Cookie Butter Swirls クッキーバターバンズ

Since we got Brod and Taylor’s folding proofer for bread, we are on their mailing list which includes new products and recipes. One of these had a recipe for a lemon and poppy seed buns. The appearance of the buns was very similar to the Swedish cardamon buns that my wife baked sometime ago. So, I drew my wife’s attention to this recipe. She was not crazy about the lemon poppy seed filling. She immediately thought of using the left-over “cookie butter” she made. (First she had excess chocolate covered cookies to use up. Now she had excess chocolate covered cookie butter to use up.) So instead of using the lemon poppy seed filling called for in the recipe, she decided to use the excess cookie butter she had as the filling. She then used the same technique of forming the buns that she used for the Swedish cardamon buns. The result was this elegant looking and good tasting sweet buns/swirls.

Ingredients (makes 12 buns):
Dough
120g (½ cup) Milk (my wife used 1/4 cups evaporated milk, since she had it, and 1/4 cup regular milk)
120g (½ cup) Yogurt, plain unsweetened
2 Eggs (one whole egg + an egg yolk for the dough and the egg white for an egg wash on the final buns.)
45g (3 tbsp + 2 tsp) Sugar
6g (2 tsp) Instant yeast
85g (6 tbsp) Butter, softened
420g (3 ½ cup) All-purpose flour
5g (1 tsp) Fine salt

Filling
370 g Cookie butter (This used up all the available cookie butter)

Glaze
The egg white from the separated egg above.
Sugar

Directions:
Set up the proofer
Set the proofer to 78°F (25°C) and put the water tray in the middle of the warming plate. Pour ¼ cup (60 ml) of water into the tray and place the rack on top of the tray.

Mix the dough:
Using a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of the mixer. In a separate bowl, mix the milk, yogurt, and egg, until well combined. Add the wet mixture to the dry. Add the butter. Mix on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes until no dry remains and the butter in incorporated. Turn to medium speed and mix for 7 to 10 minutes until the ingredients form a smooth elastic dough.

1st fermentation: Transfer the dough to a greased bowl and place in the Folding Proofer for 1 to 1 ½ hours until doubled in size.

Roll the dough:
Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Roll into a rectangle measuring about 10.5" x 16" (27 x 40cm).
With the dough facing you lengthwise, spread filling over the entire surface of the dough.
Spread the cookie butter in a thin layer (#1)
Fold the dough into thirds like a letter. To do so, take the left side and fold it in toward the center. Take the right third of the dough and fold in to the center on top of the fold just made.
Refrigerate it for about 15 minutes which will make it easier to cut and shape.
Roll the dough out again to a 16.5" x 8.5" (42 x 22cm) rectangle (#2). Do the letter fold again and re-roll it out to 16.5” x 8.5” again.
Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. Set aside.
Cut the dough into 12 strips. To do this, mark the dough with 3 lines making 4 section. Then mark each of these 4 sections with 2 lines making a total of 12 sections. Then go back and cut the entire length of the dough where marked (#2). Take one dough strip and twist each end in opposite directions until the entire strip is twisted (#3).
Starting at one end coil the strip to form a circular bun, tucking the tail underneath (#4).
Place on the prepared pan. Repeat until all 12 buns are shaped and placed 6 on each of the 2 trays (#4). (The buns are placed 6 to a tray and each tray is cooked individually. This allows each bun to receive even heat and expand without touching another bun).

Final proof: The cookie sheets do not fit in the proofer. Cover it with a plastic wrap, and place the trays on the towel so they are not resting on the cold table top. Cover with another towel. Allow the buns to rise for about 1 hour.

Glaze the surface: First paint on the egg white then sprinkle on the sugar
Near the end of the proofing time preheat the oven to 375° (190°C).
Bake: Bake the buns at 375°F (190°C) for 18-20 minutes (#6).

My wife is really getting good at forming these swirl/buns. Her idea of using the cookie butter (this is made of chocolate cover cookies) really worked. The buns were sweet but not too sweet with a subtle chocolate flavor and slightly crunchy surface and soft inside.

Hamburger with home-made buns 自家製バンのハンバーガー

We cannot remember when was the last time we ate a hamburger; probably sometime when we lived in California i.e. many years ago. Since the package we got recently from Omaha steaks included hamburger patties (total of 8), we decided to make hamburgers. Also as we were “taste testing” the burgers, my wife declared there would be no pickles, catchup, mustard or onions (or “special sauce”; this was not Burger King/McDonalds after all) to obscure the taste. But cheese was OK. (Truth-be-told she is a hamburger purist.) So as shown below we had a cheese burger on a homemade hamburger bun (made by my wife just for the occasion, see below) with a side of scalloped potatoes (also from Omaha steak) and caprese salad.

We thought about grilling the burgers on a charcoal fire but decided to cook them in a frying pan with olive oil since it was the easiest. Initially we thought the hamburger patties looked thin but once they were out of the package and cooked they were nicely thick enough. My wife decided to use two cheeses; cheddar and Monterey Jack. After the meat was cooked, we toasted/fried the hamburger buns using the remaining oil and meat juices in the pan which came out rather nicely. As my wife wished, no ketchup, mustard, onion, lettuce, or pickles.  The meat was just cooked right and very juicy and had a nice beefy taste. This is a good way to just taste the meat and of course, the cheeses enhanced the flavors. 

