No Knead English muffin イングリィシュマフィン

We were offered a digital baking cookbook from Washington Post by email to use during the covid-19 stay-at-home period. (We subscribe to the digital version of WP having given up on the paper version many years ago). One of the recipes in the cookbook was for no knead English muffin, and it piqued our interest. I used to make English muffins and even have metal rings in which to bake them. But the dough was so sticky just getting a portion of it into the rings was a struggle.  My wife, started baking English muffin bread so I stopped making English muffins.  Even so, getting the dough into the loaf pans requires a pair of scissors and some finesse. This recipe, however, sounded interesting and also looked easier to make despite taking a long time for the dough to rise. The picture below shows the final product toasted and buttered after my wife carefully separated the muffin into two halves using a fork.

Digression alert: according to my wife this fork method, which she learned eating many English muffins as a child, is "de rigueur" for cutting them into halves. It's done by inserting the tines of a fork from the edge of the muffin toward the center multiple times around the entire perimeter. Once this is done it easily pulls apart with just a gentle tug.  As you can see from the picture it works pretty well. The two halves remain intact and the nice nooks and crannies are preserved. The original recipe calls for pulling them apart by inserting your thumbs and pulling with your fingers...needless to say, my wife quickly vetoed that method after she saw the mangled mess that resulted from my attempt to implement it. 

Ingredients:
2 cups  bread flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1⁄4 teaspoons instant yeast
1 1⁄2 cups cold milk (any percentage)
1⁄4 cup honey
1 large egg white, cold

1 cup fine cornmeal, for dusting
2 tablespoons or more unsalted butter for cooking

Directions:
Mix together the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients, mix well with a spatula until smooth but sticky dough forms (#1). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for 4-5 hours in warm place. Dust a rimmed cookie sheet with the corn meal and drop on scoops of the dough using a large spoon (#2). Dust the surface of the dough with additional cornmeal and cover with a plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 12 hours (we did this over night). The dough spread out so each dollop was almost touching each other (#3). Heat up a large cast iron skillet on medium low flame and when it is hot, add the butter (#4). Using a spatula, put the dough portions into the skillet (#5) and cook 6-7 minutes turning the dough 180 degrees half-way through cooking to get an even browning (our first batch was a bit over browned). Flip the muffins over and cook the other side (#6). My wife inserted a bamboo skewer from the side to the center to make sure the muffin was cooked. We put the cooked muffin in the wire rack to cool.

These muffins were our combined effort. The next morning, we cooked up the muffins and they were great. Although it takes time to prepare the dough, it is much easier to make than what I went through before. The addition of the whole wheat flour made it much better than just making it with white flour. The whole wheat flavor really came through with a mild nuttiness. Also, the butter became richly browned and added another wonderful taste dimension. We will make these again for sure. We can improve these in two ways; 1. reducing the salt in half (above we reduce to 2 tsp)--it tasted too salty to us and 2. Use lower heat to cook the muffin. The heat was too high and especially the first batch- came out too brown. Making the English muffin reminded us of naan we made which was also very good. Maybe we should make that again.

Buttermilk muffin with biga ビガで作ったバターミルクマフィン

My wife's baking. This is a variation of buttermilk muffin she made previously. During the Covid-19 induced yeast shortage, she made this with biga/starter to mostly to conserve the amount of yeast we had. Although the taste and texture are very similar to the original, this one appears to have a much more pronounced slightly tangy buttermilk flavor.

Ingredients:
Biga
1 3/4 cup flour
2 cups buttermilk
1/8 tsp yeast

Dough
Biga
1 tbs. sugar
2 tsp. salt
3 tbs. butter
2 1/4 cups flour or more as needed to make smooth dough
additional 1/8 tsp yeast (optional)

Directions:
In the evening mix together the ingredients for the biga, wrap the bowl in towels and leave overnight.

Next day mix the biga and other ingredients to make the dough. Rise in a bowl until doubled in size. Punch down. Measure 2 1/4 pieces of dough and form into a bun. Place buns in heavily buttered pyrex baking dish. Let rise again until buns are touching and about doubled in size. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 18 to 20 minutes or until golden and sound hollow when tapped. Remove immediately from pan to cool.

These buns were fantastic. Again the lovely biga dough resulted in a richly flavored muffin. We'll definitely be making this again.

