Molasses-Buttermilk Bread

There are a few staples that I keep stocked in my kitchen at all times:  all-purpose flour, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, unsalted butter, and buttermilk.  There is so much that can be done with these simple ingredients and I get anxiety when I see I am missing any of them.  You never know when the urge to bake cookies will take hold and you need to be prepared!

Of all of these versatile staples, buttermilk may be my favorite.

My first memory of buttermilk doesn’t involve a meal, but rather a movie.  When I was little I loved watching the cartoon movie based on the book Charlotte’s Web.  I vividly remember a scene where the farmer’s wife makes buttermilk pancakes (who cares about the rest of the movie, I remember buttermilk pancakes).  I had no idea what buttermilk was, but it sounded good and those cartoon pancakes drenched in cartoon syrup made my mouth water.

Buttermilk wasn’t a staple in the pantry of my childhood.  Besides the occasional use of powdered buttermilk, I never remember seeing my mom use the real thing (note: powdered buttermilk is actually quite useful, but it’s just not the same as liquid buttermilk).  Once I moved into an apartment and really began cooking for myself, I quickly learned that buttermilk is not only a supremely useful ingredient, but a versatile and luxurious one as well.

I love the way thick and rich buttermilk glugs out of the carton and adds tang and moisture to dishes.  Whether it’s added to muffins, cakes, folded into mashed potatoes, whisked into soups, used to make homemade creme fraiche, even more muffins, and of course pancakes, I can’t get enough buttermilk.

Now, I will also be using buttermilk in quick breads.  This moist and healthy quick bread with the robust flavor of molasses and hearty textures of whole-grains, is expertly pulled together with beautiful buttermilk.  Perfect.

Makes one 4-x 8-inch loaf

From Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison

Note:  This bread is wonderful served with whipped cream cheese.

1/2 cup rye flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 cup whole-wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/2 cup unsulfured molasses

3/4 cups raisins, chopped dates, or currants (I used pitted medjool dates)

Preheat oven to 350°F and spray and flour a bread pan.  Combine the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl; whisk the wet ingredients together in a second bowl.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir quickly to combine.  Stir in the fruit.  Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan before turning out onto a rack for serving.

Petits Pains au Chocolat

One of my favorite things about traveling is architecture.  This is probably why I am so drawn to Europe.  Old churches, basilicas, cathedrals, castles, châteaux, and rikety old building abound and while I may get them all jumbled together by the end of the trip, my camera is full of these pieces of art.

I love how these structures have been cared for over time and allowed to evolve with the cities growing around them.  Some are in better shape than others.  Some are now museums or major tourist destinations while others reside unassumingly on a quite street with the day’s laundry hanging from the balcony.  Either way, at least to me, they exude life and I could bask in their beauty all day.

To be honest, and I apologize art/history lovers, I would rather sit outside of such buildings than venture inside.  While on our honeymoon in France, along with admiring a multitude of architecture, we visited many of the requisite tourist stops.  We spent an entire afternoon strolling around the Louvre, on the outside, admiring the gardens and the ornate designs of it’s structure.  Sorry, Mona Lisa, we missed you.  We walked to the Eiffel Tower one morning, to simply soak up the summer warmth in it’s shadow. Sorry Paris, we didn’t see you from the top of the Tower.  At Notre Dame, we were the only people we saw exploring the perimeter of the Gothic cathedral (Did you know there is a small garden nestled behind the church?  Way better then waiting in lines).  Sorry Quasimodo, we didn’t venture in.

You probably already guessed that my other favorite thing about traveling is the food.  I have enjoyed many great meals during my travels, but often it’s the afternoon snacks that stand out in my mind.

After walking for miles exploring a new city, it is always a treat to stop and get a little bite (especially since dinner might still be hours away).  Typically, these snacks are something sweet (croissants, crepes, gelato) and are found in a small bakery or a stand on the street, thus you end up eating outdoors in an old square or while leisurely walking in the surrounding neigborhood.

A heavenly combination of a perfectly crafted snack and beautiful surroundings.  This is why I travel across the ocean.

As I have professed before, I have an obsession with croissants, especially chocolate croissants.  I also love making croissants, but it is time consuming and sometimes you just don’t feel like being held captive all day by a recipe (or should I say, you might not feel like being held captive, I’m always down).  For those who want to give croissants a whirl, don’t worry, I have plans to share that with you soon, but for now, lets try a “quick n’ dirty” version of pain au chocolat.

