Baking Bouchon - Recipe 101: Soft Pretzels

I want balloons and a cake and presents and a keg to celebrate the fact that I finished baking every single recipe in the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook.  Who is throwing me a party?

Bueller?

Cricket, Cricket.

Fine - I'll celebrate by myself by eating a frozen meal because I'm still living in a hotel with no real kitchen so I can't bake myself a cake.  I will, however, have a drink to celebrate.  Because that's different than every other day.

When I set the goal for myself to bake everything in this cookbook, I had no idea that I would end up finishing so quickly.  I though it would take me at least two years to get this done, but it only took about 15 months.  Most of that was due to the fact that we found out we were moving to Korea and I was unsure whether I would be able to get the stuff I needed to bake all of this overseas (I was right).  I work far better under a deadline so in the end it was a blessing that crunch time hit and forced me to become a baking maniac for the last couple of months.

Fittingly, the last recipe in this cookbook that I tackled was a bread recipe.  It was probably the scariest of the bread recipes but also my favorite.

The dough itself is not scary and is similar to some others in the cookbook but with a starter that is much drier than the poolish and levain that is used in the other recipes.

Once the dough is ready it is divided, rolled into logs and shaped into a traditional pretzel shape.  I was worried that I wouldn't be able to get the pretzels shaped correctly, but it was much easier than I expected.  I think Auntie Anne's would hire me if I'm ever desperate for employment / decide I need a discount on carbs.

I mentioned that this recipe is scary and that's because it comes with a warning that if you screw it up you'll be blind or erase your fingerprints.  For real.

Before the pretzels are baked they are soaked in a solution of water and food grade lye.  Lye is like baking soda on steroids and comes with a warning label that tells you how caustic it is.  It also tells you that you must wear gloves when handling it and not to splash it in your face.  I almost wore safety goggles, but I didn't.  If CA had read the warning label, he would have made me because he acts like the household safety officer.  Luckily, there was no splashing so I can still see you.

What the lye solution does is create a chemical reaction that gives pretzels their brown color when they're baked.  This is because of science so I don't understand how it works. 

I can't tell you how excited I was about how well these pretzels turned out.  First of all, I didn't injure myself.  Second, they look like real soft pretzels.  Third, they taste like real soft pretzels.  I'm so glad that the last thing I baked from this cookbook turned out really well.

I'm really proud of myself that I accomplished the goal of baking everything in the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook.  I learned A LOT and have some new skills and recipes to keep in my pocket for future use.

I feel like I need to set a new baking goal, but considering I don't have an oven or a mixing bowl or a spatula at the moment, that will have to wait.  Details.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 100: Gluten Free Brioche

This is the first post I'm writing from Korea.  We've been here a few days now and I'm still a bit fuzzy and disoriented and unable to sleep through the night, but I know I'll become more clearheaded soon.

Some things are a little bit different and most things are a lot different as evidenced by what happened the first time I logged into Blogger from our hotel room and saw this...

Yeah, I can't read that.  I especially can't read the part that tells you where the drop down button is to change my default language from Hangul to English.  Ten minutes later all was well, but I had a panic attack for a minute.

I still have a few more recipes left that I prepared before our departure from the States so we'll talk about those most of this week before I tell you about our long trip here.

This is almost the last recipe in the bread chapter and the second to last recipe in the whole entire Bouchon Bakery Cookbook.  I'm not at all surprised that the breads lingered toward the end of this baking experience because there are so many of them in the cookbook but I am surprised that they included a Gluten Free bread.  I shouldn't be because what I didn't know is that the bakery developed a Gluten Free Flour blend that is sold at Williams Sonoma which I was supposed to use in this recipe but did not because it comes in bags larger than I required for this recipe and I didn't want to waste it when I moved.

In my limited Gluten Free baking experience, I've found that using Gluten Free Flour blends is the easiest way to execute GF recipes but there are really large differences between the different blends so you can to find one you like.  I've had good experience with the King Arthur Flour blend and have heard good things about Pamela's and Cup-4-Cup (the Bouchon blend at Williams Sonoma).  For this recipe I bought the Betty Crocker blend which isn't my favorite but was all the store I went to had.

The dough for these brioche rolls is totally different from the dough used in regular brioche.  I used to get freaked out making GF stuff when the batter or dough looked weird but I've come to expect it now and just wait and see what the end result looks like.  I've also found that GF batter and dough doesn't not taste nearly as good as glutenfull batter and dough which is probably good because I don't eat so much of it.

These baked up pretty nicely....

They also tasted pretty darn good.  Not exactly like brioche but more like a dinner roll.  They've also got coarse chunks of salt sprinkled on top which add to the savory, dinner roll feel.

