Daring Bakers June: From Phyllo to Baklava

Ok so I'm a little late posting this.. The month of June ended up really busy, plus a vacation at the end of the month pushed us to make this challenge late!  We made it over the long 4th of July weekend.

Erica of Erica’s Edibles was our host for the Daring Baker’s June challenge. Erica challenged us to be truly DARING by making homemade phyllo dough and then to use that homemade dough to make Baklava.

Since I'm posting this so late I'm going to copy the recipe as given below and quickly just tell you what we did differently.  First I used a very small casserole dish, I only wanted enough for D and I to share and for it to be gone!  I love Baklava and knew I would eat it all myself!  I cut the phyllo dough recipe in half for the little dish and we ended up using almost all of it. 

Getting the dough thin enough was very difficult and required patience, something I did not have the day I made this.  (It is definitely worth getting it as thin as possible).  I also winged quite a bit of the rest of it, I just used spray Parkay between the layers, I pressed down quite a bit on the layers to get it to fit in the dish (I think this resulted in the dough not tasting flaky and layered.  (It was still good, just not correctly made!)  The filling I used some coco almonds and cinnamon pecans along with cinnamon and sugar.  For the syrup I cut way back on the amounts listed since I was using such a small dish, I used 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup sugar, and 1/2 cup mixture of what honey I had left and agave nectar.  It looks like a ton of syrup when you first pour it on, but it really does soak up a ton of it,  I probably still had a little too much. 

I'm not sure if I overcooked the baklava, or my winging it and pushing down on the layers to get it to fit in the pan were what made the phyllo layers taste like one big layer instead of the thin layers that I love.  Don't get me wrong it was still really good, but I think if I make it again I'll just go with store bought phyllo to save some time!  (I will edit this later to add my photos!)

Phyllo Dough:

*Note 1: To have enough to fill my 9” x 9” baking dish with 18 layers of phyllo I doubled this recipe.
*Note 2: Single recipe will fill a 8” x 5” baking dish.
*Note 3: Dough can be made a head of time and froze. Just remove from freezer and allow to thaw
and continue making your baklava
Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups (320 ml) (185 gm/6½ oz) unbleached all purpose (plain) flour
1/8 teaspoon (2/3 ml) (¾ gm) salt
1/2 cup less 1 tablespoon (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon (2½ ml) cider vinegar, (could substitute white wine vinegar or red wine vinegar, but could affect the taste)

Directions:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer combine flour and salt

2. Mix with paddle attachment
3. Combine water, oil and vinegar in a small bowl.

4. Add water & oil mixture with mixer on low speed, mix until you get a soft dough, if it appears dry add a little more water (I had to add a tablespoon more)
5. Change to the dough hook and let knead approximately 10 minutes. You will end up with beautiful smooth dough. If you are kneading by hand, knead approx. 20 minutes.

6. Remove the dough from mixer and continue to knead for 2 more minutes. Pick up the dough and through it down hard on the counter a few times during the kneading process.
7. Shape the dough into a ball and lightly cover with oil

8. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and let rest 30-90 minutes, longer is best ( I let mine rest 2 hours and it was perfect)

Rolling your Phyllo

** Remove all rings and jewelry so it does not snag the dough**
Use whatever means you have to get the dough as thin as you can. I have included a fantastic video at the end of the post on how to roll out your phyllo dough, using a wooden dowel, which worked perfectly for me. You may also use a pasta machine if you have one, or a normal rolling pin whatever works for you.
1. Unwrap your dough and cut off a chunk slightly larger then a golf ball. While you are rolling be sure to keep the other dough covered so it doesn’t dry out.

2. Be sure to flour your hands, rolling pin and counter. As you roll you will need to keep adding, don’t worry, you can’t over-flour.
3. Roll out the dough a bit to flatten it out.

4. Wrap the dough around your rolling pin/dowel

5. Roll back and forth quickly with the dough remaining on the dowel (there are videos on the web)

6. Rotate and repeat until it is as thin as you can it. Don’t worry if you get rips in the dough, as long as you have one perfect one for the top you will never notice.

phyllo dough you purchase at the store, it is made by machine

8. Set aside on a well-floured surface. Repeat the process until your dough is used up. Between each sheet again flower well. You will not need to cover your dough with a wet cloth, as you do with boxed dough, it is moist enough that it will not try out.

