Kitchen Guy

Video: Buttermilk Herb Biscuits

Posted by Chef Jim on July 13, 2010  |  Comments Off

Preheat oven to 450. Combine the dry ingredients, then cut in the shortening either with a pastry cutter or a fork. Cut in completely, then stir in most of the buttermilk, reserving about 1/8 cup in case the dough is not pliable.

Knead the dough lightly on a floured board 20 to 25 times. Roll out the dough until it is 1/2-inch thick.

Using a biscuit cutter, dipped in flour, cut out as many biscuits as you can, re-rolling dough gently to get additional biscuits. Place on an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool slightly on a rack before serving.

Recipe: Cheese Biscuits

Posted by Chef Jim on April 15, 2010  |  Comments Off

Here’s what you need:

2 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup whole milk

Here’s how to make it:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 2-8 inch cake pans with a non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar, and the cheese. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in the shortening and mix until it resembles coarse meal. Add the milk all at once and stir with a fork until the dough forms a ball.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat out the dough until it is ½-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch rounds. Place them in the cake pans touching each other and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Video: Apple Quick Bread

Posted by Chef Jim on February 2, 2010  |  Comments Off

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4 cups of baking apples, peeled, cored and cubed
4 large eggs, beaten
1 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar

Topping
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup all-purpose sugar
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease two standard bread loaf pans.

Peel, core and clice the apples and cut into one-inch chunks.

Beat eggs in mixer bowl until pale and fluffy. Add the oil and beat slowly until combined. Add the vanilla, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Beat until thoroughly mixed. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and sugar to blend. Turn the mixer to high and beat until mixture is smooth (it will be very thick). Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chopped apples.

Divide the mixture between the two loaf pans.

Make the topping by cutting the butter into the flour with a fork and adding the cinnamon and sugar and mix until crumbly. Sprinkle equal amounts on each loaf. Bake for one hour until firm to the touch. Remove and cool on a rack. When completely cool, remove from the pans and slice.

Video: Cranberry Date Nut Bread

Posted by Chef Jim on November 24, 2009  |  Comments Off

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Video: Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

Posted by Chef Jim on April 22, 2009  |  Comments Off

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2 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp. salt
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/2 cup sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup shortening
2/3 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Spray 2 8-inch round cake pans with non-stick cooking spray.

In a bowl mix the flour, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, sugar, and the cheese. With a pastry blender or fork, cut in the shortening and mix until it resembles coarse meal. Add the milk all at once and stir with a fork until the dough forms a ball.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured board and knead 14 times. Pat out the dough until it is a half-inch thick. Cut into 2-inch rounds. Place them in the cake pans touching each other and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden brown.

Blog Topic: Quick! Bread!

Posted by Chef Jim on September 19, 2008  |  Comments Off

I am a confessed carbohydrate addict – “carboholic,” if you will. I can’t get enough bread, cake, rolls, doughnuts, crackers, pretzels – if it’s made with flour, I like it.

In addition to cooking, I love to bake. But when it comes to bread, sometimes I just don’t have the patience that yeast breads demand.

It is said that cooking is art and baking is science. When it comes to bread, science definitely is the operative word, as the baker depends on fermentation, gas production, heat, leavening, and a lot of other chemical miracles.

If you’re like me, and you need to satisfy your bread jones really fast, there are these amazing concoctions called quick breads. Scones and biscuits fall into this category, as do cornbread and muffins.

In a professional competition several years ago, while I failed to win a medal (I missed by two-tenths of a point), a quick bread that I made as an accompaniment to one of my courses, caught the attention of one of the judges. He asked for the recipe. Now this guy is a certified master chef – that’s as big and as high as it gets in my biz. And he asked me for my quick bread recipe. That blew me away.

But that’s the sort of thing that quick breads can do. The one I made for that competition includes black olives and roasted garlic. I’ve got one that uses tomatoes and piquant spices, as well as one whose principal ingredient is beer. Have I whetted your appetite for quick breads yet?

So while regular yeast breads can take hours and even as long as a day and half to go through every process, quick breads are just that: they’re quick. They can be done in about an hour, some even quicker.

Even though quick breads also depend on chemistry, they bypass the use of yeast and the leavening process. Some yeast breads and rolls need two rises, prolonging the wait for the end product.

Baking soda and baking powder, separately or together and in combination with ingredients such as buttermilk, whole milk, and eggs – well, it’s acids, bases, and chemical reactions, kids. Bypassing yeast and waiting for dough to rise: it’s a good thing.

Now it helps if you’re a “carboholic” because quick breads also need to be eaten quickly. They generally don’t hold up well any time after you serve them for the first time, hot from the oven. They simply do not reheat well, which is why I will never buy packaged scones under any circumstance. They’re dry and bland and do not resemble in any way what a freshly made scone tastes like.

Once you see how easy it is to make quick breads, you can add to your repertoire and make them regularly. The occasion doesn’t have to be special, even though the recipe I’m about to share with you is. Try it. You’ll see – better yet, you’ll taste – what I’m talking about.

Roasted Garlic and Olive Quick Bread

2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
4 large garlic bulbs, roasted, pulp squeezed out, mashed and reserved
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon orange zest, grated
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 cup milk
3/4 cup oil-cured black ripe olives, pitted, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Sift together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Mix mashed roasted garlic, melted butter, orange zest and pepper flakes. Beat in the egg and milk.
Beat in the flour mixture in 3 batches, fully incorporating each addition. Fold in the olives.
Pour into a greased loaf pan. Bake for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Remove from the oven to a wire rack and serve while still warm.