German pancake- trying something new lebovitz style

      Have you ever had one of those situations where you were so confident in and yet ended terrible? I unfortunately have when I made the german pancake. It looked so impressive like the time I made souffle and yet I managed to burn the bottom of the cake... I was so desperate that I tried to scrape the bottom part that got burned... I think I have a problem

      I know what you're thinking now, "what the heck do you mean by Lebovitz style?". What I mean by that is the style of his blog. Instead of written recipe like me, David Lebovitz does a step by step picture style along with Joy the baker. So I decided to try it out! I didn't get enough pictures to do a step by step but I hope you will like it! 

      By the way I also tried to make a honey caramel sauce which worked out well. It added the complexity of a caramel and yet kept the sweetness of honey. The secret ingredient to this is kuromitsu which is a Japanese black honey and cayenne. The kuromitsu adds a hint of exotic but sweet flavor. The cayenne just increase the sweetness and opens up the pallet of flavors if you use it right.

      hope you like the result and enjoy!

serving for 4 
ingredients:
3 large room temperature eggs

2/3 cup room temperature milk

packed 1/2 cup flour (really pack the measuring cup firmly with flour)

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

3 tbsp clarified butter

for the sauce:

1/4 cup of honey

2 tbsp of kuromitsu (if you don't have it then leave it out)

1 tsp of cayenne

1 tbsp of butter

                                                place the 3 eggs in the blender

                                                                     add the milk

                                                         add the flour, sugar, and vanilla

                                                                blend until combined

                         for the sauce: combine everything in a saucepan and cook it until your likings

                                                                    bake it for 20-25 min  at 425 F
                                                                 

Next up... Dutch baby/ german pancake

No post this week..........

      Wow... No one inboxed me..... at least comment or something please. I need something to cook... By the way I was going to make beef wellington but I couldn't find liver pate. It's not the easiest thing to find in coastal north carolina. so please inbox me below and who knows? maybe I'll show you what I look like... please send me email telling me to cook something here

post cancelled Sorry!!!

      unfortunately the pecan brittle demo was canceled due to a pecan hating father... My mother was out of town  so I could not get permission either. But hopefully next weekend I can do a savory post since there was haters sending me email calling me a pastry chef... So I want to prove I can do savory food...  maybe beef wellington but it's hard to finding liver pate around here so im not sure... drop me an email to gianluca1227jp@gmail.com  for a recipe request... see y'all later!

Coming up- pumpkin and pecan brittle

Baguette- great foodie fail of the year goes to......

      Me!!! bonjour y'all!!! I'm extremely bad at french so that's all I can say... because of the fact that I can't speak french, but I can make some good french food. That's a promise...  so I never though I can make a authentic french baguette and it turns out I can't... I don't have a hot enough oven to create the authentic crust. but this is a baguette and this is after all a good bread.

       Hold on I'm being told that you have to have at least 525 F oven for a baguette which is the temperature that I used. Because the oven I own only goes up to that temperature and my rack in the oven was obviously too low. So now i have a perfectly moist and delicious but not well browned crust Baguette. If I decided to act stupid in Paris, I will bring this to France. but overall it was a moist, tender, delicious bread. 

* Update, I have been told that you can make this bread in the traditional method just add a whole package of yeast and proceed as the kneading method

makes 4 small baguettes or 2 large baguettes 

• 4 cups of bread               flour *you can use AP             flour
• 1/4 tsp of dry active yeast
• 1 1/2 cups of water 
• 1 3/4 of tsp of salt

1- In a large bowl combine yeast and room temp water* make sure its room temp

2- add the salt 

3- add the flour and stir until combined

4- let it rise for 12-14 hours *no this is not a typo since this is a no knead bread you start out with small amount of yeast to develop the gluten

5- divide the dough into 4 pieces 

6- roll the pieces out into a baguette shape

7- take a pan of water into bottom rack of your oven and preheat to  525 F

8-  take a scissor and make cuts for the baguette signature look 

9-the pan with cornmeal i guess you can use foil, parchment or sil pat 

10- bake  it for 15 minute but every 5 minutes mist it with water. 

11- let it cool in a cooling rack or on a crinkled up foil 

12- enjoy!

New York style cheesecake- fogettaboutit

         This recipe came from a accident at the farmers market when I bought 2 lb of peaches and a wild blueberry since it was in season. But I already used the wild blueberries for the short bread demo. Sadly I had nothing to do with perfectly ripe peaches. I was going to do a peach cobbler on cast iron pan demo but i already did cobbler.

 so I decided it was a good idea to make a cheesecake and put peaches over the top to cover up my hideous crack the size of grand canyon on the cheesecake. it was my dumb urge to open the oven to check on the cheesecake. All you farmers who grow peaches, I'm sorry I really am. that's against the law in some areas... this goes to you Georgia!!!

       But the flavors are meant to be together. The acidity and the sweet peaches are amazing contrast against the rich and dense cheesecake is delicious. By the way I was serving these for a small party so this can stretch  easily from 6-8 people 

New-York style cheesecake serving for 6

• 3 tablespoons melted butter
• 18 graham crackers, crushed
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sour cream
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 4 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese * i used Philadelphia
• 
  
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 2/3 cup milk
  • 4 eggs

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan
3. Mix graham cracker crumbs and melted butter in a bowl until evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and about 1/2-inch up the sides of the springform pan
4. Whisk flour, sour cream, and vanilla extract in bowl. Set aside
5. Stir cream cheese and sugar with a wooden spoon in a large bowl until evenly incorporated, 3 to 5 minutes
6. Pour milk into cream cheese mixture and whisk until just combined.
7. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.
8. add the sour cream mixture; whisk until just incorporated.
9. Pour mixture into prepared springform pan.
10. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges have nicely puffed and the surface of thecheesecake is firm except for a small spot in the center that will jiggle when the pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour.
11. When the cheesecake is done, turn off the oven and let it cool in the oven for 3 to 4 hours. This prevents any cracks from forming on the top of the cheesecake. !
12. Enjoy