I started thinking about about the waste from coffee because in a restaurant people drink a lot of coffee; you can end up throwing away a lot of coffee grounds. We decided to start cooking with used coffee grounds, and the dishes we came up with tasted just as good - with a rich dark coffee - as they would have using fresh coffee grounds. Just store the ground in the refrigerator in a sealed plastic container with enough space for air circulation.
Many Czech foods have become an integral part of today’s Texas cuisine—kolaches being one of the most popular examples. The delectable little pastries are traditionally filled with fruits, jams, cheese, or poppy seeds. However, they can be filled with meat, cheese and other savory ingredients as well.
American's Test Kitchen shared this recipe with us as part of their recent muffin tins equipment review.
We found that we could pile the crumb topping high on this cake—just like they do in Jersey—by paying special attention to the types of flour and sugar we used in each layer.
For a classic sourdough bread recipe, we used a mixture of bread flour and whole-wheat flour for complex flavor. Sifting the whole-wheat flour removed excess bran, ensuring a light and airy loaf. For convenience and deep sourdough flavor, we let the shaped loaf proof overnight in the refrigerator. Baking it in a covered Dutch oven trapped steam to provide a crisp, crackling crust. We prefer King Arthur all-purpose flour here; if you can’t find it, you can substitute bread flour. For best results, weigh your ingredients. If you have a banetton or a lined proofing basket, use that rather than the towel-lined colander in step 3. Do not wait until the oven has preheated in step 6 to start timing 30 minutes or the bread will burn. [Ed note: For more advice on sourdough starters, please follow this link for an audio segment with Bridget Lancaster of America's Test Kitchen and a sourdough starter recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated. You can also try this recipe for Almost No-Knead Sourdough Bread.]
By nurturing a culture of naturally occurring bacteria and yeast, a healthy sourdough starter will leaven bread while also lending it the trademark sour flavor. For a simple, foolproof approach, we began by mixing all-purpose flour with whole-wheat flour, which provided extra nutrition for the developing bacteria and yeasts. We then added enough water to form a wet dough and let it sit at room temperature. After a few days, when it showed signs of life in the form of gas bubbles and a pungent aroma, we began a routine of daily feedings, mixing some of the culture with fresh flour and water to refresh the food supply. After 10 to 14 days, we found that the starter smelled pleasantly yeasty and doubled in volume 8 to 12 hours after the last feeding, a sign that it was ready to use to bake bread. We also came up with an easy way to maintain the starter between uses. We found that we could refresh the food supply just once a week by letting the culture sit for 5 hours at room temperature after feeding it and then moving it to the refrigerator for storage. [Ed. note: Try using your new sourdough starter to make the recipes for Classic Sourdough Bread (Pain au Levain) and Almost No-Knead Sourdough Bread, also provided by America's Test Kitchen.]
Baked in butter and then crowned with more of it, this puffy golden pancake is similar to a popover in texture with a moist eggy interior and crispy outside. And good for breakfast or dessert, depending how you top it.
Very popular in South China to serve to the guests as a snack during the Chinese New Year. It is so named because the round dough balls, when deep fried, will crack open like someone laughing. It carries a meaning of being able to laugh throughout the year.
For an easy bread recipe that allowed us to put our Sourdough Starter into action, we developed a sourdough version of our Almost No-Knead Bread, which we let rise overnight to develop flavor and then baked in a Dutch oven to produce a well-risen loaf with a crisp, crackly crust. We prefer King Arthur all-purpose flour in this recipe; if you can’t find it, you can substitute any brand of bread flour. For the best results, weigh your ingredients. The dough can rise at room temperature in step 3 (instead of in the oven), but it will take 3 to 4 hours. Do not wait until the oven has preheated in step 4 to start timing 30 minutes or the bread will burn. [Ed note: For more advice on sourdough starters, please follow this link for an audio segment with Bridget Lancaster of America's Test Kitchen and a sourdough starter recipe courtesy of Cook's Illustrated. You can also try this recipe for Classic Sourdough Bread (Pain au Levain).]
Baking with olive oil has been a way of life for Mediterranean cooks, and is gaining steam in America. In California, where olive oil is produced and citrus grown, this cake is as common as a yellow birthday cake with chocolate frosting.