Baklava Recipe

Adapted from Alton Brown, The Food Network
30 servings
Ingredients
For the syrup:
· 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) honey
· 1 1/4 cups (300ml) water
· 1 1/4 cups (300 ml) (280 gm/10 oz) sugar
· 1 cinnamon stick
· 1 (2-inch/50 mm) piece fresh citrus peel (lemon or orange work best)
· a few cloves or a pinch or ground clove
When you put your baklava in the oven start making your syrup. When you combine the two, one of them needs to be hot, I find it better when the baklava is hot and the syrup has cooled
Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in a medium pot over medium high heat. Stir occasionally until sugar has dissolved

2. Boil for 10 minutes, stir occasionally.

3. Once boiled for 10 minutes remove from heat and strain cinnamon stick and lemon, allow to cool as baklava cooks

Ingredients for the Filling:

1 (5-inch/125 mm piece) cinnamon stick, broken into 2 to 3 pieces or 2 teaspoons (10 ml) (8 gm) ground cinnamon
15 to 20 whole allspice berries ( I just used a few pinches)
3/4 cup (180 ml) (170 gm/6 oz) blanched almonds
3/4 cup (180 ml) (155 gm/5½ oz) raw or roasted walnuts
3/4 cup (180 ml) (140 gm/5 oz) raw or roasted pistachios
2/3 cup (160 ml) (150 gm/ 5 1/3 oz) sugar
phyllo dough (see recipe above)
1 cup (2 sticks) (240 ml) (225g/8 oz) melted butter ** I did not need this much, less then half**
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4.
2. Combine nuts, sugar and spices in a food processor and pulse on high until finely chopped. If you do not have a food processor chop with a sharp knife as fine as you can. Set aside

3. Trim your phyllo sheets to fit in your pan

4. Brush bottom of pan with butter and place first phyllo sheet

5. Brush the first phyllo sheet with butter and repeat approximately 5 times ending with butter. (Most recipes say more, but homemade phyllo is thicker so it's not needed)
6. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top

7. Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
8. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
9. Continue layering phyllo and buttering repeating 4 times
10. Sprinkle 1/3 of the nut mixture on top
11. Continue layering and buttering phyllo 5 more times. On the top layer, make sure you have a piece of phyllo with no holes if possible, just looks better.
12. Once you have applied the top layer tuck in all the edges to give a nice appearance.

13. With a Sharp knife cut your baklava in desired shapes and number of pieces. If you can't cut all the ways through don’t worry you will cut again later. A 9x9 pan cuts nicely into 30 pieces. Then brush with a generous layer of butter making sure to cover every area and edge

14. Bake for approximately 30 minutes; remove from oven and cut again this time all the way through. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. (Oven temperatures will vary, you are looking for the top to be a golden brown, take close watch yours may need more or less time in the oven)

15. When baklava is cooked remove from oven and pour the cooled (will still be warmish) syrup evenly over the top, taking care to cover all surfaces when pouring. It looks like it is a lot but over night the syrup will soak into the baklava creating a beautifully sweet and wonderfully textured baklava!

16. Allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled cover and store at room temperature. Allow the baklava to sit overnight to absorb the syrup.
17. Serve at room temperature

Freezing/Storage Instructions/Tips: There are a few ways to store your Baklava. It is recommended that you store your baklava at room temperature in an airtight container. Stored at room temperature your baklava will last for up to 2 weeks. You will notice as the days pass it will get a little juicier and chewier. You may choose to store it in the fridge; this will make it a little harder and chewy, but does increase the shelf life. You can also freeze your baklava and then just set it out at room temperature to thaw.

June Daring Cooks Challenge: Healthy Potato Salad

We have had a busy the last few months and haven't participated in the last few Daring Cooks or Daring Baker challenges.  This months challenge was something I wanted to make sure we were able to participate in. When I saw the Daring Cooks challenge was a healthier potato salad and we were allowed to be creative and do our own thing, I knew it was time to challenge D.  We were going to have a potato salad throw down or Iron Chef.. POTATO SALAD.... either challenge would do!

