The Daring Cooks make soufflé!

I realize there is a bottle of Amaretto right behind the soufflé, but there was no time to move it!

Watching a soufflé rise in the oven is way better than anything you can find on television. I watch what's happening in my oven all the time, but this was the best show I've seen in ages, and I wouldn't mind watching a repeat. In fact, I think there should be a specialty channel: Soufflé TV.

After a few minutes. They started out level with the top of the dish.

This month's challenge comes to us from the lovely Linda and Dave of MonkeyShines in the Kitchen. For my sweet soufflé, I couldn't decide what to make, meaning I left this close to the deadline. I had some lovely homemade applesauce from freshly picked apples, but then I made something else with it. Oops. Passionfruit? A favourite flavour, but I kept forgetting to pick any up. Banana? Possibly. Then I spied the bag of oranges in the back of the fridge. Orange and Amaretto are one of my favourite flavour combinations. I used a simple recipe and added orange zest, along with a couple of tablespoons of Amaretto.

After 10 minutes or so. MonkeyShines described these as rocket ships!

The soufflé mixture was fairly liquid, from the booze, I guess, and I was afraid it would spill over the edge and end up on the bottom of my oven. That didn't happen, and as you can see, they rose rather well. I was actually afraid they were going to propel themselves right out of the dish! I took the one on the right out after about 18 minutes, as I like a creamy centre. I left the other one in the oven while I took pictures, and it was fine--just a bit drier. These tasted wonderful--they were crispy on the edges from the sugar crust, and had a lovely orange flavour. The Amaretto was subtle, but I fixed that:

By scooping out a place for more Amaretto. Mmm. Getting pictures of these was the trickiest part, as they don't last long, and it was a partially cloudy day. The sun was playing cat and mouse, or, more accurately, playing chicken. I need to work on my food styling, but I was satisfied with the taste, and that's what counts for me. But that's not all...

I also made a savoury soufflé, a beet and feta one, soon after the challenge was revealed. It made a nice lunch, but didn't puff as much as I wanted. The texture was creamy, though, and the feta added bursts of flavour. It looked like a big fuschia cauliflower, I think.

Can you see me, reflected in the kettle?

Blog-checking lines: Dave and Linda from Monkeyshines in the Kitchen chose Soufflés as our November 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge! Dave and Linda provided two of their own delicious recipes plus a sinfully decadent chocolate soufflé recipe adapted from Gordon Ramsay’s recipe found at the BBC Good Food website.

Recipes and full challenge PDF after the jump.

Quick cheese and cilantro buns

I am still trying recipes from Warm Bread and Honey Cake, the same book I made the multilayered spice cake from. I was really excited about a nutmeg cake, especially since I had bought some nutmeg in the shell when I was in Montreal. I was a bit disappointed in the cake, so I think I'll save the rest of the nutmeg for custardy things where it can really shine. Hungry and undaunted, I dove back into the book to find something else to make, right that minute! These buns fit the bill, as I had all the ingredients on hand.

They really are quick to make, and so worth the few minutes you'll have to invest in making and baking them. The dough is really nice to work with, and the feel of it might remind you of the silky dough used for Mrs Vogel's Scherben, except these aren't deep-fried. Too bad, as the oil from the scherben is still lurking in the back of my fridge. Maybe next time I'll fry them...

Quick cheese and parsley buns  from Warm Bread and Honey Cake 
dough:
1⅔ cups all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3½ ounces thick Greek yogurt (I drained some sheep's milk yogurt)
1 egg beaten (save 2 tablespoons for glaze)

filling:
4½ ounces feta cheese, crumbled
small handful chopped flat leaf parsley (I used at least half a big bunch of cilantro) chopped
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400℉. Grease a baking sheet (I used parchment, and I didn't grease it).

Knead together all of the dough ingredients and set aside while you make the filling. For the filling, mix the feta and the chopped herbs. Divide the dough into 12* pieces and flatten or roll out one piece to a 4-inch circle. Try to get the edges thinner than the centre. I used a rolling pin, as the dough is not sticky, and it only took a minute.

Put 1 tablespoon of the filling in the centre and pleat and pinch the edges to seal into a ball. Don't worry too much about appearance, as this is the bottom of the bun. Just make sure it's well sealed. Place on the baking sheet and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand. Repeat with the remaining 11 pieces of dough and the filling.

Brush twice with the reserved egg and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

I baked half of these and froze the other half. I took them out of the freezer when the oven was preheating, glazed and then baked them from frozen at a slightly lower temperature (375℉) and for 4-5 minutes longer, and they were just as nice. Next time I'll make a double batch and freeze more of them. These are perfect with soup for lunch.

*I somehow managed to get 11 buns from this. I'm not sure what's scarier: that I can't count to 12, or that I divided the dough into 11 equal pieces by eyeballing it.

See you on Tuesday with the Daring Bakers' reveal!

My new favourite pizza?

Yes, Mr Blogspot, I am ignoring the red squiggly line under favourite. That's how it's spelled here, like it or not. Nobody's listening to you anyway, since blogspot has its own squiggly line. Let's talk about my pizza instead.

The photo is terrible, but it was after dark when I made this, and this is the best I could do. What you're looking at is a base of creamy chipotle spinach, topped with sweet potatoes, feta and cilantro. 

Make the pizza dough first, and then the spinach, so it can cool while the dough is rising. If you are using tiles or a pizza stone, preheat oven to 500/550℉ at least 30 minutes before you want to bake the pizza. If you are using a cookie sheet, preheat it for 10 minutes or so.

Basic pizza dough (from Gourmet Today)

2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast

about 1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus additional for kneading

¾ cup warm water

1½ teaspoons salt

1½ teaspoons olive oil

Stir together the yeast, 1 tablespoon flour and ¼ cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes. If nothing happens, you need new yeast.

Stir together 1¼ cups flour and the salt in a large bowl. Add the yeast mixture, the remaining water and the olive oil and stir until smooth. Add enough of the remaining flour (about ½ cup) so dough comes away from sides of bowl. The dough may be wetter than other doughs you've made (I didn't find this).

Knead dough on a dry surface with lightly floured hands until smooth, soft, and elastic. This dough was great: very silky, but not sticky at all. Form into a ball, put on a lightly floured surface and generously dust with flour. Cover loosely with plastic wrap (or the large bowl you just dirtied), and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1¼ hours. 

To shape dough, do not punch down dough, but generously flour it and transfer it to a dry work surface. Holding one edge of dough in the air with both hands and letting bottom just touch the surface, quickly and carefully move your hands around edge of dough as though you were turning a steering wheel, allowing weight of dough to stretch round to roughly 10 inches. Okay, that's confusing--just shape it however you usually do! More detail from the book: lay dough on a floured surface and continue to work edges with your fingers, stretching it to a 14-inch round. Lay the dough on a peel dusted with cornmeal. Top with spinach, and then sweet potatoes and crumbled feta, or other cheese, a little or a lot. Bake for 10-12 minutes if using tiles, a few minutes longer on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro. 

Creamy chipotle spinach

about ½ cup whipping cream

1 bunch spinach, washed and trimmed, or an 8-ounce bag

1 chipotle in adobo, chopped

salt to taste

Combine cream and chipotle in a wide, flat pan, over medium-high heat, and reduce cream to about ¼-⅓ cup. Add spinach and salt, and turn, until wilted. Set aside to cool. 

Just before baking, peel and slice your sweet potato very thinly. I steamed mine for a few minutes, but I don't think it was necessary, as I cut them on a mandolin. 

The before picture: