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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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 …

Happy Canada Day!

July 1, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

Candied Salmon Salad Rolls | Korena in the Kitchen Canada turns 147 years old today! If you are looking for a way to celebrate, may I suggest you make these salad rolls with candied salmon, which I posted about over on the SeaChange Seafoods blog. They are perfect to take to a picnic or barbeque, and can stand as either an appetizer or a side dish or a full meal, which is how Nate and I usually eat them.

Candied Salmon Salad Rolls | Korena in the Kitchen

And while you’re here, may I also suggest that you make this cherry almond Dutch baby: it is TO DIE FOR. I made it for breakfast a few days ago and I’m still thinking about it. It tastes like a cross between a cherry clafoutis and a cherry-almond danish, ie: really, really amazing. The only changes I made were to add a bit of vanilla bean paste to the batter and to bake it in a slightly smaller (nine inch) cast iron skillet. So good!

Smitten Kitchen's Cherry Almond Dutch Baby | Korena in the Kitchen

{Sourdough} Irish Soda Bread

March 20, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 20 Comments

I’m not so good with the holiday themed recipes here – the only things I manage to post about with any seasonal timeliness and regularity are Christmas cookies and hot cross buns – so it didn’t even occur to me until a week ago that the Irish soda bread chosen for this month’s Sourdough Surprises coincides with St Patrick’s Day. I know it’s a few days late, but that doesn’t make it any less delicious.

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Baklava Sticky Buns

February 17, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 22 Comments

I often get a craving for baklava, but very rarely does it actually get satisfied. Unless you are in the vicinity of a decent Greek restaurant or willing to make it yourself, good baklava is hard to come by. Honestly, I think the last time I had some was when I made it with homemade phyllo (which was a project-and-a-half, let me tell you!) so it is long overdue. I made these sticky buns to serve along with the Montreal bagels I made for brunch last month, and as I couldn’t get baklava out of my head, I made them according to that flavour profile: a finely chopped nut filling of almonds, walnuts, and pistachios, and a sticky honey goo flavoured with cinnamon, cloves, and orange zest. These sticky buns might be missing the crunchy phyllo element, but they really do taste like baklava!

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Buckwheat Dutch Baby with Brown Butter Pears

February 14, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 13 Comments

On rushed weekday mornings, breakfast is by necessity a simple affair consisting of whatever takes less than five minutes to throw together that I can wolf down before rushing out the door to work. So on weekends, I take advantage of those long, lazy mornings to make things like pancakes, waffles, bacon, eggs, or homemade bagels. Conveniently, those long, lazy mornings also have good light for photos, which is more than I can say for the dark, early, winter afternoons that currently follow…

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Montreal-Style Bagels

January 22, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 11 Comments

Montreal bagels in a basket

In the summer we started a little brunch tradition with friends, but in recent months have let it slide a bit. Now that another set of our friends have recently moved into the neighbourhood, January seemed the perfect opportunity to resurrect our brunch dates and put into action the homemade bagels I’ve have in my head ever since seeing this picture of a brunch starring the New York bagel. Only because I’m Canadian, my bagels would be of the Montreal variety, which, of course, meant looking up a million recipes in order to begin the agonizing process of picking the best one. I eventually came across a recipe on The Fresh Loaf posted by an alumnus of Vancouver Island University’s culinary arts program, who claimed that the formula was from the famed St Viateur Bagel bakery in Montreal, whose bagels are supposed to be the real deal.

brunch on the table …

Pear Ginger Muffins with Hazelnuts and Milk Chocolate

January 4, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Happy New Year!

For my first post of 2014, I bring you muffins. Muffins fit in with all those well-intentioned New Year’s resolutions about eating better and being frugal – these muffins in particular came about from the need to use up three very tired-looking pears, which were made into an extremely delicious pear ginger sauce to put in the muffin batter. However, underneath their nubbly, virtuous-looking brown exterior, they contain a little bit of sin: chunks of hazelnut milk chocolate, a large bar of which I “won” in a present exchange game over the holidays. Truth be told, these muffins are more sinful than not – a muffin like this is basically just a rustic cupcake – but now that the Christmas tree is put away and it’s back to reality (ie: work), they helped ease the sting a little.

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Humongous Sourdough Popovers

December 20, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 24 Comments

I interrupt the steady stream of sugary treats coming out of my kitchen to bring you these massive sourdough popovers. Seriously, LOOK AT HOW BIG THEY ARE.

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Whole Grain Triticale Waffles with Pomegranate and Orange

November 17, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 9 Comments

After a successful first milling experience with my WonderMill grain mill, I went on a bit of a whole grain shopping spree at the local bulk health food store and came home with bags of hard white wheat berries (for bread), soft white wheat berries (for pastries), and some triticale berries (for experimenting). Triticale (pronounced trit-uh-KAY-lee) is a cross between rye and wheat and apparently can be used mostly interchangeably for either of those two grains, however because it’s part rye, it does contain less gluten than wheat. Here you can see the difference in appearance between triticale (left) and hard white wheat (right) – if I’d had some rye berries, you would see that triticale falls right in the middle of wheat and rye:

I’ve only ever used triticale in its flaked form (like rolled oats) to make granola, so I wanted to branch out a bit. I decided to stick to breakfast and make some waffles. This is a twist on my favorite 100% whole wheat waffle recipe, which always comes out light and fluffy and crisp. My favorite trick is to stack any leftovers between waxed paper and freeze them, then chuck them in the toaster for a decent breakfast on rushed mornings. Best toaster waffles ever, let me tell you!

I used a mix of triticale and whole wheat flours because 100% triticale waffles would be too crumbly. If you can’t find triticale, feel free to use all whole wheat flour, or perhaps a little bit of rye. I was inspired to do something with pomegranate after seeing the miraculous de-seeding technique in this video (seriously, it’s miraculous, especially if you’ve ever gone to the trouble of digging the arils, one by one, out of a juicy red pomegranate), so I added some to the batter along with some orange zest, which I thought would pair well with the stronger, nuttier flavour of triticale.

These waffles are deliciously nutty from the triticale, substantial but still remarkably fluffy for 100% whole grain, and the orange and pomegranate give them a nice tart sweetness. Topped with fresh pomegranate arils, some orange segments, and just a bit of maple syrup, they are delicious! Head over to the Grain Mill Wagon Challenge blog for the full recipe. 🙂