Classic Crusty Bread For The Win!

Yeah the title sounds weird but I am excited that I made my own bread today. I didn't plan on baking bread this week but I found a bunch of pear preserves that my dad canned like 4 years ago. I opened a jar and the sweet aroma of spices hit me. I then tasted a spoonful and it was so amazing, I'm still thinking of the taste. I remember eating pear and plum preserves as a kid at my grandma's house. She had a giant pear and plum tree. I think he got the recipe from her when he decided to can these 4 years ago. Anyway I decided to bake a large loaf of crusty bread to go along with the pear preserves. Here's how it turned out.

I also figured I could make like garlic toast or something with the leftovers.

Here's what you will need to make this lovely loaf of bread

Classic Crusty Bread

• 4 cups bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 2 tsp instant dry yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups of warm water
• 2 tbsp oil, plus extra for greasing

First combine your bread flour, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl

Combine your water with the oil. The water should be warm, not hot (excess heat can kill the yeast).

Now mix the dry ingredients together and , while stirring, pour in the water and oil mixture. Keep working everything together until most of the dry flour has disappeared. The dough will be a little sticky.

I placed my dough with the dough hook attachment to my kitchen aid stand mixer and let it mix for about 5-7 minutes. If you don't have a dough hook you can knead your dough the old fashion way. Just dust your work surface with flour, then turn the dough out onto it. flout the top of the dough and your hands, then begin to knead. ( just keep stretching and folding the dough enough to make it springy and smooth).

Keep going until the dough feels very springy or elastic and silky smooth. To test if it's ready, gather it into a ball, tucking all the edges into the middle. Turn the ball over to reveal the smooth side. press into it with your hand. If the indent made by your finger stays there, it's not ready. If it springs out again, you're ready to move on.

Now let the dough rise, Grease a large bowl with 1 tablespoon of oil, add the dough, then turn it around in the oil a few times to coat. Cover with plastic wrap, or a dish towel.

Leave the dough in a warm (but not hot) place for about an hour, or until doubled in size.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface, then press it out into a rectangle that's about 8x11 inches (the size of a piece of paper). Do not knead it, or it will become stretchy again, and difficult to shape. 

Fold the bottom of the rectangle up, and the bottom half down, to make a sort of sausage. Pinch the edges together firmly. Like this

Dust a baking sheet with flour, then lift the dough onto it, smooth side up. Loosely cover with oiled plastic wrap or the dish towel, then let rise again for 30 minutes or until almost doubled in size (this is called proofing). 

Poke the side of the dough: it doesn't spring back it's read to bake.

Preheat the oven to 425F

Sprinkle the top of the bread with more flour, then slash the top with a sharp knife (this is important, as it gives the brad somewhere to "grow" in the oven).

Bake the bread for 25-30 minutes, or until well risen, golden, and crisp. When you think it's ready, double check by carefully turning the bread over. Tap the base: it should sound hollow. If not , return to the oven and check in 10 minutes. Let cool, open to the air for a crusty crust, or wrapped in a clean dish towel for a soft crust.

Later I cut a slice and it looks, and smells great. 

I ate my bread with some of the 4 year old pear preserves and it was amazing. Thanks Grandma, and Glenn Glenn for their contribution with the pear preserves. The things you can do with the bread is endless, think sandwiches, homemade croutons, bread puddings, french toast, garlic toast, grilled cheese, dunk it in soup. You can do a lot of things with this loaf. The biggest thing is that you made your own bread from scratch, that's cool right?

1800's style

Coconut Macarons For The Win!

Yes, Yes another macaron recipe, I know. I'm addicted to baking these little cookies. I didn't plan on making these but my uncle wanted them, so I baked them. He requested coconut so I made a small batch of these. Also I think it's fun to come up with new flavor combos. They turned out lovely, and I'm getting fat from eating macarons all the time. I decided on toasting the coconut because I think they have a nuttier flavor, and they look pretty.

Toasted Coconut Macarons

They have that delicious tropical taste, with a yummy toasted coconut buttercream filling. I'm glad my uncle suggested this flavor. If you are a fan of coconut you should definitely try these out. You only need a few extra ingredients added to a basic macaron recipe and bam you are done. Let's start with what you need. 

