Whole Wheat Sourdough Croissants

October 21, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 38 Comments

Whole Wheat Sourdough Croissants | Korena in the Kitchen Almost a year ago exactly, David Lebovitz posted a recipe for whole wheat croissants on his blog. I have been meaning to make them ever since, and I finally found an excuse to do it for this month’s Sourdough Surprises project. I haven’t baked with the group for a few months and my poor, poor starter has definitely been suffering because of it: when I pulled it out of the fridge at the beginning of the month, knowing that I’d need to revive it after not feeding it for a very long time, the top had actually turned grey. My heart sank because I thought I’d killed for real, but upon closer inspection it smelled fine and I was able to scrape off the grey layer (which was just discolouration and not anything more sinister). A few aggressive discards and feeds later, it was back to its happy, bubbling self. Moral of the story: despite appearances, a well-established sourdough starter is actually really really hard to kill!

Whole Wheat Sourdough Croissants | Korena in the Kitchen

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Thanksgiving Turchetta, Etc – aka The Best Turkey Ever

October 19, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

Turchetta, Etc | Korena in the Kitchen Thanksgiving here in Canada has come and gone, and with it came time with family and lots and lots of food. After the success of last year’s de-boned, rolled, and stuffed turkey, I knew wanted to try something equally – if not more – amazing. Enter the turchetta: a rolled turkey breast prepared in the style of porchetta, which is a roasted pork loin of infinite deliciousness. I’ve got to say, the turkey version is also pretty infinitely delicious, and less work than removing all the bones from a turkey!…

Blackberry Cinnamon Buns

October 2, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

Blackberry Cinnamon Buns | Korena in the Kitchen

Several weeks ago we were invited to Nate’s aunt’s house for a “bun throw”, which, as it turns out, has nothing to do with actually throwing buns – it’s more of a family brunch. Nevertheless, I figured buns were appropriate, so I made cinnamon buns. But not just regular cinnamon buns: I added blackberries.

Blackberry Cinnamon Buns | Korena in the Kitchen …

French Chocolate Cake

September 14, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

French Chocolate Cake | Korena in the Kitchen The building where I work has a really nice high performance gym, and I’m lucky to have a flexible-enough work schedule so that I can work out there three mornings a week. However, along with warm-up, cool-down, showering, and making myself look presentably professional for work, this only leaves about twenty to thirty minutes for actual exercise, so to get the most bang for my buck I usually end up doing some combination of lifting moderately heavy things at a high intensity (aka “lifting weights faster“). As a result, I guess I look like I’m working pretty hard, because I often get asked what I’m training for. My stock answer is, “I’m training for life”, but more accurately it should probably be something along the lines of, “I have a tendency to bake and eat a lot of cake and I need some way to balance it out if I’m going to fit into my jeans.” Because there is no way I’m *not* going to bake and eat a chocolate cake as delicious as this one:

French Chocolate Cake | Korena in the Kitchen …

Blackberry Cream Cheese Ensaimadas

August 29, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Blackberry Cream Cheese Ensaimadas | Korena in the Kitchen Ensaimadas, a coiled Spanish pastry of enriched yeasted dough, were the second half of August’s Daring Bakers Challenge, and I’m happy to share that these blackberry and cream cheese filled babies are probably the best thing I’ve made in a long time. Thank you Swathi for this recipe!

Blackberry Cream Cheese Ensaimadas | Korena in the Kitchen …

Daring Bakers: Kürtőskalács {Chimney Cakes}

August 27, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 13 Comments

Kürtőskalács (Chimney Cakes ) | Korena in the Kitchen

The August Daring Bakers’ Challenge took us for a spin! Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen taught us to make rolled pastries inspired by Kürtőskalács, a traditional Hungarian wedding pastry. These tasty yeasted delights gave us lots to celebrate!

Once again, the Daring Bakers have introduced me to a pastry I probably never would have come across myself, and given me a history lesson in the progress. Kürtőskalács or “chimney cakes” are a traditional yeasted pastry from Szeklerland, which is an ethnic Hungarian enclave in the Transylvanian region of present day Romania. The pastry is now common in many Hungarian-speaking regions as well as the Czech Republic.

Kürtőskalács (Chimney Cakes) | Korena in the Kitchen …

Triple Berry Apple Pie

August 22, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

Triple Berry Apple Pie | Korena in the Kitchen

Blackberry season – my very favourite season – is here, and with it comes the urge to bake pies. This one in particular came about as the result of a very successful trip to the local blackberry patch – aka, a ditch just up the road from us – plus the discovery of a few apples in the fruit bowl that were getting soft and some local strawberries and blueberries in the fridge.

Triple Berry Apple Pie | Korena in the Kitchen …

How to Make a Fondant-Covered Wedding Cake

August 2, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 12 Comments

Fondant-Covered Wedding Cake | Korena in the Kitchen And so, finally, here is the wedding cake I made for my friends Sam and Whittney. This is the second wedding cake I’ve made now, and somehow both of them have required me to transport all of the necessary components and equipment via ferry and cooler to Vancouver and assemble them in someone else’s kitchen in the middle of the summer heat. It just adds to the challenge, right? 😉

Cake cutting | Korena in the Kitchen …

Daring Bakers: Chocolate & Vanilla Checkerboard Cake

July 27, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 24 Comments

For the July Daring Baker’s Challenge, Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to bake a cake. But not just any cake; she asked us to add in a special surprise for our eyes as well as our taste buds!

It was my birthday at the beginning of July (thirty one! how the hell did that happen?!) so, as per my favorite birthday tradition, I made myself a cake. Coincidentally, the Daring Bakers challenge this month was to make a cake with a surprise on the inside, so I made this cake, which looks like nothing special at first…

Chocolate & Vanilla Checkerboard Cake | Korena in the Kitchen …

The Best Red Velvet Cake with Magical Cream Cheese Frosting

July 22, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 32 Comments

The Best Red Velvet Cake with Magical Cream Cheese Frosting | Korena in the Kitchen I’m going to be perfectly honest here: I don’t really get what all the fuss is about with red velvet cake. In fact, most of the time, I tend to agree with the guy who said, “it’s chocolate and red food dye, f*ck that, it’s dumb” (read that entire post – it’s hilarious!). I think that most people who say they like red velvet cake really mean that they like cream cheese frosting, and for that I can’t blame them – but the “red velvet” part just seems like a gimmick. I know it is seen as a classic in the southern USA, but the recipe for the brightly-coloured, dye-laden cake was actually developed as a crafty way for a food dye company to boost sales post-World War II. Plus, I find that the flavour of red velvet cake, which is basically a buttermilk cake made with a tiny amount of cocoa powder, doesn’t taste all that unique or special in the first place and is easily overwhelmed by cream cheese frosting. So when Whittney and Sam requested it for their wedding, I knew I’d have to do my homework to find a red velvet cake with flavour.

Red Velvet Cakes | Korena in the Kitchen

Red velvet cake-off

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