The Cheese Board (6 page)

The white part just under the skin of citrus fruits is very bitter. When
zesting the fruit, be careful to shave off only the colored layer. Try to zest directly over the rest of the ingredients to ensure that the citrus oil, loaded with flavor, makes it into your baked good as well.

As with parchment paper, oil spray is nothing short of miraculous in terms of its nonstick qualities. Use it to coat the wells and tops of muffin pans and the insides of small loaf pans to aid in the release of baked goods. Use only unflavored spray.

Have you ever started a recipe and suddenly realized, “Oh no, I don’t have enough sour cream”? This happened all the time to us while we were testing these recipes. Fortunately, it often works fine to fill in the missing ingredient with an equivalent milk product. For example, if the recipe calls for 1 cup of sour cream, you can substitute a mixture of sour cream and plain yogurt or simply use all yogurt. Cream, half-and-half, and milk can also be substituted for each other, but their differing fat content can affect the richness and texture of the final bread.

The advantages to using dried fruits is that they are available year-round and they have a long shelf life. Keep a supply of golden raisins, currants, apricots, and apples on hand. With such a variety, you will be free to experiment with endless muffin and scone combinations.

All of our recipes are made using large eggs.

We use only pure vanilla extract in our recipes.

Volumes could be written about flour, but we are going to keep it simple here. The type of flour used in each recipe is important to the success of the baked good you are making. When a recipe calls for bread flour, be sure to use bread flour, not all-purpose flour, and vice versa. Made from hard wheat, bread flour is high in protein, which yields a dough with a well-developed gluten network. (Gluten is the complex protein formed when flour is mixed with water; it creates structure—and ultimately chewiness and airiness—in breads.) All-purpose flour, with its lower protein content, produces a more delicate crumb, which is what you want when making cakelike foods such as scones or muffins. Both of these flours are now widely available, but if you are having problems finding them, consult the
Source List
.

The molasses used in most of our recipes is dark and unsulfured. Unsulfured molasses is made from the juice of sun-ripened sugarcane and has a deep, rich, sweet flavor.
Blackstrap molasses is a by-product of a third sugarcane boiling and has a bitter taste. In the recipes that specify blackstrap molasses, dark unsulfured molasses can be substituted. Both are used as an agent for fermentation, for coloring bread, and for flavoring.

Choose only fresh nuts and seeds. The most important thing to remember is that nuts are high in fat, and unless stored properly (that is, in the freezer), they can go rancid quickly.

Some of our recipes call for
toasted nuts
. To
toast nuts,
preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the nuts evenly on a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir, and bake for 2 to 5 minutes longer, or until lightly toasted and fragrant.

Have on hand sesame, poppy, sunflower, and fennel seeds. In recipes that call for seeds, feel free to use whatever combination you like.

Have two types of oil on hand: extra-virgin olive oil and a light vegetable oil such as safflower oil or canola oil.

The Cheese Board uses high-quality brine- or oil-cured olives. Make sure when using olives in bread that they have been pitted. Squeeze machine-pitted olives by hand to make sure they are free of pieces of pit.

At the Cheese Board, we almost exclusively use sea salt, both fine and coarse, because we like its pure flavor. However, since kosher salt (a coarse-grained, additive-free salt) is readily available in supermarkets across the United States, we decided to use it for the recipes in this book. Be warned that, because of the different grain
sizes that salt comes in, the kind you choose makes a difference in measuring appropriate amounts for our recipes. Generally speaking, 1 teaspoon of kosher salt or coarse sea salt equals ½ teaspoon table salt or fine-grained sea salt. Thus, the finer the grind of salt, the saltier it is measure for measure.

We use honey, dark molasses, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, maple syrup, and confectioners’ sugar for sweeteners.

There is nothing special about the type of water needed for our recipes. We use tap water. The temperature is given in approximate terms. When you become experienced with bread making, you will know the right temperature by feel and not worry over a degree or two. For now, use the following chart for the degree equivalent and a kitchen thermometer to measure the temperature.