I was lucky enough to receive The Essential New York Times Cookbook for Christmas and I give it a huge thumbs-up.  I have made some awesome goat cheese filled calzones, rockn’ sangria, and a lot of the famous Jim Lahey No-Knead Bread.  One of the first recipes to be bookmarked, however, was Petits Pains Au Chocolat A L’ancienne (Old-Fashioned Bread and Chocolate Rolls).

While not croissants, the slightly sweet rolls filled with melted chocolate remind me of my favorite treat.  This recipe was featured in The New York Times in an article reminiscing the French tradition of le gouter de quatre heures, or afternoon snack.  A wonderful piece that reminded me of beautiful afternoons in France.  After making this recipe, I am happy to bring this tradition to America.

Petits Pains Au Chocolat A L’Ancienne

Makes 8 Chocolate Breads

From The Essential New York Times Cookbook, Originally Published September 25, 1988

Note:  These are best right out of the oven, so eat up!  I love the crunch and toastiness of sliced almonds on top of croissants, so I added them to my chocolate bread, this is completely optional.

1/2 cup lukewarm milk

1/2 cup lukewarm water

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon, or 1 package, dry yeast

2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups unbleached flour

1 teaspoon salt

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, preferably Lindt or Tobler brand, divided into 8 equal portions

1 tablespoon milk, for brushing the rolls

Sliced almonds (optional)

In a large mixing bowl, combine the milk, water, sugar, yeast and one cup of the flour. Stir until thoroughly blended and set aside to proof the yeast, about five minutes.

Once proofed, add the salt, then begin adding the remaining flour, little by little, until the dough is too stiff to stir. Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and begin kneading, adding additional flour if the dough is too sticky. Knead until the dough is smooth and satiny, about 10 minutes.

Place the dough in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until double in bulk, about one hour.

Punch down and let rise again, covered, until double in bulk, about one hour.  Preheat oven to 400°F.

Divide the dough into eight equal portions.  On a lightly floured board, roll each portion into a six-by-four-inch rectangle.  Place a portion of chocolate in the center of each rectangle.  First fold the ends, then the sides, pinching the dough together to make a neat package of each.  Arrange rolls, pinched side down, on a baking sheet.  Cover and allow to rest, at room temperature, for about 30 minutes.  Brush rolls with milk, sprinkle with almonds if using, and bake until golden brown, about 20-25 minutes.  Some of the chocolate may leak through the dough during baking.  Serve warm or room temperature.

Raspberry Swirl Cinnamon Rolls (With a Secret Ingredient)

Somehow in the past year I have become a “runner”.  I will leave the word in quotations because most people would probably not consider my 2-mile (at the most 5k) runs all that challenging or impressive.  But for this tall girl with long, awkward legs, and entirely too large of feet, running was always very difficult and just plain painful.  After many failed attempts to start a running regimen in the past, I have managed to run regularly for 1 year and 2 months…believe me, I am counting.

A few months before my running stint began, my sister started running.  Now let me tell you something about the Phillips sisters:  we are not athletes.  It wasn’t until my first year at college, when I had a nice rec center at my disposal, did it even cross my mind that I should exercise.  Exercise I did!  I got hooked on the tread mill (walking of course), pilates, and spinning, but after almost seven years as an avid gym-goer, I had had enough and needed to find a new form of exercising.  I could see my sister was enjoying running and reluctantly agreed to begin meeting her at my parent’s house at 5:30 am to run.  Yes, I was motivated by burning calories, improving my fitness, and even finishing a 5k, but the biggest reason I began setting my alarm for 5:00 am was breakfast.

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been the breakfast chef at my parent’s house.  He is a pro at pancakes, breakfast tacos, oats, fruit and yogurt, waffles, crepes…the list goes on.  While fellow classmates would be scarfing down pop tarts in carpool on the way to school, my belly was full of homemade love.  After leaving home, my breakfasts pretty much consisted of cereal and I often missed a warm breakfast in the morning.  So when my dad offered to cook me breakfast on the mornings I ran, I was convinced.

Since then, my sister and I have run, on average, three times a week, have completed a 5k (let me tell you, this was an accomplishment), are currently considering a 10k (gulp…I will keep you posted on that), and have eaten many good breakfasts.

I thought I would treat my dad and the rest of the family to breakfast this morning by bringing over some cinnamon rolls.  Cinnamon rolls are great anytime of the day, but you gotta love the smells of cinnamon and yeast filling the air first thing in the morning.  A welcoming way to start the day.

I have made a variety of different cinnamon rolls, but my favorite of all are huge, fluffy, melt-in-your mouth, and are extremely moist thanks to buttery yukon gold potatoes (the secret ingredient) that trap every last ounce of moisture into the rolls.

