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Travelling
UP-DATE TO DEAR FRIENDS
i'll be out of the country until feb. 6 so won't be able to answer questions until my return. if you post them as comments on the blog it will make it a lot easier to respond when i return rather than sending a g mail.
there'll be lots to report from my upcoming trip to barcelona where i'll be visiting the lékué silicone company and giving a lecture/demo to the bakers' guild of spain at the chocolate culinary academia in barcelona. it promises to be a great adventure.
just returned from the fancy food show in san francisco. highlights were fran's smoky fleur de sel milk chocolate covered caramels (www.franschocolates.com), a wide variety of beautiful and delicious salts from saltworks (www.seasalt.com) and a refreshing yet soothing ginger drink appropraitely called ginger soother (www.gingerpeople.com).
also exciting to me was the source atlantique booth where they were debuting the new packaging of my beloved lyle's golden syrup with my picture and favorite pecan pie on ever bottle!
of course there was lots more wonderful food products but i wanted to stay at my booth (harold's kitchen) where i was showing my pie plate, crème brûlée heart-shaped molds, and lékué's silicone bakeware. it was fun seeing a steady stream of friends, relatives, and new acquaintances pass by. (i was thrilled, by the way, that before the show started i got to spend a day with my brother and family and my soon to be 8 year old niece mariella asked me to bake cakes with her in the little silicone molds i had brought for her to play with. and she was thrilled that she could unmold them herself as the silicone edges are cool enough to handle within moments of coming out of the oven. her favorite was the teddy bear shape!)
as predicted, dinner chez daniel patterson, formerly of restaurant elizabeth daniel and frisson, and his fiancée alexandra was a delicious joy. i'm thrilled that they invited me and my ca. family to their home since his upcoming restaurant won't be opening til march. (lucky san franciscans!--and lucky us!!!) i fell in love with their new great dane lucy and was surprised that despite her size she was more timid about meeting me than i her! my 91 yearr old father sat quietly through the long dinner but as he was departing he turned to daniel and said: "if you cook this way at your new restaurant you will make millions!" (sweet moment)
another memorable meal was at delphina in the mission district. dungeness crab pasta was fantastic--all the dishes were unusual in unexpected but delicious flavor combinations.
for breakfast every morning i walked a mile to the ferry building with my dear friend elizabeth karmel (author of the newly published "taming the flame") to enjoy the amazingly good food at boulette's larder.
home for 3 days to straighten things out and get ready for the trip to europe. also squeezed in a roast chicken and a large challah for my husband--recipe to follow on my return.
until soon!
best baking wishes,
rose
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Comments
the acidity of lemon juice raises the temp. at which it coagulates. the orange one will never have the consistency of the lemon unless you use seville oranges which incidentally are coming into season early january.
the orange curd made with other oranges will be sticky but should not be runny. pls be aware that egg yolks are often much smaller than they used to be so weighing or measuring or adding some extra will also help it set rather than using gelatin which is not a bad solution either!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | December 15, 2007 9:30 AM #
Dear Rose,
I had a problem with juice orange curd from pastry bible: I cooked it to 180°F, but it was already totally liquid! Instead, when I make lemon curd, it gets thick at 170°F so I skip to get to recommended 196°. I read the introduction many times, and I saw that the acidity of the juice results in lower coagulation temperature of eggs; so I wonder: why oranges (less acidic than lemon I think) require 180° and lemons 196°? Finally, since orange curd was so liquid and I had to fill a sweet cookie crust, I have add 2 sheets (4 grams) of gelatine. But I would like to understand. Thank you very much.
Reply to this Posted by: martina | December 15, 2007 5:40 AM #
i'm sorry to tell you that from my experience, once butter "denatures" by going into a melted state it will not regain its consistency.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | November 7, 2006 3:02 PM #
Hiya Rose and everyone-
I just made a double batch of your neoclassic buttercream. My toddler was fussy and so I rushed through the last step. The egg yolk/sugar mixture was still slightly warm when I added the butter, which was not super-soft. I'm afraid in that distracted moment, I figured; one's too warm, one's too cold....maybe they'll cancel each other out!
As one might predict, now I have very soft buttercream. When I added my nutella & hazelnut butter (something I've done many times before), it became positively soupy.
Is my buttercream ruined? If I refrigerate and re-whip, will it get any better? Is there a way to fix it?
Thanks!
