Bonus Baklava

Hello everyone! I am back baking again in the kitchen. Since the project ended I have only baked some snickerdoodles for my grandpa, and I am ready to start a new project. Today, Xochi, my wonderful photographer, and I are baking together. This is her grandparents' baklava recipe, and she loves to make it.

Baklava began with the Assyrians around the 8th century A.C. It was different back then than it is today. The earliest baklava was just bread dough with walnuts in the middle drizzled with honey. Baklava was originally only made on special occasions, and only the rich could afford to have it made for them. Greek seamen traveled to Mesopotamia and took back the baklava recipe to Athens with them. The Greeks changed the recipe. They made leaf-like sheets of dough ("phyllo") instead of bread dough to make it flakier and more like the recipe that I have made today.

This recipe took awhile to make with all of the preparations, but it was worth it. This baklava is absolutely amazing, and all of the steps to make it were really fun! I would recommend setting aside an entire day to make this.


For the filling:

2.5 # medium chopped English walnuts ( ~10 Cups)
1 cup powdered sugar
2 pound, # 4 phyllo dough, thawed according to instructions on package
2 # butter,( render it, and use melted at nearly room temperature)

For the syrup:

1/2 cup honey
2 cups water
4 cups sugar
2 cinnamon sticks
2 tsp. lemon juice

Use a 12" x 17" inch pan

Prepare in advance

Syrup

Prepare the syrup in advance so that it is at room temperature when the baklava is removed from the oven. We pour the cold syrup on the hot baklava. ( Other recipes call for pouring hot syrup on cold baklava)

Combine the ingredients for the syrup. Stir well and bring to a boil over a medium flame. Boil until temperature is 225 degrees F. Cover and let cool to room temperature.

Walnuts

Use a food processor to chop the walnuts into ~ ¼ " pieces: use several cups of walnuts at a time, pulse until chopped to the size you like, but never pasty or powdery; try approximately 10 quick pulses.

Mix in the 1 cup of powdered sugar and set aside.

Butter

Render 2 lbs. of butter. The following is from Ochef at http://www.ochef.com/540.htm

I use the second method and have use the fine meshed strainer without the cheesecloth. I'm sure it would be easier with the cheesecloth. Just be careful to heat at the lowest possible flame and do not let the milk solids get darker than golden brown.

"Clarified butter is butter that has had the milk solids and water removed. One advantage of clarified butter is that it has a much higher smoke point, so you can cook with it at higher temperatures without it browning and burning. Also, without the milk solids, clarified butter can be kept for much longer without going rancid.

It is very easy to make. Melt the butter slowly. Let it sit for a bit to separate. Skim off the foam that rises to the top, and gently pour the butter off of the milk solids, which have settled to the bottom. A stick (8 tablespoons) of butter will produce about 6 tablespoons of clarified butter.

Another method is to simmer the butter in a saucepan until the mixture separates. After the water has evaporated, the milk solids will begin to fry in the clear butterfat. When they begin to turn golden, remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter through a fine strainer lined with damp cheesecloth into a heatproof container. If the cheesecloth is damp, all the butterfat will pass through, otherwise some will be absorbed by the cloth. This method is a little fussier, but produces a clearer result".

Another method described in the book "Sahtein", which I have not tried, may also work well.

Melt 2 lbs.butter at low heat in a pot (~ 1-Qt size.) Add about ¼ to ½ cup coarse Burghul that has been washed and squeezed dry. Cook on low-heat until foaming ceases. Skim any residual foam from top of butter. When butter is clear, remove from heat and cool before decanting the clear golden butter. Be careful to prevent entry of any of the salty residue or Burghul.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Assembling the Baklava

The phyllo comes in 1# packages containing ~20 sheets, approximately 12" x 17". They are frozen and must be defrosted in the refrigerator overnight. On the next day, remove the phyllo package 5 hours before assembly time. Before opening the package lay a cloth towel such as used for drying dishes and cover it with a layer of wax paper. Have ready a dry towel and a damp towel. Open the package and unfold the phyllo on to the wax paper. Immediately cover with the dry towel and then the damp towel. The phyllo sheets are very delicate and dry quickly, so they must be kept covered as you layer and butter them in the baking pan.

Brush the bottom and sides of the baking pan with the melted and cool butter. (We use a 4-inch paint brush) Lay down a phyllo sheet and brush with butter. Repeat this until you have laid down the 20 sheets from the package. Uniformly distribute the chopped nuts atop the 20 phyllo layers, and sprinkle with some of the melted butter to help hold the next phyllo sheet. I think it would work better if you butter the next phyllo sheet and put the buttered side down on the nut surface. You can then butter the top side and repeat the assembly of the remaining phyllo sheets.

