Book of Yum

This month when I found out that the Daring Baker Challenge was a chocolate eclair, I couldn’t believe it. Just a few weeks ago I’d had a cream puff for the (second) time in my entire life, and had vowed to learn how to make one myself. Enter- the Daring Baker challenge, Chocolate Éclairs by Pierre Hermé. Unfortunately the recipe was not gluten-free as written, but with all that gorgeous milk and rich eggs, gluten really plays a secondary role. So, I subbed in my favorite flour mix by Rebecca Reilly and mixed up some mean eclairs, with no additions to the basic pastry recipe. I did modify the preparation a little bit, and kept it in the oven longer because when I took it out according to the first directions, it was underbaked and started to deflate. Luckily putting it back in the oven restored it to its former puffy glory and it achieved the desirable hollow state as well as a lovely golden glow. We were required to keep one chocolate element, so I kept the chocolate glaze, but for the filling I made a versatile vanilla cream and added espresso to half of it for a wonderful coffee-mocha eclair. The DH’s response? “Mmmmmm…. you know, I wouldn’t know this was gluten-free if you didn’t tell me.” Music to my ears. And it makes me all the happier that I froze half of the recipe for later…. Yet another resounding Daring Baker success that taught me how to make a new, super yummy treat. But what happened to this batch? I invited the previously mentioned JM, another v. cool GF girl, over and we had a GF beer tasting, eclairs, and homemade masala dosa. Eclectic enough for you? The eclairs were a hit with everyone concerned- and I’ve got another decadent gluten-free recipe in my repertoire. Feeling sad because you can’t have the offerings in your local bakery? Try this amazing recipe and feast on eclairs- I promise you’ll enjoy them! You can check out other Alternative Daring Bakers here.

Gluten Free Pate a Choux/ Gluten-free eclair recipe Dessert  Dairy  European

Ingredients Pierre Herm�s Cream Puff Dough with Gluten-free variation and modified instructions (makes 20-24 �clairs) 1/2 cup (125g) whole milk 1/2 cup (125g) water 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces 1/4 teaspoon sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt *1 cup (140g) Rebecca Reilly GF flour mix 5 large eggs, at room temperature 1 tsp. vanilla Chocolate glaze (see separate recipe) Vanilla and/ or Espresso pastry cream (see separate recipe) *Rebecca Reilly’s GF flour mix uses 2 cups brown rice flour, 2/3 cup potato starch, and 1/3 cup tapioca starch mixed together. Although you only use one cup in this recipe, I keep it on hand- it’s great for many different things. Directions 1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the boil. 2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it�s supposed to. You need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough will be very soft and smooth. 3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough. You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon. 4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the �clairs as directed below. Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately. Baking the eclairs (directions for making about 10 eclairs and freezing 10 for later): � Cream Puff Dough Recipe (above), fresh and still warm 1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Position the rack in the lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with waxed or parchment paper. 2) Prepare a large Ziploc gallon or quart freezer bag by cutting out 2/3 of an inch slice out of the lower corner of the bag. Fill the bag with the warm cream puff dough and pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 4 1/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers. Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff. The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 �clairs. Put ONE of the baking sheets in the freezer and then once the eclair dough is frozen, put them in a plastic bag back in the freezer and wash the baking sheet. 3) Slide the OTHER baking sheets into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet so that the front is in the back and the back is in the front. Bake for another ten minutes or until eclairs are golden and sound hollow when you tap on them. It is really important that they not be undercooked as they will deflate if so. Turn off the oven and open the door, letting them cool slowly in the oven. Place on a rack to finish cooling. Notes: 1) The �clairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling, or stored in a tupperware overnight, making sure they are completely cool before you close the lid. If you store them overnight, re-crisp them in the oven for 5 minutes and let cool again before filling. Assembling the �clairs: 1) Slice the �clairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper. 2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 � 104 degrees F or 35 � 40 degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of the �clairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the bottoms with the pastry cream. 3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the �clairs. I made half with Vanilla pastry cream and half with Espresso pastry cream. Make sure you fill the bottoms with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream and wriggle gently to settle them. Notes Notes on baking GF eclair dough: 1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately. 2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month Notes on assembling eclairs: 1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water, stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create bubbles. 2) The �clairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Rating:  9 Original Source:  Daring Baker Challenge, Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herm� Recipe ID:  1288 Added:  August 28, 2008 Last Modified:  August 28, 2008

When I first saw this month’s Daring Baker challenge, I have to admit I felt some trepidation. After all, I’d never tried anything as complex as making a gluten-free “Danish Braid,” and to be honest, except for the braid part, I wasn’t quite sure what it was. Was a danish bread like yeast bread? Or was it more like pastry? Should I substitute chebe and hope for the best? It turned out that danish bread is a cross between yeast bread and pastry. According to the challenge, “Danish dough is in the family of butter-laminated or layered doughs.” Puff pastry is the most extreme example of laminated dough, but “danish dough is sweet and is yeast-leavened, however, whereas puff pastry is not.” Our challengers said that while Danish dough wasn’t as difficult as puff pastry, the process of making it was delicate, and it was “a great starting place to begin to learn about laminated doughs in general.” Whew. Well, I sat out the last event due to a schedule conflict, but this recipe sounded appealing, if a little daunting. The trick would just be making it gluten-free. Luckily, the new Daring Bakers site has a forum for alternative bakers (both vegan and/or gluten-free) and I was able to read about the experiments of my peers. Many of their flour combinations sounded promising, but I was most drawn to Jeanine’s millet blend. I don’t do very well with millet, so when testing the recipe I tried one batch with teff flour, and another with quinoa flour. I liked both versions, but the teff is better if you like a brown “nutty” flavor, and the quinoa is better if you like a sweeter brown flour. The quinoa especially complimented the cinnamon apple filling, but ieither one was quite tasty. I was impressed to find the dough quite workable, although the layer of butter (Beurrage) tended too ooze out and make a mess. I rolled it out inside ziploc plastic bags and wrapped it up in saran wrap for chilling sessions, and that helped contain things somewhat. Also, I sprinkled my keynote flour (teff or quinoa) on the buttery parts as I rolled it out and that helped contained things somewhat. I was most excited when I rolled out the dough the last time and found that I had a dough that I could actually braid. It helped that I had rolled it out on parchment paper and was able to keep the dough on the parchment when I put it in the oven.

One of the fun parts of making any danish is deciding on a filling. Really, the possibilities are limitless. Here at our house, we are big fans of a traditional apple filling, and it compliments the cardamom dough so beautifully it was hard to resist. But, since I decided to make this recipe twice (in the interest of science, mind you), I felt that I really ought to experiment the second time around. Don’t get me wrong- I still made half of the second version apple ’cause it’s so darned good. But, I was also inspired by a recent Foodgawk sighting of Tartelette’s Plum and Rosemary Sugar tartelettes to try making half with a plum filling with rosemary sugar sprinkle. It was quite fortuitous really, since the only fruit I had in the house was apple and fresh plum, and I grow my own rosemary on the balcony! I also experimented with the lamination technique. An egg was was nice, although it ended up in extra eggs (No worries, I used them in a late-night omelet for the DH), but I wanted to try the dough sprinkled with seasoned sugar. For the apple danish, I was inspired by my Father-in-Law’s GF Norwegian Christmas Bread Recipe to sprinkle the dough with two parts sugar to one part cinnamon. I sprinkled the plum filling with Tartelette’s rosemary sugar. One note, though- wait until right before you are going to sprinkle the dough with sugar to combine them, as the moisture from the rosemary will cause the sugar to clump up a bit. Also, plums contain a lot of moisture, so you may want to drain them after slicing before using them as filling. I noticed that the plum mixture was fairly liquidy. The apple filling was also rather liquid according to the original recipe, so I added cornstarch and it was perfect.

