January 22, 2021

Caramelized Tomato and Mozzarella Bread

Name: Caramelized Tomato and Mozzarella Pull-Apart Bread
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 50 min
Total time: 3 h 50 min
Cuisine: italian
Ingredients: 2 tsp active dry yeast; 1 tsp granulated sugar; 3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk; 4 tbsp (56 g) unsalted butter, softened; 1 egg, at room temperature; 2 1/3 cup (300 g) all purpose flour; 1 tsp kosher salt; 1 (14-oz) can Pomi Chopped Tomatoes; 4 cloves garlic, in paper; 1 tbsp olive oil; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper; 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened; Caramelized tomatoes and roasted garlic, recipe below; 2 tbsp fresh basil; 1 tbsp fresh parsley; 1/2 tsp kosher salt; 1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper; 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese; 5 oz low-moisture mozzarella cheese, sliced; Beaten egg, for egg wash; 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

January 22, 2021/ Anna Ramiz

this recipe is sponsored by Pomi USA

Happy New Year everyone! I’ve been a little quiet on here for the past month because I needed a little break after 12 new Christmas recipes. We also bought a house, which turned out to be quite the endeavor! But my kitchen is unpacked and I’m back and ready to go, friends! I’m kicking off 2021 with this savory caramelized tomato and mozzarella pull-apart bread because it’s the comfort food we all need.

For my job as a recipe developer, I get to work with a lot of different brands and Pomi is one of my favorites. Most of my weeknight dinners hinge on canned tomatoes and I love that Pomi tomatoes are high-quality Italian tomatoes that won't break the bank. They are also so versatile and can make everything from classic marinara sauces to tikka masala. And of course, bread.

This pull-apart bread tastes like a hot pocket and I’m not mad about it. Canned tomatoes get roasted low and slow in the oven with a couple cloves of garlic before being stirred into an herbed butter to create a tomato butter that you could honestly just swipe onto crackers and it would be excellent. But we’re taking it a step further and stuffing dollops of tomato butter and slices of mozzarella cheese into a light, fluffy buttermilk dough, folding them like little pizza tacos and tucking them into a loaf. The whole thing is proofed, dusted with parmesan cheese, and baked. It’s a little pizza bread work of art.

tomatoes, italian, bread recipes, pull-apart bread, cheesy bread, mozzarella cheese

breads

italian

Yield: makes one 9” loaf pan

Author: Anna Ramiz

Caramelized Tomato and Mozzarella Pull-Apart Bread

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 50 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 3 H & 50 M

Ingredients

for the buttermilk dough

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp granulated sugar
3/4 cup (180 ml) buttermilk
4 tbsp (56 g) unsalted butter, softened
1 egg, at room temperature
2 1/3 cup (300 g) all purpose flour
1 tsp kosher salt

for the caramelized tomatoes

1 (14-oz) can Pomi Chopped Tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, in paper
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper

for the tomato butter

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
Caramelized tomatoes and roasted garlic, recipe below
2 tbsp fresh basil
1 tbsp fresh parsley
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

5 oz low-moisture mozzarella cheese, sliced
Beaten egg, for egg wash
2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese, for sprinkling

Instructions

to make the caramelized tomatoes

Preheat oven to 300° F and line a rimmed sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, toss garlic cloves with olive oil and pour out onto prepared pan.
Pour chopped tomatoes on the pan with the garlic, sprinkle everything with salt and pepper and give it a quick stir.
Roast for 45-50 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes or so, until tomatoes are a deep red color and almost all of the liquid has evaporated.
Let cool completely.

to make the tomato butter

Into a medium bowl, squeeze the roasted garlic cloves from above out of their skins. Add salt, fresh basil and parsley, and parmesan cheese. Mash together with a fork.
Add the softened butter and the caramelized tomatoes and stir well, until combined and homogenous.

to make the buttermilk dough and tomato bread

Heat buttermilk in the microwave until warm to the touch. Pour into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment and add the yeast. Let rest for 5 minutes, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, until yeast is foamy.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, and kosher salt. Set aside.
When yeast is ready, add the egg to the buttermilk and yeast mixture and whisk briefly to combine.
Add the dry ingredients to the mixer and mix on medium speed for 2-3 minutes, until a shaggy dough forms.
Decrease mixer speed to low and gradually add softened butter, one tablespoon at a time. When all of the butter has been added increase speed to medium-high and knead for 5-6 minutes until dough is smooth and elastic. Scrape down the sides of the dough and gently shape into a round. Place dough in a lightly-oiled bowl, cover, and let proof at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, until doubled in size.
When dough has completed its first proof, turn it out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Let rest, covered with a towel, for 15 minutes.
Working with one bowl at a time, roll or press each ball into a 4-5” round. Fill the center of each round with a tablespoon of tomato butter and a slice of mozzarella cheese. Fold the dough circle upwards into a half-moon shape, so that each circle looks like a little filled taco.
Place each filled dough-taco, open side up, in a row in a lightly-oiled loaf pan. Cover the loaf pan with a towel or plastic wrap and let proof at room temperature again for 30-40 minutes, until swollen and dough has risen to the height of the pan.
Brush the top of the loaf with beaten egg and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Bake at 350° F for 40-45 minutes, until deeply golden brown.
Let cool for 5-10 minutes in pan before removing from pan and serving.

