Real Baking with Rose Levy Beranbaum

We were planning to go to the country this weekend to see if the house still stands after a 6 week absence but the weather report changed our minds (40 mph winds and rain). So I asked my husband if he'd like me to warm up the apartment by baking his favorite challah (though he still hasn't gotten quite to the bottom of the bread in the freezer drawer). His answer was "if you have the time." My answer is above.

The 75 grams/2.6 oz. of old starter are defrosting in the water for the dough and it will take all of 5 minutes to mix the rest of the ingredients. After a short kneading and rising, into the frig for its overnight flavor development. Braiding tomorrow morning will take 10 minutes and then rising on its own and into the oven with a little help from me.

I have a smidgen of ham left over from the Cubanos. Would it be sacrilege to have it on the challah? I know it would be delicious.

This reminds me of an article I did many years ago for my late mentor, Cecily Brownstone, of Associated Press. The recipe that accompanied it was for mini challah rolls. She called me many months later, very distraught, to tell me that a food editor in the mid-west just ran the article. When I asked her what was wrong with that she said: "I guess she was saving it for a Jewish holiday but Passover wasn't the appropriate one!" (Only matzo--unleavened bread can be eaten during Passover. It is the very symbol of the holiday.) The headline read: Bake Challah for Passover! (Oy vay!!!)

Getting back to my challah, on second thought, somehow ham requires mayo and the leftover Swiss cheese is also a natural addition.I can't see either on challah. Besides--honey or butter are the only gilding challah really requires. (Saved!)

Hey! it's taken almost as long to write about it as to make it!

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.27.06 at 3:32 PM in Announcements
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The Cubanos were out of this world! What had been less than moist but flavorful 5 day old pork shoulder came alive with a gilding of mayo, the bread and butter pickles from the farmer's market--less sweet than the usual. The slice of ham was a perfect addition and the melted Swiss cheese bound it all together. But it was the bread that was the star--crisp crust, soft flavorful crumb!

The recipe for the bread is on the Harvest King bread bag and in the Bread Bible and all you have to do to make these great rolls is divide it in 6 (5 ounces/144 grams each) and shape them into 6 inch long batons. They only takes 20 minutes to bake. Cool and split in half horizontally. Heaven!

For the Cubano, it took 10 minutes on medium high in a panini maker and in a 350 oven wrapped in foil, and weighted between two baking sheets with an oven-proof skillet on top it will take about 20 minutes or until the cheese melts.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.25.06 at 8:05 PM in Bread
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PBS Affiliate WBGU in Ohio has scheduled my 13 part series beginning in December. Please check your t.v. listings for times and channels.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.25.06 at 8:02 AM in Television
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I didn't mean it to be, consciously, but the word back is a double entendre!

I've been holed in hibernating for--can it be--6 long weeks--recovering from a bad disc problem in my back. Physical therapy and exercise have helped enormously and it now seems like a miracle that i'm entirely free of pain. But it is only tonight that I realized how full my recovery is because I was faced with a decision of whether or not to BUY bread! I haven't bought bread in several years, since I started working on the Bread Bible. But tomorrow night I want to make a "Cuban Sandwich" with some left-over pork shoulder roast and actually went as far as putting Italian Bread on my shopping list when I realized that I HAD to make the bread myself.

There are five essential reasons why I feel this way:

1) A very beautiful note on g-mail from a woman called Mary Ellen who wrote: After many failed attempts, I decided I'd best leave bread baking to professional bakers. After browsing through the Bread Bible at a local Borders, I thought I'd give it one more try. Thank you for giving me the guidance I need to make great bread! I'm so happy as I bake bread. I feel so peaceful. I want to express my thanks for really explaining all the details and directions on making great bread. My life will never be the same.
It reminded me of how I feel about bread.

2) It will be so much more delicious to make my own Basic Hearth Loaf and shape it into 6 long rolls.

3) Harvest King, the new flour from Gold Medal with my recipe for Basic Hearth Loaf on the back has just appeared in my supermarket down the street.

4) It only took 5 minutes to mix the dough and won't take much longer to knead, shape and bake it.

5) Baking bread is the most grounding activity I know and the only way I really feel like my old self again!

In a few days I will post all the tips that go along with the recipe on the bag which include how to vary it to make it a multi-grain bread, and how to make rolls with soft or crisp crust.

Meantime, watch your backs--it's no fun when they rebel and as a doctor I once worked for told me many years ago: "human beings weren't meant to stand erect." Now I'm wondering why they don't teach standing, walking, bending, and lifting correctly in grade-school gym instead of useless things like how to climb a rope or assume a cross-legged seating position without support (yes I can still do that, the question is should I--or should anyone!.

P.S. It was pretty bad but couldn't have been that bad because I never lost my sense of humor!

