Kaiser Rolls And Smoked Home Cured Bacon

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge 16: Kaiser Rolls.

I can't remember the last time I bought these sandwich rolls which used to be a favorite in our house. I have forgotten about them after I started baking all of our bread almost two years ago. I never thought they would be so much fun to make and they're very yummy too. I love its chew and the crunch of the crust when toasted, excellent for BLT or simply smeared with whipped cream cheese.

The dough is very easy to work with but shaping the rolls using the traditional folding method takes a bit of practice. After the shaped pieces have risen for 10 minutes I had to re-shape them because the design disappeared. I remedied that by dusting the bottoms with lots of rye flour and pressing harder in-between folds. Sorry I didn't take photos of the process but you can watch this [rather fuzzy] video of a baker applying karate chops on the dough.

I folded 4 of the rolls and the other 5 dough balls I shaped into knotted ropes. I like the looks of the baked folded rolls better, they are prettier, more rounded and even. Two of the knotted rolls were misshapen, they came out sort of oval-triangular and one has a slight bump on one side. I don't know if I should get a stamp for easier and faster shaping next time I make these, all you do is shape into rounds and press. The stamp also retains the round shape of the rolls. On the other hand, I love the rustic appearance of the rolls.

folded

knotted

Although I love poppy and sesame seeds, I didn't bother to top the rolls because they will just fall off and get scattered all over when they are sliced. I also prefer the clean look of the rolls without them.

For my first taste of the roll, I fried thick slices of home cured bacon, sliced yellow tomatoes from my garden, and baby romaine lettuce. Simply delicious! I could have this everyday for lunch. Okay, maybe not the bacon.^__^

bacon, lettuce, and tomato

drool worthy

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 30
Average: 5

Here's my recipe for smoked home cured bacon. It's very rare to find where I live whole slabs of pork belly so I used thick pieces instead. I used Twinings® lapsang souchong tea available at most grocery stores. The tea gives a smokey flavor without being overwhelming. Soaked applewood chips are also very good with bacon.

Smoked Home Cured Bacon
three 1½-inch thick pieces of skinless pork belly
3 tablespoons dry cure (mixture of 1 pound kosher salt, 8 pounds of sugar, and 2 ounces of pink salt, recipe from CHARCUTERIE by Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn)
2 tablespoons maple sugar crystals or syrup
¼ teaspoon garlic powder
6 lapsang souchong teabags
aluminum disposable deep roasting pan and small metal rack

• Mix the dry cure, maple sugar, and garlic powder. Spread the cure on the pork belly evenly. Place the pork pieces in a gallon freezer bag and refrigerate for 5 days, turning the bag every day to cure evenly.
• Rinse pork under running water and pat dry with paper towels. Open the teabags and place all the loose tea leaves in the middle of the roasting pan, discard the bags. Place the rack on the pan and the pan on top of the stove. Turn the heat to the lowest setting, place the pork on the rack, cover tightly with aluminum foil and smoke for 1 hour. Remove the pork, let cool, and store in the freezer. Slice and fry until crispy.

the best part of the fried bacon is the silky crispy melt-in-your mouth fat

Butternut Squash Flan

I heard about a layered cake-flan from a Filipino reader of my blog a year ago but have never tried making it. The flan when finished cooking and flipped over is supposed to have a layer of fluffy chiffon cake at the bottom and caramel custard on top. Googling for tips on how to make the cake flan I found the Filipino recipe for Kalabasa (squash) Flan and made that instead. The recipe has 5 ingredients: 1 cup condensed milk, 3 eggs, 2 cups cooked and mashed squash, vanilla extract or key lime juice, and sugar for the caramel. The flan is very easy to put together and bake; I nuked the squash for 3 minutes, then took about 10 minutes to mix together. The finished flan is like pudding but tastes as delicious as a regular flan. Very yummy.

When I saw a very tiny butternut squash at the grocery store I thought it was the perfect size to make into a pumpkin flan. I adapted the recipe by using half-and-half in place of condensed milk, adding a third of a cup of sugar and 2 teaspoons of calamansi juice.


