My second Canele effort was using the new silicone mold I purchased in France. My understanding is that solicone molds vary in quality. The one I used was black, probably a medium quality, and for the large size caneles.
I sprayed the molds with cooking spray, and they cooked for about an hour and a half. They came out easily, were browned, and after sitting developed a crusty exterior. The texture and taste were great. Although the copper molds cook faster and develop a better and thicker crust, the ease of the silicone will probably make me go to it first next time.
Next step - trying a few more recipes, I think the shrinkage was a little too much, so I am going to try a recipe with a little higher proportion of flour next time to see if they shrink less. The recipe on La Tartine Gourmet looks good, and I am also going to try the one from my Bordeaux amie Martine's mother.
These are the Caneles made from the copper molds. For my first try I used the Martha Stewart recipe in her baking book. They came out very browned, and tasted great. I used spray grease on the molds, and used a toothpick to coax them from the molds. After sitting for the required hour, the outside was crusty, and the inside was suitably creamy. The flavour was delicious vanilla cream. Overall, a success. My only disappointment was that they shrunk so much that they were about the same height and width, and they are supposed to be taller than wide. Silicone mole next....
I wanted to make madelaines today, and to try again with a silicone mold. I used the recipe in Sherry Yard's Pastry Book. They taste great, but I continue to not be very happy with the uneven browning from the silicone mold. This recipe has ground almonds in it, and the orange flower water adds a good taste dimension. They freeze very well, and are a great thing to have in your larder when unexpected or even expected company arrives for tea.
After fillling the kitchen with the aroma of my latest 2 pain d'epices, I felt sorry for Greg and had to make him a gluten free version. The problem with many gluten free recipes is that they rely on rice flour, which in my opinion doesn't have great taste or texture, and unfortunately Greg is also sensitive to rice, so I have learned to improvise. I have been trying to increase the protein and fiber content, and to improve the flavour in terms of picking flours.
The recipe I have developed here uses several flours, but I'm sure you could just stick to gluten free mix that works for you and your allergy requirements. This came out wonderfully cakey and delicious, and I think anyone eating it would not necessarily know it was gluten free (that is the gold standard of gluten free baking in my mind). Chestnut flour can be found in some Italian grocery stores, I found it in little Italy at a small store nesr Bathurst and College. It has a slightly sweet nutty taste and works well in cake.
Re xanthum and guar gum - I find guar gum makes a cake texture, and xanthum makes a more breadlike texture. I wanted cake texture, but also wanted it to be well bound, which xanthum does best. Use what you want, either will work here.
Gluten Free Pain D'epices 1 3/4 cup gluten free flour mix (I used 1 cup light bean flour (1/3 cup bean flour, 1/3 cup tapioca flour, 1/3 c. arrowroot flour); for the 3/4 I used 1/4 cup amaranth flour, 1/4 cup chestnut flour, 1/4 cup buckwheat flour) 1/2 tsp xanthum gum powder 1 tsp guar gum flour 1 1/4 tsp baking soda 3/4 tsp cinnamon 3/4 tsp ginger (dried powder) 1/4 tsp salt 1/8 tsp nutmeg, ground fresh if possible 1/8 tsp ground cloves 1/2 tsp whole anise seeds 1 T soft butter 1 egg 1/2 cup water 1/2 cup honey 1 T brown sugar
Mix the dry ingredients. Mix the wet stuff (you can just melt the butter if you want). Combine and bake at 350 for....depends, about a 1/2 hour - depends on the size loaf pan you use. I now have a convection oven, so I baked it at 325 on convection and it came out light and fluffy.
This little salad is about as healthy as you can get. It is a combo that was not the usual, but it is really delicious. The other bonus is that the apples did not turn brown, the picture is the salad the next day after I made it. I got the idea from a magazine recipe, but of course I changed it. I have made this twice already and love it!! I hope this recipe is specific enough, I feel salad recipes are pretty fluid depending on what the state of your larder and proximity to a grocery store. Enjoy, and this is my first recipe post, I hope to have others. Please comment, I need to know maybe someone is reading my blog!!!
Fennel Salad Inspired by Waldorf Quantities are approximate, and not really critical anyway! 1 Apple (I used Granny Smith) peeled and chopped up 1 cup fennel (ie, finocchio) sliced thinly (I used a Bereiner slicer, they work great) 1 cup celery 1/2 cup grapes 2 T walnuts, chopped (make sure they are fresh!) 2 T yoghourt (heaping ones) (plain, I used Astro, my favourite) 1 T lemon juice (maybe a little more, taste to see) 1 tsp poppy seeds 2 tsp honey a few fennel fronds to make it look pretty
I started playing around with pain d'epices recipes after reading a recent post on David Lebovitz's blog (see sidebar for link), one of my favourite food blogs for inspiration, and hey, he lives in Paris! After reading David's recipe, I also checked my ever growing cookbook library, and decided to try the one in Nick Malgieri's A Baker's Tour first. I will call this the "lean" version - it has no fat or eggs, and fewer spices than other recipes. The sweetener is honey and sugar. It is very easy to make, you melt the sugar in water first, then just dump in the dry ingredients. It rose up beautifully, and made two delightful petite loaves in my little half size loaf pans. I cut it the next day after resting. It was a little chewy, but the flavour was very mellow and a little different from other gingerbreaddy stuff we are all used to.
It rose up more than double in the petite loaf pans. After again resting (ok, not as long, I had to taste it before going to bed!) it is very good, sweetened only with honey, and would be good as a sweet, or also with cheese.
My next try was the recipe from Flo Braker adapted by David Lebovitz and the recipe is on his blog. It has more spices, .It had more spices and is more like the flavour of typical gingerbread type of spicing. It also has a softer texture because it has a little butter and an egg. I made 1/2 the recipe, but just used a whole egg because if I try to use half it is impossible, it always manages to slither into the batter anyway! This version, maybe I can call it the "soft" type, turned out great, and was fairly tender.
The smell of this was so good, I had to make a gluten free version, I will post the results.
I love to learn about, find, and share ideas about food and cooking with other equally interested or enthusiastic kindred spirits. Please comment on what is here if you have time, or just enjoy or learn from my adventures or learning opportunities (ie, mistakes!).
I will feel the blog has been successful if anyone learns, has fun, or is just entertained!
I have many hobbies but one of my favourites is making and collecting dolls. I started making dolls about 20 years ago, but after a few years I became busy with other things, my family, my job, etc. After recently retiring I rekindled my interest in both making and collecting dolls. This blog will document my progress.
