Sunday, March 27, 2011

March Daring Bakers' Challenge - Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake

Let me start by saying how much I love the Daring Kitchen. I have enjoyed every challenge in which I have participated, and many more that I saw (either through foodgawker, or just random food-blog hopping...) before I joined the kitchen myself. The challenges are well thought out, well planned and well executed. The hosts and hostesses put a lot of thought into their challenge recipes and always offer awesome ideas, tips and encouragement on the forums. It is always fun to see the inspiration for each host's challenge, too. This month, though, might just have the most fun story behind it.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.

And do you want to know the source of the recipe that they provided us? One of our hostesses, Jamie, found it on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date - nothing. But she tried it and loved it, and then she shared it with all of us! How cool is that??

From the moment I read the recipe and saw the pictures, I was very excited to try it. It looked good, it sounded good, and those eager bakers who started right away were giving it glowing reviews.

The dough recipe was very straightforward and easy to follow. There are many bakers out there who are afraid of yeast, and I can understand that - it can be temperamental, and there are definitely rules that should be followed when using it. Add to that the different varieties available (fresh, instant, active dry...) and things can get very confusing. I have been very lucky with my yeasted recipes, so had no fears entering into this challenge. The yeast was whisked together with the dry ingredients while butter, milk and water were set in a saucepan over low heat, just long enough to melt the butter.

The dough was actually worked somewhat like batter at first, with the ingredients being beaten together in stages, before the final amount of flour was kneaded in to create a beautiful, soft, smooth, silky dough. And trust me - the dough is absolutely, amazingly soft, smooth and silky.

Once the dough was set aside to rise, it was time to prepare my fillings. The recipe makes enough dough for two coffee cakes, so I considered making two different fillings, but one of the recommended fillings sounded so good that I didn't want to stray too far from it. Hostess Jamie recommended using a cinnamon sugar/nut/chocolate chip combination to fill the coffee cake and, well, how can you go wrong with that? Where I decided to change things up, though, was to make two different shapes for my two coffee cakes. And to fill them only slightly differently. So I chopped enough pecans to use on one coffee cake, and made two variations of cinnamon sugar - one using white sugar and one using brown sugar. And, of course, enough chocolate chips to use on both versions.

And there was one more aspect to the filling of this coffee cake, as indicated by the title - meringue. I have never used meringue in any kind of bread or cake recipe, but this one called for a layer of it to be spread over the rolled out dough, then covered with the above-mentioned fillings (or, really, any filling the bakers chose). Sounded very interesting to me, so I beat my egg whites nice and stiff and was ready to give it a shot!

Little miss helped a lot with the preparation of the coffee cakes. Of course she handled the punching down of the dough:










And did a not-insignificant amount of the dough-rolling:










She spread on the meringue:










And helped me sprinkle on the toppings, too:










I then handled the shaping portion of the process. Just like the stollen from December's challenge, the dough, once covered with its filling, was rolled up jelly roll style and shaped into a ring, which was then cut around the edges to give the final ring the look of a wreath.


I knew the wreath would be pretty, just from my experience with the stollen. Even so, I was amazed by what it looked like coming out of the oven. I did forget to coat it with egg wash before putting it into the oven, which would have given it a nice shine, but I really didn't miss it. It looked beautiful and smelled delicious.

As for the second half of the dough, rather than making two of these giant wreaths, I chose to follow the the inspiration of the filling and rolling of the dough, and I cut the rolled-up loaf into cinnamon rolls.

I have to say - both were absolutely delicious. The wreath was filled with the white sugar based cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips and included the chopped pecans. The cinnamon roll style version used the brown sugar based cinnamon sugar and chocolate chips. The meringue melted into the wreath style version, making the bread moist and delicious. Because more of the meringue oozed out (in a good way...) of the cinnamon roll style version due to the extra cutting and handling, it actually created a crispy, somewhat nougat-y flavor and texture to the filling. Both were amazingly delicious, especially when heated, and made for fantastic desserts, breakfasts and snacks for the short time they were around.

But that was not the end of the story. After this first attempt, I knew I wanted to try it again. The dough was just so wonderful - easy to make, easy to work with and so delicious, that the possibilities were endless. I had so many ideas, both sweet and savory, for variations of this challenge. But there was one variation that would not leave my head, and so I knew I had to try it before the end of the challenge month.

