This simple, delicious apple cake may be my new favorite fall dessert.  It is moist, tender, packed with tart apples and cinnamon, and very easy to prepare.  What’s not to love?

On a whim, I decided to update the popular Blueberry-Strawberry Buttermilk Cake with fall flavors by swapping in apples, cinnamon and extra vanilla for the blueberries and strawberries.  But the result of the experiment was so much better than the original, I’m not sure if I’ll ever make the other version of this cake again.  It’s that good.

Although the cake is excellent on its own, you could dress it up by drizzling slices with a salted caramel sauce and serving with dollops of freshly whipped cream.  At the moment,  I really can’t think of anything more appealing than that.

I really hope you give this cake a try, but if not, you should drop by my house.  I have a feeling it’s going to be a weekly standard for the next couple of months.

Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from Gourmet

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup peeled and chopped baking apple (I used granny smith)
heaping tablespoon of raw sugar (demerara, turbinado or Sugar in the Raw)
extra cinnamon for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, butter and flour an 8-inch round cake pan* (or spray with Baker’s Joy or equivalent).

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about two minutes.  Add vanilla and egg and beat well.  With the mixer set to low speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture.  Add half the buttermilk and continue beating on low speed until incorporated.  Scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, beat in another 1/3 of flour mixture then remaining buttermilk.  Finally beat in the last 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined.

3. Scrape batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.  Scatter apple pieces evenly over the top of the cake batter then sprinkle evenly with raw sugar.  Sprinkle lightly with cinnamon.

4. Bake in a preheated 400-degree oven until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool until warm.  Invert onto a plate.  Serve plain, or with whipped cream and salted caramel sauce.

*You may use a 9-inch cake pan, if you don’t have an 8-inch one.  The cake will be a bit thinner than it appears in my photos and will bake slightly faster.

Yield: 8 servings

Around the Web:

• Mom’s Apple Cake from Smitten Kitchen
• Cinnamon Apple Pecan Crumb Bars from What We’re Eating
• Gluten-Free Sour Cream Apple Cake from Karina’s Kitchen
• Apple Coffee Cake from Simply Recipes
• Whole Wheat Apple Pear Cake from Kalyn’s Kitchen

Although this was my first time making them, I’m beginning to think that these warm and spicy pumpkin doughnuts are going to become a fall tradition around here.  Filled with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and even a hint of cardamom, these doughnuts will warm your soul on a crisp autumn morning.

Have you ever made doughnuts from scratch?  The closest I had ever come to making doughnuts was back in my college days when I learned how to make faux doughnuts (fauxnuts?) by poking holes in refrigerated biscuit dough rounds and frying them up in a skillet.  They were pretty good if you dipped them in sugar and ate them warm, but not quite the real thing.  Ok, not even close.

I have memories of the real thing, though.  You see, my mom made homemade doughnuts for us once.  They were yeast-raised doughnuts, the kind which are lightly glazed or sugar-crusted on the outside, but only slightly sweet and impossibly soft and fluffy on the inside.  Though I was small, and the recollection is a bit fuzzy, I know in my heart that they were the best doughnuts I’ve ever tasted.  While the “hot now” sign at Krispy-Kreme may make your heart flutter, I’m telling you that nothing compares to a doughnut fried up in your own kitchen.  My mom only made doughnuts once that I can recall, but that one memory fills me with so much warmth, I know that I have to make doughnuts from scratch one day for my own children.  Yes, food memories are powerful.

My favorite doughnuts are yeast-raised and glazed, and rarely do I stray from that standard when visiting a local doughnut shop.  But after deciding to make doughnuts at home, I thought it would be best to start with a simple cake doughnut on my first go-round.  And while I generally prefer plain cake doughnuts to flavored ones, I decided to give pumpkin doughnuts a try when I noticed that the leaning tower of organic canned pumpkin that had been perched precariously on my counter since that last trip to Trader Joe’s (when rumors of canned pumpkin shortages briefly got the best of me), was finally threatening to topple and, perhaps, hurt someone.

After looking through several pumpkin doughnut recipes, I chose to use one from Bon Appetit found on Epicurious. And since I can never leave a perfectly good recipe alone, I made a few changes like doubling all the spices and adding a touch of molasses.  I also chose not to add the white glaze, and instead dusted the finished doughnuts lightly with powdered sugar mixed with a bit of pumpkin pie spice.  They were absolutely delicious!

The dough is very sticky when it’s first mixed, so you need to chill it in the refrigerator for a few hours before you can work with it.

The next step reminded me a lot of making biscuits, and in fact I did use a biscuit cutter.  Just dump some of the dough out onto a lightly floured surface,  then pat it out lightly with your hands.

Since the dough is still rather sticky, even after refrigeration, I dipped the cutter in flour before cutting each round.

After you cut out some rounds, it’s time to cut the holes.  I wasn’t sure what to use, since I don’t have a one-inch round cutter like the recipe specified.  But I do have an apple corer, and it worked well, even though the holes were a bit smaller than one inch.  Again, I made sure to dip the apple corer in flour before cutting each hole.