Since we have a basil forest growing in numerous pots on the kitchen window sill, I made caprase salad with skinned Campari tomato, fresh mozzarella cheese and basil. Salt, black pepper, our favorite Spanish olive oil and balsamic vinegar dressed the salad.

My wife made hamburger buns for this occasion. She used a rather basic recipe from King Arthur.  I will ask her to continue.

Ingredients: for the dough
3 1/2 cups (420g) Ap flour
3/4 to 1 cup (170g to 227g) water, lukewarm (she used milk)
2 tablespoons (28g) butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon (9g) instant yeast

For topping the buns.
1-2 Tbs. Butter melted to brush on top of the muffins before baking them.

Directions:
Mix and knead all of the dough ingredients in a stand-up mixer with a dough hook to make a soft, smooth dough. Cover the dough and let it rise until it's nearly doubled in bulk, about 1 to 2 hours. Gently deflate the dough and divide it into eight pieces (about 100g each). Flatten each dough ball with the palm of your hand until it's about 3" across.

Place the buns on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise until noticeably puffy, about an hour. Toward the end of the rising time, preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the buns with about half of the melted butter. Bake the buns for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden (see below).
Remove them from the oven and brush with the remaining melted butter; this will give the buns a satiny, buttery crust (which she did not do). Cool the buns on a rack before slicing in half, horizontally.

These hamburger buns really added to the overall hamburger experience. The buns in-and-of themselves had a very nice flavor and a soft texture. (We had some later just lightly toasted and buttered and they were quite good served that way.) The hamburger itself was nicely seasoned with a very distinctive beefy taste. Even without all the condiments, the burger and bun were every thing you could possibly want in a hamburger.

Hot cross buns 2022 ホットクロスバン 2022

It has been customary every year when Easter approaches, for my wife to make hot cross buns  (mostly without the sugar frosting cross, because the buns are sweet enough without it). This year was no exception. This year the recipe came from the heavy hard covered cookbook called “Bouchon Bakery Cookbook”. To me, this one looked like the most complicated recipe for hot cross buns I’ve seen my wife make over the years. Nonetheless it tasted very good and had a very nice texture.

This recipe calls for a lot of butter and multiple foldings. You can sort of see the multi-layering on the curt surface.

Ingredients: (#1)
Flour 372 g (2 1/2 cups)
Yeast 8 g (2 3/8 tsp)
Sugar 44 g (3 tbs. + 2 tsp)
Salt 9 g (1 1/2 tsp.)
Eggs 186 g (2 eggs)
Whole milk 63 g (1/4 cup)
Butter 167 g (5.8 oz) cut into small cubes
Raisins 122 g (3/4 cup)
Dried cranberries 61 g (1/2 cup)
1 tsp. Vanilla

Ingredients doubled:
Flour 744 g
Yeast 16 g (4 3/4 tsp)
Sugar 88 g (7 tbs. + 1 tsp)
Salt 18 g (3 tsp.)
Eggs 372 g (4 eggs)
Whole milk 126 g (1/2 cup)
Butter 334 g (11 oz) cut into small cubes Raisins 244 g (1 1/2 cups)
Dried cranberries 122 g (1 cup)
2 tsp. Vanilla

Directions:
Combine the fruit in a bowl and pour 2 cups of boiling water over it. Let sit for 5 minutes then drain and pat dry with paper towel. Set aside. Add all the other ingredients but the butter to the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Mix until a paste-like dough forms. Add the butter a piece at a time and incorporate into the dough. (At this point it will look like that will never happen since there seems to be more butter than flour mixture to incorporate it into.) When all the butter is incorporated mix on speed 2 for 7 to 10 minutes. Pat the dough into a rectangle and spread the fruit evenly over it (#2). Fold the dough into thirds as an envelope fold. Press the dough out into a rectangle again. Turn the dough 180 degrees and do another envelope fold. Press into a rectangle, turn and fold again (#3). Pat into a loaf and place in a lightly oiled bowl turning to coat with the oil and placing it seam side down (#4). Cover and put in proofing box at 75 degrees and let rise for 45 minutes. Remove from bowl and repeat 2 more folds. Return to bowl to rise another 45 minutes. Remove from bowl and divide into 12 equal portions, (24 equal portions for doubled recipe). Roll the divided portions into bun shape and place evenly spaced on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. (Next time I will just cut into squares. This will require less working of the dough and make the number of folds more evident in the final product). Cover the pan and let rise until rolls are touching each other. Coat with egg wash and bake in 350 degree oven for 18 to 22 minutes until golden and toothpick comes out clean. Let cool on a rack.

These were indeed fairly complicated muffins. The hardest part was incorporating all the butter. At one point it looked like it wouldn’t happen. But it did. The muffins themselves are luxurious. The texture is dense but very soft. The numerous foldings made very fine layers. They were sweet but not too sweet. (They would have been sweeter if we had added the icing). The fruit adds another texture and a slight vanilla flavor. These are really quite something and worth the effort. 

