Going for the Gold

Last Sunday was the Emmys.  The yearly tradition is going over to a friend's to watch the ceremonies with a potluck included.  It's a fun night had by all.  Good food, great friends and even prizes.  The new Mad Max movie took home the lion's share of trophies.  And, of course, Leo DiCaprio finally took the best actor category.  You like him, you really like him, to paraphrase previous winner Sally Field.

Everyone brought some great food, ranging from a lasagna type casserole, Mary Brown's chicken, chips and dip with guacamole, and much more.  We had some great food, great friends, and great entertainment for the evening.  

I'm known for being the dessert guy so I wanted to contribute something golden to go with the theme of the evening.  Everyone wants to win Oscar gold, so I created a slice of gold: pineapple pretzel salad.  

This recipe is adapted from the traditional strawberry pretzel salad.  The term salad is a bit misleading as it comes out more like a bar dessert.  It's layers of gelled pineapple and cream cheese sitting on a pretzel crust.  It takes a little time to prepare, mostly waiting for each layer to set or cool down.  I've used the recipe from Housewifespice:

The recipe goes as follows:

INGREDIENTS

• 6 1/2ounces pretzel sticks
• 2 1/4cups (15 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 12tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
• 8ounces cream cheese
• 1cup heavy cream (36%)
• 3pounds (10 1/2 cups) crushed pineapple, drained and divided
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 1/2teaspoons unflavored gelatin
• 1/2cup cold water

INSTRUCTIONS

• 1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray. I also used parchment to line the pan. Pulse pretzels and ¼ cup sugar in food processor until coarsely ground, about 15 pulses. Add melted butter and pulse until combined, about 10 pulses. Transfer pretzel mixture to prepared pan.   Using bottom of measuring cup, press crumbs into bottom of pan. Bake until crust is fragrant and beginning to brown, about 10 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Set aside crust, letting it cool slightly, about 20 minutes.  Keep an eye on the crust to make sure you don't overbake.   You can go from hero to zero in under a minute.
• 2. Using stand mixer fitted with whisk, whip cream cheese and ½ cup sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and, with mixer still running, slowly add cream in steady stream. Continue to whip until soft peaks form, scraping down bowl as needed, about 1 minute longer. Spread whipped cream cheese mixture evenly over cooled crust. Refrigerate until set, about 30 minutes.
• 3. Meanwhile, process 2 pounds pineapple in now-empty food processor until pureed, about 30 seconds. Strain mixture through fine-mesh strainer set over medium saucepan, using underside of small ladle to push puree through strainer. Add remaining 1½ cups sugar and salt to puree in saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, whisking occasionally, until bubbles begin to appear around sides of pan and sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes; remove from heat.
• 4. Sprinkle gelatin over water in large bowl and let sit until gelatin softens, about 5 minutes. Whisk puree into gelatin. Add remaining pineapple and stir into pineapple-gelatin mixture. Refrigerate until gelatin thickens slightly and starts to cling to sides of bowl, about 30 minutes. Carefully pour gelatin mixture evenly over whipped cream cheese layer. Refrigerate salad until gelatin is fully set, at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. Serves 12-18.

Whey to Go

So, I still had a little bit of whey left over from last week's delivery.  Two litres is a lot to get rid of at once.  I read that you can pour it on your plants in a diluted form, but I was too lazy to look up the percentage of dilution.  Plus it would only probably be a small amount to use.

So what to do?

I found a nice recipe which uses buttermilk and water, so I thought why not?  It would give the same slightly sour taste as buttermilk and almost the same consistency.  So I made whey brownies.  Whey? Yes, whey?

These brownies turn out more cake-like in texture but they were delicious nonetheless.  I personally like a brownie denser, but in a pinch to use up the whey I thought they turned out pretty well.

I found a recipe from the Louisiana Bride for buttermilk brownies.  Head over there and you'll find a lovely recipe which has a caramel crispy topping for the brownie.  Heavenly.

Just a simple change in the recipe gives me the following:

2 cups of all purpose flour 

1 1/2 cup whey

2 eggs

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup oil

2 cups light brown sugar

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup cocoa

Preheat oven to 400F.   Cream the sugar, eggs, and oil in mixer under medium speed.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add cocoa to melted butter and mix until smooth.  Add cocoa mixture to creamed sugar mixture.  Alternate adding flour mixture and whey, ending with the flour mixture.  Mix until smooth.  If the batter seems too wet add a couple tablespoons of flour.  It should look like cake batter.  Pour into greased 8" square pan and bake for 30 minutes.  Use toothpick method to check for doneness and let cool completely in pan.  