Jami Sorrento was our June Daring Cooks hostess and she chose to challenge us to celebrate the humble spud by making a delicious and healthy potato salad. The Daring Cooks Potato Salad Challenge was sponsored by the nice people at the United States Potato Board, who awarded prizes to the top 3 most creative and healthy potato salads. A medium-size (5.3 ounce) potato has 110 calories, no fat, no cholesterol, no sodium and includes nearly half your daily value of vitamin C and has more potassium than a banana!

My potato salad was going to feature sweet potatoes and a vinegar based dressing.  Here is what I used.

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes

4 green onions- white and green parts

3 oz colored peppers

Some Agave nectar

2 TBS Chili pepper paste

2 tsp Cumin

1 tsp Onion powder

¼ cup vinegar
Zest of lime, orange, lemon
Juice of lime, half orange, half lemon

First I cut up the sweet potatoes and placed on a baking sheet to roast in a 450 deg oven. I'm too lazy to peel a sweet potato when roasting it, so go ahead save some time and leave the peel on (Thanks Sara for notifying me that it was ok to leave the peel on!).  

While the potatoes were roasting I cut the green onions, peppers, zested the citrus, and mixed up the sauce with the spices.

As soon as the potatoes came out of the oven I poured over the sauce.  It is best when making a vinegar based potato salad to dress the potatoes when they are hot so they absorb the vinegar.  I then put the salad in the fridge until it was chilled and ready to eat!

Now for the calorie count.. mine was a total of 630 calories for the whole batch!!

Derek’s potato salad was going to be a creamy dill sauce.  Here is what he used:

Bag of small red potatoes

5 Green onions

1 container Greek yogurt

A ton of fresh dill

½ packet ranch dressing seasoning

First D cut his potatoes and decided since the smoker was on he was going to smoke his potatoes to cook them.  He sprayed them with some olive oil and added some minced garlic.

Meanwhile, he mixed together the Greek yogurt, ranch mix, and fresh dill.

Once the potatoes came out he chilled them before dressing the potatoes and mixing in the green onion. D's potato salad had a total calorie count of 765.

Both of these potato salads served a bunch!  So the calorie counts turned out great!  Now for the taste test..  D and I both agreed mine were better.  The smoked taste of D's potatoes would have been great served warm, but it slightly overpowered the potato salad and it also prevented the dressing from soaking into the potatoes. 

Daring Bakers #2: Yeasted Coffee Cake

It is time for our second Daring Baker’s Challenge!!!!

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

This recipe looked amazing, I knew I’d want to make it as soon as possible! It takes a bit of time because of needing to allow the dough time to rise, but that is time you can go do something else. I halved the recipe since we have no need for 2 coffee cakes around the house. Boy, am I glad I did this because we would have devoured them both! I also used the weight measurements for the ingredients (I’ve never made a recipe this way.. and I loved it! Didn’t get any measuring devices dirty! YES! less dishes!!!)  This recipe is going to be used over and over!!

The first step was to bring the dough together. While warming the milk I threw in a cinnamon stick and some cloves. (I’m not sure that this flavor really came through in the dough.)

Dump the dough out and knead it until it was smooth and sexy (this was the word used in the recipe).

Now for the waiting game. Time to let the dough rise!

When its getting close to the end of the rising time right before you want to roll out the dough make the meringue.

Once it has risen it is time to roll out the dough. I am a dork and really got out a tape measure because I wanted it to be the size specified in the recipe.

Spread the meringue out on top of the dough.

Sprinkle with the spice mixture. I used cinnamon, sugar, all spice, clove, and nutmeg. Chopped walnuts, cinnamon chips, and chocolate chips. (After it was baked I couldn’t taste the cinnamon chips.)

Roll the dough like a jelly roll.

Form into a wreath and use scissors to make the slashes in the dough.  Back to waiting again. Time for the 2nd rise!

Now, brush on egg wash (I used the egg yolks left over from the meringue) and get it in the oven!

We were so excited to try the coffee cake we only allowed it to cool while I took pictures and then dug right in. I recommend waiting longer, our first pieces were so chocolaty because the chocolate was still too hot!