One breakfast treat that I have never attempted to make, yet that daddy and I always love from a bakery, is a cheese danish. And I just knew that this dough would make an absolutely delicious cheese danish style breakfast treat.

For my second batch, I halved the dough recipe, wanting only to make one cheese danish loaf. I also decided to give the dough one extra rise, as many of the bakers had indicated that this made the dough even better (which, thinking about the science of yeast and gluten and all that goes into bread baking, makes perfect sense). Once my dough was ready, I decided to try a new shape, too - just for the fun of it! I had seen before (and even attempted, with very poor results) braided filled breads, and they always look so beautiful. I thought that this dough, with this filling, was worth giving that another shot. So once the dough was rolled out, I lightly scored it to give myself guidelines, creating three sections. The middle section was for the filling - a layer of meringue, a layer of sweet cheese filling (a combination of cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and one egg yolk - convenient, leaving me the one egg white for that meringue layer!), and a topping of seedless raspberry preserves. The two outer sections were then cut at approximately one inch intervals, surrounding the filling with strips of dough. These strips were then folded over the middle, on a diagonal, alternating from left to right and slightly overlapping in the middle to create the braid pattern. And let me tell you - that extra punch down and rise time for this dough absolutely made it a dream to work with. Not only did the dough roll out beautifully, but it behaved wonderfully during all of this scoring, filling, cutting and folding. I completely credit this dough for the results of this braid, because as I said - I have tried it before and had very different results.

Oh, so you want to see how it turned out?? Check this out:









It was beautiful. Seriously - nothing like the last time I tried to braid a bread. That one turned out far from beautiful. But this one I was really proud of.

And it was HUGE - it filled my 17 inch long baking sheet. And it smelled fantastic.

So for dessert that night, we tried it. And had seconds. And had it for breakfast the next morning. And I am trying like heck to control myself not to go grab another slice right now...

This recipe is definitely a keeper. And a make-often keeper. I can't wait to try different fillings, but I also can't wait to make them exactly these ways again - it is just that good.

Jamie and Ria, thank you so much for this challenge. Jamie, thanks for unearthing this wonderful family recipe and thanks to both of you for sharing it with us and for being such great, supportive hostesses!!

To check out the delicious, beautiful and creative coffee cakes cooked up by the other Daring Bakers, check them out here.

And to try the recipe for yourself, which I highly recommend, check it out here.

45 comments:

  1. Wow both shapes looks awesome.. wonderful job on the challenge and Loved both the filling. Excellent finish.. hats off to u.

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  2. Yum...all your versions look delicious! I noticed the red spatula, I have the same! Great job on this challenge!

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  3. I love all your versions, and your last attempt, the danish style one is so, so beautiful! I was so inspired by your photo that I made a savory one using this technique (not for the challenge).It looked great, but I didn't know what to do with the ends, they seemed to have much more dough than the rest of the loaf. I might be doing something wrong...
    Thanks for all your lovely support to all of us at the forums, I also love "baking" with you!

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  4. i am absolutely loving your danish style one!

    I have to try that next time!

    http://bakershideout.blogspot.com/2011/03/daring-bakers-dairy-free-filled-meringe.html

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  5. Lovely! I particularly like the cream cheese danish one - it looks like the first recipe for braided bread I tried - this lemon curd one from smitten kitchen.

    It's so great when you get a challenge recipe you wouldn't have picked that turns out to be such a winner :)

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  6. Yes you are right multiple rising/punching down is the real secret to success with this dough and the braiding work on the Danish is outstanding yes I would be proud of it superb work on this challenge. Bravo to you.

    Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  7. I love the braided loaf - first of all the filinng sounds absolutely delicious. And I am so happy to see your step by step photos, from the first moment I saw your pics on the Daring Bakers forum I was wondering how you make this pretty braid :-)

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  8. Both your versions are FABULOUS, and yes, that braifing is one to be proud of. WOW... I just had to stop by to see the little poppet!

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  9. The braided one with the raspberry looks so pretty! And the first photo looks like the dough came out perfect and fluffy, congrats on a job well done :D

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  10. I like the different versions, and yes chocolate chips always makes everything (well, almost) better. :)

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  11. All three versions look wonderful...but that braided loaf is exquisite! I'm definitely going to try that....mmmmmmm.

