Hi blog! I’m back… I’ve missed you so much, and I am so glad I finally have time to share the most amazing coconut cupcakes with the world. I’m happy to report that my sister’s wedding was the past weekend and was a complete success! 5 weeks of planning, 40 bridesmaid dresses tried on, and one hilarious Rabbi later, my sister is now a Mrs. And I have time to bake again!

I love coconut! I know it’s not for everyone, but it’s for me. While I usually look down upon cupcakes, I find a towering coconut cake with mile high frosting and multiple layers a little daunting to eat. I feel really guilty cutting a slice… even a sliver is huge when the cake is stacked to the ceiling! So I busted out the cupcake pan.

These turned out awesome. The same day I made these, we had to taste cakes for my sister’s wedding and we all decided we liked the coconut cupcakes better than the professional options! 

Here she is chowing down. I know what you’re thinking… most brides to be are not eating tons of carbs and sugar, but sister is in her second trimester so she get to eat all she wants! The wedding was this past weekend and the night before I was so proud to call her my sister. Instead of fretting about fitting into her gown at her rehearsal dinner she polished off 2 plates of pate, french onion soup, a steak and 2 desserts including a family favorite… berry pie. It’s glorious. 

Moral of the story… both of us would prefer berry pie or coconut cupcakes over wedding cake.

Recipe

Coconut Cupcakes (my Own)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup oil

3/4 cups sugar, plus 1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 extract almond extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 coconut milk

3/4 cup shredded coconut

4 egg whites

1/2 cup coconut shreds, toasted.

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350° F and line a muffin tin with paper liners. (I used a jumbo muffin size)
• in a large bowl combine oil, 3/4 cup sugar, and extracts. Beat with a mixer until it the sugar and oil come together.
• Add half of the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Mix until the batter barely starts to come together.
• Next add the coconut milk and incorporate
• Finish with the last of the flour, set aside.
• In a separate bowl (and with clean beaters) beat the egg whites on medium speed. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar slowing creating shinny white peaks. Do not over beat the egg whites!
• carefully fold the egg whites into the the batter one starting with one third of the eggs, and eventually folding the rest in. Add the coconut as well. You will have a very light fluffy batter if you do this right. 
• Using a large ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the lined muffin tins. fill each cup to be only about 2/3 – 3/4 of the way full.
  
• Place the cupcakes in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out clean. Also it is a good idea to rotate the cupcakes about half way through to ensure even baking.
• Remove cupcakes from oven. While cupcakes are cooling make frosting.

Seven Minute Frosting (Martha Stewart)

Ingredients

3/4 cups sugar

1 tablespoons light corn syrup

3 large egg whites

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

It has been a crazy 2 weeks since my last post. I really don’t even know where to start. Maybe with the speeding ticket I got today. Or yesterday when I left my work laptop at home and had to drive 30 minutes back to my house to get it and then back to work… in the rain. What an amazing hour and a half!

Last week I worked at least 55 hours. I also found out the earlier Saturday my sister is getting married in less than a month and she desperately needs my mother and I to help with all the planning since she lives in Northern California and the wedding will be in Orange County. I created a wedding website. I compiled her whole guest list. I got her to a dress shop and found a dress on the first try! I think I’m in line for sainthood for the miracles that happened this past week!!!

Also, my boyfriend of 2 1/2 years and i are on a break as of 2 weeks ago…

And last but not least, I started a GMAT class (just because I wasn’t busy enough)! a 3 hour class + 20 hours of homework a week is kind of a full time job. What have I gotten myself into? This is going to be a fantastic 9 weeks! Please forgive me if I fall off the blogging radar.

At least I have carbs. They make life worth living, and thank heavens I still have time to eat them. Maybe I should stop… after all I have a bridesmaids dress to fit into in 3 weeks. But I made a fantastic sourdough recently. I ate more of it than I should of, but it’s awesome!! I have been swearing my the Tartine country loaf for the last year + and decided it was time to branch out.

