Welcome to 52 weeks of theme-based baking! A new challenge each week of the year. This is a great way for beginners to learn, and for experienced bakers to expand their skill set and explore their creativity.
Recipe. I've had the Pullman pan for at least 2 years, and finally used it. My first attempt with King Arthur's recipe was a fail. The dough didn't rise and only filled half the tin. This one came out beautifully. The only snag (literally) was that the dough baked into the crevice of the lid, and I couldn't get it off without tearing off a bit of corner. Over all, very happy with this rectangle.
I made Apfelstrudel following Granny's recipe.
Dough:
Boil some water in a pot. Mix the ingredients together, adding only enough water so that you get a soft, but not batter-like, dough. Knead well until you can form a soft, elastic, smooth ball. Grease with a little more oil. Put the dough on a plate that fits under the pot: Pour the water out of the pot, maybe make some tea. Put the pot (upside down) onto the plate, so that it keeps your dough warm. Let rest for 30-45 mins.
Filling
Soak raisins in rum, water or juice. Melt butter. Core and peel apples, cut them in quarters to eighths, depending on the apples' size, then slice the pieces crosswise in smaller, flat pieces. Sprinkle lemon juice over the apple slices to prevent them from browning (and also adding a bit of sourness). Butter a 30x20 cm (12 x 8 inch?), deep mild. When the dough is rested, take a kitchen towel, sprinkle flour onto it to make it non-stick. Roll the dough out onto the towel, then widen the dough further with your hands. It should be thin enough, to see through. It takes a lot of practice to get there, I have yet to master that skill.... Spread 50g of butter over the dough, add apples, raisins, and nuts, leaving about ½ inch on every side plus about 3 inches on one side. Roll the dough up: start by folding over the ½inch wide sides onto the apple covered dough. Then start rolling at the side opposite the 3 inch wide side. The towel under the dough is pretty helpful here. Put the Strudel into the buttered mold, ideally with the end of the dough on the bottom. Grease the strudel with the remaining 25g of butter. Let it bake at 180°C/ 350 °F for about 1-1½ hours, until golden brown and crispy. For more crisp and colour, spread more butter onto the strudel during baking time. Eat with vanilla sauce, ice cream, whipped cream, apple sauce, some milk on the side or plain. I sent Granny some pictures and she thinks, i made an okay Strudel but way too thick. Also I tried to add more pictures but I couldn't Find out how 😅
I think i need bigger pipe tips. These were supposed to be churros, but the dough came out so narrow even on my largest pipe tip, and the ridges got lost when i fried the churros. So i called them churro fries instead and am gonna pretend that was my plan all along!
I've been wanting to try Kimchi, but I am afraid of new foods. It's best if I try them in something I really like. This was the perfect introduction.
It's not a real regional specialty unless people get really angry about it online, and few regional delicacies stir up emotions like Cincinnati chili. I'm in Northern Ohio,which doesn't have anything special, but Skyline is decisive across all of Ohio. Posted about it in one group chat and a big fight aboit whether it was edible or not broke out. Another, more favorable chat, started arguing about chocolate in the chili. Since the chili isn't really a challenge, I decided to make the spaghetti myself. I already had the roller, but i have only used it once. The history of Cincinnati chili is actually fascinating. I didn't realize it was made by Greek immigrants, so there are loads of Mediterranean spices like cloves, allspice, cumin, and cinnamon in the chili, as well as a bit of dark chocolate.
I'm a beans and onion guy, so i went for the full 5 way chili, although i forgot to bring my oyster crackers.
Made everything from scratch here! I picked up the plums from a local farmers market, but end of August/early September is tricky for fruits around northern Ohio since everyone is trying to get their corn, soy, pumpkin, and squash harvested and off to market. While this was a fun one, to quote Mary Berry, "life's too short to make your own puff pastry". Normally i only make my own for meat pies since you wont find any puff pastry with mustard in it state side.
Recipe. Apparently it's a Virginia favorite. I don't generally care for biscuits, but these were delicious. Filled them with ham and cheese.
For those of you who aren't aware, the buckeyes are mascot for the Ohio State University, and college football season is back upon us! Ohio is the buckeye state due to the large number of buckeye trees in the state. While buckeyes nuts are toxic, the buckeye is the de facto state candy of Ohio. My grandma used to have a box them to share every Christmas when i was little, and the are the best chocolate and peanut candy you'll ever taste.
The official colors for the Ohio State University are scarlet and silver, so i made a raspberry sauce and silver icong to decorate my plate.
Go Bucks! And Muck Fichigan!
The only loose leaf earl grey that they had at the store was with lavender. So i ended up making a lavender buttercream to avoid too much earl grey in the cake. It was a big hit at work!
Recipe. I screwed up because I needed to prepare these ahead of time, and I forgot to do the last roll-out before putting them in the freezer. They should have been much flatter with larger surface area. I filled them with a steak/pepper/onion mix and they tasted great. I'd like to try them again the correct way.
I wanted to practice piping without making buttercream, so I went with meringues. I got to practice with 4 different tips, but it looks like I only used two. I dipped them in ganache made from mint chocolate bars that were so dark and bitter, they were inedible on their own. And added chopped hazelnuts. They're pretty good.
I went with letter of the prompt, if not the spirit. I didn't want a dessert this week so I made hamburger rolls. They did get rolled around for shaping. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
