When Brian and I were on our great food and wine adventure to Oregon last summer, we saw lots of orchards that we could not identify. As it turns out they were hazelnut trees. I love hazelnuts. Some people call them filberts. They are the nutty goodness in Nutella. Turns out Oregon is the major producer of hazelnuts here in the United States. It was nice to see them used on so many of the restaurant menus in that area, especially in their wine country. I wanted to cook more with them when I got home.
Semifreddo is an Italian dessert which literally means "half cold". It is frozen, but because it has whipped egg whites and whipped cream folded into it, it does not freeze up quite as hard as ice cream. You can make it in any flavor, just like ice cream. In this version, I've made a hazelnut praline first, crushed it up and added it to the semifreddo batter. I wanted just a little something special on top and almost went with a chocolate sauce but I decided a caramel sauce would match the praline in the semifreddo just perfectly.
(you will need three mixing bowls for this recipe, one large)
for the praline:
16 oz hazelnuts 1 cup sugar 1/4 cup water
for the semifreddo:
1 vanilla bean 1/4 cup sugar 4 large eggs, separated 2 cups heavy cream salt
Caramel Sauce:
1 cup of sugar 6 Tbsp butter 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
Make the hazelnut praline:
You want to remove as much of the skins off the hazelnuts as you can. Do this by placing them on a baking sheet and toasting them at 425 F. for about 4-5 minutes. Immediately wrap them in a clean towel and roll them around in the towel vigorously - this will remove most of the skins. Remove about 4 ounces of the hazelnuts and chop these roughly and set aside (these will go into the bottoms of your loaf pans later). Leave the rest of the hazelnuts whole.
Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil (Reynolds Wrap makes a nonstick foil that works great for this - in fact, it's the only foil I buy).
Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and place on medium-high heat. When the sugar is dissolved, it will gradually start to color and turn golden. You can mix this a little with a spatula dipped in water. When it turns a nice golden brown, add the whole hazelnuts, turn the heat down and stir to coat the nuts with the caramel. When the caramel is a dark golden brown, turn it out onto the foil and with the spatula, spread it out. It will cool to a solid sheet.
When the praline is completely cool (it doesn't take long) break it up and put it in your food processor and pulse it just until the pieces are still quite chunky. Remove about half the praline, then pulse the remainder finely. Set these aside. They will both be added at once to the semifreddo mixture.
Make the semifreddo:
Prepare two small loaf pans (8-1/2 x 4-1/2 x 2-1/2)* by cutting rectangles of parchment paper to fit the bottoms. Line the bottoms of the pans with the paper and spray with a little nonstick cooking spray. Sprinkle half of the roughly chopped hazelnuts in the bottom of each pan.
Remove the seeds from the vanilla bean by slitting the bean with a very sharp small knife down the length and carefully scraping out the seeds. With an electric mixer, whisk the seeds and sugar with the egg yolks in a large bowl until pale. In a second bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. In a third bowl, beat the egg whites with a mixer along with a pinch of salt until they form very firm peaks (if you lift the beater up the mixture forms a peak that goes straight up). Add the hazelnut praline, the cream and the egg whites to the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold in. Place the contents into your loaf pans. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze until serving.
When it's time to serve, run a sharp knife around the sides of the loaf pan and invert pan onto serving platter. The semifreddo should pop out. Remove parchment paper and slice. Drizzle caramel sauce over slices. You can garnish with chopped hazelnuts, if you like.
Make the caramel sauce:
Place sugar in a heavy 3 quart pan over medium-high heat. As the sugar begins to melt, whisk vigorously. As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on. As soon as the sugar has melted and is a deep amber color, add the butter to the pan. Whisk until the butter has melted.
Once the butter has melted, take the pan off the heat. Add the cream to the pan and continue to whisk. It is normal for the cream to foam up when it's added - just keep whisking. Whisk until the caramel is smooth and has no lumps. Pour into a heat proof container and let it cool to room temperature. Store in the refrigerator and warm it up a little before serving.
Makes about a cup of caramel sauce.
* You can also make the semifreddo and freeze it just in a plastic container. Serve it just like you would ice cream, in scoops.
What if I told you that instead of buying bakery bread for four or five dollars a loaf, you could make delicious handmade bread whenever you wanted, at a fraction of the cost and it is so easy a kid could do it? Well, read on because this method of making artisan bread at home will change your life.
You can make incredible bread without having to do all the usual time consuming tasks of breadmaking :
no need to make a new batch of dough every time you want bread
no need to proof yeast
no need to make starters or prefermented dough
no kneading!
In the last few years, several methods for making easy no-knead bread doughs have crept up on the internet and gained popularity. Among the most popular have been Jim Leahy's No-Knead Bread and Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois' Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day. These breads drastically cut down the amount of time and work that it was always assumed had to go into artisan bread making. Even the Zen Master of bread making, Peter Reinhart, has jumped onto the bandwagon, admitting that these no knead methods have made him rethink everything he knew about breadmaking:
"The results have forced me to reconsider all of the premises I once held sacrosanct".
So what is going on here?