I downloaded a Peter Rienhardt book on my iPad. It’s pretty interesting, mostly because he has more than 1 type of starter, or barm. That pretty much blew my mind. He swears by a firm starter for his sourdough, and now I do too. Not only, did this produce a more sour flavor than the tartine loaf, it is easier to work with because there is less water in the dough. The one thing that does bother me is the lack of consistency in the units of measure, so please forgive me if it annoys you as well.

I love how this bread turns out. It has an amazing flavor! a must try for any bread lover.

Ingredients

Firm Starter:

2 cups (9 ounces) bread flour

2 cups (16 ounces) sourdough starter

Dough

12.5 ounces firm starter (half of the batch)

3 cups (13.5 ounces) bread flour

1/2 tablespoon salt

3/4 teaspoon malt or sugar

1 cup water

Directions

If you do not have a starter, I talk all about mine over here. It is from the Tartine bread book and is very easy to start and maintain. Mine is a little over a year old!

• To make the firm starter, mix the starter you keep with the flour. add a little water if necessary to make it one cohesive mass.
• let rise for several hours, or overnight in a cool environment (I prefer over night to get a more sour flavor).
• To make the loaf, measure out the amount of firm starter, and mix with the water, flour, sugar and salt. I have been doing this my hand, but I think a kitchen aid with a dough hook should be used. Because the starter has such little moisture it is a bit harder to blend into the other ingredients. I love mixing doughs by hand (and my kitchen aid is kept in a very high cabinet so I only get it down when making marshmallows) but this could be an exception. I ended up turning it out onto my counter and kneading it a few times to get everything to come together.

• Next, lightly oil the vessel your dough will rise in, place the dough in there and cover with plastic wrap.
• Let rise at room temperature for several hours until it has doubled in size. 
• At this point you can either take it out and knead the dough, or you can just give it several turns within the bowl or tub it is rising in.
• Let it rise for an hour or two more. Once the dough has risen again, turn it out onto a floured work surface. Let the dough rest for about 30 minutes (this step helps the gluten develop and relax… don’t skip this!)
• Press the dough down with your fingertips, to create almost a rectangle. Then fold the dough up like a burrito – fold down the top 1/3 of the bread, followed by the sides and then fold the bottom remaining portion up over the other folds.
• Flip the dough seam side down and gently cup well floured hands underneath the dough.
• Start pulling the dough towards you slowly but firmly to create a tight skin on the outside.
• transfer the dough into a proofing basket that is generously dusted with rice flour. Cover with a dish towel and let rise for an hour.
• preheat the oven to 500° F with a dutch oven inside (including the lid) for at least 30 minutes.
• Take the dutch over out of the oven, and carefully flip the loaf into the pan. Cut a slit or two across the top of the loaf and cover the dutch oven with the lid and place it back inside the oven.
• Turn the oven down to 450° F and bake the loaf covered for 30 minutes.
• Remove the lid and continue baking for approximately 25 minutes. Take the loaf out of the oven and let cool completely before cutting. 

Heading to yeastspotting now!

Have you ever craved the smell of something? I know this might sound extremely weird, but sometimes I just want to smell a certain thing. usually its the smell of a sweet yeast dough cooking. Something about the smell makes me feel loved and comforted. everyone knows this smell. It’s what draws people to the cinnabun and pretzel stands at malls. It’s what makes waking up on Sunday mornings as a kid memorable. It’s one of the few things I remember my mom making when I was a kid.

The past week I’ve struggled with work and life and all of these adult things that now fill my life. I went and saw a movie only to cry for a solid 2 hours (note to all – The Descendants is not what I expected out of a film with Mr. Clooney existing in Hawaii). I knew only one thing could shake the mood I was in, baking.

I felt better as soon as I started to smell the yeast blooming in the milk. Any remaining tension disappeared while kneading the dough. How could the problems of my life really be so bad if I still have everything I need to bake?