When deep-frying, you need to make sure you control the temperature of the oil.  Although it’s hard to keep it at the same exact temperature all the time, you should adjust the heat to try to keep the oil between 365 and 370 degrees as much as possible.  If it’s too cool, the doughnuts will absorb too much oil and if it’s too hot, the doughnuts will brown too fast and the middles won’t be fully cooked.  Make sure you have a thermometer clipped to side of your pan to make it easy to monitor the temperature of the oil.

Cook the doughnuts in batches, without overcrowding the pot.  Adding too many doughnuts at once will cause the oil temperature to drop rapidly, resulting in greasy doughnuts.

Cook the doughnuts until they are golden brown, then remove with a slotted spoon to a tray lined with paper towels.

After the doughnut holes have cooled, they can be rolled in cinnamon sugar, or whatever topping you decide to create.

I decided that I like these pumpkin doughnuts plain, but I did sprinkle a few with powdered sugar and a dash of pumpkin pie spice.  Perfect!

Pumpkin Doughnuts
(adapted from Bon Appétit)

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon molasses
1 cup canned pure pumpkin
Canola or Peanut Oil (for deep-frying)

toppings:
1 cup sugar
3 teaspoons cinnamon
powdered sugar

1. Whisk first 9 ingredients (flour through cardamom) in a medium bowl to blend well; set aside.

2. Using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer, beat sugar and butter in large bowl until well blended (mixture will be a bit grainy). Beat in egg, then yolks, then vanilla. Gradually beat in buttermilk and molasses, then beat in pumpkin, in four additions.

3. Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture in 4 additions, blending gently after each. Cover the bowl and chill in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

4. Lightly flour two baking sheets.  When dough is well-chilled, lightly flour a work surface.  Starting with about 1/3 of dough, gently press it out to a round that is 1/2- to 2/3-inch thick. Using a 2 1/2-inch-diameter round cutter, cut out dough rounds. Using 1-inch-diameter round cutter, cut out center of each dough round to make doughnuts and doughnut holes.  Arrange doughnuts and holes on the baking sheets as you go.  Gather dough scraps. Press out dough and cut out more dough rounds until all dough is used.  If dough is very sticky, dip the round cutters into flour before cutting each doughnut.

5. Line two baking sheets with several layers of paper towels.  Pour oil into large deep skillet or dutch oven to a depth of 1 1/2 inches. Attach a deep-fry thermometer  to the side of the pot and heat oil to 365°F to 370°F.  Fry doughnut holes in 2 batches until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 2 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer to paper towels to drain.  Fry doughnuts, 3 or 4 at a time, until golden brown, adjusting heat to maintain temperature, about 1 minute per side.  Using a slotted spoon, transfer doughnuts to paper towels to drain.  Cool completely.

While doughnuts are cooling, mix sugar and cinnamon.  Roll doughnut holes in the cinnamon and sugar mixture.  Lightly dust doughnuts with powdered sugar, if desired.

Related Recipes:

• Pumpkin Pancakes
• Pumpkin Scones
• Pumpkin Spice Cake
• Pumpkin Cream Cheese Roll
• Mini Pumpkin Cheesecakes

Around the Web:

• Pumpkin Doughnuts from A Mingling of Tastes
• Pumpkin Donuts with Pumpkin Cream Cheese Frosting from Pete Bakes!
• Baked Pumpkin Donuts from Culinary Cory
• Pumpkin and Hazelnut Doughnuts from Canelle et Vanille
• Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts from Recipe Girl

While some muffins are little more than cupcakes without the frosting, these hearty, flavorful, and nutritious whole grain apple muffins will help you power through your morning.

Don’t get me wrong, I am definitely a fan of cake-like muffins, but I think they generally make a better dessert than breakfast.  Made with whole wheat flour and heart-healthy oat bran, these muffins offer a bit more staying power than something you might pick up at a cafe on your way to work.

I made these using King Arthur White Whole Wheat Flour, which I have found is great for quick breads.  But traditional whole wheat flour will work fine, and if you can find it, whole wheat pastry flour would be even better.  As always, you may substitute all-purpose flour for any portion of the whole wheat, although you’ll lose some of the nutritional value.

One of my favorite muffin tips is to use a mechanical ice cream scoop for portioning out the muffin batter, it’s quick, easy, and reduces the chance of dropping globs of batter all over the muffin tin and counter (although I still usually manage to do that).

I think these muffins make a great breakfast-on-the-go, but I also enjoy them as an afternoon snack.  They freeze well, and will defrost quickly at room temperature.  I hope you enjoy them!

Whole Grain Sour Cream Apple Muffins

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oat bran
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 cup sour cream, at room temp.
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

1 granny smith apple (or your favorite type of baking apple), peeled and diced
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

cinnamon and sugar mixture (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 12 cup muffin tin.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, oat bran, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, oil, eggs, brown sugar and vanilla.

4. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until just combined. Fold in apples, raisins, and nuts (if using).

5. Divide batter between the twelve muffin cups (a regular-sized ice cream scoop works well). Sprinkle tops of muffins with a mixture of cinnamon and sugar if desired.

6. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

Around the Web:

• Whole Wheat Apple Muffins from Smitten Kitchen
• Gluten-Free Apple Pear Muffins from Karina’s Kitchen
• Maple-Drizzled Apple Muffins from Recipe Girl
• Apple Cinnamon Crunch Muffins from Andrea’s Recipes
• Apple Muffins from Cooking for Seven

Click any of the photos above to be taken to the recipe.  Enjoy!

