Orange-Spiced Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Lately we have been gardening fools.  Geeked out over little projects and springtime plantings. Our souls feeling rejuvenated as the garden warms from its wintertime laziness. Yes even here in So Cal the garden goes a bit mellow during the chillier months.

We’ll shoot with a client in our studio from 7 until 4 and then come home and stretch out every last ounce of daylight in the garden with the birds, bugs and plants. Sometimes working even longer with the help of our headlamps. Our hands have gotten sore and blistered. Muscles have ached a bit. But it is all worth it.

It’s hard not to be inspired to spend some quality time in the garden this time of year. Tomatoes are hitting the nurseries and our seedlings are ready to find their summertime homes. The raspberries are sending out their canes with the beginning flower buds promising delicious rewards.

The blueberries are plumping up, just beginning to show a tint change from green to blue. And the strawberries have their initial gems secretly hidden from curious doggie noses but not from experienced fingers.

Yes, it is a beautiful, emerging time in the southern California garden. And the rock stars of the show are the citrus. This is the triple-play time of year for so many of our citrus. Much of the fruit is perfectly ripe. The branches are sending out a ton of new growth. And the flowers are going absolutely crazy, filling the air with their sweetness and the lacing the ground with their fallen petals.

Back in the kitchen, not wanting to waste a speck of the citrus glory, we’ll often zest the oranges before juicing them. There is so much goodness in the rinds. And when we recently had a load of leftover “hero” bananas after shooting nearly 60 banana recipes for a client, we came up with this gem of a loaf. An orange-spiced chocolate chip banana bread.

The base of the banana loaf was from one of my grandma’s favorite cookbooks. She had given the recipe her top-notch four “x” rating and it has been our go-to recipe ever since we first made it. We added a bunch of fresh orange zest, finely grated with a microplane zester, and then whisked in some complimentary spices to the flour. Add a bit of orange bitters for a special pizazz and some chocolate chips because, like bacon, they tend to make just about everything better. The end result was extraordinarily delicious.

Hope you enjoy!

-Todd & Diane

Yield: 1 Loaf

Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

For best results use really ripe bananas. As in, to ripe to eat but not yet funky enough to throw out. They'll make the loaf more moist and sweet compared to a loaf made with bananas which are just "eating" ripe. The orange bitters in the recipe give the loaf a little extra pop of flavor, but if you don't happen to have any in the house, the recipe is still great without it. If you happen to have fresh tangerines, their zest is an amazing substitute for this recipe.

1 1/4 cups (160g) Flour1/2 teaspoon Kosher or sea Salt1 teaspoon Baking Soda1 teaspoon ground Cinnamon1/2 teaspoon freshly grated Nutmeg1 cup (200g) Sugar1/2 cup (113g) unsalted Butter, softened2 tablespoons freshly grated Orange Zest4 medium ripe Bananas (@1 1/2 cups when mashed)2 Eggs, beatenoptional - 1/2 teaspoon Orange Bitters1 cup (175g) Chocolate ChipsPreheat oven to 350º F. Lightly grease a 4.5"x8.5" loaf pan. Line the bottom of the loaf pan with parchment or wax paper. Whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg for about 20 seconds or until well blended. Set aside.In a mixer, cream together sugar, butter and orange zest until light and fluffy. Add bananas and mash with potato masher until no large banana pieces remain. Stir in eggs and orange bitters (if using) until combined.Stir flour mixture into banana mixture until just combined. Be careful not to over mix. Stir in the chocolate chips.Pour batter into the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean (chocolate on the toothpick doesn't count) The house should be filled with the scent of fresh banana bread.Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing the loaf from the pan. Loosen the edges, then pop loose the bottom. 

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Pumpkin Cinnamon Christmas Tree Bread

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About shokupan, or Japanese sliced bread

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my sudden yearning for making Japanese sliced bread. I was actually inspired to get the bread machine while writing my latest Japanese Kitchen column for the Japan Times, which is indeed about shokupan, or Japanese sliced bread.

As you can see from the article it’s basically um…well, sandwich bread. It is an edible (but delish! to me anyway) edible napkin, like Wonderbread. Hence my guilt about craving it. But you know…the much lauded French baguette is really not that much better nutritionally speaking. ^_^ Like everything else, soft white bread needs to be enjoyed in moderation. (And I don’t think that whole wheat bread is that much better for us anyway…if we want ‘good grains’ we should just eat whole cooked grains. So phooey to those wholegrain bread nutrition-snobs I say. (I do enjoy whole grain and alternative grain breads, but mainly for their taste.))

