the elusive sticky bun

Yes, this sticky bun was 1)sticky and 2)came in the form of a bun, but any reasonable breakfast pastry eating person knows that a good sticky bun is, but not limited to, all these things. They should also be large (in my opinion), somewhat soft yet chewy, and slathered in gooey caramel. My favorite are the ones that use a flaky croissant dough instead of a yeasted bread dough, but that's sometimes hard to find.


I dropped by Citizen Cake patisserie this morning for some sweet treats after brunching at Absinthe in Hayes. I suppose my first deterrent should have been the sheer size of the sticky bun. It was puny, but my craving was anything less, so I gave in and bought one. (It was about the size of a tennis ball.) I have to say, it was an overall disappointing experience. The dough was overly dense and meaty, like it hadn't risen properly, and maybe had just been sitting there all night and morning. The caramel was nice and sticky and rich. However, it left me wanting more. (My fingers were no where near sticky and messy enough after eating it!) At $3 a pop, I felt a bit pastry-cheated. Even my cherry ginger scone, at $3, was on the underdeveloped side.

Lately, I've been finding that the sticky buns and cinnamon rolls at Whole Foods are quite tasty. At only $2.19 apiece, they're right up my alley.

last day in sf

For the past year or so, I've been on a sourdough kick. I've committed myself to a mission of tasting as many sourdough breads as possible, in the ultimate search to find my top three. This also goes for baguettes too. As expected, I've had better luck with baguettes than with sourdoughs. There are just many more baguettes out there in circulation; more to taste and choose from. So far the sourdough that I like the most comes from Atwater's (in Baltimore), called San Francisco Sourdough. The crust is perfectly scored, crispy/crunchy each time, with a chewy and tangy interior, and just the right size of air pockets.

Since I've heard so many wonderful things about Acme Breads in the Bay area, for breakfast, I picked up a loaf of their sour batard, some butter, and local strawberries. The crust was impressive and quite memorable, golden and crunchy, and resounding when you rapped on it. The inside had small air pockets (I would have preferred a less dense and meaty white part), but the gluten was well-developed and had a good chew. It turned out to be only mildly sour which was disappointing, but I still had no trouble in eating half a loaf by myself. The butter helped too.

I grew up eating a lot of Russian sourdough bread, the kind made with rye and wheat flours, sometimes weighing up to 10 pounds, so my personal preferences point me to a tangier version.

Acme's batard was definitely better than many loaves I've tasted. I also don't mind Boudin's small sourdough boule-type loaves, as opposed to their larger ones which lack flavor. The bread bowl in which they serve their signature clam chowder and their egg dishes for breakfast is the kind I like, with a nice crust and chewy center. If anyone knows of some amazing sourdoughs in the city, please let me know, and you'll be my friend for life.

Since I had a flight to catch that evening, Mr.S and I had a quick dinner at Chaat Cafe across the street from his place. CC is known for their affordable and filling array of Indian street food, snacks and wraps. Instead of getting a samosa, we shared the papri chaat- thick, homemade fried-dough chips smothered with chickpeas, cubes of potato, tamarind chutney and yogurt. There was way too much gloopy yogurt involved, and not enough chutney, nor chickpeas. I also missed the usual sev that's sprinkled on top.

Overall it was alright, but I missed the version served at Mehek.

The tikka masala rolls were two huge bhaturas stuffed with stewed chicken tikka masala. The bhaturas were good, lightly fried, which made them warm and poofy. Though the chicken tasted good, it was very greasy, and hardly used any white meat. And since they were so big, I had to knife and fork it.

You also get a choice of cucumber salad or spicy potato salad with your wrap. My watery cucumbers had lost their crispiness and were surprisingly, really heavy on the black pepper. Mr.S's potatoes were more like a scoop of cold mashed potatoes than a salad. The predominant herb was actually dill. Is this an Indian herb?

His desi chicken wrap was spicy tandoori chicken and veggies wrapped in baked naan. It tasted very much like my own, just with slightly more tomatoes, onion, and peppers. Again, it looked greasy, but the flavors were spicy and pretty good.

There's not much to complain about. For $7 a piece, the portions were monstrous. I hardly finished even one of my wraps. The quality of the ingredients is so-so, but when you're starving, that aspect doesn't seem to matter much as does taste and portion. Like a reliable gas station, Chaat Cafe is a good place to get filled up. (And your daily requirement of spice.) Next time, I'll probably stay away from the wraps, and just order an array of their chaat and pakoras.

BreadTalk

There's the aroma of fresh-baked bread, and then, there's the aroma of freshly-baked sweet, eggy bread, stuffed and topped with a myriad of Asian snacks. Think pork floss, curry chicken, sweet corn and cream, taro paste, durian paste, black sesame, and Chinese sausage. The smells are enough to make you at least drop in to peruse through at least 50 different flavors of pastries, baked buns, cakes and cookies. This is BreadTalk, a favorite snack spot of mine in Beijing (there are currently 12 locations throughout the city). Originally started in Singapore, the shop reminds me of all the delicious (and crowded) bakeries all throughout the streets of Hong Kong and Taipei, where fresh bread and buns keep rolling out of the ovens the whole day through.

BreadTalk is for the on-the-go crowd, the carb lovers, the ones who want a "trendy, lifestyle bakery" (according to their website). It's for me and my mom, who go in and ogle the bread everytime we are in Beijing. I guess those plastic domes were made for us. We must look like two starved maniacs who've never tasted bread before!


So, you grab a plastic tray with a pair of tongs, and you just start piling on the bread. At the register, the cashier will individually wrap each bun in a plastic baggie for you. There's even a low-fat yogurt drink machine that tempts you as you wait. Not to mention the array of fancy cakes that include flavors like chocolate-chestnut, strawberry-chantilly, matcha cream, "Tea Rose," and a new line of Hello Kitty cakes! (I wonder what a Sanrio character would taste like...)


If you ever find yourself in Beijing or Singapore, try some of these snacks. The bread itself is delicately sweet, like a brioche dough, and the flavors are both fun and exotic. Prices are really affordable, as each piece will set you back between ¥5 - ¥8, which is roughly $0.80 to $1.15 dollars. The whole cakes range from ¥120 - ¥150 ($17 - $21).

These are just a few of the flavors I could document, before the angry baker caught me with my camera, and shut me down!

Hi, Date Bun- date paste

Chinese sausage with tomatoes, peppers, and cheese (like a Chinese pizza)

Curry naan

Moshi Mushroom- sweet bun topped with puff pastry, stuffed with sauteed mushrooms

Not sure what flavor these are, but their cute factor is definitely not standing in the way of me wanting to eat it!

Firey Floss- spicy pork floss bun

BreadTalk
various locations in Singapore and Beijing

fractured prune

How is it possible that a small piece of fried dough can make my day immensely better and that much more worth living? If it were socially acceptable, "donut" would be my middle name. I am that attached to these dunkers. I have countless boxes of Krispy Kremes to thank for getting me through many an all-nighter study session the day before midterms. It was always so tormentful buying a dozen warm, gooey-glazed donuts and having them sit next to me in the car, just waiting to be devoured back in the dorms.

I was bored and listless at work this morning, that is, until my thoughtul and generous boss walked in, carrying two dozen warm, only-minutes-ago fried to order donuts. Like bees to a honeypot, we jumped her and fought her to the ground. They were from Fractured Prune, a mid-Atlantic chain of small shops that fries and glazes donuts for the sugar-starved masses, on the spot! You pick your glazes and toppings, and within minutes, you're out the door with a warm, sugary dozen (or more). They're smaller than your average donut, about 3" across, rather than 4"-5", but what they lack in size, they make up for in bling. Toppings range from mini chocolate chips (these are sooo good because they melt from the warmth of the donut) to peanut butter to a blueberry glaze that is literally a throwback to my 1980's metallic spandex leotards.

"Blueberry Hill"

I liked all the flavors I tried, but after numerous taste tests, my top 3 still remain the French Toast (maple glaze with cinnamon sugar),


the Reese Cup (PB glaze with mini chips),

and the Banana Nut Bread (banana glaze with chopped peanuts and cinnamon sugar.



Fractured Prune
(various locations)
6308 York Road
Towson, MD 21212

monkey-ing around

My mom used to make a version of monkey bread for me when I was little in her trusty bundt pan that we bought together at a yard sale. We didn't even bother removing the bread from the pan after it was done; we'd pick away at it while it was still piping hot. What'd normally ensue was a sticky, messy situation involving stacks of napkins and usually a run to the washing machine afterward.

I'm perplexed as to why it's called "monkey" bread. My most astute guess is that monkeys eat by picking at their food, which is how a monkey bread is usually eaten, by being pulled apart. Oh, of course, opposable thumbs! Surely, this bread would make a monkey's mouth water, all that doughyness, each surrounded by a crunchy cinnamon-sugar crust. I suppose the addition of mashed ripe bananas to the dough makes this even more appealing to our primate friend, and to us! It makes the bread moist, and doesn't interfere with the rise at all.

This time when I made the bread, I used the same pan that my mom had used years ago. It turned out beautifully, without a hitch. And once again, I found myself barefoot in the kitchen, caught red-handed with sticky fingers.


