Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Mon, 12 May 2008 13:49:00 GMT
In the June 2008 issue of Food & Wine, Jeni Britton was featured in the magazine’s “Master Cook” section. For those of you who don’t know Jeni, she makes gourmet ice cream in Ohio. Her business is Jeni’s Ice Creams. I’m really glad to have seen her in this prestigious magazine, but not because of its notoriety and her potential fame. Instead because the article, and her recipes included in the article, epitomize the crisis we have currently in the food industry: a crisis of industrial food and sadly, some gourmet as well. It’s the use of unnecessary ingredients, like corn-based sugars, starches, etc. It’s Food Fakery, as Julia might say. Using an ingredient not intended in the use of ice cream, to replicate the smooth texture that real ingredients are meant to provide is sad. We should be angry, or at the very least, upset about this.
In the article, which briefly discusses Jeni’s use of “in-season” produce and “locally pasteurized milk,”* there are included a number of ice cream, frozen yogurt, and sorbet recipes that, according to Food & Wine, took Jeni 75 tries to get right. Hmmmm….I guess she’s been producing her ice creams in massive quantities lately, because if Food & Wine asked me for a recipe for the home cook, I’d just use the one I use now.
In Jeni’s recipes I found the material that really got me heated. She suggests using ingredients like cornstarch, gelatin, and corn syrup in her creations because she doesn’t like the taste of eggs in her ice creams, and also because the gelatin “gives an appealing whipped texture” to the yogurt. Stop the bus! Since when did gourmet belong in the same sentence as factory food??? I am here to prove to all of you that you need none of the above to make incredible, dare I say, healthy ice cream and sorbet. How do I get around the great puzzle that is ice cream making?
Easy. I use real ingredients and let them speak for themselves. In fact, my recipe for french custard contains the same ingredients as Thomas Jefferson’s. He was, after all, the person who introduced ice cream, the ice cream maker, and the vanilla bean to America. As for corn syrup? Yes, there are recipes that I use that call for corn syrup…my solution? I use my homemade simple syrup instead. I combine organic evaporated cane juice and water to form a pure, unadulterated syrup that works as a perfect substitute. Check out my recipe for simple syrup, as well as my recipe for strawberry rhubarb sorbet. I just made some today and it was the best one yet!
Lynsie’s Simple Syrup (use, by weight, as a substitute for corn syrup in any recipe)
2 cups water
1 ½ cups organic cane sugar
optional: a vanilla bean, scraped. (All parts-the caviar (black tiny dots) and the shell-can be added.)
Bring the water and sugar to a boil, whisking occasionally. Boil for 5 minutes and remove from heat. Cool and place in an airtight container. The syrup will keep for up to 3 months in the refrigerator.
–note: this recipe can be doubled, tripled, whatever you like. Just remember, it’s two parts water, 1 ½ parts sugar. To tone down the sweetness of the sugar while maintaining the syrup’s viscosity, add fresh rhubarb juice, 1 tablespoon at a time. To make rhubarb juice, which is much better for the environment than lemons shipped from across the country and world, simply macerate chopped rhubarb with 1 tablespoon salt and three tablespoons sugar. Let sit in the fridge for at least one day and up to three. Remove, blend and strain. Leave the pulp behind and take the juice.
In-season AND Local Virginia Strawberry Rhubarb Sorbet
2 ½ cups strawberries, hulled and halved
2 ½ cups fresh rhubarb, chopped
Simple Syrup recipe (yields approximately 2 cups)
Combine all and let sit overnight in the fridge. The next day, blend in a blender or food processor, strain, and freeze juice according to your ice cream maker’s instructions. If you do not have an ice cream maker, freeze this sorbet in popsicle molds, or pour unfrozen sorbet in a container, cover and repeat this process until frozen: freeze for one hour, remove from container and blend, refreeze for one hour, remove from container and blend. Repeat until lighter in color and mostly frozen.
*As an aside, Jeni neither sticks to the use of local, in-season produce nor is she really capable of controlling the pasteurization process of her milk. I know she’s not using in-season, local produce because I receive her email newsletter and in December, her customers were encouraged to purchase ice creams with ingredients like strawberries, figs and cherries, none of which are in-season in Ohio at this time.