Last week I finished bread #7 in the Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge.  The bread was ciabatta and while I was excited to try it, I admit that I was a bit nervous.  Lots of BBA Challenge members finished their ciabatta before me, so I knew that the bread wasn’t turning out perfectly for many people.  Everyone seemed to be saying the same thing:  great flavor, but not enough holes!

In addition to its signature flat and rectangular shape, ciabatta is known for its open crumb with lots of big, shiny holes.  And I’ve learned over the years while trying to perfect my own loaves of sourdough, the open crumb with big shiny holes is much harder to achieve than a great flavor!

Peter Reinhart offers many variations for his Ciabatta formula.  We had the option of using either a Poolish or Biga for the pre-ferment — the main difference being the amount of water added to the flour and yeast during the pre-ferment stage.  A note in the sidebar mentions the option of enriching the dough with olive oil, milk or buttermilk, for a softer, more tender loaf.  And he also gives directions for Wild Mushroom Focaccia, Ciabatta with Cheese, and Caramelized Onion and Herb Ciabatta!  But even with all those choices and variations available, I decided to stick to original formula using only flour, salt, yeast and water.

Although some people seemed to be having better luck using the stiffer biga starter, I decided to give the poolish a try.  Like I mentioned earlier, the difference between a poolish and biga is simply the amount of water added to flour and yeast.  A poolish will have the consistency of pancake batter, while a biga will be stiff and kneadable like bread dough.  Both types of pre-ferments are made day before using a portion of the flour and yeast from the bread formula.  The purpose of a pre-ferment is to improve the flavor and structure of the bread by extending fermentation time.  Although these terms are probably new to many of you, there is nothing difficult about using a pre-ferment.  You just need to plan ahead and allow some extra time to let the mixture sit around and do its thing.

My poolish started with 2 1/2 cups of bread flour, 1 1/2 cups of water and 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast.  I just stirred it up with a wooden spoon, covered it with plastic wrap, and let it sit at room temperature.

After a few hours, it had bubbled up and increased in size quite a bit.  Now it was ready for an overnight rest in the refrigerator.  See, nothing to it!

The next day, I removed the poolish from the fridge an hour before I was ready to start making my ciabatta dough, to take off the chill.  When I was ready to begin, I measured out the rest of the flour, yeast and salt.

I whisked the dry ingredients together then added the poolish.

The amount of water in the recipe can vary by quite a bit.  The instructions say to add 6 tablespoons of water at this point, but the final dough might use up to 3/4 cup.  I knew I would end up using more than 6 tablespoons, so I  started out by pouring in about 1/2 cup of water.

I then started stirring everything together to get an idea of how wet the dough would be with that amount of water.  I ended up adding a bit more water until the dough looked to be the right consistency.

I used my stand mixer with the paddle attachment to mix the dough for a few minutes.  I think I ended up adding close the full 3/4 cup of water by the time I was done mixing.  I knew from making sourdough bread, that I needed a very wet dough if I wanted big holes in my ciabatta.  After mixing with the paddle attachment for a while, I switched to the dough hook and kneaded for a final two minutes.  The dough mostly cleared the sides of the bowl while it was being kneaded, but stuck to the bottom, as described in the book.  but as you can see, it was a wet and sticky dough.

Next, I scraped the dough out onto a well-floured board.  The book says to create a bed of flour, so I really used a lot!

Now it was time for some stretching and folding.  Since I’ve never made ciabatta before, this was a new technique for me.  First, I sprinkled some flour on top of the dough and formed it into the shape of a triangle.  Then I let it relax for a couple of minutes before grabbing the ends and stretching it out to twice it’s size.

Then I folded it into thirds, like a letter.

Then I covered it with plastic wrap and let it rest for 30 minutes.  I was surprised at how much the dough grew in 30 minutes!

Next, I repeated the stretch and fold process one more time, covered it with plastic wrap and let it sit and ferment for an hour and a half.

The book says the dough should swell, but not necessarily double in size.  But I think mine doubled!

Next, the dough is divided.  I decided to make three small loaves, so I cut the dough into three pieces.  Since the dough is so sticky, I dipped my bench scraper in water before cutting through the dough.  I didn’t weigh the pieces because I wanted to handle the sticky dough as little as possible.  Consequently, I ended up with three different sizes!

Next, I gently rolled the pieces in flour so they were well-coated on all sides.

And then I transferred them to a prepared couche, and folded each one again.  A couche is a heavy linen cloth that is used to support the loaves and help them keep their shape during proofing.  After shaping the loaves, I covered them with plastic and allowed them to proof for close to an hour.

Since I didn’t think all three loaves would fit on my peel, I decided to use the back of a sheet pan to transfer the loaves to the oven.  First I dusted the back of the sheet pan with corn meal.

Then I started transferring the loaves from the couche to the makeshift peel, gently stretching each loaf out to a length of about 9 inches.

I was happy to see that the three loaves fit perfectly on the back of the pan!

Now it was time to put them in the oven.

Earlier, when I placed the loaves in the couche to proof, I had prepared the oven.  I placed a baking stone on the middle rack, and an empty pan on the bottom of the oven (this will be used to create steam later).  I then preheated the oven to 500 degrees.  When you are heating the oven with a baking stone, it takes longer for it to come to temperature.  When I need the oven and baking stone to reach 500 degrees, I always allow it to preheat for 45 minutes.  So by the time, the loaves were proofed and ready to go in, the oven was ready.

