Tuesday, October 02, 2012

My Grandson's iFLY Birthday Cake 2012























 All the lift for this chiffon cake depends soley with the well beaten meringue.

 
The real challenge is to assemble all this in the back of my Prius at 90'F outside temp and take it into Fudruckers where the party was going on.  It got done, though.
It was a difficult decision as to how to elevate the fondant figurines to give that floating effect.  Maybe the white frosting or the blue frosting would be better?  naaa,,,,  it worked.
 Seven cones to represent seven candles.

 I really had fun making it. 






Monday, October 01, 2012

My Greek PSOMI Bread

I finally ordered the Culinaria - Greece.   Not only does it contain wealth of information about Greece, it's culture and people, it contains wonderful recipes.    PSOMI is a Greek bread recipe that got my attention.   I added Fresh Black Cherries and homemade Almond Paste, Kalamata olives, and walnuts.   The bread turned out wonderfully tasty.    The original recipe is intended for the plain bread, but I have so much wonderful ingredients in the pantry, and I got tempted to add them.   They turned out great.







 Two different portions.
Kalamata Olives, Almond Paste, and Walnuts.
Fresh Black Cherries, Almond Paste.
 Let it rise side by side in a large loaf pan with another loaf pan as a cover.
 The secret!! when you bake the bread this way, you don't need to Spray the oven with water bottle to create the STEAM!.   It's taken care of by the cover on the top!

 When the bread is taken out.  The top crust is very hard. 
 Let it sit for about 15 minutes.   The steam from inside the bread soften the outer crust to a nice formed crust as the bread cools.







My Croissants - Any way you look at it, c'est si bon!

Croissants have become one of my favorite pastries to make.   After several different testings, butter and flour block turns out the best layers.   Tip:  Be sure to add enough water/liquid to form a supple dough.






Your dough, when mixed with correct amount of liquid would allow you to stretch the rolled out dough twice its length before rolling to form into shape.







 Raisin Filled