Bagels, Baguettes, and Jalapeno Loaf

Sometimes you wonder if you could make several different products from a single dough.   Especially you don't want six same baguettes.  Bagels, mini baguettes, and Jalapeño loaf are what I decided to make.  And this is one of such test.   

The same starter has been fed and used to make the leavens over and over for next starter to make these breads.  Poolish and bulk leavens are the keys to make the sourdough bread style bagels, mini baguettes, and jalapeno loaf.  

To begin, a week to a week and a half ahead start building the starter.  

50/50 flour and water and a pinch of dry yeast in a clean jar with a lid.   I followed Tartine's starter recipe.  Let it ferment away from the light.  Keep the normal starter exchange duty every day.   Mx, cover, and ferment.  Once the leaven passed the floating test, it is added to the leaven ingredients to make bulk leavens.  Check previous postings on the sourdough bread formulas.   Once it also passed the floating test, it is combined with the main ingredients listed to make Leavens in the previous posting for the sourdough bread formulas, then, as instructed, mixed with the poolish, and so forth.     http://rockdavinci.blogspot.com/2015/12/polly-sourdough-bread-adventure.html

When leavens and poolish are mixed in well with the ingredients listed in the fomula.  Cover and let rise.  Do four turns every 40 minutes.  If the dough feels more time to develop gluten, do more turns.  When doubled in size after the satisfied last turn, transfer to work surface. Divide dough equally.  (I use digital scale.) 

BAGUETTES:  Shape some into baguettes.  Make slits.  Let rise till 1-1/2 time its original size.  Bake at 500'F. With steam. Doneness:  When golden brown and sound hollowish.  

BAGELS:   Shape others into bagels.  Cover and let rise to double in size.  Bring a pot of water to boiling, add some salt.  Turn heat to simmer.  Lower the raised bagel dough into water.  Boil for 1 minute.  Remove onto a rack.  'tranfer to baking sheet line with Silpat or parchment paper.   Apply eggwash.  Apply poppyseeds or other favorite toppings.  Bake in 500'F oven on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. 

JALAPENO LOAF:  Chop up well drained jalapeños  and roll out the dough for loaf bread by hands.  Sprinkle the jalapeños evenly on the rolled out dough.  Fold in each end of the dough to the center.  Form into rounds.  Line a bake proof round breadpan or pot with parchment paper.   When it rose 1-1/2 time its original size.  Bake at 500'F with lid on. With steam.  Done when the internal temperature reads 210'F at least.   Open the lid to Brown the bread, if necessary.  Lower the temp at that point to 475'F.

            frothy starter                                             floating test

 

 

Bagel is simmered in hot water for a minute, transfer to a rack, egg wash is applied, poppy seeds are sprinkled, baked in pre-heated 500'F oven. 

Divide some dough out to make bagels.  Round the dough.  Cover and rest. 

Apply egg wash and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Fresh Mulberry Pie

Mulberry tree grew tall and filled with mulberries hanging off its branches at my friend's ranch farm.  On a windy day, my friend explained, that Mulberries would fall naturally to the ground.  They can be picked off from the ground and rinsed off.  Each mulberry came attached with stem. Pluck them off, and they are ready to be made into Mulberry pie the way you like it.

NUTRiBullet 900 series vs NUTRiBullet

This is my new vegefruit drink processor.  I couldn't pass the bargain during 2015 holiday sale at the COSTCO, and purchased it for $75.  It's NutriBullet 900 series. 

 

It came with much less cups with this series, but with powerful motor.   I encountered problem with NUTRiBullet last year.  The motor stopped turning.  I did everything I could - I thought - to revive it.  When I searched in the Internet for the How-To's, opening the case to clean out the possible build up of sipped out juices from the mixer cap housing counted me out from continuing.  I returned it.  But I really miss it.  The NUTRiBULLET came with several medium size processing cups that would have been perfect for a single batch.     I found out only after I returned it from my sister who I gifted her the same model that when she encountered the same issue - motor not turning, she dripped some hot water on the lock notch in the motor casing area.  That loosen the guey build up of the smoothies/drinks that occassionally sipped out of the rotor casing that you attached to the blender cup.   Because the direction of the rotor cap that goes onto the blender cup to lock position  is the same direction that you would turn to "PUSH and TWIST" to lock start the motor, when you try to stop the motor, it requires twist to the right that is the same direction to OPEN the rotor cap off the blender cup.  Hmmmm..... Therefore, there is the answer.  Magic Bullet company needs to change the direction of the PUSH and HOLD or PUSH and TWIST Lock to start the motor.  Otherwise, change the threading of the Cups so we open and close in the reverse direction.  This should keep the accidental loosening of the rotor cap during motor stop. 

So, I miss the smaller cup size in NUTRiBULLET 900 series that were included with NUTRiBULLET. They need to include better instruction in the package on how to remove the sticky build up in the motor housing area if it should occur.... include a mini-brush, sponge.... something like that.   I would have still kept the NUTRiBULLET and still bought the 900 series, likely.

Spring Rain in My Garden

This year's abundant spring rain brought many plants alive unexpectedly.  A few days of nice warm temperatures helped many plants to sprout and blossom in my garden.

This is YUZU tree.  (Hope it will survive the hot summer sun up here.)

 Wow!.  There are tons of maple seedlings growing.  It's supposed to be a tropical fruits seedlings in this planter.  Not sure what that large leaf plant is.  I should have labeled or recorded what tropical fruits I planted.  It will be a mystery... and of course, if it survive the hot summer up here.  Likely I need to built a tiny hot house over it during summer to help it.