I also had a pot of simmering water on top of the stove, ready to help me create steam.  Just before putting the loaves in, I measured out one cup of simmering water.  Now I was ready to bake some ciabatta!  I popped the loaves onto the baking stone, quickly draped a dish towel over the oven door glass (to prevent water from splattering and possibly shattering the glass) and carefully poured the cup of simmering water into the hot pan on the bottom of the oven (I used a long oven mitt for this).  As the steam billowed up, I quickly shut the oven door (making sure to remove the towel) to trap as much of it inside as possible.  After 30 seconds, I opened the oven door and used a spray bottle to mist the oven walls with water, creating even more steam.  Again, I quickly shut the door to trap the steam.  I repeated this two more times at 30 second intervals.  After the final spray, I turned the oven temperature down to 450 degrees and baked the bread for somewhere between 15 and 20 minutes, rotating the loaves halfway through.

Perhaps all that steaming sounds like a lot of work, but it really does help to create a beautiful crust!  Here are the finished loaves:

And what about the crumb?  Perhaps the holes aren’t as large as the ciabatta featured in the photo in the book, but I was perfectly happy with the way mine turned out.  Especially for a first try!  The main problem I had with my loaves was the line of flour that was visible in the middle of the loaf.  Next time I will try harder to brush the flour off the top of the dough before folding.  But it didn’t affect the flavor or texture too much, so I’m still calling this one a success!

The ciabatta tasted great and I really enjoyed it as a sandwich bread, especially lightly toasted!

The Next Bread

This week we will be making Cinnamon Buns!  The cinnamon bun instructions begin on page 143 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  You have the choice of making either cinnamon buns or sticky buns, depending on whether you use the white glaze or the caramel glaze.  I’ve heard nothing but great things about this formula, so I can’t wait to get started!  Good luck and happy baking!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun!  First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  Read the first section of the book carefully, as this will prepare you for the bread recipes in the second section of the book.  Then just jump in and bake some Anadama Bread! But first, please visit The BBA Challenge Page for more details on how to participate in the group!

If you haven’t already, you might want to bookmark the BBA Challenge Page.  From there you can see which breads are coming up soon, find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit and/or add yourself to our World Map, see the BBA Challenge Blogroll, and check out the continually updated slideshow of BBA Bread photos from our ever-expanding group of bakers!

For those of you who are participating in The BBA Challenge, here are some questions:  How did you like the Ciabatta?  Did you use the poolish or the biga for your pre-ferment?  Did you stick to the original formula or did you try some of the variation?  Did you learn anything new while using this formula?

And remember, if you wrote a blog post about Ciabatta, or have photos available online, please leave a comment and share your link!

Ciabatta from other BBA Challenge members:

• Wild Mushroom Ciabatta from Pink Stripes
• Ciabatta from Two Skinny Jenkins
• Ciabatta (poolish version) from Gourmet Hotdish and Other Culinary Disasters
• Ciabatta (biga version) from Anna on Flickr
• Ciabatta (poolish version) from The Other Side of Fifty
• Ciabatta (biga version) from Appoggiatura
• Ciabatta (poolish version) from Bewitching Kitchen
• Ciabatta (biga version) from You Eat Now
• Ciabatta (poolish version) from Flour Girl
• Ciabatta (poolish version) from Carried on the Wind
• Ciabatta (with wild yeast poolish) from Coffeegrounded’s Blog

As you all know, I am a huge fan of simple recipes.  What you might not know is that buttermilk is a staple in my house and I am almost never without it.  I even keep powdered buttermilk in the pantry for those rare times when I don’t have the fresh stuff in the fridge.  It adds such a nice flavor and texture to baked goods that I’ll often adapt recipes to include it even when it’s not originally called for.  So when I saw a recipe in last month’s Gourmet magazine that was simple, included buttermilk on the ingredient list, and looked absolutely delicious, of course I had to try it.

The recipe I’m referring to is Raspberry Buttermilk Cake.  I didn’t have any fresh raspberries on hand, but I did have a handful of blueberries and a pint of strawberries in the fridge, so I decided to adapt.  Although I know the raspberry version is probably delicious, I’m really glad I opted to use the berries I had on hand.  Not only was it a great combination, but this would be a perfect Red, White, and Blue Cake for a Fourth of July barbecue.  Served with whipped cream and extra berries, it would be both festive and delicious.

The ingredient list is simple: flour plus leavening, butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, buttermilk and fresh berries.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla then add flour (plus leavening and salt) and buttermilk alternately in batches.  You’ll have a nice fluffy batter at the end.

Scrape the batter into a cake pan that has been buttered and floured (I like to make it easy by just spraying the pan with Baker’s Joy).

Smooth the top with a spatula.

Then sprinkle your fresh berries evenly over the top.  You can use whatever berries you have on hand, or even chopped peaches or nectarines.  You want to use about a cup of fruit.

Now sprinkle the raw sugar over the top of the fruit.

Bake the cake until golden, about 25 minutes.  As you can see, the cake rises up and over the berries so they end up in the middle of the cake.

After it has cooled in the pan for ten minutes, turn it out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

I decorated mine with extra fresh berries and if I would have had some whipped cream or ice cream on hand, I would have served it with that.

But it was delicious all by itself!

Blueberry and Strawberry Buttermilk Cake
Adapted from this recipe in Gourmet

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), at room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup fresh blueberries
1/2 cup chopped fresh strawberries
heaping tablespoon of raw sugar (demerara, turbinado or Sugar in the Raw)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan (or spray with Baker’s Joy or equivalent).

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about two minutes.  Add vanilla and egg and beat well.  With the mixer set to low speed, beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add half the buttermilk and continue beating on low speed until incorporated.  Scraping down sides of bowl as necessary, beat in another 1/3 of flour mixture then remaining buttermilk. Finally beat in the last 1/3 of the flour mixture until just combined.

3. Scrape batter into the cake pan, smoothing the top with a spatula.  Scatter blueberries and strawberries evenly over the top of the cake batter then sprinkle with raw sugar.

4. Bake until cake is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 25 to 30 minutes.  Cool in the pan for ten minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool until warm.  Invert onto a plate.  Serve with whipped cream and fresh berries on the side.

Related Recipes:

• Coconut Lime Cake
• Red Velvet Cake
• Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
• Easy Lemon Cake
• Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

Around the Web:

• Vanilla Buttermilk Cake from A Whisk and a Spoon
• Buttermilk Cake with Berries from Food Mayhem
• Dark Chocolate Buttermilk Cake from Christine Cooks
• Buttermilk Cake with White Chocolate and Dried Apricots from Sweet Sins
• Vanilla Buttermilk Cake with Instant Fudge Frosting from Sticky, Gooey, Creamy,Chewy

This savory Italian bread already has all of my favorite sandwich ingredients inside of it!

For week five of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge, I baked Casatiello. Peter Reinhart describes it as a rich, dreamy Italian elaboration of brioche.  His description is beautiful and poetic, but the Casatiello is even more so.  Rich, but light and fluffy, studded with chunks of salami and filled with oozing pockets of cheese, this bread stole my heart.

Not only was this one of the most delicious breads I’ve ever tasted, but I was able to start and finish it on the same day!  It doesn’t bother me that the other BBA breads took a couple of days to make, I’m always willing to wait for good bread.  But it was certainly nice to know that this time around my bread making efforts would be rewarded at the end of an afternoon rather than a day or two later.

And what a reward it was!

The process of making this bread was very similar to the Brioche that I wrote about last week.  But this one doesn’t contain nearly as much butter and I found that the dough was much easier to work with.  I took a ton of photos as I was putting this bread together, but due to some crazy technical difficulties this morning, I’m not going to be able to share them with you today.  It’s just been one of those days.

Once I am able to recover all of my step-by-step photos, I will add them to this post along with a more in-depth description of how I made this bread.  But in the meantime, check out these other BBA Members who have made Casatiello:

• Casatiello with Salami, Provolone and Sage – Photos on Flickr (by Kelly of Sass & Veracity)
• Casatiello with Caramelized Onions and Brie from Gourmet Hotdish & Other Culinary Disasters
• Casatiello with Genoa Salami and Cheddar from 3Sheik
• Casatiello with Sausage and Provolone from At the Very Yeast
• Casatiello with Mortadella and Asiago from I can do that!
• Casatiello with Sausage and White Cheddar – Photos on Flickr (by SallyBR)
• Casatiello two ways: Sundried Tomato/Gouda & Sopressata/Provolone from Pete Eatemall
• Casatiello with Turkey and Provolone from Jennetcetera
• Casatiello with Salami and Cheddar from GrongarBlog
• Casatiello with Elk Salami and Montasio Cheese from Sweet Charity Pie

The Next Bread

This week we will be making Challah, the braided Sabbath bread of Judaism.  I’m excited about making Challah because it will be my first time braiding a bread dough!  The ingredients for this one are simple, and the bread can be made in one day.  The bread instructions begin on page 133 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  Instructions (including photos) for braiding the dough begin on page 84.  Good luck and happy baking!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun!  First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  Read the first section of the book carefully, as this will prepare you for the bread recipes in the second section of the book.  Then just jump in and bake some Anadama Bread! But first, please visit The BBA Challenge Page for more details on how to participate in the group!

If you haven’t already, you might want to bookmark the BBA Challenge Page.  From there you can see which breads are coming up soon, find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit and/or add yourself to our World Map, see the BBA Challenge Blogroll, and check out the continually updated slideshow of BBA Bread photos from our ever-expanding group of bakers!

For those of you who are participating in The BBA Challenge, here are some questions:  How did you like the Casatiello?  Do you think it deserved a week of it’s own, even though it’s basically a variation of the brioche we made last week?  Which meat, cheese or other ingredients did you add to the dough?  What type of pan did you bake it in?  Did you learn anything new while using this formula?

And remember, if you wrote a blog post about Casatiello, or have photos available online, please leave a comment and share your link!

This post marks a couple of firsts for me.  This is the first time I’ve ever used rhubarb and it’s also the first time I’ve ever made homemade turnovers.  You probably won’t be surprised to learn that I now love them both!

I’m not sure how I’ve made it 34 years without ever touching fresh rhubarb.  We just didn’t eat it growing up.  I don’t think there was any particular reason for it, we just didn’t.  I know I’ve probably tasted Strawberry Rhubarb Pie at some point in my life, but I can’t really recall ever knowing what rhubarb even tastes like.

Luckily, my friend Allen suggested that I try making something with rhubarb. If he hadn’t put it in my head, I probably would gone another year without giving it a go.  And once he suggested it, I started noticing rhubarb recipes everywhere.  It seemed like I was the only in the world not eating rhubarb on a daily basis.  I was determined to give it a try.

But I wasn’t really sure where to find it.  I knew it was in season, and living in California, I generally have access to just about any fruit or vegetable imaginable.  But I really didn’t recall seeing rhubarb at the markets.  My friend Caron assured me that I would be able to find it here, since she grew up eating lots of rhubarb in Southern California.  We headed out to one of our local farmer’s markets and sure enough, there it was!

I snatched up two bunches of the scarlet, celery-like vegetable (or is it a fruit?).  Caron suggested I try using it to make a simple compote, and I thought that sounded like a good way to get to know this ingredient.  I chopped it up, tossed it with some sugar and let it macerate for a while since I had read that it would release liquid.  When it didn’t release as much liquid as I expected, I tossed in a spoonful of water and heated it on the stove.  The rhubarb softened much faster than I expected, and all of a sudden I had a pot full rhubarb mush, instead of the chunky compote I was hoping for.  Rhubarb FAIL.

Well, instead of being disappointed with my failed compote, I decided to turn it into a sauce.  I tossed in a handful of fresh raspberries, half a vanilla bean, and a few cardomom pods and let it simmer for a bit.  Then I removed the vanilla bean and cardmom, passed the mixture through my food mill and ended up with a beautiful red sauce that tasted great over my Greek yogurt as an afternoon snack.  Although the sauce was good, I wasn’t really satisfied with my first rhubarb experiment.  Luckily, I still had a bunch in the refrigerator!

It took me about a week to get back to the rhubarb, but I am so glad that I did!  The Rhubarb Blueberry Turnovers that I finally ended up with are the best pastries I’ve ever made.  I got the idea while looking through my newest baking book, The Art and Soul of Baking. If you can believe it, I received the beautiful book as a free gift when I recently attended the International Food Blogger Conference in Seattle.  Lucky me!  The book is filled with gorgeous photos and there are tons of recipes I want to try (Lemon Mascarpone Layer Cake, anyone?).  But back to the Rhubarb!   I ended up adapting a Summer Berry Turnover recipe to include rhubarb and blueberries since that’s what I had in the fridge.

What I loved most about this recipe was the simple cream cheese pastry dough.  As long as you have a food processor, the dough comes together in minutes!

First, cut a stick of cold butter into small pieces (put it back in fridge to keep it cold).

Then do the same thing with an 8-ounce block of cream cheese.

Next, combine flour, sugar and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine the ingredients.

Remove the butter from the fridge and add it to the flour mixture.

Press the pulse button several times until the butter/flour mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

Now add the cold cream cheese.

Pulse again, several times, until the dough clumps together in a shaggy mass.

Next, dump the shaggy dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.

Knead the dough briefly until you have a cohesive dough, then pat it out into a square.

Wrap the dough in plastic, then chill in the refrigerator for 3o minutes.

Meanwhile, chop and measure out one cup of rhubarb and one cup of blueberries.

In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon and cardamom.

Mix the filling ingredients together well, then set aside.

After the dough has chilled, roll it out into a big square, a little larger than 15 inches all around.

Using a ruler and a knife (or in this case, a pizza cutter), trim the dough into a 15-inch square.

Then mark the dough in 5-inch increments on all sides and cut into 9 (5-inch) squares.

Divide the filling between each square, placing spoonfuls of it in the center of each one.

Although I forgot to do it, you should brush the edges of the squares with egg was before folding them over to form a triangle.  Gently press the edges together with your fingers.

Then use a fork to seal and crimp the edges.

Divide the turnovers between two baking sheets, then brush each one lightly with egg wash.

After brushing with egg wash, sprinkle coarse sugar over the tops of the turnovers.

Use a small sharp knife to cut several slits in the top of each turnover.  This will allow steam to escape during baking.

Bake the turnovers in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25-30 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time.  Remove from the oven when they are golden brown.  The turnovers will leak, but that’s fine!

Move them to a wire rack to cool.

Enjoy warm or at room temperature and try not to eat the whole batch in one sitting!

Rhubarb Blueberry Turnovers
adapted from The Art and Soul of Baking

Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (one stick), cut into small pieces
8 oz. cold cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces

Filling:
4 oz. rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (1 cup)
4 oz. blueberries (1 cup)
6 tablespoons sugar
zest of one lemon (about 2 teaspoons of zest)
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional)

Egg wash:
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk or cream

Sanding sugar, turbinado sugar (sugar in the raw), or granulated sugar for sprinkling on the turnovers.

1. Place flour, sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to blend the ingredients.  Add the cold butter pieces and pulse several times until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.  Add the cream cheese and pulse until the mixture starts to clump together in a shaggy mass.

2. Dump the dough out onto a lightly floured board or counter and knead briefly until the dough comes together.  Pat the dough into a square (about 3/4 inch thick) and wrap in plastic.  Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or up until 2 days.

