baking soda

What's a girl to do when she uses up the last 1/4 tsp of baking soda in her cupboard for pancakes? In Zurich, she must visit every store in town before finding these precious little Natron packets. At one precious teaspoon per packet, I had to empty out the store to feed my baking habit for the next couple months. Yes, baking soda (aka Natron) is available in Zurich. However, "available" really means "rare commodity".

Here's where you can find Natron:

- Coop St. Annahof on Bahnhofstr.

- Coop online grocery

- maybe MMM Migros at Glattzentrum (I think I bought a big bottle there once)

Here's where you cannot find Natron:

- Jemoli (I'm very disappointed in you, Jemoli!)

- Migros Zurich City (on Löwenstrasse near Globus)

- Migros Brunau Park

- Leshop.ch (Migros online grocery)

can can

My new favorite gadget: the safe edge can opener. Yes, I get excited by little things. This can opener magically removes the top without leaving any sharp edges. The top can even fit back on for temporary storage. I saw one demo'd at a Tupperware party; but at 50CHF, I wasn't quite sold. I found this Zyliss model at Coop for about 25CHF and it's my new best friend.

bagels, take two

I tried the mini-bagels again, with a few experiments...

- Heat. I increased the heat to 220C from 200C. They're better but I think I can go higher. Next time 230C. I'd prefer to cook shorter time at higher heat so the inside stays moist and the crust gets darker and crisper.

- Flavor. I made them cinnamon raisin this time, adding 2 tsp sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, and 1/3 cup raisins. (I forgot the vanilla extract recommended by another recipe - I'll try that next time.) After boiling, I sprinkled the top with cinnamon sugar. I served them with cream cheese mixed with my favorite honey. So yum!

- Shaping. Last time I rolled the dough into balls and stuck my finger through to create the hole. They were really lumpy. So this time I rolled them into ropes them connected the ends (see pic below). They are much smoother and prettier, but a couple broke into cresents during boiling.

- Dough. I added about a tablespoon more water to the dough because it seemed really dry. This tiny amount made it mucher wet than last time and suprisingly, easier to shape handle after the rise. It was less sticky and easier to shape into smooth ropes. Also, I oiled the bowl the dough rose in and this seemed to make the dough smoother as well.

hot pot, no-knead...

Whatever you call it, I just call it delicious. I finally tried the famous no-knead bread from from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery. (Read more about the phenomenon on Slashfood) WOW! Despite my bumbling, it was soooo good - chewy, flavorful, crisp crust, best I ever made. Here's the glamour shot of the wonderful holey structure.

I reviewed numerous blog postings on this recipe before attempting it myself. Based on my reading, I made two modifications to the original recipe: reducing the water to 1 1/2 cups and reducing the cooking time to 20 mins lid on and 20 mins lid off. I checked the internal temp (215F is the desired temp) periodically during the last 15 minutes to make sure I didn't overcook it.

The most important tip I found was from Rose Levy Beranbaum, regarding the transfer of the dough to the hot pot. She shapes and proofs the dough on a silpat sheet so you can just hold the sheet over the hot pot and let it drop off into the pan. This made the transfer super easy. Here are links to her very useful postings on this no-knead bread:

- hot pot bread story in pictures
- baby hot pot bread alternative - part 1, part 2

I made one big mistake - wrong pot size. I foolishly used my oval Le Creuset pan, thinking that the dough would magically stretch out into an oval shape. Instead, the hot pot seared the dough immediately into the shape when it hit the pan, thus creating the weirdo shape you see below. Next time I'll search my camping gear for my trusty circular Lodge dutch oven to create a more suitable environment.

dough inadequately supported by oval pot

resulting weirdo shape

fluffy stuff - sugar cookies

I've tried lots of sugar cookies recipes (even my trusted Cook's Illustrated) without finding what exactly I wanted. Most recipes deliver a thin, crispy cookie, that often taste too much like butter or flour instead of like a cookie. Of course, I had a model in my mind - a thick, soft, semi-sweet cookie made by my best friend's mother, Donna. I don't why it too me so long to ask for the recipe, but finally I have it and dream has become reality. They are perfect!
The first trick is rolling out the dough thicker, duh. About 1/4 inch instead of 1/8 inch. My best friend, Leslie, also gave me this advice: "I am a firm believer that the secret to any great homemade cookie is beating up the butter/sugar and eggs/liquids tons until light and fluffy before ever adding any dry ingredients." When I read this, it sounded like standard cookie technique. But based on the wonderful results this time, probably something I hadn't paid enough attention to in the past. Here's a pic of my fluffy stuff, pre-dry stuff:

Thick, Soft Sugar Cookies
makes about 30 cookies
12 TB butter (6oz)
1 cup sugar (7oz)
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1. Beat butter and sugar until very light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat 2 more minutes. Add dry ingredients and mix until incorporated.
2. Chill dough for 1 hour. It’s easier to roll out the dough later if you first shape dough into two disks, about 4 inches in diameter, and then wrap each tightly in plastic wrap. (I don't know if this step is really necessary. Sometimes I immediately roll in parchment and chill from there. I think the chilling is just to make the dough more manageable.)
3. Roll & cut. Roll dough thicker than you think you should, approx ¼ inch. The dough warms up very quickly; in about 5 minutes out of the fridge, the dough is a sloppy, buttery mess. So it’s best to roll the dough between parchment paper, then freeze or refrigerate until very cold, then cut very quickly. This technique also prevents the dough from spreading as much in the oven (if bake immediately after cutting), thus preserving more delicate shapes.
4. Bake on ungreased sheet at 400F degrees (205C) for about 7 minutes. Remove just before they start to brown, but they no longer look dough-y. Allow to cool briefly on the pan, then transfer to a rack. Frost & decorate & enjoy!

Quick White Icing (from Joy of Cooking)
Makes about 1 cup. This is my standard icing for decorating with kids. For a more sophisticated glaze, just thin with milk until desired consistency. Heating the icing supposedly eliminates the raw flavor of the cornstarch in the pwd sugar, while making the icing more creamy and more intensely flavored. You be the judge.
Melt or heat in the top of a double boiler over low heat:
4 TB (2oz) unsalted butter or 3 TB heavy cream
Remove from heat and stir in:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted if lumpy
3 TB milk
pinch of salt
Cook, stirring occasionally, over barely simmerig water for 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add:
1 tsp vanilla
Beat until cool and the desired consistency. Keeps for up to 3 days at room temperature, 3 weeks refrigerated, or 6 months frozen.

cheerio-o-o

Never underestimate the power of sugar cereal! One bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and I was dancing in the streets, singing in the rain. How many bowls can I eat in one day without reversing the trend to a downward shame spiral? Some sugar cereals are available at the regular groceries, but lots of special American treats happen to be available at the Jewish groceries in my neighborhood. We're not sure why, but we think perhaps because they are kosher. I'm guessing that the writing on the box is in Hebrew, but it could be Russian for all I know. In any case, it sure looks cool.

flour redux

After many more hours of internet research since my last flour posting, I'm still as confused as ever about the flour available in Switzerland/Europe. Why can't I buy high protein white flour??? It doesn't make any sense given all the fabulous bread available here. My only guesses are either a) euro flour is different and doesn't need to be high-protein to create highly structured bread or b) high-protein flour is available, but only to professional bakers or c) great mail-order flour sources exist but my terrible german/french/italian google skills are preventing me from finding them. I have a hard time believing hypothesis A or B so I'm hoping to find someone to help me with C. Is there some flour freak out there that can help me? Please!

In the absence of documentation, I'm resorting to manual tests. I started this morning by weighing my various flours (shown above), just to see what I'm dealing with. After doing this, I realized this was pointless, only motived by my sleep-deprived state. But it does provide a nice visual for this posting. I still need to purchase the "typed" flour available at Reformhaus. And I'm also still planning to drive the three hours to France and Italy to buy some of their flour, since apparently no one wants to sell it to me over the internet.

My next project is to make various recipes with different flours to see what happens, comparing structure (tightness of grain), height, and flavor. Here's my plan so far:

sandwich bread
· weissmehl 405, 550, and 812
· zopfmehl
· halbweissmehl
· ruchmehl

ciabatta and pizza dough
· weissmehl 812
· halbweissmehl
· ruchmehl

Random lingering questions:
· What is the difference between regular weissmehl and zopfmehl? The protein level is the same.
· What exactly are halbweissmehl and ruchmehl? I know they are part whole wheat, but what does that mean? What percentage whole grain is in these?

bagel, bagel, who's got the bagel?

Inspired by my friend at La Cerise, I made the mini-bagels she made from the Delicious Days posting. Of course, I first consulted my cooking bible, aka The Best Recipe by Cook's Illustrated. According to their tests, bagels should only be made with high-gluten flour (14g plus), which makes them more elastic, lighter, smoother, chewier, taller, etc, etc. This article threw me into another tailspin of internet research on flour available in Switzerland/Europe (read more here...)

Anyway, I tried the bagels with Halbweissmehl, with pleasing results. But there's certainly lots of room for improvement. Here's what I learned today:

• Halbweissmehl at 13g protein provides decent, if not excellent structure. I still may import some high-gluten flour, but I'll keep baking in the meantime.
• My bagel shaping needs serious help. I may try the technique from The Best Recipe, where you roll dough segments into ropes then form into circles, pinching the overlapped ends together. This is bound to make them smoother.
• 200C was not nearly hot enough. After 15 minutes, my little bagels were barely golden. I'm going to try 220C next time.

And now for my bagels story, in pictures:

dough cut into 16 pieces ... then made into bagel shapes, kinda

boiling a mere 30 seconds ... out of the oven

with a little homemade apple butter...yum yum!