PA Dutch Schnecken ペンシルバニアダッチ シュネッケン

My wife grew up in the PA Dutch area of Pennsylvania and PA Dutch food is something special for her from her childhood.  For Christmas, we usually get German-style cookies from a bakery called “Bredenbecks” which is located in Philadelphia, (historically Germantown but currently Chestnut Hill) and has been in business since 1886. According to my wife, these cookies were her grandfather’s favorite and he used to bring a large tin of them from Bredenbecks every year when her grandparents came for Xmas. So, for my wife, Bredenbecks’ cookies are associated with a good time during the holidays as a kid. Last Xmas, my wife decided to try something different in addition to the traditional German cookies. So she ordered a tin of “Schnecken” (which means “snail” in German).* As I mentioned before, I am not a “desert” person and I have to admit I am also not a charter member of the traditional German cookie fan club. For these reasons I have no problem by-passing a plate full of them without taking one. But the schnecken were great! (My wife actually caught me red-handed snarfing some directly out the tin between meals). 

*digression alert: One year my wife decided to order a stollen in addition to the traditional German cookies from Bredenbecks. While the cookies are shipped in a tin, the stollen was shipped in a light cardboard box. The goodies were delivered to the front door and quickly discovered by the resident squirrels who recognize a good thing when they smell it. They busted into the box and helped themselves to the stollen. By the time we got home the only things left were a cardboard shipping box with a large hole in it, a few large crumbs and chunks of stollen scattered all over the front porch. It was a merry holiday for some lucky squirrels. 

Recently my wife was going through one of the old PA dutch cookbooks she has when the recipe for PA Dutch schnecken jumped out at her. Knowing how much I liked the ones from Bredenbecks she couldn’t ignore the recipe and decided to surprise me with some. As shown in the picture below the schneken from Bredenbecks are little cookies and shaped more like a mini-croissant than a snail. 

As shown in the next picture, the PA Dutch schnecken my wife made is more like cinnamon a bun but as you can see, it is indeed shaped like a “Schnecken”.

The picture below shows the cut surface. Alternating layers of bread and cinnamon sugar/ butter. This version is not too sweet but very flavorful and we are enjoying them mostly as a breakfast.

I ask my wife, as usual, to share the “how-to” part.

Word of advice from wifey: in the tradition of old recipes used to make dishes for large farming families (such as the PA Dutch), doing hard labor chores the yield from this recipe is quite generous.…it makes 2 dozen schnecken! 

Ingredients:
For the dough
1 package of yeast
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 to 5 cups AP flour
1 1/2 cup milk (buttermilk would work too)
2 eggs beaten
1/4 cup melted butter

For the filling
1/3 cup butter softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Ground cinnamon

Optional topping
1 egg white mixed with 1 tbs water
1/2 tsp. Sugar per muffin (more or less to taste)

Directions:
Add the dry ingredients (yeast through flour) to the bowl of a mixer with a dough hook. Mix together the wet ingredients (milk through melted butter) together and mix well. With the mixer running add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Add more flour as needed to make a soft dough. Knead for 7 to 10 minutes. Cover and let rise in a warm place.

Meanwhile combine the ingredients for the filling (butter through cinnamon) into a paste and set aside.

When the dough has doubled in size punch it down and divide it into two portions weighing them to make them about even in size. Roll out each portion into a rectangle of about 15 X 18 inches. Spread 1/2 the filling over each rectangle right to the edges. Roll up each “as for a jelly roll” as specified by the instructions. Cut each roll crosswise into 12 pieces. (A word of advice: to get pieces of somewhat equal size, cut the roll into thirds. Then cut each third into fourths (3 x 4 = 12). Place the slices cut side down into a well greased muffin tin. (First picture below) Cover and let rise until double. Just before baking brush each muffin with the egg wash mixture and sprinkle on the desired amount of sugar per bun. This sugar will caramelize slightly when cooked. Bake in a 375 degree oven form 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. (Second picture below). Another word of advice: remove the buns from the tins immediately after they come out of the oven before the caramelized sugar hardens . Once it hardens it will become extremely difficult to extract them. Also, scoop any caramelized sugar left on the bottom of the tins before it hardens and spread onto the buns.

Here are a bunch of snails. 

Imagine how nice it was to come home to the rich baking smell of butter, cinnamon and caramelized sugar. As usual my wife made a small one for me to eat immediately upon my arrival. Needless to say that one disappeared very quickly. While this is basically a cinnamon bun it is more demure than its better known cousin the sticky bun. The sweetness is just right with a gentle taste of cinnamon and a lovely soft slightly chewy dough. Only 2 dozen yield?

Swedish cardamom buns カルダモンロール

This is one of my wife's baking projects. She saw this recipe in the "Milk Street” magazine. It is a sweet roll seasoned with ground cardamom. We were not sure whether we would like the cardamom flavor in a  sweet roll but my wife decided to try it. This was a great success. It is sweet and the sugar/cardamom mixture melted and made a nice crust especially on the bottom.

Ingredients:
For the dough:
390 grams (3 cups) AP flour
103 grams (3/4 cup) bread flour
80 grams (6 Tbs.) White sugar
1 Tbs. Yeast
1 tsp. Ground cardamom (more if you want stronger cardamom taste)
3/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 cup whole milk warmed to 100 degrees F.
113 grams (8 Tbs. Butter) melted and cooled
1 large egg separated (yolk for dough. White to brush on buns before baking)

For filling
170 grams (12 Tbs.) Salted butter at room temperature (maybe try less butter to keep it from running out and puddling during cooking.)
163 grams (3/4 cup) packed light brown sugar
2 tsp. Ground cardamom
27 grams (2 Tbs.) white sugar

Directions:
To make the dough: in a stand mixer with dough hook mix AP flour through salt to combine. Add together the wet ingredients (milk through egg yolk). Then with mixer running slowly add the wet mixture into the dry ingredients and mix until the ingredients form a sticky dough. Increase mixer’s speed and knead until the dough becomes smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Line a 9 X 13 baking dish with parchment paper (#1). Put in the dough and press it with your hand to flatten it into an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled in size (about 1 hour). Transfer to a refridgerator and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours. (I chilled the dough overnight.)