Boules Rising and Boules after Baking
The key is mixing up a high moisture, or "slack" dough, and letting it do a long fermentation in the refrigerator. It's long been known that a long fermentation contributes flavor to dough but it seems it also develops gluten and eliminates the step of kneading. The advantage in using refrigeration is that you can control the fermentation and you can make up a large batch of dough, enough for four loaves, and keep it in the fridge. If you make a very wet dough, it will be able to last in the refrigerator a long time, gaining flavor as it ferments and allowing you to make bread whenever you decide. This is not to say there is not a place for multi-stage, time-consuming bread making techniques which require 15 minutes of kneading - I love making my homemade focaccia, which takes three rises every time I make a batch. But this bread is absolutely a no-brainer. You mix up a big batch of dough in one container, a process which takes only a couple of minutes (remember, there is no proofing of yeast or starters to make). When you want bread, you cut off a hunk of dough and shape it. You can make various sizes and shapes: boules, batards, rolls or baguettes. It's just so convenient and makes such a beautiful bread with a crackly crust, you won't believe it. I've even shaped the dough into rolls. Peter Reinhart points out that the home baker has an advantage over the commercial baker with this technique - the commercial bakery does not have the refrigeration space to use a method like this. As a home baker, we can make up small batches of dough, refrigerate it and enjoy fresh bread whenever we want it. If you are buying fresh bread three times a week at $4.00 per loaf, you are spending about $50 a month on bread! This bread is only about 40 cents a loaf to make. And, since bread is best the day it is made, you don't have to drive to the grocery/bakery to get it every time you want a loaf.
To see how easy it is to get a loaf ready, you can watch me form a loaf in about 30 seconds: (let video load fully).
This bread is very versatile, also. In both Peter Reinhart's book and Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois' book, they give you many variations of breads made with the master bread recipe in each book. You can make whole wheat breads, cheese breads, herb breads, breads stuffed with sun dried tomatoes, Challah, Semolina Bread and on and on. Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois have come out with another book, "Healthy Breads in Five Minutes a Day", for people who would like more whole grain recipes and gluten free breads. This is a great book, too, and has lots of wonderful ideas in it. I have all three books and strongly recommend them if you want to try easy bread making. It's nice to be able to make bread whenever the whim hits you - I have several types of doughs in my refrigerator, happily fermenting away.
In these recipes, instant yeast is used, which eliminates the need for "proofing" the yeast. Everything is simply mixed together. If you are interested in learning more about yeast, my recent "Yeast Explained" post may be of interest to you. Instant yeast is sometimes labeled "fast acting yeast" and is sold under the names of "Rapid Rise" and "Quick Rise" yeast. Also, Bread Machine yeast is simply instant yeast. I like to buy my yeast in the little jars instead of the packets because I can use only as much as I need out of the jar and it tends to be cheaper.
One way of letting the dough rest and rise is to place it on a pizza peel, dusted with some cornmeal. This works well when we make pizzas and pop them right into the oven. However, for this the bread seems to stick because you have to let it sit so long on the pizza peel and rest. So I place a small square of parchment paper on the pizza peel and put the dough right on that. When I slide it into the oven, it goes in along with the parchment paper and bakes up beautifully. If you want an extra crispy crust, just remove the parchment paper halfway through the baking time and return the bread to the pizza stone.
The dough can be stored in any plastic container with a lid or a bowl with plastic wrap loosely placed over it. You want the gases to be able to escape as the dough rises. It is nice to have a dedicated plastic container, though, in the fridge for your dough, because you are going to just keep it in there all the time. Although these containers are recommended by the authors, I bought a square plastic-lidded container at my local grocery store because I thought it fit in my fridge better. You can see it in the photos below.
So get out a bowl if you don't have a plastic container, mix up a batch of dough and have your first loaf tomorrow. You won't believe it.
for a printable recipe, click here makes four 1 pound loaves.
3 cups lukewarm water 1-1/2 tablespoons granulated fast acting yeast (2 packets) 1-1/2 tablespoons kosher or other coarse salt 6-1/2 cups unsifted, unbleached all purpose white flour
Mixing and Storing the Dough
1. Warm the water slightly. It should feel just a little warmer than body temperature, about 100 degrees F. Warm water will rise the dough to the right point for storage in about 2 hours.
2. Add yeast and salt to the water in a 5 quart bowl or a plastic container with a lid.
3. Mix in the flour - kneading is unnecessary. Add all of the flour at once, measuring the flour by scooping it and leveling it off with a knife. Mix with a wooden spoon - do not knead. You're finished when everything is uniformly moist, without dry patches. This step is done in a matter of minutes. The dough should be wet and loose.
4. Allow to rise. Cover with a lid (not airtight). Lidded plastic buckets designed for dough storage can be purchased many places. (I used a plastic square food storage container at my local grocery store. I just make sure that the lid is not snapped on completely). You want the gases to be able to escape a little. Allow the mixture to rise at room temperature until it begins to collapse (or at least flattens on top), about two hours. Longer rising times will not hurt your dough. You can use a portion of the dough any time after this period. Fully refrigerated wet dough is less sticky and is easier to work with than dough at room temperature. So, the first time you try this method, it's best to refrigerate the dough overnight (or at least 3 hours) before shaping a loaf.
