Project Baking: 8 recipes for when you're stuck at home

It seems like most of us will be spending our days at home for the foreseeable future thanks to COVID-19. Martin works in professional soccer and MLS has suspended their season for the next 30 days, so things feel a little up in the air around here. Thankfully, since I work from home, I will still continue to develop and share recipes with you as normal for the next few weeks. I’ve decided, though, that all of this social distancing and self-quarantine is perfect for what I like to call ‘project baking’. These are recipes that you may not turn to for a weeknight dessert; they are little more labor-intensive and need a little more time (which is something we all have). So if you’re home, I encourage you to grab your kiddos or family or quarantine buddy, and hop in the kitchen. Knead some dough, decorate some cakes, and make something beautiful during this time.

Classic Sourdough- Where better to start than a good ‘ole loaf of bread. Sourdough is one of my favorite things to make, and it’s made it’s way into my regular rotation. Here you’ll find a step by step guide to starting your very own sourdough journey—everything from creating a culture to the final loaf. I also have a video of the entire baking and shaping process saved to my Instagram highlights to make things a little easier for you.

Baklava- Sure there is a bit of layering involved in baklava-making, but it is worth it. If you’re looking for a nutty, buttery dessert to share with your loved ones, this is the one for you. Plus, there is nothing more delicious than pouring honey sauce on hot baklava and watching it bubble. As Lizzie McGuire says, “This is what dreams are made of.”

Chocolate Tahini Brioche Babka- This might be my favorite recipe on the blog. It’s definitely in the top ten. Swirls of tahini and dark chocolate are tucked into fluffy brioche and the whole thing sort of melts in your month. Also, shaping babkas are fun and they’re very photogenic.

Bombolonis with Limoncello Cream- Bombolonis are Italian-style yeasted doughnuts. They are fried until they are golden brown, tossed in sugar while warm, and filled with a slightly citrus limoncello cream. Eat them for breakfast, brunch, dessert, lunch, really whenever. Also, if you tackle the Chocolate Tahini Brioche Babka (above), you can use the remaining half of the brioche dough for these doughnuts. See, you can multi-task project baking!

Chamomile Cake with Blood Orange Curd and Swiss Meringue Buttercream- Quarantine is the perfect time to dust up on your cake decorating skills. This chamomile cake feels like spring and it’s filled with a bright, citrusy blood orange curd. You can easily substitute whatever citrus you have on hand to make this cake your own.

Russian Honey Cake- I first discovered Russian Honey Cake in pastry school. We made it as a project for one of my cake classes and I’ve since added it to my own kitchen repertoire. The cookie layers are similar to graham crackers and they’re sandwiched with a dulce de leche cream that softens the cookies just enough to be able to cut through them. It’s sweet and show-stopping at the same time.

Classic Croissants- Everyone should make croissants at least once in their lives. If nothing else, you will gain a new appreciation for your local bakery that makes those perfect croissants that flake into a million pieces the second you bite into them. These are classic, but feel free to fill them with chocolate or spinach or ham and cheese—really anything your heart desires!

Multigrain Bagels with Quinoa and Arugula Cream Cheese- These bagels are filled with quinoa for a little extra protein and they freeze beautifully— a win-win in my book. Pair them with a bright, herby cream cheese and you’ve got a beautiful brunch pairing.

Bombolonis with Limoncello Cream

A fluffy brioche dough is the base for this recipe for Italian-style bombolonis. They are soft and buttery, filled with a limoncello pastry cream and tossed in sugar.

Have you ever had a meal that sticks with you for years to follow? Mine includes bombolonis, an Italian-style brioche donut, filled with silky cream, and I’ve been dreaming of making them at home ever since I tasted them.

About 4 1/2 years ago, we had just moved to Nashville and my cousin and his wife were visiting. We had heard endless recommendations about a new restaurant in an up-and-coming neighborhood called Rolf and Daughters. We waited outside in very cold weather until a table opened up in the dreamy, brick-walled, dimly lit restaurant and we were seated in a table just close enough to the kitchen to be warmed by the heat emanating from the stoves and to take a peek at every dish coming into the dining area. I remember the meal in snapshots- vibrant green cocktails peppered with jalapeño, dark, tannic red wine, two or three dishes with pork and whatever vegetable was popping up on Tennessee farms that week (all of which tasted completely differently, but all exceptional). As we were eating, we kept seeing roasted chicken after roasted chicken, balanced on the shoulder’s of servers coming out of the kitchen. We wondered amongst ourselves about the kind of person who orders roasted chicken at a restaurant with so many more diverse options on the menu, but our curiosity finally got the best of us and we asked our waiter, “What’s with all the roasted chicken?”. “It’s unlike any other roasted chicken,” he replied, “It’s the best I’ve ever had”. We were sold and even though our stomachs didn’t really need chicken, our mouths did. Our waiter was right, it was the best chicken I’d ever eaten. Happy that we didn’t miss out on the chicken, we finished the meal with bombolonis, tennis ball sized rounds of brioche, fried and filled with the perfect pastry cream.