Also, regarding her mandate that her milk be “gently pasteurized” according to the article, I really don’t see how she can have any say into how her milk gets pasteurized. We pasteurize our own at Perfect Flavor, which means we know and understand the rules and regulations regarding pasteurization in the state of VA backwards and forwards. Pasteurization is pasteurization. The only difference is what kind of machine is used. At Perfect Flavor, we have a batch pasteurizer, which pasteurizes our milk in small 15 gallon batches for 30 minutes at 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The alternative would be a flash pasteurizer, which pasteurizes milk for two minutes at a temperature of 175 degrees or more. This, in our opinion, damages the milk, so we don’t do it this way, not to mention the fact that using a machine this large would be cost prohibitive to us. For Jeni or anyone else to say, however, that their product is “gently pasteurized” is bending the truth, because what they really mean is that they’re using a batch pasteurizer instead of a flash. Doesn’t it seem unfair as a consumer to be fibbed to?
On one more note of worth, my guess as to the reason why Jeni does not use eggs in her recipe for ice cream is simply because she would have to pasteurize them, and she doesn’t have a pasteurizer. Interestingly enough, in her press kit for the last two or more years she has stated her imminent purchase of a pasteurizer as “news” for the business. Somehow I have a feeling we shouldn’t hold our breaths. It costs A LOT to do things the right way, but for Perfect Flavor, the right way is the only way.
Posted in Business, Ice Cream, Recipes | Tags cream, food, gourmet, ice, industrial, recipe, wine | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Thu, 08 May 2008 01:18:00 GMT
You know something’s good for the planet if you, yourself, can digest it with out a problem. Don’t know if I’ve ever mentioned this, but at Perfect Flavor, all of our packaging is either biodegradable, compostable, or recyclable. This includes our ice cream containers, our tasting spoons, our straws, knives, even our trash bags are made out of PLA, or corn (polylactic acid). These components of our business, according to our standards, MUST be Earth friendly since they get thrown “away,” not digested. (Where is “away” anyway? Could it be a very convenient form of denial??)
At Perfect Flavor, we want a zero waste model in any way that we can manage. When our containers and implements are tossed in the trash (currently there are no recycling programs available for PLA in Virginia that I know of) they biodegrade in a landfill over the course of a few years, during which time they break down back into the original materials from which they were created. The result is the first man-made material that supports a true cradle-to-cradle model. Dirt-PLA-Dirt. And while they decompose, they don’t even emit any harmful toxins into the environment. While I’m proud of the lengths we’ve gone to ensure that our business is as environmentally conscious as possible, there’s a green achievement of ours that gives me more pride and hope for the future than anything else.
Our foam.
That’s right. Something as simple as foam makes me smile from ear to ear. Our foam is more than just your average garden variety foam. It’s green, biodegradable (compostable), and what’s more-we’re the only company using this foam for food packaging in the US. We always knew we wanted to ship our ice cream, mainly because we wanted our business to be a viable one, and shipping our ice cream seemed to be the best way to reach our market.
If we could, we would only sell in Central Virginia, but since our ice cream is such a high end specialty product, it’s not an every day sort of purchase, and therefore could not be supported by everyone, everyday.
If we have to ship, we decided, let’s do it with as much integrity toward our business and our environment as possible.
We needed an insulated shipping container, but all we could find were polystyrene models, which once made, can take 10,000 plus years to biodegrade in a landfill—not exactly a good fit for us and our ideals. However, we knew that people were using corn starch peanuts instead of poly peanuts. Not only are the corn starch peanuts better for the environment, but they also make really great crafts! You can lick the ends and fuse each piece together to create a whole host of stick figures and peace signs. We thought that surely where there were peanuts there would be foam. We were right and wrong.
There was foam out there made of corn, but no one was using it yet. In fact, we were the first ones to ask for it. After months of research, we had a breakthrough. We found GreenCell Foam, and contacted them immediately. Yes, they would make it for us, however since we were the first food business to ask for it, they set us up with a packaging design firm, KTM Industries. For more than six months, GreenCell Foam was tested using our product and our requirements. The end product is a fabulous chunk of corn foam that we can eat, mold, or just throw in our backyard compost pile. After all, once it rains, the foam will be gone, and dirt will be in its place.
