Daring Bakers: Apple err... Mango Strudel

UPDATE: finally manage to put on some pictures!! and the links :)

crispy skin and sweet filling *yum*

well well,

seems like I'm back on track!! thank God for the holidays!!!

I'm currently on a baking streak, will share them later! First, let's get down to business!!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

That's right people! It's time for Daring Bakers!! *yeay*

and this time around, we did a strudel!! *double yeay*

honestly, if it weren't for this group, I don't think so I'd make so many different kinds of baked goods.

So anyway,

I was making through the dough and peered at the stack of fruits in the house; no apples but there are some mangoes. Owh well, I can just make mango strudel then... but little did I know other people have other plans for them.

So when I was already spreading the dough paper thin (see through my ringers) I take one look at the fruit stash and almost scream "AAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaa!!" (read: almost!!)

The fruits are MISSING!! @^#%&#%&!#!!!!

Only one measly over-ripe mango left.

The rest were already eaten by my family members!!

So what did I do?

Salvage as much pulp from the small mango and try to compensate with other fruits available, i.e; dried prunes, raisins, walnuts, dates, etc... but then I thought, isn't this suppose to be a MANGO strudel???

Thankfully, someone gave my mom a plump australian mango (you know, those big plump ones) and heck was I happy to see the victim.. err... fruit.

So there you go, half of the mango was cut into cubes while the other half went into the stomach.. opps... hahaha!! 25 minues in the oven and tadaaaa~~

see the layers?? :)

There were some changes made in the recipe tho, first I made a MANGO filling instead of apples, then I reduced the sugar by half as the mangoes were reaaally sweet!! (even with the sugar halved, there still a lot of caramelized mango juices seeping through the pastry as it bakes) then, there's extra currants and raisins, plus I didn't melt the butter but just spread them on the dough (lazy bum I am)... it turned out okayh, not the best one yet but it's still good. the dough was crispy but lack some taste. would definately use more flavoring or salt into the dough next time. Other than that, the filling were pretty good I tell ya :))

And here's the link to see other daring bakers :)

anyway, will upload the pictures later. the connection is too lousy here and I can't upload a single thing (been waiting like one hour, haish!!)

the whole thing was just too long for the plate :P

*******************

The Recipe

Preparation time
Total: 2 hours 15 minutes – 3 hours 30 minutes

15-20 min to make dough
30-90 min to let dough rest/to prepare the filling
20-30 min to roll out and stretch dough
10 min to fill and roll dough
30 min to bake
30 min to cool

Apple strudel
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

2 tablespoons (30 ml) golden rum
3 tablespoons (45 ml) raisins
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick / 115 g) unsalted butter, melted, divided
1 1/2 cups (350 ml) fresh bread crumbs
strudel dough (recipe below)
1/2 cup (120 ml, about 60 g) coarsely chopped walnuts
2 pounds (900 g) tart cooking apples, peeled, cored and cut into ¼ inch-thick slices (use apples that hold their shape during baking)

1. Mix the rum and raisins in a bowl. Mix the cinnamon and sugar in another bowl.

2. Heat 3 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet over medium-high. Add the breadcrumbs and cook whilst stirring until golden and toasted. This will take about 3 minutes. Let it cool completely.

3. Put the rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C). Line a large baking sheet with baking paper (parchment paper). Make the strudel dough as described below. Spread about 3 tablespoons of the remaining melted butter over the dough using your hands (a bristle brush could tear the dough, you could use a special feather pastry brush instead of your hands). Sprinkle the buttered dough with the bread crumbs. Spread the walnuts about 3 inches (8 cm) from the short edge of the dough in a 6-inch-(15cm)-wide strip. Mix the apples with the raisins (including the rum), and the cinnamon sugar. Spread the mixture over the walnuts.

4. Fold the short end of the dough onto the filling. Lift the tablecloth at the short end of the dough so that the strudel rolls onto itself. Transfer the strudel to the prepared baking sheet by lifting it. Curve it into a horseshoe to fit. Tuck the ends under the strudel. Brush the top with the remaining melted butter.

5. Bake the strudel for about 30 minutes or until it is deep golden brown. Cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing. Use a serrated knife and serve either warm or at room temperature. It is best on the day it is baked.