Monkey Bread
adapted from Better Homes and Gardens, February 1999

3 1/4 to 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 pkg active dry yeast
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup butter
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp light corn syrup
1/2 tsp salt
2 ripe mashed bananas (3/4 cup)
1 egg
2/3 cup chopped pecans
1 cup sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup caramel ice-cream topping
2 Tbsp maple syrup

1. In a large bowl, stir together 1 cup of the flour and yeast. In a saucepan, heat and stir milk, 1/4 cup butter, 2 Tbsp sugar, corn syrup and salt until just warm (120F). Add this to the dry mixture. Stir in banana and egg. Beat the batter for about 3 minutes on high. With a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining flour, working into a lump. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 6-8 minutes into an elastic dough. Place in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled (1 1/2 hours).


2. Grease a 10" bundt (tube) pan with butter. Sprinkle half the pecans on the bottom. Stir together the 1 cup sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon, set aside.

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Punch dough down. Turn dough out onto your work surface and roll out into a large flat rectangle. Cut dough into 1-inch pieces. You will end up with about 40-50 small lumps. Gently knead each piece into a ball, tucking edges beneath. Roll each ball in the melted butter, then roll in the cinnamon sugar, and place in the prepared pan. Repeat this with the rest of the dough, gently stacking the balls up in the pan. Cover, and let rise until nearly double, about 45 minutes.


4. Sprinkle remaining pecans on top. Stir together caramel topping and maple syrup; drizzle on top. Bake for 35-38 minutes until the bread is golden brown on top. Let stand for 5-10 minutes, and invert onto a serving dish. Spoon any remaining topping or nuts over the bread. Serve warm.

rosemary focaccia with pear and chèvre

Compared with other yeast breads, focaccia is relatively simple to prepare. But isn't always the simplest preparations that yield the the most pure, delicious results? On a recent trip to San Francisco, so impressed was I by the beautiful sheets of focaccia at Liguria Bakery in North Beach, that I was inspired to whip up a batch of my own creation. And just in time for this month's CLICK challenge, which calls for flour as the main culinary ingredient. CLICK is a monthly theme-based food photography event organized by Jugalbandi that gives food photographers, and not necessarily cooks, to highlight their work. March's theme is metal!


In addition to sprigs of fresh rosemary and slivers of local pears, I decided to pay homage to the beautifully-crafted cheeses of California. One of my top-pick fromageries from the West coast is Cypress Grove, a maker of fine goat's milk cheeses, ranging from fresh chèvres to aged, firm cheeses. My favorites include Humboldt Fog and the Lambchopper. For this focaccia, I chose a floral-flavored soft chèvre, Purple Haze. Rolled in lavender and fennel pollen, it's an extremely creamy goat cheese, both sweet and fragrant. I also like to eat this spread on a toast, with honey or marmalade.


The focaccia turned out beautifully, but could have risen a bit more. Next time, I will use more flour and yeast than was called for. Besides getting to eat the focaccia - another upside, the perfume of baking bread and rosemary permeated my tiny apartment.

Rosemary Focaccia with Pear and Chèvre
yields one 11"x17" sheet

The recipe for the focaccia base is from Rose Levy-Beranbaum's The Bread Bible, a good introduction for any wannabe artisan bread baker. Like I mentioned, I will make some changes to the recipe for next time- by adding 1/2 cup more flour, and probably 1/2 teaspoon more of yeast.

13.6 ounces (2 3/4 cups) unbleached all purpose flour
3/8 tsp instant yeast
2 cups minus 2 Tbsp water, 70F-90F
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt

2 tsp fresh rosemary needles
1 pear, cut into 1/4" slices
1/3 cup crumbled chevre
coarse sea salt

1. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and yeast. Gradually add the water until the dough comes together. It will be very soupy. Keep kneading, or beating with a mixer, until the dough is transformed into a smooth, shiny ball, about 20 minutes. Add the sugar and salt and beat until well incorporated, about 3 minutes.

2. Using a dough scraper, scrape the dough into a 1 1/2 quart bowl, lightly greased. Lightly oil the top of the dough. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise (at 75F to 80F) for about 4 hours or until it has at least doubled.

3. Coat a 11"x17" sheet pan with 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Pour the dough onto it- it will be thin enough to pour but very stretchy. Spread the dough out as thin as possible without tearing it. Let it relax for 10 minutes, then spread it to fill the entire sheet, trying to maintain the bubbles in the dough. Cover the pan with greased plastic wrap and allow to rise 1 1/2 times its original volume, about 1 hour.

4. Preheat the oven to 475F 1 hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone on it before preheating.

5. Uncover the dough and drizzle the remaining olive oil evenly over it. Sprinkle evenly with rosemary, pears, chevre and sea salt. Place the pan directly on the hot stone and bake for 12-13 minutes or until the top is golden. Remove from the oven and drizzle on a little extra olive oil, if desired. Serve immediately.