Doggy treats

I have a great simple recipe for dog treats that I have been baking for my red bone coon hound Autumn.

It's interesting how things work sometimes.  I kinda got stuck with my dog initially.  We acquired Autumn because my ex-wife (wife at the time) and kids convinced me, against my better judgement, to get a dog telling me they would take care of it even though I felt we were too busy to take good care of her.  Well who has to pick her up from the Vet after getting her shots but Me.  That's about all it took, we bonded pretty much right off the bat. Go figure. I can't seem to resist that cute floppy eared mug of hers.

These treats are quick and easy to make at home and your dog will love them. 
I like this recipe because it makes a nice hard crunchy treat like the store bought ones except you know what is in your own homemade dog snacks (no mystery here)

6 simple ingredients go into these dog bones

• 1/2 cup course semolina flour (or corn meal)
• 6 table spoons of vegetable oil
• 2/3 cup water or broth ( I usually use chicken broth)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon Parsley flakes
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder

Just blend these up in a mixer or by hand until it all comes together in a mixing bowl.
Cover with plastic and refrigerate for about 1/2 hour or more.
Roll out the dough to about 1/4 - 1/2 inch thick and cut with a bone shaped cutter or whatever shape you want.

Man's (and woman's) best friend deserves a personal touch. Why not "treat"  them to a delicious home-made snack that is good for them and makes you feel good about what you give your dog without spending a fortune.

And of course I have to put her dog treats into my bakery cookie jar. Hope no one mistakes them for human treats. So far so good.

Good luck.

  Mike the Baker

cream horns and sausage rolls with homemade puff pastry dough

It's been a long time since adding to my blog.
Honestly I'm not much of a writer , which I think is what keeps me from blogging more than I do.
I do however still love baking so I decided to crank it up again (at least for the moment).

I made some puff pastry dough the other day because I ran across someone who reminded me of the sausage rolls that we used to make at the Ferndale Bakery, so I made some.  Wow did they ever turn out good!  I used a bacon pork sausage that I found. (of course everything is better with bacon).
That person that reminded me of the sausage rolls was a kid that worked at a store in Bellingham and he graduated from Ferndale High School.  He heard me telling someone that I used to have the Ferndale Bakery and he came over to me and told me how he always used to get a sausage roll during the school lunch period.  He said he tried to find something similar all over the place after we closed and was not able to find any.  Not too many places make things like that anymore.  Maybe Canada.

While I was making Sausage rolls I decided to make some cream horns as well with the extra puff pastry dough.  I don't know if you all remember those but the combo of light/flaky and sweet/creamy is absolutely delicious.

To make cream horns you need a tube or something to roll the dough on to make the hollow roll, which I didn't have, so I improvised and used a dowel at first.  Well...   it worked but it wasn't tapered like I wanted them to be so I went to a local restaurant supply store and found some molds to use.

Ahh...  much better. 
Now that I have the molds I have to think about what I will use for a filling. 
These cream horns can be used for sweet or for savory pastries..  Just imagine a whipped cream-cheese smoked salmon filling, or maybe a spinach filling of some sort...  mmmm, yum, I'm starting to get hungry. Shake it off...  shake it off.
Anyways,
I'm going to use a swiss buttercream style filling that is light and marshmallowy tasting.

I always have to smile when  someone mentions how much they loved a certain item at the Ferndale Bakery and how much they miss it.  I love making things that other people enjoy. 

 

I hung on to these cream horns that I made just long enough to take pictures and test taste one, then I gave them to my son's Friend's family.  If I didn't we would have eaten all of them. That would not be good. Well it would be good, tasting, but not good for our wastelines.

Ok, enough lingering.  I better go decide what I'm going to do next for the blog.

Thanks for checking it out!

Mike Beilner

Small portions are all the rage

These days in "Fat" America the smaller portion desserts are all the rage.
We'll just try to pack more calories in a smaller size goody.

I have been checking out all the small portion deserts out there in the stores and on the internet, and what I see are very simple single or double bite type items.  For instance there is the cake pops they sell at Starbucks now and the mini cupcakes.  I've also seen small bite size brownies and the old standby petite fours, as well as mini cinnamon rolls and mini Danish.

I'm going to concentrate on trying the cake pops. Yes, believe it or not this is cake on a stick.

It's actually, from a Baker's perspective at least, embarrassingly simple to make.  Taking cake and mashing it up in a mixer kinda goes against my grain.  However it is a good way to use up leftover cake.
The next big thing in baked goods?  I don't know about that but its interesting whichever way you look at it.

You take a layer of cake  (yes an already baked layer) and crumb it up into a mixer bowl and blend it with something to moisten it a bit like cake icing or a filling of some kind, depending on the flavor you want.  mix it until it turns into a pasty mass (don't use too much icing or filling because it will be too soft).
From there on you divide it into the portion size you want and  melt the coating you would like to use, such as white or dark chocolate or use some other candy coating.  make the paste into balls and put onto the the lolly pop sticks that have been dipped into the coating so that the cake ball will not spin on the stick when you dip it.
Allow the pops to set in the fridge to firm up a bit before dipping, maybe an hour or two.
When you dip them you can either set them upside down on a piece of parchment or right side up stuck into a piece of Styrofoam depending on how you want them to look.

So...    why not give it a try, these are very interesting and great for parties.  You can buy everything you need for these at a Michaels crafts store or even a Fred Meyers grocery store for that matter.
Let me know what you think or if you have other ideas.

Mike the baker

German Rye Bread

I reader of my blog inspired me to make this rye bread.
He recently moved here from Germany and has not been able to find any good German bread.
This is the recipe I gave him and thought I'd share it with all of you as well.
The caraway makes a huge difference in the flavor so don't leave it out if you can help it.


