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

EASTER BUNNY BUNS !

The Easter Bunny was brought to America by the German settlers who arrived in the Pennsylvania Dutch
country during the 1700s  . The arrival of the Osterhase or Easter Bunny,  was considered one of "childhood's greatest pleasures," similar to the arrival of  the Christkind on Christmas Eve.  The Easter Bunny would, if the children had been good, lay brightly colored eggs in nests (usually made of baskets or hats) that the children would place in secluded areas of the house.  From this came the hiding of the eggs and the Easter egg hunt.

I used to make these little sweet dough Easter bunnies when I was a kid,  my Dad would have us kids help him around the holidays making things like this.  Good memories.

I am planning on making some sweet dough bunnies for the Family Easter get together this year.
I hope to involve my kids too this year again although they seem to be getting a little old for this kids stuff.  These bunnies are not your average looking bunny but they are very cute.
This of course brings me back to when I was a kid learning all the basics of baking from my Dad and trying not to get in the way or slow production down by asking a lot of dumb questions or trying to get my Dad to show me how to do things.  Fortunately he was very willing to do just that and is the reason I am still in the business today .  I suppose he was willing partly because I would be sweeping the floors and washing the dishes or cracking the eggs later anyways (yes we cracked whole eggs into buckets for later use in baked goods back when shell eggs were cheaper than whole frozen buckets of eggs).

I'm going to post the recipe I used but you can use any good sweet dough or egg dough.

Easter Bunny Bun Recipe

1 lb bread flour

1/4 oz salt

1 oz  sugar

3  oz shortening or butter or margarine  (I used stick margarine)

1/4 oz baking powder

8 oz  warm water  (8 oz  = 1 cup)

1/2  oz active dry yeast (allow yeast to reconstitute in the warm water)

1   egg

• after reconstituting the yeast in the warm water add the rest of the ingredients and mix in stand mixer for about 12 to 15 minutes or until the dough is nice and stretchy 

• after mixing let stand in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until about double in size
• divide into 3 approximately equal pieces knocking the air out of it and rounding them up a bit
• allow to rest again about 15 minutes
• divide each chunk of dough into 12 pieces or whatever size piece you decide on
• round each piece and roll long as seen in the picture
• let them relax and then roll one end narrower than the other and flatten the fat side down and cut according to the pictures
• make the eyes out of raisins cut in half or whole dry currents
• allow them to rise for about 30 minutes and brush with egg white (for a shine) and bake at 350* for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden and still tender
• brush them with a simple powder sugar glaze while still warm

I hope these become a tradition for your family as it is for mine.

Enjoy

German Amerikaners

I was reminded recently by a friend about a pastry I used to make in the Bakery called Amerikaners.

It's been a long time since I've made those so...   here we are.

These are something like an upside down muffin cap except for they are baked that way on purpose and the flat side is glazed with a citrus flavored glaze. Although I did make some with a coffee flavored glaze which were quite yummy!

I like to kinda get back to the old recipe's and make things that people used to enjoy many years ago.  This is a recipe from a 50 year old recipe book that my dad gave me.  It's actually a commercial baker's book that advertised a brand of shortenings that were sold in Germany at the time.

I do read a little bit of German so I can translate these recipes into English.
Sometimes it's challenging to figure out what the ingredients are but in those cases I just pick up the phone and call my Dad.

This is a very simple recipe and as you hopefully have gathered by now simple is what I'm always about when it comes to baking.

Here is the recipe for these deliciously simple treats.

Amerikaners

1 lb  2 oz  pastry flour  (or 1/3 all purpose flour and 2/3 cake flour)

8 oz  sugar

4 oz  butter or margarine

10 oz milk

2     eggs

1/2  oz baking powder
1/2    tsp vanilla

Mix all ingredients together until smooth

Scoop onto parchment lined sheet pan with enough space between them to expand a bit

you can either use an ice cream scoop or a tablespoon to drop them with

bake for about 10 to 15 minutes depending on how big you make them, bake at 350*F

they should be just golden brown on the bottoms as seen in pictures
glaze with a simple powder sugar glaze with a touch of either vanilla or lemon flavoring

I hope you try these and let me know how they turn out.

signing out....

