Dear bakers,
Now for something completely different: today I will share with you my favorite vegetarian dinner consisting of tofu glazed with soy sauce and deliciously stir-fried veggies with a super fresh lime flavour. The original recipe contains fish sauce, but if you're against that or want a proper vegetarian dish, you can just substitute it with soy sauce, water, or even leave it out.
Ingredients:
(serves 2, 20-30 min)
For the glazed tofu
1 block of pressed tofu (packaged or even better the freshly-made tofu on sale in your local Asian grocery store)
1/4 cup / 60 ml soy sauce
2 tsp / 10 ml fish sauce (but you can substitute it with soy)
4 tsp / 16g brown sugar
2 cloves of garlic (finely cut)
1 cm piece of ginger (or about the size of your thumb)
Sesame oil
For the stir fry:
1 lime
2 gloves of garlic
1 tbsp/ 15 ml of oyster sauce (or soy sauce)
Vegetable oil
Your choice of vegetables, but if you need inspiration, here's mine.
1 small leek or long green onion
1/4 piece of cabbage, shredded
1 big carrot, cut into 6 cm long strips
1-2 stalks of celery
Directions:
1: Start with the tofu. Take it from its container, discard all the moisture and wrap the tofu in kitchen towels. Place the tofu on a flat surface and top it with a cutting board and a heavy item. I recommend a jar of peanut butter or similar. You want to press the excess water out of the tofu so it will take up the glazing instead. Don't put too heavy an item on top as you might squash the unfortunate thing.
2: Prepare the tofu glazing. Combine the soy sauce, sugar and fish sauce (if using) and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Peel your garlic and cut as fine as possible. You could also use a garlic crusher for this. Skin your piece of garlic root, and try to take off as little as possible: the root closest to the skin is the best. Once you've completely skinned it, cut it lengthwise so that you cut straight through the tough strings. Slice very thinly. After that, take your slices and cut them up further so that they equal the garlic in size. Add both to the soy mixture.
3: Prepare your vegetables. Wash and cut your vegetables in your desired stir-fry shape. Cut up your garlic similar as in step 2, and keep it apart from the vegetables.
4: Heat up your two pans, preferably non-stick. Remove your tofu, cut it into your desired portion and brown all sides of your cubes in a pan with sesame oil. When they have browned slightly, add the sauce.
Meanwhile, add your vegetables to the other pan and start stir frying. Grate the lime directly above the pan so the zest will fall into it. Cut your lime in half and squeeze both halves into the pan as well and keep stirring while you wait for the tofu. After the vegetables have absorbed most of the lime juice, add a tiny bit of oyster or soy sauce to provide a bit of saltiness.
5: Your tofu will be in the process of absorbing the glazing, so keep turning your blocks for an even flavour distribution. Continue to do so until your glaze has become syrupy and/or has been completely absorbed by the tofu. Make sure your garlic and ginger doesn't burn, though.
6: Serve the vegetables and the tofu with some white rice and enjoy!
I'll post pictures soon as I forgot to take any whilst making this.
Let me know how your glazed tofu and lime stir-fry worked out!
maandag 26 januari 2015
maandag 13 oktober 2014
Cake & Bake show London, Chocolate Orange Truffles, and Paul A. Young!
Hiya guys,
In the first weekend of October, the Cake & Bake show took place in London. After seeing the ads every year in various baking magazines, me and my boyfriend finally decided to go. It was fun, not entirely living up to my expectation, but still very useful and above all, tasty.
There were loads of stands with baking supplies, but also many stands of local bakeries, all bringing their best products. Some were disappointing, some were excellent, and in the end, I hadn't the opportunity to try everything I wanted. I missed out on a medium sized aragostini, which I saw but forgot to buy later.. such a shame.
We did see many beautiful cakes, breads, cupcakes, pies, meringues, etc etc, which was totally worth it. What we were most enthusiastic about was the so-called "classrooms" we'd booked, thinking we'd get some sort of 30 minute workshop. That was a bit too hopeful, as it turned out, because the classrooms were more like lectures. Nevertheless, they were very interesting and still very useful to us.
The classrooms we'd booked were a sugarcraft rose-making demonstration, something I've always loved to try, and a masterclass chocolate making by Paul A. Young! The master of chocolate, London's best chocolatier, gave a 30 minute demonstration of tempering chocolate and making ganaches, the basic choc stuff.
It was very interesting, and I have learned that ganaches don't need cream or anything dairy to be extremely luscious and delicious! Very good news for my Paul, who has a dairy allergy. Apparently, any off boil liquid can be used, as long as it's not too hot and you whisk vigorously. That I can do. Also, double cream or single cream is a pain to get in the Netherlands, and if you can find it at all, you'll have spend a small fortune which is much better spent at good quality chocolate. I'm all for water ganaches!
