"Baking with Barbara " for J. McLaughlin Blog

“‘Tis the season for homemade challah! Grounded in ancient Jewish tradition, this gorgeously glossy braided bread graces the Chanukah table—and then makes the most wonderful French toast and grilled cheese sandwiches. While there are lots of places in New York to buy great challah, including Eli’s Market on Third Avenue on the Upper East Side, there’s something special about making a loaf from scratch.

To prepare for the all-important holiday baking season, Barbara McLaughlin and her daughter Madeline signed up for Carbs 101, an online class at the Charleston Academy of Domestic Pursuits. Taught by Barbara’s friend Suzanne Pollak, founder of the Academy, professional baker and cookbook author, the classes are the next best thing to being in Suzanne’s cozy kitchen in Charleston, not far from our J. McLaughlin store on King Street….”

Read more about Barbara & Madeline’s adventures baking challah with Suzanne, and find a recipe for making loaves of your own this Holiday season, via J. Mc Laughlin’s blog HERE!

Crush Thanksgiving

Bake the best pie on the block. Choose a different fruit this year, because…well, everything is different. So why shouldn’t dessert be too? Pear Pie is delicious, surprising and has the added benefit of getting tastier by the day. So you can bake on Tuesday and then you’ll have at least one Thanksgiving task crossed off your list. Music to our ears! Just be sure to keep pie away from spouses, family pets, and others for 48 hours to serve at Thanksgiving dinner. Save a piece for Friday breakfast.

Another tip? Let’s do what the Queen of American Cuisine, Julia Child, did. The lady who taught your mom or grandmother all about cooking was nothing if not practical. She served Goldfish with reverse martinis at her Thanksgiving. No one can question Julia. (If something stronger appeals to your tiny crowd think about the utmost of classic cocktails: the Old Fashioned.)

Pssst…still a couple of spots left in Pie Pastry class this Saturday at 10:00 AM EST. Grab a spot to learn a new Thanksgiving dessert plus a lifetime skill that will keep on giving. Sign up HERE!

Making the World Better, One Bite at a Time

According to Dorothy Parker: Eternity is a ham and two people. I thought about Ms Parker when I made a pecan pie yesterday. (Because this is officially Pie Pastry Week at the Academy, I have half a dozen pastries just waiting to be filled.) I found myself thinking, What the hey hey (as my six year old grandson Owen says) am I doing making a pecan pie when I live by myself? Is this the definition of loneliness for eternity? NO! it is the definition of opportunity. After devouring a piece last night and another with coffee for breakfast, I still have six slices to share.

Everyone can agree on a pie. A couple of slices shared can be a delightful and powerful way to start conversation, to perhaps begin the work of connecting across the spectrum of beliefs. No matter how people with fundamentally different backgrounds think, how they voted or with whom they identify; when sharing a pie or making one together in class, everyone gets along just fine. So let’s make the world a little better one bite at a time!

There are still a couple of spots left in our Carbs 101 classes over the next few weeks…sign up HERE.

The Art of Biscuits

Photo by Landon Neil Phillips 2016

THE ART OF BISCUITS 

Carbs make people feel better, that is by now a well-covered fact. Another current fact is that yeast is difficult to find. The first and foremost beauty of the biscuit is no yeast is required.

Find the Academy’s best Biscuit recipe HERE and CONTACT to schedule a virtual class with the Dean on this or any other subject under the domestic sun…

The Beauty of Biscuits

Oh, what the mighty little biscuit can do if you just ask him. He serves a purpose all day long. What other food can bring satisfaction all day, every day? Especially something so easy to make?

• Breakfast biscuits - split (never cut) and slathered with marmalade or honey. 

• Lunch - split and covered with gravy from fried or roasted chicken.

• Herb biscuits - fresh herbs either folded in dough or stuffed inside. A version of a salad. 

• Tea time - wipe heavy cream on top, sprinkle a lot of sugar on top, and Voilá!  You have a version of scones. (You could even add dried fruit if you are feeling fancy.)

• Cocktail hour - ham biscuit with lots of cheese and/or freshly ground black pepper in dough. Hot mustard optional.

• Don’t forget about dessert! Split and serve with strawberries and freshly whipped cream.

See below for recipe adjustments...

The Beauty of Biscuits Part 2

Perfect to make ahead the morning of, the day before, the month before — simply freeze and bake as needed. It's called being Ready for Anything.

The Beauty of Biscuits Part 3

Not daunting to make if you follow instructions and learn to handle the dough 'til it resembles a baby’s bottom. Practice a few times and you will become as good as Bash, the Biscuit Baby, Academy alum.

Why I came up with my particular recipe:

The first time I tasted a croissant, visiting Europe from Africa, my head spun! I fell in love for life. I’d never tasted anything as light and airy as a croissant. However, as love affairs tend to do, I became a prisoner. I skipped school for two days and made croissants. I promise, if you are learning to bake croissants, even now, you are planning to open a French bakery. They are so hard it’s unbelievable. There is a great probability they will turn into hockey pucks. 

Biscuits will not. I never had a biscuit until I moved South. My head spun once more. They are friendly, probably because they are not as sophisticated and as haughty as the elegant croissant. Croissants are the couture pastry. I took what I learned during my croissant cooking try and added that to biscuit making. 