I didn’t really know where I was going when I made the dough. Maybe a cake? Maybe sweet rolls? Maybe something different. As the dough proofed I investigated the pantry and made the best discovery: sour cherry jam! from there I just went with what ever came to mind, and I have to say…. the end product surprised and impressed me.

It might have been a restless 5:30 this morning when my cherry creation went into the oven, but it was worth it. There’s no better smell coming out of a kitchen in the morning than one of these, and the sunrise wasn’t too shabby either.  I guess my problems can’t be that bad…

Recipe all my own

Pastry Dough:

1 Cup milk

1 Package instant yeast

1/2 Cup sugar

3 Cups flour

1/2 cup almond meal

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick butter, melted

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

Cherry Filling

1 8.5oz container of sour cherry jam

1 cup frozen cherries

1/4 cup flour

juice of 1 lemon

Topping

1 egg

1 tablespoon cream

1/2 cup blanched slivered almonds

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon honey, or as needed

Directions

• Warm milk to about 100 degrees, add a pinch of a sugar and the package of yeast. Let bloom
• In a large bowl mix flour, almond meal, sugar and salt
• Once the yeast is activated add the milk mixture  and the melted butter to the dry ingredients. mix to combine
• transfer the dough out onto a floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth
• place the dough in a greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in size, about 1 hour
• while the dough is rising make the filling. Place the jam and frozen cherries in a bowl and microwave until the jam is loose. add the lemon juice and the flour mix and set aside.
• get out your largest kitchen towel and cover generously with flour.
• place the risen dough on the towel and begin rolling until the dough is about the size of the cloth.
• spread the filling out over the entire surface of the dough
• gently roll the dough up into a log
• to shape the dough make the log into a U-shape and the twist
• place the dough on a lined sheet pan cover with plastic wrap and let rise for at least an hour, preferably over night. It will double to triple in size
• When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 400° and mix the egg and cream together. Brush the egg mixture over the entire dough.
• sprinkle the almonds over the pastry and place small cubes of the butter throughout the topping.
• last, drizzle about a tablespoon of honey over the almonds
• place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes rotating half way through, if the dough looks dry, drizzle more honey over the danish
• let cool before slicing

Check out other awesome pastries over at Yeastspotting!

And now it’s January. How did that happen? Time is starting to go by way too quickly.  The new year reminds me of what I have not done in my life yet. It frustrates me. I’m starting to feel old. It’s 2012! That means that I’m going to be 25 this year. Remember on newlyweds when Jessica Simpson had a break down because she was turning 23 and that’s half way to 25, which is half way to 30. I’m starting to feel like that. Except I’m going to be 25! And I haven’t made my millions and bought a mansion in the hollywood hills with a ruggedly handsome man yet. What was she freaking out about?

Regardless of feeling old and not where I thought I would be by now, I know one thing… I make a mean cookie. I found a recipe that worked for me about 5 years ago and I adjust it depending on what I have on hand or what I feel like.This time I decided to make rocky road cookies…  And then I decided that I wanted a more brownies like chocolate cookie that has a shiny exterior instead of a cocoa based chocolate cookie that my standard recipe would produce. I kept looking for recipes and they all had white chocolate chips instead of marshmallows and I was really disappointed. I wanted the gooey marshmallows in mine!  In the back of my head I knew there was a reason for not baking marshmallows… they dissolve into a puddle of sugary goop in the oven. I know this. But still… I wanted them in there and maybe if my cookies weren’t in the oven too long they would survive. And if they don’t I’ll use some white chocolate too so at least they have the white chunks to visually look like rocky road.

I ended up finding a recipe for “outrageous chocolate cookies” by Martha Stewart and just changed what I added into the cookies to make them rocky road.  The marshmallows melted as expected. But these still tasted delicious! And the marshmallow that spilled out while baking caramelized and became crunchy and a sliver lining to the melting. Totally on my make again list.