When ready to fill and shape the rolls first make the filling by mashing the butter through cardamom together to form a well combined paste. Set aside. Turn the chilled dough onto a large cutting board. Roll out into a 12 X 16 rectangle. Spread the filling in a even layer on the dough spreading out to edges (#2). Do a three envelope fold with the dough (fold bottom third to middle then top third over that fold (#3). 

Rotate the dough 180 degrees so the short side is facing you. Roll the dough out into a 12 X 16 rectangle and repeat the envelope fold.

To form buns: Rotate the rectangle so the long side is parallel with the counter’s edge. Cut the dough crosswise into 16 even strips (#4). Pick up one strip by the ends and gently stretch it to about 16 inches by gently bouncing it against the counter while very gently pulling on the ends. At the same time twist the ends of the strip in opposite directions while gently stretching to create a looose spiral about 16 inches long. While holding one end of the strip in place between your thumb on one side of the dough strip and index, middle and ring fingers on the other side of the strip wrap the strip around your 3 fingers (index, middle and ring) without untwisting the spiral. Then tuck the end under and up into the center while sliding the resulting turban shaped knot off your fingers (Rt. Side of #4). Using 2 cookie sheets lined with parchment paper put 8 of the buns on one sheet and 8 on the other sheet using the pattern shown in #5 below. (Using this pattern is helpful because the muffins expand and they can cook without touching.) Cover and let rise until doubled. When doubled in size add 1 Tbs of water to the egg white beat the mixture together and then brush on the buns. Top with 1/2 of the white sugar listed in the filling ingredients list. Bake each sheet one at a time in a 400 degree oven for 15 to 18 minutes until the buns are a deep brown (#6). (When the trays are cooked separately it allows the muffins to be exposed to equal heat all around and helps caramelize the sugar to make a crunchy candy like crust.) 

As shown below it is a good thing to cover the sheets with parchment paper because it is normal for some of the filling to seep out and caramelize on the baking sheet.

Once the overflow cooled it became a nice candy/caramel with crispy texture (as shown in the next picture). We enjoyed some of it as a snack.

This is a perfect roll for breakfast. It is best soon out of the oven because it is covered in a crispy light caramelized candy crust both top and bottom. While not too sweet, the crust provides a wonderful crunchy texture over the softly chewy bread inside. Although the bun tends to lose its crispy candy crust over time as it melts into the bread and  it is still extremely good. Although we were initially unsure of whether we would like the cardamon flavor, it was gentle and went extremely well with the buttery caramelized flavor coming from the sugar. This bun has everything going for it as a breakfast. 

P.S. As I was browsing a Japanese newspaper web site (Asahi Shinbun 朝日新聞), I came across a series of articles describing a number of amazing bakeries in Japan. One of the articles was about a family-run bakery in Urawa ward of Saitama city さいたま市浦和 called "Bake house Yellow knife".  Among the amazing breads they bake was Swedish cardamon rolls. It appears that this kind of artisanal bakery with dedicated bakers paying attention to every detail is becoming more common in Japan now-a-days.

"Kuri-mu pan" Cream custard buns クリームパン

 While I was growing up in Japan, sweet breads called "Kashi-pan" 菓子パン were very popular among kids. They came in many forms such as Melon-pan メロンパン  bread covered with a thin layer or sweet crunchy cookie, or bread filled with  cream custard (cream pan クリームパン), chocolate  (choko-pan チョコパン) or sweet bean paste (an-pan アンパン). The word “pan” is derived from the French word for bread “le pain” pronounced (le pan). Although these breads were very popular with kids either my parents' policy (most likely) or my own choice (I doubt it), I rarely enjoyed "kashi-pan" while growing up. When my wife and I visited Japan, my wife found "Kashi-pan" and, like the kid she is at heart, she really liked it. When we got home she even made "melon pan". My wife in general is very fond of filled buns. She somehow found this recipe for "Asian cream custard buns". She made two versions shown below. For the buns on the left, she fully encased the filling in dough. This is the more traditional way of making them. On the right, she filled a depression made on the top of the bun with the cream custard. This is the method she used for ricotta cheese buns. 

She said she did this to avoid having a bun with the steam created gap on the top as as shown in the picture below. This occurs because of the steam produced by the filling during baking. The one with custard filled in the surface depression does not have this problem. Since both are basically the same bun just prepared slightly differently I think both are equally good.

The picture below shows the glazed buns with cream totally encased in dough just out of the oven.

And these are the ones with the surface depression filled with custard.

Ingredients:
for the custard:
2 large eggs + 1 egg yolk
70 g sugar (1/3 cup)
15 g corns starch (2 Tbs.)
20 g cake flour (2 Tbs.)
300 g milk (1 1/4 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 Tbs. butter

for the dough
250 g bread flour (2 cups)
50 g cake flour (1/3 cup)
30 g sugar (2 Tbs.)
20 g sweetened condensed milk (1 Tbs +1 tsp)
80 g cream (1/3 cup)
80 g milk (1/3 cup)

1 egg (25 g for the dough, the rest for the glaze)
1 tsp. yeast
1/2 tsp. salt
30 g cold butter cut into small cubes (2 Tbs.)