Mike the bakerboy

Quality Time

Time...
Wow, we could get pretty deep with the study of time , but I never was much for studying.

The other day My daughter asked if we could make cookies for her to bring to a group of volleyball players she is helping coach. Of course how can I refuse that right? Well truth be told Andrea did most of the work I just "coached" her through it. I always like it when Andrea shows interest in baking and so I take advantage of that and show her some tricks and tips on baking and cleaning and being organized.

She is always telling me how her friends think she is so lucky to have a baker for a dad "you must get this good stuff all the time!" . Not so at the Baker's house. first of all I'm trying to lose a little weight and that doesn't help at all, and secondly I do that stuff all the time for work so why would I do it at home!

I have a recipe for your standard chocolate chip cookies that just turns out perfect every time.
The catch is though that I use a scale to measure my ingredients. Using a scale takes a lot of the inconsistency out of baking. Of course being a baker I compared how we did it in the bakery with how most people do it at home , Cups and teaspoons as opposed to pounds and ounces. In fact I take it a step further and use a scale that has a grams setting which of course means that I had to change all my recipes to metric. Fortunately I know how to do this from my bakery training.

Measuring by volume can be very inaccurate when measuring things like flour because the flour can be either too fluffy or too compacted.
I use a scale that can be zero-ed out after each addition of ingredient which makes the measuring really fast, very accurate, and I can do it right into the mixing bowl. Using a scale guarantees you that you will have the same amount every time.

Here's the recipe

Chocolate Chip Cookies

170 g Granulated sugar
170 g Brown sugar
10 g baking soda
10 g salt
255 g butter/shortening/margarine ( I like using block margarine)
426 g All Purpose flour
2 eggs
227 g chocolate chips

• cream the sugars and the butter or margarine in a mixer until smooth
• add the eggs and blend with the sugar/butter mixture
  
• add the flour (with the salt and baking soda sifted into it) a little at a time while mixing slowly
• when all the flour is mixed in then add the chocolate chips just until mixed in
• make into logs of dough and refrigerate until ready to bake (or bake right away)
• after removing from the fridge, cut into equal size pieces and bake at 350* until light brown around the edges and just set in the middle.

If you need a scale you can buy a decent one at Ikea for about 20$ or you can just use a diet scale if it has grams on it.

I guarantee this recipe will produce delicious chocolate chip cookies every time... especially if you make them with your kids.

Make it with love,

Mike the Baker Boy

Salt sticks ...the cure for cancer

Ok , Ok, it's not exactly a cure for cancer.


I'm making some old fashioned German salt sticks to bring to share with my Mom at her Chemo appointment tomorrow. She loves stuff like that and so I figured since I will be spending a few hours with her while the chemicals are dripping into her I.V. Port I should bring something we can enjoy with a good cup of tea and some nice Mother Son conversation.

I've actually enjoyed being able to spend time with my Mom at her Chemo appointments because in an otherwise depressing setting we have kind of connected like we never have before. Not that we haven't had a good relationship because we have, but we share some laughs and even some cries and both come away feeling good about our time together.

Food has always been a point of interest for everyone in our family. For starters my Mother is an awesome cook and like any good German mother, she is always offering food when someone comes over. Of course I'm a Baker , My Dad is a baker , and my Mom's Dad was a baker as well so needless to say that is a point of commonality that we share.

Maybe in some way, things like the Salt sticks that I'm going to tell you about can be a healing touch for my Mom.

These Salt sticks are made with a very simple bread dough that I make quite often at home. Today I'm making them with whole wheat flour and white flour 50/50 blend.
I made these for my kids when they were teething, when they are a day old (the salt sticks that is) it's great for them to gnaw on them.