Recipe (adapted from Martha Stewart)

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup mini marshmallows

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring between each, until almost melted; do not overheat. Let cool
3.  In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Add beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla into the melted chocolate.
5.  Mix in flour mixture until just combined.
6. Stir in white chocolate, marshmallows and nuts.
7. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. 
8. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes. 

Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely… or eat them hot and burn your mouth like me!

P.S I’m going to be a better blogger starting now! Football season is over and I can no longer use my excuse of being in Hawaii for the holidays as an excuse. Get ready to see a lot more of me!

check these out on http://sweet-as-sugar-cookies.blogspot.com/

This time of year is always an interesting time in my family .Not because we hate each other or any of the typical reasons most families claim the holidays are crazy, but because  my family doesn’t really have holiday traditions. I grew up with my mom’s family celebrating Christmas and dad’s family celebrating Hanukkah. It took my mom 10 year of marriage and begging to finally get a “Hanukkah Bush” in the house.  I was seven. It was life changing. Not only did I end up totally confused being raised with both holidays, my dad happened to be born on December 25th.

If you have the pleasure of knowing my dad you know that the world revolves around him. Not because he is full of himself, it’s because he just kicks major butt.  This makes for an interesting dynamic when someone who is so used to everything being the way he wants having to celebrate his birthday on a commercially exploited holiday that he does not observe. He takes it in stride.  The big Christmas tree went up at the outdoor mall near us. My dad took a photo to send to me with the caption “It’s beginning to feel a lot like my birthday”.

I would love to say that we have amazing traditions, but we don’t. Some years we’re home, some years we are at my parents house in Hawaii. Some years theres a Hanukkah bush, some years theres no home cooked meal, and last year… well it was Palm Beach where my sister was living at the time. The last few years all 5 of us haven’t even been together. The one constant to this season for me is baking.

Since we lack holiday traditions, I try to make every singly traditional thing I see on the covers of magazines, websites, or Martha Stewart. I thought I’d start December off with a really wintery treat. Stollen. I’d never made one until now. I also forgot to look for all the ingredients before starting… turns out my family eats lots of dried fruit and I didn’t have what was called for on hand and improvised.Instead of those listed below in the recipe I used dried tart cherries, figs and currants.

I have to say… This was easy and very delicious. It made the whole house smell great. The yeasty dough baking woke my mom up. It’s that good. It better than waking up to the smell of bacon. I will make this again, and take some to the German Grandma and hopefully get her stamp of approval!

Recipe (From the LA Times)

1/2 cup seedless raisins

1/2 cup dried currants

1 cup diced mixed candied citrus peel ( 1/4 -inch dice)

1/2 cup candied cranberries

1/2 cup brandy (or water if you don’t cook with alcohol)

4 to 5 cups flour, divided

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar, divided

1/2 cup milk

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, at room temperature

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 package (7 ounces) marzipan

Melted butter

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

• combine the raisins, currants, candied peel and candied cranberries. Pour the brandy over the fruit and let stand 1 hour. Drain, reserving the brandy. Pat the fruit dry with paper towels
•  In a small bowl, sprinkle the yeast over one-fourth cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees) and stir until dissolved. Stir in 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Let stand until the yeast begins to bubble, about 5 minutes.
• over medium heat, heat the milk, salt, butter and remaining sugar to warm (110 to 115 degrees).
• In a large bowl mix flour with the milk mixture, vanilla extract and eggs to the yeast mixture and beat in a mixer or by hand with a fork or wooden spoon until combined Beat in the reserved brandy.
•  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Flatten the dough out, then knead in the candied fruit, adding flour to the board as needed
•  Shape the dough into a ball and put the dough into a buttered glass bowl. Turn the dough buttered side up and loosely cover. Let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.
•  Punch down the dough and divide into two equal parts. Place one half aside. Roll the other half into a 12-by-8-inch oval. Brush with melted butter.
• Cut the marzipan into quarters and roll each quarter into a 12-inch rope. Put two of the ropes alongside each other along the length of the dough, leaving a 1 1/2 – to 2-inch border between the two ropes in the center of the rolled-out dough. Fold the long side of the dough over to the center of the oval. Fold over the other long side so that it overlaps the center by about 1 inch, pressing down gently but firmly. Lightly taper the ends of the loaf. Put the finished loaf on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Brush with melted butter. Repeat with the reserved dough.
• Let the two loaves rise until each has doubled in size. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake about 30 to 40 minutes until dark golden brown. Dust loaves with powdered sugar.

