the dance... and playing with food.

i live to be elbow deep in the weeds.  cooking is what i do.  and when there is a full rail of tickets, and more coming in...that's when its really fun.  maintaining the standards you've put in place, while pushing out plates upon plates of food.  there's no better feeling in the world.  rocking out a busy friday or saturday night, flames going full tilt.  sweat pouring down your face into your eyes.  burns. cuts. the smell of singed hair.  smoke from hot saute pans.  tossing said saute pans across the kitchen into the sink.  


all the while the symphony of tickets running through your head.  


working in a professional kitchen, one must learn to dance.  no.  not the samba.  and don't even mention the macarena.  but this dance is more beautiful (in my eyes) than any ballet.  the dance between cooks.  you have to learn your partner.  he/she has to learn you.  and when those cooks are in tune with each other, the symphony takes over.  standards are upheld/exceeded.  guests are happy.  and when they are happy, i'm happy.  


once in a while, you are blessed with a slow day.  all the prep is done, just did the deep clean...paperwork is caught up.  inventory?  check.  what about...? nope, that's done too.  don't get me wrong here... i love being busy, but every so often... it's nice to be caught up.  and when you're caught up, that's when you get to play with food.


today was one of those days.


i've been on a bread baking kick the last few days, so i decided to play with some dough.  i took some pictures, and i'll even give you the recipe if you want to try it yourself.  i wanted to do a savory bread and a sweet bread so here's what i did:

carmelized shallot & stilton bread

i'm not one to really use recipes, except when it comes to baking.  here's a basic white bread recipe that i've found that works pretty well.  oh, and i use a kitchenaid mixer...


click here for basic white bread recipe

once you get the dough mixed i added:


2 cups minced carmelized shallots
4 oz crumbled stilton (any blue cheese will do.)


add flour/water to get desired consistency.  take dough out of mixer, and knead for about 5 minutes.  when you are done kneading, it should look like this.

next, divide dough up into about 2-4 oz portions and roll into balls.  you can use a regular muffin tin. spray muffin tin with pan spray.  place one dough ball into each spot.  spray dough with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap.  should look like this...

let the dough proof for about half an hour, or until dough has doubled in size.  preheat oven to 400 degrees.  when dough has proofed, brush with eggwash.  if you want to get funky, you can drizzle some balsamic reduction over dough prior to baking.  (i did.)  bake for about 20 minutes.  check for done-ness by sticking a toothpick into center of bread.  if it comes out clean, you're done!  this is what your final product should look like.

 now eat it!


melba roll


on to the sweet!


working in a british restaurant, i get to try things i probably wouldn't have had i not been employed here.  melba sauce is one of those things.  although, it's really just a smooth raspberry jam with a funky name.  (leave it to the brits...)


anyway, start off with the same basic bread recipe from above.  then divide it into two equal dough balls.  like so:

now, roll each out so they are rectangular in shape, and about a 1/4 inch thick.  spread with melba sauce, or any other jam/preserve you would like.  (i also did one with apple butter that i made).  once its spread you should have something like this....

now, i must warn you.  this was my first attempt ever at doing a rolled bread.  apparently you don't really need a whole lot of melba....


anyway...  start at one end and roll tightly.  place on a cookie sheet or sheet tray that has been sprayed with pan spray.  spray dough with pan spray and cover with plastic wrap.


holy crap.  i just said spray like a billion times right there.


moving on!  once the roll is wrapped, let it proof!  should look something like this.

after proofing for about an hour, pull off plastic wrap.  brush with egg wash and toss in the oven.  25-30 minutes at 400 degrees should do it.  when the times up, check with toothpick.  AAANNDD... now you have this....  

slice this bad boy up and... 

eat it.


now that you're a professional baker, what are we going to do with all this bread?  


tomorrow brings another day.  just wait to see what i have in store for this beautiful yeasty goodness.