3. Just before removing dough from the refrigerator, prepare the filling:  In a medium bowl, stir together rhubarb, blueberries, sugar, lemon zest, and spices; set aside.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and place two baking racks close to the center of the oven.

4. Unwrap dough and place on a lightly floured surface.  Roll dough into a large square (slightly larger than 15 inches all around), about 1/8 inch thick.  Using a large knife, trim dough to a 15-inch square.  Use a ruler to mark 5-inch increments along each side of the dough then cut into 9 (5-inch) squares.*

5. In a small bowl, beat together the egg and milk; set aside.  Add a spoonful of rhubarb-blueberry filling in the center of each pastry square (try to divide filling between the squares as evenly as possible). Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the edges of the squares with the egg wash.  Fold the dough over the filling to form a triangle and gently press the edges together with the side of your hand or fingertips.  Use a fork to crimp the edges.

6. Divide the turnovers between two baking sheets that have been lined with either parchment or silicone baking mats. Brush the tops of the turnovers with the egg wash then sprinkle with sugar.  Using the tip of a small knife, cut several slits in the top of each turnover.  Place baking sheets on two baking racks in the center of a preheated 350-degree oven.  Bake for 15 minutes then rotate the sheets from front to back and switch them between the racks to ensure even browning.  Bake for 10 to 15 minutes longer until the turnovers are golden brown.  Transfer pastries to a cooling rack.  Serve turnovers warm or at room temperature.

Recipe Notes: *At this point, the squares can be stacked (with pieces of parchment or waxed paper between layers), wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for up to two days or frozen (place in a plastic freezer bag) for up to two months.

These were some of the best turnovers I’ve ever tasted!  They are sweet, but tart and the crust is flaky and flavorful.  I’ve already made them twice and can see myself making them again and again in the future.  Any type of berry filling would work great in these turnovers, and according to Recipe Girl, cherries work great as well!

Related Recipes:

• Apple Galette
• Whole Grain Sour Cream Blueberry Pancakes
• Strawberry Shortcake

Around the Web:

• Buttermilk Rhubarb Bread from Eating Out Loud
• Rhubarb Cobbler from Smitten Kitchen
• Balsamic Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp from Karina’s Kitchen
• Red Wine Poached Rhubarb from David Lebovitz
• Rhubarb Margarita from Andrea’s Recipes

I really can’t believe I’ve already made it through week four of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice Challenge! The fourth bread we tackled from the book is brioche.  Yes, buttery and delicious brioche.  Although I love to eat the stuff, I had never before baked brioche at home so I was really looking forward to this one!

Peter Reinhart gives us a choice between three versions of a basic brioche: Rich Man’s Brioche, Middle Class Brioche, and Poor Man’s Brioche.  Since butter is the most expensive ingredient in this bread, it stands to reason that the Rich Man’s Brioche contains the most amount of butter (a whopping 16 ounces).  The Middle Class Brioche calls for a more moderate amount of butter, while the Poor Man’s Brioche almost seems healthy after reading the butter content of the other two.

My original plan was to try at least two different ‘classes’ of the brioche so that I could compare the results.  But it seems like time has just not been on my side when it comes to baking lately.  And since I’m the only one home these days, I really couldn’t justify baking that much brioche in one week.  It was really hard to decide which one to try, but at the last minute I said what the hell and jumped in with a full pound of unsalted European-style butter.

And I created the richest, butteriest brioche I’ve ever tasted.

Like the other breads we’ve made so far, the Rich Man’s Brioche starts with a sponge.  I whisked together a bit of flour, yeast, and some lukewarm milk.

After it’s mixed together, the sponge was given some time to ferment.

This sponge grew quickly, and had doubled in about half an hour.

Next, I added five slightly beaten eggs.

The eggs needed to be blended into the sponge before adding the extra flour.

Next I added the mixture of flour, sugar and salt.

And once again, let the mixer do it’s work.  I must say it was nice to have a week off from kneading after those bagels last week!

Once the flour was completely incorporated, I was left with an extremely sticky dough!  I followed Mr. Reinhart’s instructions and let the dough rest for five minutes to develop the gluten before adding the fat.

And then I started adding the butter.  The butter needs to be at room temperature so that it’s easy to blend in.  Even though my butter had been sitting out for hours, it still wasn’t as soft as I would have liked.  Next time I’ll leave it out overnight.

As I continued adding butter and mixing, I found that I had to switch to the dough hook on my Kitchen Aid mixer after the dough repeatedly climbed the paddle while mixing.  It was harder to mix the butter in while using the dough hook, but still much easier than trying to do it all by hand!

After the butter was all incorporated, I continued kneading the dough with the dough hook until it was smooth and satiny.  I’ve never worked with a dough like this…it was gorgeous!  Kind of looks like frosting, doesn’t it?  And yes, I tasted it (didn’t taste like frosing).

Next I lined a baking sheet with parchment, misted it with oil, and scraped out my blob of butter, er, brioche dough.

Next I pushed it out into a rectangle before covering it with greased plastic wrap and putting it in the fridge for an overnight rest.

Since I don’t have any brioche molds, I decided to make brioche rolls like the ones I used to eat in Sicily.  They have the little top knot, like the French petite brioche à tête, but are baked on a sheet instead of in the little fluted molds.