At least my mom didn’t have to suffer too much through a football filled night. She had a whole batch of fresh made penuche fudge to keep her company. And marshmallows. And Gingersnaps.

You might be asking yourself what is penuche? The best was I can answer this is with another question… have you ever had a butterscotch square from See’s Candy? That center is basically penuche. A rich, brown sugary, smooth but somewhat crumbly soft candy. Growing up my mom would go to See’s and make us wait in a long line so she could get a custom box… one pound of butterscotch squares. So every once in a blue moon I make penuche for her. It’s very simple to make. Almost too easy. And the best part is i get to sue my favorite new toy… a laser thermometer! Basically its a little wand that has a laser reader on the bottom, you press a button the laser measures the surface temperature of the candy and you don’t have to clean it! Who knows how many thermometers I’ve broken… I’ve dropped them, cooked sugar onto them, put them in the dish washer… you name it… I’ve broken one doing it. Or just got so damn frustrated cleaning the thing I threw it out.

I love this new laser thing… I get super excited over dorky things like this. I have looked for a reason to use it for months and finally it was cool enough of in SoCal to make some candy. If you’re a novice candy maker this is a great recipe to start with. All the ingredients are easy to find, the technique is very easy and it’s something that most people aren’t familiar with, so it’s fun to introduce it to people.

I use a Martha Stewart recipe, because it’s somewhat hard to find a recipe of this confection. And its a good recipe, I leave out the nuts though (since See’s doesn’t have nuts in their butterscotch squares)

Penuche 

Ingredients

Vegetable oil cooking spray

1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk

1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar

5 ounces (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Coat a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with plastic wrap leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.

Bring evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly.

Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 236 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 25 minutes.

Transfer to a mixer bowl, and beat in confectioners’ sugar on low speed. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. 

Increase speed to medium, and beat until mixture is thickened and smooth, 2 to 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla.

Spread mixture in pan, smoothing top. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 25 minutes.

Unmold fudge using plastic overhang, and discard plastic. Cut into pieces.

Sorry for the lack of pictures. It went pretty quickly, and I never got a picture after I cut the candy. Now that football season is over I will be a more diligent blogger. Or just make another batch… and maybe coat them in chocolate this time. Yum

Since I felt so bad about not making anything for a while I decided to try something I’ve seen all over the food universe, Povitica. It has every element of baking I love all combined into a beautiful swirled package. Yeast, check. Eastern European, check. Some crazy technique I’ve never tried before, check. What is there not to love? I even forgot the part about chocolate! This really might be one of the better things I’ve ever made. It’s similar to a babka, but the dough is flakier. My oh so poetic father called it a giant rugelach. Regardless of what you compare it… It’s delicious! And I promise it is worth following each step of the directions very carefully.

This most important part of making this is the rolling of the dough. The recipe does not make a large quantity of dough, but it rolls out to be incredibly large! This is all due to rolling the dough out on a kitchen towel. I had my doubts about this… I was about to start flouring my counter to use as a work surface at first, but then I kept reading the directions. You want to roll the dough out so thin that you can see the pattern of the towel underneath. When you think the dough can’t get thinner, roll it out more. I’ve never rolled a yeast dough out that thin, so I wanted to try it. I got my towel out, floured it, placed the ball of dough down and went to work.