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December 17, 2020

Pear Tarte Tatin

December 17, 2020/ Anna Ramiz

I’m back with another new Christmas dessert recipe for you for Day 5 of 12 Days of Christmas Desserts. In case you haven’t quite figured it out yet, I love all things French. When I was little, my aunt used to go to Paris on a regular basis and when any of us cousins turned 12, she took us with her. I vividly remember my 8 year-old self seeing pictures and hearing stories from my cousin’s first French getaway and counting down the days until my 12th birthday. Unfortunately, we moved from North Carolina to Florida later that year and life got in the way and coordinating trips to Paris fell to the wayside. But 20 years later, my time came. My generous aunt packed us up and we spent 10 days in Aix-en-Provence, a region in the South of France, celebrating our birthdays (because we share the same birthdate) and it was really all I imagined my first trip to France being. Then last year, Martin and I spent a few days wandering the streets of Paris and Bordeaux and I began shopping for French real estate. I once listened to a podcast interview with Dorie Greenspan where she said that the first time she walked off of the plane in Paris, she thought to herself "I could have been born here” and I feel that deeply in my soul.

But since Europe doesn’t yet recognize Martin’s professional licenses and I currently do not make enough money off of my writing to support us living overseas, I’ve resigned myself to reading David Lebovitz books and eating steak frites, and drinking lots of wine. Oh, and making French pastries.

Tarte Tatin is a very classic French dessert and it’s somewhat of an upside-down tart. It’s often made with apples, but I had some really beautiful pears in my most recent Misfits Market box that were begging to be snuggled in puff pastry. It’s really a fairly simple recipe, once you know what you are looking for. I did a lot of tarte tatin research in creating this recipe and all of the recipes that I found really don’t differ much. I very slightly adapted one from Deb Perlman at Smitten Kitchen, who had slightly adapted her recipe from the most-talented Susan Spungeon.

I found that the easiest way to make the caramel is by using a large, deep skillet where you can easily see the color of the sugar as it cooks and then transfer everything to a cast iron for baking. You can use store-bought puffy pastry or make your own, I have a recipe with step-by-step instructions here. The most important thing is to let the pastry cool completely (30-60 minutes) before inverting it to keep from having to clean up a sticky, caramel mess.

Pear Tarte Tatin

makes one 10” skillet

slightly adapted from Deb Perlman who adapted from Susan Spungen

Ingredients

4 tbsp (55 g) unsalted butter

3/4 cup (150 g) granulated sugar

Juice of 1/2 of a lemon

2 tbsp dark rum

1 sheet puff pastry, store-bought or homemade

6 pears, each sliced into eighths

Procedure

Place your cut pears into a large bowl and squeeze the juice of half of a lemon over top of them. Toss to coat and then set aside.
Pour sugar in an even layer in the bottom of a large skillet. Turn the heat to medium heat and cook, without stirring until sugar begins to dissolve and turn golden. When all of the sugar has dissolved, you may swirl the pan once or twice. Cook until a deep amber color.
When the sugar is a deep brown liquid, whisk in the butter. The mixture will bubble and sputter, but that’s ok, keep whisking. Once the butter is melted, whisk in the rum.
Add the pears to the caramel and stir to coat. Cook over medium-low heat for 20-25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until pears are softened and caramel is bubbly.
Use tongs to arrange the pear slices in an even layer in the bottom of a 10” cast iron skillet (or deep pie plate) and then pour the remaining caramel over the top. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
While the pears are cooling, preheat the oven to 400° F.
Roll your sheet of puff pastry out into a circle just larger than the skillet and trim the edges. When the pears are mostly cool, gently lay the puff pastry over the top of the skillet and slice a small hole in the center to let steam escape.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until pastry is deeply golden and caramel is bubbling.
Let the tarte tatin cool completely in the skillet (at least 30 minutes) before carefully inverting onto a plate or serving dish.

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December 03, 2020

Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns

December 03, 2020/ Anna Ramiz

Did you know that the first weekend in October is Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden? They celebrate by eating cinnamon buns and often those cute little Swedish dough twists are brought into workplaces and given to friends all over the country. This sounds like the most wonderful holiday and I’m ready to move to Sweden where I can live among my kind of people.

I discovered this because one of Martin’s players is from Sweden and this kind man brought IKEA cinnamon buns to work for everyone to celebrate. It was a Sunday afternoon and I got a text from Martin that said “Did you know it’s Cinnamon Bun Day in Sweden?! We should make some tonight!” Side note: When Martin says “we” should make something, he mostly means I should make something so that he can eat something, but in all fairness, he washes dishes for me so I can’t complain. Anyway, it was already 4 pm and I am not a night baker, but I felt moved by the holiday and decided to go for it. I adapted one of my brioche recipes and made these sweet little buns. We baked off a few that night (for testing purposes, of course) and I let the rest do a little overnight proof in the fridge. Friends, they were beautiful. Their little Circus-bakery-esque twists were filled with cinnamon and tahini and cardamom. They were fluffy and pillowy and I brushed them with a honey cinnamon syrup and all was right with the world.