Warm: 99°–105°F

Lukewarm: 85°–95°F

Cool: 65°–75°F

Active dry yeast is the standard for all our yeasted bread recipes. 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast is equivalent to 1 package of active dry yeast or compressed (cake) yeast. Buy the freshest yeast you can find.

Following is a brief overview of the basic methods and steps used to make a baked good. The section is laid out in chronological order, from the measurement of ingredients to baking and analyzing your results. Most of the technique discussion that follows pertains only to yeasted dough and sourdoughs, since
quick breads like scones and muffins are easy to make and do not require many steps.

There are two ways we measure ingredients: by weight or by volume. While most of the recipes in this book are measured by volume, you can get a much more accurate measurement by using a scale. If you use a scale, remember that 1 cup of all-purpose or bread flour weighs approximately 5 ounces. Because accurate measures are particularly important in sourdough baking, we give both weight and volume amounts for the sourdough starter and master dough recipes.

Scones and muffins require a gentle and swift touch. If overmixed, your scones will be flat and tough and your muffins will be cone shaped, tough, and chewy. A general guideline is to combine the dry ingredients first, then cut in the butter, either by hand with a pastry cutter or two dinner knives, or with the paddle attachment of a mixer. Next, mix the wet ingredients together. Lastly, make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the liquid, combining the dry ingredients with the wet with a few swift strokes (see individual recipes for specific instructions).

Yeasted doughs and sourdoughs demand industrial-strength
mixing and kneading to develop the gluten so they will rise properly and have good texture. Whether you hand or machine knead your dough, be sure to knead sufficiently to develop the gluten (see below).

Kneading with a stand mixer:
We encourage you to use a stand mixer since it will save you effort, enable you to make wetter doughs that will result in lighter baked goods, and free you up to clean or prepare for the next step of baking. The first step of machine kneading is to mix the ingredients together on low speed until combined. Use either the paddle attachment or dough hook, as indicated in the recipe. The second step, which requires using the dough hook, is to increase the mixer speed and knead for a period of time to develop the gluten. Ideally, your dough should leave the sides of the bowl and gather around the hook, becoming smooth and elastic. (To achieve this you may need to add more flour by the tablespoonful.) The dough should become smooth and elastic. Finally, most doughs should be transferred to a lightly floured surface for hand kneading for a few minutes before being put in a bowl to rise.

Kneading by hand:
In most recipes we encourage you to knead with the dough hook in a stand mixer, but kneading by hand is a blast on many levels. First, it’s a wonderful way to get an upper-body workout and it’s completely tactile. It is also a lesson in slowing down and staying in one place for longer than you usually do, and it can be very satisfying. A final plus is that it’s next to impossible to overknead dough by hand.

First, mix the ingredients together with a wooden spoon until they are combined. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Using the palm of your hand (
fig. A
).

push the dough away from you and then bring it back toward your body (
fig. B
).

Rotate the dough one-quarter turn and continue to push, pull, and rotate the dough, dusting with just enough extra flour to help make the dough manageable (usually 1 teaspoon at a time). The dough should lightly stick to the work surface; this resistance works like a second kneading tool. It is good to have a metal dough scraper on hand to help in the initial kneading stages, when the dough is wet and soft and not easy to manage with your hands. A light touch is a plus, since pressing down on the dough too vigorously will make it sticky.

Kneading sourdough breads:
The general kneading instructions above will work for sourdoughs, but we have an additional step we find useful. This method of kneading mimics the way the dough hook on a large industrial mixer grabs the dough, pulls it to the center, and turns the mass of dough at the same time. Kneading techniques are difficult to describe, but with these directions we hope to assist you in finding your own unique and effective style.

Begin by kneading as described above. As the dough begins to feel elastic, change the motion of your hands: Plant your left thumb in the center of the dough (
fig. A
).

With your right hand, pull the right side of the dough toward the center and push it down into the ball, rotating the dough one-quarter turn in the process (
fig. B
and
fig. C
).