Category: Grandpa’s Use Only

These recipes are for Grandpa and his family. This category includes recipes from magazines, TV shows, newspapers, and other sources where I don’t have permission to republish the recipes, but still feels they are recipes that he may want to cook for himself at a later time.

Breton Cake – Kouign Amann

As shown on The Great British Baking Show

Ingredients

  • 300g (10½ oz) strong plain flour, plus extra for dusting
  • 5g fast-action yeast
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 200ml (7 fl oz) warm water
  • 25g (1 oz) unsalted butter, melted
  • 250g (9 oz) cold unsalted butter, in a block
  • 100g (3½ oz) caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

Directions

  1. Put the flour into the bowl of a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the yeast to one side of the bowl and the salt to the other. Add the water and melted butter and mix on a slow speed for two minutes, then on a medium speed for six minutes.
  2. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and shape into a ball. Put into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for one hour.
  3. Sandwich the butter between two sheets of greaseproof paper and bash with a rolling pin, then roll out to a 14cm (5½ in) square. Place in the fridge to keep chilled.
  4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 20cm (8 in) square. Place the butter in the centre of the dough diagonally, so that each side of butter faces a corner of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter to enclose like an envelope.
  5. Roll the dough into a 45x15cm (18×6 in) rectangle. Fold the bottom third of dough up over the middle, then fold the top third of the dough over. You will now have a sandwich of three layers of butter and three layers of dough. Wrap in cling film and place in the fridge for 30 minutes. This completes one turn.
  6. Repeat this process twice more, so you have completed a total of three turns, chilling the dough for 30 minutes between turns.
  7. Roll the dough into a rectangle as before. Sprinkle the dough with the caster sugar and fold into thirds again. Working quickly, roll the dough into a large 40x30cm (16×12 in) rectangle. Sprinkle the dough with caster sugar and cut the dough into 12 squares.
  8. Grease a 12-cup muffin tin well with oil. Gather the dough squares up by their four corners and place in the muffin tins, pulling the four corners towards the centre of the muffin tin, so that it gathers up like a four-leaf clover. Sprinkle with caster sugar and leave to rise, covered with a clean tea towel, for 30 minutes until slightly puffed up.
  9. Preheat oven to 220C/200C(fan)/425F/Gas 7. Bake the pastries for 30-40 minutes, or until golden-brown. Cover with foil halfway through if beginning to brown too much. Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a couple of minutes before turning out onto a wire rack. Be careful not to burn yourself on the caramelized sugar, but don’t leave them to cool for too long, or the caramelized sugar will harden and they will be stuck in the tin.
  10. Serve warm or cold.

Tips/Techniques

Equipment required: a 12-cup muffin tin and a freestanding mixer fitted with a dough hook

 

Roasted Provolone

Use approx 6 ounces (two cups) Provolone cheese cut into 1/2 inch pieces
Toss with 1/4 C shredded Parmesan cheese and 1/2 C cubed Mozzarella cheese
Add a pinch of oregano and a drizzle of olive oil
Preheat broiler to high and put cheese into an ovenproof ramekin or cast iron skillet
Broil until browned and bubbling (about 8-10 minutes.
Transfer to a plate lined with several paper towels or a nice kitchen cloth
Season with oregano an other favorite toppings (such as crumbled bacon or more shaved Parmesan).
Serve hot with toast

Roasted Provalone
(Photo from Bon Appetit Magazine and La Huella, Uruguay)

Arepas

  • 1 C pre-cooked corn meal (P.A.N. is very popular)
  • 1/2 C hot water
  • 1/2 C warm milk
  • scant salt
  • 1 TBL butter
  1. Mix above to playdough consistency.  Add a little more milk or corn meal if necessary
  2. Form into golf-ball sized balls, and flatten just a bit
    You can make them bigger, but if you do, consider baking at 350º for about 15 minutes or deep fry for 6-8 minutes
  3. Indent the center and put a bit of filling
  4. Wrap around the filling and flatten again
  5. Fry in 1 TBL EVOO for about 5 minutes per side

Fillings:  meat, cheese, beans, cream cheese, avocado, etc.

CLICK ANY IMAGE FOR AN ENLARGEMENT
FullSizeRender-109

FullSizeRender-106

Coffee information – A better cup of coffee

  • Try to control these four things:
    • Grind size
      • Propeller blade causes inconsistent size
      • Burr grinder will create similar sized grains
        They are expensive.  Consider using Store Grinders
    • Temperature
      • Temperature of brewing water should be 190 – 205º
    • Proportion
      • Ideally 2 TBL coffee to 6 oz of distilled water
    • Brew time
      • Brew time is 4-5 minutes – strained into a caraffe