I decided to divide the dough into three-ounce pieces for my rolls.

And I shaped them using instructions found both in the book and this great video tutorial. I did my best to photograph the shaping technique, but the video will probably be more helpful.

After shaping the petites brioches à tête, I covered them with greased plastic wrap and let them proof at room temperature.  Unfortunately, I think I let them proof too long (yep, did it again).  I say this in hindsight because they didn’t really have much oven spring.  But here they are, after proofing for almost 2 hours (an hour and a half would have been better):

Before putting them in the oven, I brushed them lightly with an egg wash.  They were so soft and puffy that it was hard not to damage them with the pastry brush.  I switched to the silicone brush halfway through because it was a bit more gentle than the natural bristle brush I started with.

Finally they went into a 400-degree oven and baked until they were a beautiful and golden brown.

I tried one while still slightly warm from the oven with a spoonful of raspberry jam.  It was SO delicious!  But these were by far the richest brioche I’ve ever tasted.  They were so rich, it was actually difficult to finish an entire roll in one sitting, and I rarely have such problems!

The next morning, I decided to make myself one of my favorite Sicilian breakfasts: granita and brioche! I had never made granita before, but I managed to create a slushy strawberry granita that reminded me a lot of what I used to eat in Catania.  The granita in Catania is very slushy, not as grainy as most of the recipes I’ve seen here.  So I processed my granita in an ice cream maker instead of using the ‘fork technique’ that I always read about.  It was perfect and ready to eat after less than ten minutes in the ice cream maker.  But I’ll write more about the granita in a different post.

All you need to know is that this is how I ate my breakfast yesterday:

Want another breakfast idea for these brioche rolls?  How about a Bacon, Egg and Cheese Sandwich?  Ok, I admit that this was overkill since the brioche was already too rich.  But it was SO GOOD!  Next time I make brioche, I’ll do the Poor Man’s Version so that I can eat my breakfast sandwiches with a little less guilt.

And what I haven’t told you yet is that I also made this delicious Cinnamon Swirl Loaf from a portion of the brioche dough.  The recipe yields almost three pounds of dough, so I was able to make one Cinnamon Swirl Loaf in addition to all those mini brioches.

If you want to know how made the Cinnamon Swirl Loaf,  feel free to check out the step-by-step photos on Flickr.

Overall, I’m glad that I tried the Rich Man’s Brioche.  It was a beautiful dough and the end result was delicious.  But I really don’t think I’ll ever make this version again.  It’s just too much.  I can see myself saving even the Middle Class Brioche for special occasions, and baking the Poor Man’s version for hamburger buns and breakfast brioche.

Now on to another type of brioche for next week…Casatiello!  And this next one is filled not only with butter, but salami and cheese, too!  (my poor, poor arteries)

The Next Bread

This week we will be making Casatiello.  Peter Reinhart describes it as “…a rich, dreamy Italian elaboration of brioche, loaded with flavor bursts in the form of cheese and bits of meat, preferably salami.”  Yes, please!  Vegetarians feel free to substitute anything you want for the salami, or just leave it out entirely.  Olives might be a fun substitution!  Unlike the others we’ve made so far, this bread can be made in one day.  The instructions begin on page 129 of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.   Good luck and happy baking!

Want to Bake Along With Us?

There are several ways for you to join in the fun!  First of all, you need a copy of Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice.  Read the first section of the book carefully, as this will prepare you for the bread recipes in the second section of the book.  Then just jump in and bake some Anadama Bread! But first, please visit The BBA Challenge Page for more details on how to participate in the group!

If you haven’t already, you might want to bookmark the BBA Challenge Page.  From there you can see which breads are coming up soon, find answers to Frequently Asked Questions, visit and/or add yourself to our World Map, see the BBA Challenge Blogroll, and check out the continually updated slideshow of BBA Bread photos from our ever-expanding group of bakers!

Want to Win a Free Book?

Deborah from Italian Food Forever is giving away a copy of The Bread Baker’s Apprentice! To enter, visit Italian Food Forever and leave a comment that relates to bread (talk about your favorite bread, a story about bread baking, etc). That’s it!  You can enter as many times as you want until June 15.  A winner will be chosen randomly.  Good luck!

Brioche from other BBA Bakers

• Middle Class Brioche from Tiramisu
• Brioche Cinnamon Rolls from The Missing Piece
• Middle Class Brioche from Flour Girl
• Rich Man’s Brioche from Texas Farmer’s Hot Stove
• Poor Man’s Brioche from Second Dinner
• Middle Class Brioche from You Eat Now
• Poor Man’s Brioche and Strawberry Danishes from Big Black Dog
• Middle Class Brioche from A Chef’s Daughter
• Rich Man’s Brioche from Confessions of a Penguin Chef
• Middle Class Brioche from Round the Table
• Almond-filled Braided Brioche from Eating Out Loud

For those of you who are participating in The BBA Challenge, how did you like the brioche?  Which version did you make?  How did you shape it?  Did you learn anything new while using this formula?

And remember, if you wrote a blog post about Brioche, or have photos available online, please leave a comment and share your link!

And finally I would like to say congratulations to Nico and his family, who just welcomed a brand new baby boy into this world.  And if you can believe it, Nico still managed to write about his brioche from the hospital.  Welcome, baby Tomas!