Angela
Reply to this Posted by: Angela | November 7, 2006 2:41 PM #
good question! part of the reason this technique works with the berries is because they have natural pectin. with other fruits you might need to add pectin but at least you could use the type of pectin that requires less sugar. i don't think that concentrating the juices alone would do it. though it certainly works brilliantly for fruit pies--have you seen the way i do this in the pie and pastry bible for pies like peach and nectarine? it requires only 1/3 the thickener which gives it better flavor and perfect texture.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | March 26, 2006 2:11 PM #
I absolutely love your raspberry and strawberry conserves from "The Cake Bible." I think the conserves taste so much better without all the excess sugar in other recipes.
My question is this--have you ever used your conserve-making method with other fruits (besides berries)? I was thinking of trying but unsure of what sugar/water ratios to use with other fruits.
Thank you!
Reply to this Posted by: Laila | March 26, 2006 1:04 PM #
in New York City,it is usually dry only when it's cold. I cover the rising dough with a plastic box. I set a cup of very hot water in the box to provide heat and humidity. You could try doing the reverse, i.e. use cold water with one or two ice cubes. Ninety to ninety five degrees Fahrenheit will not kill the yeast, but will develop off flavors.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 7, 2006 12:59 PM #
answer to Trinh Lieu comment:
yes, a pre-ferment does indeed offer more depth of flavor.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | February 7, 2006 12:20 PM #
Thanks Roxanne for your thoughtful response! I appreciate it.
It's weird that I've only started having problems with my bread rising. Temperatures here in Tamba never, unfortunately, ever go below the high 70's and right now we're very dry weather and my kitchen hovers always between 85 and 95 degrees during the day. No humidity whatsoever.
I wonder if I just ran into some bad yeast. I appreciate your advice. I guess I was wondering if it's possible that dry weather has an effect on bread rising, or hot weather. Because I thought warm weather would make it rise faster. Is it possible that my room is too warm?!!
Good to hear you're from Denver. I was born there and have a soft spot for CO.
Thanks for your thoughts...
Warmest,
Anne
Reply to this Posted by: Anne Dudte Johnson | February 5, 2006 4:39 PM #
Hello Rose,
I have been experimenting with baking French breads. I try to bake baguettes at least one a week.
I love the whole process of mixing the dough to the proper texture, then allowing it to ferment, and shaping each loaf to a desired form.
I am trying out two recipes.
One requires me to prepare a pre-fermente a day ahead. Then incorporate more flour to it the next day to make my bread dough.
The other recipe lets me mix the dough and make the bread in one shot.
I am certain that there is an advantage for doing it the long way. Is it supposed to yield better quality bread?
Regards,
Trinh Lieu
http://www.cookies-in-motion.com
Reply to this Posted by: Trinh Lieu | January 31, 2006 4:28 PM #
it's difficult to give a general answer to the nut question because most cake recipes using nuts have been developed specifically using the nuts with give texture and flavor. but when making cookies such as jumbles, which have a lot of other ingredients, or brownies it would be fine to leave them out. usually when they are not an integral part of the recipe the author indicates that they are optional. i know i do!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 27, 2006 11:17 PM #
thanks roxanne--that's very good advice. i usually put a container with boiling water near the rising bread and cover it with a big plastic container to reach the ideal 85 degrees F. if your oven isn't in use the leaving on the light technique is also excellent.!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 27, 2006 11:11 PM #
re sugaring large roses--it would be difficult. you'd need to hang them up-side -down to dry and they'd take a really long time. you could try just drying them upside down withouth the sugaring for an interesting effect.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 27, 2006 10:56 PM #
re the wilton cake decorating class icing: you can put meringue powder in neo classic or classic buttercream--it should make it more stable and crust slightly but it will also make it sweeter. i have to confess that when i studied at wilton i used the yucky shortening buttercream because it holds up the best for practicing piping. if you use butter you'll need to dip your hand in ice-water from time to time to keep the buttercream from getting too soft.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 27, 2006 10:45 PM #
Hi again, I can't even seem to find my previous post so i'll assume you haven't either. I'm wondering where in the Cake Bible are the instructions for constructing the neat cake that's on the cover.
Thanks for your help
Reply to this Posted by: Samantha | January 26, 2006 6:50 PM #
Hello! My family members have nut allergies of all sorts. I'm wondering when it is safe to leave them out of the recipe without having an effect on the final product. When is it essential that they not be omitted? Thanks!-Beth
Reply to this Posted by: Beth | January 26, 2006 7:08 AM #
just back from the s.f. fancy food show and only 2 days before taking off for paris/spain but plan to answer all 50 (yikes) comments/questions posted to the blog before departure!