My only complaint about these was that they did not store well.  I left a few in a tupperware container on my counter overnight and the next day they were very dry and crumbly.  However, I gave most of these away to my Gluten Free Friend (I delivered them to her in a giant plastic baggie in a restaurant tempting her to take one out and eat it during the meal.  She didn't, but I kind of wish she did) and she stored them in the freezer.  She said they reheated really well and didn't get all dried out so I guess the freezer is the key.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 95: Dutch Crunch Baguettes

There are two more bread recipes after this one.  The proportion of bread recipes to other types of recipes in this cookbook is too high.  It feels like 2:1 - I needed 1:1.

At least this bread is fairly interesting.  The base of the bread is a standard dough but it gets topped with a mixture that is made up primarily of rice flour.  It has other stuff in it that makes it into a thin batter but I have no recollection of what that actually was. (You're all in for some really informative posts as we finish this cookbook where I can't remember what the heck I did - thank God for the pictures I take of all the ingredients or I'd hardly know what was in these baked goods.)

I had zero confidence that the batter on top would actually stay there when I baked it.  I pictured it running down the sides of the dough and depositing itself in the bottom of my oven.  Luckily, I was wrong and it stayed put.

The rice flour batter baked into a crunchy topping that added some really great texture to this bread.  It made it a huge difference in the bread.  The dough itself was a little bit dense for me, but I loved the crunchy topping.

I have a feeling I'll be taking a break from bread baking for a while.  It's just not my favorite thing to make and I don't think it ever turns out that great.  The Bouchon Bakery is famous for its bread, so I don't think it's the recipes, I think it's me.  Maybe I'm just not a bread baker.  I have much better success with things that are full of sugar.  Darn.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 92: Pullman Loaf

I did not have high hopes for this bread.  I considered it another obstacle in the way of finishing this cookbook. I figured it would be a giant disaster because I do not have a Pullman Loaf Pan which is a long, narrow pan with a lid that forces the bread to bake into a perfect rectangular block.  This was not a piece of equipment I ever envisioned myself using again so I skipped it and used a regular loaf pan.

The whole reason it's called a Pullamn Loaf is fairly interesting but not interesting enough for me to repeat it here for you.  It's something about trains, you can Google it.

The ingredients for this bread are a little different in that it includes cream cheese.  I don't know what this does for the bread except that it seems a little bit closer to Brioche dough than many of the other breads in this book because of the dairy and the addition of some eggs.

I'm happy to report that my new mixer doesn't attempt to burst into flames while kneading bread dough which is a good thing.  My old mixer got extremely hot during this process because you had to leave it on for 30 minutes but my new orange behemoth does not.

I was pretty impressed with how much the dough rose and with how smooth it was when it baked.  I was convinced that without a lid on this pan and the vague instructions on how big the pan should be that it would overflow the pan and spew all over my oven.

This bread is the closest thing to sandwich bread I've made in this book.  It's definitely more dense than Wonderbread but that means it doesn't completely char when I put it in the toaster or disintegrate when I soak it in eggs and milk to make French Toast.

This is definitely one of the better breads in this cookbook and thank goodness there are only 3 more left!!

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 85: Garlic Comte Breadsticks

What a tease!  The first thing the description of these breadsticks says is "Cheez-Its are one of Matthew's favorite crackers."  Matthew is one of the head bakers at Bouchon Bakery.  Supposedly, these are a better version of those.  I do not agree.

Not because these aren't good.  They have a great cheesy flavor and the added interest of garlic oil, but these are nothing like Cheez-Its.  Cheez-Its are the best cheese crackers in the world.  I'm not overstating.  Goldfish are good, but Cheez-Its are better.  Cheese Nips are not even to be considered.  Cheez-Its are where it's at.

These are not Cheez-Its for 3 reasons.

1. They are not crispy enough to be crackers.  They are softer, like breadsticks which makes sense because that's what they are.
2. I'm pretty sure they don't use Comte cheese in Cheez-Its.  Comte is a French Gruyere cheese so, yeah, not in real Cheez-Its.
3. They're totally the wrong color.  They look like regular breadsticks and aren't even one bit orange.  I like my cheese crackers orange.

Despite the fact that these are not Cheez-Its, they're pretty tasty little sticks and not that difficult to make.

They're made like most of the other bread doughs using flour, salt, yeast and water that gets mixed together.  To that mixture you add melted Comte cheese and canola oil that's been cooked with garlic to flavor it.  All that gets kneaded together, allowed to rest for a few minutes and then rolled out into a large rectangle.  The dough is then frozen and cut into sticks.

Once the dough is cut, it proofs for a couple of hours and then gets baked.  I really wish I would have baked these longer.  I followed the instructions so I know I baked them for the appropriate amount of time, but I wish they have been crisper, like crackers (or Cheez-Its) because that is what I was expecting.  What I got were thin, soft breadsticks... not a bad thing, just not what I anticipated.

The garlic and cheese flavor does come through on these and they were very good.  CA took them to work and I think everyone there was relieved to receive treats that did not involve aggressive amounts of sugar.  I hope they enjoyed the break because it's all sugar all the time for a while.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 82: Nanterre

Oh look, more bread.  In an effort to speed up the completion of the bread chapter of the Bouchon Bakery Cookbook I tackled two breads in a row.  I figured that because the last one was English Muffins it was more like breakfast than anything else so I could stand to make a non-breakfast bread.

You'll be happy to know that this bread didn't make me grumpy.  In fact, it made me pretty happy.  The cookbook recommends that this bread be used to make BLTs and you don't have to tell me to eat bacon twice.

This bread is actually brioche which is a bread enriched with butter and eggs which makes it much more tasty and interesting than regular bread.  The same method is used to make Sticky Buns and Hot Cross Buns.  Basically you make a regular bread dough and that has some eggs in it and knead in a crap load of butter.  Every time I've made the brioche recipe I don't believe that the butter will ever incorporate into the dough but after enough kneading with the dough hook it eventually does. 

Nanterre is a classic brioche shaped like a loaf.  I don't know why it's called that.  The internet revealed a city in France named Nanterre but I can't find any link between it and the name of the bread. 

The recipe makes two loaves of bread but I only have one regular sized loaf pan so I ended up making one regular sized loaf and two mini loaves. 

Forming the loaf is a bit different than you might expect, it's actually a series of little dough balls placed in the pan and proofed until they touch.  When they bake they all join together.  I was skeptical that this would actually happen but this bread proofs for three hours so it did happen eventually.

The loaves baked up really nicely and were golden brown.

Somewhere between proofing and baking my camera decided to only take pictures that look like you're on the surface of the sun.  My camera is really starting to annoy me.

My only complaint here is that I wish the bread had baked up a little taller than it did.  Not because I felt like it didn't rise enough but because I wanted to fit more bacon on it when I made my BLT.  Actually, mine was a BL because I'm not a big fan of raw tomatoes unless they're really good tomatoes.  CA is less picky about his tomatoes so I photographed his BLT.  I also do not eat mayonnaise because it's one of the most disgusting things on the planet so my BL contains Miracle Whip which is so much better.  CA hates Miracle Whip but likes mayonnaise.  He's weird.

Luckily, I was smart enough to realize that because the bread was shorter than desired, I had to make myself two BLT's.  That way I got my full daily allowance of bacon.

This bread was really great with the BLT.  The light and butter texture pairs really well with the salty bacon, crunchy lettuce and (I assume) the tomato.

Maybe I've turned a corner in the bread department.  There are some good ones coming up like cheese bread sticks and pretzels so I think I'm out of the woods.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 81: English Muffins

Now this is a bread I can get excited about!  You should be excited too because you don't have to hear me whine and moan about the latest bread recipe in this cookbook.  Maybe because it's a bread that is firmly engrained in the breakfast category and I love breakfast.  We buy English Muffins on a regular basis so making this is actually quite useful.

I've made English Muffins a few times before but the recipes were significantly different than this one.  The dough was always much thicker than this one and was formed into little patties, grilled on a griddle and then finished in the oven.  These were totally different.  Good thing because I have always been disappointed in my English Muffin attempts.  They never had enough nooks and crannies in them which is the crux of a good English Muffin.

The difference between this dough and the ones used for the other breads in this cookbook is the amount of levain in it.  There is more than double the amount in this bread that is in the others.  It also has more milk in it.  Both of these make the dough significantly thinner, more like batter than dough.  Because the dough is so thin, you can't form it into little bread loaves like the regular dough so it has to be baked in molds.  This meant another equipment purchase which I don't mind too much because I think I'll make these fairly often.

The dough rises and gets scooped into the molds and rises again.  I could tell even before I put them in the oven that there were a ton of little air bubbles in them which was very promising in the nooks and crannies department.

I was a little nervous when I cut open the English Muffins but inside I found a plethora of nooks and crannies.  Hooray!

I've been eating these things like mad.  I've eaten them with butter and jam, with just butter, with peanut butter, as a breakfast sandwich.  I refuse to give any of them away.  CA is lucky I gave him any because this is one bread I want to eat.

There are a few more breads left to make but so far these are my absolute favorite from the bread chapter.  I'm so glad that I got to make these because I think it's just the lift I needed to get through the rest of the breads.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 78: Vegetable Demi-Baguette

I'm really trying to knock out all this bread and I'm really trying to do it with a smile on my face.  This recipe did not help my cause.