This was AMAZING. The dough was paper-thin by the time I finished. The recipe wasn’t anything out of the normal, so I knew it wasn’t the ingredients that let the dough get so thin. It’s the towel underneath! It seems like the towel helps the dough stay in place as it gets thinner. It really is remarkable to watch what is happening as you roll each time. I made a batch of croissant dough the next day using a towel as a work surface and it worked brilliantly there too.This bread went very quickly. I made a second loaf (that is what the pictures are of) on Saturday as it was pouring rain outside. It turned out well, but the rain affected the dough a bit and it was not as flakey as the first.Also I think the proofing time between the shaping and baking is very important. If your dough is to dense, it will not cook through all the way and be doughy in the center (like my pictured second loaf).

Povitica (recipe from passionateaboutbaking)

Ingredients

To Make the Dough:

• In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling (about 180°F/82°C), stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Place the half vanilla bean in the milk.  Allow to cool slightly, until it is about 110°F/43°C.
• one it is cool enough to handle take the vanilla bean out and scrap the seeds on the inside out with a small sharp knife.
• In a large bowl, mix the scalded milk,vanilla, sugar, and the salt until combined.
• Add the beaten eggs, yeast mixture, melted butter, and 2 cups of flour.

• Blend thoroughly and slowly add extra flour, mixing well until the dough starts to clean the bowl
• Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.
• Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size. I usually put mine in the oven so there is no draft.

To Make the Filling

• In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar and cocoa. {I whizzed the walnuts, cocoa, and sugar in the food processor}

• Heat the milk and butter to boiling, add the vanilla bean, and scrape into the hot liquids like for the dough.
• Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture.
• Add the egg yolk and mix thoroughly.
• Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough.
• If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk {This is important}

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:

• Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered.
• Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour
• Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling-pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly 10-12 inches in diameter
• Spoon 1 to 1.5 teaspoons of melted butter on top.
• Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.
• As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
• When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath. I mean seriously… in relation to my large rolling pin you can see how huge this rolls out to be! and it’s only 2 cups of flour!!
• Spoon filling evenly over dough until covered.
• Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll
• Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced
• Brush the top of the loaf with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with granulated sugar. 
• Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 15 minutes.
• Heat oven to moderate 400°F.
• Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.
• Turn down the oven temperature to slow 325°C and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done. {Check the bread at 30 minutes to ensure that the bread is not getting too brown. You may cover the loaves with a sheet of aluminum foil if you need to.}
• Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.
• Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes, still in the bread pan. Remember, the bread is heavy about 2.5 and it needs to be able to hold its own weight, which is difficult when still warm and fresh out of the oven. Allowing it to cool in the pan helps the loaf to hold its shape.
• It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife.

Off to Yeastspotting it goes!

I haven’t made a proper layer cake in years. I used to make layer cakes with heaps of butter cream all the time when I first got serious about baking. But after a while the allure of cakes faded for me, and I looked to expand my repertoire. I thought long and hard about what to make for my grandma’s birthday. As I’ve mentioned before, she didn’t grow up on overly sweet frosted spongy cakes so I tried to be careful in selecting what I would make for her. I decided on white cake filled with lemon curd and iced with a lemon frosting for my return to the layer cake. I thought this would be the perfect not too overly sweet cake.

The best part is the cake came together pretty quickly. Start to finish with time for cooking, cooling, making butter cream, lemon curd and assembling, I was done in under 4 hours. I thought this was pretty impressive. After years of just going along with recipes I’ve finally proven to myself that 10 or 15 minutes of forethought and planning cuts much more time off of the back-end of the process.

Here are a few of my tips for layer cake success:

• Making the filling and frosting before baking the cake is probably one of the best things someone making a layer cake can do.
• Go to your grocery store bakery department, and ask really nicely for a cake box, and maybe possibly a cake board without seeming greedy. Batting eyelashes and being overly appreciative seem to go a long way at my store.
• give yourself enough time for the cakes to cool – frosting does not stick to a warm cake.

