Baking With Comfort

Baking With Comfort

Baking with comfort, No Knead Rolls are the perfect addition for breakfast, lunch, or dinner! Sweet or savory. Down home and simply delicious!

No Knead Rolls are rolls made with a biscuit-making technique + yeast for a light, airy roll.

Baking with comfort steps:

Baking with comfort . . . pure and simple ingredients . . . there is nothing in this world so delicious!

No Knead Rolls

A Roll and a Biscuit in one! Mix, cut, bake and serve with plenty of butter.

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups Warm water (108 degrees)
  • 2 Pkgs. Dry yeast
  • 4 T. Sugar
  • 5 1/2 Cups White Lily Self Rising Flour
  • 1/2 Cup Dry powdered milk
  • 1 tsp. Baking Powder
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1/2 Cup Butter - hardened / cold

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Combine warm water (108 degrees), sugar and yeast, set aside to proof.

  2. In a bowl, whisk; 1 C flour, dry milk, salt and baking powder

  3. Cut butter into dry ingredients with a pastry blender.

  4. Add the yeast mixture, which should now formed a foam on the top, to the dry ingredients.

  5. Add one more cup of flour, stir to combine. Repeat with the remaining flour.

  6. Pour dough onto a lightly floured silicone baking mat. Knead the dough by folding in half about 10-12 times. Pat out the dough with your hands to approximately 3/4" thick. Cut with biscuit cutter leaving as little amount between cuts as possible. Place cut biscuits in lightly oiled pan and cover with a clean dish cloth. Set aside to rise in a draft free place for 45 minutes.

  7. Place in preheated oven and bake 10-12 minutes.

  8. Enjoy!

 

Blending A Hollandaise Sauce

Blending A Hollandaise Sauce

Blending a Hollandaise sauce mixed in a blender is every bit as delicious as a Hollandaise sauce made by the traditional French technique AND it is much easier to make!

One of the classic French sauces, Hollandaise sauce is the classic butter sauce made from the emulsion of egg yolks and butter flavored with lemon juice. It is the perfect sauce for fish, vegetables, and Eggs Benedict.

Most often the sauce is made in a double boiler. Although, a double boiler is very helpful for many recipes. Making the sauce in a double boiler by the traditional French technique may result in a curdled sauce. It’s tricky!

Blender Hollandaise sauce is a safer bet. I have yet to see it separate or curdle!

Tips:

  • Clarified butter is preferred.
  • Set out all equipment and ingredients prior to blending the hollandaise sauce.
  • Make just before serving!

Blender Hollandaise

Old World style - New World ease!

Ingredients

  • 3 Large Egg yolks
  • dash Salt
  • 1/4 tsp. Freshly ground pepper
  • 1 T. Lemon Juice
  • 1 Cup Clarified butter
  • 1 T. Warm water

Instructions

  1. In blender, combine 3 egg yolks, salt and pepper.

  2. Remove blender cap and slowly pour in 1/2 of the clarified butter in a thin stream while blender is operating.

  3. Add Lemon juice, mix.

  4. Add remaining clarified butter in a slow stream while blender is operating.

  5. Add 1 T. of warm water at a time to bring the sauce to desired consistency. Continue to mix until the correct consistency is reached.

  6. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

 

Loving Pink Hearts For Your Valentine

Loving Pink Hearts For Your Valentine

Loving Pink Hearts, the perfect expression of love for your Valentine! It’s not too late to bake a batch!

Growing up in Louisiana, we baked the Plain Roll-Out Cookies in the Cook’s Tour of Shreveport. For every holiday and in between, we made triple batches of cookie dough and went on week-long cookie decorating binges. Billie Apple said, “There was blue icing on the ceiling!” It was everywhere, but my mom loved to see her girls baking in her kitchen.

In all of my years of baking cookies, I have never found a better plain roll-out cookie recipe!

Here’s what you will need for Loving Pink Hearts . . .

Equipment:

Tips:

  • Follow the recipe for Plain Roll-Out Cookies, page 276 in Cook’s Tour of Shreveport.
  • Use room temperature unsalted butter.
  • Sift the flour four times – this makes the cookie dough light and airy.
  • Mix with an electric stand mixer, but don’t over beat the cookie dough. It makes the dough tough.
  • Wrap in parchment paper and chill for a couple of hours or overnight.
  • Rolling out the dough – allow the chilled dough to warm up by setting it on the kitchen counter but not too long!
  • Before rolling out the dough, lightly dust a Silicone Baking mat and rolling pin with flour.
  • Test the oven temperature with an extra thermometer.
  • Don’t over bake the cookies.
  • Cool on wire racks.
  • With parchment paper to separate the layers, package and freeze until ready to decorate.

Tips for icing will be on the next blog post.

Loving pink hearts — Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

Loving Red Velvet Cake

Loving Red Velvet Cake

Loving Red Velvet Cake with a mountain of white, fluffy icing on top! It’s the perfect cake to bake for your Valentine!

Cake Baking Tips:

  1. 3″ X 8″ round cake pans are an ideal size for three-layer cakes.
  2. Always place a round piece of parchment paper in the cake pans, spray with Pam, fill 1/2 full with cake batter, and bake in a 350º preheated oven.
  3. Bake the cake ahead, cool completely, wrap in foil, freeze. Take out of the freezer 3-4 hours before you frost it.
  4. When a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean, the cake is ready.
  5. Test the oven’s temperature with an extra oven thermometer. Adjust the temperature if necessary. My oven was 75º off!
  6. With a long serrated knife, trim off the top mound of each cake layer.
  7. Be sure to make plenty of icing. Use a flat spatula to transfer each cake layer.
  8.  A large offset spatula is the best tool for frosting a cake. Watch the video for tips on frosting the cake.
  9. Bake cakes for all occasions.
  10. Enjoy!

Loving Red Velvet Cake . . .

Gluten Free Chocolate Cake

Gluten free chocolate cake makes everything better. The secret ingredient is Bob's Red Mill® 1 to 1 baking flour!

Ingredients

  • 3 1/2 cups Bob's Red Mill® Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 T. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 2/3 cup dutch processed cocoa
  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 2 cups Vegetable Oil
  • 2 cups sour cream
  • 6 large eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350º degrees.

    Line three 8 inch round cake pans with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray; set aside.

  2. Combine dry ingredients, set aside.

  3. Mix cocoa and boiling water, set aside.

  4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the remaining wet ingredients; add the cocoa mixture. Gradually, add dry ingredients.

  5. Pour batter into the prepared cake pans.

  6. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 - 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

  7. Place on a wire rack to cool completely.

  8. Ice with your favorite icing.

  9. Enjoy!