Strudel dough
from “Kaffeehaus – Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague” by Rick Rodgers

1 1/3 cups (200 g) unbleached flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons (105 ml) water, plus more if needed
2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil, plus additional for coating the dough
1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar

1. Combine the flour and salt in a stand-mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix the water, oil and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the water/oil mixture to the flour with the mixer on low speed. You will get a soft dough. Make sure it is not too dry, add a little more water if necessary.
Take the dough out of the mixer. Change to the dough hook. Put the dough ball back in the mixer. Let the dough knead on medium until you get a soft dough ball with a somewhat rough surface.

2. Take the dough out of the mixer and continue kneading by hand on an unfloured work surface. Knead for about 2 minutes. Pick up the dough and throw it down hard onto your working surface occasionally.
Shape the dough into a ball and transfer it to a plate. Oil the top of the dough ball lightly. Cover the ball tightly with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 30-90 minutes (longer is better).

3. It would be best if you have a work area that you can walk around on all sides like a 36 inch (90 cm) round table or a work surface of 23 x 38 inches (60 x 100 cm). Cover your working area with table cloth, dust it with flour and rub it into the fabric. Put your dough ball in the middle and roll it out as much as you can.
Pick the dough up by holding it by an edge. This way the weight of the dough and gravity can help stretching it as it hangs. Using the back of your hands to gently stretch and pull the dough. You can use your forearms to support it.

4. The dough will become too large to hold. Put it on your work surface. Leave the thicker edge of the dough to hang over the edge of the table. Place your hands underneath the dough and stretch and pull the dough thinner using the backs of your hands. Stretch and pull the dough until it's about 2 feet (60 cm) wide and 3 feet (90 cm) long, it will be tissue-thin by this time. Cut away the thick dough around the edges with scissors. The dough is now ready to be filled.

Daring Bakers: Skipped One For the Year

Regrettably,

I can't join the daring bakers this month!! *sob-sob*

There's some problem with the oven, and logistics.. ahh...

and now the ingredients are still resting in the fridge. And to think I even had infused the cream with lavender and rose!!

Ish, ish, ish...

Geram!

The Lasagna Challenge, A Spicy Makeover!!

my God I didn't know the date was changed to the 27th. opps. but then again, posting at the 30th is still LATE for the initial reveal date! Arghh!! blame the poor management skills and uni work! huhu.

anyway,

The March 2009 challenge is hosted by Mary of Beans and Caviar, Melinda of Melbourne Larder and Enza of Io Da Grande. They have chosen Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna from The Splendid Table by Lynne Rossetto Kasper as the challenge.

Okay,

this is my first time ever making a pasta from scratch! It was almost a disaster *again!*

I was chopping through the spinach very finely (and very very slowly) when my mom enters the kitchen.

"why don't you just use the chopper if you want it to be THAT fine"

ahaha, I don't know what i'd do without her! make it so much easier than slicing and chopping bit by bit. So into the chopper machine it goes. A few buzz later and tadaa!! nicely fine chopped spinach ready to be inserted to the dough.

As I have learned from the previous challenge, I just put the whole flour into a bowl instead of a flat surface to avoid messy goey masses on the floor (danish bread challenge), make a hole in it and pour two great eggs.

Flour well with eggs

next is a mountain of spinach! weeee~ ever so healthy!

mix it up till it form a ball... OMG, just look at the lumpy-ness! haha!

and knead!!

err, wait, why is it all sticky?? urgh!!

maybe it'll be smooth (as stated in the recipe) after the kneading.

with a sticky-monster-green-hand ten minutes later (hence the absence of pictures depicting the sticky pasta ball from goey hell) i thought of adding more flour to the dough.

I have been making bread for a long time and dough is not really my enemy. thus when I make bread, or anything to do with dough, I'll follow my instinct and feel for the texture. But I was trying to follow the recipe to the dot since it is my first ever pasta making (and people say you have to follow every single thing within the recipe) I hesitated to add any flour. It was like committing a sin every time I add another tablespoon of flour (yes, ppl I added by tablespoons, hahaha) I kneaded patiently and the dough keeps on sticking.

there's this Malay saying; "sikit-sikit, lama-lama jadi bukit"

literally means little by little, it (the amount) will pile up.

