Buttermilk-Rye Bread

Here's a slice of Buttermilk-Rye Bread with 

Savory Baked Tofu, Sautéed Broccoli, 

Root Vegetable Hash Browns and Tomato Slices

Yield: One 9X5-inch loaf, 16 servings

Recipe from King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Nicely balanced between sweet and savory, this easy-to-make loaf goes well with soft cheese or a simple coating of butter.  The orange zest and caraway go well with the rye taste.  Go ahead and make two loaves, one for now and one to freeze for later.

2 cups whole rye flour

1 cup unbleached bread flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1¾ cups buttermilk

¼ cup molasses

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon grated orange zest

1 Tablespoon caraway seeds

4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Grease a 9” X 5” loaf pan.

Whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a large mixing bowl.

In another bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, molasses, egg and orange zest.  Pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and stir quickly and lightly until the batter is evenly moistened.  Stir in the caraway seeds and melted butter.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 55 minutes to 1 hour.

Remove the bread from the oven and place it on a rack to cool for 15 minutes.  After 15 minutes, run a table knife around the edges of the pan to make sure the bread isn’t’ sticking, turn it out of the pan, and place it on the rack to finish cooling completely before slicing.

Nutrition Information per Serving (1 slice):  16 g whole grains, 144 calories, 4 g fat, 5 g protein, 19 g complex carbohydrates, 4 g sugar, 4 g dietary fiber, 22 mg cholesterol, 297 mg sodium, 201 mg potassium, 37RE vitamin A, 1 mg vitamin C, 2 mg iron, 95 mg calcium, 201 mg phosphorus.

Ultimate Flaky Buttermilk Biscuits

Makes 9 large biscuits

Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated Magazine

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen with Marimar

My daughter-in-law, Marimar, loves to make biscuits when the family comes to visit.  She wanted to test this recipe herself.  Boy, these were spectacular!!  

3 cups King Arthur all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

4 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

1½ teaspoons salt

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen for 30 minutes

1¼ cups buttermilk, chilled

1. Line rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Whisk our, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in large bowl. Coat sticks of butter in the flour mixture, and then grate 7 tablespoons from each stick on large holes of box grater directly into our mixture. Toss gently to combine. Set aside remaining 2 tablespoons butter.

2. Add buttermilk to our mixture and fold with spatula until just combined (dough will look dry). Transfer dough to liberally floured counter. Dust surface of dough with our; using your floured hands, press dough into rough 7-inch square.

3. Roll dough into 12 by 9-inch rectangle with short side parallel to edge of counter. Starting at bottom of dough, fold into thirds like business letter, using bench scraper or metal spatula to release dough from counter. Press top of dough firmly to seal folds. Turn dough 90 degrees clockwise. Repeat rolling into 12 by 9-inch rectangle, folding into thirds, and turning clockwise 4 more times, for total of 5 sets of folds. After last set of folds, roll dough into 8½ -inch square about 1 inch thick. Transfer dough to prepared sheet, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 400 degrees F.

4. Transfer dough to lightly floured cutting board. Using sharp, floured chef’s knife, trim 1/4 inch of dough from each side of square and discard. Cut remaining dough into 9 squares, flouring knife after each cut. Arrange biscuits at least 1 inch apart on sheet. Melt reserved butter; brush tops of biscuits with melted butter.

5. Bake until tops are golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Transfer biscuits to wire rack and let cool for 15 minutes before serving.

*Use sticks of butter. In hot or humid environments, chill the flour mixture, grater, and work bowls before use. The dough will start out very crumbly and dry in pockets but will be smooth by the end of the folding process; do not be tempted to add extra buttermilk. Flour the counter and the top of the dough as needed to prevent sticking, but be careful not to incorporate large pockets of flour into the dough when folding.

Stunning Walnut Cake

Serves 12

Recipe from Aliwaks via Food52

Adapted and Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Well, making this cake for the first time to serve to our book group was a bit stressful.  I even made a back-up dessert (now in the freezer for another time) because I wasn't sure how it would turn out.  But WOW!!  It was a stunner and sooooo tasty too. It was actually pretty easy to make. I’ve included all my notes for you so that making this won’t be so scary ;-) The bottom layer is a basic cake flavored with espresso powder.  The next layer is a cinnamon meringue with toasted walnuts which is baked on top of the uncooked cake batter (yes, that's right, uncooked batter.) Next, is a layer of vanilla whipped cream sweetened with a bit of maple syrup.  Atop that is another cake/meringue/toasted walnut layer. Begin making this the night before serving.  Despite how it looks, it isn't cloyingly sweet, which to us is a big plus.  And the textures are divine, moist, creamy, crunchy, and crispy all in one bite.  Now, I want to make the inspiration for this recipe and maybe a chocolate variety!

1 Tablespoon unsalted butter (for prepping pans)

1 cup heavy cream (The original recipe called for 1½ cups, but it was too much.)

½ vanilla bean or 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract

10 ½ Tablespoons butter, softened

2/3 cups brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar.)

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 teaspoons espresso powder (I buy this either on line or at a specialty food store.)

1 teaspoon salt (I always use Kosher salt.)

5 large egg yolks (room temperature)

1/3 cup milk

5 egg whites (room temperature)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

½ cup walnuts, chopped and toasted

1-3 Tablespoons maple syrup, to taste

2 Tablespoons powdered sugar (For dusting the cake before serving, totally optional.)

*The night before serving:  

Bring butter and eggs to room temperature by leaving on the counter overnight. Pour cream into a saucepan. Split and scrape vanilla bean into the cream and heat until just boiling. Remove from heat and let cool. Cover and chill overnight.

Baking Day:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Prepare two 8-inch round spring form cake pans with buttered parchment paper. (I only have one 8-inch round spring form pan, so I made one cake and then when it was cool, I removed it from the pan, washed the pan out and then made the second layer.)

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and brown sugar until creamy and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt. Add mixture to butter and sugar in 3 increments, mixing fully between additions.

Whisk together egg yolks and milk. Add to batter in 3 increments, incorporating fully each time. (The batter will be thick, almost like cookie dough.)  Spread the batter into prepared pan. (Actually, I thought this was the hardest part about making this cake.  I used an offset spatula.  The batter will barely cover the bottom of the pan.)

In a clean mixing bowl, whip egg whites until foamy. Add sugar and cinnamon and whip to soft peaks.

Spread the meringue over uncooked cake batter, cover with toasted walnuts and bake 35-40 minutes, until the meringue is crackly. Let cake cool completely. (The meringue will be quite puffy and smooth when taken out of the oven, but as it cools, it will fall and crack.  That’s the way it’s supposed to look.) When cool, run a plastic knife around the edge of the pan and then remove the cake.

Meanwhile, remove vanilla bean from cream. (If using the vanilla extract, just add it to the cream before whipping.) Add maple syrup and whip cream to soft peaks.

Place one cake on a cake plate, meringue side up. Cover with whipped cream. Top with the other cake, meringue side up.  Dust the cake with powdered sugar, if you so desire.

(I made the cakes in the late morning and then whipped the cream in the afternoon of the party.  About an hour before the guests arrived, I assembled the cake.  Other reviewers noted that you can chill the assembled cake in the fridge for an hour or so.)