Of course we had to visit his stand at the show as well to buy his awesome books (which he signed, aw yeah). I couldn't resist buying this brownie. One of his sales people offered me a sample of brownie, and bam, I was sold. That is literally the best brownie ever. I kid you not. It brings a smile to your face, no matter how depressed you are because it's simply that gorgeous and chocolate-y. BEST. EVER. BROWNIE.
I think it's clear how strong I feel about Paul A Young's brownie, sorry about that. But really, worth every four of the pounds I spent on it (unlike a certain "singsongy fowl's" bakery slice of cake I've had >_> ).
Perfect. It's perfect.
Back home, however, it was time to try out Paul A Young's cookbooks, and at a friend's place we made Paul's chocolate orange truffles, which is basically chocolate/orange juice ganache, handrolled, and covered in tempered chocolate. It would be my first time making truffles and tempering chocolate. It worked out fantastic, though not without some hiccups.
We didn't have the allotted four hours to let the ganache chill, so we sped it up by stirring it a few times while in the fridge. The ganache set in two hours that way, which was fine by us.
We had, unfortunately, started melting the coating chocolate at the same time as making the ganache, which was a bit stupid as it turns out.
The problem is maintaining the right temperature. Or rather, getting the melted chocolate to the melting point at the moment you want to temper is. By the time we were ready for the tempering process, our chocolate had cooled down again to somewhere between 30 and 40 degrees (we lacked a good thermometer).
In order to temper it, chocolate should be around 55 degrees, if I interpret the directions correctly.
In the end, it was difficult to keep the tempered chocolate/chocolate in the process of being tempered body temperature, but as you can see, my truffles are still glossy, so obviously we succeeded. More sheer luck than wisdom, but hey, that still works. And it was a first time, so it's only natural to muck about a bit.
Enjoy your bakes! (with a cup of chocolate, aw yeah!)
In the first weekend of October, the Cake & Bake show took place in London. After seeing the ads every year in various baking magazines, me and my boyfriend finally decided to go. It was fun, not entirely living up to my expectation, but still very useful and above all, tasty.
There were loads of stands with baking supplies, but also many stands of local bakeries, all bringing their best products. Some were disappointing, some were excellent, and in the end, I hadn't the opportunity to try everything I wanted. I missed out on a medium sized aragostini, which I saw but forgot to buy later.. such a shame.
The classrooms we'd booked were a sugarcraft rose-making demonstration, something I've always loved to try, and a masterclass chocolate making by Paul A. Young! The master of chocolate, London's best chocolatier, gave a 30 minute demonstration of tempering chocolate and making ganaches, the basic choc stuff.
It was very interesting, and I have learned that ganaches don't need cream or anything dairy to be extremely luscious and delicious! Very good news for my Paul, who has a dairy allergy. Apparently, any off boil liquid can be used, as long as it's not too hot and you whisk vigorously. That I can do. Also, double cream or single cream is a pain to get in the Netherlands, and if you can find it at all, you'll have spend a small fortune which is much better spent at good quality chocolate. I'm all for water ganaches!
Of course we had to visit his stand at the show as well to buy his awesome books (which he signed, aw yeah). I couldn't resist buying this brownie. One of his sales people offered me a sample of brownie, and bam, I was sold. That is literally the best brownie ever. I kid you not. It brings a smile to your face, no matter how depressed you are because it's simply that gorgeous and chocolate-y. BEST. EVER. BROWNIE.
I think it's clear how strong I feel about Paul A Young's brownie, sorry about that. But really, worth every four of the pounds I spent on it (unlike a certain "singsongy fowl's" bakery slice of cake I've had >_> ).
Perfect. It's perfect.
Back home, however, it was time to try out Paul A Young's cookbooks, and at a friend's place we made Paul's chocolate orange truffles, which is basically chocolate/orange juice ganache, handrolled, and covered in tempered chocolate. It would be my first time making truffles and tempering chocolate. It worked out fantastic, though not without some hiccups.
We didn't have the allotted four hours to let the ganache chill, so we sped it up by stirring it a few times while in the fridge. The ganache set in two hours that way, which was fine by us.
We had, unfortunately, started melting the coating chocolate at the same time as making the ganache, which was a bit stupid as it turns out.
In itself, melting chocolate for a long time isn't that bad; Paul A Young himself said that he likes to melt his chocolate for 12 hours at least, overnight preferably. So keeping chocolate melted for two hours is not horrible at all.
In order to temper it, chocolate should be around 55 degrees, if I interpret the directions correctly.
In the end, it was difficult to keep the tempered chocolate/chocolate in the process of being tempered body temperature, but as you can see, my truffles are still glossy, so obviously we succeeded. More sheer luck than wisdom, but hey, that still works. And it was a first time, so it's only natural to muck about a bit.