Makes 9-12 servings

The Great Whole Wheat Whey

A friend of mine was making her own cheese and she emailed me to see if I would like her whey. Whey is the byproduct of the cheese making process and can be used many different ways.  See little miss Muffet for more info.  Kidding.

Whey is the liquid remaining after the milk has been curdled and strained.  There are two types: sweet and acid (sour) whey.  Sweet whey happens when you make hard cheeses such as cheddar, and acid whey comes from softer cheeses and yogurt making.  So I received about 1 litre of whey and now I have to figure out what to do with it.

One of the easiest things is to make bread with it.  Whey can be substituted for water or milk in bread making.  As said, it creates a lovely sour environment for yeast to grow.  It has a slightly sour taste so it's great for sourdough recipes.

I decided to experiment with a no-knead recipe which uses whey.  It's a super simple recipe and produced some great results.  You'll need the following:

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups of whey
1 packet of yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Warm the whey until it's warm enough to stick your (clean) finger in and leave there for 5 seconds.  I just microwaved it for one minute on high.  Add the sugar, salt, and yeast to the warm whey.  For this recipe you don't need to wait for the yeast to activate.

Using your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, add the flour to the bowl.  Under low speed add the whey mixture.  I suggest using the paddle because this dough will be very slack so it won't pick it up easily with the hook.  Mix until there isn't any dry flour showing.  You may need to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to catch any flour hiding on the bottom.  When mixed the dough will be very wet.  Don't worry, it will thicken over time.  Remove the paddle and cover with a damp towel and let it sit for two hours at room temp.  The damp towel will prevent the dough from drying out on the surface and allow any gases to escape.

Now, go watch a movie or read a nice book.  I'll wait.

Two hours later preheat your oven to 450F with a sheet pan warming with parchment or a silicon baking sheet in the oven.  Personally I like using the Silpat baking mats.  They are great for all temperatures and don't require seasoning.  The pan needs to be hot when you transfer your dough because this will prevent the bread from spreading too much.  The two oven racks should be one on the bottom of the oven and one in the middle.  Place a oven proof pan on the bottom and fill with 1 cup of hot water.  This will create steam and give the bread a nice crust.

Meanwhile go check on your dough.  It should have a wonderful, slightly sour smell and have approximately doubled in size.  With a flexible dough scraper move the dough from the
bowl to a well floured surface.  The dough will still be slack, but will hold its form.  Use your scraper to form into a ball.  Take your hot sheet from the oven and place the dough ball in the center of the sheet.  Use a sharp knife to make a small X on the top of the loaf.  Quickly place the dough in the oven and bake at 450F for 20 minutes.

Check your bread after 20 minutes to see if you have a nice brown crust.  If not, bake for another 5 minutes.

This makes a lovely chewy whole wheat loaf with little effort.  Enjoy.

Get your Freekeh

While this isn't necessarily about baking per se, it is about wheat.  I recently found a grain called Freekeh.  >Freekeh (sometimes spelled frikeh) or >farik is a cereal food made from green  that goes through a roasting process in its production. It is an ancient Arabian that is especially popular in Levantine, Arabian Peninsula, Palestinian and Egyptian cuisine, but also in North African and other neighboring cuisines. The wheat is harvested while the grains are yellow and the seeds are still soft; it is then piled and sun-dried. The piles are then carefully set on fire so only the straw and chaff burn and not the seeds. It is the high moisture content of the seeds that prevents them from burning. The now roasted wheat undergoes further thrashing and sun-drying to make the flavor, texture, and color uniform. It is this thrashing or rubbing process of the grains that gives this food its name, farīk> or “rubbed.” The seeds are now cracked into smaller pieces so they look like a green bulgur>.

I picked some up the our local store in the "ethnic" foods section, next to the couscous and tabbouleh. I was super easy to make, boiled just like rice, and has a great nutty flavour.  I mixed in some onions, peppers, and feta for a nice light, but filling salad.  It has a low GI, so your body doesn't have that nasty sugar crash and keeps you feeling full until your next meal.  

Another benefit is that it's non GMO and contains four times the fiber of brown rice; keeping the plumbing running smoothly.  

Here's great recipe for freekeh bread.  It does require soaking the freekeh overnight, but the grain gives it a nice taste.


250g Cracked Freekeh
750g Bread flour
10g Gluten flour
100g Butter
20g Salt
10g Sugar
20g Milk powder
60g Dry yeast
600ml Water