The picture below shows a combination of baked goods we had for breakfast one day. We freeze the bread and muffins we bake. Then in the morning we just briefly microwave a selection of what we have available in the freezer in a silicon container. Left upper is buttermilk muffin made with biga, right upper is sweet potato bread with ricotta sweet potato filling and the lower is mint cake. This mint cake was made with only mint and no spinach as was used in the original recipe since spinach adds nice color but not much taste.

Of course, no monrning is complete without our cappcino (or more like latte).

This type of assorted bread/muffin is getting to be our regular breakfast on weekends.

Japanese sweet potato muffin Version3 サツマイモ マフィン バージョン３

This is the third iteration of Japanese "Satsuma-imo" sweet potato roll/muffin. In dealing with various food shortages during the covid-19 crisis we took an inventory of the foods we had in the freezer. My wife discovered a package of prepared satsuma-imo which she had prepared in the fall but forgotten about. She immediately decided to make sweet potato muffins. She basically used the recipe for the first version of sweet potato muffin and did not rise the dough over night in the refrigerator as she did in version 2 . The good news is that we finally have regular yeast again (from Amazon, Fleischmann's instant yeast* 1 lb) so she did not use biga to make this. She used the usual amount of active yeast.

* Digression alert:
This is the largest amount of yeast we ever bought but this was the only package available. We usually buy a 4 oz jar of Fleischmann's active yeast. We are bit confused about  the differences between "active", "instant" and "rapid-rise" or "rapid-acting" yeast. This is a somewhat confusing subject but this web site appears to provide the most clear explanation. The following is what we understand from reading this article.  The only difference between "active" and "instant" yeasts is the size of the granules. The granules in "active" yeast are larger than in "instant" yeast and require "proofing" or "activating" before being mixed into the rest of the ingredients.  Because the granules in "instant" yeast are finer it can be mixed into dry ingredients without proofing. In addition, instant yeast unlike active yeast can be frozen--which we will have to do since this is such a large quantity. "Rapid-acting" and "Rapid-rising" yeasts are brand-specific names. These yeasts include additional ingredients that make rising faster and these yeasts are not suited for long fermentation such as overnight rising in the refrigerator or making over night pre-ferments.

This 3rd iteration of sweet potato muffin, is basically the same as the first version. The major difference is the mixture used for the stuffing. My wife didn't have enough sweet potato to just use that in the stuffing as she did in the original version so she used a mixture of ricotta cheese and sweet potato instead. As you can see, as it cooked steam made a space over the stuffing but the muffin tasted really good. We like this stuffing better.

She brushed the top with melted butter before placing into the oven.

Ingredients:
for the bread
1 cup of processed sweet potato (1/2 cup for the bread and about 1/2 cup to use as filling in the bread)
4 1/2 teaspoons (two 1/4-ounce packets) active dry yeast
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup warm water (110 to 115 degrees)
3 large eggs
3 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
3 to 3 1/2 cups flour, plus more for the work surface
Oil, for greasing the proofing bowl.
an additional 1 tsp butter to brush on the muffins before baking

for the stuffing
1/2 cup processed sweet potato
1/2 cup ricotta cheese

Directions:
Process the sweet potato by cooking several Japanese sweet potatoes either in the Weber grill or microwave. Let cool, peel and thoroughly mash in a food mill so it is smooth. (Since we made this batch of sweet potatoes in the Weber one weekend to have with barbecued chicken it had butter and soy sauce previously added).

Combine the yeast with 1 tablespoon of the sugar and the warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer; proof for 5 minutes.  Add the eggs and beat on low speed, then add the remaining sugar, the butter and salt. Beat on low speed for about 2 minutes (no need to scrape down the bowl), then add the sweet potato and beat for about 1 minute. Add 1 cup of the flour at a time, beating to form a slightly stiff dough that has pulled away from the sides of the bowl; add flour as needed to form dough. Knead on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes. 

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface; knead for 2 to 3 minutes. When it is smooth and springy, shape it into a ball. Use oil to lightly grease the inside of a large bowl, then place the dough in it, turning it to coat evenly. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap; let the dough rest for about 1 hour or until it has doubled in size. The dough will be ready when you can push 2 fingers into it and the indentations remain.

Meanwhile mix the remaining processed sweet potato and ricotta cheese in another bowl and set aside. (shown in picture below).