They're not beauties in my opinion (some of them have rather big 'feet,' if you get what I mean), but their imperfections have a certain something to them that I like. Artisan. Something like that. Don't really care about that. They were tasty! Now that's the important stuff. Very tasty. The recipe definitely works. Buy his small How to Make Chocolates book for 5 pounds, and you'll have the recipe as well.
woensdag 17 september 2014
Jamie Oliver's Banana & Honey Bread
What up!
I have finally returned from hiatus, vowing solemnly not to take a break that long ever again.
Today I decided to try out Jamie Oliver's banana & honey bread. As opposed to Nigella Lawson's banana bread, this one actually gives you bread, which is pretty neat if you're looking for bread.
After finally seeing week 3 of the Great British Bake Off this weekend, I got all inspired to make bread, something which I've done a few times before, but usually hesitate to because it takes so long, and I hate getting up early in the morning when I don't have to.
I have some experience making Jamie's basic bread recipe, and I decided that, since the banana/honey version is not that much different, I should be able to pull it off in under three hours.
Also, since a kilo of flour will yield a huge bread, I decided I wanted to make half a batch.
Plans made, ready set bake!
My fails:
I took half the ingredients of everything, including bananas etc, but made the stupid mistake of 'topping it up' with too much water. Forgot that I'd only need have the liquid. Disaster.
What I got was closer to mud than to bread dough. Just no. On top of that, it took me ages to figure out why it did this.
As usual, I added slightly less water than the prescribed 625 ml because for some reason Dutch flours take up less liquid than English. It's never been that bad, though. Sortof felt like goo. Yuck.
Anyway, in the end I figured it out and felt rather stupid afterwards. To fix it, I took the dough out of the food processor, added the rest of the kilo pack of flour, added salt, honey and yeast so that it would have enough of those for a kilo of flour. More kneading, problem solved.
After that, it all went according to plan. Just after the first prove, I divided the dough into ten, and shaped them into cute balls. Second prove took a bit longer than 30 minutes because I wasn't satisfied with their height, but in the end I just plunged them into the oven and baked them for 20 minutes, which actually works. They were done after 20 minutes, if a bit pale. The honey hadn't caramelised as prettily as Jamie's buns, but then again, I'm only doing this for the first time in my life.
It's super tasty, even though I only put in 3,5 of the 6 required bananas in there. Why a half banana? I ate the other half meanwhile. Banana's banana.
Happy failing!
I have finally returned from hiatus, vowing solemnly not to take a break that long ever again.
Today I decided to try out Jamie Oliver's banana & honey bread. As opposed to Nigella Lawson's banana bread, this one actually gives you bread, which is pretty neat if you're looking for bread.
I have some experience making Jamie's basic bread recipe, and I decided that, since the banana/honey version is not that much different, I should be able to pull it off in under three hours.
Also, since a kilo of flour will yield a huge bread, I decided I wanted to make half a batch.
Plans made, ready set bake!
My fails:
I took half the ingredients of everything, including bananas etc, but made the stupid mistake of 'topping it up' with too much water. Forgot that I'd only need have the liquid. Disaster.
What I got was closer to mud than to bread dough. Just no. On top of that, it took me ages to figure out why it did this.
As usual, I added slightly less water than the prescribed 625 ml because for some reason Dutch flours take up less liquid than English. It's never been that bad, though. Sortof felt like goo. Yuck.
Anyway, in the end I figured it out and felt rather stupid afterwards. To fix it, I took the dough out of the food processor, added the rest of the kilo pack of flour, added salt, honey and yeast so that it would have enough of those for a kilo of flour. More kneading, problem solved.
After that, it all went according to plan. Just after the first prove, I divided the dough into ten, and shaped them into cute balls. Second prove took a bit longer than 30 minutes because I wasn't satisfied with their height, but in the end I just plunged them into the oven and baked them for 20 minutes, which actually works. They were done after 20 minutes, if a bit pale. The honey hadn't caramelised as prettily as Jamie's buns, but then again, I'm only doing this for the first time in my life.
It's super tasty, even though I only put in 3,5 of the 6 required bananas in there. Why a half banana? I ate the other half meanwhile. Banana's banana.
Happy failing!
donderdag 27 februari 2014
Lemon Chicken
Today I'm making lemon pork. Yeah, pork, not chicken. Misleading title much, eh? Sorry about that.
So where did the chicken come from? The recipe, which I got from Bee's blog Rasamalaysia. I like her blog and her recipes, loads of different flavours and a handy index of recipes. If you like a mix of practically all Asian cuisines, give her site a look. I've made quite a few of her recipes, and I really like them. Most of them, that is. Anyway, getting off-topic.