after adding ONE whole cup of flour by tablespoons, I say, to hell with it! I'll just add acorfing to my taste and feel!!! I ended up adding a one and a quarter cup extra flour to the dough before finally giving it a rest(read; giving up) for about one hour.

and since I've modified the recipe, i was in the mood for another chaotic mess with the ragu. there were saute' onions and garlic, throw in the minced meat, cumin, oregano, more herbs and spices poured (in malaysia, this is called rempah campak, literally you throw in a number of random spices in unmeasured quantities) into the pan and finally some tomatoes plus a bit of tomato puree. Simmer for some time and it's done! I know, not exactly a ragu for a lasagna but I was exhausted with the dough :P

the bechamel sauce was modified too. I boiled three potatoes, mash it up and stir into the bechamel sauce to thicken it up and give it some texture. Yumm~

If only the Italians knew, what blasphemy!!

hey it's all the dough's fault!! It triggered some neurotic change

anyway, back at the pasta dough,
looking at the videos provided in youtube, the pasta was perfectly rolled on without sticking together. how i wish I could get a hold of a long rolling pin too!! knowing mine was rather unconventional, I laid a huge piece of plastic sheet on the table, pour some more flour (actually it was a LOT more) on the sheet, my hands, and the rolling pin before proceeding with the rolling :D

cut the dough to quarters and rolled away till what I presume was paper thin cause I can't see through the pasta no matter how thin it was. The only thing I could see was GREEN all over the table! then i cut it into loooong pieces before drying it off. Owh btw, there were some that stuck to the plastic sheets (imagine that!!) and end up with holes here and there! hahaha!! something like what Lisa had!

the rest was a synch! boiled some pasta, arrange the layers and pop into the oven.

err wait... my mom walk into the kitchen again

"so, is the lasagna ok?"

"nope, the ragu's not red enough!"

"here, put some of this squid sambal in"

"but, it's spicy!"

"yea, the spicer, the better!!"

and I plonk in a GENEROUS amount of sambal into the lasagna in between the sea of cheese. In case you people don't know what sambal is, it's actually a mixture of herb, spices and lots and lots of chilies! And this time around, the sambal was extremely spicy! Hah!! A spicy lasagna! But it was gone in an instant! My mom loved it to bits. she ate like two plates right after it came out of the oven. Hehe~ the whole family liked it too.

The Final Product ~ abit burned (on the top) since I went upstairs and forgot about it for a good 30 mins, hey, I was TIRED okay!

Thank you, thank you, thank you Mary, Melinda and Enza for hosting this challenge! I'd never try making pasta from scratch before. Now I know I can do it!! Next time I'd make ravioli too :)

check out what others did here

Daring Baker's February: For the love of Chocolate!!

Okayh, first of all, I apologize deeply for the lack of blogging here and not participating in the last two Daring Baker's challenge. After a glitch in the first one (French yule log) during the posting, I thought I could just wait another day to post it. Unfortunately, I never could get back to it (or even continuing blogging) due to some catastrophic events. It wasn't sudden. I could almost sense what I was getting myself into. And it wasn't continuously bothering me, but at the end of the day, I was so mentally drained, I could not bare looking at my blog or others'. For the last one and a half month, I'd open the internet, check through the emails and that's it. (sometimes I'd wander through some of Martha's site tho) But I digress. Hello? I thought this is suppose to be a Daring Baker's post? hahaha.

Our challenge for February is a flourless (and almost sugarless) moist chocolate cake.
The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.


So, anyway!

wow, a Chef Wan recipe. I have always admired what he could do. Baking and cooking while throwing out mouthful of jokes and cooking tips at the audience. I had tried some of his recipe and it worked. And that's why when I say there will be no sugar in the recipe, I remained calm... ...okay, so I panicked a bit. the recipe was so simple with only three ingredients!! there were no sugar or flour in sight!! Usually, I'd pop cake/biscuits/tart in the oven and then walk away to do other things. But this time around, I was there in front of the oven, looking intently through the heat for it to rise and see if, at any moment, it's going to burst apart or crack open one hell of a mess! Hahaha. I can be so paranoid sometime. the cake was very good. My mom loves it (as it was not sweet at all) since I used bittersweet chocolate. And eating it with ice-cream was d~i~v~i~n~e!! Argh, Thank you Wendy and Dharm for this months challenge. Recipes for both cake and ice cream can be found at their site.


let's start with the ingredients. there were only three; Butter, Chocolate and Eggs

Melted butter and chocolate (I used Hershey's Bittersweet)

Egg white Meringue

Egg Yolks

Essentially, you mix everything together to get this mess, haha

Didn't want it to deflate too much, so I just leave it be at this stage.

