Creme Fraiche Rhubarb Pound Cake

The end of the school year is approaching and with it comes talk of summer plans,  classroom assessments, field trips, crazy hair day, school dances, the end of homework, and playing with rhubarb in the kitchen.  I have already created a rhubarb jam that is now my favorite topping for french toast, waffles, toast, ice cream and anything else I can think of.  So now I have been experimenting with rhubarb pound cake, playing with different flours and spices to balance the tart rhubarb.

This morning we had my most recent attempt for breakfast and at first both of my boys complained.  "It's not sweet enough.  Why is there no lemon in this.  You should have made the other one."  Once they were done complaining they both happily asked for seconds.  Personally this version is my favorite, the flavor is rich from creme fraiche and barley flour with juicy interruptions from chunks of rhubarb. The barley in the batter not only adds flavor but it also makes the crumb fine and light.  Plus, the lack of sweetness my boys complained about at first make this cake a perfect breakfast treat.

The crumb is so light the cake needs to cool completely in the pans before slicing or removing.  A fact I discovered when I tried to put one cake on a cooling rack, as you can see in the photo above.  Part of the lightness and fragility is from the barley flour, which contains very little any gluten and so does not have the structure of whole wheat flour.  With half barley flour you don't have to be so nervous about gluten formation when mixing, it would still be possible to toughen the cake with over mixing but it might take a little work. The barley also has a sweetness and rich flavor that pairs really well with the rhubarb.

Creme Fraiche Rhubarb Pound Cake

6 Tbsp butter, plus more for greasing the pan

1 cup barley flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour or white whole wheat

1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp ground cardamom

3/4 cup whole milk

1/2 cup creme fraiche

1 egg

2 cups chopped rhubarb

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Generously butter a 1.5 qt loaf pan.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan and set aside while you prep the other ingredients.  Mix the flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom in a large bowl and set aside.

Add the milk to a clear 2 cup measuring cup and add the creme fraiche until the total volume of the milk and creme fraiche is 1 1/4 cups (3/4 cups milk plus 1/2 cup creme fraiche is 1 1/4 cups).  Add the eggs to the measuring cup and whisk the liquid ingredients well (I place the whisk in the measuring cup and spin the handle between my hands).

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir a few times with the whisk before adding the butter and mixing until everything is fully incorporated.  Add the rhubarb and fold in well with a spatula, making sure to fold all the way down to the bottom of the bowl.

Pour the batter into the prepared pans and bake in the center of the oven until a cake tester or sharp knife when inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes in my oven.  Allow to cool completely in the pan before serving or taking out of the pan.

Bread Baking at August First

This past summer Burlington welcomed August First, a new bakery/cafe to the area. There was plenty of buzz about it amongst my food geek friends and my family quickly became addicted to their cinnamon rolls. Recently Lewis and I went there without short people as chaperones and enjoyed coffee, pastries and sandwiches. While there Lewis asked about their upcoming bread baking class, which at first sounded like nothing I needed. This was not a sour dough bread class, but just yeast bread. I am not afraid of yeast, regularly making challah and cracked wheat bread and confidently creating yeast doughs from my many cookbooks. However Phil Merrick, the head baker and owner of August First, told me this was not my grandmother's yeast bread. The flavor was more like a European sour dough and the technique was very different.

This is the condensed version of how he convinced me to take the class. If he had told me that at the end I could make a flatbread pizza crust that rivals American Flatbread's it would have been an easy sell. Plus for me there was the added benefit of a day of baking and me time before February vacation with two energetic crazy boys and no snow. Can I just say there has been a lot of complaining in Burlington this winter over our lack of snow. Who knew that in Northern Vermont we would need to move South to have snow. As everyone is saying, "If it is going to be cold there should at least be snow"

Since the class I have baked flatbread for dinner once and I will experiment a little and then generously share with you. Although I suspect I will not make any major changes to the ratios I have developed. However we ate it too fast to take a photo. So for now let me show you photos from the class. Cross your fingers that I survive these last 2 days of vacation and that Burlington votes as it should on Tuesday. This is Lewis' first election since becoming a citizen, so if the results are not what I am hoping for he can finally be culpable. Sebastian and Julian have come with me to vote since they were babies so they are looking forward to showing their dad the correct procedure.

This is my dough rising bucket, doesn't look like much here but by the end of the day it will be 2 baguettes and one loaf.

