Sunday, February 14, 2010

Valentine's Day

I made one half of the red beet bun dough and let it rest for 2 days. I read somewhere that it takes a while for whole grain flours to absorb the water in recipes and become fully hydrated. I also read that this is especially important for spelt flour.


I cheated and grated the beets in the food processor, so I avoided the red stained mess.




The dough had a really pretty red, almost purple color. I made the buns according to the directions and they came out a nice red color. They were moist inside and very tasty. Mike commented that he thought they tasted like they had potatoes in them, but then again he's Irish. :)
I was wondering if these could be made with grated carrots instead of beets..hmm..




The chocolate espresso bread was somewhat of a challenge to work with, very wet, and a very interesting texture. I used Ghiradelli chocolate and didn’t have the bitter taste that some of the bakers talked about. I was fooled in that the tangerine bars looked like brownies, so my taste buds were geared up for a sweeter treat, but with a dollop of chocolate ice cream on top the contrast was very tasty! With the left over dough I made a small loaf of bread that was pretty good with peanut butter.




As a side note, for Valentine’s Day I made a buttermilk chocolate cake (not with the bread dough), a one 9 inch layer that I sprinkled with confectioner’s sugar over a cut out heart stencil. It looked very pretty and tasted pretty good too. One note though, don’t sprinkle it until right before you get ready to serve because the sugar fades into the cake.




Happy Valentine’s Day!

20 comments:

Petra said...

so pretty, all your goodies look great. Chocolate and powdered sugar is really all you need to create a simple but yet elegant treat

chow and chatter said...

oh they all look wonderful i adore how you decorated the cake at the bottom

Happy Valentines Rebecca

Michelle said...

So glad you enjoyed the Red Beet Buns, we loved 'em. And not only were they good with turkey burgers, they we just as good with beef burgers!

I'm pretty sure the Beet Bread would work with just about any root vegetable, so carrots should be just fine.

The Espresso Bread is more of a savory chocolate taste but I know when you look at something with such a deep chocolate color, you expect it to be sweet, so it can be disappointing. I, too, thought it was delicious toasted!

Michelle said...

Oops forgot to mention your gorgeous Buttermilk Cheesecake! Love the idea of buttermilk in a cheesecake and the powdered sugar topping is so pretty and perfect for Valentine's Day.

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

The beet buns look very pretty, but we don't like beets so.......
Your cake looks very pretty.

Joanne said...

I am absolutely certain that the beet bread can be made with carrots! I bet that would be delicious actually.

I wasn't completely enamored with the chocolate bread. The texture got to me as well. I totally agree with you about the PB however!

Bonnie said...

What beautiful photos. Can I please have a piece of that chocolate cake?

Cristie said...

Interesting thought about the carrots . . . Your buttermilk cake is beautiful, how did you cut into it?

Elwood said...

thanks for the comments.
Christie: I just cut it in wedges. It was really moist and great with a glass of milk.

Raelyn said...

Great idea to use the food processor to avoid the red mess. That is what scared me away from making the buns so far, but I think I will give that try. Great job!

Teresa said...

Mmm...Peanut butter and chocolate bread. I'll have to try that combo. Your chocolate cake is adorable!

Judy's Bakery & Test Kitchen said...

Everything looks fabulous! I love the stencil design!

Cathy (Bread Experience) said...

Your beet buns look great! I like the idea of making them with carrots. I'll have to try that.

Megan said...

A carrot bread, very interesting!
Love the cute little cake. It all looks delicious!

Heather B said...

The color on your red beet buns is amazing! Great job on the chocolate espresso bread too!

Unknown said...

Elwood, what a fun blog! It makes me want to go out and eat bread. Keep up the great work!

teresa said...

your bread turned out beautifully! i love the last one with the powdered sugar stencil!

Clarice said...

I love the color of your beet dough! Your cake looks so pretty, too.

I hope you write about your gardening and beekeeping experiences come Spring!

Elwood said...

Thanks everyone for all the comments. I am going to start writing about the bees and gardening here soon. We are uping the number of hives from 3 to 5 so there should be plenty to blog about. :)

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

I love your idea of using carrots in the buns! I never got around to making the beet buns but yours look delicious and I'm still tempted to try them.

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