Challenge time: Making bagels

So far the theme of this week has been facing my fears. Some challenges I have faced ... others,well call me a coward. I'm guessing nobody really cares to hear about the mouse that took up residence in my classroom's closet over the summer. I'm sure no one is interested in how behind I am on setting my classroom up for the upcoming school year since I'm too much of a coward to step foot in the closet.

Someone may have stopped by for the kitchen challenges I've faced this week. 

Obviously, making any type of dough is the kitchen feat that eludes me. 

Challenge #1 was attempting a pie crust to make a peach pie/cobbler. I visited The Peach Truck for the first time and decided I should make something special to commemorate my visit. The peaches were good, but the crust ... not so much. Although it was the best crust I've made sans Granny thus far. 

Granny thought the crust was quite tasty, but the look of it... well we'll just say it didn't look so tasty.

Since that challenge was a semi failure I was now even more frightened by the challenge that was still to come. 

Heather from Life by the Spoonful somehow talked me into accepting Love & Olive Oil's kitchen challenge for the month. 

So I did what any novice, nerdy, analytic baker would do.  I searched bagel recipes on Pinterest, I watched people make bagels on YouTube (mainly Julia Child), I read books about bread making and finally I attempted to make bagels. 

After I figured out how not to proof yeast (I used active dry instead of the suggested instant), I was able to follow Peter Reinhart's recipe in The Bread Baker's Apprentice pretty easily.The recipe can also be found at the Brown Eyed Baker. 

We decided to complete day 1 of the bagel making festivities on our own and meet up to complete day 2 of the recipe together.

Usually when kneading dough I have a little Granny angel sitting on my shoulder telling me, "don't over work that dough or it will be tough!" But Mr. Reinhart's recipe actually said to knead for approximately 10 minutes.  Most baker's probably cringe at that amount of time. Not me, I was in heaven! I no longer heard Granny but now had a Julia Child devil on my shoulder saying "bang it down, be rough!"

I explained to an impatient friend that the hardest thing about making bagels is all of the waiting. 

Wait 2 hours for this and 20 minutes here and 20 minutes there, 20 minutes everywhere, 10 seconds for that, and wait overnight for this.

 After my bagel passed the float test I knew my waiting had paid off.

The next morning when I finally arrived at Heather's to boil and bake I noticed I wasn't the only one having a challenging week...

After comparing our bagels we boiled them, and I may have dropped one.

With a later batch I deviated from Reinhart's recipe and gave the bagels a brush of egg white. I went out on a limb and very lightly sprinkled a few with brown sugar and cinnamon.

When they were finally boiled, baked, and cooled We were able to taste them. 

I was eager to hear what Heather thought of them since she spent most of her life in Philly.  I on the other hand have only had bagels of the Tennessee variety (grocery store & Panera).  I'm thinking I should take a field trip to NYC before making my next batch (any one interested in sponsoring that trip?). 

Heather thought they were lacking salt.  I thought they were pretty good (given I have no "true" bagel taste to compare them to).
We soon learned we needed to cook them a bit longer than the recipe called for. We both got tastes of raw dough in our bites  I now know why Paul Hollywod made such a fuss about it on the "American Baking Competition."  I'm very interested in finding out what the malt barley syrup that neither Heather or I could find would have done for the taste of the bagels (we used honey instead).  

Bagel making wasn't as challenging and intimidating as I thought it would be.  In fact I'm already planning my next bagel making adventure.  

Read about Heather's bagel challenge here.

Houston, We have PROBLEMs

So what's the problem?
The problem is with one of the contributers of this blog...and it ain't the girl!
I've never had a lot of will power, but I've been doing pretty good lately.

 

The cupcakes that were not eaten by this girl.

The Qdoba Taco Salad shell  this girl did not eat.

 That is, I was doing pretty good until this happened:

PROBLEM #2

I admit when Granny (Problem #1) first told me of her plans to make the Cowboy Banana Split Cobbler (which I shall refer to henceforth as Problem #2) I was super excited, mainly because Problem #2 didn't seem appealing in the slightest. So I assumed I would have no problem staying away from Problem #2. 
Unfortunately, as the aroma of Problem #2 soon began to fill my nose. That's when I said to Granny, "Houston, we have a problem!"
I kept telling myself I wouldn't eat any....but that smell

I was still determined not to eat any....but then strawberries and pineapples started peer pressuring me.

I was losing this battle, and then the bananas (not a huge fan) got me back on track.

So again I began reciting my new mantra: I will not eat it.....but then Granny started sprinkling crushed 'Nilla Wafers!!!!

I will not eat it, I will not eat it, I will not eat it!
Granny put the cobbler in the oven.  And the wonderful aroma started creeping back into my nose (as the cobbler began creeping out of the dish).

 Just when I thought I couldn't take any more....

Yep, those are mini Hershey Kisses!
And that's when it got me!  I got a bite of it!....Ain't nobody got time for that!

 

Ok, so it was more like a couple of bites.

 

I urge, don't be like me. Stay away from Problem #2 (I'll keep Problem #1 for a while).

...But just in case, here's a link to the original recipe: Cowboy Banana Split Cobbler.

Here's the recipe with the G-touch (Granny's special touches to make the recipe her own):

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar (+ more to taste)

1 teaspoon salt

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 cups milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 - 20oz. can crushed pineapple

2 cups sliced frozen strawberries

1 banana

1 stick butter, melted

1 bag Hershey Chocolate Kisses Minis

1 cup 'Nilla Wafers, crushed

Preheat oven to 350°. Combine pineapple, strawberries and sugar to taste in a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the first six ingredients, in order. Grease the sides of a 9x13 dish. Pour melted butter into the dish. Next, add batter. With a slotted spoon, evenly spoon peaches and strawberries onto batter. Take 1 cup of remaining juice and pour over batter. Reserve the excess juice to add after baking if you like a juicer cobbler. Slice bananas about ¼-inch thick and layer on top of berries & pineapple mixture. Crush cookies and sprinkle a light layer on top of cobbler. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. When cobbler is approximately 10 minutes from being done, remove from oven, add a thicker layer of crushed vanilla wafers and top with Hershey Kisses. Continue baking until done and kisses shiny.

*Note - After trying it out, we decided that it some nuts might send Problem #2 over the edge.

You Gon Learn Today!

See that title up there? Yep, the one that says "You Gon Learn Today!"  That's my motto for clooking Granny's peach cobbler.
I know cooking peach cobbler is not what Kevin Hart had in mind when he coined that phrase, but anyhow, I digress...
I did not spell clook wrong.  It's the word I'm coining to describe how I learn to cook like Granny.  She cooks.  I look. So, we clook!
I digress again...

The crust of the cobbler is something that's given me trouble for a long time now (okay so it's just the 4 months I've been blogging).

Remember this atrocity? My attempt at the crust is on the left and Granny's is on the right...duh!

It's the same crust that's used to make cherry cobbler as well as fried peach pies.
CLICK HERE for a printable version of Granny's Peach Cobbler.
Each time I clook this crust with Granny I get a little more insight as to how to make it just like hers. 
Granny starts by gathering the ingredients for the crust  (... still haven't learned them yet? You gon learn today!) and the filling.

For the crust:                                                        For the filling:
2 cups All purpose flour                                        6-7 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced
3 tbsp. vegetable shortening (heaping)                   1 ½ c. sugar

1 ½ tbsp. butter                                                    ½ tsp. vanilla flavor

½ salt                                                                   dash ground cloves
                                                                            ½ c. butter
                                                                           
                                                                                                

Start by washing, peeling, and slicing the peaches.

Add sugar to pot with peaches and cook on low-medium heat. 

Stir occasionally.

We clook the peaches until the sugar has melted into a syrupy liquid. Drop in the stick of butter.

Remove the peaches from the heat and add vanilla and cloves.
Set aside.

Time to start clooking the crust. I had Granny measure the butter and Crisco this time since I always seem to mess those up.

She was not happy about stopping to measure, but what can I say? ...This girl gon learn today!

Begin mixing ingredients for the crust.  

Once it's rolled out nice and thin, line the dish with crust and add half of the peaches.

Granny likes to add a little dough between the peach layers.  

Top with remaining peaches. 

Fold the dough over to swaddle those peaches.

 Bake in a 425° oven just until the crust is golden brown.

Yummy!

Cherry Cobbler

I've always had a goal of being able to cook like my Granny. My Granny has always had a goal to cook like her mother. In the past, I’ve made a few attempts at some of my Granny’s recipes.  I say attempts because when Granny cooks she rarely follows a recipe.  I, on the other hand, NEED a recipe or I end up with quite the mess (sometimes it’s a mess with a recipe).  

When I showed up at Granny’s this past Saturday she was just getting prepped to make a cherry cobbler. Yippers! It’s both of our favorites! Granny said I could have at it, but I knew this was one mess I was not willing to make …Granny doesn’t make cherry cobbler often, so I could only imagine the family's disappointment if I screwed it up.  What I was willing to do was grab my camera (okay so it was my Mom’s) and take pictures of each step of the process + I take a few notes. I could try it later when nobody was watching. 

A note about Granny's cobblers: 

When I said cobbler you probably had visions of fruit topped off by flaky biscuits dancing in your head. ...Well that's not so with Granny's cobblers.  Think of them as fruit swaddled in golden, flaky blanket of crusty goodness.  I don't know if it's a regional or cultural thing to make cobblers this way, but trust me, it's the best way! She usually uses fresh fruit, but since cherries aren't in season yet she opted for the fresh from the can variety.

So here is what we Granny did:

. 

Gather up the above ingredients. (Although margarine is shown here Granny actually used salted butter.)

Next add the cherries, butter and about a cup to 2 cups of sugar (Granny says just enough sugar to make them sweet, so adjust as needed) to a sauce pan and heat over medium heat until the sugar and butter are melted.

  cherry soup

While the cherries are being morphed into a figure friendly cherry soup, begin the crust by adding 2 cups of flour, ½ tsp. of salt, 1 1/2  tbsp. of butter, and 2 tbsp. of Crisco to a large bowl. Did I mention she didn't measure any of this.  She just "eyed" it. She also told me this would probably be the worst cobbler she ever made since I kept stopping her to take pictures.

And start the kneading. Once the dough is a crumbly mixture begin adding icy water a little teaspoon at a time until the dough reaches the right consistency.  Granny says it should be "rubbery."  It shouldn't be so sticky and wet that it sticks to the rolling pin, nor should it be too hard.  Dust the work surface with flour then, roll it so it begins to resemble a nice little blanket of dough. 

Don't stop rolling... I did when I tried to make the cobbler a few days later and my crust was... doughy and thick.  When I called Granny to see where I went wrong, She said I didn't roll it thin enough and it would probably help if I would buy a rolling pin (I used a big drinking glass).  ....Oops, I'll have to try again!
When it's thin enough it will make a nice lining for the dish like so:

 Spoon in about half of the cherry soup.  Granny added a few dumpling she saved from the dough before adding the remaining cherries.   She swaddled it all up and put it in the oven at 425° for approximately 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. 

Once the cobbler is nice and golden and bubbly and smelling like the stuff dreams are made of, remove it from the oven and brush the crust with a little butter. 

Of course, you can spoon some out and eat it as is, but why would you do that when you can have it with a scoop of Vanilla ice cream? So that's what we (and I can say we at this point) did!

 Granny admitted that this was one of the best pie crust she had ever made.  I told her she should thank me for documenting the process so she can do it again ....soon!

CLICK HERE for a printable version of Granny's Cherry Cobbler recipe.