Directions:
For the custard
In a bowl, mix eggs, sugar, corn starch and cake flour until well combined. Heat milk in a sauce pan until steaming. Temper the egg mixture with the hot milk by adding several ladles full slowly and stirring to combine. After the egg mixture is tempered add it to the milk still in the sauce pan. Cook on medium low heat until it starts to thicken, stirring constantly. This could take some time so be patient. When it achieves a fairly firm consistency (i.e. won't run off if placed on a flat piece of dough). Take it off the heat. Add the butter until melted and then stir in the vanilla. Continue whisking so it doesn't form a skin as it cools. After it cools slightly cover with plastic wrap touching the top of the custard, again so it doesn't form a skin as it cools. Set aside or put into the refrigerator to use later.

For the dough
Add everything from the bread flour to the yeast into a stand mixer. Mix until dough forms. Let it rest for 30 minutes. Add the salt and knead for 1 minute. Add the butter a piece at a time kneading the dough until smooth. Knead 7 to 10 minutes. Form into a ball in a greased bowl. Turn the ball until it is covered with grease. Put into proofing box set at 81 degrees. Let it rise until doubled in size.

To assemble:
Punch down dough. Weigh the dough and calculate how many 50 g buns the dough will make. Then weigh the custard and see how much each scoop of filling must weigh to equally fill the 50 g buns calculated. I completely encased the filling for 8 buns in dough and put them on a parchment lined cookie sheet. I formed the remaining buns into balls and put them on the cookie sheet. The cookie sheets went back into the proofing box until the buns had about doubled in size. I took the buns made into balls but not filled with custard and using the base of a small cup dipped in flour pressed down on the center of the ball until the cup stopped moving. I then filled the depression with the remaining calculated portions of custard. I took the remaining egg and glazed the fully encased muffins completely and the depression filled buns just on the bread portion. I cooked them in a 375 degree oven for 12 to 18 minutes or until golden brown. I removed them from the oven and cooled on a rack.

These buns were everything you would expect in a kashi pan. The dough was tender and slightly sweet. The custard was luscious, not too sweet and vanilla flavored. What a breakfast treat!

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.

Hot cross buns and cheese buns made with biga ホットクロスバンとチーズバン

As the Covid-19 pandemic started to unfold we decided to prepare by buying in basic food ingredients such as flour, sugar, rice and fresh "winter vegetables" such as potatoes, carrots, cabbage, and squash which would keep for some time. Our reasoning was that if food shortages developed  we could live on these basics by baking bread and cooking the stockpile of veggies. (Shortages did develop, for example, eggs were not available for a while and many of the shelves in the super market were bare. One week we bought the last two bags of rice at the Japanese grocery store). Feeling smugly well prepared, my wife was horrified to realize that we only had one 4 oz. jar of yeast much less than we thought. We still had baking powder and soda, so we could make quick breads but the lack of yeast put a serious wrinkle in our well laid plans. We were further horrified to discover that in addition the the shortages mentioned above, there was a major shortage of yeast. It was not available anywhere. Apparently, other folks had the same strategy we were employing. The yeast shortage was soon followed by shortages of flour and sugar. Luckily, we had bought in plenty of those items but we had to come up with something to deal with the yeast shortage--"enter biga, stage right". My wife remembered a Pantone recipe she made some time ago that used a sponge called biga and required much less yeast so she looked it up and began substituting it in the breads she made, with remarkable success.

The picture below shows two breads my wife made for Easter and served on her favorite Easter bunny plate. The one on the right is a hot cross bun that she made before the yeast shortage so it was not made using biga. It didn't have a frosting cross on top instead my wife cut the baked bun in half and put the cream cheese icing used for the cross inside. The bun on the left is a cheese bun made with biga.

Here are the cross sections. The cheese roll has, of course, cheese stuffing that was baked in the bun. The hot cross bun lost the cross but the icing was sandwiched in the muffin after the muffin was baked.

Although we posted the hot cross buns before, the cheese rolls are new. My wife started making "biga" (or "starter" or "sponge") to conserve the yeast we have. Although it takes overnight fermentation, it has the additional benefit of much better flavor. I asked my wife for the recipe.

Ingredients:
Biga: (Hers has more liquid than  traditional biga. So, this is a cross between biga and poolish)
1 3/4  cups flour
2 cups buttermilk
1/8 tsp yeast

Dough:
biga
3 tbs sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tbs butter
2 1/4 cups flour as needed (to make a total of 4 cups including flour in the biga)
1/8 additional yeast (optional) it will result in a quicker rise.

Cheese filling
4 oz. feta cheese crumbled
5 oz. ricotta cheese
2 oz. smoked gouda, grated
2 oz. monterey jack, grated
2 oz. double Gloucester, grated (other cheeses could be substituted such as smoked mozzarella)
1 egg
sprinkle of red pepper flakes (to taste)

Day 1: in the evening mix together the ingredients for the biga (#1) cover the bowel with plastic wrap and several towels and leave out overnight. Picture (#2) shows what it looks like next morning.

