Bakeographer

Got my 190 zen on....

2009-07-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

I finally did it. I passed both 190 takes on the same day! My instructor let me turn in three tests, and on two of the three I got above 95% accuracy. (You must have 95% accuracy to pass a "take," as we call our speed tests.)
I feel... relief. Proud. Accomplished. I feel like all these hours sitting on this machine are not for nothing. Today, for the first time, this is so real. By the end of the year I will be the first college grad in my family and I'll have a professional job that I'm good at and that I love.
I really needed this boost of self-confidence. I feel like the rest will be a breeze. I can feel it all sort of "clicking" ...for good.
It will be nice to have a job and steady income again. But this time I will not be serving coffee, sandwiches, or ringing anybody up; I'll be wearing a J Crew suit, in cute heels, with my steno machine on my shoulder! ;-)

Berry Pie

2009-07-15T16:13:00.001-07:00

Curtis recently went on his first business trip since our wedding. I made him a surprise pie (he LOVES pie) for his return home. He picked some blackberries that I wanted to use up, and I had some blueberries and strawberries that needed to be used.

I attempted a pie crust once, when I was about 12, and failed miserably! I remember my Grandma Alice making the most delicious apple pies and I wanted so bad to be able to do that. Well, I have a great apple pie recipe (thanks, Martha!) and now I have the pate brisee to go with it! I must say it turned out p-e-r-f-e-c-t.

The recipe for the pate brisee comes from marthastewart.com. (Quite possibly my favorite website on the planet.)

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/pate-brisee-pie-dough?autonomy_kw=pate%20brisse&rsc=header_3

For the filling, I mixed:

1 1/2 pints blueberries
1 pint strawberries
1 pint blackberries
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon butter, cut into tiny pieces

Put the filling into the crust, top with the second crust, and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Lower the temperature to 350 degrees and bake an additional 40 minutes. Yummers!

Bagels

2009-07-15T15:31:00.000-07:00

Husband wants bagels, husband gets bagels! Curtis thought it would be a neat thing for me to try, so I surprised him with my newest creation!

I used a bagel dough recipe from my bread machine handbook.

BAGEL DOUGH
Ingredients: 1.5 LB
8 Bagels
Water, 80oF/27oC 1 cup
Sugar 1-1/2 TBL
Salt 1-1/2 tsp
Bread Flour 3 cups
Active Dry Yeast 2 tsp
Select Dough Cycle
Glaze:
Egg, beaten 1
Toppings (optional):
Sesame Seeds, Poppy Seeds, Cracked Wheat Dry Cereal, or
Dehydrated Onions
Method:
1. Place on a lightly floured surface. Divide into pieces. Roll each in a smooth ball, making a
hole in the center of each with thumbs. Gently pull to make a 1-inch hole.
2. Place on a greased baking sheet. Cover and let rise in a warm place for 10 minutes.
3. In a 3-quart sauce pan, bring to a boil 2 quarts of water and 2 tablespoons sugar. Place a few
bagels at a time in boiling water. Simmer 3 minutes, turning each bagel once. Remove with
slotted spoon and put back on greased baking sheet.
4. Brush with egg and sprinkle with choice of toppings. Bake at 400oF/204oC for
20 to 25 minutes or until done; cool on a wire rack.

The only things I did different was so boil them for 45 seconds on each side. I decided to do this after some research online. I may try some different boil times with my next batch and see what turns out best. This means I'll need testers! I also did not use the egg was as it seemed unnecessary as the bagels were "wet" and this was good enough to get the toppings to stick.

I topped them with whatever I had on hand. I brought them to a 48-hour film crew meeting at a friend's house and everyone loved them! I was so happy with the response. I'll be making these for guests!

Pasties

2009-07-15T15:08:00.000-07:00

I was born in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan in a city called Marquette. If I had to pick one food that I thought was indicative of U.P. culture, I would have to choose the pasty. (Pronounced with the "a" as in "cat.")
Miner's wives needed to provide them with something compact, delicious, and easy to eat. A pasty would easily fit in the armpit of a miner. It also has a thick crust that prevents the pasty from being easily crushed if dropped. But the most genius part, I think, is the folded crust, which allowed the miners (who couldn't easily go up to wash their hands) something to hold on to and toss out. Lucky for me I am not a miner, because I LOVE the crust!

I started by making Madelyne Lawry's Authentic Pasty crust. (http://www.wideopenwest.com/~awesley5155/pastie4.html)

Since my husband and I are vegetarians, the rest of this is my own creation. Traditional pasty makers will scoff at my recipe, as it contains very unconventional ingredients. But they were sure tasty!

Here is what I used as filling:

1/2 rutabaga
1 potato
1 medium onion
1 small container feta cheese
1 jalapeno
1 small head broccoli
parsley
basil
salt and pepper

I put about a cup of filling in the rolled out dough and sealed it up, crimping the edges. I brushed the pasties with an egg wash, and popped them in a 400 degree oven for 40-45 minutes. Yum!

Buttermilk crackers

2009-07-06T13:38:00.001-07:00

I was having a bad day, so I asked myself what I could do to make it better. Naturally, I decided to bake something new! With hands full of dough I felt my anxieties melt away.