We may not have a National Cinnamon Bun Day (or maybe we do, there are so many food holidays, I can’t keep it straight), but December feels like unofficial Cinnamon Bun season which gives us permission to eat cinnamon-swirled dough of all shapes and sizes well into January.

In practical information, I have lots of notes on this recipe regarding proofing, chilling, and shaping. There are many options to help you work this recipe into your schedule, so be sure to read the notes at the bottom. There are also step-by-step shaping instructions down there, too! And as always, feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions. I love talking baking with friends. :)

Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns

makes 12 rolls

Ingredients

for the brioche

100 g (about 1/2 cup) milk

100 g (about 1/2 cup) buttermilk

14 g (3 tsp) active dry yeast

400 g all purpose flour

130 g spelt flour

60 g granulated sugar

1 tsp kosher salt

3 eggs, at room temperature

113 g (1/2 cup) butter

for the filling

4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened

10 g tahini, well-stirred

135 g (2/3 cup) brown sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

pinch of salt

for the honey syrup

1/2 cup water

170 g (1/2 cup) honey

3 cinnamon sticks

egg wash

demerara sugar

Procedure

to make the honey syrup:

In a small saucepan, stir together water and honey. Add cinnamon sticks and bring to a boil. When the mixture is boiling, remove from heat and let cool completely. Strain out cinnamon sticks and set aside.
You will have a decent amount of syrup leftover- we love to use this in coffee in the mornings.

to make the filling:

Combine butter and tahini in a medium bowl and stir together until smooth. Add brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt and mix well until a paste forms. Set aside.

to make the brioche

Place butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, for 6-7 minutes until butter is fragrant and foamy and small brown bits are beginning to appear at the bottom of the saucepan. Remove from heat and immediately transfer butter to a clean bowl to stop cooking. Set aside and let cool completely.
Combine milk and buttermilk in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave for 30-45 seconds, until just warm to the touch. Add yeast to the warm milk and stir gently. Let rest for about 5 minutes, until yeast is foamy and dissolved.
While the yeast is proofing, combine all purpose flour, spelt flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment. Mix briefly, about 20 seconds, just to combine.
In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs. Create a small well in the center of the dry ingredients, then pour in milk/yeast mixture, along with the beaten eggs and the cooled browned butter.. Knead, beginning on low speed and gradually increasing to medium for 2-3 minutes until everything is combined and hydrated and no flour bits remain. Once a dough begins to form, increase your mixer speed to medium-high and knead for 6–8 minutes more, until a smooth, elastic dough has formed.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and gently press dough into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and let proof for 1 hour in a warm space, until dough is doubled in size.
When the dough has completed it’s first proof, gently punch it down, re-cover it, and place it in the refrigerator to chill for at least one hour, or up to 12 (see notes below for more instruction on overnight proofing).
When the dough has finished chilling, turn it out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Roll the dough out into a rectangle about 13x16” in size and about 1/4” thick.
Filling and shaping: Use a small offset spatula to smear the filling mixture in an even layer over the surface of the dough, reaching all the way to the edges. Fold the dough into thirds, as if you were folding a letter (see pictures below) and then cut the dough into 1” strips. Twist each strip into a knot and place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 2” in between each bun. Cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and let proof again for 45 minutes, until buns are puffy.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375° F. Brush each bun with egg wash and then sprinkle with a bit of Demerara sugar. Bake for 22-25 minutes until buns are deeply golden brown. Immediately brush hot buns with honey syrup and enjoy!

Notes:

Options for chilling/proofing

As with any yeasted dough, refrigeration helps to slow down fermentation and allows for more flavor development. With enriched doughs, it also helps to make the dough easier to handle because it gives the butter a chance to cool down and return to a more solid state.

-For the quickest buns, follow the instructions exactly as they are written in the recipe above by proofing the dough for an hour at room temperature, then transferring it to the refrigerator to proof for another hour before rolling, shaping, final proofing (shaped), and baking.

-You can also proof the dough for an hour on the countertop and then transfer the the dough to the refrigerator overnight (or 12-18 hours). After a long chill, let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes-1 hour (just to take the chill off) before rolling, filling and shaping, following steps 8 and 9 in the recipe as written above. This method gives the dough the longest bulk fermentation and will allow for the most flavor development.

-Finally, a third option is to follow the above recipe through the shaping and filling. After creating your buns, you can cover the sheet tray well with plastic wrap and refrigerate them shaped overnight. Allow the dough to proof at room temperature for closer to 2 hours before baking (so that dough can come to room temperature and then complete that 45 minute proof), before brushing and baking.