Currently, Perfect Flavor is the poster child for GreenCell Foam. We use it in every package we send off, and we encourage recipients to take the foam and throw it in their backyards, too. If one feels daring enough, we invite our customers to take a little nibble out of a corner, after all-it isn’t every day that one comes across digestible packaging!
I’m constantly on a quest to encourage other business owners and plain old citizens to make the switch to green packaging. For more info, please contact us or go to KTM’s website. If you’d like a sample, please visit our store to purchase sample packs for home and business use. We want this to be accessible to anyone interested, so please get in touch! If you’re feeling really moved, please visit our supplier’s page to order.
lynsie@perfectflavor.com
Posted in Sustainability | Tags biodegradable, environment, green, packaging, sustainability | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Sun, 27 Apr 2008 17:12:00 GMT
A good friend of mine, and a wonderful competitor scout just recently sent me one of famed celeb gossip blogger Perez Hilton’s latest posts.
You’ve Been Warned
It’s about Pinkberry, the very popular froyo (frozen yogurt) chain in Hollywood and beyond. For those of you who know about Perfect Flavor, and most importantly who follow my blogs, you know off the bat that what I’m about to tell you will not come as a surpise.
I do hope, however, to derive some form of shock from those of you who are not quite yet at the Enlightenment stage of the ice cream industry. Perez states that Pinkberry’s product, which was prior to its testing thought to be the healthiest guilty pleasure on the market, has in fact now been found to contain just as many (if not more) hazardous chemicals, corn syrups, and emulsifiers as every other ice cream or "frozen dessert" on the market, that is if you exclude Perfect Flavor, of course.
I guess I’ll just keep on saying it until everyone starts to believe it, but neither ice cream, sorbet, frozen yogurt nor anything in between needs to have fake stuff in it. Why then, is Perfect Flavor (with its ingredient list of: local cream, local milk, local egg yolks from Polyface Farm’s pastured hens, and organic evaporated cane juice) an oddity, a rarity in the ice cream world?
The answer is simple. Real ingredients cost more. I crack 224 eggs for each batch of ice cream base. The process of pasteurizing the milk within two hours of picking it up at the farm, separating the cream from the skim milk, cracking 200 eggs and creating a custard with all of the above takes no less than two days of work. The labor alone brings our ice cream up to a cost that most ice cream businesses would find prohibitive. But we don’t. We know that the ice creams and sorbets that we offer to the public come with a heaping dose of integrity. We are proud to use four major ingredients and nothing more. So, if you know someone who is searching for real health food, send them to us, because yes, our ice cream is health food!
Posted in Business, Ice Cream | Tags glueberry, pinkberry, pooberry, yuckberry | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Fri, 18 Apr 2008 16:01:00 GMT
Last night Colin and I visited a Charlottesville restaurant (amazing food & atmosphere!) that we often frequent. This time, the visit was for both pleasure and business. Last week the restaurant had shown interest in our ice cream, so last night we brought them an assortment of different flavors to try out. Flavors that I just can’t seem to keep on the shelf these days, like: Salty Caramel, Hint-o-Mint Chocolate Sorbet, Milk Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla, and my current favorite, Hibiscus Ginger Sorbet. As always, it was tough for me to so willingly hand over my little creations. I do realize that I’m in the business of making food, which by definition means that I both give it away and that its existence is fleeting. However, the way I create my ice cream is much the same as the way an artist creates art. A part of me goes into what I make. I remember the smell and smoothness of the caramel, the freshly toasted almonds, and the warm snuggly aroma of the vanilla beans as they steep in custard.
Let’s be honest: I was nervous. Upon finishing our dinner, we approached the staff and owner, asking them what they thought. I was surprised, relieved, confused, and ecstatic by their response. They rejected our ice cream, but not for the reason you might think. It was too good. They were flattered to have been given the chance to sample it, but they were adament about the fact that it just wasn’t a good fit for them. The price is too high for what they’re accustomed to paying, and the quality of the ingredients were a dream…that they couldn’t afford. Did they want to carry our ice cream? Most definitely, they just couldn’t do it.