Anyway, as I noted in the article, the thicknesses at which shokupan is sold varies around the country. Since my Japan base, and where I grew up, is the Tokyo-Yokohama area, we rarely ever see big thick slices of bread. But in Kyoto for instance, this kind of thing is pretty normal.

This is cheese on toast that’s about 3 cm thick. The cheese on top is very ordinary sliced processed cheese (cheese awareness in Japan is not that high yet…) and the bread is regular shokupan, but it was so delicious. It’s served at a tiny cafe, which was about a 2 minute walk from the house of a family friend that I am allowed to stay at sometimes when the owner is absent. I had it with a cup of outstanding coffee almost every day for a week.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the article!

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The guilt trip on the way to Japanese shokupan (it's just sliced bread...)

Ever since we were burglarized and lost most of our small kitchen appliances along with many many other things (TV, computer monitors, etc.) I have been trying to really re-think my need for Stuff. Although we did get the insurance payout for the things lost, it wasn’t nearly enough to cover the replacement cost for everything that was stolen of course, since that’s the way insurance works. Partly because of that, and partly because I always have a yearning for a simpler, more minimalistic lifestyle, we’ve been very slow with replacing the lost things. For instance, we still haven’t replaced the TV, or the slow cooker. We found we didn’t really miss either of them.

I was feeling pretty good about all this restraint. But then last week I sort of…lost it. I was going through my old photo files to gather some up for a potential project…and I kept on pausing on ones like this.

And…this.

Even this.

These are all Japanese sandwiches. They aren’t that expensive or special - the last one is a combini (convenience store) version, the ‘lettuce sandwich’ from 7-11. You can see it’s just filled with loads of lettuce (iceberg!) thin ham, and a slice of processed cheese. As I said, nothing too special. Even the one above it, the egg sandwich, is at the end just an egg salad sandwich…although it is so rich and egg-y tasting it’s amazing. (It’s from a local bakery chain called Shinshindo in Kyoto.)

What makes a Japanese sandwich special though is the bread, which is called shukupan (???) - which simply means ‘edible bread’. It is basically a Pullman loaf derivation - sliced sandwich bread, usually made of plain white flour. The crust is so forgettable it’s usually removed, and used to make breadcrumbs and stuff. But the actual bread itself is smooth, soft, slightly elastic, and just the right texture for a sandwich. It’s not the star, but is definetely a critical supporting player.

It’s so familiar looking. But yet, I’ve never been able to find the equivalent of shokupan, unless I go to a Japanese grocery store that carries Japanese baked goods. This wasn’t an issue when I lived in New York, or even in Zürich. But the closest one of those to us here is in Geneva, which is about 3 1/2 hours away by car and across a national border. I am not crazy enough to go that far for sliced bread.

Shokupan is also closely related to French pain de mie. Pain de mie is, of course, readily available in France. But…and here I am going to risk annoying some French people…it’s like the pain de me has been forgotten by French bakers. You can never find it at a proper boulangerie, where all the love and attention is bestowed on the baguette, the pain de campagne, the pain au levain and other wonderful things. Pain de mie is only available at supermarkets…and it’s uniformly bad. If you squish it even a tiny bit it becomes gluey. Readymade sandwiches using pain de mie, which we buy occasionally on the road, are pretty terrible.

So…back to last week, and losing it. I was looking at those pictures of Japanese sandwiches. And I thought that I simply must try to make shokupan myself. I could get a proper square loaf pan, and try to figure out the dough of course. But my itchy i-Click finger clicked on this baby.

Yep, it’s a bread machine. Bread machines were invented in Japan, and introduced in 1986. They are called “home bakeries” in Japan, and they’re they are probably the 3rd most popular small appliance in Japanese kitchens behind the rice cooker and the microwave. (Panasonic, formerly Matsushita Electric or “National”, was the first company to sell a bread machine in Japan. I selected a Panasonic model just in case.)

I really shouldn’t have gotten it. I am not really supposed to be eating bread regularly after all. And…like, I’m in France! Home of the baguette! Why am I obsessed with sliced white bread of all things?