German Rye bread


Starter dough (make one hour ahead of time or the day before and keep in the refrigerator)
120g rye flour
120g white bread flour
Pinch of salt
18g fresh yeast (10g dry active yeast)
160g water
Mix til well incorporated, let rise for one hour before use

Final dough


175g rye flour (I use whole rye flour)
75g white bread flour
5g salt
5g sugar
5g shortening or butter
5g ground caraway (I grind the caraway in a spice mill or coffee grinder)
15g fresh yeast (8g dry active yeast )
125g water

Add starter dough and mix for about 5 minutes in kitchen aid mixer
allow to rise for about 1 hour
shape and rise for about another hour
bake at 425* F  for about 30 minutes

Graduation time!!

Hard to believe my Daughter Andrea is now a high school graduate.  Wow !  Time flies !
Of course who better to make her graduation cake than Dear ol' Dad the Bakerman.

I remember when I graduated from high school, I just wanted to be on my own and away from school and parents.
Andrea is a little different , she is accepted at Western Washington University and is looking forward to More Schooling!
I'm quite proud of her though.  She has done really well in school and has a lot of really nice friends and found a good job.  Real life is just now starting for her.

Graduation cakes are usually pretty boring so I wanted to be a little different without going all "Cake Boss" on it. I decided on a two tier Fondant cake with an edible grad cap surrounded by a bunch of matching cupcakes. Fortunately Andrea's favorite colors are the same as the school she graduated from and the college she will be attending in the fall.

Here's to all the high school graduates out there...
...make plans, shoot for goals (soccer reference there), and always remember people are more important than things.

Best wishes for the rest of your life!

Mike the Bakerboy / Dad for life.

nothing better than a BeeSting!

I made something for work today that I used to make in the Ferndale Bakery all the time.
It's a traditional German coffee cake called Bienen Stich which means Bee Sting in English.
This is a coffee cake but it is made out of a raised sweet dough.  In fact you can use the same recipe that I made the Easter Bunny buns out of in my earlier post.

You gotta try this!  It is one of the most delicious coffee cakes I have ever made.

I will put the recipe for the topping on this post but you have to promise me that you will try making it! 

Excellent for a family gathering or to bring to a party or whatever.

The recipe will be for the topping and fillings only as you can get the recipe for the dough in my Easter Bunny post.


Topping:
2 oz butter
1 oz sugar
1 oz honey
3/4 oz milk
2-1/2 oz thin sliced almonds

cook on the stove until slightly golden and thickened
spread onto the Sweet dough (12 to 14 oz of dough in an 8" cake pan already risen)
bake until beautifully golden brown on the top in a 350* oven.  Take care not to burn it as this can happen easily with a sweet concoction such as this.
Allow to cool and cut in half like a cake layer.
cut the top half into wedges like a pie. I do about 6 to 8 slices.
fill bottom half with a mixture of stiff whipped whipping creme and vanilla creme pudding ,  50/50 folded
together.
lay the top pieces onto the bottom and with a sharp knife cut through each piece.
Savor the joy of a good cup of coffee with a slice of this heavenly "Bee Sting" if you know what I mean.

Simnel Cake and its history... sort of

In my exploration of Easter baked goods around the world (even if it is on the internet) I discovered a cake that seems to be quite popular around Easter at least in the U.K.
I think the thing that intrigued me more than anything else was that the story behind the cake was not all that clear.

The history is interesting and divided.
One idea is that in medievel times it was a "Mothering" Sunday tradition. The daughters who were "in service" (whatever that means) would send a cake home for their Mothers.
Or it could also be that a brother and sister (Simon and Nell) wanted to make a cake for their mother and both had different ideas on how to make it so they combined their ideas, thus Sim-nel.
Or it could be that the word simnel is derived from the word "simila"  meaning fine wheat, of which most cakes were made.

Regardless where the tradition started or what the true history is this cake is interesting.  No icing (unless you count the marzipan in the center and the top.  There are 11 Easter eggs on top that stand for 11 disciples of Jesus (minus Judas who betrayed Jesus).  Colorful fruit in the cake batter itself and a ribbon around the outside of the cake.

Yea  it's kind of a fruit cake but you don't have to use the kinds of fruits you don't like. I used two different types of raisins, regular and golden raisins and I also added some canned chopped pineapple that was drained, I added this to help retain some moisture in the cake.

The basic formula is very simple.  There is no leavening in the cake (no baking powder or soda).  The eggs do all the leavening work. This type of formula is actually the origin of the pound cake, as in  1 lb flour ,1 lb sugar, 1 lb butter, 1lb eggs.


Here is the recipe

1 lb  butter (or margarine)

1 lb sugar

1 lb eggs  (about 8eggs)

1 lb all purpose flour

8 oz raisins

8 oz drained chopped canned pineapple

cinnamon and ground ginger ( I didn't measure this I just estimated what would be enough)

1  1/2 tbsp fresh lemon zest

1 lb marzipan

apricot jam

• cream the sugar, butter and lemon zest until light 
• add the eggs and flour slowly alternating between the two
• add the raisins and the pineapple and mix in until evenly blended
• put half of the batter into a 9 inch springform pan that is lined with parchment in the bottom and sides
• roll out 8 oz of the marzipan into a 9 inch circle and put onto the batter in the pan
• fill with the rest of the batter evenly
• bake in a 325*F  oven for about 2 to 2 1/2 hours 
• if the top gets too dark put aluminum foil over it until it is done
• after cooling  brush the top with some apricot jam (warmed in the microwave)
• roll out about 6 ounces of the remaining marzipan and lay on top and crimp edges sort of like a pie crust
• make the rest of the marzipan into small eggs for decoration