Salt sticks
1 lb flour (half white flour half, whole wheat flour)
1/2 oz salt
1/2 oz sugar
1/2 oz oil (I use canola oil)
1/2 oz active dry yeast
1 cup warm water

• dissolve the yeast in the warm water until it starts bubbling
• add the rest of the ingredients and mix in a stand mixer for about 10 minutes on a relatively low speed so you don't kill your mixer.
• allow the dough to rise for about 45 minutes
• divide into 1 1/2 oz pieces
  
• round the dough pieces up and set aside to relax for about 10 to 15 minutes
• roll the pieces into a flat oval and roll them up the long way similar to a croissant
• allow to rise again for about 30 to 45 minutes or until they double in size
• brush with whole egg and sprinkle a light amount of Kosher salt on them (good with cheese also)
  
• bake in a 425*F oven for about 10 -15 minutes or until light golden in color

These make a great midday snack or even an interesting sandwich.

Here's to the healing touch of a salt stick.

Dr. Mike the Baker

Ham and Cheezy if you pleazy!

I was graciously invited to a birthday party this weekend and I was trying to think of what I should bring for some finger foods.

What to do ... what to do...

I remembered I had some danish pastry dough in the freezer and thought " hey, maybe I could use that". I picked up some sliced ham and some fresh spinach and some colby/jack cheese.
I rolled out the dough to about 1/16th of an inch and placed a leaf of spinach and 1/4 slice of ham and rolled it up like a croissant and placed a thin slice of cheese on top. In half of them I spread a small amount of cream cheese to add creaminess, Mmmm yum!
I kept them nice and small so they would be about two bites worth.

They were a big hit at the party and everyone asked for the recipe. Of course that was an easy one I just explained the way I put them together as I did above
.
You can use all kinds of different dough types , such as puff pastry, biscuit dough, or even bread dough. The danish dough I used was buttery and flaky which you won't get with a bread dough.

I love using dough like this for something savory. It's a great combination of sweet and savory. Danish dough is used almost exclusively for sweet pastries.

I hope you'll try this some time and let me know how it turns out.

Mike the Baker Boy

Blondies !

Blondies?
Here is a cool recipe.
These are basically Brownies without the brown... if you know what I mean.

This recipe is very simple and can be made with almost any boxed cake mix in the market.
I made this for my kids one time and they loved them. Of course kids love just about anything sweet that you put in front of them or within smelling distance and as long as it doesn't have something that is "good for you" in it.

Now I usually like to make stuff from scratch at home but I happened to have some cake mix left over from some testing I was doing ( because I work for a bakery supply company). The mix I was using is not too different from the box mixes you can buy at the local market , there might be a slight difference in how much liquid it absorbs so just adjust that with a little water.

Here's the recipe,

1-box of cake mix (usually around 18 to 20 ounces)
2- fresh eggs
4- ounces of oil (1/2 cup)
4- ounces of brown sugar (2/3 cup)
add enough hot water to get it to the right consitency

• put all ingredients into the mixer and blend on a medium speed until it forms a smooth batter.

If it is not pourable add enough water to make it pourable yet still thick.

• Pour batter into a oil sprayed/buttered 9 x 12 cake pan or casserole dish.

• Place this in a pre-heated 350*F oven for approximately 20 to 25 minutes just until barely set. In fact it's ok if it sinks a little out of the oven. And if your oven is anything like mine it runs a little hot so you might want to set it on a lower temperature( I use 325*F setting to get to the 350*F mark)
  
• While still warm loosen the edges and turn out onto a cutting board or whatever you want to cut it on.
• allow to cool before putting on toppings

Watch it to make sure you don't over bake the Blondies because you don't want them to be dry and cakey, you want them to be a little on the goey side.

Finishing is totally up to you. I like just a little powdered sugar on them. You can use icing, White chocolate fudge, or any number of other toppings, or what the heck , you can leave them plain(they're good that way too). I personally stay away from using chocolate on them because I like them to be blonde ... if you know what I mean.

Enjoy this simple yet delicious treat with a little ice cream and a good movie!

Mike the baker man

Danish for morning coffee

Today I had my brother inlaw come over and help me install a water heater to replace my old leaky one. I thought to myself what could I do for a snack to go with the Latte's I was going to make ? I remembered that I had some raw unbaked danish in the freezer which I had made the week before and only baked half of them. I took them from the freezer and put them in the fridge.