Use a table knife or spatula to carefully press the phyllo edges at the side of the pan and use a sharp knife to remove any layers that maybe over the edge of the pan at the corners, which could occur of the pan has rounded corners. Butter the tope sheet generously

Use a sharp knife to cut the cake into diamond shapes. First make parallel cuts along the length of the pan spaced about one inch apart or more depending on how large you want the diamond pieces to be. Repeat with a set of cuts at a diagonal. You can space them to adjust to the size you elect.

Place the pan in the 400 degree oven and immediately reduce the temperature setting to 300 degrees. Check in 1 hour by carefully prying at the edge to expose some of the bottom layers. They should be golden brown when done.

Remove from oven and carefully pour on the cold syrup. Distribute it uniformly over the diamond rows, atop the diamonds so that it flows into the cuts and and edges of the pan..

The number of pieces that you get obviously depends on the spacing used when the cake was cut. In the pan that we use, a spacing of about I" will produce 80 to 90 pieces.

You can adjust the recipe for smaller pans. Simply cut the phyllo roll to a size to fit your pan before beginning the assembly. For example you could use just one package of the phyllo for a 9 x 12 x2" pan.

As an alternate, some people make a triple layer of nuts by distributing the nuts between 10 layers of phyllo sheets rather than the 20 that we use.

Chocolate Truffles

Today is the last official day of my baking project, so I wanted to make something really decadent that I wouldn't make very often. I decided to make chocolate truffles because they always sound so perfectly heavenly. I have had a really good experience baking all of these desserts for the past twenty days. I have learned a lot about the art of baking (and how nice it would be to have a dependable oven, though I suppose I have no complaints since my temperamental one did everything that I asked of it).

Chocolate truffles were given their name because of their similarity in appearance to actual truffles (the fungi ones that pigs sniff out). They are a French invention traditionally made from chocolate, genache, and cream. The legend says that the culinary master of the 1920s, Auguste Escoffier, had an apprentice who accidentally poured hot cream into a bowl of chocolate chunks. As the chocolate mixture hardened he tried to roll it into balls and dunked them into cocoa powder. He noticed the resemblance to a truffle and named it a chocolate truffle.

These were really fun to make and they are absolutely scrumptious. Look forward to a bonus blog post in the next week and a half. Xochi and I are going to block off a day and make her grandparents' baklava recipe. Until then, happy baking!
Chocolate Truffles

3 1/2 oz. bittersweet chocolate
3 1/2 oz. semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 Tablespoons Grand Marnier liqueur
1 Tablespoon prepared coffee
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cocoa powder
Confectioners' sugar

1. Chop the chocolates finely and place in a bowl.

2. Heat the cream in a saucepan until it boils. Immediately pour the hot cream through a fine -meshed sieve into the bowl with the chocolates. With a wire whisk, slowly stir the cream and chocolates together until the chocolate is completely melted. (If the chocolate doesn't melt completely, place the bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir for a few minutes just until it melts.) Whisk in the Grand Marnier, coffee, and vanilla. Cover and chill for 45 minutes to and hour until pliable but firm enough to scoop.

3. With two teaspoons or a 1 1/4-inch ice cream scoop, make dollops of the chocolate mixture and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes, until firm enough to roll into rough spheres. Roll in cocoa powder and chill. Truffles are best when they're allowed to set overnight in the refrigerator. Roll in confectioners' sugar and serve chilled or at room temperature.

Rugelach

This is in honor of my friend, Jenny, who is at this very moment on an organic farm outside of San Antonio before going on a wondrous adventure to Argentina for the semester. She suggested that I make rugelach, a traditional Jewish dessert, and having not yet made a Jewish treat I am trying it today.

Rugelach is a Yiddish word meaning little twist. It is a traditional Ashkenazi (Eastern-European Jew) food eaten during Hanukkah, on Shabbat, or really any time of year. They are either made into rolled crescents or just round rolls. Some historians say that rugelach and croissants have a similar ancestry from Vienna. They say that these treats were made to commemorate the lifting of the Turkish siege in 1793.

The dough was a really interesting texture because of the cream cheese and rolled out splendidly. I didn't have enough walnuts so I used pecans, but I don't recommend doing this. It turned out delicious, but there was no real reason other than that I didn't have any walnuts and did not feel like running out to the store again.