I was bummed, until I heard their next bit of advice…
The owner said, matter-of-factly, that we were shooting way too low. Instead, we should skip all the bs and go straight to The Inn at Little Washington, The Greenbrier Hotel, and Citronelle in DC. That’s where our ice cream belongs. I agree. It’s nice (and scary) to know that something you make is just as good to someone else as it is to its creator. I am proud to make very fine ice cream, and I can’t wait to make more. Hibiscus Ginger Sorbet, here I come. Watch me on the webcam today, as I make this sorbet, chocolate covered bon bons, and homemade marshmallows…
Posted in Business, Ice Cream | Tags cream, ice, rejection, wholesale | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Wed, 16 Apr 2008 13:18:00 GMT
Thanks, Martha.
Today, I had a wonderful experience with a woman who visited my store for the first time. Before she even walked through the door, I had the feeling that I was about to meet an exceptional person. Upon her arrival at my pastry counter, I knew I was right. She was wistful, wise, and at peace with herself and her surroundings.
She told me right away that she had come directly from Charlottesville (where she works as a nurse) to make her pilgrimage to Perfect Flavor. She had read many of our recent articles and wanted to come see for herself just how real this little ice cream shop was. I do believe we lived up to her high expectations.
In fact, before her visit was over, she teared up during a discussion about what it is we're doing here at Perfect Flavor. She finds our mission for sustainability very admirable, and she respects greatly how we choose to support our local farmers, economy and people. It was wonderful to get that kind of affirmation. It makes me feel really good about what we're doing here. I'm proud to operate a business that is full of integrity, especially in a time when most businesses are not.
Dare I say it, but I do have a feeling that this doesn't happen to Ben & Jerry's very often.
Posted in Business | Tags love, martha, tears | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Thu, 10 Apr 2008 01:17:00 GMT
Why buy it when you can make it yourself? That is a question that has driven me to try to make just about anything I can myself. In fact, I have a rule when shopping at the grocery store: if I can't make it at home, I won't buy it. (Which leaves me buying very little and making a lot.) After all, I don't know anyone who's got gum carrageenan or maltodextrin or carmine lying around in the pantry just waiting to be used. Do you?
Nope, that's right-chemicals and scary unpronounceable substances are just NOT my thing. This comes in handy, of course, if I'm out of some store-bought item at home, but need to make potato salad with mayo. When this happened the first time, and I didn't have the mayo, I decided to learn how to make it myself, using a Julia Child recipe, of course. I have not bought a single jar of mayo from the store since.
Not only is it incredibly rewarding to learn something new and put it to good use, like feeding yourself, your family, or unannounced guests...BUT by making things at home, you're in charge of the ingredients that go into them. No chemicals here, just foundation ingredients that, in combination, actually DO create a healthy product. (And just so we're all clear, mayo isn't actually supposed to be white as I discovered, it's yellow.)
This level of curiosity mixed with much ambition has put me where I am today at Perfect Flavor. I put this ideal to use each day in my kitchen, where we make everything- from our own peanut butter and caramel to marshmallows, bread, buttermilk and vanilla extract. Yes, I did just say vanilla extract.
After having carefully researched vanilla extract, I have learned some disturbing facts. For instance, there are many names that mean many different things. They all use the word "vanilla," even if there is no vanilla at all. It sounds confusing, and you'd be right to feel that way, because it is.
There's artificial vanilla flavoring, imitation vanilla flavoring, natural vanilla flavoring, vanilla extract, and pure vanilla extract. Most of these names translate to the following: wood pulp made to synthesize the taste and flavor of pure vanilla, vanillin which is a cheaper, lower grade vanilla substitute, and vanilla beans infused into vodka or other liquors. The latter being the best choice, I started from there when I was deciding what to use in my ice cream. In the process, I was in direct contact with Vicki, the owner of Organic-Vanilla.com, a small, family owned and operated business which specializes in the curing and selling of organic, fairly traded vanilla beans from Mexico and Tahiti.