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.24.06 at 5:11 PM in Announcements
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Great Feedback from Cherry and Alexis

You gave me useful advice a few years back about flour after I moved to the UK. I've since discovered that McDougall's Grade "00" flour (not self-rising) is a perfect substitute.
Additionally, I find that buttermilk is a better substitute for American sour cream than (higher fat) UK soured cream in cakes and muffins--seems to give more reliable results than an educated guess at the amount of soured cream to decrease.
Thus, with a few added marginalia, the US "Cake Bible" remains in use here.
Cherry

AFAIK, the 00 is not bleached, but it is somewhat softer than the regular plain flour. I researched this once, and according to the Flour Advisory Bureau, bleached flour is not available to the UK consumer. (Although I suspect that the McDougall Supreme Sponge is bleached as it claims it can absorb more fat and sugar than regular flour... sadly it's only available in self-rising!)

UK spoons are now pretty much standardised at 5 and 15ml. The Aussies are the ones who are off: an Australian tablespoon is 20ml! I bake in metric now so I can ignore imperial versus US ounces.

The other headache is baking powder. I know a lot of Americans who report having to use 1.5x as much. My guess is that there's more bulking agent--the first ingredient listed on the container is rice flour. I'll be honest, I cheat: I bring American baking powder back with me (and I've got some Swans Down as well).

British soured cream is the same fat content as American, 18%, though it tends to be thinner in texture. I've never had a problem cooking with it.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.15.06 at 2:06 PM in FAQs
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Karen Question

I am planning on making the chocolate butter wedding cake for a friend's wedding next weekend. Your chocolate base cake formula appears to have more butter (530 grams butter for 12 inch layers or 75.67 grams x rose factor 7) that the 3-tier chcolate butter cake to serve 150 (400 grams butter for 12 inch layers) although the other ingredients are the same. Could you please advise what is the correct amount of butter to use?

Rose Reply
You're right! Originally I made the cake just as it appears on page 486-487 but decided to add more butter to make it more moist. You could instead just add a little syrup.
I changed it in the base but forgot to change it on the larger recipe. If you opt to go with the higher butter it would be 16 oz./454 grams for the two 6 & 9 inch layers and 18.5 ounces/525 grams for the two twelve inch layers.
Do let me know what you decide to do! Either way it will be delicious and chocolatey!

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.13.06 at 2:02 PM in FAQs
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Gina Question

I am currently in the process of applying for the Baking and Pastry program offered at the Art Institute of Vancouver. I know that this is a good program but am also wanting to keep my options open. I was wondering if you had any suggestions or knew of other Baking and Pastry programs that are offered elsewhere. If you have any advice, I would love to hear it.

Rose Reply
Ii don't know anything about the program in Vancouver but I do know it is an extraordinarily beautiful city and fabulous food town. You should definitely check out the French Culinary Institute, and the Institute for Culinary Education in NYC, the CIA in Hyde Park, NY, and Johnson and Wales which has several campuses.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.10.06 at 1:58 PM in FAQs
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Question from Kim

I've been baking cupcakes using your All Occasion Downy Golden cake recipe. The texture is incredible - soft, light, fluffy and melt-in-your-mouth. The only problem is that the cakes rise beautifully in the oven - but then about 5 minutes after I take them out they begin to sink in the middle. What do you think could be the problem? I'd love for them to be just slightly rounded on top, for the sake of presentation.

Rose Response

First i'd like to say that when I make cakes in two layers I like the cakes to be perfectly flat for tiering but when I make one higher layer I also like it to be gently rounded.

Dipping is always a structural problem. It can be either of the following

The Wrong Type of Flour
If using unbleached flour for a butter cake in which the butter is used in softened form, as opposed to melted as for a genoise, the cake will dip in the center about 5 minutes after baking. This is because the smooth flour particles of unbleached flour cannot effectively hold the butter is suspension. So use bleached cake flour or bleached all-purpose flour.

Too Weak a Structure
This is usually due to too much leavening. Try dropping the baking powder by 1/4 teaspoon.

The larger the cake, the less amount of baking powder per cup of flour is used. This is because the distance from the sides of the pan to the center are greater so that they batter needs a stronger structure to support itself.

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.05.06 at 1:46 PM in FAQs
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Automatic Alert for Responses to Your Blog Questions/Comments

from fellow blogger Zach Townsend:

If you want to be alerted when someone responds to a particular topic for which you've provided a comment, there is a check box called "let me know if someone adds a comment" that you will see when you select the "post a comment" option at the bottom of the topic window. If you check that box, you will get notified of each new comment via the email address that you enter. However, it only works when you post a comment and check that box, which essentially "subscribes" you to that string of messages. It will not alert you, however, when a new topic is posted. Once you subscribe to the message string via the checkbox, then you will receive a notification at your email address no matter when someone posts a comment regarding that message."

From the kitchen of Rose on 10.05.06 at 9:50 AM in Announcements
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