It's a pretty straightforward recipe, and there are clear steps, can't complain about that. The only thing that *somewhat* bothers me is that its just the meat dish without a suggestion for veggies. I'm really not that confident a cook, so I appreciate any hints about what goes well with what. I kinda winged it and went with the standard veggies, spring onion and cucumber because they're a safe bet with Asian dishes, and I like them. It also helps that it was either that or cabbage...
I didn't fail that much while making this recipe, actually. I did change a few things.
Problem #1: the meat.
I had less meat, as obviously 300 grams of meat is waaaay too much for one person. Also, I had no chicken. Instead, I had a leftover schnitzel, and after getting some advice on whether or not that can be deep-fried, I decided to substitute it.
Solution:
Decide how much meat you wanna eat, which depends on the piece of meat you bought (or have left over and needs to be prepared before it redecorates the inside of your fridge in a nasty green colour), and work with that. In my case, my schnitzel weighed 108 gr (hell yeah I measured that piece of meat, for science). As a result I only made a third of the marinade, figuring it would do. And it did. The sauce was something else entirely.
Problem #2: the sauce. Do you decrease the amount of sauce too?
Solution: Yep, normally you do. One third of everything. I, on the other hand, am being difficult, since I wanted my veggies to be coated in the lemon stuff too. And my rice. I just wanted a lemon dish. Also, sometimes I have the feeling that the amount of sauce in Bee's recipes are barely enough, so I prefer to make extra anyhow. So, in this case: more sauce = better, and I stuck to the original quantity. Worked out perfectly.
Problem #3: Since I'm using a fresh lemon, can I add rind to the mixture?
Solution: Yesshhh, you totes can. Maybe it's not traditional, but I did it anyway. More flavour, looks pretty, I see no disadvantages.
Problem #3: (and this is where I failed, horrendously) How do you prevent the spring onion from disappearing?
I like being able to see what happened to my veggies. (Might be why I hate the Dutch mashed-potato-dishes. It's literally a mash of potatoes and some other veg, often carrot, hutspot. Ewrgh. Just no.) The thing about spring onions is that the upper green parts kinda disappear when you cook em? The white part just doesn't go all floppy on you after touching the inside of a pan.
Solution: Cut them in bigger parts. I do this for the entire green onion. Nice 'n big chunks. The white parts need to cook longer than the green parts, since the green stuff has only one layer, while the white parts has several. So, chuck the white stuff in early (I did that together with my cucumber, or even slightly after), and later add the green stuff.
Don't forget that though... (guess what I did).
Problem #4: errrrr, I forgot the green part of the spring onion, and I already served it. What now?
Solution: Have you already eaten everything? No? quickly, throw it on top of your dish, and no one will notice. Especially if you're alone. Ghehehe. Take care to cover it with some warm stuff from your plate, so that it sort of cooks a bit. The green stuff has a very strong/sharp flavour when you eat it raw, and at some point it kinda felt like wasabi. Dunno if you've ever had that, but the sharpness crawls into your nose and decides to sting a bit there, because why the hell not. It's not overly pleasant.
Naturally, I forgot the white sesame seeds. I always do. Nothing to be done about it.
It was tasty, though!
It's a pretty straightforward recipe, and there are clear steps, can't complain about that. The only thing that *somewhat* bothers me is that its just the meat dish without a suggestion for veggies. I'm really not that confident a cook, so I appreciate any hints about what goes well with what. I kinda winged it and went with the standard veggies, spring onion and cucumber because they're a safe bet with Asian dishes, and I like them. It also helps that it was either that or cabbage...
I didn't fail that much while making this recipe, actually. I did change a few things.
 |
| Aaaaannnddd, here comes the mess. |
Problem #1: the meat.
I had less meat, as obviously 300 grams of meat is waaaay too much for one person. Also, I had no chicken. Instead, I had a leftover schnitzel, and after getting some advice on whether or not that can be deep-fried, I decided to substitute it.
Solution:
Decide how much meat you wanna eat, which depends on the piece of meat you bought (or have left over and needs to be prepared before it redecorates the inside of your fridge in a nasty green colour), and work with that. In my case, my schnitzel weighed 108 gr (hell yeah I measured that piece of meat, for science). As a result I only made a third of the marinade, figuring it would do. And it did. The sauce was something else entirely.
 |
| Nicely coated. |
Problem #2: the sauce. Do you decrease the amount of sauce too?
Solution: Yep, normally you do. One third of everything. I, on the other hand, am being difficult, since I wanted my veggies to be coated in the lemon stuff too. And my rice. I just wanted a lemon dish. Also, sometimes I have the feeling that the amount of sauce in Bee's recipes are barely enough, so I prefer to make extra anyhow. So, in this case: more sauce = better, and I stuck to the original quantity. Worked out perfectly.
Problem #3: Since I'm using a fresh lemon, can I add rind to the mixture?
Solution: Yesshhh, you totes can. Maybe it's not traditional, but I did it anyway. More flavour, looks pretty, I see no disadvantages.
 |
| Whisk. Keep whisking every now and then. The cornstarch is evil. |
I like being able to see what happened to my veggies. (Might be why I hate the Dutch mashed-potato-dishes. It's literally a mash of potatoes and some other veg, often carrot, hutspot. Ewrgh. Just no.) The thing about spring onions is that the upper green parts kinda disappear when you cook em? The white part just doesn't go all floppy on you after touching the inside of a pan.
Solution: Cut them in bigger parts. I do this for the entire green onion. Nice 'n big chunks. The white parts need to cook longer than the green parts, since the green stuff has only one layer, while the white parts has several. So, chuck the white stuff in early (I did that together with my cucumber, or even slightly after), and later add the green stuff.
Don't forget that though... (guess what I did).
 |
| I was totally not playing with my food. What could possibly give you that impression? |
Problem #4: errrrr, I forgot the green part of the spring onion, and I already served it. What now?
Solution: Have you already eaten everything? No? quickly, throw it on top of your dish, and no one will notice. Especially if you're alone. Ghehehe. Take care to cover it with some warm stuff from your plate, so that it sort of cooks a bit. The green stuff has a very strong/sharp flavour when you eat it raw, and at some point it kinda felt like wasabi. Dunno if you've ever had that, but the sharpness crawls into your nose and decides to sting a bit there, because why the hell not. It's not overly pleasant.
 |
| So delish-looking, but sadly still missing the green stalks. Bummer. |
It was tasty, though!
zaterdag 8 februari 2014
Dairy Free Chocolate Pudding
Today's potential failure is a deliciously sweet dessert: coconut chocolate pudding, or as I like to call it, coco-cocoa pudding. *ba-dum-tsshhh* Homophones, anyone? No? Not funny? Oh well...
You can find the recipe here.
One of the best parts of this recipe is the fact that it is completely milk-free. Very handy if one of your guests has a milk allergy, like my cooking buddy/teacher and boyfriend =3
When he was over for Christmas we made this as a dessert, and good lord was it good. We didn't add the curry spices (I'm totally a hardcore choc fan), and it worked perfectly without.
As you can see, this recipe requires something called arrowroot. Here in the Netherlands, that's a pretty rare ingredient, and I was lucky to have bought it on a trip in England last year. Hurray for Waitrose! (they have the cutest series of baking stuff, and I bought the complete set of baking powder, baking soda, arrowroot and cream of tartar while I only knew what to do with the baking powder and soda, initially) Try to get this, but if it's to difficult to find, try it with some other kind of starch, like potato.
Okay, so for the Christmas desert we made twice the prescribed batch because there were quite a few of us (no there weren't, but my dad counts for two if not three), errr, more than four in any case. It was absolutely delicious! Trust me on this one. Because there's actual chocolate in it, it has a really intense chocolate flavour. It also has that rich consistency that you associate with melted chocolate and that I find to be so appropriate for choc desserts. If you want to, you can play around with the consistency, which is exactly what I/we did.
So, the original recipe has a lot of arrowroot in it. When I say a lot, I mean a LOT. For about half a litre of pudding (and this is a rough estimate) according to the recipe you have to add 1/4 cup of arrowroot, equaling 60 ml. When my boyfriend tried out this recipe (and this was a long time before Christmas) he followed the recipe, and ended up with something less than ideal-looking. With its brown shade and all, it kinda looked like something else entirely.. I kid you not.
 |
| Not very appetizing, now is it? |
Anyway, I tried it again, considering I had opened a can of coconut milk to make some satay, and had only used half of it. Half a can doesn't give you much choc pudding, so naturally, a second can had to be opened. Aww yeah. Mooaar deliciousness. Six reasonably-sized portions made from 600 ml of coconut milk (sounds like small portions, doesn't it? Yeah I admit, they are small, but heck, it's so incredibly rich that small portions are very reasonable). Two days of fabulous pudding. It doesn't get much better.
The Problem: I don't know how much thickener to add. There's too much thickener in the original recipe.
The solution: Add less thickener (obviously). The question is, how much less? That's the adventure, isn't it?
Okay, so in my final batch, the recipe and a half, I added a total of 15 ml arrowroot, also known as a tablespoon. It was very liquidish in while cooking (that's an adjective because I just made it so), and I feared I'd end up with some sluggish chocolate milk, but it turned out well in the end.
 |
| Pretty milky, don't you think? |
The Solution: Although I haven't tested it yet, I think your best bet is potato starch. Corn starch is also possible, which has been tried and approved. The whole point of using arrowroot is, I think, that arrowroot is transparent when used, gives your dish a nice gloss, and is taste-neutral. Cornstarch, on the other hand, always turns your sauce or pudding opaque, and adds a bit of texture, when added in large quantities. In my experiences, potato starch is also translucent, also a bit glossy, but I don't know about taste. I really don't use it that often (because I can never find the box, which is small, and my cupboard is big 'n messy).
 |
| Do you see the gloss? Ooh, you so glossy! |
Have you ever made your own pudding? What are your experiences with thickeners in desserts? Leave it in the comments.