Only takes 8 - 10 minutes to bake so bake them fresh. 

The Pleasure Biscuits Bring

To see your loved ones happy and smiling when they first smell the baking, then bite into the biscuit is the greatest pleasure; to say nothing of your own satisfaction later when everyone wonders where all the biscuits have gone and you can tell them matter-of-factly, Straight to your stomachs.

Biscuit Basics

What to use if you can get it:

• Use full fat buttermilk

• Use European style butter.

• Any kind of flour - I have made 1,000,000,000 biscuits. White Lily is good and so is King Arthur’s unbleached white. King Arthur has a little more structure, While Lily, sort of similar to cake flour, is a little softer. What can I say? I like structure in everything. 

Alternatives when your grocery store is out of buttermilk:

• Sweet milk - biscuits made with whole milk.

• Yoghurt or sour cream - fresh thyme leaves are super good in these!

• Heavy cream - more like scones. Add a cream wash and sugar to the top.

• Cheese - add 6 ounce any kind of cheese to the 3 cup flour biscuit & use 4 tablespoons of butter. Roll a little thinner, but not like a cracker. I like spicy with cheese but prefer freshly ground black pepper instead of cayenne. Split and stuff with country ham and hot mustard. These are delicious hot and at room temperature. 

• Sweet potato - add 1/2 cup mashed cold cooked sweet potatoes. Dough will be heavier so roll out thinner. Delicious taste and color.

Time for Carbs

The fact is that carbohydrates are mood lifters. If you are cranky and exhausted — and who isn’t right now? — then don’t poo poo carbs. Give them a try!

When I was fifteen, I left Monrovia, Liberia, for boarding school in New Hampshire. I knew no one in this new country, new climate, my twelfth school in as many grades. Maybe to combat the stress of those changes, one Saturday morning I ate seventeen English Muffin halves. Everyone around me was astonished. Maybe it was a way to procrastinate school work, a way to meet new friends, or possibly just the allure of delicious melting butter in little muffin holes. But really I suspect I craved comfort and didn’t know where to find it. Carbs to the rescue!

When I was thirty I ran a bakery (illegally) out of my house. One hot seller were the English Muffins, all types: plain, raisin, spicy, cheese for hamburger night. I couldn’t keep up with the orders. So yesterday, in need of a mood enhancer, I remembered the English Muffin of long ago, which I haven’t enjoyed in years. I decided their time had returned. So in the spirit of spreading joy, lifting spirits, using my hands and trying to focus, I created a new type of English Muffin with what I found in my refrigerator. Buttermilk and sour cream.

For those of you who have not handled bread dough, the recipe might look long. Do not be alarmed! It is not done in one fell swoop, but in a few shorter steps. You can attend to other things during the process. If you need help, “Dial the Dean.” We are available for tutorials anytime. (Contact HERE to schedule.)

Buttermilk English Muffins

Makes 24

• 2 tablespoons active dry yeast

• 1 tablespoon sugar (or honey or molasses)

• 1/4 cup water

• 1 cup buttermilk 

• 1/3 cup sour cream

• Whole milk

• 4 cups flour

• 1-1/2 tablespoons coarse salt

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp.

• Cornmeal

1. Combine yeast, sugar and water in the bowl of a standing mixer and let sit for about ten minutes, until the yeast has bubbled all over the surface of the water. 

2. Combine the buttermilk and sour cream in a two cup container. Add enough milk (preferably whole) to bring liquid up to 1-3/4 cups. Stir mixture into yeast and water. 

3. Add flour and salt and mix on low speed until dough consolidates. Throw in the butter, half tablespoons at a time, with the mixer running. When the mixture comes together, remove dough from the bowl and place on a floured counter.

4. Hand knead for ten minutes, or as long as you want. Kneading reduces stress, we promise! Knead until dough is no longer sticky. (If the dough is sticky, add a bit more flour on the counter and knead the dough on top to incorporate that flour.)

5. Wash and dry the bowl of the standing mixer. Place the dough into the bowl, cover with a dish towel and let sit at room temp. for an hour or two. When the dough has doubled in bulk, use a rubber spatula to scrape out of the bowl and back onto the cleaned counter. The dough will be sticky again and that is okay. (Alternatively, if you are busy and cannot attend to the dough till later, place the bowl of dough in the refrigerator where it can wait for up to two days).

6. Cover two rimmed baking sheets with cornmeal. Using a serrated knife or pastry scraper, cut dough into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place 12 balls, spaced apart, on each baking sheet. Using the heel of your hand, press each ball into a disk. Make sure the bottom of each muffin is sitting on plenty of cornmeal. 

7. While the muffins rise one more time (about 30 minutes) heat a few 9” sauté pans over low to low/medium heat. The muffins will be puffy after their rise. Carefully lift each muffin with a spatula and place four in each pan. The cornmeal will still be on the bottom of the dough. Cook each side for 9 minutes. If each side is not lightly brown, keep cooking for 2 -3 more minutes per side. (Alternatively, the muffins can be kept on the baking sheet, covered with plastic wrap, in the refrigerator overnight.)

8. Use a fork to halve the muffins, plunging the tines into their middles, then prying them apart into two. The muffins are now ready for their time in the toaster or under a broiler.  Use plenty of butter. Watch the smiles light up on faces around you, as order is restored in the emotional ecosystem.