Ice Cream Bread/Cake?

Yea the title does not lie I have made a few different things over the years, but this one threw me for a loop when a friend back from my S1 days (Jessica) suggested it to me on facebook. Just two ingredients flour and high test ice cream. After wiping it up in my kitchen it makes for a uniquely sweet and creamy bread/cake.

Yield: 1 loaf of ice cream bread.

Ingredients:

Self-Rising Flour: 1-1/2 c [180 g] (Make sure you have or buy self-rising otherwise you will end up with a brick)
High Test Ice Cream of Choice: 2 c [260 g] (Do not buy the low fat or fat free I have not tried it but from comments it does not work)

What you'll need is a mixing bowl, a 8"x4" bread loaf pan and a pre-heated oven at 350F.

First off my poison of choice for this very unique bread is Red Velvet from Market Pantry (Targets "cheap" but good brand). [Aside: Does anyone else notice that many the Archer Farm's/Targets premium brand spices are per ounce are less than the Market Pantry and McCormick spices?] For some reason I've had a craving for Red Velvet lately so that's why this strange flavor ended up in this recipe.

Next weigh or measure out the ingredients.

Once everything is weighed out put into a mixing bowl and mix until the flour is well blended with the ice cream.

Once mixed, grease or use a non-stick spray (I personally prefer Pam non stick spray) in the bread pan then  pour/scoop the batter into sed pan.

Smooth the batter so that it covers the bread pan evenly.

Place in preheated oven for 40-45 minutes and check by inserting a wooden toothpick in the center of the loaf. If the toothpick comes out clean it is done.

 Pace on wire cooling rack for 15-20 minutes to allow the bread to cool.

Once cool serve. For the best taste serve with the remaining ice cream you used in the bread.

This is a little aside about the bread. Personally alone the bread seems to be missing something. Like most cake like breads it usually needs some frosting or ice cream to enhance the flavor/texture of it. I've made it once and I may or may not make it again. For a party or get together with friends it would seem like a very surprising desert that most people would like especially if it is paired with ice cream on the side or on top. 

Let me know what you think if you get the chance to make it. Also comment what it is like with different flavor ice creams. 

In Christ,

Dan

Herb Pizza Crust

After finding another bread book at a garage sale, I found a new formula (recipe) for making a tasty herb pizza dough. I haven't made this into a pizza instead I incorporated this into a buffalo chicken garbage bread. I'll include a link to this recipe at the end of the post.

First off this is a bread machine recipe. Meaning the easiest way to make this is just using the dough setting on your bread machine. If you don't have a bread machine they are usually a dime a dozen at thrift stores because most people never use them. Sorry I don't have weights at this time. I'll try to update the post with them at a later date.

Yields one 14" thin crust

Ingredients:
Warm water (110 - 115F): 2/3 c
Salt: 1/2 tsp
Bread Flour: 2-1/4 c
Sugar: 1 tsp
Dried rosemary leaves: 1tsp
Dried oregano leaves: 1/2 tsp
Ground black pepper: 1/4 tsp
Dried thyme leaves: 1/4 tsp
Active dry yeast: 2 tsp

Place all ingredients into bread machine pan then set bread machine to dough setting. Once finished (70-90 minutes depending on the bread machine) remove from bread pan and let rest for 2-3 minutes.

Then stretch dough into pizza pan or Peel and prepare pizza.

Questions? Comments? Let me know below in the comments section.

-Dan

Buffalo Chicken Garbage Bread Recipe
Source: Bread Machine Recipes by Publications International Ltd.

Two Day Pizza Dough

Over the years I've mixed and matched different recipes when it comes to making pizzas. Some pizza doughs have been tasty and others never again meet the scorching heat of a oven. This recipe is one I started using more recently because of the texture and taste. It takes a bit longer than most pizza dough recipes that can go raw ingredients to oven in under 2 hours but, it's worth it.

Yields: 6 10" pizzas
Total Time: 7-20 hours but ~50 minutes of active work.

Ingredients

Poolish

Bread flour: 1-2/3 c (220 g)
Water (70F): 1 c (220 g)
Instant yeast: Pinch (.25 g)

Final dough:

Bread flour: 7 c (1000 g)
Water (80F): 2-1/4 c (500 g)
Instant yeast: 1-1/4 tsp (4 g)
Salt: 4 tsp (26 g)
Cornmeal: 2 tsp (10 g)
Savory oil mix (Olive oil with your choice of spices): 2 tbsp (35 g)
Poolish: All of it.

Night Before making poolish:

Mix together the flour, water and pinch of yeast. This mixture will be very sticky. Store in a covered container with plastic wrap. I used a covered container but found within 3 hours the top popped off from the pressure inside. Let poolish sit at room temperature overnight (12-16 hours).

Next morning Making the final dough:

In the quantities above, this will take at least a 5-quart mixer to make the dough. 

Also although common sense use a dough hook when making it. For some reason when making this batch I used my mixing attachment instead of a dough hook.

Add all the ingredients into the bowl and mix.

Mix on low speed for 4 minutes then medium speed for 2-3 minutes.

When done remove the dough and place it into non-stick cooking spray coated pan. Cover and let rest in a warm pace for 45 minutes. 

After the dough has rested for 45 minutes give it one stretch and fold as indicated in the video above from weekendbakery.com.

Cover again and let rest for another 45 minutes.

Divide dough evenly into 6 pieces (roughly 220 g each)

Then place on a sheet pan and cover with plastic then set in refrigerator to rest for another 4-6 hours.

I generally place the dough into plastic wrap and then place it in the freezer so it can be used at a later date. When using frozen dough let it warm up in the refrigerator overnight. Usually I let it sit for 24 hours in the refrigerator before using it.

Questions? Comments? Let me know below.

-Dan

Source: Baking Artisan Bread by Ciril Hitz

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