I will be keeping this recipe around and plan to try a savory option like so many other Daring Baker’s did. You can see what was done here. I have so many ideas for using this dough again…. love the idea of cutting the dough into pieces after rolling the jelly roll to make it more like cinnamon buns, leaving out the chocolate, using fruit… ahhh all the options!!!

Here is the recipe:

FILLED MERINGUE COFFEE CAKE

Makes 2 round coffee cakes, each approximately 10 inches in diameter

The recipe can easily be halved to make one round coffee cake

Ingredients

For the yeast coffee cake dough:

4 cups (600 g / 1.5 lbs.) flour

¼ cup (55 g / 2 oz.) sugar

¾ teaspoon (5 g / ¼ oz.) salt

1 package (2 ¼ teaspoons / 7 g / less than an ounce) active dried yeast

¾ cup (180 ml / 6 fl. oz.) whole milk

¼ cup (60 ml / 2 fl. oz. water (doesn’t matter what temperature)

½ cup (135 g / 4.75 oz.) unsalted butter at room temperature

2 large eggs at room temperature

For the meringue:

3 large egg whites at room temperature

¼ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup (110 g / 4 oz.) sugar

For the filling:

1 cup (110 g / 4 oz.) chopped pecans or walnuts

2 Tablespoons (30 g / 1 oz.) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup (170 g / 6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate

Egg wash: 1 beaten egg

Cocoa powder (optional) and confectioner’s sugar (powdered/icing sugar) for dusting cakes

Directions:

Prepare the dough:

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups (230 g) of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.

In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.

With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes. Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes.

Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together. Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.

Place the dough in a lightly greased (I use vegetable oil) bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes. The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.

Prepare your filling:In a small bowl, combine the cinnamon and sugar for the filling if using. You can add the chopped nuts to this if you like, but I find it easier to sprinkle on both the nuts and the chocolate separately

Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:

Assemble the Coffee Cakes:

Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Punch down the dough and divide in half. On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle. Spread half of the meringue evenly over the rectangle up to about 1/2-inch (3/4 cm) from the edges. Sprinkle half of your filling of choice evenly over the meringue (ex: half of the cinnamon-sugar followed by half the chopped nuts and half of the chocolate chips/chopped chocolate).

Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal.

Using kitchen scissors or a sharp knife (although scissors are easier), make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch (2 ½ cm) intervals. Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.

Repeat with the remaining dough, meringue and fillings.

Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).

Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped.

Daring Cooks: Cevieche and Papas Rellenas

On to our 2nd Daring Cooks’ challenge! On to March’s challenge! This month was two classic Peruvian dishes, Ceviche and a Papas Rellenas.

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.

D and I have always wanted to try Ceviche but both of us were completely scared! We aren’t the biggest fish eaters in the first place and for it to only be cooked with lime juice is scary. We went on a hunt to find some decent looking fish at the grocery store so that we would feel more comfortable not cooking it with heat. We luckily found some Cod to use. For the ceviche we sliced the fish up small and placed it into a food saver bag with some onions, the juice of some limes mixed with some chili paste.

We left this sealed up in the fridge until we finished making our Papas, I think it was about 30-45 minutes?? D made me try it first before he’d try it. The fish tasted ok… well it tasted just like lime; however, neither of us could get over the texture. So unfortunately we threw it down the drain. Luckily, we suspected we would do this so we only used one small piece of fish.

Now on to the Papas Rellenas... First, you pretty much make mashed potatoes and add an egg.

Now, for the filling, the original recipe included raisins and hard boiled egg in with the ground beef. Well, D and I have had a bad dinner experience with ground meat and a sweet element… so we wanted to stay away from raisins in our meat. Also, D is not a huge boiled egg fan. With the meat being the filling in a potato dish, Shepherd’s Pie popped into my head and wouldn't go away. We took some onion, celery, carrot, peas and mixed that in with our ground beef along with some spices.

Next you take your potato mixture and stuff it with the meat and form the potato shapes.

These are then breaded using flour, egg, and then Panko bread crumbs.

Finally, they are fried to a golden brown.

Now its time to eat!

These Papas were delish! These are something I’d like to try to make again with different fillings and probably baking them instead of frying them to make them healthier.

If you'd like to try either recipe go here!  You can also see what the other Daring Cooks accomplished!

Daring Bakers: Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies

We completed our first Daring Cooks challenge and now it is time for the first Daring Bakers challenge!  We were excited because we haven't made either item for this challenge either!  We decided that these desserts would be perfect for Valentine's day weekend!

We were challenged with making a Panna Cotta and were allowed to be creative with the flavorings of a gelee to go with it.  At first I was envisioning a peanut butter and jelly theme to our Panna Cotta, but as soon as the thought of lime and coconut entered my head it would not go away!  The idea of something tropical and summery sounded great since we keep getting so much snow!!

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.


First, we made a lime gelee.

1 tsp unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (was about 4 limes)
1 tsp lime zest


 In a small cup, sprinkle the gelatin over 1 tablespoon of cold water and let stand until softened, about 3 minutes. In a small saucepan, combine 1/4 cup of the sugar with 2 tablespoons of water and simmer over moderate heat just until the sugar is dissolved. Remove the sugar syrup from the heat and whisk in the softened gelatin until dissolved. Stir in the lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon of the lime zest.  Pour into glasses.  Refrigerate for about 15-30 minutes until set.

Then we made the Panna Cotta.  Instead of using whole milk we used coconut milk so that our Panna Cotta would be a honey coconut Panna Cotta.  

I also made some in my heart shaped silicone muffin pan; however, we couldn't get them to un-mold properly. The gelee layer stuck to the bottom. FAILURE!!!  It still tasted good though! :)

Here are the cookies we made.  D liked the ones that were slightly softer and I actually liked the really crispy ones (they tasted more like caramel that way).  


Since we didn't have dark corn syrup we used a little molasses in place of some of the corn syrup to give it a darker color.

Here are the cookies out of the oven.

The cookies needed a chocolate drizzle.

Another picture of the final presentation!

If you'd like to try the recipes visit HERE.

Daring Cooks Challenge #1: Soba Noodles and Tempura

Finally!!  The reason we started this blog...  OUR FIRST DARING COOKS CHALLENGE!!  I was so excited on the day of the announcement of the monthly challenge, I think I checked the website about 10 times before it was posted!  I was excited that this first challenge seemed like something that wouldn't be too difficult.  The most difficult part was going to get over my slight fear of a big pot of oil on the stove.  (Thanks Mom and Dad for the fire extinguisher for Christmas.  We didn't even need it!)  You'd think I wouldn't be scared of the oil since we deep fry our turkey, but that is outside and I make sure to stay inside!

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

Here are the recipes if you'd like to try them!

First, we cooked the noodles so that they could cool.  The noodles have to be rinsed with cold water after they are boiled.  The Soba noodles are served cold as a noodle salad.

Meanwhile, D mixed together the ingredients below to make a dipping sauce for the noodles and the tempura.

Then we cut up all the veggies so they could go back in the fridge to chill.  The sweet potatoes had to be blanched quickly to slightly cook them.

To keep the tempura batter cold we sat the bowl with the batter in a large bowl filled with ice water.

Mix the tempura batter together, it should be somewhat lumpy.

Once the oil was heated to about 340 deg.  The veggies came out and got tossed in some flour, tempura batter, and then into the oil.

We made snap peas, onions, sweet potatoes, and cauliflower.

Here is a finished plate with Soba noodles, dipping sauce, and tempura.

I even really liked the tempura left over.  Both of us agreed the tempura was good, but doubt we will spend the time to make it again.  It is definitely something we wouldn't have tried had we not been faced with the challenge.  Thank you Lisa at Blueberry Girl!!!

New Year.... Baking and Cooking Challenge

After enjoying a Holiday season full of cooking and baking, D and I have decided we needed a cooking & baking challenge for the new year!  This challenge was going to be to cook a something new out of the cookbooks we had around the house each month... Then I discovered the Daring Kitchen.  A cooking group that all follow the same recipe for a dish and post the results..  There are two cooking groups Daring Cooks and Daring Bakers.  We've decided to join both groups!  A double challenge!  Twice a month we will be cooking and baking a new item along the other members and posting our pictures and our experience with the recipe on this blog.  We look forward to the success of these 24 new dishes!  Check out Daring Kitchen to see the past challenges for both Daring Cooks & Daring Bakers and to learn more about the cooking challenge!