For this recipe, it stated that a real chocolate Valentino is made either in a heart shape pan or a round cake cut into a heart. I was feeling a bit crafty (ouh-oh) at the time and bought these origami-heart-thingy for baking.


tada! but the drawback is, every single instruction was in Japanese!! I'm learning Japanese but to translate word by word using a dictionary would take me AGES!! So what did I do?? I just slap on the border onto the base with water. FREAKING WATER!! I don't know what I was thinking.


here's the 'mould' after I glued it with water. keep in mind that the paper were something like parchment paper (like hell the water would hold it!!) So after careful consideration (my brain seems to began functioning back at the time) I only poured half of the recipe into these mould while the other half was poured into a round tin. Just to be safe. :P



while it was in the oven, the cake rose beautifully! I could almost not believe the mould was working!! and then when I decided it was done (don't want to over bake it) took it out, and these is what I get.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!! the mould have lost it's shape in the proces and it now a freaking blob! aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!! I'm never trusting that damned paper again!!! (but there's still like 30 of them in the drawer!) aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-hahahaha!!



the round tin had better result, but it deflated after a while. Then it was devoured before I could say anything. It was that good! hehe.

Hot, off the oven, nice eh?

It deflated!! but it's still moist as ever!!

After a 3 minute of yelling and cursing, I sat down at the cake (the crooked one). took a blade and began carving out a heart by using the minimal-ist cut. the heart shape paper mould was about 3'' so imagine how small it would be if i just cut it normally. It would be TINY!! luckily, I was able to cut it without losing too much. hehe :)

Chocolate Valentino with Berry Ice Cream

Check out other daring baker's here. I can't wait for next month's misadventure! haha!!

Just A Slight Delay

An announcement

To the Daring Bakers, do come back tomorrow for the post. I'm making the second batch of the challenge today and it'll be ready tomorrow. Wish me luck!!

Toodles~~

hehe...

Daring Bakers's Sweestest Challenge

Daring Bakers did it again!! this time it came back on track from savory (not that I mind savory through) to the awesome sweetness dessert. Sometimes crazily so. In particular this baby I we made this time around. The amount of sugar in this cake could easily gain me a few pounds if I eat the whole cake! Maybe it's because we haven't made such sweet dessert the last couple of months. Anyway, the hostess Dolores from Culinary Curiosity , and Alex of Blondie and Brownie plus Jenny of Foray into Food chose Shuna Fish's Caramel Cake as taken from the Eggbeater. (Hope I got that right)

Well, I have to say this is one challenge where I made it more than once in one month. And I still didn't get it right! (arrgh.. the horror~) let's start with the caramel first as it was the first element that I made (more like ruin). Ever heard of the saying "too many cooks will spoil the soup" ?? or something to that effect. Usually in the kitchen whenever I' baking, there's always some helpers around to clean em up (ain't I lucky?? heheh) Or when my hands are sore from making too much biscuits, there's always someone who'd vollunteer to mix the next batch of bicuits. But when I was making the caramel;

me: ma, tengok nie gule hangus die cam itam gle jeh?
ma, look at the caramel. is it too dark?
mum: laaa.. apesal lame sangat dalam periuk. memang la jadik camtuh
laaa... why did you left it too long in the pan?
me: abes nak buat balik ke?
then should I redo it?
mum: buat la balik
yup
there goes a cup of sugar (through I save it to cemomerate my first failure, ahaha)

while I was making the next batch of caramel

KJ: meh sini aku tengok gule tuh. (took the wooden spoon and start to stir)
come, let me see the caramel
me: eh, resepi die kate jangan kacau!!
eh, the resepi said NOT to stir!!
KJ: lambat sangat, biasekan kite kacau aje..
it's too slow, and we usually just stir it anyway
me: ye la.. tapi nie kan resepi laen (by that time all the sugar have dissolve! gasp!!)
yea, but this is a different resepi
KJ: banyak sangat pulak air die
why's there is so much water?
me: duh.. dah resepi die camtuh.. sebab tuh arahan die laen?
duh... that's according to the resepi, that's why we should follow the instructions.
KJ: biar je. lame2 kunng la die
just let it be. It'll caramelise later
me: *grumbles* Ok

