Easy Cold Brew Coffee ***Updated***

Summer is just around the corner even if winter doesn't want to leave. Hard to believe that central MN got pounded with several inches of heavy wet snow on the 23rd of April. That said I'm posting a summer drink that is easy to make, but does take a little planning ahead of time. Also it's a lot cheaper to make than buying it a coffee shop. Like the title indicates I'm talking about cold brew coffee.

Well it's been 48 hours since my first attempt at making cold brew coffee. As was noted in a Google plus post my first attempt was more or less coffee paste over any actual cold brewed coffee. The main reason for that was the proportion in the recipe I initially used had the ratio of coffee grounds to water too high. For my second attempt I went to the internet and found a site that had a easy recipe for making cold brew coffee.
After a quick read through of the recipe I decided to give it shot.

Cold Brew Coffee:

1-3/4 Cup of ground coffee of choice (Used a medium bodied roast for this attempt)
3-1/2 Cup of water (Used cold filtered water)

(yields ~ 2 cups of coffee concentrate) 


Mixed all ingredients into a 2-quart container then cover with plastic wrap or container's cover. I used a old juice container that I had cleaned out. Let sit for minimum of 12 hours and maximum of 24 hours.

Once the brewing time is up, now comes the fun part filtering the brewed coffee from the grounds. For this I used a coffee filter and a single serve coffee maker (that black thing above the clear coffee mug).

I included a short video showing a part of the filtering process.

As an aside I ended up using 3 #2 Melitta paper filters during the filtering process. I generally use Melitta papers filters because they tend to brew better coffee than the standard cheap coffee filters. Again this is personal preference. Also I was a bit on the anxious side finishing up this batch so I ended up squeezing the filters to get out all the brewed coffee I could. That was a bit of a mistake. On the site, I noted above, they don't recommend doing that and I'll concur since it made the brew a lot more bitter than I was hoping / expecting. 

Once I had filtered the cold brew coffee I ran it through one additional filter before I put it in my storage container for refrigerating. If you were wondering that stacked mess below in the picture luckily didn't fall over when I was pouring.

Cooling should take a minimum of 2 hours in the refrigerator. In winter up in ND it will probably take 20-30 minutes outside. 

Once cooled enjoy with ice, sugar / coffee syrup and equal parts half-half, water or milk. 

I've started another batch this evening and will try to alleviate my mistakes noted from above and will report back with another post or amending this post with a update. Also I'm going to try and find a cheap french press coffee maker and try using it to see if it makes the filtering process a little easier.

Let me know how your batches turn out with a comment below and any suggestions your tips and tricks you have when making the cold brew coffee. Also let me know what kind of roast you used ie (light or dark roast).

Best Regards,

Dan

Reference Site: http://www.chow.com/recipes/30487-basic-cold-brewed-coffee

***Update***
After trying for a third time I was able to take the bitterness out of the cold brew coffee by not squeezing out the coffee filter. Sorry no pictures.

Fork in the road

The Long Winding Road has been living on life support for awhile now with semi haphazard updates. That said I have been toying with the idea of changing directions with the blogs content. A week ago I decided to start up a "Cooking Circle" on Google+ (hence the fork in the road). Instead of posting to all my followers I set it up for only those who were interested in cooking/baking recipes and techniques. For the time being some of those posts will show up on here.

Best Regards,

-Dan

Mixing up the pizza idea.

Below is a note I had wrote on my Facebook page a long time ago, ok September 2009, I had forgot about. The note included some of my ramblings about making pizzas, which at that point I was just beginning to fall into that slippery slope of baking bread in a oven instead of a bread machine. That said enjoy my old-ish ramblings about making pizzas. As an aside I still use some of these techniques and ideas in my current baking. 

-Dan 

After baking bread often last year (my roommates can attest to the many different kinds loafs of bread) I tried to take it one-step further. What came about was well rather flat in one respect, fun, and unique in the other. It's amazing what one basic dough recipe can transform into when you take it a step further. When it comes down to it, I've learned more than my fair share of mixing flavors in baking pizzas. Talking to a few friends, most people say what makes a pizza is the sauce. I'll agree with that but for me that's not the pivotal point on a pizza. For me it's the Crust. Thin, Thick, Stuffed, or dessert or whatever way you like to throw it what goes into the dough it the one thing people will remember because it's "usually" the last thing their taste buds will remember. Therefore, here are a few tips I've come to live by through trial and error when making pizzas.

• NEVER, buy a pre-made or packaged instant crust
• If you’re going to add spices to a crust, know what the toppings on top and sauce are going to be and use spices in the crust to accent them.
• Adding a hard cheese (Parmesan, Romano, or Asiago) within crust can help make it softer
• Milk can add just the right amount of creamy texture
• don’t be afraid to mix a little of the sauce into the crust to bring out a little extra flavor and it's something most people never expect
• sugar or a sweetener is great but not in excess because you risk killing the yeast
• Sea salt over convention table salt
• Use bread flour not multipurpose because throwing will be 10X easier
• Don’t be afraid of trying something new because unique isn’t boring, it either a hit or back to the drawing board.