Tales From the Dark Side

Let me preface this by saying I sincerely hope my friend, Ann, does not read this entry. She says she reads my blog, but I think that most days she does not read my blog, so I am hoping that this is one of those days.

Let me begin at the beginning. Like most people, I started the New Year thinking that this would be the year I got all healthy and slim and fit. Of course, I believed that there must be some type of kitchen gadget that would help me accomplish this. The more I thought about it, the more I knew what I needed to be fit and slim and healthy was a juicer.

I did my due diligence for a juicer. Picked out the one I wanted, which was more money than I wanted to spend. I went on eBay and found that by the time the shipping was included, the used eBay models were more than the new amazon juicers. Then I found a reconditioned juicer and I added it to my wish list as I tried to decide just exactly how healthy I wanted to be. Then the cheap, recondition models sold out. Then the new model sold out. Then I began to worry. I mentioned this to Ann (remember, do not tell her about this post) my juicer dilemma.

Ann believes in being proactive. So she bought me the juicer for my birthday (which is a couple of months away, but Ann has never been wedded to celebrating actual events on their actual day. The good thing about this for me, not Ann, is that she often FORGETS that she bought you something for a specific day, months before and then buys you something else for the actual day).

So I got my miraculous juicer for health and fitness. Let me just say, boy does it juice. Stuff any veggie into the magic tube and in seconds it spits out a thick, rich juice. It was wonderful. I juiced every day.

By day four, something bad happened. If my life were a supernatural television show, you would now be seeing the breath come out of my mouth as the room turned cold. On day four, I made a lovely spinach, apple, and celery juice. It was bright green and celery wafted up from my glass. And then…

I went to the dark side. I thought, what if I juiced a nob of horseradish into the juice, added a splash of celery bitters and a generous supply of vodka… yes, it would not be a bloody Mary but a Greeny Lucinda. One would never drink a Bloody Mary again. In fact, you could hold one of these in your hand and stand in bathroom mirror and chant Bloody Mary over and over and remain safe from ghostly possession.

From that moment on, every time I looked at the juicer, I thought of all the cocktails I could make. Then one night, it occurred to me that I could not only make cocktails, I could make bread! Imagine just how good bread would be if you replaced the water with juice…

Boy, was I right.

Carrot Bread with Currants

3 cups freshly squeezed carrot juice

1/2 cup milk

3 cups white AP flour

3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon honey

1 packet dry yeast

1 cup currants

Toss all the ingredients into a large container and stir until all the flours seem to be incorporated --you have a shaggy, stick mess. Let the dough sit in a warm place for an hour or two and then put in the refrigerator and allow to sit overnight.

Remove dough from the refrigerator. It will be a very sticky dough. Lay a sheet of foil or parchment paper on a tray or plate, as this will facilitate moving the dough to the oven. Dust your hands and the workspace in flour. Pull out half the dough and work it into a ball, adding just a bit of flour to keep it from sticking to your hands. Place the ball on the floured workspace and cover the dough with a cloth; let it rise for about 1 hour.

After 45 minutes have passed, place a covered Dutch oven into the oven and preheat oven and pan to 450 degrees. Carefully remove the pan and open it. Dust your hand in flour again and invert the loaf into you hand, removing the foil from the bottom. Drop loaf into the Dutch oven. It doesn't have to be fancy, just drop it in. Cover with the lid, return to the oven and cook for 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let sit for 30 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan.

I made some honey butter to spread on my juice bread. Now I am the first to admit that my miraculous juicer was supposed to be used for juice and not cocktails and certainly not bread... but look at it, really how can one resist. I promise to go back and DRINK the juice. I do... really

Chuck Williams & the Brioche Molds

I love Chuck Williams.

The guy is in his nineties and still goes to work everyday.

I hate Chuck Williams.

He goes to work every day and looks for new things for me to buy.


It’s not hard. I have never been in a Williams-Sonoma that I wasn’t prepared to move into. Some thick drapes to keep those pesky shoppers from looking in and I am good to go. Getting my Williams-Sonoma catalogue makes for a good mail day.

Chuck Williams has a great knack for finding items you will never need in a million years and explaining to you why you need them. (Maybe Chuck Williams should have been in charge of the health care bill…I digress…) I admit I have fallen into this category more than once.

Many years ago, I was captivated by exquisite little brioches featured in the catalogue. They were not simply brioche, which I had never been captivated by; these were MINI brioche, mini brioche studded with CHOCOLATE. I wanted them. I needed them. Beside their stunning little picture was the recipe for making them. Not just any recipe but a recipe by Hubert Keller. By now I was obsessed with these chocolate-studded-Hubert Keller- mini-brioche.