after 15 minutes

me: sume da jadik gule ketol-ketol. aiyooo!!
all the sugar have become lumps!! my mum came,

mum: meh la sini aku buat. korang nie tak reti pulak buat gule hangus.
let me do it. how come you people can't do it properly.
me: then I'll just proceed with the other stuff (i.e; mixing, sifting flour, and creaming the butter)

safe to say, 20 minutes later, we lost our patience and proceed with another batch of caramel, this time, I followed the instructions properly and made a batch of golden caramel.

let it boil by itself. NO STIRRING!!

Right before it turns into caramel

Tadaa!!

then it was time to mix in the caramel.as soon as the caramel touches the creamed butter, the butter melts and then the caramel hardens and become lumpy! arrrghh, sh*&%^%@!#!! I forgot to wait for the caramel to cool down first. Daymed..

And to top it off, this was supposed to be a birthday cake for one of my friend. And another friend was supposed to pick me up in three hours!! Luckily, I still had that one jar of dark caramel I made earlier. I worked with the recipe right down to the frosting. And as many other's had put their frosting on top of the cake, I was thinking of putting it between the cake too. So I cut it into two layers and spread some of the buttercream. But, hey, one pound of confecctioners sugar? that's waaayy too much sugar. Good thing I tasted the cream before proceeding with the frosting. So I imediately scrape of the idea to top the cake with more buttercream. that's just maddness I tell ya.

The naked cake, very dark colour from the caramel

However, this is supposed to be a bithday cake and there's no decorations?So with some impromtu chocolate coating (more like chocolate slab) and some fancy iced writing; behold a birthday cake. not my finest cake, but hey, after a disastrous day in the kitchen, I had to have a break. Good thing it received an okayh from the tasters. Someone said it tasted like pumpkin! hehe.. maybe it was the darkish caramel? who knows.



by the way, I didn't get to take the pictures of the finished product as there were many people at the time and I don't want them to think I'm crazy; taking pictures of a cake at differenrt angles using a pda phone... hahaha..

p/s: the cake plate was home made too (layers of cardbord covered with foil paper). maybe next time I'll do a homemade box too!! ahahahaha...

UPDATE: I noticed that other people seem to have either a very dense cake of a fluffy one. My first cake was very dense as expected ( because we Malaysians also have a version of caramel cake which has a very dense, sponge like texture.) Seeing as others have done such wonderful fluffly ones, I decided to give it a try *erk!!* and this is what I came up with:

A dense layer in the bottom, and a fluffy one on top of it.

Guess I'll have to try again! but not in the near future *sigh*

Daring Baker's Tossing Blunder :)

Hey ya'all

I had a class the whole day to day and missed the revealing time, through it's still Wednesday! so technically speaking I'm not LATE!!! hahaha

so this time around, we're asked to bake PIZZA!! and not just a plain old pizza mind you. We were asked by the lovely Rosa to toss the pizza. Yup, you heard it right. We're supposed to toss the pizza and let someone (ideally) take a picture of it. I'm really excited with the recipe as it differs somewhat with the one I use for a pizza base. Plus, tossing seems like a fun challenge to do!



through the downside is, nobody was around to take the picture. and I don't think so I could toss the pizza high enough to give me time and take the picture myself (that would be crazy!! haha) and the crazy thing is, I actually TRIED doing it. (first I make it into 4 pieces. Then I worked the dough till it was slightly bigger than a dinner plate. And then, as I hold my breath,

the dough was flying up in the air.

Flour covered hand grabbing the camera phone.

Camera phone rolling over the table.

The dough falling flat on the table.

good thing it was cleaned specially for the occasion. That was the only time I tried taking a picture while tossing. I know, I know... it's stupid, but I just had to try it. hahaha..



so anyway, here's the picture of a finished product. As you can see, there's a lot of topping on one pizza alone. too much, I think. Well, my family like it this way. we been changing the topping ever since the first pizza was made. through one thing they have in common is the quantitiy and types of topping are always excessive in nature.


Don't forget to check out the other people here.

Till then, bye~ (I'm hoping we get to do something with mousse next month, hehe)