Through talking to Vicki, I discovered that in fact the "organic pure vanilla extract" that I was using from the store still only contained 35% alcohol. According to Vicki, real vanilla extract should contain 100% alcohol, since that's how it's made. All the big businesses thin the extract out with WATER so that they can spend less on ingredients and make more money. Of course once I discovered this I asked Vicki what to do. She very obligingly gave me her family's recipe for making vanilla extract. From now on that is all I will use in my store and at home. It's super easy and actually quite inexpensive. You may not believe me...but see for yourself:
You will need 12 vanilla beans (Bourbon, Grade A), a fifth of 100 proof vodka (according to Vicki, more expensive vodka does not make a difference, so go cheap and save the good stuff!) and most importantly, patience. The infusion process takes as little as three months and can go as long as twelve. I'd say start with three and work your way up from there. Chances are, your extract will taste so much better than anything you've used even at three months that you'll never be able to go back to store-bought again.
How to make vanilla extract at home:
Open your vodka bottle, pour out a small amount (about a 1/4 cup). Cut your vanilla beans down the middle, and with a pairing knife, scrape out the seeds (or caviar as the pros call it). Carefully drop your caviar into the vodka bottle, then add the remaining vanilla bean skins. Put the lid on, shake, and leave in a cool dark place. I put my bottles in the fridge, in the back. This way they remain cold and as little light hits them as possible. Every few days, shake them about and put them back to sit and steep. In three months, try your extract out on a batch of cookies. Remember, though, that one of the benefits of using pure, 100% alcohol extract is that it will make whatever you're baking, ice cream especially, smoother and softer. If using in ice cream, your ice cream will be softer since alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than most of your freezers are set to. When all of your extract is done, which will take awhile, Vicki suggests grinding the rest of the beans and using those in your baking as well. They're a great replacement for vanilla extract when you're in a bind.
Now, the best part of all. Does the thought of buying expensive grocery store vanilla beans scare you? It scared me...until I found out about Organic-Vanilla.com! They sell online, the beans ship fast, and the best news of all is that they're not expensive. I got 30 beans, Grade A, 7-8 inches long for $23 (including shipping)!!!
Go for it, do something satisfying, and MAKE your own vanilla extract!
Organic-Vanilla.com
Posted in Recipes | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Mon, 31 Mar 2008 17:18:00 GMT
"We make our ice cream completely from scratch. We bake our pastries fresh every morning. Everything that comes out of this kitchen is homemade. I crack 200 eggs for each full batch of ice cream."
These are the phrases that I use every day at Perfect Flavor to describe to customers just how authentic our product is. What do I get in return? Sometimes a knowing nod (thank god!), but most of the time a glazed been-there-done-that seen-it-all-before nod. It's taken me awhile to realize that the reason most people don't kiss the ground that I walk on when I tell them this bit of information is because they hear it ALL THE TIME. It's all around them. It's on the jam packaging in the grocery store, it's on the organic box of crackers from Whole Foods, and it's even popping up in new McDonald's commercials.
Fresh. From Scratch. Homemade. Prepared just for you!
You can understand why I get so bothered once you accept the fact that none of these words are regulated by the government, and they are so overused that they have no real meaning anymore. Anyone can print these claims on their packaging! In fact, they know it's to their benefit to do so. Velveeta Cheese can print "all-natural" on it's pretty little box and everyone oohs and ahhhs over it. But when I say, with honesty and much integrity, that yes, the ice cream you're eating is made from scratch, and YES, it took me two years to get the point where I feel good saying that, all I get in return (from most) is a..."and your point is?"
Unfortunately, as some of you may have already guessed, I've come to this point in my food life, with the great amount of integrity that I have toward the food I serve people, because I've witnessed first-hand what NOT to do. What does it look like on the other side? I'd like to share...
I've worked for big family-dining corporations, small chains, and mom and pop establishments. I'd like to say that I've seen it all-but that would sadly not be true. I'm sure there's plenty more out there, here are just some examples to whet the appetite.
My first job was working for the big family-dining corporation. We served mainly burgers, fries, salads; American cuisine-right?? I remember once we were offering a promotion for BBQ ribs. The picture on the promo card that sat on the table looked decadent. Rich BBQ sauce, juicy and tender ribs. The copy (or written description) on the brochure, or table tent as we called it, used attractive language like "Hot off the grill," "Succulent honey BBQ sauce made fresh" and "Choice cut grade A meat." The truth, if you dare to know, is that these ribs actually came to us frozen in a prepackaged plastic bag. The "ribs" were sealed in their own "juices" and when an order came up, the bag was microwaved and then thrown haphazardly on the plate. I remember the cooks cursing as they burned their fingers on the hot, melty plastic. I also remember lying straight to a customer because I didn't know what else to do. I was 16, naive, and following the "codes" of my corporation. For some odd reason I had a great amount of allegiance to a company that could barely keep my name straight.