Toasted Coconut Macaron Shell

• 65g of Almond Meal
• 65g of Powdered Sugar
• 50g of Room Temperature Egg Whites
• 50g of Granulated Sugar
• 20g of Toasted Coconut (For Tops of Shell)

Toasted Coconut Buttercream Filling

• 1 Stick of Unsalted Butter (Room Temperature)
• 1 cup of Powdered Sugar
• 1 tablespoon of milk 
• 20g of Toasted Coconut
• 2 tablespoon of Coconut Extract

Just like every macaron recipe you need to begin by;

First you need to sift the almond meal, and powdered sugar together in a large bowl and set aside

I then took 20g of shredded coconut and placed it in a small pan on med/high heat and just kept stirring. The coconut will turn a toasted brown color, you must watch it carefully because this will burn easily, just keep stirring. It should look like this. When it looks like this take it out of the pan and place in a small bowl and set aside (remember the pan is still hot so it will continue to cook, thats why you need to place in a bowl once it reaches this stage)

Take your room temperature egg whites and beat them on a medium speed until they become white and frothy, slowly pour in your granulated sugar. Your egg whites will start to form soft peaks continue beating your eggs until stiff peaks form.  ( I set a timer this should take about 7-8 minutes on medium speed)  I didn't take the picture of this, you should refer to the previous posts to look at pictures.

Now add in your dry ingredients and carefully fold ingredients together (about 50 folds if you are counting) stop when you reach a lava like consistency or when it ribbons off of your spatula

Place your mixture in a piping bag with a round tip attached. I like to place my piping bag in a tall cup because it is so much easier that way.

Pipe out 1.5 inch circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. I then placed the toasted coconut on top of each shell

Preheat your oven to 295F.

Bang your tray against the counter to release those hidden air bubbles and let these macarons dry on the counter for about 30 minutes ( I like to leave mine out 1 hour). Gently tap the side of a macaron to see if a shell has formed, they are ready to go in the oven when they are dry to the touch.

While you are waiting for those to dry lets make the filling.

Take your butter and place it in your mixer and beat for 4 minutes, you will notice that the butter will turn a pale yellow color and increase in size.

I then added the powdered sugar to the butter mixture ( I sifted it first because I like it smooth) then whip a bit more, till smooth

I then pour the coconut extract and toasted coconut into the buttercream and mix till combined, I already took half of the buttercream out because I was filling my piping bag when this picture was taken. (This recipe makes a smaller batch of buttercream than the cream cheese butter cream recipe, but after filling these macarons I still had enough to fill another dozen or so macarons)

So after that I filled a disposable piping bag with some of the filling. 

Place the piping bag full of buttercream in the fridge while your macarons are baking.

Ok, place your macaron shells in the 295F oven for 14 minutes total. Rotate the tray halfway so after 7 minutes.

Everyone's oven is different so just keep an eye on them, when they start to peel off of the parchment paper they are done. I then leave them on the hot baking tray for 1 minute and then slide the macarons on the counter, still attached to the parchment paper, for about 2-3 more minutes.

I then match them up with a top and a bottom of similar sizes and get them ready to fill. Oh and look at the close up of those pretty coconut macarons. 

Getting ready for the filling

Take your buttercream out of the fridge and pipe the toasted coconut buttercream on one side of the macaron and sandwich another macaron on top. 

Look how cute these are

Voilá you now have a toasted coconut macaron. I then place all my assembled macarons on a tray and place in the fridge for 24-48 hours. This is maturing your macaron and it makes them taste amazing. Then when it's time to eat them let them come up to room temperature. They taste so much better then.

Yumz!!!!!!! crunchy outside, chewy inside, smooth buttercream

Red Velvet Macarons For The Win!