I discovered this recipe in the March 2009 issue of Bon Appetit and we have had and extreme love/hate relationship.  I hate to critic a recipe, because I know each is put through rigorous testing, but I am almost positive there was a typo when the recipe went to print.  I can handle sticky dough, but this was goo, impossible to tame and form into uniform rolls.  I would fight and fight until I would miraculously get dough wrapped around cinnamon onto a baking sheet.  As ugly as the rolls were, the battle I had just conquered was completely forgotten when I would take a bite of the rolls.  I fell in love and kept going through this awful cycle of intense frustration followed by pure joy.  During one particularly bad battle, the dough was so wet that by the end of the fight myself and all of the dough ended up in one big pile on my kitchen floor (surrounded by all sorts of profanities).  My husband forbid me from ever making this recipe again.  It was that bad…

Scarred and defeated, I complied for almost a year, but I wanted cinnamon rolls and I didn’t want just any rolls, I wanted “the potato ones”.  So, behind my husband’s back, I set out to fix this recipe so that I could still enjoy all it’s wonderful qualities without having a near breakdown while making them.  Luckily it worked, my husband can relax when I announce, “I am going to make cinnamon rolls”, my sis and I had a great breakfast waiting for us this morning after our run, and I guess I should run a 10k just to burn off the calories.

Raspberry Swirl Cinnamon Rolls

Adapted from and inspired by recipes in the March 2009 Bon Appetit and January 2011 Food & Wine Magazines

Makes 12 large rolls

Note:  To make the recipe more manageable, I adjusted the amount of flour and water.  It is still a sticky dough, but can now be handled and rolled out with out much hassle.  Because it is a wet dough, you may find your rolls don’t look as perfect as they would with a sturdier dough, that’s okay; once risen and baked they look nice and taste even better (which is the important part anyway).

I changed the filling to include raspberries.  I was inspired by a recipe in the latest Food & Wine magazine, and wanted to incorporate the fruit into the potato recipe.  Look at that!  There is a fruit and a vegetable in a cinnamon roll!  Make sure to use frozen, not fresh fruit in this recipe.  The addition to fruit is great, it melts away and marries with the rest of the filling adding a sweet and tart twist to a great classic.  I think frozen blueberries would be nice as well.

If you want cinnamon rolls first thing in the morning, unbaked rolls can be stored, covered, in refrigerator for 12 hours.  Bring to room temperature and bake as directed below.  I think this long rise also improves the rolls flavor.

For the dough:

1 pound yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 stick unsalted butter

3 large eggs

5-5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons instant yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

For the filling:

3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

10 oz frozen raspberries (do not thaw)

1 teaspoon cornstarch

For the glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

2 tablespoons (or more) milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

Combine potatoes, 2 cups water, and 1 tablespoon coarse salt in large saucepan. Boil until potatoes are very tender, 15 to 18 minutes. Mash potatoes with water in pan (do not drain water). Add butter and mash until butter is melted.  Let cool for 5 minutes.  Whisk in eggs, then 1 cup flour; mash until very smooth. Let potatoes stand until barely lukewarm, about 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, pour 1/4 cup warm water into large bowl of stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment; stir in yeast and sugar. Let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add potato mixture to yeast mixture; mix on low speed until well blended, 2 minutes. Mix in 4 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, beating well. Beat until sticky dough forms.

Spread 1/4 cup flour on work surface. Scrape dough out onto floured work surface. Knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 8 minutes.

Coat large bowl with butter. Transfer dough to bowl and turn to coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, then kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile, mix brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour in medium bowl. Using fork, mix in butter.  In another medium bowl, combine frozen raspberries and cornstarch until fruit is evenly coated with the cornstarch.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Turn dough out onto well-floured work surface. Roll out dough to 24×16-inch rectangle. Sprinkle cinnamon filling evenly over dough followed by rasberries. Starting at 1 long side, roll up dough jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Using large knife dipped in flour, cut roll crosswise into 12 pieces. Transfer rolls to baking sheet, spacing rolls about 3/4 inch apart. Cover baking sheet loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in warm draft-free area until almost doubled in volume, about 20 minutes (rolls will be very puffy).

Bake cinnamon rolls until golden, about 20 minutes. Cool rolls 10 minutes on baking sheet.

While rolls are baking, make glaze.  Whisk together powdered sugar, butter, 2 tablespoons milk, vanilla, and salt in a small bowl.  If the glaze is too thick to spread, add more milk by the 1/2 tablespoonful as needed.  Spread over warm rolls.