Brioche with Chocolate Banana Cardamom Jam

I often make brioche dough on Friday, bake it fresh for Saturday breakfast, and turn the leftovers into some kind of bread pudding on Sunday – very little fuss, really, and a lot of appreciation from the family.

The brioche recipe I use these days (and I’m not looking for another) is an Alice Medrich’s adaptation of Desiré Valentin brioche, the best bread I’ve had. The brilliant idea of the chocolate banana jam belongs to the local genii – Dominique and Cindy Duby. It can perfectly replace Nutella for those who can’t eat nuts.

Makes two 8×4-inch brioche loaves and about 29 oz (700g) jam

For the chocolate banana jam:

• 4 medium-sized ripe bananas, peeled and mushed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• ½ tsp ground cardamom, toasted
• 3.6 oz (100g) 70% dark chocolate finely chopped

For the brioche:

• 3 cups (15 oz) bread flour
• 20 tbsp (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold
• 2 ½ tsp active dry yeast
• 1 tsp plus 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup warm water (105 to 115 F)
• 5 eggs, cold
• 1 ½ tsp salt

• 1 egg + 1 tsp water, beaten lightly, for egg wash

Make the chocolate banana jam:

Combine the bananas, sugar, orange juice, and cardamom in a heavy tall stainless steel saucepan and cook on medium heat, stirring, for about 5-8 minutes. Take off the heat, stir in the chopped chocolate. Puree with an immersion blender until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the jam into a clean container fitted with a lid and store in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.

Make the brioche:

Spread the flour in a wide baking pan. Freeze at least 30 minutes or until needed.
Using the paddle attachment of a heavy-duty mixer, beat the cold butter only until creamy, smooth, and free of lumps when pinched between your fingers. Scrape the butter into a mound on parchment paper and refrigerate. Proceed with the recipe right away; a long delay will reharden the butter.

Dissolve the yeast and 1 tsp of sugar in the warm water. Pour the dissolved yeast in the mixer bowl. Attach the dough hook. Add the remaining 1/3 cup sugar, eggs, salt, and the flour and mix until blended. Knead the dough on medium speed for 5 minutes. After kneading period the dough will be very soft, sticky, and elastic. It will all be wrapped around the dough hook. Add the cold creamed butter in several pieces, pushing it into the dough, and beat with the hook until thoroughly incorporated. Stop several times to scrape the dough from the bowl and hook. Scrape the dough into a bowl, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

Up to 24 hours later, butter two medium-sized loaf pans. Scrape the cold dough out onto a floured surface. Divide into 20 more or less equal portions, about 2 oz each. Form each portion into a small ball and arrange 10 balls on the bottom of each loaf pan (2 rows of 5 balls). Spray with oil, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and place into a warm place to proof, for about 2 hours or until almost doubled.

Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350F. Brush the egg wash gently over the top of each loaf, taking care not to get it onto the pans. Bake the brioches until deeply brown, or an instant-read thermometer reads 200F when inserted in the center of the bread, 25 to 30 minutes. Cool slightly, unmold, cool on the rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Chocolate Ricotta Loaf Cake

The cake is sort of a lighter version of classic pound cake. Ricotta cheese replaces half of the butter which results in no less delicious and outstandingly moist cake. Good quality cocoa, chopped chocolate, and a double shot of espresso provide a superior chocolate flavor.

The cake on the photo is impatiently sliced warm.

Makes one 8×4 loaf cake

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt

• ¼ cup espresso, cooled to room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

• 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup fine granulated sugar
• 8 oz whole fat ricotta cheese, at room temperature (if it’s made according to this recipe, the ricotta will be smooth enough to proceed right away; store-bought ricotta will need a whirl in a food processor)
• 3 large eggs

• 1 cup coarsely chopped toasted walnuts
• ½ cup (3 oz) coarsely chopped chocolate

Preparation:

Center an oven rack and preheat the oven to 350F. Line an 8×4-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt onto a sheet of parchment paper or into a bowl. In another small bowl or a cup, combine the espresso and vanilla extract.

In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for a few seconds, until creamy. Gradually add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Add the ricotta and beat well to combine. With the mixer on medium, add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the espresso, starting and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the bowl as necessary, and beat only enough to incorporate the ingredients after each addition. Stir in the toasted walnuts and chopped chocolate.

Transfer the batter into the prepared loaf pan, smooth the top and bake for about 1 hr. to 1 hr. 10 min., or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then unmold and cool completely on the rack.

It can’t be the holiday season unless you have baked SOMETHING! aabake1In our home, the ovens go into overdrive this time of year and at Marketmanila

lose yourself

We were driving around the back roads of Mandaluyong looking for I-don’t-remember what-now. I was in the back seat craning my neck, my eyes peering out into the darkness. Suddenly a large blue and white sign appears on the left with letters that I could just make out: Chefs’ Nook.

“Hey, that looks cool!” I remember pointing and yelling to my two friends up front. “Quick! What street is this?”

“Pilar,” my friend, Mari mumbles distractedly, too intent on her driving.

that fortuitous blue sign

That was way back in 2003. I remember coming back to the exact same street a few days later, this time on my own, to check out what this “Chefs’ Nook” was all about. I found a store crammed full of the widest variety of Thai ingredients and even better, baking ingredients (yippee!). So enchanted was I with Chefs’ Nook that I immediately pitched the idea to my editor (of the food magazine I was writing for then) and I didn’t stop pestering her until she gave me the go-ahead to feature it.