Here is the classes dough slowly rising.

This is a large batch of dough that Phil made before we came so we could practice folding and shaping it. It reminds me of Jabba the Hut as it lays there on the table, just a formless mass. At this stage it is more batter then dough.

Phil Folding the entire large batch of bread, my guess is he won't need to lift weights at the gym later.

Here is the dough after folding a few times. I cannot explain the science but I love how it changes consistency just from folding

Now that the dough has more mass to it each person is given a lump to learn with. What better way to divide it up then tossing?

Dough resting after a preliminary shaping

More folding and shaping

My flatbread crust, we only made 6 flatbreads for lunch for 12 people, so you had to be fast if you wanted to shape one. I was second on line. No wonder I could never make a crust I loved before, this crust is completely different, slacker and wetter. It is also really fun to work with.

My flatbread with toppings

Shaping Pan d'Epi or wheat stalk shaped bread

Baguettes Loaded to go in the oven. This oven is the same size as my kitchen, but a girl can still dream.

The classes finished loaves. My baguettes are 3rd and 4th from the left on the middle shelf. I cannot remember which regular loaf is mine and by now we have eaten the evidence.

Challah

I have been on a quest for a great homemade challah recipe for several years now. I hate paying $5 for a loaf of bread that I feel I should be able to make at home. It turns out that making challah is more challenging then I originally thought it would be. I have tried every recipe in my cookbooks (with my collection this was quite the endeavor) plus several I found online. Every recipe I tried made a lackluster loaf that only looked like challah.

I often wondered if my habit of using part whole wheat pastry or white whole wheat flour was the culprit, but never bothered testing any of the recipes with all white flour. I just couldn't bring myself to expend time and energy again on any of the recipes that were boring and dense instead of eggy, rich and light. Besides, part of the benefit of baking your own bread is the ability to use healthier ingredients.

I finally found a challah recipe we all love. It is rich and eggy, soft to the tooth and it makes beautiful french toast, both in taste and appearance. Plus the whole wheat pastry flour I used did not negatively affect the finished product. However this bread is not an easy just leave it to rise for a few hours while you do other things before shaping the loaves recipe. Let's just say this is a very finicky bread. With this recipe I now understand why the Jewish people baked unleavened bread when they were fleeing slavery in Egypt. Who would have time to baby sit bread when fleeing Pharaoh? However even with all the work this bread will be made often in my home.

The original recipe came from Peter Reinhart's Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers. I guess the title should have tipped me off to the work that would be involved. The only changes I have made to the recipe are to use half white whole wheat flour, I also added some water to the egg wash so the crust was less like shellac. The first time I made it everyone liked the center, but not the crust. Lastly I adjusted the baking technique to use my convection oven, this way I did not need to rotate the loaf to ensure even browning. When making this it is important to use the highest quality eggs you can, factory egg production produces eggs that will not add much to the bread.

Challah

Adapted from Peter Reinhart's Crust and Crumb

3 1/2 (16 oz) cups flour (the original calls for bread flour, I used half King Arthur All Purpose Flour and Half King Arthur White Whole Wheat)

1/4 cup (2 oz.) sugar

1 tsp (.25 oz.) kosher salt (Reinhart does not specify kosher salt, but this is a Jewish bread)

2 tsp (.22 oz.) yeast

2 Tbsp (1 oz.) butter softened or melted and cooled

2 large eggs (3.3 oz.) beaten

2 large egg yolks (1.33 oz) beaten

1/4 cup (2 oz.) milk at room temperature

1/2 cup water at room temperature

cooking spray

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water for egg wash

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on low for 1 minute using the flat beater blade. Beat for 10 more minutes on medium speed. Place dough in a bowl and mist with cooking spray, cover bowl with a lid or plastic wrap or place the bowl in a plastic bag. Leave to rise for 1 hour or until it has visibly swelled.

Remove from the bowl and knead by hand for 5 minutes. If the dough is so sticky it is sticking to your hands dust with flour and continue kneading. Return the kneaded dough to the bowl, mist with cooking spray and cover, allow to rise for another hour or until it visibly swells. After 1 hour divide the dough into 3 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Mist the balls with cooking spray and cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap to rest for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes roll each ball into a long snake that is about 12 to 18 inches long. Keep the pieces you are not working with covered. Braid the 3 pieces together starting in the middle. Pinch the ends to seal and then tuck them under. After braiding the first half turn the bread over and around so the braid will still go the same way. Do not pull the pieces overly tight when braiding as this prevents expansion while rising.