 This is really a surprise.  I bought this Japanese maple tree at one of the Buddhist temple's bazaar last spring.  It was just a twig.  It was actually kind of half dead.  But look.  Thanks to the rain.  It's a beautiful red feather maple. 

 Took some maple seedlings out.

 Very interesting.  I know I planted some kind of tropical fruits' seeds... about three different types.  Not sure what they are.

 Transferred the red feather maple to my pretty pot.  Replanted Pineapple plant also.

Will find out this summer how all these will be doing.  Live or Let Die...

Looking Back - How Funny... My YouTube Postings

How funny this morning that I went back to review the YouTube postings I did a few years back.  What's funny is that since then I have learned quite a bit from my own experiences baking those same items and my methods have changed.  I was laughing to myself - "Really?" "That's a lot of work."   I only look at them as my passage of learning... but certainly as I have posted them to be viewed by the public I have the obligation to remove/replace a few of them.  Not that they are invalid any longer but I have a better easier method(s) - especially when it comes to folding of meringue into the main mixture to make Chiffon Cakes.   I do recall, however, when I was learning to make the Chiffon cake, folding of meringue was a big deal to me.  I've tried folding with balloon whisk, by hands the old fashion way, or spatula; occasionally, the tidbits of meringue were missed and show up as white puff in the cake.  But now, it's a whip.  It's not a good video recording as I did not do audio recording in most of them; but here is the link to take a peak and chuckle.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=umechankicks\ 

Polly's Fudgy Brownies

Not sure what happened to this posting while I was enhancing - supposed to to my blog's template format.  This Fudgy Brownie's blog's text comes with highlighted background that I could not get rid of.  So, I am trying it again.
I think this is my very first post for Brownies - Fudgy style.
I came across this recipe while trying to nurse my foot back to normal after the bunion surgery.
Let me warn you - if you have a bad deformed foot/toe(s) caused by bunion - pray that your recovery would be smooth.  Take good care of your feet so you can cook and bake without pain.

Fudgy Brownies
Mix everything by hand with spatula and or spoon
Bainmarie - in a heat proof bowl Melt 6 oz - 1/2 semi bitter Chocolate chips and 1/2 Milk chocolate chips  over a simmering pot of water and add 1 stick of Butter.  Stir to melt with chocolate and butter.  Remove from the pot. Dry the exterior of the bowl.
Slowly mix in 1-1/2 c sugar into chocolate mixture.   The mixture will become grainy.

 Add egg one at a time - 3 eggs;  Stir well at each addition.  The mixture will look smoother.

DRY ingredients:  SHIFT together -
1/4 c cocoa powder.  (Dutch  processed cocoa gives darker color and "Hershey's Natural" gives reddish color.)
 Pinch of Salt
1/2 c + 1 Tbsp Flour
Add to chocolate mixture

Preheat oven to 350'F
Methods:
Line 8x8 baking with buttered parchment or aluminum.  If aluminum, shift cornstarch in to coat the buttered surface.
Bake in 350'F 30 to 35 min or until the tester comes out a bit with dry solid, but not wet.
Use hot blade knife to slice and wipe blade in between each cut.

 Nice Shiny Crust!  Soft fudgy center.

Tasty Ideas - Brownie ice-cream sandwich:
 If you didn't finish it all, slice them into halves crosswise.
Slice out frozen ice-cream into same shape.  Sandwich it between the brownies.
Wrap them up with foil to freeze or eat it just like that.
Enjoy a frozen brownie ice-cream sandwich.

Polly's Pillows and Homemade Chili

Nothing beats the homemade Chili with this Puffy fried Pillows.  It becomes the primary and chili is its accompaniment.  

Drizzle honey all over and scoop in some chili and just enjoy every bite.  

 

Ingredients are sooo simple! - Flour, some EVOO, salt to taste, and Water!   Mix. Cover and rest the dough for 10 min.  Divide the dough into fair size.  

On a floured surface - Roll the dough out nice and smooth and evenly. 

TIP:  Roll out the dough piece nice and smooth and evenly and "Bobbing" the dough during frying is the key to help it Puff Up!

No yeast, no baking powder.   Just simple ingredients of flour, oil, and water to mix.

Just watch it puff up in hot frying oil when you bobble it.

Even the ones that's half puffed are just as welcomed by family members.  It's one of our family favorites.

Michael's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Michael's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies 

1 stick Butter - 4 oz very soft

1/2 C sugar

1/2 C Brown sugar

1 egg room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 C  flour or  plus 1/4 C flour 

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 C chocolate chip cookies

Method:  preheat oven to 350'F

Cream sugar with butter with spatula;  add egg and vanilla; blend in quickly with hand blender - barely 30 seconds. 

Shift all dry ingredients .. Add flour in slowly -  the dough is pasty when pressed together - not dry dough.  

Bake at 350'F - 8 to 10-1/2 min

Edge should be browned. 

Tip(s):

Dropping the dough on light color Silpat, 2 in apart.  Without cookie sheet, place the Silpat with cookie doughs on it directly on the baking rack sitting at bottom 2nd.  When using darker colored Silpat, the browning of bottom of the cookies are faster.

What is so good about this batch is the nice shiny crispy top layer.  Chewy center, nice browned bottom.

Myer Lemon-Glazed Catfish - BlueApron dish

This is our photo journal of one of BlueApron dish package we cooked.  

I couldn't eat the catfish but my family enjoyed it. 

Tripple Pork Mazemen - BlueApron Dish

Another evening of delicious dish from BlueApron that Mio made.