Basically this is a standard baguette recipe where you use vegetable broth instead of water in the dough. 

Can we take a moment to discuss why I can't type the word broth without typing the word brother and having to go back and correct it?  It's been happening a lot lately and is really starting to irk me.

I was supposed to make my vegetable brother but I was in no mood to do that and I already had a box of vegetable broth (again!!!).  I typically buy vegetable broth and substitute it for chicken broth (grrr!!!).  I don't actually think it's any better for you and I'm certainly no vegetarian, I just like the flavor. 

Anyway, I made this bread and expected it to have more flavor that the other breads I've made because of all the flavor in the broth.

It didn't happen.  It still tasted like water.  In fact, I think this bread tasted more like water than the bread with water in it. 

The one upside is that I proofed and baked the bread in these baguette pans that I have which meant that I didn't end up with misshapen bread from transferring it into the oven.  At least it was pretty.

I'm just glad that the next bread I plan to make are English Muffins who are far more interesting than the other breads I've been making lately.  Maybe I'll just go on a bread baking binge and finish this chapter so we don't have to talk about this anymore.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 76: Whole Wheat-Pecan Demi-Baguettes

I'm so glad that we're past all the bread that tastes exactly the same.  Pain Palladin, Pain Rustique, Pain de Campagne... they all taste the same to me. (Typically here is where I'd make some joke related to "pain" but I won't subject you to that.)

Thankfully this bread has a few different things going for it.

There's a little bit of whole wheat flour which adds a little texture and bite to the bread.

There is a touch of brown sugar in there which doesn't really add any sweetness to the bread, but is supposed to counteract the bitterness from the whole wheat flour.

Obviously, there are a bunch of pecans in the bread as well which adds some great earthy flavors.

However, my favorite thing in this bread is the brown butter.  Brown butter is butter that has been cooked until it takes on a slightly brown color - cooking the butter gives it a really nutty, earthy flavor.

I was a little bit surprised that the pecans in the bread aren't toasted but Thomas Keller says that they leave them raw for a sweeter, cleaner flavor.  I don't know about that - it tasted like pecans to me.

I'm not sure why but this bread did not proof at all.  It was supposed to double in size and get all fluffy before it went in the oven but it just didn't.  It was supposed to proof for 2 hours and I left it out for 3 but it didn't puff up at all.  If I understood science, I could figure out why.

Regardless, it still puffed up in the oven when I baked it.  The little guys got nice and crusty on the outside and soft on the inside. 

For some reason, they also split down the side a little bit which is weird.  I think it might have to do with the fact that they didn't proof much and the dough wasn't soft enough to expand in the oven so it split.  Again, science.

The cookbook says that they use this bread for turkey sandwiches.  I personally loved it with a little bit of the leftover browned butter spread on it.  It was nutty and warm and awfully tasty.

Hopefully the rest of the breads in this book are this interesting because there are 8 more.  Seriously?  That's a ton of bread and I don't have much time.  It's going to be a carb fest around here.

Enjoy!
Julie

Baking Bouchon - Recipe 73: Pain Rustique

Did I mention that I'm moving?  No?  Well, I am.  CA and I are moving to South Korea in a couple of months which is super exciting for the whole adventure, changing it up, new life experience thing.  It is also very exciting for the whole blogging thing because I fully intend to go to the Korean market and pick up the weirdest thing I can find, figure out what it is, making something delicious with it and tell you all about it.  However, it has caused me to have only 2 blogging goals from now until the movers come and pack up all my pots, pans, mixers, utensils and other excessive kitchen implements.

Goal #1 - Finish baking every recipe in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook.  I definitely think this is doable considering I only a 2-3 recipes left in each section (except the stupid bread section with at least 5 more recipes... why is it so LONG?).  CA and my coworkers may hate us by the time we leave because they're going to be chunky.

Goal #2 - Clean out my pantry/freezer.  This means you're going to get all sort of recipes using up the random stuff that has accumulated in my pantry over the past few years... pepper jelly, fig jam, cocoa nibs, frozen cake scraps, frozen fruit puree, frozen bread, diastastic malt powder...  OK, so I doubt I'll be able to use everything but I'm going to try to use as much as possible because I don't know anyone else who needs a partially used bag of food grade lye.

Step 1 towards Goal 1 is to make more bread.  This bread is plain and boring and exactly like the last bread I made.  Thomas Keller says it's not but I say it is.  Something about less levain or more yeast or less fermenting time or more proofing time is supposed to make this different but it's the same.

Even the pictures look the same.

I even managed to make the two loaves touch in the oven so they baked together just like the last one.

This recipe made two loaves of bread, one got eaten and the other got frozen.  The problem with freezing bread is that it inhibits the completion of Goal #2.

Enjoy!
Julie