Le Boulangerie (12) Cinnamon Swirl Bread

March 21, 2017June 15, 2017 ~ Meg ~ 33 Comments

To accompany my novel in progress: Breaking Bread, welcome to Le Boulangerie.

I realized after I baked this bread and started preparing this post, that cinnamon bread is more of a mid winter, even holiday-esque kind of bread and here we are at the start of spring. Nevertheless, in my neck of the woods, we had our first real snowfall of any significance last week and the cold returned with a vengeance. Which put me in the mood for this comforting bit of goodness. And while this seems like a decadent loaf, the cinnamon has a positive effect on one’s blood sugar so don’t feel too bad in your indulgence!

Cinnamon Swirl Bread:

For the dough:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon instant yeast
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1 cup milk

Filling:

1/3 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Method:

In the stand mixer, combine all dough ingredients with the dough hook attachment.
After a smooth dough forms, allow to rise in the bowl, covered with a towel, for an hour and a half.
After rising is complete, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and roll (with a pin) into a rectangle 18×24″.
Mix together filling ingredients and spread onto the sheet of dough, leaving a one inch border all around.
Starting with the short end, roll the dough into a log. Pinch the ends closed and fit it, seam side down into a lightly greased 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ bread pan.
Cover pan and allow bread to rise for about 2 hours (or until the loaf crowns just above the rim of the pan).
Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes, tenting with aluminum foil about halfway through the bake time.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on wire rack before slicing.

Le Boulangerie (6) Peach Cobbler

February 7, 2017June 15, 2017 ~ Meg ~ 43 Comments

To accompany my novel in progress: Breaking Bread, welcome to Le Boulangerie.

I planned this post to align with this past weekend’s Super Bowl game. It would either be a celebration or a consolation to the parts of the country hoping for an Atlanta Falcons victory. Well, consolation it is… they lost and in a most heartbreaking fashion. Giving up a commanding lead and ultimately losing in the Super Bowl’s first ever overtime. Here’s to you Atlanta, Georgia. Have some cobbler.

For those of you outside the United States, cobbler is essentially a deep dish fruit pie. Instead of a traditional pie crust, fruit is baked with a sweet batter in a baking dish instead of a pie plate. The dessert originated in the American Colonies while still under British rule. The early settlers, with lack of ingredients and improper tools for cooking and baking, had to improvise. Thus the ‘cobbler,’ possibly derived from the old term: cobeler, which means wooden bowl, was created by stewing fruit, topping it with batter and baking in cook pots rather than pans.

Here is a recipe adapted from one of my Nana’s recipes for apple cobbler. I wanted to make peach, for Georgia after all. (Even though fresh peaches aren’t in season and really that would be the ideal time to make this…)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar, divided
4 cups peaches, fresh or thawed frozen (I used frozen)
1-2 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup milk
ground cinnamon

Method:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Melt butter in a 11X13 baking dish in oven. Remove from oven when melted.
Mix flour, 1 cup of sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl. Add milk and mix until just combined. Pour batter into baking dish on top of butter. Do NOT stir.
Bring peaches, remaining 1 cup of sugar and lemon juice to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Pour peaches over batter (they’ll sink in). Do NOT stir. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Bake for 40 – 45 minutes until the top of the cobbler is golden brown.
Serve with vanilla ice cream.

My condolences, Atlanta. I hope this helps.

Le Boulangerie (3) Pierogi

January 17, 2017June 15, 2017 ~ Meg ~ 56 Comments

To accompany my novel in progress: Breaking Bread, welcome to Le Boulangerie!

Week three and I’m already sort of going off script. Pierogi are not baked but they are made of dough so…. And I have a good reason for featuring them this week: Pittsburgh. (And don’t be confused, I am from Philadelphia, not Pittsburgh.) For those of you outside the United States and those who pay zero attention to sports, here’s the connection: I am a Pittsburgh Steelers football fan. (Steelers fan in Eagles territory…) The Steelers are in the playoffs. This Sunday they played and won their game against the Kansas City Chiefs in what can only be described as an ugly win. Nevertheless, the playoffs demand a party and a party demands food and drink.

Any city like Pittsburgh with a vibrant Polish and Eastern European community, will certainly be known for the foods of that ethnic origin–pierogi, for example. Pierogi are pockets of dough filled with a variety of ingredients. A traditional pierogi is most often filled with a combination of potatoes and cheese, potatoes and onions or cabbage. In honor of the Steelers, my friend Alexandra, armed with her Ukrainian grandma’s recipe, agreed to show us how to make pierogi from scratch on Sunday afternoon. I feel an annual tradition starting…

Now, right at the beginning I have to warn you, this was neither quick nor easy but it was so totally worth it. The key to this entire process as you might imagine is the dough:

Ingredients:

1 cup of whole milk, scalded
1/2 stick of butter
1 cup warm water
1 teaspoon of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
6 – 7 cups of flour

Method:

Scald milk in saucepan. Put butter in hot milk to melt. Allow to cool for a few minutes. Mix water and yeast in a separate bowl. Let rest 5 minutes. Add salt and egg to milk mixture. Combine thoroughly. Gradually add flour in with mixer. As dough thickens, knead by hand instead (or switch to dough hook if using a stand mixer). Cover bowl with cloth and allow dough to rise about an hour.

Then the dough gets rolled out to about an eighth inch thickness and cut into rounds:

When the rounds are ready, it’s time to fill them. Ours were stuffed with mashed Yukon gold potatoes, cheddar cheese, green onion and bacon. Fold the round over the stuffing mixture, seal with egg wash and use the tines of a fork to crimp the edges.

The filled pierogi go into a pot of boiling, salted water for a few minutes and then into a pan for frying in butter to a light golden brown.

And no Ukrainian or Polish meal would be complete without kielbasa, purchased at a butcher shop in northeastern Pennsylvania (coal mining country) another area with a large Eastern European community. We’re calling Pierogi fest 2017 a huge success!

And did I mention the Steelers won? Yeah, that too!