When I brought the pastry over to DH for taste testing, he was enthused- and then he tasted the melty, sweet apple danish. To my surprise and delight, he loved it, and said he’d give it a “9.5 out of 10″ which is the highest rating he’s ever given out. The combination of cardamom pastry and cinnamon sugar made him think of Christmas, and he was completely enamored with the flaky, light dough. “I wouldn’t know it was gluten-free if you didn’t tell me,” he said, and I was thrilled. At last, a pastry that passed the glutenoid test! Of course, I absolutely loved the decadent and flaky pastry. The plum filling and rosemary sugar was a novel flavor combination, and went well with the pastry, although I might leave out the cardamom in the dough next time. The apple filling with fresh vanilla seeds was absolutely divine, especially with the cinnamon sugar topping and with extra apples.

This treat tastes the best the first day you make it, like most baked goods, but you can also refresh it by putting it in a toaster oven for ten minutes and letting it cool to room temperature the next day or even the third day. You know, almost every month when I see the Daring Baking Challenge I have to ask, “Wow, how am I going to do that with gluten-free flour?” Luckily I’m not on my own anymore, as I have my fellow alternative daring bakers to get suggestions from and learn from. Not only am I learning from my peers, but the recipes themselves turns out to be a huge learning experience. So far I’ve learned how to make a double layer cake, how to make (dairy-free) chocolate cheesecake pops, and how to make a gluten-free braid danish inspired by the best of Viennese cuisine. I can’t wait to see what we learn how to make next month!

Gluten Free Danish Bread Braid Recipe Bread  Dessert  Dairy  European

Ingredients For the dough (Detrempe): 1 1/2 tsp. active dry yeast 1/4 cup whole milk (I used milk infused with cardamom and saffron) 1/6 cup sugar Zest of 1/2 orange, finely grated 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom 3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract 1/4 vanilla bean, split and scraped 1 large eggs, chilled 1/8 cup fresh orange juice 1/2 cup sweet rice flour 1/2 cup tapioca starch 1/2 cup brown rice flour 2 Tbsp. teff OR quinoa flour 1 tsp xanthan gum 1/2 tsp baking powder 1 teaspoon salt *more teff or quinoa flour for dusting For the butter block (Beurrage) 1 stick cold unsalted butter 1/8 cup GF all-purpose flour (I used Rebecca Reilly’s blend with brown rice flour, potato starch and tapioca starch, but anything is fine) DOUGH Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Add the salt with the (combined) flours and xanthan gum and baking powder, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 10 minutes. BUTTER BLOCK 1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature. 2. After the detrempe has chilled 10 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and � inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 10 minutes. 3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, 1/4-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes. 4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month. APPLE FILLING Makes enough for two braids Ingredients 3 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4 inch slices 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 vanilla bean, split and scraped 1/8 cup fresh lemon juice 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a saut� pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and saut� until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you�ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries. PLUM ROSEMARY FILLING: 4 plums, pitted and sliced 1 tbsp. fresh rosemary, minced 1/8 cup sugar DANISH BRAID Ingredients 1 recipe Danish Dough (see below) 2 cups apple filling Cinnamon Sugar Topping: Warm milk Cinnamon Sugar (Cinnamon and sugar, combined, to desired sweetness) 1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, 1/4 inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet. 2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you�ve already made. 3. Spoon the filling you�ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom �flaps�, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom �flap� up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends. Cinnamon Sprinkle: Coat the braid with warm milk and sprinkle with even but generous amount of cinnamon sugar. Proofing and Baking 1. Spray cooking oil (Pam�) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch. 2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven. 3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month. Directions

Rating:  10 Original Source:  Daring Baker Challenge from Sherry Yard�s The Secrets of Baking, GF blend inspired by Jeanine Recipe ID:  1256 Added:  June 24, 2008 Last Modified:  June 26, 2008