Place the bread on a parchment lined baking sheet and brush with the beaten egg and water. Mist with cooking spray and cover with the damp towel or saran wrap before allowing to rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size. I found the towel stuck to the dough so I put jars around the bread and draped the towel over them so the damp towel did not touch the rising bread.

Preheat the oven to 325° with convection or 375° if your oven does not have convection. Brush the bread with the last of the egg wash and sprinkle on any seeds your family may allow you to serve them (notice my bread does not have seeds). Bake in the preheated oven for 45 minutes, rotating the tray half way through the baking time if you are not using convection. When done it should be firm not squishy with an internal temperature of 185° (mine was more like 191° both times). Allow to cool on a rack for 45 minutes before slicing or eating.

French Toast

makes 3 slices, can be multiplied

3 slices of bread approximately 1/2 inch thick (Challah or Cracked Wheat Bread are excellent choices)

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

splash of vanilla extract (approximately 1/2 tsp)

butter

Melt butter in a wide skillet and heat until foaming, meanwhile beat egg, milk and vanilla in a wide flat bowl or baking dish. Place bread in the batter, flip over to soak the second side using a fork and then transfer to the pan as the slices absorb batter. Allow the french toast to cook until it is golden brown in spots and then flip over to cook the second side. Once the second side is golden brown serve with butter, real maple syrup and or jam.

Yogurt Rolls

The main problem with recipes that I have memorized is sometimes I forget to add an ingredient. Someday I can post a chart here about every ingredient except flour and milk in my pancakes and what happens when you leave them out. I have my everyday bread recipe memorized and I rarely refer to the recipes it is based on. After all their ingredients and technique are wrong. On Friday I needed to make bread as we were all out, however I also had to leave the house at 10 A.M. and I was not going to be back until dinner time. No problem, my husband would be home by 12:30, so with a quick tutorial on loaf shaping, Lewis agreed to form and bake the bread. (He was a little apprehensive). For some reason the bread took a lot of flour and time to get to the right consistency, so I had to slap a lid on the mixer bowl, write 375° 40 - 45 mins on a scrap of paper and run out the door.

When I got home for Dinner Lewis told me he had no problems with shaping and baking the bread. Although, when he got home it had popped the lid off the bowl. So Lewis shaped the dough, put them in pans and left the kitchen. He has been around when I have made bread so he knew that the loaves would need to rise a little before the oven needed to be preheated, or so he thought... Apparently he walked in the kitchen after 20 minutes and they were already completely risen. As he told me the story I quickly began to review my dough making that morning. I was specifically trying to recall if I added salt. Of all the ingredients in my bread, salt is the one I have often forgotten. It has never really been a problem before, as I have always caught it when the bread has begun rising at an alarming rate. Salt retards the yeast action, so if I forget it the dough rises really rapidly. One taste of the loaves and their flat taste proved it, I forgot the salt. Sigh.

So I figured we could still use the bread for cinnamon toast with a little salt added and toast with jam, but we need a replacement for sandwiches. So rather then make more bread I tried the yogurt rolls my friend found on Baking Bites and raved about. The rolls call for all white flour but I substituted whole wheat pastry flour for some of the white flour. I discovered recently that we no longer like all white baked goods, finding them insipid and flavorless. Recently I made a batch of Touch of Grace Biscuits that none of us liked. I sent them in to my husband's office where they were devoured with rave reviews, so it is not that I messed up the recipe.

The rolls are wonderful, soft and fluffy with a delicate wheat taste that is perfect every way I have tried them: with butter warm from the oven, with tahini sauce and a cold black bean burger, toasted with jam... I cannot wait to try them with hamburgers and I will use this dough next time I want to make hot dog buns.

Soft Yogurt Sandwich Rolls

adapted from baking Bites

1 1/2 - 2 cups whole what pastry flour

2 - 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 Tbsp active dry yeast

3 Tbsp honey

1 cup tepid water (105° - 115° F)

1 cup yogurt (I used Greek style yogurt, the original says lowfat or non fat is fine but I would stick with whole milk)

1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 1/2 tsp salt

In bowl of stand mixer combine 1/2 cup flour, yeast, honey and tepid water. Stir well and let stand for 10 minutes until bubbles form. (If you are sure that your yeast is still fresh you can skip this step).