Baking
5. Shape your loaf. Place a piece of baking parchment paper on a pizza peel (don't have a pizza peel - use an unrimmed baking sheet or turn a rimmed baking sheet upside down). Sprinkle the surface of your dough in the container with flour. Pull up and cut off about a 1-pound piece of dough (about the size of a grapefruit), using scissors or a serrated knife. Gently stretch the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball as you go. Dust your hands with flour if you need to. This is just to prevent sticking - you don't want to incorporate the flour into the dough. The top of the dough should be smooth - the object here is to create a "gluten cloak" or "surface tension". It doesn't matter what the bottom looks like, but you need to have a smooth, tight top. This whole step should take about 30 seconds! Place the dough onto your parchment paper.
6. Let the loaf rise for about 40 minutes (it does not need to be covered). If it doesn't look like it has risen much, don't worry - it will in the oven. This is called "oven spring".
7. Preheat a baking stone on the middle rack in the oven for at least 20 minutes at 450 degrees F. Place an empty rimmed baking pan or broiler pan on a rack below the baking stone. This pan is for holding water for steam in the baking step. (If you don't have a baking stone, you can use a baking sheet, but you will not get the crisp crust on the bottom. You will still have a great loaf of bread. Baking stones are cheap and easy to find - Target carries them - and are a must for making pizzas, so go out and get one as soon as you can.)
8. Dust the loaf with a little flour and slash the top with a knife. This slashing is necessary to release some of the trapped gas, which can deform your bread. It also makes the top of your bread look pretty - you can slash the bread in a tic tac toe pattern, a cross, or just parallel slashes. You need a very sharp knife or a razor blade - you don't want the blade to drag across the dough and pull it. As the bread bakes, this area opens and is known as "the bloom". Remember to score the loaves right before baking.
9. Bake. Set a cup of water next to your oven. Slide the bread (including the parchment paper) right onto the hot baking stone. Quickly pour the water right into the pan underneath the baking stone and close the oven door. This creates the necessary steam to make a nice crisp crust on the bread. Bake at 450 F for about 25 - 30 minutes. When you remove the loaf from the oven, you will hear it crackle for a while. In baking terms, this is called "sing" and it is exactly what you want.
10. Cool. Allow the bread to cool for the best flavor and texture. It's tempting to eat it when it's warm, and that's fine, but the texture is better after the bread has cooled.
11. Store the remaining dough in the refrigerator in your lidded (not airtight) container and use for up to 14 days. Every day your bread will improve in flavor. Cut off and shape more loaves as you need them. When your dough is gone, don't clean the container. Go ahead and mix another batch - the remaining bits of dough will contribute flavor to the next batch, much like a sourdough starter does!
Bread is best eaten the day it is baked. Leftover baked bread is best stored at room temperature, unwrapped. Simply place the cut side of the bread on plate or counter.
This is absolutely one of my favorite pasta sauces. I make a traditional bolognese or ragu sauce frequently from ground beef and pork, but this sauce is very different. I make it from chicken thighs, which I braise, remove from the pot and then shred, removing the meat from the bone. The meat is then placed back into the sauce to cook further. It has a very full, rich flavor from the vegetables, broth, wine and the addition of tomato paste (I used my homemade estratto from this fall). You can serve this over any pasta. I like orecchiette ("little ears" in Italian) because it holds the sauce so well. This is also great over homemade gnocchi.
1/4 cup olive oil 5 chicken thighs, skin removed 1/3 cup finely diced carrot 1/3 cup finely diced celery 1/3 cup finely diced onion large pinch of kosher or sea salt 2 cloves garlic, finely minced or grated 2 tablespoons tomato paste 3/4 cup red wine 2 cups chicken broth 1 large can whole peeled tomatoes 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon dried thyme 1 teaspoon dried oregano 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt (or to taste) ground fresh black pepper 12 ounces dried orecchiette pasta (or any kind you like) grated parmesan cheese
In a heavy bottom pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the chicken thighs. Let them brown for a few minutes and turn when nicely golden. Let brown on the other side. Remove and set aside. Add the carrot, celery and onion and the large pinch of salt. Stir together and let cook for about 5 minutes. Do not brown, lower heat a little if you have to. Add the garlic and saute for one minute. Add the tomato paste and cook for 2 minutes. Add the wine and cook for another two minutes. Add the chicken broth and tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with a spoon or your hands (I use my hands and crush them). Add the bay leaves, thyme and oregano and stir.
Return the thighs to the pot, cover, and let simmer on low for about an hour.
Remove the thighs from the pot and place on a cutting board. With two forks, shred the meat off the bones and return the meat to the pot. Add the salt and pepper. Cook, uncovered, for about another 15 minutes. Taste the seasoning, adding more salt if necessary. Continue to cook, uncovered, until you like the thickness of the sauce.
Boil the pasta in plenty of boiling, salted water until al dente. Remove the pasta with a strainer and place right into the sauce. Stir together and serve right away with grated cheese.
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March 9, 2010 
