lemon curd brioche bun

Growing up, my breakfast wasn't the typical cereal and juice. Instead, I had pineapple buns and red bean swirl bread. I think my love for bread started out very young. Finding a left over bag of lemons, I began googling anything lemon and bread related. Finally deciding to take a stab at making a filled bread bun. Luckily, my Cooks Illustrated cookbook has a recipe for a quick brioche dough, perfect for turning into buns rather than the typical brioche a tete.

The brioche recipe was probably one of the more simply and less time consuming bread recipes I've experimented with over the last year. The original recipe only required one rise! Unheard of in bread baking, I thought, but how could Cooks Illustrated do me wrong? And of course, Cooks Illustrated is virtually never wrong, since the bread did come out super soft and texturally authentic to is French heritage.

The lemon curd was just a bit tangy for the barely sweet bread. Tasting the curd alone was fine, but when paired with the brioche, it overpowered the subtle buttery flavor. I would suggest adding a bit more sugar to the curd to ensure a better balanced bread bun. For a first try in filled buns, it was still a delightful breakfast item with a perky tangy bite.

Lemon Curd from Cooks Illustrated


1/4 cup lemon juice
3/8 cup sugar
small pinch of salt
1 large egg plus 1 1/2 large yolks
2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled

Heat lemon juice, sugar, and salt in small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sugar dissolves and mixture is hot but not boiling, about 1 minute.

Whisk egg and egg yolks together in a medium bowl, then slowly whisk in hot lemon mixture to temper. Return mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture is thickened and 170 degrees.

Off heat, stir in butter until melted and incorporated. Press plastic wrap to surface and chill.

Quick Brioche adapted from Cooks Illustrated


1/2 cup milk, heated to 110 degrees
2 1/4 tsp rapid-rise yeast
2 1/4 cups AP flour
6 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
3 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs

Whisk milk and yeast together in medium bowl, then stir in 1 cup flour. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Pulse butter, sugar, and salt in food processor until mixture is soft and smooth, about 5 pulses, scraping down bowl as needed. Add eggs, one at a time, and process after each addition until fully incorporated. Add remaining 1 1/4 cups flour and yeast-flour mixture, pulse until mixture forms soft, smooth dough, then process continuously for 15 seconds. Transfer dough to well-floured counter and knead by hand to form smooth and elastic ball. Transfer to oiled bowl, cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until about doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Assemble and Bake


Scrape out dough and cut into six pieces. Form a piece into a ball and flatten slight to prepare for filling. Spoon about a tbsp of the chilled curd in the center and wrap dough around to form a filled ball. Repeat with the remaining dough. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and cover lightly for about 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake for about 10-15 minutes, turning halfway through.

beer batter gruyere pull apart bread

A few weeks back, I stumbled upon Smitten Kitchen's awesome post on this ingenious pull apart bread. Doesn't it just look amazing? And with my affinity for anything bread, I couldn't help but drool a little bit. Since I had a leftover block of Gruyere from the petit croque monsieurs, it felt like a sign to break out the yeast and beer. Luckily for me, the Cook's Illustrated Cookbook that V. sent me (plenty of thanks again), had a beer batter cheese bread that called for Gruyere and a lighter beer (which I prefer to drink and also just so happened to have sitting in the fridge). I must say that was another sign, don't you agree? Naturally, I went on my merry way to blend two recipes to make something all my own.

I loved Smitten Kitchen's idea of incorporating the flavors of a Welsh rarebit, which I never heard of until flipping through the pages of the Martha Stewart Hor's D'oeuvres book. Though it would have been nice to do the same, I decided that the assertive mustard and spice flavors would overpower my much milder Gruyere, not to mention the lighter Heineken. So I opted to use less Dijon that still offered a slight kick and amped up the amount of freshly ground black pepper.

The results? A kitchen filled with the savory aroma of a soft cheesy bread that pulls apart with ease. It reminisced of a larger, more palate intriguing, bread stick. As for my constant taste tester, Mom thought it reminded her of a bread she grew up eating as a child, finding the distinctively light yet unique flavor familiar. I instantly laughed, since this was a beer batter cheese bread that I'm almost certain you wouldn't find in Asia decades ago. It was probably the rye and wheat flours she recognized. The loaf was divided into a section for my brother and the rest went with me for snacking purposes on my trip to San Francisco.


Devil's Teeth Baking Company's cafe latte and donut muffin, Tea Way's boba milk green tea, Devil's Teeth's apple pie, Philz Coffee's tantalizing turkish, Devil's Teeth's beignets, and Saigon Sandwich's roast chicken banh mi


Speaking of SF, I couldn't resist sharing some of the delicious food that came my way all in one day. A very big thank you and hug to S., who spent the day taking me around the city and eating along the way.

Beer Batter Gruyere Pull Apart Bread adapted from Smitten Kitchen & Cook's Illustrated

Bread
4 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup plus 1/2 cup light beer
3 cups AP flour, divided
2/3 cup rye flour, divided
2 tbsp sugar
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 tsp salt
2 large eggs, room temperature

Filling
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 cups shredded Gruyere

In a small saucepan, melt butter for bread with 1/4 cup of beer, until the butter is just melted. Remove from heat and add remaining 1/2 cup of beer. Set aside to cool to between 110 and 116 degrees.

In bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, stir 2 cups of AP flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. With mixer on low, pour in beer-butter mixture, mixing until the flour is moistened. Add eggs, one at a time, until combined. Add 1/2 cup of AP flour and 1/3 cup of rye flour, mixing until combined. Slowly add the remaining rye flour until dough starts to pull away from sides of bowl. Add in remaining AP flour if necessary. Switch to dough hook and knead on low for 3 to 5 minutes.

Oil a large bowl and transfer dough into it. Turn dough over to completely oil the dough to prevent drying. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and set aside to double, about an hour.

Back in the same small saucepan, melt 2 tbsp butter. Remove from heat and whisk in mustard. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine Gruyere with salt and pepper. Keep in fridge until ready to use.

Grease a loaf pan lightly with butter.

Turn out dough onto a well floured surface, and roll out into a 20x12 inch rectangle. Brush the mustard-butter mixture across the dough, all the way to the edges. Cut the dough into 5 strips, each 4x12 inches. Sprinkle 1/5th of the cheese mixture evenly on top of the first strip. Place another strip on top and cover with another 1/5th of the cheese mixture. Make sure to press lightly down after each strip to ensure good adhesion. Repeat until all the strips and cheese are used.

Cut the stack into 6 or 7 segments 2 inch segments. Arrange stacks of dough down the length of the loaf pan. I placed the non-cheesed side of the first segment facing out toward the pan, preventing the cheese from potentially sticking to the pan. Continue stacking the segments, finishing with the last segment non-cheesed side facing out as well. Loosely cover with plastic wrap for second rise, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350. Bake loaf for about 35 minutes, until puffed and browned. Transfer to wire rack and cool for 5 minutes before flipping out to serve.

pumpkin galore

I had a bunch of pumpkin puree left over from the Thanksgiving dessert, so I followed up with more pumpkin goodies the week after Thanksgiving. I made this pumpkin nut bread last year, and my coworkers really liked it. It was a nice change up from the normal banana nut bread.

The recipe is from the reliable Williams Sonoma, since they never fail me in offering up delicious recipes for tasting and testing. It was originally a pumpkin bread with dates, but I swapped the dates for toasted chopped pecans. As for the nut oil it called for, I substituted canola oil, which has a neutral flavor and won't take away or distort the bread flavor.

I used a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to shape these thick slices of bread into cute little pumpkins. A small baggie was packed and left for my brother to taste.



Still left with some puree in my fridge, I continued on the pumpkin journey with cookies. This time I tried to clean my fridge of the remnants of Thanksgiving. There were fresh cranberries leftover from making cranberry sauce, so I oven dried them on a parchment lined baking sheet in a 275 degree oven. I hoped to mimic dried cranberries, but some of them bursted. Nonetheless, I added them to about half of the batter before baking.

The recipe once again was from Williams Sonoma, only with my tweaks. The original pumpkin cookies were iced and called for walnuts and raisins, but I opted out of icing, since I prefer my baked goods less sweet than most and swapped in pecans and cranberries. The results were pretty good for a first time try of the recipe. A's coworkers thought they were gingerbready, most likely a result of the ground ginger. The cranberries were actually quite sour, but worked well to balance the flavors of the cookies.

I can honestly say I've never had this much pumpkin, but it was nice to fill my house with the familiar smells of warm spices of the holiday season. I love busying myself in the kitchen, my favorite room of the house. I hope everyone has a little time to do their own baking to share with family and friends this holiday season.

bread, bread, and more bread

I love bread. Everything from basic baguette to Chinese sweet taro buns...there's no discrimination. When Starbucks started marketing their sandwich line, I remember reading an ad in a magazine where no coffee was mentioned at all and the entire blurb was dedicated to the awesomeness of bread. I agreed wholeheartedly.

In the past two weeks, I found myself going through bread flour and yeast, waiting for batches to proof and rise, and filling my house with the unmistakable smell of baked goods. And of course, the results became breakfast for my mom and I, thank goodness she shares the same fondness for bread as I do.

First up...a cinnamon raisin bread. A great flavorful and moist bread for breakfast, simply toasted with a bit of butter was how we enjoyed it. A thick slice was bagged for A., who had her eyes on the brown sugary corner; something unintended for, but I guess at least she liked. My mom liked it so much, she gave me one of the best critiques, "You could sell this." I laughed and ate more bread. I baked a mini version (the lower left picture), which resulted in the cutest iconic bread slice (center right) with its overhanging domed top.

Up next...a Swedish rye bread with my own spin. I wanted to create something similar to a dark squaw or dark pumpernickel bread, but as a first attempt, this fell a bit short. The rye flour was definitely noticeable, giving the bread a distinctive taste. I'm going to experiment some more, possibly by adding more molasses, some unsweetened chocolate, etc. to create a flavor I recall from a restaurant that closed a few years back.

And last but not least...banana nut bread. I had some very ripe bananas, so my mom asked for banana nut bread. Quite a simple recipe, which was great, especially since it called for 3 bananas unlike another recipe I used before that called for 6. I substituted regular milk with a bit of lemon juice for buttermilk, and the results were undetectable. The only thing that I distinctly remember liking more from the 6 banana recipe was the sugary crust, which can be easily added to this recipe by sprinkling a few teaspoons of sugar on top right before baking.

All of the above recipes were from my Williams Sonoma Baking Book, a collection I turn to all the time to find inspiration.

Happy bread eating!