BBAC And The Washington Post

The Bread Bakers' Apprentice Challenge is one of the featured virtual baking/cooking clubs in this week's Food Section of The Washington Post. You can read the full article here written by one of us BBAC bakers, A Tiger In The Kitchen.

A photo collage of baked goodies from 8 BBAC bakers are included on the front page of the section, the shortened version here is from their website, and there are several larger beautiful photos of breads inside the pages.

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is created by Nicole of Pinch My Salt.

Wasabi Ice Cream

wasabi ice cream and a ginger thin

One of the ice cream flavors in an Ice Cream parlor in Singapore that G over at Kitchenmaus mentioned is called Wassup Babe which has, you guessed it, Wasabi. I like wasabi with Japanese food but never imagined it will taste good in ice cream. I have made Black Pepper ice cream before which is not unusual and wasabi doesn't sound any more weird than chicken wing, crab, or octopus ice cream.

The wasabi flavor is distinct and surprisingly really good but the wasabi sting is absent. Maybe it cools off immediately on the tongue or I should have doubled the amount of wasabi powder. I like it with ginger thins and I'm also thinking of making it into an ice cream sandwich with chocolate chip cookies. What do you think will go well with wasabi ice cream, candied eel?

Wasabi Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
2 tablespoons green wasabi powder
1 extra-large whole egg or 2 small
½ cup sugar, more or less to taste
2 cups heavy cream

• In a medium saucepan mix milk and wasabi powder, heat the mixture to scalding. In a small bowl, beat the egg and sugar. Add the hot milk while stirring continuously. Return the mixture to the saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, without boiling until custard coats the spatula. Strain into a 4-cup measuring bowl, cover, and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours. Stir in the heavy cream. Process in an ice cream maker. Transfer into an ice cream container and freeze until firm.

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