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 25, 2006 9:54 PM #
Hi Anne,
I also live in a dry climate (denver, Colorado, usa). What is the texture of your bread when you are done kneading? It should be slightly tacky for most recipes; if it's not, then you need to add more water. Your rising problem, however might be due to inaccurate measuring of salt--or not using the right grain of salt. Too much salt inhibits yeast growth, or maybe you are not measuring the yeast right? Another factor could be the tempeature and humitidy of the room. The cooler the room, the longer the bread will take to rise. In the winter here, my room temp is about 65-67 degrees and my bread takes about that long (12 hours). I usually leave it on the kitchen counter overnight for the first rise and then creat a warmer environment for the second rise. i will usually put a pan of boiling water in the oven with oven light on (with the oven turned off), and this creates the right temp I need to finish rising my bread (about 85 degrees). These are all factors you need to consider when troubleshooting rising problems.
Roxanne
Reply to this Posted by: Roxanne Rieske | January 24, 2006 8:20 PM #
Hi Rose! I'm so glad I found this website. I *love* your books. I used to make hockey puck bread until I got your book. Your books are *so* bible for me. Thank you!
I have a question for you though. I live in West AFrica where it is very, very dry. My bread takes a minimum of two hours to rise for each rising. And with this latest batch, I have been working on it for TWO DAYS! I had to let it rise over night it was rising so slowly. It did double but took 12 hours! That is not right!
what is going on to make my bread rise so long? It usually takes longer than 2 hours but taking 12 hours... well that is a bit extreme, don't you think? It's so dry here that I had to put a damp towel over the bowl just to keep the bread from drying out.
Crazy! Would love any input if you could tell me what on earth is going on with these slow rises!
Warmest wishes!
Anne
Reply to this Posted by: Anne Dudte Johnson | January 22, 2006 5:03 PM #
HELP! i have some BEAUTIFUL white-with-pink-centered roses right now, and was wondering if it would be possible to sugar them. i'm making a wedding cake for a good friend in two weeks and they would look perfect. i've sugared violets, but it just seems like a full-sized rose would be too large and unweildly, or that it would be impossible to get into all the crevices...what do you think, rose (and friends)??!!
Reply to this Posted by: gretchen | January 22, 2006 11:18 AM #
My husband bought me a Wilton decorating class for Xmas. The instructor uses cake mixes and Wilton frostings. I use the Cake Bible and always bake from scratch. We are asked to put meringue powder in crisco/confectioners sugar frostings so the frosting will "crust". I don't use these overly sweet frostings. If I put the meringue powder in a neo-classic or classic buttercream, just to practice in this class, will I ruin a delicious buttercream? I give my class practice cakes away and don't want to give away something I am not satisfied with. Best wishes and thanks, GG
Reply to this Posted by: Gail Gray | January 20, 2006 2:10 PM #
interestingly i just made seville orange curd last week and took it to 196 degrees (like lemon)bc it has a similar acidity. oranges vary in acidity so you do have to use your judgement and not the thermometer alone. but with juice orange or blood orange that always has lower acidity, since you have to concentrate it to get it to thicken, it's usually best to take it to 180 to 185 or it can get gummy as you experienced. i don't have the cake bible with me on my computer but i do have the pastry bible and i verified that these are the temperatures i recommended for the different types of oranges.
Reply to this Posted by: Rose Levy Beranbaum | January 20, 2006 1:02 PM #
Orange curd!
With blood oranges available, I decided to make a white choc whisper cake (came out beautifully!), filled with blood orange curd, frosted w/ a white choc buttercream.
I followed the orange curd recipe in the Cake Bible (start w/ 1 c. juice, reduce to 1/4 c., add other stuff, cook to 196 degrees). I haven't assembled the cake yet, but I'm not sure there's enough curd to go between the two layers, let alone three times if I torted the cake. (And, it seems gummier than the last curd I made--lemon).
I was glancing through your Celebrations book and saw that the top temperature for orange curd was 180-185. I received a new Thermapen thermometer for Christmas, so I overrode my thoughts, "Gee, that looks close to done," deferring to the temperature rule, so I probably cooked it too long.
Was that my mistake? What temp should I aim for? It's too late to start another batch for today, but I'd like to know your thoughts for next time.
Thanks.
Reply to this Posted by: Carolyn | January 17, 2006 7:25 PM #