First thing in the morning I took them out , layed them on a sheet pan to rise and put a steaming mug of hot water on the pan and a layer of plastic on top of that. After a couple of hours they were ready to bake. I topped them with some different flavored jams that I had in the fridge and baked them for about 15 minutes. I glazed them with a simple water and powdered sugar glaze and that was it!

Oh yea! it's that easy. At least I think it's easy. As long as you do a little thinking ahead, you can save yourself a lot of steps.

Let me know any tips or trick that you use for last minute treats or pastries!

Mike the Bakerman

simple pastry for afternoon coffee break

I visited my parents today and being the old fashioned German folks that they are she almost panicked when she realized she did not have anything to go with afternoon coffee. Now normally she would be prepared but she has had to deal with cancer and Chemo therapy lately so she has not had the energy to do all she used too.

Being the good baker son that I am =) I asked what she had in the freezer. We found some puff pastry dough and some frozen blueberries. I decided to make a blueberry Strudel, here is what I did.

I did a quick thaw of the pastry dough and layed it out. I brushed the edges with some egg. Then I took the blueberries and tossed them in some sugar and cornstarch ( which I didn't measure ) and placed them in the middle of the puff pastry dough and folded one side over to the other side and pinched the dough down to seal the edges. With a good sharp paring knife I cut slits along the top and brushed the top with egg and sprinkled it with sugar. Bake it in a 390*F oven for about 30 minutes.
Serve warm with ice cream or whipped cream and wow.

Mom and Dad were very happy to have such a delicious pastry for afternoon coffee.

My favorite coffee cake recipe

My Dad called this "Schlupfkuchen" I think it means "slipcake" or "slidecake", because the fruit that is put on top of it slips or slides into the batter as it bakes.

It's a very simple recipe , great for that last minute dessert (ok so it takes about 45 minutes to bake).

8 oz softened butter
8 oz sugar
8 oz all purpose flour
3 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
optional vanilla

blend in your mixer for about two minutes on a medium speed with the paddle attachment
pour into a 10" cake pan spread an even amount of fresh or frozen fruit on the top, just enough so that every bite has fruit in it.
place in a preheated 350*F oven and bake for approxamately 45 minutes.
check it at the 30 min mark to be safe.
it is done when the center of the cake feels ready.
turn the cake out onto a flat plate and flip back over so the berries are up.
Sprinkle with sugar or powdered sugar and there you go.

hope you enjoy this recipe

dat waskewy wabbit

Here is a picture of my brother and I at Easter time making little sweet dough bunny rabbits. Circa 1977 or 78? not sure exactly. I still make these once in a while. They are actually quite fun to make and while they don't look like any easter bunny you have ever seen they are really cute.

I will be making some this Easter and will post a picture and an easy recipe to use.

Mike the bakerboy

Keepin it real!

I've been a baker all my life... I know what your thinking "how can he have been a baker all of his life?". Well, I grew up in my Dad's bakery in Ferndale, WA. On my Mom's side there are bakers back at least 4 generations that I know of starting with my maternal grandfather. I really started when I was 6 (that's when my Dad bought the Bakery in Ferndale. I swept floors, cleaned dishes, made streusel and whatever else my Dad could think of for me to do. Of course I had to stand on a bucket to reach the work bench at that point.

My Dad being a baker from Germany with a Masters degree in Baking taught me all he knew about baking. Eventually I wanted to learn more and so much of what I know is either self taught or I learned from correspondence courses that I have taken. I went on to take over the bakery. I wish I still had it now but it was long hours and hard work so that part I don't miss.

I now work for a bakery supply company but I still love to get my hands into the flour and make bread at home, or make my kid's birthday cakes, or make desserts for family gatherings.

I find that a lot of baking books and recipes make things more complicated than necessary so that is why i am writing this blog. To take the mystery out of how baking works and give some hints and trick to making things just a little easier.

Let me know what you think!