories.  Dennis baked the chocolate chip biscuits (aka cookies) and shared them with his friends and family.

While perusing this book, I noticed an ingredient called Copha.  I had no idea what was meant by it so I did a google search to find out.  It's a hydrogenated coconut fat/shortening and it's known as Kremelta in New Zealand.  So now I know what to buy to make White Christmas and Chocolate Crackles.

You learn something new every day.  So that's what I learned today!

Easter Buns and Nutty Kid

Yes, Dennis can be just as nutty as in the photo.

Tom isn't the only one in the family who can bake. I made Easter buns using the hot cross bun recipe but omitting the crosses (which look great but don't add any flavor).

A new thing we did--we attended roller derby on 7 May. A friend from church is training and into roller derby so we thought we'd check it out. Wellington will have three more roller derby events, so we'll see how many we can go to.

How to Steam Bread

Either turn the computer or your head on its side to get a view of the steaming.

That is a standard sunbeam capachinno machine I picked up on trademe for $50 and a $3 hose from the local hardware store. You can see one of the foil roasting pans $1.50 on the counter to the right (or below) which I put over the bread. The steam hose then goes under the bread for about a minute. Then anywhere from 10-15 minutes later I open the door and take out the foil pan.

Does a wonderful job of injecting steam into the oven.

Bread of the month

This months bread was Ciabatta. Every month I am going to make a different bread. The only rules are that it has to be sourdough, and the only reason for that rule is that when you keep a bug going there is plenty that gets thrown away so may as well find a use for it.

I made this ciabatta three times last month, and then again today. Every one of them turned out delicious with a beautiful crumb and excellent crust. These loaves have a wee bit more whole-wheat flour than I had been using in the past. A nod to the general health conciseness of my tasters.

They are cooling as I type. I can't wait to taste them this afternoon!

I found this particular formula on farine's english blog ...

http://www.farine-mc.com/2009/07/tweaked-ciabatta.html.

Baking Class tonight!

I have been pretty silent about my baking escapades these past few months. That is because I have been focused on the class I am teaching this evening. When I was asked if I wanted to show a few people how to make sourdough bread I said "Sure, how many?" They said "Half a dozen, no more than Ten."

Well last count Sunday afternoon there were 24, no make that 25 as someone registered while I was chatting with the coordinator. Assume a couple of no shows, a couple of walk ins and I was told to prepare for 30 and if that is not enough the coordinator and helpers will not knead the dough.

So this morning I have 12Kg of Sourdough starter sitting in a bucket. The day will be fun!

Rye bread

Dad today I made some Rye bread in hopes of duplicating Andresen's bakery Rye. I am very pleased with the results this my first attempt. Of course there will be some work to achieve perfection but I can close my eyes and smell and taste the bread you would pick up every week.

Dad this bread is dedicated to you.

Winter musings

Today I am making Foccia bread with fresh Rosemary. Rosemary is one of those herbs that I recall from North America but did not learn to love until I came down here to New Zealand. This is the first time I have to find Rosemary here in the new house but didn't think there would be a problem as I am sure it will be out there somewhere.

As I was out on my quest it occurred to me that I did not bother putting a coat on. I mean it wasn't raining or anything so why bother. Oh yea that's right it is the middle of winter. I must have completely forgot about that. :) But you could blame that lapse on all the green bushes and trees in the area. I mean the rosemary was in bloom, little purple flowers are quite lovely, and they taste good too!

Well I walked all the way up to the top of the road, not an insignificant climb here on Awarua Street, and no Rosemary! Man that was frustrating, I looked in every front yard on the place, and in a few side yards as well, but not a stick of it. With the specter of failure hanging over my head, I passed my house and walked down the road about 10 houses and found some! Whew. Okay the bush was pretty scrawny but it would do very nicely.

If you look you can find Lemon, Thyme, Dill, Orange, and other bushes growing in peoples front yards around here. Someone brought in a huge box of Mandarins last Sunday at Church. It is very different to me from my life in Chicago. But Rosemary, wow you can find it everywhere here. At the old neighborhood one house has a retaining wall that was covered in the stuff. I mean about 12' tall and 10' wide busy heavy rosemary. And there were plenty of other plants on good old Pitt Street. I have seen a few walking down to the train station which is why I knew one would be down there. Just thought I would try going up first.

So back to the story. I went home and made some great bread. (recipe from breadcetera.com) But it is way too much for the family so I cut up a bunch and brought it down to the very same house where I got the rosemary. Gary, the owner, was quite taken back when I knocked on his door and introduced myself. But he recovered quickly and tried to strike up a conversation with Dennis who was playing shy.

Pain de Beaucaire

I have graduated from Baguettes to Pain de Beaucaire, between the two was a Cibatta. Once again the recipe is from bredcetera.com. Here is Dennis shortly after I told him "No you have to let the loaves cool before you can eat them." As you can tell he is still pleased with the results.

A closeup the bread without the distraction of a 10 year old :)

Sadness

Today I am very very sad. I made more bread, in fact they were beautiful loaves. French Baguettes and Batards. Dennis was great help in making them, he even showed me what I was doing wrong with the scoring of the loaves.

What is sad is that my Sunbeam EM5800 Espresso machine died generating the Steam required to make those perfect loaves of Bread. I must admit that 10 minutes of steam production was a hard ask (notice the kiwiism) for the machine but I expected when it cooled it would be back to its normal self. Instead it now refuses to turn on. Something burned out.

I don't know what I will do tomorrow morning, it will be lonely without my daily capuchino.

Tom

Dennis approval of my latest baguettes

Dennis is enjoying my baking. Seems everything I bake is the "best bread he has ever tasted." However he has noted a marked improvement lately.

It took me quite a bit of time to get my baguettes presentable. My family, and a few good friends were kind enough to eat my failures.

I found the recipe, and plenty of advice, for these baguettes at www.breadcetera.com.

Baking

I have been baking quite a bit lately. It all started when Chris was at outward bound. Dennis wanted pizza so I dutifully picked up a few pizza bases (crusts) from the local store. At $3/each base I was shocked and figured I could make them myself ...

I got the recipe from a small book that Chris had picked up locally. The crusts were easy to make and quite good. So embolden by my success I picked another recipe to try. Croissants. (I never was one to aim low.) The croissants took four tries before they were respectable but I did get there.

Then came bagels, baguettes,

and now most recent is a Chicago style deep dish pizza.

Oh the future is truly bright!