Happy failing!
maandag 3 februari 2014
Scones Troubleshoot
Hi guys!
Okay, so for a first kitchen-fail post I'll start with a recipe I've made tons of times before (and failed with tons of times as well, ranging from undercooked to burned), the English scone.
I can really appreciate scones, especially when they're fresh out of the oven, still too warm to eat (which I do anyway) in all their shapes and sizes. And there are so many options out there!
The ones in the picture have dried cranberries in them, which is absolutely divine (unless you're a guy named arno who thinks it's the devil's fruit, too sour apparently). Dried cranberries are kinda pricey here in the NL, so I usually use raisins, but you can basically use any type of dried fruit. Never tried to make 'em with non-dried fruit, and I guess that would upset the entire liquid-dry ingredients balance. Definately worth a shot, though.
There are also savory options for scones; the best cheese scone I've had so far was at a greggs place i London, absolutely delish! Still not sure how they did it. The inside was gorgeously cheesy, seems logical, and the scone was topped with black pepper. Still haven't managed to reproduce it. Just think of all the possibilities, though, when it comes to savory scones: walnut gorgonzola scones (def. gotta make this), olive parmigiano (maybe add basil?), dried tomato with garlic and capers, hmmmmmm, I can almost taste them already :)
The Problems:
There are multiple problems with scones. Behind the drool-inducing facade lies a great secret, the texture, which is highly problematic. They're tricky bastards, but so rewarding when you get it right!
Problem #1: Getting the dough consistency right.
This one fooled me for quite a while, and I've seen many a batch of scones go all mushy in the oven because they contained too much liquid. Loads of recipes add too much water, and I have no idea why. It could be that the flour I use (a.k.a. Dutch flour) reacts differently to the liquid you add, and if that's the case then you could be experiencing the same problem.
I once tried the Chocchip scone recipe by Joy of Baking (http://www.joyofbaking.com/SconesChocChip.html), which didn't go too well.
As you can see, they want you to add 160 to 180 ml of buttermilk, which is a lot on 260 gr of flour. Again, maybe it's my Dutch flour, maybe not, but this is what happened: instead of being able to cut the dough into the desired shape, I had to shape balls of dough with two spoons, because there was no way in hell that stuff could be cut. Imagine a consistency somewhere between cookie-dough and cake-dough, definitely leaning towards cake.
So, what can I do to fix this batch?
Add more flour. It might be better to just add more of the flour-mixture (all the dry ingredients), but it's a bit hard to estimate how much you'd need, so adding more flour is always a good bet.
I would definitely do this. Better yet is to make a new batch, keeping the appropriate consistency in mind the entire time.
What does the consistency need to be?
Oh, tricky question. Really, it is. First off, I make my dough in a food processor. That way I can see how the dough responds to the mixing blades. There are two rules:
1: It should not be sticky/wet. Never. If the dough stick to your hands, you've added too much liquid. Add more dry stuff.
2: It shouldn't be too dry either. And this is what makes it so tricky.
Okay, imagine the dough (I'm all about visualisation). After you've mixed everything together, you've got to knead it and punch it with some cookie cutters, right? Okay, so you've got to have a firm dough (it needed to be sliced/cut whatever you wanna do with it), but you also need to knead it, and the cookie cutter needs to go through the dough easily. You want to get it right there at the edge of stickiness, so that the dough is somewhat supple when you knead it. That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. Try to play around with it a bit, see what happens if you put in just a bit more liquid.
Problem #2: the right time/temperature.
Scones are very quick to bake in the oven, which is nice. I can make a batch of 8 scones from scratch in about 40-45 minutes, of which 15-17 minutes is baking time. The difficulty is getting it just right, of course, as scones have a 2 to 3 minute period in which they are perfect, before which they are underdone, and after which they turn dry. This is heavily dependent on the size of your scone and the temperature of your oven.
How do you find that 2 to 4 minute slot?
1: Check the colour of your scones. Often, the scones receive a brushstroke of buttermilk as topping, so that they will colour nicely golden brown. If this has already happened to a satisfying degree, they're probably about right. If they're not, you might want to let them sit in there for a few more minutes. Aim for 2 minutes between check-ups, so that you don't run the risk of overdoing them.
2: Crack one open. If the inside is not entirely done, you'll know it immediately. If so, put it back, and depending on the degree of not-doneness, set the alarm for a few more minutes. if you want to check a few minutes later, just crack the one you already cracked again, and see if it's alright now. The other ones should be the same, if not, leave it in the comments!