But anyway, it is here. And so I’ve started my pursuit of the right formula for proper Japanese style shokupan. It’s been slow going since I only allow myself 1/2 to 1 slice per day max, and the rest of the loaf has to be dealt with. (The Guy has been happily dealing with most of it, but there’s an awful lot piling up in the freezer already.) The bread formulas that came in the instruction book, meant for the European market, haven’t hit the spot so far. I suspect it’s a matter of the right ratio of salt vs. sugar vs. butter. The flour may make a difference. I’ve been looking up information about the protein ratios of Japanese vs. French flour.

I look at the thing as it sits on my countertop and sigh. I really shouldn’t have gotten it. But now that it’s here, I’m going to make it earn its keep.

Do you have any appliances you are kind of ashamed of owning? Maybe they take up too much space, or you don’t use it enough. Or it just makes you feel guilty for some reason. (I had feelings like that towards our old deep fryer, before we finally ditched it.)

And of course I’ll let you know when I come up with the best formula for shokupan. As I said, that thing has to earn its keep!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bread

This chocolate chip cookie dough bread takes only two ingredients.

Two. Ingredients.

Yes, you heard it right.

If there is a genius recipe award, I’d give this to my friend Javan at The Dining Table (Singapore Food Guide). This recipe is made of two ingredients: your favorite ice cream (not low fat) and self raising flour. Two ingredients, 5 minutes of mixing time, and 45 minutes of baking time, and you have a loaf of sweet, tasty, and aromatic bread that tastes like you had a very complicated recipe and spent the whole afternoon baking. And the best of it all, you can make just about any flavor of this bread using your favorite ice cream. Dark chocolate chip bread? Sure. Peanut butter S’mores bread, not a problem. Salted caramel truffle bread? Check. You can make just about any bread you like, using your favorite brand of ice cream. It’s magic!

Fresh off the oven, this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bread tastes so delicious. It’s got all the flavors and perfect sweetness. You don’t even need any jam. You can just eat it as is, or if you like, with a spread of butter. This recipe is also toddlers and kids friendly. Who doesn’t like their favorite ice cream in the form of a bread? Try the recipe today and I am sure you will love this effortless and easy baking recipe.

(Click Page 2 for the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bread Recipe)

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Zucchini Bread

Weekday breakfasts are a complicated matter.

I am not the sort of person who can have cereal, oatmeal, or toast every single day of the year, as great as they are for folks like me who are married to their computers. Sure, I’ll go through week-long spells of eating one of the aforementioned foods. But then I get bored and move on to the next, and the next, until the cycle repeats itself.  Every once in a while (too often, actually), I’ll break down and buy a bagel. But alas, one can’t do that every single day, especially with the amount of cream cheese New York bagel shops typically slather on.

Lately, I’ve gotten back into baking. And hopefully this will solve my breakfast dilemma. My goal is to bake at least one new (healthy-ish) breakfast item a week that can last me 3 or 4 mornings. Then maybe cereal and oatmeal won’t seem so boring after all.

First up is zucchini bread, something we’ve adored in the US since the 1960s. I had been craving zucchini bread since Saturday, when my friend Amy told me she made a loaf to get her vegetable-phobic husband to eat something green. (He ended up loving it.) And I had been wanting to try out a bookmarked zucchini bread recipe from The American Century Cookbook. The author got the recipe in the 1970s from an Illinois woman she interviewed for Family Circle magazine. “This was my first encounter with zucchini bread but by no means my last,” the author wrote. “I have been offered zucchini bread recipes by cooks from all over the country but have yet to find a finer one.”

And it certainly was better than other zucchini bread recipes I’ve tried. There is a good amount of zucchini here, but it still feels like a solid bread. The ground cinnamon and ginger notes are faint but pleasant, and lemon and orange zest add a nice citrusy scent. (I substituted orange zest for the orange extract in the original recipe.) But mostly it was because the outside developed a perfect crust while the insides stayed moist and light.

Now I’m off to look for more bread ideas for next week. If you have a recommendation, let me know!

_______________________________

Zucchini Bread

Makes 1 loaf

3 large eggs3/4 cup vegetable oil1 1/2 cups sugar2 cups coarsely grated zucchini, packed (about 2 medium zucchini)1 teaspoon lemon zest1 teaspoon orange zest1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract3 cups all-purpose flour3/4 teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon1/4 teaspoon ground ginger2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 cup chopped pecansPreheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9?x5? loaf pan. Set aside.In a mixer, beat the eggs at medium speed until foamy on top. Continue beating while you carefully add the oil. Add the sugar and cream the mixer on high speed. Add in the zucchini, lemon zest, orange zest, and vanilla.In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, and baking soda. Mix the dry ingredients into the batter one cup at a time, stopping the machine once the last cup is well-incorporated so you don’t over-mix. Manually fold in the pecans.Pour the batter into the loaf pan. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, checking at the 60 minute mark. The bread is done when the top is brown and a butter knife or toothpick stuck in the middle comes out clean.Allow the zucchini bread to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. (It might fall apart if loosened too soon.) Loosen the bread around the edges with a spatula or butter knife, then turn out onto the rack. Allow it to cool for another 5 to 10 minutes before cutting.

Adapted from The American Century Cookbook by Jean Anderson

Tagged as: Baking, Bread, Breakfast, Recipes, Zucchini

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Chapati (Indian Flat Bread)

I am so glad that my friend Simply Reem is back to share a very popular Indian flat bread or “chapati” recipe with us. I came to know Reem last year and since then we have become good friends. In one of our many meetings, Reem made me some homemade chapati and I was instantly hooked on the soft, fluffy wheat bread. Reem promised to share her chapati recipe, and I can’t be happier. By the way, if you haven’t visited Simply Reem recently, do check it out as it’s refreshed with a brand new design with new contents.

Anyway, chapati is a staple in India and it’s made of really simple ingredients: wheat flour and water. The difference between a great piece of chapati and regular tasting chapati lies in techniques, and in the chapati recipe below, Reem outlined the exact techniques to make your homemade chapati soft, light, airy, and fluffy. She even took some step-by-step photos to share with us.

You can eat these chapati as is, with some butter (my favorite), or with chutney, daal, curry, etc. I will have to ask Reem to share her chutney and daal recipes with us one day. Enjoy!

(Click Page 2 for the Chapati Recipe)

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Wusthof Double Serrated Bread Knife Giveaway

I am partnering with my friends at Wüsthof to giveaway a Wüsthof Double Serrated Bread Knife. There will be one (1) winner whom will receive one (1) Wüsthof Double Serrated Bread Knife. The suggested retail value of the Wüsthof Double Serrated Bread Knife is approximately US$150.

Double serrations inside the scalloped edge of this Wusthof Classic bread knife cut so quickly and exactly, this is the knife that masters the art of precision slicing. Developed by the 7th generation owner of Wusthof, this double-serrated bread knife is the professional chef’s must-have tool to slice large artisan breads, roasts, tomatoes and tough-skinned fruit exactly, with minimal pressure. The extra-deep scalloped edge and long length of this Classic 9? bread knife cuts thick rind of melons, ensuring a smooth clean cut the entire width of the melon. Interiors of bread, fruit, melons and roasts retain the perfect original upright shape for restaurant-quality presentation. The scalloped edge on this exclusive 9? bread knife never touches the cutting board, ensuring continuous high-volume performance, with a blade that never requires sharpening.

Product Features

Deeper scalloped edge and double serrations on this premium forged knife slice ultra-smoothly and preciselyDeveloped by the 7th generation owner of Wusthof, this slicer is the professional chef’s must-have tool to quickly slice hard- and soft crusted breads, roasts and fruits without crushingDouble serrations pierce thick-skinned vegetables and tough rind on melons with minimal pressure, leaving the fleshy interior intactWüsthof signature bolster provides the heft and balance to ensure effortless slicingWüsthof’s own precision-forged high-carbon stainless-steel with full tang provides superior strength and maneuverabilityWith the wide blade, this bread knife slices larger artisan breadsErgonomic, polypropylene handle fits either hand for firm controlTriple-compression rivets with inner ring anodes safeguard from rustHandmade in Germany since 1814, Wusthof cutlery is prized by the world’s top chefs

Eligibility: United States only. Closing Date: October 21, 2012, 11:59 pm PST. Winner will be randomly selected and contacted via email on October 22, 2012. The prize is proudly sponsored by Wüsthof. To enter, please follow the steps below.

Eligibility: United States only.

Step 1
Like Rasa Malaysia on Facebook. (Click on the Like button below.)

Step 2
Follow Rasa Malaysia on Twitter. (Click on the Follow @rasamalaysia button below. If you don’t have Twitter, skip this step.)