Day 2: Make the cheese filling by adding the cheese ingredients together and mixing until blended then set aside (#1). Make the dough using the biga and dough ingredients. Let rise in a covered bowel (#2). (The rise will be very slow. I made the dough at 8:00 AM and formed the rolls at 4:00 PM).  After the first rise punch the dough down. Cut into 2 1/4 oz. pieces. Using a small ice cream scoop put a scoop of cheese in the middle of the dough (#3) and using the dough cover the cheese (#4). Put the muffin into a heavily greased large pyrex baking dish and let rise again (#5). (This rise will go much faster). Bake at 400 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes until golden (#6). Remove immediately to let cool. As the picture shows some of the filling leaked out as the muffins cooked but plenty was still left inside.

These muffins were not as fluffy as the same recipe made with commercial yeast but the flavor was just incredible; very rich with depth. The texture is also a bit more chewy but still a wonderful mouth feel.   These buns were made with much less yeast. The original recipe made with commercial yeast would have used 4 1/2 tsp yeast while this recipe used a maximum of 1/4 tsp yeast. The thing we noticed was that as the dough was rising it gave off a pleasant strong yeasty smell that was wonderful and not something we noticed when we made the muffins using commercial yeast. Also, the smell while the buns were cooking in the oven was stronger than usual adding to one of the basic pleasures of making bread; the smell as it cooks. The combination of the flavor of the dough with the cheese filling was really wonderful. We couldn't get enough of it. So although the use of biga was born of necessity (a shortage of yeast during the corona-19 outbreak) it has opened up a whole new dimension of bread making that we would not have tried otherwise. Once having tasted the wonderful flavor of this bread we will be using biga as much as possible.

Easter breakfast 2019 イースター朝ごはん2019

This is a sort of regular menu for Easter breakfast. My wife baked hot cross buns for Easter this year as usual but without the representative icing cross. Instead, she put icing on the side so that we could "smear" it on the bun however and wherever we wanted.  In addition, she made a new cream cheese based icing. She also has a collection of "bunny" plates (bunny seen here peeking out from behind the food) that add to the occasion.

To complete the spring theme, I made creamy scrambled eggs which was supposedly made by Chef Patrick O'Connor of Inn at Little Washington when Queen Elizabeth visited some years ago. Since I did not have green aspraragus, I garnished with blanched sugar snaps and rapini.

The hot cross buns are made with a recipe from King Arthur flour.

Instead of confectionary sugar icing, she made cream cheese based icing with honey and cinnamon.  This was much better and much easier to handle.

Ingredients for the icing:
1 package of Philadelphia cream cheese
1 tsp cinnamon powder
3 tsp. honey
3 tbs. butter

Directions: Cream the butter in a mixer. Add the cream cheese and mix until it is fluffy. Add the honey and cinnamon until completely blended.

This is not as sweet as a sugar based icing and it comes out like a spread so it is easier to use on the muffin. The cream cheese gives it a slight tartness offset by the honey. The cinnamon goes so well with the spices used in the hot cross buns. This is certainly something worth getting up for in the morning.

Sally Lunn bread サリーラン ブレッド

This is again my wife's baking. This is a very usual and good bread called "Sally Lunn" bread. The original "Sally Lunn bun" was reportedly served in the spa town of "Bath" in England in the 18th century. In the U.S., the same name appears to be attached to breads that are dissimilar from the ones served originally in Bath. This recipe came from "Beard on Bread" and probably represents the latter category.  While the leavening agent is yeast it is a batter bread. This means that the texture of the dough is very unusual and not like regular yeast dough. It is wet, sticky and has to be "poured". My wife never made a bread like this before and wasn't quite sure how to handle it but in the end everything worked out just fine.  Lightly toasted and buttered, this is wonderful.

As you can see lots of holes which make this bread so light.

This is how it looks before toasting. Since it was baked in a tube pan, you have to cut it into wedges which is a bit awkward.

Ingredients:

1 package active yeast
1/4 tsp. sugar (to bloom the yeast)
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
1 stick butter melted in the milk
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
3 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour

Directions:

Bloom the yeast. Melt the butter in a sauce pan add the milk, sugar and salt. Stir until the sugar and salt melts. Let cool to lukewarm. Add the eggs and stir to combine. Add 3 cups of  flour to the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to incorporate. Slowly add more flour in small amounts at a time to make a "stiff but workable batter" (whatever that meant). (I ended up using a total of 3 1/2 cups flour until I declared the batter "workable".  It was very thick, wet, stretchy and somewhat stringy). According to the recipe: Pour it into a bowel. (Pouring was a bit of a euphemism. It was more like battling it into the bowl against its will.) Let rise until doubled.  Then, again according to directions, beat it down with a wooden spoon for about 1 minute. (Beating it down was the appropriate term here). Scrape it into a heavily buttered tube pan. (This took some doing, particularly to get it evenly distributed around the tube.) Cover and let rise until it reaches the top of the pan. (Initially I did not think that would be possible given the volume shown in the picture below, but to my surprise it not only reached the top but was trying to bust out of the cover by the time I captured it from going over the edge.)

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 45 to 50 minutes or until the bread is dark, golden on top and sounds hollow when rapped. (I thought this may have been a bit too high done next time I may try a shorter time). Turn out onto a rack to cool. (I was amazed at the final result shown below and even more amazed when we cut it into wedges and tasted it...what a beaut!)

Slice into wedges as shown below.

This was a remarkable bread making experience. This bread is very light and airy as you can see in the picture. I has a nice mild slightly sweet flavor. The crust is nice and crunchy especially when toasted. Who would have thought yeast bread could be made like this?

Pumpkin ginger rolls かぼちゃと生姜味ロール

My wife always makes some kind of pumpkin-themed food around Halloween. This year, she made these pumpkin ginger rolls.

Since we had a Japanese Kabocha left (the last 1/4 of a whole kabocha), she also included a cube of kabocha in the pumpkin rolls.

Ingredients:
For bread
4 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbs yeast
1 (15 oz. can pumpkin puree)
2 large eggs
4 Tbs. butter melted
Finely diced ginger to tast (optional)
1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions:
For the cooked pumpkin (kobocha)
Cut the Kabocha in half inch thick slices and microwave in a lidded silicon container for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Remove the skin/rind and cut it into half inch cubes (see below).

For the pumpkin bread:
Put pumpkin puree and pumpkin pie spice in a sauce pan and cook on medium heat stirring constantly until pumpkin pulls away from the sides of the pan and the spices "bloom" (see below).
Let cool then add sugar, salt, eggs and melted butter. Bloom the yeast. Add the wet ingredients to the flour in a kneading mixer. Knead dough for about 2 to 3 minutes until ingredients are blended then let rest for 15 minutes.
Continue kneading, adding flour until the dough reaches a workable consistency. If adding ginger and raisins knead them in (we did not add them).
Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowel. Turn the dough so it gets coated with the oil.
Cover and let rise until it doubles. Punch dough down and turn out onto a floured cutting board.
Cut dough into pieces weighing 2 1/4 oz. Add a piece of cooked kobocha pumpkin and form into a bun. Put the buns into a heavily greased baking pan.
Cover and let rise again (about 1/2 hour).
Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook rolls for 20 minutes. Remove from pan immediately after they come out of the oven.

These rolls turned out with lots of pumpkin and pumpkin spice flavors--with cinnamon leading the pack. Because of the pureed  pumpkin, it came out really moist. The inclusion of cooked kabocha added a nice sweet taste and interesting texture. (next time my wife said she would add larger pieces). This may be the best pumpkin bread.

Hot cross buns 2017 Version2 ホットクロスバンズ

My wife is very fond of making different types of bread rolls. Although she has made a total of 4 different kinds of hot cross buns over the years, she made one more this year (a total of 5 different variations of hot cross buns). This one is quite different from the others. It uses much less liquid and much more butter. Initially we were skeptical, given the proportion of flour to butter, that this recipe would work but, in the end it did. The left is the newest version and on the right is one she made  earlier this year.

The newest one has quite different texture and flavors.

The recipe came from Williams Sonoma

Ingredients:
1/4 cup (2 fl. oz./60 ml) warm milk (110° to 115°F/43° to 46­°C)
1 package (2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast
1/4 cup (2 oz./60 g) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
Kosher salt
2 eggs, lightly beaten, plus 1 egg white (my wife just added the additional egg yolk to the dough).
2 3/4 cups (11 oz./345 g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
12 Tbs. (1 1/2 sticks) (6 oz./180 g) unsalted butter, finely diced, plus more for greasing
1/2 cup (3 oz./90 g) raisins or dried currants

For the Icing (which my wife did not use)
1 cup (4 oz./125 g) confectioners’ sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

Directions:
Have all the ingredients except the milk at room temperature. Coat a large bowl and a 13-by-9-inch (33-by-23-cm) baking dish with butter. Set both aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook add the granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and 1 tsp. salt.

Proof the yeast in 1/4 cup warm water with 1/2 spoon full of sugar. Combine the milk and yeast and add to the flour. Mix on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and continue mixing several minutes more.  (The dough will be very very dry.)

Increase the speed to medium-low and add the butter a few pieces at a time, kneading after each addition until all of the butter is incorporated. Continue kneading, adding flour a little at a time scraping down the sides of bowl as necessary, until the dough is smooth.

Add the raisins and knead until combined. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and finish kneading by hand for 1 minute.

Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to the prepared bowl, turning the dough to coat it with butter. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch down the dough, turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead for 1 minute. Cut the dough into pieces weighing about 2 1/2 oz.. Shape each piece into a ball, stretching the sides of the dough down and under. Arrange the balls in the baking dish, spaced about 1/2 inch (12 mm) apart. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until the balls of dough are doubled in volume and touching one another, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat an oven to 375°F (190°C).

In a small bowl, whisk together the egg white, 1 tsp. water and a pinch of salt. Using a pastry brush, brush the top of each bun with the egg wash. Using sharp scissors or a knife, cut a cross into the top of each bun. (This step was somewhat less than successful; it just served to partially deflate the buns.) Transfer the baking dish to the oven and bake until the buns are golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer the dish to a wire rack and let cool.

To make the icing, in a bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and lemon juice. Transfer the icing to a pastry bag with a small plain tip and pipe an “X” on each cooled bun along the indentations where you scored the dough.

This is a bit unusual recipe. Initially, the dough looked really dry and did not look like it would come together. As the butter was added (#1) it started coming together as a dough (#2). It is almost like short bread dough. My wife, as usual, weighed the dough to make perfectly sized buns.