Problem #3: buttermilk.
Most scone recipes need buttermilk, and that is for a good reason. Buttermilk is sour, and reacts with the bicarbonate of sodium (baking soda), which is an inherent part of scones. You could replace the baking soda with more baking powder, but it'll make your teeth feel funny and give the scone a wee bit of a strange taste. Best to stick with the baking soda and buttermilk.
Crap, I forgot to get buttermilk! or I have a milk allergy...
Okay, no problem. If you forgot, you can simply get some. If you don't normally drink the stuff and you're too lazy to get it (*ahem* speaking from experience) or if you're allergic to the stuff, it's supersimple to work around. Take a cup, pour in some lemon or lime juice, whichever you've got, add milk or water and use that instead. In my measure cup, I usually add about 2 or 3 mm of lemon juice, and fill it up with water or milk to about a 100 ml. If you use milk, you will see it curdle if you wait a few minutes; that's how you know it's sour enough.
My last tip: don't be afraid to fail. I do so on a daily basis and live to tell the tale. If you mess up your scones, just make another batch and try again. It just a bit of flour, sugar, salt, and a few raisins if you like those. Yes, throwing away a batch is a shame, even if necessary, but do you really wanna eat a scone that's dry enough to hit someone with? I think not.
Good luck and keep trying!
Okay, so for a first kitchen-fail post I'll start with a recipe I've made tons of times before (and failed with tons of times as well, ranging from undercooked to burned), the English scone.
The ones in the picture have dried cranberries in them, which is absolutely divine (unless you're a guy named arno who thinks it's the devil's fruit, too sour apparently). Dried cranberries are kinda pricey here in the NL, so I usually use raisins, but you can basically use any type of dried fruit. Never tried to make 'em with non-dried fruit, and I guess that would upset the entire liquid-dry ingredients balance. Definately worth a shot, though.
There are also savory options for scones; the best cheese scone I've had so far was at a greggs place i London, absolutely delish! Still not sure how they did it. The inside was gorgeously cheesy, seems logical, and the scone was topped with black pepper. Still haven't managed to reproduce it. Just think of all the possibilities, though, when it comes to savory scones: walnut gorgonzola scones (def. gotta make this), olive parmigiano (maybe add basil?), dried tomato with garlic and capers, hmmmmmm, I can almost taste them already :)
The Problems:
There are multiple problems with scones. Behind the drool-inducing facade lies a great secret, the texture, which is highly problematic. They're tricky bastards, but so rewarding when you get it right!
Problem #1: Getting the dough consistency right.
This one fooled me for quite a while, and I've seen many a batch of scones go all mushy in the oven because they contained too much liquid. Loads of recipes add too much water, and I have no idea why. It could be that the flour I use (a.k.a. Dutch flour) reacts differently to the liquid you add, and if that's the case then you could be experiencing the same problem.
I once tried the Chocchip scone recipe by Joy of Baking (http://www.joyofbaking.com/SconesChocChip.html), which didn't go too well.
As you can see, they want you to add 160 to 180 ml of buttermilk, which is a lot on 260 gr of flour. Again, maybe it's my Dutch flour, maybe not, but this is what happened: instead of being able to cut the dough into the desired shape, I had to shape balls of dough with two spoons, because there was no way in hell that stuff could be cut. Imagine a consistency somewhere between cookie-dough and cake-dough, definitely leaning towards cake.
So, what can I do to fix this batch?
Add more flour. It might be better to just add more of the flour-mixture (all the dry ingredients), but it's a bit hard to estimate how much you'd need, so adding more flour is always a good bet.
I would definitely do this. Better yet is to make a new batch, keeping the appropriate consistency in mind the entire time.
What does the consistency need to be?
Oh, tricky question. Really, it is. First off, I make my dough in a food processor. That way I can see how the dough responds to the mixing blades. There are two rules:
1: It should not be sticky/wet. Never. If the dough stick to your hands, you've added too much liquid. Add more dry stuff.
2: It shouldn't be too dry either. And this is what makes it so tricky.
Okay, imagine the dough (I'm all about visualisation). After you've mixed everything together, you've got to knead it and punch it with some cookie cutters, right? Okay, so you've got to have a firm dough (it needed to be sliced/cut whatever you wanna do with it), but you also need to knead it, and the cookie cutter needs to go through the dough easily. You want to get it right there at the edge of stickiness, so that the dough is somewhat supple when you knead it. That's the best I can do, I'm afraid. Try to play around with it a bit, see what happens if you put in just a bit more liquid.
Problem #2: the right time/temperature.