My customer asked me how we cooked our ribs, and I hesitantly replied that we grilled them slowly over an open fire-just what I was told to say by my managers. Impressive, huh? I've never forgotten the experience.
Next was a job I took in desperation after having recently moved to Charlottesville, broke and in need of anything anywhere. I took a job as a "baker" for a coffee shop in town. My job was to "bake" the items that were to be sold in our bakery case each day. While I was fully capable of making everything from scratch...really...instead, my job was to in all reality thaw and warm the products that were sold as "freshly baked" and "from scratch." I literally took frozen tubes of muffin batter, thawed it in the refrigerator overnight, and squirted it into a muffin tin, which I then baked for the required amount of time, and served. Many times I was asked for the recipe, which of course I could not give away since I did not HAVE it. Since having learned from my mistake at job #1, I began simply telling people the truth. "What's your secret for the cinnamon scones?" a customer would ask. "Oh, they come from Sysco in frozen blocks and I merely cut them up and bake them!" I would respond. This was never met with much favor, but at least it was the truth. I constantly offered my baking services to the owners, who constantly denied them. In the end, the bottom line mattered most. They could have cared less for the health of the customers. All they wanted was money, and they weren't afraid to break all hope of keeping their integrity to get there. I learned a lot from them.
And finally, my favorite of all: I waited a long time for this job. It was, according to many, the place to learn about gourmet food and get the true training and experience I needed to become a professional in my field. I was hired as a pastry chef, but I did very little pastry. It started out rather innocent. Cheap commercial yeast, flour and sugar from Sam's Club. I even tried to dismiss the fact that the owner thought it was a genius idea of hers to substitute what she called her "secret ingredient" for the real deal. One day while making soup, she needed to thicken it. But instead of doing what would be instinctive (making a roux-a simple mixture of butter and flour), she began to gleefully add dried potato flakes from a cardboard box. I noticed and said, "Oh, potato soup, huh?" It was French Onion. Oh, but wait...there's more. Her "fresh baked artisanal rolls" on the menu were actually frozen loaves that came to us half-baked. She would simply "bake them off" for 5 minutes in the oven before serving. No one ever questioned it because their sandwich arrived piping hot. Her "avocado-crema" was frozen guacamole from Sam's mixed with sour cream. (She served this along with Pace salsa, canned beans, and pre-shredded cheddar cheese as a catering party dish. The going rate was $60.)
My favorite tale to tell was the time she went to a well-known Charlottesville food festival. Normally, behind closed doors of course, we used pre-made pesto that came to us frozen (fresh from the manufacturer, as I like to say). But for the festival, five minutes before leaving, she asked me to quickly spoon all of the slushy pesto from its labeled container into a clear, unlabeled container, so that no one else would know that she didn't make it from scratch. When someone came up to me at the table where I was dishing it out and asked me what was in our pesto, I told them I didn't know because I hadn't made it. I quit my job shortly thereafter.
When I say that what I make, all that I make is handmade, it's a loaded statement. I am so lucky to finally be in charge, from beginning to end, of what goes into the food that I make. Why aren't others like this? The answers are endless. But I think mainly it's because they've been getting away with it for so long due to the fact that the customer has not held any vendor accountable.
Feel empowered to ask what is in the food that is served to you. When you don't get a response, you've got plenty more than the answer you were looking for. It is our right to not only know what goes into our bodies, but to be in charge of it.
For more information regarding what we put into the food we make, check my blog or just ask me. I'm always happy to share every recipe I use. If you stop by, you might just catch me in action through the huge window that peers into my bakery!
Posted in Business | 4 comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Thu, 20 Mar 2008 11:47:00 GMT
For those of you who are feeling maybe more than a little timid at trying to make pastry at home-this is the most perfect place for you to start. Brioche really takes on a life of its own. It longs for solitude. It is very patient and understanding. Perhaps not the perfect companion-but a great friend for the pastry novice!