A few years, and two cities later, Bon Appetite published the recipe for the Rolf and Daughters Garlic Confit Chicken in the now-retired R.S.V.P section of their magazine and the splattered, torn sheet of magazine paper still hangs from my refrigerator, a daily reminder of that night, that chicken, and those little bombolonis.

When I started doing research for the brioche dough for the donuts, I stumbled on a recipe from Thalia Ho at Butter and Brioche. I intended to use it as my starting point, testing and tweaking as I went, but after making them once, I couldn’t find anything that needed changing. For this recipe, I simply adapted her recipe to reflect both metric and U.S. measurements and rounded out a few ingredients to make it a little easier for a home baker without a scale. (And if you haven’t already, check out Thalia’s blog and Instagram. Her work is whimsical and unique and her photography is stunning!)

Yield: 13 donuts

Author: Anna Ramiz

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Bombolonis with Limoncello Cream

Prep time: 45 MinCook time: 30 MinInactive time: 12 HourTotal time: 13 H & 15 M

These Italian donuts are pillowy soft and filled with a slightly tart limoncello cream.

Ingredients

for the brioche dough

• 200 ml (1 3/4 cup) whole milk
• 14 g (3 tsp) active dry yeast
• 530 g (3 3/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 60 g (1/4 cup) sugar
• 1 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 113 g (1 stick) butter, at room temperature

for frying

• 1 L vegetable oil, for frying
• Granulated sugar for coating donuts

for the limoncello cream

• 3 cups whole milk
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 5 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/4 cup sugar
• 7 tbsp cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp butter, cubed
• 1 tbsp limoncello
• 1 lemon, juiced and zested

Instructions

to make the limoncello cream

1. Combine milk, cream, and lemon zest in a medium saucepan and heat until it begins to simmer and small bubbles form around the outer edge of the pan.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add eggs and egg yolks and whisk to form a paste.
3. Temper (slowly stream) hot milk into the egg paste, stirring continually. Add egg/milk mixture back to the saucepan and return to heat- keep stirring!
4. Cook over low-medium heat until the mixture begins to boil. Continue to cook for one minute longer. Remove from heat and strain into a clean bowl.
5. Add butter, limoncello, and lemon juice, whisking to combine. Press a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of pastry cream and chill.

to make the brioche dough

1. Heat milk in a medium saucepan until warmed to 110 degrees. Remove from heat and transfer to a glass measuring cup. Add yeast and stir to combine. Let proof for 5 minutes, until yeast is frothy.
2. While the yeast is proofing, combine flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on lowest setting, just until combined.
3. With the mixture on medium-low speed, stream milk into the mixer and continue mixing until a shaggy mass forms. With the mixer running, add eggs, one at a time, making sure each is incorporated before adding the next. Set the mixer to medium speed and let the dough knead for 5 minutes.
4. When the dough has formed a smooth ball, begin adding the butter, a tablespoon at a time until completely incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and knead for another 5-6 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. (This is maybe the prettiest dough I’ve ever made!)
5. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let proof in a warm place for about an hour, until doubled in size. After the dough has doubled, punch the dough dough and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight.

to fry and assemble the donuts

1. Turn the chilled brioche dough out onto a floured surface. Roll the dough into a circle about 1 inch in thickness. Use a circular cutter to cut out as many donuts as possible from the dough. Press the scraps together and re-roll one more time to the same thickness and repeat the donut cutting.
2. Place donuts on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover with a towel and proof for 20 minutes while you heat the oil.
3. In a large, heavy-bottomed pan heat oil to 350 ℉. Place sugar in a medium bowl and place a cooling rack over a sheet pan lined with paper towels.
4. Fry off the donuts, 2-3 at a time by placing the donuts in the oil using a mesh strainer or slotted spoon. Fry to 1 1/2-2 minutes, until golden brown and then use chopsticks to gently flip donuts. Fry for another 1-2 minutes, remove from the oil and place on cooling rack. Repeat until all donuts are fried.
5. When cooled enough to handle, but still warm, toss donuts in the sugar.
6. To fill the donuts, use a sharp knife to cut a small hole in one side of each donut. Place the limoncello cream in a piping bag or large ziploc bag with a hole cut in the corner and pipe cream into donuts. Enjoy immediately!

Notes:

This pastry cream can keep up to a week in a sealed container in the refrigerator. You won’t use all of the cream to fill the donuts and you can use the leftovers to fill a cake, make the base of a souffle, or experiment with tarts or Gateau Basque. 

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