Scones are very quick to bake in the oven, which is nice. I can make a batch of 8 scones from scratch in about 40-45 minutes, of which 15-17 minutes is baking time. The difficulty is getting it just right, of course, as scones have a 2 to 3 minute period in which they are perfect, before which they are underdone, and after which they turn dry. This is heavily dependent on the size of your scone and the temperature of your oven.
How do you find that 2 to 4 minute slot?
1: Check the colour of your scones. Often, the scones receive a brushstroke of buttermilk as topping, so that they will colour nicely golden brown. If this has already happened to a satisfying degree, they're probably about right. If they're not, you might want to let them sit in there for a few more minutes. Aim for 2 minutes between check-ups, so that you don't run the risk of overdoing them.
2: Crack one open. If the inside is not entirely done, you'll know it immediately. If so, put it back, and depending on the degree of not-doneness, set the alarm for a few more minutes. if you want to check a few minutes later, just crack the one you already cracked again, and see if it's alright now. The other ones should be the same, if not, leave it in the comments!
Problem #3: buttermilk.
Most scone recipes need buttermilk, and that is for a good reason. Buttermilk is sour, and reacts with the bicarbonate of sodium (baking soda), which is an inherent part of scones. You could replace the baking soda with more baking powder, but it'll make your teeth feel funny and give the scone a wee bit of a strange taste. Best to stick with the baking soda and buttermilk.
Crap, I forgot to get buttermilk! or I have a milk allergy...
Okay, no problem. If you forgot, you can simply get some. If you don't normally drink the stuff and you're too lazy to get it (*ahem* speaking from experience) or if you're allergic to the stuff, it's supersimple to work around. Take a cup, pour in some lemon or lime juice, whichever you've got, add milk or water and use that instead. In my measure cup, I usually add about 2 or 3 mm of lemon juice, and fill it up with water or milk to about a 100 ml. If you use milk, you will see it curdle if you wait a few minutes; that's how you know it's sour enough.
My last tip: don't be afraid to fail. I do so on a daily basis and live to tell the tale. If you mess up your scones, just make another batch and try again. It just a bit of flour, sugar, salt, and a few raisins if you like those. Yes, throwing away a batch is a shame, even if necessary, but do you really wanna eat a scone that's dry enough to hit someone with? I think not.
Good luck and keep trying!
woensdag 29 januari 2014
Welcome to my blog!
Hi there,
I'm glad you've found my page, and I hope that you'll be able to learn of my cooking failures. I make the mistakes so that you don't have to. And if you happen to make mistakes too, that's alright. I know what it feels like.
Sooo, introductions.
My name is Saskia, and I'm a Dutch student, currently studying a master in English Language at the University of Groningen. I love reading Chaucer (if you're not familiar with the Canterbury Tales, it's funny. Trust me. Chaucer has the sass of the entire fourteenth century), I can read a bit of Old English aka Anglo-Saxon (and with read I mean to say I know what the words mean and I can actually read their handwriting, an accomplishment on its own if you'd ask me), and I'm absolutely addicted to any form of Sherlock Holmes. Except Elementary, cuz that show never did it for me.
I have a cat. My dearest darlingest kitty-cat Charles. He's the sweetest furry little bastard you'll ever see (unless you have your own cat) and I might post some pics of him every now and then. He has the most peculiar appetite; he only ever eats dry cat food, no fish, no meat, no whatever, with the exception of tuna water. You know, the water in which the canned tuna sits. He loves that stuff, I swear. It's brilliant :) Doesn't eat the tuna that's in it, though, just the water.
Anyway, that's it for now, hope you'll enjoy my fails.
Sincerely,
Saskia
I'm glad you've found my page, and I hope that you'll be able to learn of my cooking failures. I make the mistakes so that you don't have to. And if you happen to make mistakes too, that's alright. I know what it feels like.
Sooo, introductions.
My name is Saskia, and I'm a Dutch student, currently studying a master in English Language at the University of Groningen. I love reading Chaucer (if you're not familiar with the Canterbury Tales, it's funny. Trust me. Chaucer has the sass of the entire fourteenth century), I can read a bit of Old English aka Anglo-Saxon (and with read I mean to say I know what the words mean and I can actually read their handwriting, an accomplishment on its own if you'd ask me), and I'm absolutely addicted to any form of Sherlock Holmes. Except Elementary, cuz that show never did it for me.
I have a cat. My dearest darlingest kitty-cat Charles. He's the sweetest furry little bastard you'll ever see (unless you have your own cat) and I might post some pics of him every now and then. He has the most peculiar appetite; he only ever eats dry cat food, no fish, no meat, no whatever, with the exception of tuna water. You know, the water in which the canned tuna sits. He loves that stuff, I swear. It's brilliant :) Doesn't eat the tuna that's in it, though, just the water.
Anyway, that's it for now, hope you'll enjoy my fails.
Sincerely,
Saskia
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