Step 3

Like Wüsthof on Facebook. (Click on the Like button below. )

Step 4

Follow Wüsthof on Twitter. (Click on the Follow @Wusthof button below. If you don’t have Twitter, skip this step.)

Step 5
Fill in the form below. You can enter to win using this form every day.

You will be redirected to the “Thank You” page if your entry is successfully submitted.

ONE ENTRY PER DAY STRICTLY ENFORCED.

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Official Giveaway Rules

In early 2008, I shared my thoughts about Chinese and the foods that we consume in my version of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs (for Chinese people), in which I categorized the foods that Chinese eat into 4 categories. I love eating expensive Chinese food, such as abalone, fish maw, geoduck, hairy crab, etc. Most of the time, I indulge in…

Update: The winner is Jose Morales from Brownsville, Texas. Congratulations! After the birth of baby G, I am all about doing more with less. To manage my hectic lifestyle, I need tools and devices that simplify my life, and one of the most important things I use on the daily basis is my cell phone. With the holiday season just…

(This is not the real cover of the cookbook. It’s just one of the pictures I’d shot for the book.) (Updated: Thanks sooooo much for your warm participation. Due to the overwhelming responses, this is now closed. I will be selecting the participants these two days. Those selected will be contacted via email. Thanks again!! ) I am almost done…

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Greek Olga Bread

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Christmas Star Bread

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Koledna Pitka Bulgarian Christmas Bread

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Christmas Star Bread

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Koledna Pitka Bulgarian Christmas Bread

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Mini Bread Board Giveaway- Handmade from the Heart

Hello lovely friends. I went shopping again and spent quite a bit of time on Etsy. And this is always a good thing.

Searching through stores of handmade crafts on Etsy is something I can spend hours doing. Ultimately I get click happy and start adding to my cart every time I see something beautifully hand made. And if it has anything to do with vintage linens, paper or food styling props, it is super click happy-time.

I was so super stoked to find these handmade individual bread boards by Diana at Our Vintage Home Love! All the bread boards made by Diana are custom and each are unique with their own special characters based on the wood, stain and shape.

What made me fall more in love with these boards is Diana’s story. Please read her bread board story. I cried a few times. Tissues please. 

Handmade and homemade items made with love are so dear to me. Each piece weaves in a special story, a bit of the past and when I can hold it in my hands, I feel so much more inspired to love, share and give back.

So I went extra click happy and purchased a set of these boards to give away!

They are so beautifully hand crafted and are the perfect size for food photography and styling too. I just adore the different shapes of the boards and especially the lovely handles.

Diana also sells a larger selection of boards on her Etsy Store.

Good lucky everyone!

hugs and love,

diane

I purchased a set and will be giving away 2 boards to 2 different winners!

Lovely mini bread boards are hand made. Two winners will receive 2 boards. Leaves & apricots not included. But I will be giving away these vintage linens next week!

Details of bread board giveaway: (3 chances to win)

I purchased a set of these boards and will be giving away 2 boards to 2 different winners!1st chance to win: Leave a comment below and let me know what you would do with the boards if you won2nd chance to win: Follow me on twitter and tweet this giveaway with my handle included @WhiteOnRice . Leave your second comment with a link to show me that you tweeted it.3rd chance to win: Go read Diana’s bread board story. Cry a little. Let me know that you read it and leave the 3rd comment below. Giveaway ends on Wednesday 21, 2011 at midnight PST.Sometime during Thursday 22, 2011 I will ask twitter to give me  a number. The comment number matching the first twitter response will be the first winner. I will do this a second time on our Facebook Page.  Limit one set of boards per person.Please note, all these boards are handmade so the set I ordered to giveaway might not look exactly like the photographs.and btw- have you visited our Facebook page yet? We’d appreciate a “like” if you haven’t. Thank you

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Apple Tart Tatin with Banh Mi (Bread) Recipe

Apple Tart Tatin with Banh Mi (Bread) Recipe - Viet World Kitchenwindow.fbAsyncInit = function() { FB.init( { apiKey: 'a279adbe87e2b3c505e777af99a5260d', xfbml: true } );};( function() { var e = document.createElement( 'script' ); e.async = true; e.src = document.location.protocol + '//connect.facebook.net/en_US/all.js'; document.getElementById( 'fb-root' ).appendChild( e );} )();Viet World KitchenHomeAsian Dumpling TipsRecipe IndexClasses + EventsFavorite SitesAbout MePermission + CreditWelcome to Viet World Kitchen where I explore the culinary traditions of Vietnam and the rest of Asia. Join me to learn, create, and contribute!