Cranberry-Walnut and Cinnamon Rugelach

Dough:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
112g cream cheese, room temperature
1 cup all purpose flour, plus more for rolling the dough
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar

Filling:
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped (the original recipe called for currants)
½ cup caster sugar
1 egg, for egg wash

1. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a hand mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese and beat on medium speed until the mixture is light, fluffy and has increased in volume, 5-8 minutes. On slow speed, add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough is thoroughly combined. Set the mixer on medium speed and beat the dough for 15 seconds.
Using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the dough tightly and press it down until it is (1in) thick. Refrigerate the dough at least 2 hours or overnight.

2. Make the filling: in a bowl, using a fork, toss together the chopped walnuts, cinnamon, cranberries and ¼ cup of the sugar. Set aside.

3. On a floured surface, roll out the chilled dough into a rough rectangle approximately 13x16in. Using a pizza cutter or paring knife, trim the dough into 2 rectangles measuring 6 ½ x16 in.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg. Lay out each rectangle with the 16-in side directly in front o f you on the counter. Brush off any excess flour. Brush the egg wash over the entire surface of the dough. Evenly coat both rectangles of dough with the walnut filling, leaving a 2.5cm (1in) wide strip of dough on the edge farther away from you. Starting with the dough edge closer to you, tightly roll the dough away from you, tucking the filling under the dough as you roll. When you reach the strip of dough without topping, apply a little pressure to seal, and roll the log so that the seam is on the bottom, against the counter. Gently slide the logs of dough onto a cookie sheet, cover them with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 1 hour; refrigerate the remaining egg wash. The logs can be stored in the refrigerator for 24 hours or in the freezer for 1 week.

4. Preheat the oven to 350ºF ½ hour before baking. Line two large baking sheets with baking paper or foil. Glaze the chilled logs with the reserved egg and sprinkle with the remaining ¼ cup (50g) sugar. Slice each log into 1in cross sections – you should get between 16 and 18 slices from each log. Place the cookies 1in apart on the prepared sheets and bake until puffed and dark golden brown, 15-18 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool for 15 minutes before removing them from the sheets.

Nisua (Pulla) Bread

Nisua (also called Nisu or Pulla) bread is a Finnish coffee bread with cardamom in it. A family friend, Karen, gave my mom and me a loaf of it for Christmas this year, and it was amazing. I mentioned that it would be a great recipe to make for this project, and Karen was nice enough to give me her recipe and come over to walk me through it. Karen was taught this recipe by her Finnish grandmother and now knows the recipe by heart from making it so many times. I don't think I could have done it without her!

Nisua bread originates in Kainuu, a town in North-Eastern Finland, near Russian Karelia. It is said that the people of the town always knew when someone was making Nisua because they could hear a loud pounding in the morning. This pounding was the women crushing the cardamom seeds. The seeds are very hard, so even today when I made this today I needed to pound the seeds with a hammer.


I had so much fun making this bread. The loaves look beautiful, smell wonderful, and taste delicious! It takes time to make them, so at least 4 hours need to be allotted to complete the project.


Nisua

2 packages dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups scalded milk
1 stick butter
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (22 cardamom pods opened up and crushed)
7-8 cups flour

1. Scald the milk with the butter in it. Let cool.

2. Dissolve yeast in the warm water and stir out all of the lumps.

3. Beat the eggs and add the sugar and salt. Add 2 cups of flour, yeast, and cardamom. Mix well and keep adding flour. At a certain point it will be too thick to mix with a spoon, so mix it with your hands. Once the texture is thick enough take it out of the bowl and knead on a floured surface until all of the flour is mixed in and it is no longer sticky. Add flour if it continues to be sticky. Place the dough in a bowl greased with a teaspoon of canola oil, cover with a cloth, and let rise for an hour and a half.

4. Split the dough into 3 equal parts. Split each into 3 again and roll out to make it long. Braid the three strands and place in a greased bread pan. Repeat with other 2 balls. Cover with a cloth and let rise for an hour and a half.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Brush the top of each loaf with a pastry brush with milk. Sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Vegan Cinnamon-Raisin Scones

The scones that I made early on in this project were one of my favorite things. I thought I would change some things around and try to make them vegan so that all of my vegan friends can enjoy them too! I would really like to make more vegan things if not for the project just in general, so give me some more ideas!

I have already told the history of scones, but here are some tidbits about veganism. The Vegan Society was the first society just for vegans. It was founded in 1944 by Donald Watson, and English man from Yorkshire and some of his friends. He was also the inventor of the word 'vegan' using the first three and last two letter of the word 'vegetarian.' He said it was the "beginning and end of vegetarian," and the word stuck. The American Vegan Society was founded in 1948 in California by Dr. Catherine Nimmo and Rubin Abramowitz. In 1994 November 1st was proclaimed World Vegan Day by the Vegan Society. Today 0.5% of Americans call themselves vegan.

This dough was actually quite a bit moister than the non-vegan recipe that I made. I sprinkled that top with some large granule sugar (I used Demerara) to add a little more sweetness. I didn't try, but I am sure you could replace the soy milk with some homemade applesauce and that would be tasty. Lots of options, but I love these scones with oats!

Vegan Cinnamon-Raisin Scones

1/2 cup vegan margarine
1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup old fashioned oats
1/3 cup raisins
1/3 cup plain (or vanilla) soymilk

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.

2. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon together in a large bowl. Cut in margarine until mixture becomes uniformly crumbly. Stir in oats and raisins.

3. Add soy milk and mix gently until a soft dough begins to cling together.

4. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and pat it into a 7 inch circle. Cut into 8 wedges and place them on an ungreased baking sheet.

5. Bake 15 to 18 minutes until golden brown and firm when pressed lightly in the center.

Maple Leaf Cookies

Today I am saluting our neighbors to the north. I have only gone to Canada once withe my mom and her friend up to the Quebec region, and it was wonderful! One of the bed and breakfasts we stayed in was actually on a maple farm, and that was so great. Every morning the owners (a husband and wife duo) would make a breakfast for all of the lodgers. Everything they made could either be dowsed in maple syrup or was made with the syrup. We even got to see how they would tap the trees.

These little cookies are shaped into maple leaves like the one on the Canadian flag. There are two schools of thought regarding the origin of maple syrup. One says that it dates back to pre-recorded history with the Native Americans. It is said that they made a V-shaped cut into the trees with tomahawks and tap them with reeds or concave pieces of bark. They would boil the maple in clay pots over outdoor fires. Some historians say that Native Americans didn't have the technology or the tools to make maple syrup, and that the European settlers (from France mainly) brought the tools in the 18th or 19th century. These historians still say that the Native Americans showed the settlers how to tap the trees and that it was a possibility.

I made a frosting to put in the center of two cookies, but I improvised, so I can't give exact amounts. I used 1 stick of butter, maple butter (maybe 6-8 oz.--you can also use maple syrup), around a tablespoon of milk, and confectioners' sugar. I ended up making too much frosting, but I just put the rest into the freezer to use later with another dessert or maybe just to dip animal crackers in. Who knows!


Maple Leaf Cookies

4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt


1. Into large bowl, measure all ingredients. With mixer on low speed, beat ingredients until well mixed, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula.

2. Shape dough into ball; wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough 1 hour or until easy to handle.

3. Preheat oven to 350*F. Grease large cookie sheet.

4. On lightly floured surface, with lightly floured rolling pin, roll 1/3 of the dough at a time 1/8 inch thick, keeping remaining dough refrigerated.

5. With floured maple leaf shaped cookie cutter, cut dough into leaves.

6. Place cookies 1 inch apart on parchment lined cookie sheets. Bake 7-10 minutes or until golden.

7. Carefully remove to wire racks to cool. Repeat until all dough is used, greasing cookie sheet each time.

Rice Pudding

One of my dear friends, Robin, made rice pudding a couple of times this semester, and I absolutely loved it! Every time she made it, life in our our apartment was even happier than usual. Thinking back on the happy times I was inspired today to make some myself and see if it turned out as delicious as Robin's.

Rice pudding came to Europe through India. Before it was used for food, rice was used for medicinal purposes. In the Middle East they ate a sweet rice dish called Firni that was meant to be served cold. In India they made Kheer, which is very similar to rice pudding today. China was known for its eight jewel rice pudding that had eight different honey preserved fruits on the bottom. Europe had rice pudding too, but it mainly came from the ancient Romans who used it only for medicinal purposes to heal upset stomachs.

I didn't eat this to heal my stomach, but it definitely felt wonderful in my belly! I didn't add any raisins because Xochi and I didn't think we really wanted any, but they could be a nice addition. It is simple to make, but you need to have about 45 minutes of time free to stand by the rice and stir it. It is tasty warm, but my personal favorite is to put it in the fridge and eat it cold. Yum!

Rice Pudding

3/4 cup uncooked white rice
2 cups milk, divided
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup golden raisins (optional)
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1. In a medium saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups water to a boil. Add rice and stir. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.

2. In another saucepan, combine 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, 1 1/2 cups milk, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat until thick and creamy, 15 to 20 minutes. Stir in remaining 1/2 cup milk, beaten egg and raisins. Cook 2 minutes more, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and stir in butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. Serve warm or cold.