zeal

Though I've missed a couple, I'm ready for another edition of Novel Food!

I have to admit, this book took a bit to get into it, but once Botille started telling her story, I couldn't stop reading the Passion of Dolssa. And then the food references started and I was completely hooked (especially the feast starting on page 264).

This story takes place in between the Crusades and the Spanish Inquisition, and gives us a glimpse into how the Inquisition worked by featuring a young mystic who has declared that Jesus is her one and only love, which has the clergy suspicious and ready to pounce.

Dolssa, the young woman in question, manages to escape, and finds herself rescued by Botille and her sisters. These three young women own a tavern in a seaside town in southern France (Provensa) and the oldest sister reluctantly agrees to hide the runaway. After a couple of miraculous things happen, though, all three sisters decide their loyalty to Dolssa is well deserved, though it is getting harder to keep her hidden. This does bring the clergy to their small town and Dolssa is no longer safe. Botille is now left with an important decision: how do they keep the town safe from the inquisitors?

There were two food items that really called my name, but the onions (Botille is famous for her onions) lost because I've made a couple of baked onion recipes before, but I've never made fogasa before and knew I needed to try.

from Cook's Illustrated

1/4 c white whole wheat flour (King Arthur)
3 c AP flour (King Arthur)
salt
1 t instant yeast
1 1/2 c water
cornmeal
1/4 c olive oil
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 t coarse sea salt

Day One
1. Mix flours, 1 1/2 t salt and yeast in a mixer bowl. Using the dough hook, add water and knead until a dough forms, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise 30 minutes.
2. Holding dough with your fingertips, fold the dough over to the center. Turn the bowl 45 degrees, then fold again. Do this a total of 8 folds. Let rest 30 minutes.
3. Repeat step 2.
4. Repeat step 2.
5. Repeat step 2.
6. Cover tightly and let rise in the fridge overnight (up to 48 hours).

Day Two
1. On a lightly floured counter, gently stretch the dough into an 8 in round (do not deflate) and divide in half. Gently fold each dough portion into a triangle that has 5 in sides. Place on a floured sheet, cover loosely and let rest until no longer cool to the touch (30 minutes to an hour).
2. Place a baking stone in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Line two upside-down baking sheets with parchment paper and cover with cornmeal.
3. Roll one portion of dough into a triangle with a 10 in base and 8 in sides. Transfer to a baking sheet. Using a pizza cutter, make a 6 in cut down the center, through the dough to the sheet, leaving 1 1/2 in on either end. Make three 2 to 3 in cuts along each side of the center cut.
4. Gently stretch the dough to expand the leaf size to 10 by 12 in. Cover loosely and let rest at room temp for 30 minutes. Twenty minutes after shaping the first loaf, repeat with the second portion of dough.
5. Brush top and sides with 2 t oil. Sprinkle evenly with 1 1/2 t rosemary and 1 t coarse salt. Transfer to the hot baking stone and bake 18 to 22 minutes, until it is golden brown. Let rest 15 minutes before serving. Repeat with second loaf.

My notes: I didn't follow the triangle-shaping instructions very well, so one of my portions of dough ended up rectangular (so I made a ladder shape with that one). The other I just folded my cut circle in half and it worked just fine. Don't be afraid to stretch before baking, else you won't end up with everything getting nice and crusty!

These taste best the day they're made, so have a party!

Book recommendation: the Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
Recipe recommendation: Fougasse


I need to end with this quote, as I love it:
[Na Pieret] leaned against me once more. "Some people pray for the sick," she said, "while others bring them dinner."
"And some, my dear Na Pieret," [Botille] said, "do both." (p 231)

kawaii

We kinda coerced her into the party idea*, though she embraced it fully once she worked it into a pineapple/Hawaii birthday.

The cake popped up in my Instagram feed earlier in the year, and as soon as I showed it to M, she loved it. She requested marble cake, which was a great chance for me to practice swirling batter.