TWO WAYS OF COOKING COFFEE

  1. Heat water to about 207-210 degrees and pour over coffee grounds in a ceramic filter.  Rinse clear water through the coffee filter before running your coffee through.  2 TBL per cup of coffee.
  2. Drip coffee – about 210-211 degrees and poured through grounds
  3. Stovetop – Comes to a simmer, so it is about 212º so let it come to the MEAREST SIMMER don’t let it come to a rolling boil
  • ROASTS
    • Light City – high caffiene
    • Full City
    • French Vanilla
    • Italian
    • Espresso – low caffiene
  • Bagged coffee should have a pressure release button on the bag
  • COFFEE PRODUCTION LOCATIONS – Descriptions by Alton Brown
    • Hawaii and Central America – Bright and Snappy
    • E Africa and Yeman – Brooding
    • Sumatra and Indonesisa – Funky

Tip 1
Place a cinnamon stick piece in the basket of your coffee maker
Optionally, a piece of star anise or an orange peel

Tip2
Place a piece of salted caramel chocolate in the bottom of your coffee cup
Fill half with coffee, and then fill with warm half-and-half
Stir

Tip 3
Create your own vanilla coffee syrup
Scrape out the inside of one vanilla bean
Place shell of vanilla bean in the pan
Add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water
Heat to about 180°

Carrot Soup

4 C chicken broth
2 carrots (peeled and grated)
1 stalk of celery (diced)
2 cloves garlic (minced)
1 TBL butter
1 TBL sugar
1 TBL flour
1 onion (diced)
3 TBL fresh cilantro
1 tsp corriander
salt and pepper to taste
zest from 1 lemon with juice

  1. Brown onions in melted butter
  2. Add carrots, flour and sugar
  3. Add chicken broth
  4. Add garlic and cilantro
  5. Add coriander, salt and pepper
  6. Cook for 25 minutes
  7. Puree with immersion blender
  8. Add garlic and lemon
  9. Top with cream and a sprig of cilantro

Cremé Anglaise aka Vanilla Sauce

First I will mention that the liquid must be at least 160º but never exceed 185º or the eggs will solidify

Separate 4 eggs
– We will use the yolks in the recipe. You can reserve the whites for other uses
Mix egg yolks and 1/4 C granulated sugar together until the color lightens
Set aside

In a small, heavy saucepan, heat cream and vanilla until bubbles form at edges.
2 C heavy cream
1/3 cup castor (or white) sugar
1 tsp corn starch
1/2 vanilla bean (optional 1 tsp vanilla extract)
When cream is about 185º pour into your preheated double boiler – stirring almost constantly

Temper several ladles of hot liquid into the egg mixture, then slowly return to the double boiler, whisking constantly.
Continue to whisk until the sauce thickens. If a few clumps do develop, you can strain the liquid, but if the custard splits there is no remedy. You must start over.

Here is a video from Food Network about how to temper an egg mixture.

See also WikiPedia

Buttercream Frosting

Easy Buttercream

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (115 grams) unsalted butter (softened)
  • 1.5 cups (180 grams) powdered sugar
     For a sweeter frosting, mix in an additional 1/4 C
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tablespoons (30 ml) heavy cream or heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Tiny pinch of salt

Instructions

  1. In the large mixing bowl, combine the butter and powdered sugar.  Mix with a hand-held mixer until smooth and fully combined.
  2. Add the heavy cream, vanilla extract, and salt
  3. Continue mixing on medium speed until everything is well combined.
  4. Pipe the frosting onto cupcakes or frost a cake.
 

Note

Frosting can be made 1 to 2 days in advance, cover tightly and transfer to the refrigerator. Remove from the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before frosting cupcakes/cakes.

 

Heavy Cream: You may replace the heavy cream with milk, but the frosting won’t be quite as creamy.

 

Recipe Variations

  • Vanilla: For a vanilla buttercream frosting, double the vanilla.
  • Chocolate: Sift 1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder and mix it into the frosting base until well combined.
  • Caramel: Mix in 1/4C  caramel ice cream topping.
  • Strawberry: Add a 1-ounce frozen strawberries to the bowl at Step 2 above.

American Buttercream

  1. Combine
    • 2 sticks softened butter
    • 1/2 C shortening
    • scant salt and 1 tsp vanilla
  2. Combine with
    • 12-14 oz confectioner sugar
  3. Beat everything using your paddle attachment
  4. Add
    • 1/4 C buttermilk
    • 2 TBL (1 oz) sour cream
  5. Blend until combined
  • Ice round cakes on a lazy susan
  • You can elevate the cake by putting a flat mixing bowl on the lazy susan at the beginning
  • Put a blob of icing on the cardboard cake round to “hold” the cake still
  • Cut the puffy top off so that layered cakes will sit evenly.
  • Using a long knife or long saw blade, cut even layers
  • Cut a notch in the side of the cake to help with alignment later
  • Ice between layers
  • Create a “crumb coat” of icing that will be covered up later.
  • Put the crumb coat into the fridge for 20-30 minutes to harden
  • Apply the final outside layer of icing.
  • To create “writing chocolate” combine 1 C chocolate chips and 2 tsp canola oil.  Stir together, then microwave for 60 seconds.  Stir to mix, then put into a piping bag or squirt bottle.  As you are writing, back up and the end of each letter.
HTML Snippets Powered By : XYZScripts.com