This is 2nd best hot cross bun in my wife's repertoire but knowing the amount of butter that goes into them, the first hot cross buns my wife made this year may be better.

Hot cross buns 2017 ホットクロスバンズ

As Easter is approaching, my wife decided to bake another hot cross buns (shown here without the cross). This recipe is from King Arthur's and is the best hot cross buns she ever made!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup rum
1/2 cup mixed dried fruit
1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
1 1/4 cups milk, room temperature
3 large eggs, 1 separated (use the extra yolk in the dough)
6 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves or allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
4 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour (with more as needed to form dough)

Topping
1 large egg white, reserved from above
1 tablespoon milk

Direction:
1) Lightly grease a 10" square pan or 9" x 13" pan.
2) Mix together all of the dough ingredients except the fruit, and knead, using an electric mixer, till the dough is soft and elastic. The last few minutes of kneading mix in the fruit.
4) Let the dough rise for 1 hour, covered. It should become puffy, though may not double in bulk (#1 below).
5) Divide the dough into pieces, about 2 1/4 ounces each. Round them into balls. Arrange them in the prepared pan (#2 , each bun weighed for uniform size).

6) Cover the pan, and let the buns rise for 1 hour, or until they've puffed up and are touching one another #3). While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 375°F.
7) Whisk together the reserved egg white and milk, and brush it over the buns.
8) Bake the buns for 20 minutes, until they're golden brown #4). Remove from the oven, and transfer to a rack to cool (#5 and #6).

This is really good. We tasted one while they were still warm.  They had a nice texture and top crust with rum flavor. We felt we do not need the icing.

Ricotta filled Danish/rolls リコタチーズ入りデーニッシュ

This is my wife's Ricotta filled Danish which she made some time ago in quantity. We froze them and we enjoyed them for breakfast. They warm up very well in the microwave.

Unfortunately, we ate them all before we had a chance to write about them in the blog.  Recently, my wife made another batch with some alterations to correct some problems she had with the first batch. The picture below shows the second version of her ricotta filled rolls.

The filling stayed inside the roll this time  as shown below.

The major problem my wife had with the first batch of ricotta buns was that even though she followed the recipe the filling was too watery and it was almost impossible to fill the roll. The filling ran out and once it got on the edge of the dough, the bun could not be sealed. In desperation she resorted to using a small bowl (shown at the edge of picture #2). She put the dough into the bowl to form a cup #3. Then she sealed the top like she would a small pie #4. The end result is shown in #5 and #6. this was a somewhat unsatisfactory solution to say the least.

The below is her second attempt. She read a recipe on the internet for a "light and fluffy" cheese cake which used ricotta cheese that had been drained in a colander over night. She thought 'ah ha. Maybe this could work for my ricotta buns.' So she tried it again. 

Ingredients:

Filling: 4 cups ricotta drained overnight

             2 egg yolks

             1/2 cup sugar

             1 tsp salt

             1 tsp almond extract

             1 tsp vanilla

Bread:

          2 packages yeast

          1/2 cup warm water

          1/2 cup scalded milk

          1/2 cup sugar

          1/2 cup butter

          4 eggs

          1 tsp salt

          4 cups of flour (with more to make the dough the right consistency)

Dirctions for filling: This time she drained the ricotta by putting two layers of cheese cloth in a colander. She added a package worth of ricotta cheese, wrapped it in the cheese cloth, put a small plate on top and weighted it down with several heavy cans. She put a large plate on the bottom to collect the liquid that came out then put it in the refrigerator overnight. The next morning there was about 1/2 cup of liquid that came out of the cheese. This time it was much thicker and easier to work with (#1). She added the eggs yolks, sugar, flavorings and salt and stirred until the mixture was smooth. 

Bread: She mixed the milk, sugar, salt and butter and heated it to scald the milk and melt the butter sugar and salt. While it was cooling she proofed the yeast. She added the milk mixture and yeast mixture to the flour and incorporated it. Then she added the eggs one at a time. She added additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until she obtained a soft but workable consistency (#2). She let it rise once then punched it down and assembled the rolls.

Assembly: She made rounds of dough weighing 2 oz each (#3). This time she could could just scoop the filling onto the center of the dough rounds  (#4) and pinch up the edges to seal (#5). The end result was a nice little bun (#6). She put them in a buttered pan and let them rise again (#7). She put them in a 400 degree oven for about 18 minutes. The final product is shown in #8. 

There is still a room for improvement in this recipe. Probably one more egg yolk is needed in the filling so that it will congeal better while baked. Because of the sugar in the dough, it tended to brown very quickly. It might be better to start with a 400 degree oven for maybe 5 minutes then lower the baking temperature  to 350F and cook a bit longer than 18 minutes? 

Both versions tasted very good. The sweet vanilla/almond flavor of  the ricotta filling was very nice. The bread was very soft and not too sweet. The ricotta filling made it pleasantly moist. 

additional notes: My wife made these buns again. This time instead of putting them together in a pan so that they would rise into each other she put them individually on a greased cookie sheet. This is because in the previous batch the buns were slightly soggy where they touched each other. Placed individually on a cookie sheet each bun received heat all around the the result was much better. In addition, she cooked them at 400 degrees for 5 minutes then lowered the temperature to 350 degrees and cooked them for an additional 15 minutes. The end result was very good. They were cooked perfectly.