Andrea Nguyen
Author & Teacher

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Available at: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooksRecent PostsTamarind Glazed Lamb Ribs RecipeNovember 2011 Finds: Chinese Food Week, Online Asian Markets, Art & HumorApple Tart Tatin with Banh Mi (Bread) RecipeDeep-Fried Apple Spring Rolls RecipeSpiced Siamese Peanuts RecipeMaggi Masala Chilli Sauce: An Indian Sriracha?Tackling Sriracha Myths, Truths and ConfusionRed Wine and Beef Stew in Claypot (A Franco-Viet Experiment)October 2011 Food Finds: Young ginger, pho novel, Sriracha film projectCrunchy Shrimp Balls Recipe (aka Chef's Special Balls)Awards + Praise
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November 21, 2011Apple Tart Tatin with Banh Mi (Bread) Recipe

After months of deadlines, I had a breather this past week for goofing around in the kitchen. Having succeeded with the fried apple spring rolls – a tasty exercise in mutant cooking of sorts – I decided to try a nontraditional approach to making tart tatin, a classic French upside-down fruit tart, typically made with apples. At a professional food conference this summer, I watched the legendary Jacques Pepin tweak an apple charlotte by cooking it in a skillet and putting the bread on top instead lining the pan with it; for serving, the result was inverted like a tatin. He'd crossed the charlotte with the tatin, said to be created by two sisters in in 1898.  

Since a tart tatin required caramelizing the apples stovetop followed by covering them with a pastry crust and baking, why couldn’t I substitute slices of white bread for the crust? I suppose you could think of that approach as a Franco-Viet tart tatin. Imagine a resourceful cook in Vietnam not having enough butter for cooking the apples and making the pastry. Perhaps she or he would reach for a few slices of banh mi to fudge the dough? In Vietnamese, banh mi refers to both bread and sandwich. Baguette and sliced white bread are both types of banh mi to Vietnamese people.

I had plenty of butter and flour for the pastry but frankly was feeling a little lazy about making dough, and also was very curious about how the bread would function as a crust. I also had these fears: What if the whole thing fell apart when I inverted the pan? What if the bread didn’t stick to the fruit or crisp up? What if the tart looked ugly or worse, tasted bad?

What the hell, I tried it out. I had nothing to lose but a handful of ingredients. If I succeeded, I’d have a method for making tart tatin with just 4 ingredients.

Sometime in the mid-1990s, a couple of pastry chef friends, Christophe and Maki, taught me how to make tart tatin. For an afternoon snack, they threw one together in an All-Clad skillet, with apples picked from Maki’s mom’s house, a stick of butter, cup of sugar, and thawed puff pastry. It was a cakewalk for two people who at that time had about 30 years of professional cooking between them! Nevertheless, watching them gave me the confidence to make tart tatin on the fly ever since. For this tart tatin experiment, I applied the old lessons learned  from Maki and Christophe but just tweaked the crust.

The result? Quite lovely, though I had to do some plastic surgery during unmolding.  The true test of the recipe was when I gifted the tart to our neighbors, Dan and Adrienne. Back in September, Dan had given us a big box filled with apples picked from his parents’ trees. I wanted to return the favor with something from my kitchen.

They were surprised and enthralled. Adrienne took a bite and her eyes lit up. Then she asked for the tart tatin recipe. Here it is, Adrienne. Happy Thanksgiving.

Tart Tatin Tips

8-inch skillet: Is a nice size for this recipe because 4 slices of trimmed bread is about all you need. They fit neatly without overlap to cover the apples. Plus, the 8-inch skillet is perfect for 4 servings. I normally use a 10-inch All-Clad skillet because it has good insulation to cook evenly. This time around, I pulled out a Lodge cast iron skillet (see above).Bread: I used sliced potato bread instead of short-crust pastry dough. I opted for the potato bread because it has a slightly dense crumb that would hold up well once the tart came out of the pan.  You can use a similar type of bread, maybe even gluten-free bread if that’s an issue. Lightweight Vietnamese baguette may not bake up as nicely but on the other hand, it may be just fine because you unmold the tart before serving. If you try this recipe with this type of Vietnamese bread, let me know how you fared!High-pectin apples: A tart-sweet apple, such as Pippin or Granny Smith, has a good amount of pectin to produce the slightly glossy, gelatin-like finish that also sandwiches the ingredients together and makes the tart gorgeous. I used a combination of locally grown heirloom apples.Number of apples: Fill the skillet with apples and add 1 more for the center for good measure.Ice: Arrest the cooking process with an ice bath, of sorts. This is among the best tricks I learned from Maki and Christophe.Unmold before you serve: If you unmold the tart tatin too far in advance, the bread (or pastry) may get too soft.

RECIPE

Tart Tatin with Bread

That’s right, for this take on the classic French sweet, you just need a handful of easy-to-find ingredients.  You may not use all the apples but it’s better to have a little more prepped than to have to do it in the middle of cooking.

Serves 4

4 slices white bread
1 tablespoon plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
5 tart-sweet apples (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds total), peeled, cored, and quartered

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350F.

2. Select an 8-inch oven-proof skillet for cooking the tart. Trim the crust from the bread, then put them together like a square. Invert the skillet over the bread and press to stamp the shape. Cut the bread. If you have some patches on the side, save the leftover bits to nip and tuck later on. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter and brush it on the bread. Sprinkle on the 1 teaspoon of sugar. Set aside.

3. Over medium heat, melt the 5 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 cup of sugar in the skillet. When it is more or less liquid, lower the heat to medium low and arrange the apples, cut side down around the perimeter. Make them hug one another tightly. Put some smaller pieces in the center; cut bigger pieces, if you have to. Not all the pieces will go into the skillet.

4. Cook for 25 to 30 minutes. Not much happens for the first 10 minutes. As the apples soften, they will slightly shrink. Tuck more apple pieces when you spot an opening. The same goes for the center pieces; I often slide the new apple pieces under the cooked ones in the center. Trim the apple pieces, as needed.

The liquid mixture will bubble and eventually thicken. When you notice that the center liquid is an orange-honey color – a sign that caramelization is happening – remove the skillet from the heat. When the bubbles subside, arrange the bread on top of the apples, buttered side up. If you have overflow, use a knife tip to push the edge of the bread down.

5. Bake for 20 minutes or until the bread is golden brown. In the last 5 minutes, fill a larger skillet (a 10-inch one is swell!) with ice cubes. When the tart is done, pull it from the oven and set it on top of the ice to quickly cool. Remove the tart skillet once all the ice has melted and set aside until you’re ready to serve – or about 20 minutes before serving.

6. To unmold, warm the tart over low heat for 6 to 8 minutes, until you can hear a very faint hiss. Put a serving plate over the skillet, then courageously invert to unmold.

I had to wait for a minute for mine to come out. If pieces remain in the skillet, grab a metal spatula or knife to transfer it to the tart. Bits of clinging pectin in the skillet can also be used for skilful plastic surgery. The close-up below shows how imperfect my tart was. You may not have known that from the photo at the top.

Don’t be afraid to do some last minute arranging. The important thing is that you do your surgical procedures when the ingredients are somewhat warm so they’ll stick together and look like you meant it. Your guests will NEVER know and they will love you for making them a wonderful sweet treat.

Related VWK recipes and links:

Deep-Fried Apple Spring Rolls RecipePumpkin Soup with Lime Leaf and Coconut Red Wine and Beef Stew in Claypot (A Franco-Viet Experiment)Jacques Pepin's  "More Fast Food My Way" episode in which he makes the Charlotte-Tatin

 

Posted in Recipes: All, Recipes: Banh (Crepes, dumplings, cakes, bread) Recipes, Recipes: Dessert and Sweets, Recipes: Fast and Easy, Recipes: Gluten-Free Adaptable, Recipes: Vegan, Recipes: Vegetarian | Permalink

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Mouthwatering! I can make this a daily breakfast treat. Thanks for the recipe!

Posted by:Lance Morrisey |November 21, 2011 at 05:33 PM

Looks wonderful! And thanks for the link to Jacques Pepin's show. Lots to be thankful for!

Posted by:Debra Hartmann |November 22, 2011 at 04:05 AM

You're very welcome, Lance and Debra!

Posted by:Andrea Nguyen |November 22, 2011 at 11:13 AM

pepin's awesome! How was it using a cast-iron skillet though? I fear that if I make this recipe in the skillet that I wouldn't invert it properly since it's heavy.

Posted by:jae_em |November 24, 2011 at 09:44 AM

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