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  12. They all look great! I like especially the raspberry one - the danish "desing" is so beautiful!

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  13. I want to make a cream cheese danish next - yours looks and sounds amazing! Job well done :)

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  14. Great job this month, Shelley! I love the sound of the raspberry and sweet cheese one, and your braid is gorgeous!
    :)

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  15. Hi, Shelley! Thanks for the warm welcome to the Daring Bakers! I love your step-by-step post and how creative you were with shaping the dough! Looking forward to the next challenge!

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  16. Wow wow wow! Gorgeous! Yes, I do think the chocolate chip-pecan-cinnamon is the best (and I must try it as buns next time!) but oh how I love the Danish-style filling in the beautiful braided version! Now that is what I am going to make next! Wonderful! Thrilled you enjoyed the challenge and loved the recipe!

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  17. Wonderful and I'm so pleased to see your little helper is as enthusiatic as you about it all! Love the plaited strawberry one the most.

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  18. I braid design is beautiful and I'm loving the raspberry cheese filling.

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  19. The braid is beautiful, Shelley! I wish I'd done that. It's so, so pretty. I wouldn't have any trouble getting up in the morning if I knew I was having that for breakfast. I love the wreath and the cinnamon rolls too. Yum!

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  20. Wow - your braided danish is stunning!
    And Little Miss is going to be such a Daring Baker when she grows up. Can you imagine doing this amount of daring baking at her age - she will Wow the world one day.

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  21. LOVE LOVE LOVE your braided danish version! Thank you for the little tutorial...I will definitely try it when making it again. Thanks for stopping by my blog :)

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  22. Oh wow, your wreath, cinnamon rolls and braid look amazing, especially the braid because I'm always in awe of braids that look so beautiful and perfect after baking (mine never do). Definitely will follow your tutorial next time. Beautifully done - simply mouth watering too :)

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  23. Great job! Your cakes look fantastic, especially the cheese braid!!! I love it!!

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  24. WOW amazing job!!!!, I love your cinnamon version (I am going to try it soon)and the danish was spectacular, just wondrous.

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  25. Wow, what a beautiful braided bread! The raspberry looks so gorgeous and colourful and delicious!

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  26. both versions look just fantastic...Great job!

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  27. The crispy tops on the cinnamon roll style ones look so inviting. And the plaited loaf is just beautiful :o)

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  28. Wow! Yours are the most perfect versions I've seen. The wreath is so even and the braided loaf just delightful. Amazing job on the challenge!

    Oh, and I just read your cupcake post too. Wow, talk about fun!

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  29. Congratulations on such a successful challenge! Your braided loaf is GORGEOUS! You've definitely inspired me to have a go at a braided loaf someday.

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  30. Delicious looks awesome fillings you did very nicely this challenge.

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  31. Wow! Three different versions! I love coffee cake in any form and yours look delicious. Nice job on the challenge!

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  32. I like your wrapping method. I'm going to try that. I'll let you know how it works out.

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  33. That is a stunning braid!

    I too loved this dough and I tend to bake every week these days.}:P

    Next time, I think I'll try your braid idea!

    Little miss looks like she had lots of fun helping too. I need to get my niece over to bake with me again sometime soon.}:)

    -Wolf

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  34. What a stunning way of braiding the dough!

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  35. I love cinnamon rolls, and then combine it into cinnamon brioche rolls - that's just outta this world! I have to agree with everyone else, your braided danish is absolutely perfect! I can imagine that with dripping icing glaze, Mmmmmm.... I cant wait to give it a go!

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  36. Great job! I love all your shapes and flavors, but The cinnamon rolls...Oh, I'd kill for one of those right now! :)

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  37. Beautiful job!!!! Love the braided one - how cool does it look. Absolutely perfect. :)

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  38. Very well done! Your creations are wonderful and so delicious looking.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

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  39. Looks fantastic, I haven't made a braided anything since trade school I hope my attempt looks as good as yours

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  40. That braiding is simply beautiful! I've never done that before (or even thought of it), but I'll definitely have to give it a shot the next time I make this recipe. So impressive!

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  41. Simply marvelous! I am jealous of your meringue! I love the look of the fruit and cream cheese filling; I must try that next time.

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  42. Great job on this challenge. I remember seeing yours on the DB site. I still cannot figure out why we made a meringue.

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