There’s a sandwich shop by my work that has dutch crunch bread and people rave about it. I’m not really a sandwich person, but my love of bread lead me to do some research. I found picture after picture of this gorgeous crusty bread and I was determined to make some rolls. When reading several recipes there were a few things I liked 1) the reasonable amount of dough the recipe made 2) that from start to finish it only takes 2 hours and 3) that it used a technique I’d never tried before - The crunch on this bread is actually produced by making a second dough, or “paste”, and placing it on top of the shaped rolls, letting it rise for about 15 minutes and baking. I’d seen similar techniques used in Latin American sweet breads and never tried it.

This bread is just flat out awesome. This is totally a recipe for yeastspotting. I made a batch the next day to go with soup! The inside is so fluffy, and the taste is yeasty, without being overwhelming. It was the perfect roll to go with the pulled pork I made. Below is the recipe for both the bread and the pork. It was a perfect meal, and eating it while watching USC destroy Notre Dame made it that much better…

Recipe From Baking Bites

Bread dough

1 package of instant yeast

1/4 cup warm water

1 cup milk

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 teaspoons vegetable oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2.5 – 3.5 cups all-purpose flour

Topping

1 tablespoon yeast

1/2 cup warm water

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon vegetable oil

3/4 cup rice flour

Directions

• milk water and milk together in a small bowl or measuring cup, add sugar and yeast, let sit until foamy.
• In a large bowl mix 2.5 cups of flour and the salt.
• Add the foamy yeast mixture and oil to the flour. mix together. Add more flour if the dough is very sticky.
• Turn the dough out out the counter and knead a few times until it smooth, then place in a lightly oiled bowl to proof covered with plastic wrap from an hour.
• Heat the oven to 375° F
• One the dough has doubled in size, turn out onto a floured surface and divide into 6 equal pieces.
• Shape each sixth into balls – start by flattening out the dough and then folding the top half down over itself, followed by the two sides in towards each outehr and finish like rolling a burrito.
• repeat with the remaining 5 pieces. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. lightly oil the roll and cover with plastic wrap so they do not form a skin. (the oil is only to prevent the plastic from sticking).
• Mix all of the ingredients for the topping together and let rise. The mixture will become puffy quickly. remember this is rice flour, so it will not look like a normal dough ( I was convinced I had not done something right at first)
• Once the mixture is puffy, uncover the rolls and start placing equal amounts of the topping on each roll. 
• Let the dough with the topping rise for an additional 15 minutes
• bake rolls in the 375° F oven for 25 – 30 minutes until the rolls are golden brown and crunchy.

I used the pork for sandwiches and added barbaque sauce and a vinegar based coleslaw. YUM! 

I don’t know what is responsible for my late awakening to autumnal flavors. Maybe I just grew up in a place that didn’t feel the effects of the seasons? Or is it just that there has been saturation in the market of seasonal flavors in recent years? I think Starbucks and the pumpkin spice and gingerbread lattes really made this autumnal flavor thing trendy, and I wasn’t missing out on these things throughout my childhood. Regardless of if this is true, I want to believe it so I don’t start thinking I was deprived of anything growing up.

I hear it’s fall. The only proof I have of this is that the sun is starting to set too early for my liking. There’s pumpkin patches on street corners and fresh apples in the store too. So I thought I’d try my hand at something pumpkin. I keep seeing pumpkin cinnamon rolls online. I felt because of my love for yeasted things, this should be what I attempt. But the recipes seemed a little… too alike.

I started browsing my kitchen for inspiration… and there it was, in the spice cabinet. Here is my take on the pumpkin cinnamon roll… taken to a new level with my friends the apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. I have to say, for not growing up cooking with pumpkin these are pretty damn good. My parents both went crazy for them this morning. And my dog is still holding a grudge that no one gave her any.