Posts by Friday Baking Project
Kugelhopf
The April Viennoiserie series finishes with Kugelhopf, a wonderful yeast bread whose exact European origins are as unclear as the name itself. Looking through various old Austrian, German, and French baking books one sees Gugelhupf, Gugelhopf, Guglhupf, Kouglof, and Kugelhupf. While the “correct” spelling remains a mystery, it became clear during my research that there…
Read MoreBrioche
Brioche and croissant are both Viennoiserie (breakfast pastries) but the preparation is quite different. Croissant dough calls for multiple folds of a simple yeast dough and butter (lamination) for its distinctive flakiness, while Brioche owes its softness and tenderness to the butter and eggs that are added directly to the dough. It is an extremely…
Read MorePain aux Raisins
Before opening my retail pastry shop in Vineyard Haven, I baked for an extended summer season out of the porch of my house in Chilmark. In addition to producing desserts for several island restaurants, a daily assortment of Viennoiseries came out of my commercial convection oven. While they were primarily sold at Alley’s General Store,…
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The Friday Baking Project
Pain au Chocolat
PRINT Yield: 7 to 8 # of servings: 7 Ingredients 1 recipe Croissant 6 oz chocolate, 55% to 71% 1 egg, lightly beaten Special equipment needed: Pre-recipe preparations: Directions
Read MorePain au Chocolat
Pain au Chocolat combines two of the world’s best food creations; croissant and chocolate. Pastry shops use a 3-inch piece of chocolate, called a baton, for their pain au chocolat. For the home baker, slivers of chocolate cut from your favorite semi or bittersweet chocolate bar work fine. A warm pain au chocolat, where the…
Read MoreCroissant
When someone would ask me to name my favorite thing to bake at my Martha’s Vineyard pastry shop Seven Layers, the answer was easy – Croissant. I absolutely loved the process of making croissant as well as the time of day they were produced. I would arrive at the shop at around 5:30 am, open…
Read MoreCrème Caramel
Crème Caramel is a French baked custard that delights with a silky-smooth texture as well as the wonderful interplay of the caramel with the vanilla infused custard. The smooth texture is the result of its gentle baking in a water bath. The soft caramel on top is derived from lining the souffl© dish with caramel…
Read MoreHazelnut Cake Roll
Quite a few years ago my middle brother and I were guests at a Seder hosted by a dear friend of our mother. Margaret was a lovely woman, an Austrian immigrant, very calm and soft-spoken, and the only one I knew growing up with concentration camp numbers emblazoned on her arm. It was a lovely…
Read MoreItalian Carrot-Pecan Torta
This is a lovely, plain, dairy-free torta (cake in Italian) that makes a very nice Passover seder dessert, although would be welcome at any time of the year. Fresh berries and a fruit sorbet are a perfect accompaniment. For those not concerned about the dairy-free status, a whipped cream and crème fra®che combination also works…
Read MoreDacquoise
For this week’s blog I will discuss the process of designing, testing and refining a cake, from the overall design to the specifics of all the components. Constructing a Dacquoise had been on The Friday Baking Project do-list for some time and with my favorite roasted hazelnut flour around the kitchen from Passover recipe testing,…
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