It's kawaii style, which is what attracted her to the cake in the first place, so I pulled out my candy melts and gum paste to make the 'extras' for the pineapple.

Then I baked layers: three for the main portion and one for the base. The top layer for the pineapple I trimmed with a knife to get it rounded, and put chocolate buttercream in between. Then it got a crumb coat. The base layer I frosted with white, then used my gold Color Spray to give it a little oomph.

Then it was time to start piping! The original baker used tip 2D to give a more 'closed' feel to the bumps on the pineapple. I forgot to write this down when I had a chance to shop for such things, so I used the tip 1M that I already had.

Then I added the accouterments and did the most nerve-wracking drive ever to their house for the party.

This cake was a hit--M dragged all her friends in to see it as they arrived (we started with a painting craft in the garage).

I also got to practice my cutting a large cake in small pieces (though this wasn't huge) skills. I cut in the middle halfway down, then cut slices all around. Then I cut the bottom section in slices. It worked pretty well!


*Sandra put a lot of work into the palm trees for the monkey party, so we 'needed' to use them again.

missing photos

I apologize for all the missing photos in my posts--Photobucket has decided to not let free subscriptions use 3rd party hosting, so because I'd rather not pay that fee, I'll have to start transferring photos and links and such. This will take some time, so I'll try to hit the food, birthday and China posts first.

chief

We've added a new birthday party to the mix--C had his first 'big' one this summer, and boy was it fun to plan something during hot weather, as we could think about water games!

When planning P's monkey party, I surreptitiously had C look at some fireman ideas I had pinned to get the idea planted in his brain. Then when we started planning his party in earnest, Sandra and I could steer him towards a firefighter theme, especially because it meant I could finally use my Fire Truck Pan!

The downside of having C watch the planning of P's party is he also requested a mini cake... but this meant I could test out a new white cake recipe, making the small cake chocolate. 

This type of cake decorating is reminiscent of my childhood: my grandma often made cakes with shaped pans. Though a bit more straightforward than some of the other cakes I've made, this really tested my hand strength! Man, there are a lot of small stars on this cake...

One funny thing that I didn't count on was that though it's warm in the summer, the house is cool. I always make the cakes early in the week and freeze them. The cakes took longer to thaw than I had anticipated, so I was decorating late into the evening because of miscalculation! 

That ladder should be smooth, but I couldn't get it to behave, so I left it squiggly.

The mini cake employed a technique I learned in my one and only decorating class I've taken: a clear gel transfer! I then copied what I did for the big cake.

I think he was pleased with his cakes. He was a little bashful, and yet soaked up every minute, of all the focused attention.

It was interesting to have a one layer cake (and we still managed to have leftovers). And I admit, I'm undecided about shaped pan cakes. I was really sore two days later and felt much more pressure to have it look 'perfect'. Perhaps I just need to practice and do a few more.

anthropoid

The third cake!

P's birthday is the same as O's, but her party was scheduled for one week later. She decided she wanted to go the monkey route, so she and I sat down to discuss what her cake would look like by browsing Pinterest. This decision happened almost immediately, to my surprise, and so then I set about planning how I would execute the idea.

The birthday girl wanted two cakes--one was essentially a smash cake, though I made it bigger than that. And, of course, chocolate. I used leftover frosting from T's cake for the middle of the mini cake and chocolate for the big monkey.

Then I finished up the small cake first. This took longer than I wanted, partly due to trying to keep the monkey 'smooth' and getting the ears attached.

I tackled the bigger cake shortly after getting the eyes on the little one, and decided to go with a fuzzy monkey. This one went much faster!

The ears were tricky on this one, too, but having to be less picky about smoothness helped.Plus, I added the cake before adding the main frosting layer, which also helped.

Once finished, I gave a sneak peek on Instagram and then had to figure out how to store them until the next day.

P wanted to do candles in 'her' cake--the little one--so we let her add them and then it was time to sing and eat cake!

We had lots of kids, so we did small slices. If anyone wanted seconds, they could have them, as it turned out we had plenty of cake.