I had everything I needed to make little orbs of chocolate pastryness sans one. I did not own a silicon mini brioche baking mold. How could this be? How could I not own a mini silicone brioche baking mold? Was I insane? Everyone needs a mini silicone brioche baking mold. Chuck Williams knew this. Hubert Keller knew this. And yet somehow, it had escaped me. I had to get one. I had to have a mini silicone brioche baking mold with its nine little cups for baking my brioche.

Then I re-read Hubert Keller’s recipe. The recipe made 18 mini chocolate brioches. But the pan only held 9! What was I to do? Chuck Williams knew. He knew that I didn’t need ONE mini silicone brioche baking molds I needed TWO. And two I have.



I have used them on many occasions to bake Hubert Keller’s Chocolate Brioches. I have never used them for anything else, though I am interested in receiving ideas. Here is Keller's recipe.

Not that I don’t trust Hubert Keller, but I find there are a few thing I would tweak in his recipe. My notes are in parentheses.

Chocolate Brioches

For the sponge:

2 tsp. active dry yeast (one package in those three-sectioned yeast packets is a bit over 2 tsp. so I just use the package)
3 Tbs. lukewarm water
3 Tbs. all-purpose flour

For the dough:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
3 Tbs. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
1/3 cup warm milk
4 Tbs. (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into cubes, at room temperature
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg yolk, lightly beaten with 1 tsp. water

To make the sponge, in a bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water. Stir in the flour, cover with plastic wrap (a paper towel or cloth works just fine) and set in a warm place until foamy, about 10 minutes. (If you make the sponge, then begin the dough, the sponge will be ready when you need it without any timing.)


To make the dough, in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the 1 3/4 cups flour, the sugar and salt and whisk by hand until well blender, about 1 minute. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and attach the dough hook. With the mixer on low speed, add the egg and milk. Increase the speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes. (It really only needs about 3 minutes. The dough will have a shredded look and not be a cohesive ball.)

Add the butter and knead for 5 minutes. (Again, about 3 minutes will do. This time the dough will come together in a big ball.)

Stop the mixer and add the sponge. Continue kneading on medium speed until the dough is smooth and elastic, 7 to 10 minutes, adding more flour as needed. (I find 7 minutes is plenty and no additional flour is needed.)


Cover the bowl with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter the two 9-well silicone brioche baking molds and place on baking sheets. (Both molds will fit on one large baking sheet.)

Punch down the dough, transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead in the chocolate chips. Form the dough into 18 balls and place in the prepared wells. Let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes. Brush the tops of the brioches with the egg yolk mixture. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Immediately invert the molds onto wire rack and remove the brioches, using a toothpick to gently loosen them, if needed. Let cool completely before serving.

What? You don’t own a pair of mini silicone brioche baking molds. You amateur! Not a problem, just give Chuck Williams a call.

All Souls Day

La Calavera Catrina by Jose Guadalupe Posada

Today is All Souls Day, a day of remembrance for friends and loved ones who have passed away. Not celebrated with much fanfare in the States, but in Mexico it is celebrated as El Día de los Muertos, Day of the Dead.

Actually, El Día de los Muertos covers both All Saints Day and All Souls Day. 1 November one prays for the infants and children that have passed over and 2 November is reserved for the adults. I spent El Día de los Muertos in Oaxaca one year and it was quite a party. We built altars offering up food and drink to the dead. We bought sugar skulls at the market and visited the cemetery where families gathered to have a meal with their loved ones, both living and dead.

A staple of the holiday is the Pan de Muerto, a sweet bread, shaped like skulls and bones and decorated with sugar.

Pan de Muerto

6 cups of flour
1/2 cup of sugar
1 teaspoon of salt
1 tablespoon of anise seed
2 tablespoons orange zest
2 packets of dry yeast
1/2 cup of milk
1/2 cup of water
1/2 cup of butter
4 eggs

Glaze

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fresh orange juice

In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, anise, salt and 1/2 cup of the flour.

In a another bowl combine the eggs and the water.

Add the egg/water mixture and another 1/2 cup of the flour to the sugar mixture.

Add in the yeast and another 1/2 cup of flour.

Continue to add the flour 1 cup at a time until a dough forms.

Knead on a floured surface for about 1 minute. Cover with a slightly damp dishcloth and let rise in a warm area for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

When the dough is doubled, punch it down.

Use 3/4 of the dough to make a round or skull shape. Use the remaining dough to make bone-shaped decorations. You can also divide the dough into smaller pieces and create bone-shaped small loaves.

Let the shaped dough rise for 1 more hour.

Bake in at 350F 30 minutes for smaller loaves and up to 45 minutes for larger loaves.

For the glaze, bring the orange juice and sugar to a boil. When it has cooled a bit, brush on the bread. Sprinkle with additional colored sugar, if desired.

Here are some examples: