No-Knead Beer Bread

So these past two weeks have been kind of hectic insane totally crazy. I am now two weeks into my new job and one week into a little bug I affectionately call The Plague. Oh, and I whizzed on in to the ripe old age of 24 this past Monday. Somehow during all of this I also managed to start and finish the entire Hunger Games trilogy. I think I may have snuck in a nap or two, swirled 'A' into the mixture and came out on the other end alive but lacking a voice. Hopefully a new book, some honey & lemon tea and a little bit a sun will be the cure I need.

As you may have guessed, there wasn't much time for blogging. And by not much time I mean none at all. I think I may have looked at my photo log to see if anything was queued up but that's as far as I got. So here I am, Sunday afternoon, willing my voice to work and ready to blog. If you notice this post is a little bit shorter than most it's because I most likely fell asleep and gave up.

I have been able to cook only a little bit in the past few weeks; it's mainly just food for lunch at work. Now that I'm falling into a routine, I hope it might become a little bit more of a regular occurrence and less of a side-thought. I made this particular loaf of bread maybe a month or more back. Don't worry, it's not sitting stale on my kitchen counter. I think 'A' and I gobbled the whole thing up the night I baked it. As I am a pretty big fan of the no-knead bread movement, I decided to try a little variation on the classic. Throw some beer in (it's extra yeast, right?) and call it good.

I'll save my voice and stop rambling but before I go, I guess you'll want the recipe.

No-Knead Beer Bread

Recipe adapted from Cook’s Illustrated

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoon water at room temperature
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoon mild lager at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon wine vinegar

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.
2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch frying pan and spray with non-stick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Use a little flour on your work surface if you need to.
3. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined frying pan and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.
4. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place a Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500F.
5. Lightly flour top of dough and, using a sharp knife, make one long, 1/2inch deep slit along top of dough.
6. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Replace the lid and place in oven.
7. Reduce oven temperature to 425F/220C degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes.
8. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown  20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

As you can tell from the picture above… these should probably be called Irish-American Car Bomb Cupcakes.  This past Monday was JP’s 21^st birthday!  He has one sole passion in life: John Deere.  While JP knew he was getting cupcakes brought to his Ultimate Frisbee game on Sunday, Sam bought some cupcake toppers to surprise him with.  As opposed to when I made the Irish Car Bomb Cake, I used a mixture of cake and all-purpose flour, which actually seemed to make the cupcakes a little fluffier (the cake was very dense).  Everyone on the team loved the cupcakes and it was (hopefully) a little bit of a morale booster after their close, and sad, loss to Purdue’s team.

Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes

Adapted from Une-Deux Senses

For the Guinness chocolate cupcakes:

• 1 cup stout beer/ Guinness
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs (make sure they're at room temperature)
• 2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey's ganache filling:

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsn. butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp. Bailey's Irish cream

For the Bailey's buttercream frosting:

• 8 tbsn. unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3-4 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 4 - 8 tbsn. Bailey's Irish cream (I used just a little more than this)

 Directions:

1. To make the cupcakes, preheat oven to 350 F. Line a cupcake tin with liners and set aside.
2. Combine stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend.
5. Add stout mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low until incorporated.
6. Divide batter among cupcake liner about 2/3 full and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 15 minutes. Cool completely.
7. To make the ganache, place chocolate in heatproof bowl.
8. Heat cream in saucepan until simmering, then pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth.
9. Add butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped (you can use the refrigerator to speed the process but stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling). Meanwhile, cut a portion from the center of the cupcake using the cone method and once the ganache is of the right consistency, pipe the ganache into the centers.
10. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until light and fluffy.
11. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated. Mix in Bailey's until smooth. Add more if necessary until frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading. Frost the cupcakes as desired and enjoy!

** Decorate with excess chocolate ganache

Irish Car Bomb Cake

HAPPY 21st BIRTHDAY, ZENKA!  This past Tuesday, "the day of Zenka's birth, she FINALLY turned 21.  Now, if you know Zenka, she loves chocolate.  In fact, she swore off chocolate until her birthday - what a better way to hop back on the chocoholic train than to eat this cake!?  Also - Irish Car Bomb = a type of shot.  Zenka = can legally drink.  And I am Irish, and no, I don't take offense to name of the shot/cake.

The cake itself is very dense and has a strong, deep flavor.  I did use dark chocolate cocoa, so next time I may just use "regular" cocoa.  The buttercream though… was amazing.  I think I will make it again to frost other cakes.  It had a nice coffee flavor with a hint of vanilla and was so creamy.  However good this cake tasted… the decorating didn't go as planned.  I frosted the cake with a beautiful layer of the buttercream and did some nice piping along the bottom and top of the cake, and I was going to pipe some delicate strands of the ganache.  Oh, if only I were more graceful.  I was piping the ganache and it exploded…everywhere.  So I had to resort to having a layer of ganache OVER the buttercream.  Next time, I will be more careful.  But i really did love this cake and hope to make it again soon.  So… if you have a birthday coming up… let me know (wink wink).

Irish Car Bomb Cake

For the Guinness chocolate cake:

• 1 cup stout beer/ Guinness
• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 tsp. salt
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup sour cream

For the Bailey's ganache:

• 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 2/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsn. butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp.  Bailey's Irish cream

For the Bailey's buttercream frosting:

• 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
• 6-8 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1/3 cup Bailey's Irish cream, then keep adding until desired consistency is reached (I used about…eh… 3/4 of a cup)

1. To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 F. Grease two cake pans and line with a circle of parchment paper on the bottom. Combine stout and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the cocoa and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly. In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the eggs and sour cream to blend. Add stout mixture and beat to combine. Mix in dry ingredients on low until incorporated. Divide batter among cake pans and bake until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, about 35 minutes (for me it took a little longer, but again, blame the oven). Cool completely.
2. To make the ganache, place chocolate in heatproof bowl. Heat cream in saucepan until simmering, then pour over chocolate, let sit for 1 minute, then stir until smooth. Add butter and Bailey's and stir until combined. Set aside until cool and thick enough to be piped (you can use the refrigerator to speed the process but stir every 10 minutes to ensure even cooling). 
3. To make the frosting, place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat on medium high until light and fluffy. Gradually add powdered sugar until incorporated. Mix in Bailey's until smooth. Add more if necessary until frosting has reached a good consistency for piping or spreading. Frost the cakes as desired and enjoy!