Butternut Squash Flan
2 cups diced and cooked butternut or kabocha squash
1 cup half-and-half
1/3 - ½ cup sugar
3 eggs, slightly beaten
6 tablespoons sugar for caramel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or calamansi juice

• Mash the squash and set aside. Caramelize sugar until golden brown and pour evenly on the bottom of a flan mold.
• In a medium bowl, mix half-and-half, sugar, eggs, and flavoring until thoroughly combined. Stir in mashed squash. Pour into the prepared mold. Bake in a bain-marie in a preheated 350°F oven for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until set. Refrigerate overnight or for 4 hours before unmolding.

with this dessert you don't have to remind the kids to eat their veggies

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge 15: Italian Bread

After eating a few slices, I think I may have found our daily bread, it's The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge recipe 15, Italian Bread. I love everything about it, from the wonderful aroma to the slightly chewy crust and soft [milky] chewy moist delicious sweetish crumb, this is the perfect everyday breakfast or sandwich bread.

Although it takes 2 days, most of it while the biga is resting in the refrigerator, the whole baking process including shaping is super easy. I will tweak and experiment with this recipe perhaps using sourdough starter along with instant yeast, and maybe adding a little whole wheat or rye flour. I'll be making it regularly with or without milk until I get tired of it or another superb recipe comes along. For now, this is my favorite bread.

I was never interested in baking Italian bread before because the loaves I've had from grocery stores and bakeries were bland and the crumb dry and fluffy. Thanks again Nicole for creating this challenge because I never would have tried baking it on my own and would not have known that homemade Italian Bread is so very yummy.

I made six 4-ounce hoagie rolls and the rest of the dough into a 14-inch loaf. The rolls and loaf both had good oven spring.

Italian meatballs on a top-split hoagie roll, yum yum

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 30
Average: 5

S'more Macarons

sweet and crunchy graham cookies filled with spicy chipotle ganache

While browsing for recipes that have shishito peppers, I found one that uses the red mildly hot ones in a ganache filling for S'more Macarons. I adapted the recipe adding ground chipotle for extra zing. The cookies are crunchy, sweet and delightfully spicy.

unlike the regular green fruits these mildly hot but sweet shishito peppers emerge from the same plant early on with a red tint and becomes bright red when fully ripe, the fruits are shorter at 1 inch

S'more Macaronsmakes about 25 cookie sandwiches
macarons
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup confectioner's sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
3 egg whites
pinch of salt

ganache
6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 finely chopped red shishito peppers, optional
½ - ¾ teaspoon ground chipotle, more or less to taste
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
¾ cup milk chocolate, finely chopped
¼ cup bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

• Make the macarons: In a medium bowl, mix graham cracker crumbs with cinnamon and stir to combine. Place ground graham crackers on a cookie sheet and bake, stirring once, until toasted and fragrant, about 10 minutes. Cool, then put graham cracker mixture into food processor with confectioner's sugar. Grind to a fine powder, set aside.
• Finely grind brown sugar in a blender, set aside.
• In a mixer with a whisk attachment, beat egg whites and salt until foamy. Slowly add brown sugar, and continue mixing to a glossy medium soft peaks.
• Gently fold graham cracker mixture into meringue in two or three additions. Once combined, continue to fold until batter has deflated to a glossy, homogeneous mixture with soft peaks.
• Transfer batter into a disposable pastry bag, snip off the tip. On a parchment lined baking sheet/s, pipe even-sized rounds about 1 to 1½ inches in diameter and ¼ inch high, spacing the cookies 1 inch apart. When baking sheet is filled, firmly bang cookie sheet on a flat surface twice. If any peaks are still sticking up, pat peak gently with a lightly moistened fingertip. Allow to sit for 60 - 90 minutes for the cookies to settle slightly. Bake cookies in a preheated 350°F oven for 10 - 14 minutes until cookies are firm on top and just starting to brown on the edges. Cool on cookie sheets.

• Make the ganache: Place chopped chocolates in a glass bowl. In a small saucepan heat cream and spices to scalding and pour over chopped chocolate. [If using shishito, use 7 tablespoons of cream, heat cream, peppers, and spices to scalding then let steep for 30 minutes, reheat to scalding then strain cream before adding to chocolate.] Let sit for 3 minutes. Using a spatula, mix until cream and chocolate are combined. Leave on the kitchen counter for 1 hour or until firm with a frosting-like consistency.

• Assemble the cookies: Pairing cookies of similar size, create 2 rows of tops and bottoms. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of ganache onto the bottom of 1 cookie and place its partner on top. Refrigerate a few minutes before serving. Cookies can be stored for up to 2 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature before serving.