I had been wanting to try making homemade crackers for a while now, but anticipated it would be difficult. I was oh-so-wrong. Check out my easy recipe for killer buttermilk crackers:

(Makes about 30 crackers)

1 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

4 tablespoons butter (room temp)

1/3 cup buttermilk

(Yep- that's it!)

In a large bowl, sift together flour and baking powder. Cut in butter to make a crumbly dough. Add buttermilk and stir until soft dough forms. Turn dough onto counter and knead for about 1 minute. Roll out into a rectangle that is about 1/8 or 1/4 inch thick, depending on your taste. Use a pizza cutter to cut into rectangles. Place on a greased baking sheet. Poke the tops several times with the tines of a fork. Sprinkle the top with salt and poppy seeds. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for about 20 minutes.

Be sure to keep a close eye on your crackers so they do not burn. Take out when the edges are lightly browned and the crackers don't have much "give" to the touch. Place on cooling rack.

I prefer to spread my crackers with the Bucky Badger port wine spread. Mmm...cheese.

Granola Bars

2009-06-25T15:02:00.000-07:00

Curtis really likes to have home-made granola bars. I finally picked up some more WI honey and made a batch. They're a nice little snack for on-the-go. None of that icky high fructose corn syrup!

Here's how you can make your own:

3 cups Bob's Red Mill Muesli. This stuff its great. It's got whole grain rolled oats, wheat, rye, triticale, barley, dates, raisins, sunflower seeds, almonds and walnuts.

1/3 cup coconut flakes

(put these two ingredients in a large bowl)

For the stuff to hold it together:

In a small saucepan, simmer:

4 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup honey

2 tsp vanilla

2/3 c brown sugar

When ingredients are melted together, pour over the bowl of Muesli mixture. Stir real good, and then put into a glass dish lined with butter-sprayed waxed paper. (Note: NOT parchment paper! It will take you a looooong time to peel it off.) Make sure you have enough waxed paper to cover the entire top of the bars, and press down hard on the paper to make sure the bars are good and solid. Leave out for about 3 hours. Cut in half length-wise and then into bars in whatever length you would like. Individually wrap in plastic wrap. Yum.

190s

2009-06-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten word that I passed my 2d 180 take! This means that once I pass my 190s, I'm at "terminal speeds." This is VERY exciting! I've been trying to get in 6 hours of practice a day. It's difficult on Wednesdays with internship at court, but I'm at least getting more than the required amount of practice time in. I'm so lucky that my husband can help with finances so much so that I can make school my full-time job. It will soon pay off big time!

I met a reporter in court yesterday who was very nice. The Bailiff told her we (my court reporting buddy and I) wanted to ask her some questions. Before the Judge came in, she motioned to us to come up to the front and talk to her. She seemed very eager to meet us and have a chat. She also had some very good advice for us.

The people who work in the courthouse seem to really enjoy what they do. Everyone gets along from what I can tell. I'm very excited to start my career!

First Birthday Cake

2009-06-21T18:46:00.000-07:00

This weekend I was given the honor of baking a cake for my friend's little boy's first birthday. I was a little nervous. The first birthday is a big deal. Those pictures will be around for-ev-er. But I was pleased with the results. I got to use my mechanical cake decorator for the first time. I have been looking for an excuse to use it for months. I also got to use my fancy new frosting spatula, which I have wanted for a very long time and received as a wedding gift!

I started off with a dark chocolate cake that I found on marthastewart.com:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Butter two 8-inch round cake pans; dust with cocoa, tapping out excess. Line bottom of each pan with a round of parchment paper; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition; beat in chocolate and vanilla. With mixer on low, alternately add flour mixture in three parts and buttermilk in two, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
Divide batter between prepared pans; smooth tops. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. Cool in pans 15 minutes; run a knife around edge of each pan, and invert cakes onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Set a rimmed baking sheet upside down on a work surface. Place one cake on sheet, and spread top with 1/3 of ganache. Place second cake on top, and spread remaining ganache over top and sides of cake. Using two wide metal spatulas, carefully transfer frosted cake to a serving platter.

Inside the two layers and also on top, I put the Guinness Stout Layer Cake frosting. This is my favorite cake frosting ever.

Bittersweet Icing:

1.5 cups heavy cream
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
4.5 tablespoons powdered sugar
4.5 tablespoons cocoa
1.5 teaspoons vanilla
pinch salt

Heat cream to a boil and pour over chocolate. Let melt a few minutes and then whisk until chocolate dissolves completely. Cover and chill 5-6 hours or overnight. Chill beaters in your freezer at this time.

Whip chocolate mixture until soft peaks form. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix until just combined.

After the icing was on the cake, I chilled it for about an hour. Next, I used some store-bought (naughty, I know) vanilla frosting and used a green coloring gel to dye it the color of grass. I then used a basket weave tip to create grass-like tufts of icing over the entire top of the bittersweet icing. I let that chill another hour before placing the plastic animals on top. And that's it! It sure was fun watching him eat it!