I make this one in my shop, and instead of forming the dough into rolls or loaves, I create cinnamon buns out of it, which I'll give you the recipe to as well! Here we go...
Before you do anything, walk straight to the fridge and remove 2 1/2 sticks of unsalted butter, making sure to place them on your counter top away from spouses, children, and small curious cats with mammoth appetites and an obscene ability at smelling dairy product anywhere. Your butter must sit out undisturbed for at least one hour. When it's ready to use, you want it pliable and only slightly cool/warm, not hot and melting. If it does begin to melt, throw it in the freezer for 5 minutes while you prepare your other ingredients.
Personally, I like to cube my butter into walnut-sized pieces immediately after pulling it from the fridge. This helps the warming process speed up and also ensures uniformity. Don't wait until the butter has warmed to room temp to cut it, as you will have a rather large, buttery mess on your hands.
While your butter is warming, read a little of your favorite book...and then prepare the rest of your ingredients. You will need:
3 cups flour (unbleached, pastry or all purpose)
1/2 teaspoon sea salt (fine)
2 1/4 teaspoons active yeast (one packet is fine)
1/4 cup warm whole milk (110 degrees)
3 tablespoons sugar (I use organic cane sugar)
5 large local eggs (the local eggs lend a rich golden color to the dough)
Warm the milk over low heat until it registers 108 degrees, then remove it from heat, it will rise the rest of the way. Add the yeast and stir. Then add the sugar, stir, and allow the yeast to dissolve and prove (5-10 minutes). In the meantime, combine your flour and salt in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. You can (of course) try this recipe by hand, but for a new pastry chef, it's tough because the dough is so sticky. I strongly suggest using your mixer or borrowing a friend's.
Once the yeast is ready, pour it over the flour mixture. Add two eggs and mix until combined. Leaving the mixer on medium speed, continue adding one egg at a time until all are incorporated. Once all eggs have been added, mix for 5 minutes on medium speed.
Next, if your butter feels ready, turn the mixer on the same speed and begin to drop in individual pieces, one at a time. Watch the butter spread throughout the dough in streaks until you can no longer spot it, then add more. (If you add too much at one time...for all of you impatient pastry chefs-myself included-the butter will be unable to be absorbed into the dough, and you will have to turn off the mixer and incorporate the butter by hand with a spatula, a dirty ordeal!
Once all your butter has been added, lift the dough hook out of the dough and run a spatula through it. You're on the lookout for butter clumps, which often turn up on the sides or at the bottom of your bowl. If you find them, use your spatula to mix them in by rubbing the lumps into the dough. Drop your dough hook back down and cover your dough loosely with a towel or plastic cover. Go run an errand for an hour and a half.
Come back and your dough should have doubled in size. Simply remove your towel, turn on the mixer for 30 seconds, and then dump out your dough into a 2 quart clear container with a lid that latches. If you can't find a lid that latches, use what you can but remember to place a brick or other very heavy item over your dough. Remember-this dough has a mind of it's own...and it can be very, very strong. Place your dough in the fridge, and leave it there overnight. It will be ready to be worked in the morning or afternoon, depending on when you have time.
Next, remove your sticky dough from its container and place it on a work surface that is highly floured. (Place one stick of unsalted butter in a saucepan and allow it to melt as you roll out the dough.) Form your dough ball into a rectangle with two long sides and two short sides. Begin to roll it out briskly. Your end dimensions should be a rectangle measuring 24 inches by 18 inches. (Long side top and bottom, short side left and right.)
With a pastry brush (or unused paint brush), spread out half the butter over the entire rectangle, making especially sure to cover the outskirts and corners. Sprinkle a mixture of 2 cups sugar, 4 tablespoons cinnamon over the entire rectangle EXCEPT the top, long side, which needs an inch of clear space for later. Next, dip the pastry brush into the butter and drizzle butter over the entire surface of the dough. You don't need to cover every bit of surface, just give it a light speckling. What this does is temporarily liquify the sugar mixture so that it doesn't dump out when you roll it up. Next, fold in the left and right sides and bottom side of the dough one inch so that the sugar mix is secured inside.