Punch down the dough. Cut into pieces weighing about 2 oz. each (about 56 g). Flatten the dough and put a small scoop of the sweet potato ricotta mixture in the middle. Pinch the dough around the sweet potato ball and form into a muffin. Place in a greased baking dish. Cover with plastic wrap; let the muffins rise for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until doubled in size. Just before baking brush with 1 tbs of melted butter. Cook in a preheated oven of 375 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes until golden.

These sweet potato muffins are definitely one of our favorites. They are very nice when stuffed with just excess processed sweet potato but these stuffed with sweet potato and ricotta cheese are even better. The ricotta cheese picks up the flavor of the potato and seems to accentuate it. It has a mild sweetness. In addition the filling is very smooth and creamy. This goes very well with the tenderness of the bread's texture.

Three "otoshi" appetizers お通し３種

There is nothing really new in this line up. These are the three starters we had one evening.

The left and below are Fried salmon in sweet vinegar 鮭の南蛮漬け.  I added salt-broth soaked snap peas スナップ豌豆の塩びたし.

Digression alert: because of social distancing during the covid-19 crisis I have not been able to go to the Japanese grocery store and I was running short of rice vinegar. I bought what I thought was rice vinegar at the regular grocery store but it turned out to be basil and oregano flavored rice vinegar (?!!) I used it in this dish anyway and it actually added a very nice flavor dimension that was an interesting twist on the traditional. We actually liked it. I may have to stock in basil flavored rice vinegar...heaven forbid.

In the dish below I used brazed crunchy cauliflower モンパルナスのカリフラワー炒め, blanched broccoli with sesame sauce ブロッコリの胡麻よごし, and Japanese style omelet with "aonori" 青海苔入りだし巻き.

This dish is braised cabbage, onion, and strips of agura-age or deep dried tofu pouch seasoned with soy sauce and mirin, I posted similar ones with daikon green.

All simple Izakaya affairs but perfect opening of the evening with cold sake.

Hybrid Katsu-don "fried pork" bowl 煮カツ丼ソースカツ丼ハイブリッド

When we get pork tenderloins, we most often make, at least a main portion of it, to "ton-katsu" トンカツ or "hire-katsu" ヒレカツ. We then make "Katsudon" カツ丼 from the leftover tonkatsu. I have made some variations of it depending on what ingredients are available but there are two main variations. The most common one is onion and tonkatsu simmered in soy sauce-based broth then topped with a lightly beaten egg (most people like the egg to be semi cooked) and then placed on the top of cooked white rice. The other is sometimes called "so-su katsudon" ソースカツ丼 . In this variation "tonkatsu sauce" or some other Japanese-Western style sauce such a mixture of catsup and Worcester  sauce is used. The tonkatsu is either simmered or dipped in the sauce or is topped with it. I made a hybrid of the traditional and the so-su katsudon then topped it off with a poached egg made from pasteurized eggs. This was a lunch. I served it with salted cucumber and daikon or "asazuke" 浅漬け.

Since I did not have any shiitake mushrooms which I usually use for this dish I used frozen "maitake" 舞茸 or hen of the woods. I also had blanched broccolini florets so I added that mostly for color.

Ingredients: (for two servings).
Cooked rice (freshly cooked is the best but microwaved frozen rice will do).
2 hire-katsu or pork tenderloin cutlets (if you fry them just before assembling the dish, that will be the best but that never happens in our household).
1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
Some mushrooms, I often use fresh shiitake but this time I used frozen maitake, amount arbitrary.
1/4 cup Japanese broth (made of kelp and dried bonito flakes)
1 - 2 tsp concentrated "mentsuyu" めんつゆ noodle sauce or mirin and soy sauce
2 pasteurized eggs
Some greenery such as snow peas, I added blanched broccolini (optional)

Directions:
1. In a small frying pan, I added olive oil and sautéed the onion and maitake (still frozen) until slightly soft (optional step, you can skip this and go to #2)
2. Add the broth and mentsuyu, when it starts boiling, turn the heat down and simmer with a cover on for 5-minutes or until the onion and mushroom are cooked and the sauce is slightly reduced.
3. Meanwhile, Put the rice in two bowls and microwave to warm it up.
3. Since this is leftover tonkatsu, I reheated it in our toaster oven using the toasting function, which is almost like re-frying. The crispy crust comes back. Cut into bite-size strips.
4. Start making poached eggs 4-5 minutes before everything comes together. The yolks should still be very runny.
5. Using a perforated spoon, place the cooked onion and mushroom on the rice (only small amount of sauce remains in the pan. I reserve this in a small serving bowl just in case my wife needs more sauce)
6. Place the sliced and reheated tonkatsu, broccolini and poached egg on the top.
7. I topped everything off with some tonkatsu sauce.

We like this hybrid katsudon. Since I poached the eggs, it is much easier to consistently get a runny yolk and cooked egg white compared to the traditional method of topping with lightly beaten eggs which often results in overcooked yolk and undercooked white. Because I do not cook the tonkatsu in the liquid, the crust remains crispy.

Meat pizzas 肉入りピザ

I occasionally make pizza but most of the time our pizzas do not have any meat as a topping. We are not intentionally trying to make vegetarian pizza, they just seem to come out that way. This time, I made two meat pizzas because we had leftover meat balls and pork chops cooked in BBQ sauce. Also, because of the Covid-19 related yeast shortage, my wife made a starter (biga/poolish) for me so I could make pizza dough. In addition to saving our yeast, this method results in a very flavorful and nicely chewy crust.

The picture below shows the meat ball pizza. I made the meat balls from the trimmings of pork tenderloin. After a week, I heated up the meat balls in some tomato sauce which I make from skinned Campari tomato. This reheating serves to make the meatballs last a little longer. But the time had come. We needed to use them up or we would be making an offering to the garbage-disposer god. This is a pizza similar to Margherita with the addition of the meat balls. After the pizza came out of the oven, I garnished it with a chiffonade of fresh basil leaves and grated parmesan cheese.

The picture below shows the pizza before baking. I brushed the dough with garlic oil (olive oil with crushed garlic). I then covered the dough with thin slices of fresh Mozzarella cheese, spread the tomato sauce on the cheese, placed on the sliced meat balls and basil leaves. I baked the pizza in a 480F oven on a preheated baking stone for 6 minutes.

The second pizza, shown below, is topped with shredded pork chops cooked in BBQ sauce my wife made several days ago. The cheeses are a mixture of Mozzarella, Double Gloucester and Monterey Jack.

The pizza is shown below before going into the oven.

This was evening so we had red wine with the pizza. We ate one quarter of each pizza and wrapped up the the rest to enjoy at other times. These leftover pizza heated up well in the toaster oven making a perfect snack in the evening with red wine. Because of the meat, the top was kind of heavy but it is quite satisfying and the crust was unbeatable.

Prune and coffee muffin プルーンとコーヒーマフィン

This is my wife's binge baking again as she is making her way through the quick bread muffin section of the  "Pastries from La Brea Bakery" during the Covid-19 induced yeast shortage. It has rum-soaked prunes and ground coffee which give really nice flavor. As you can see in the picture below the muffin has a nice oversized top.

Shown below is what happened to the "runt" muffin my wife always makes specifically for me, so I will leave the others alone when I can't resist a taste. This one had barely stopped steaming before I busted into it. See the inside with lots of rum-soaked prunes.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup rum (original recipe calls for brandy)
20 soft prunes chopped up
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
4 tbs. finely ground coffee* (might recommend an extra tbs would further add to the coffee flavor in       the final muffin)
2 sticks (8 0z.) butting cut into cubes and frozen
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tbs. vanilla extract

*This happened to be home roasted coffee beans to FullCity plus for our espresso.

Directions:
Put the prunes and rum in a measuring cup and heat gently in the microwave until just warm. Cover and leave them to soak overnight. Drain the prunes and cut into pieces. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a blade combine the flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and coffee. Pulse to incorporate the mixture. Slowly add the frozen butter pulsing until the mixture has the consistency of fine meal. Put the flour mixture in a bowl and add the prunes so they are coated with flour (this will help keep them from sinking to bottom of the resulting dough or clumping together) (#1). Mix the yogurt, eggs and vanilla. Add the yogurt mixture to the flour mixture (#2). Using a medium sized scoop put the dough into a heavily greased muffin tin (#3 & #4). Cook in a 350 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until they are firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. When they come out of the oven let them rest a few minutes (#5) then move them to a cooling rack (#6).

These are truly remarkable muffins. The coffee flavor comes through and is pleasantly surprising. As a result my wife said next time she might add a bit more coffee. The combination of rum, prunes and coffee is a perfect harmony. Even though the original recipe called for brandy we think the rum is excellent. (My wife said she doesn't know why she substituted the rum, maybe because the recipes usually call for rum when soaking dried fruit in liquor?) The texture is very moist. We will be making these again.