my kitchen kiosk: March 2015

Saturday, March 21, 2015

Viola sororia

Sunday brunch/menu

daylight

sun

grass

fresh air

blue skies
woods

ladybugs

blue violets

Be ready, hunting season is open, edible flowers in blooming season!

I see violets and I remember, these cupcakes are special only because of wood violets.
Seasonal cupcakes with edible blue violets. Spring freshness with a touch of chocolate and swiss meringue buttercream frosting. Spring has sprung!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

rosemary bread

Sometimes, being tired means you have made double yeast bread.

I don't usually use butter in bread recipes, but pictures of herbed bread made by always with butter look so seducing and tempting to try. Therefore I decided to follow blindly their recipe.

It was evening hours already when I started to mix ingredients. And since I had only rosemary it was more then logical to make rosemary bread instead. I set down and read the lines from a blog before approaching the kitchen. One spoon of yeast and two spoons of salt ended up as two tablespoonfuls of yeast and one teaspoon of salt. Why would they use that much yeast!? I wondered while kneading the dough with hands whilst my mixer slept soundly. Don't think! Follow the recipe and don't ask questions. If you have decided to follow the recipe then do it! This was not me, this was the voice coming from my tired me.

The story ends here.

How beautiful herbed bread ended up being beautiful super yeasty rosemary bread.

herbed bread by always with butter
4 1/2 cups (566g) bread flour
1 cup (236ml) warm water
1/2 cup (114g) melted butter mixed
with 3 tbsp chopped fresh herbs
(I used a mix of chives & thyme)
2 tsp sea salt + additional for sprinkling
1 tbsp dry active yeast
olive oil

Combine all ingredients in a stand
mixer with a dough hook. Mix on low
for 10 minutes. You should now be
able to stretch it without it tearing.
Place in an oiled bowl and let rise for
4 hours, it should be at least doubled.

Oven 450.
Knead for 1 to 2 minutes. Place in an
oiled dutch oven and cut a deep X on the
top. Rub the top with olive oil and
sprinkle with salt. Put lid on and bake
for 30 minutes. Take lid off and bake
for an additional 15 to 30 until a
nice golden brown. Let cool.

Recipe from Pioneer Woman

rosemary bread by my kitchen kiosk

Sunday, March 8, 2015

typical Sunday with the twist

Sunday, March 8, 2015, started as a pretty typical Sunday.

Two years ago I heard Diane Morgan, cookbook author, talking about using parsnip in an exchange for carrots and since then whenever I think of a carrot cake I actually think of a parsnip cake.
https://soundcloud.com/kcrw/how-to-make-a-parsnip-cake

If you think of a carrot cake, you might think of a parsnip cake as well. As she said it’s almost the same concept.

You grate parsnip and mix with sweet spices, ground cloves and carob powder in my case. I also used grated apple, because it complements carob in such a good way and it gives that extra moist to the cake. I did not use sugar but I added fresh dates instead, and with this twist I have emphasized that chocolate color that I wanted to get. You can play here and use spices as per your preferences or do exactly like she recommends, cinnamon, nutmeg, golden raisins.

I baked 2 layers instead of three, in 20cm pan cakes. I made cream cheese frosting but I added a dollop of sour cream to lighten up the sweetness of the cream. And I also didn’t frost the sides. I prefer naked cakes and that rustic and wintery look can really blow you away.

Before I cut the cake and served it, I told them that this is a parsnip cake but they didn’t believe me. They said it’s nice and they specially liked the texture. And yes, they were delighted!

Personally I think this is rather a meal then just a dessert and I would recommend to be eaten as a breakfast, late breakfast.

Beautiful naked parsnip cake