Now for the fun part...beginning at the bottom, roll the dough up towards the open flap at the top. I usually start in the center and work outwards. Once you've almost reached the top, brush the open top flap with butter one more time, and gently pull the flap out and over the log of dough you've created. Once the flap is secure and stuck to the log, flour your surface and roll the log, flap side down, onto the floured part. Using a serrated knife, make a cut in the middle of the log. Then cut each section in half, and then in half again. You should have 8 pieces total.
One at a time, remove each cut piece, place it flat, spiral side down and with a floured hand, pat each round down gently. Place each finished roll onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Once all are sitting pretty on your pan, give them one last final brush of butter on top. The helps seal them, so that when they are baked they will stay together and not spread out too much. (It also creates a very nice butter-sugar sauce.) You can place all the buns in the freezer, and once firm, you can bag them and store them that way. If you want once now-who can blame you?, just place on a parchment lined baking sheet and allow to proof (or expand) slightly while the oven is preheated to 350 degrees. For future baking, remove the required number of buns the night before and place in the fridge to defrost. An hour before baking, remove them from the fridge and allow to proof. Bake as usual.
For a quick icing, whisk 1 cup powdered sugar with a few tablespoons milk.
If this, or any of my recipes, seem a little overwhelming, or if you just want to learn more, I'll be offering cooking classes at my shop & kitchen beginning in May 2008. I'll teach everything from pastry to bread to ice cream to icing!
Posted in Recipes | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Mon, 17 Mar 2008 13:59:00 GMT
It's funny. We always thought it would be a good idea to create a company that was serious about sustainability, but really FUN when it came to giving our customers free range to choose the perfect gift themselves! It turns out other people think so, too.
From start to finish, base to mix-ins, our customers are part of every aspect of their ice cream design process. After designing their very own batch of chocolate almond toffee ice cream, they can even name it anything they want.
Such is the story of a woman named Erika, who came in just last week, a few months pregnant, searching for the perfect favor to hand out at her baby shower in May. She's pregnant with her first baby and is so excited! What she wants is a gift that says thank you to her friends and family, but in a truly personal way. And that's what she got. She chose two different flavors of sorbet, a gallon each, and split them up into small 4 oz. serving size portions. Erika wants to name each flavor something different, and since she knows she's having a boy, she's going to put a personalized sticker on the lid of each sorbet container. Each of her guests will get a little cup of sorbet, flavored with fresh local produce that's in full growing season by mid-May.
It was such a thrill and accomplishment after all our hard work to be a part of this celebration in her life! I'm sure her guests will love her personalized flavors and gifts, and I look forward to many more of her celebrations.
Posted in Business, Sustainability | no comments
Posted by Lynsie Watkins
Fri, 14 Mar 2008 19:08:00 GMT
Imagine that! Can something be short in duration, size, quantity, but be sweet, enjoyable, and worth living for, too? Of course it can.
I've had some amazing people walk into my shop over the last two weeks since opening my doors. People like Elizabeth Massie, whose enthusiasm at the prospect of supporting art and culture through the act of eating is hopefully as contagious as the black plague! Yes, the ice cream I make is expensive compared to all other brands. Could the reason for this be that it is also different from everything else out there? Is it possible that my ice cream's sole purpose of existence is to educate, or re-educate people, rather, on the act of enjoyment in simple, deluxe pleasures?
A lot of people walk through my doors and gasp literally out loud at the relatively small serving sizes I offer and their related prices. How much is it worth to be fulfilled physically and mentally by something as simple as food?
In France, Italy and especially India food is seen as a healing resource. Something to be celebrated, enjoyed, and worshiped. It is well worth the price for a high quality/high cost food delicacy. For some sad reason, we have lost that idea here. It shouldn't be about how big, how much. It should be about what, where, when, how, why. What is it I'm about to eat, where did it come from, when was it made, how was it created, and most importantly: why?
I make my ice cream because I want desperately to offer something that is simple, pure, healthy, delicious and good for everything and everyone it involves. So, is it worth spending your money on something that feeds your body, soul, and the earth? I think so.
Besides, what could be better than sitting outside on a warm Spring day, savoring a delightfully sized portion of bittersweet chocolate gelato? mmmmmm.....
Posted in Business, Ice Cream, Sustainability | no comments