There’s no way that I could’ve known then that the owner of Chefs’ Nook would become one of my dearest friends. She’s Imelda Go, baker of the famous White Velvet Symphony and Triple Hazelnut Mousse which was featured at the tea party last March. Imelda owns this treasure of a store along with her friend and business partner, Sally So. Chefs’ Nook is actually an offshoot of a sister company, Magic Kitchen, which is Imelda’s home-based made-to-order bakery.

Baking Ingredients 101

It can’t be the holiday season unless you have baked SOMETHING! In our home, the ovens go into overdrive this time of year and at Marketmanila, we started over a month ago testing ensaimada recipes, making several leche flans, pan de sal, lenguas, angel food cake, upside down pineapple cake, cookies… and the list goes on and on. Several readers have left comments regarding some of the key ingredients that I use for pan de sal and other baked goods so I thought I would put a quick post on the basics for those of you who are interested… First, the flour. I normally use the readily available Gold Medal All-Purpose Flour for recipes that specify all-purpose flour. Even though it says pre-sifted, always re-sift if the recipe asks for it. For breads, ensaimada, etc., I use a harder wheat flour, in this case from Liberty Mills and purchased from a bakery supplies store in Nasugbu town (though this is available in Manila and all towns above 5,000 population, I would think). It appears in the photo here and essentially it is better for bread.

This hard wheat flour is what approximates the old name “primera” which refers to quality and essentially gluten content, I think. It is also not as bleached as supermarket all-purpose flour. For cakes, I used boxed Maya cake flour only because I haven’t seen anything else, have had mediocre results with Maya so far. I read somewhere once that if you can’t find cake flour you just have to slightly reduce the amount of all-purpose flour to attempt to replicate the impact of using cake flour. For eggs, I use the finest organic eggs I can find such as the organic eggs from Joey Malana at the Salcedo market (though his are the bloody priciest I have ever purchased at PHP250 for 30 eggs and that’s discounted!) or the organic egg seller at the Taguig market. They have a near orange yolk and a viscous white. I thought I would do well to buy eggs in local town markets but they have generally turned out to be extremely watery and the yolks break into the whites annoyingly often… In general, the cost of ingredients in baked goods is small compared to say a meat dish, so splurge for the finest quality you can afford.

On butter, I have mixed feelings. I have practically given up. For some reason, the Philippines has really crappy butter – generally very high water content (which screws up recipes big-time) and lower than average quality. There are a few European and Australian butter brands available but they are incredibly expensive for the slight bump up in quality. For recipes which I don’t think the butter will necessary shine through, I use any decent locally available unsalted butter. In theory, unsalted should be of a better quality as there is no salt to mask the underlying taste of the butter. When I need something that will shine through the finished product, I go French or Danish (the latter on the assumption that they must have happy cows in Denmark, right?) and pay through the nose. Think butter spread ON TOP of finished ensaimadas then sprinkled with sugar and cheese and think nose-bleed butter. My sister buys superb top-quality French butter in New York from a wholesaler that delivers it to her home during peak baking seasons…how lucky is that!?!

On sugar, I should point out that despite our growing literally tons of the stuff, the bulk white sugar you get in the grocery is oddly, not the finest quality. It is often relatively large grain, so much so that sometimes it doesn’t mix well with other ingredients and your cookies come out grainy and the sugar granules are clearly visible. The brown sugar readily available is also crappy and looks like colored white sugar. If I need sugar that has to disappear into the dish, I buy the Peotraco caster sugar from better groceries which is finer and not that much more expensive. I also use their powdered sugar for icing on the “annual” gingerbread house. I have been known to literally fill a whole grocery cart with powdered sugar in boxes when they don’t have the bulk plastic bags available… finally, all through the year I keep my eyes out for good brown sugar like muscovado that looks, feels and smells like brown sugar should. If it clumps up and gets hard, that’s actually a good sign that it is the kind of sugar you should want. I read somewhere that if keep apple slices in the sugar jar it will prevent it from clumping up… I haven’t tried this and wonder if it will work in such a humid country…but that’s what I read.

On yeast, I use Fleischmans yeast in packets if I am only doing a little baking. This is the priciest of the locally available yeasts but it is reliable. Just make sure it hasn’t expired. If I am baking in bulk, I buy the Red Star yeast in cans and once opened keep it in the fridge. I throw it out after 5-6 weeks and buy a new can to ensure the best quality. On salt, I am lucky enough to have one more box of really salty tasting kosher salt that I use in bread. As with half the good stuff for sale in Manila, it is now no longer in stock and the store doesn’t know if they will ever get it again… Everyday iodized salt is good for most recipes. In fact, most recipes are done using measurements that approximate fine grain iodized salt.

Finally, for some of the readers, as you frantically search for sources… here are some you may or may not know about. Landmark grocery in Makati, while a mess, does have many of your baking needs under one roof. I also go to Cook’s Exchange in the basement of Rockwell with branches at Megamall et al (for baking equipment, some ingredients, silpat mats, microplane graters, etc.), I also like Gourdo’s in the Fort with several other branches (utensils and a few ingredients) and lastly, someone has handed me details for SWEETCRAFT, a baking and confectionery supplies store located on Boni Avenue. I have never been there though it comes recommended. I also understand there is a Chocolate related bake shop in Quezon City somewhere but I have never been there either. For those interested in SWEETCRAFT, give them a ring at 532-1595 to make sure they are still in existence. They are at 373 Boni Avenue, Mandaluyong City. I will try to check them out but things are a bit hectic these days…