Ok I was bored and said that I would not be baking macarons, but I was bored and decided to make these. Well I was thinking about making galaxy macarons or red velvet and my friends thought red velvet would be better. I'm glad I listened to them, because these were amazingly delicious. They came out beautiful, and I tweaked them a bit with sprinkles. Check these beauties out

Red Velvet Macarons

They have that delicious red velvet chocolatey taste, with a yummy cream cheese buttercream filling. I don't know if it's a southern thing but I always feel happy when I have red velvet anything. So if you are a fan you should definitely try these out. You only need a few extra ingredients added to a basic macaron recipe and bam you are done. Let's start with what you need. 

Red Velvet Macaron Shell

• 65g of Almond Meal
• 65g of Powdered Sugar
• 50g of Room Temperature Egg Whites
• 50g of Granulated Sugar
• 5g of Cocoa Powder
• 3 Drops of Red Gel Food Coloring

Cream Cheese Buttercream Filling

• 1 Stick of Unsalted Butter (Room Temperature)
• 1 8oz Package of Cream Cheese (Room Temperature)
• 2 cups of Powdered Sugar
• 1 tablespoon of milk 
• Sprinkles (optional)

First you need to sift the almond meal, cocoa powder and powdered sugar together in a large bowl and set aside

Take your room temperature egg whites and beat them on a medium speed until they become white and frothy, slowly pour in your granulated sugar. Your egg whites will start to form soft peaks continue beating your eggs until stiff peaks form. This is also a great time to add any gel food coloring.  ( I set a timer this should take about 7-8 minutes on medium speed)

When your egg whites form stiff peaks stop, your egg whites should clump in the middle of the whisk.

Beautiful Red Meringue in stiff peaks

Now add in your dry ingredients and carefully fold ingredients together (about 50 folds if you are counting) stop when you reach a lava like consistency or when it ribbons off of your spatula

Place your mixture in a piping bag. I like to place my piping bag in a tall cup because it is so much easier that way.

Pipe out 1.5 inch circles on a parchment lined baking sheet. I then placed little multicolored sugar sprinkles over the top.

cute sprinkles

let the macarons rest a bit

Preheat your oven to 295F.

Bang your tray against the counter to release those hidden air bubbles and let these macarons dry on the counter for about 30 minutes ( I like to leave mine out 1 hour). Gently tap the side of a macaron to see if a shell has formed, they are ready to go in the oven when they are dry to the touch.

While you are waiting for those to dry lets make the filling.

Take your butter and place it in your mixer and beat for 4 minutes, you will notice that the butter will turn a pale yellow color and increase in size.

Then add in the softened cream cheese and continue to whip on medium/high speed for 2 minutes.

I then added the powdered sugar to the cream cheese butter mixture ( I sifted it first because I like it smooth) then whip a bit more, till smooth

This is the fun part, I decided to add cool sprinkles, you don't have to follow this step, but I had a ton of sprinkles lying around.

Sprinkles, Sprinkles, Sprinkles!!!

So after that I filled a disposable piping bag with some of the filling. It actually made quite a bit of buttercream so I placed the leftovers in a ziplock bag and popped it in the freezer (There is no need to throw away extra buttercream, they last 3 months in the freezer, just take them out to come to room temperature before using again)

Place the piping bag full of buttercream in the fridge while your macarons are baking.

Ok, place your macaron shells in the 295F oven for 14 minutes total. Rotate the tray halfway so after 7 minutes.

Everyone's oven is different so just keep an eye on them, when they start to peel off of the parchment paper they are done. I then leave them on the hot baking tray for 1 minute and then slide the macarons on the counter, still attached to the parchment paper, for about 2-3 more minutes.

I then match them up with a top and a bottom of similar sizes and get them ready to fill, don't pay attention to my ugly nails, hahaha. Oh and look at the close up of those pretty sprinkles. 

Match up the macaron shells

The sprinkles on top kind of made a wrinkly appearance on top, but overall they baked wonderfully.

Take your buttercream out of the fridge and pipe the cream cheese buttercream on one side of the macaron and sandwich another macaron on top. 

Voilá you have a red velvet macaron. I then place all my assembled macarons on a tray and place in the fridge for 24-48 hours. This is maturing your macaron and it makes them taste amazing. Then when it's time to eat them let them come up to room temperature. They taste so much better then.

After 24 hours refrigeration