With flat beater blade stir in yogurt, extra virgin olive oil, salt and 2 cups of the remaining flour. Gradually mix in remaining flour until you have a soft dough that pulls from the sides of the bowl. (This can be done in a bowl with wooden spoon or silicone spatula until this point and then turn out onto a floured counter and knead by hand until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes). Change to the dough hook and continue to knead until smooth and elastic. Cover bowl with lid and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375° F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn dough out of bowl onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate, pressing into a rectangle. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces with a board scraper or pizza cutter. (Or totally mess up on making equal pieces and pull out your scale to divide the vastly different piles into even ones). Shape each piece into a round ball by taking the dough and pinching together the sides, giving you a smooth top. Place them on the baking sheet.

Once all the rolls are shaped, press down firmly on each one to flatten. Cover with a clean damp dish towel and let rise for 25 minutes.

bake for about 20 minutes, until rolls are a deep golden brown on the top and bottom. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 10 rolls

Everyday Bread

To introduce myself I thought I would share my everyday bread recipe with you. I make this bread at least once a week. The recipe makes 2 loaves of bread and we have no trouble using both loaves before they go bad. When I bake this bread I use local whole wheat flour and often local cracked wheat. For white flour I use King Arthur All Purpose, while it is not grown here it is a local company. Local is my first level of concern when I go shopping, although for some items price elbows the local aside. For meat I don't stray.

Years ago we used to buy Cracked Wheat Bread made by a local bakery. Everyone in the family loved it, then the bakery went out of business. I tried many other breads, none of them satisfied us and I resented the money I was spending on them. Well after fiddling with other recipes I came up with this one. It makes great toast, wonderful french toast and if I time it to be ready for dinner we can eat a whole loaf fresh out of the oven. When I have nubbly ends left it also makes great bread crumbs.

There is one problem with this bread, my children often snub bread at other people's houses. Ahh well, if I want to raise food snobs, I appear to be well on my way.

A note on ingredients, I use carob molasses when I have it. We go to Truro, Massachusetts in the summer and when I am there I make a pilgrimage to the Atlantic Spice Company. They carry the carob molasses. Last year I bought 4 jars, I might run out before the summer. If I don't have carob molasses I just use regular molasses, or honey, or grade b maple syrup. Most of the time I use cracked wheat, however I have made this bread with 7 grain cereal, oatmeal, leftover rice, and later this week I will probably use the polenta leftover from tonight. Other cereals need a different quantity of water, I believe oatmeal is 2/3 of a cup of water to 1/3 cups of oatmeal, same for 7 grain. Basically use the standard ratio for the grain in question. I do think the cracked wheat is the tastiest though. I have even made this with plain milk when I was out of buttermilk. We still ate it all.

Everyday Cracked Wheat Bread

1/2 cup cracked wheat (plus an optional 1/4 cup)

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1/4 cup warm water 110 - 120 degrees

2 packages active dry yeast (1 package is 2 1/4 tsp)

1/2 cup buttermilk

2 tsp salt (I use kosher)

1/4 cup white sugar

2 Tbsp carob molasses (or use molasses or honey or real maple syrup)

2 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

Cook 1/2 cup cracked wheat in 1 1/2 cups water over low heat until the water is mostly absorbed. Remove from the flame and stir in remaining 1/4 cup of cracked wheat if desired (the last 1/4 gives the bread a little crunchy chewiness which is really nice, although it makes slightly inferior toast this way), add the butter in 4 slices to melt. Place the 1/4 cup warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer with the yeast and stir to blend.

After the butter is melted add the buttermilk to the cracked wheat and butter and stir so everything is warm. Add cracked wheat, butter, buttermilk, salt, sugar and molasses to bowl of mixer and mix well with the beater blade. Add all of the whole wheat flour and mix well. Switch to the dough hook and add the white flour until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl and is not sticky to the touch. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic.

Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with the bowl lid or a damp cloth. Allow to rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size. Punch down the dough and butter two 8.5 x 4.5 x 2.5 inch loaf pans well. Form 2 loaves and place in pans. Cover the pans with a damp towel and allow to rise until the dough is just cresting the top of the pans, approximately 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool on a rack before devouring.