Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

Oh yes, this dripping cone of chocolate heaven is SORBET. No cream, no milk, no egg yolks...but no skimping on the rich chocolate flavor. Oh no, no skimping. This is as pure as a frozen chocolate treat can get. Joanne Chang, the owner of a popular Boston bakery called Flour is responsible for this bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe. She describes the taste perfectly: "It tastes like a frozen deep, dark chocolate bar." Oh, lordy I couldn't describe it better myself!

I was just in New York and discovered that there are some REALLY GOOD hot chocolates to drink out there. Like REALLY REALLY GOOD, especially when you dip a pretzel croissant into your hot chocolate. This sorbet tastes like the dark hot chocolates that I was drinking just a few weeks ago, but frozen.

I had some organic vegan ice cream cones on-hand that I used to make red velvet cupcake cones a short while ago, and these cones were a great way to enjoy this bittersweet chocolate sorbet (and the cones only have 25 calories, 0 fat, and 0 sugar!!!).

I do very much enjoy the process of making ice cream. I like the whole heat the milk, temper in the egg yolks, and pour into cold cream thing. But with this sorbet, I get to do the make a nice caramel, add some cocoa powder, and pour everything over chopped chocolate thing. I like this, too.

Chang provides a nice food-science explanation for using caramelized sugar instead of pure sugar in her bittersweet chocolate sorbet recipe:

"...caramelize the sugar before combining it with the sorbet base. Because there is no cream or milk in this recipe, it is a challenge to create a smooth, creamy texture. Caramelizing the sugar means you can use more sugar than you would normally (since straight sugar is pure sweet and the sweetness of the caramelized sugar is offset by its characteristic bitterness). The extra sugar-disguised-as-caramel helps to lower the freezing point of the sorbet base, which means it won't freeze solid. The result is a creamier, softer, not-icy treat."

Bittersweet Chocolate Sorbet

from Joanne Chang's book, Flour

makes about 1 quart

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

3 1/2 cups (840 grams) Dutch-processed cocoa powder

4 ounces (114 grams) bittersweet chocolate (60-70 % cacao), finely chopped

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt


Put the sugar in the bottom of a medium saucepan. Add 1/2 cup (120 grams) of the water and gently swirl the pan to moisten the sugar. Place the pan over high heat and leave it undisturbed until the contents come to a rolling boil. Then continue to boil rapidly without moving the pan until the sugar syrup starts to caramelize. This will take 3 to 4 minutes: the sugar syrup will boil furiously, then as it thickens it will boil more languidly, and then you will see some of the syrup start to color and darken around the edge of the pan.

When you see color in the pan, gently swirl it in a circular motion so the sugar caramelizes evenly, and then keep swirling gently until the caramel is a medium golden brown. Turn down the heat to low and slowly and carefully add the remaining 3 cups (720 grams) water. Be careful, because it will sputter and spatter when it hits the caramel. The caramel will harden at the bottom of the pan; turn up the heat to high, bring the mixture back to a boil, and whisk for a few minutes until the caramel fully dissolves. Then whisk in the cocoa powder until fully dissolved.

Place the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. Pour the hot caramelized liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute, then whisk gently until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a container, and whisk in the vanilla and salt. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or until cold.

Churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's directions. Sorbet can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 week.

The City Bakery

The City Bakery.
I want.
I crave.
I think I found my new favorite bakery.
I think I need to move to New York City.
I think I need to live above The City Bakery.


Exhibit A: The Pretzel Croissant
Salty
Buttery
Tender
Flaky
Sprinkled with sesame seeds
Dipped into my hot chocolate drink


Exhibit B: Dark Hot Chocolate with a Homemade Marshmallow
Chocolate in the morning.
Makes me a happy lady.


Look at those muffins. Ooo tummy.


Bran muffin. A mountain of a muffin.

David Lebovitz turned me on to this bakery. They have a salad bar at the bakery. Salad and pastries. No but really, the salad bar is supposed to be raging during lunch hour. But really no, just go get a pretzel croissant and dip it into your liquid chocolate drink.

The City Bakery
3 West 18th Street
New York, NY 10011
(212) 366-1414

Homemade Croissants, Part II: Rolling, Baking, Eating

Ok folks, so now that you have gone through part I of the adventure in homemade croissants, you’ve got your laminated dough ready to be rolled and shaped and eaten!

This was the scary part for me. How can I possibly roll these little guys out to look the way they do in a real French bakery (well, I’ve still never been to France but I have a very distinct image in my head)?


How big should I make my triangles? Should they be equilateral, isosceles…? Do I pinch my ends together or leave them open?

Stephanie. Calm down. Breathe. You can do this. Lets take it step-by-step, shall we?

To begin, you should have ready a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and a rolling pin and pizza cutter nearby.

Step 1: Take you laminated dough out of the refrigerator. It should look like this:


Step 2: On a lightly floured surface, roll your dough out into a large rectangle about ½ an inch thick and maybe 2 feet wide. Using a pizza cutter, I cut my rectangle in half the long way, so that I had two rectangles, each about 2 feet wide and 6 inches tall.

Step 3: Using your pizza cutter, cut your dough into long isosceles triangles. At the restaurant, we way out each triangle to roughly 3 ¾ oz., but I just eyeball it when I make them at home. Your triangles should look similar to this:


Step 4: Cut a tiny slit at the base of each triangle. Also, I like to stick any extra leftover end pieces of dough inside some of the triangles. Nothing goes to waste!


Step 5: With the base closest to you, begin to roll your croissant outward, your right hand rolling to the right, your left hand rolling to the left. Then, turn your triangle so the tip faces you and simultaneously stretch the dough with your right hand and roll it toward you with your left hand. Tuck the end of the tip underneath and pinch your sides together.

Optional: You can fill your croissants with prosciutto and cheese, with chocolate, with anything you like! Plain are a good place to start, though.

Step 6: Place your croissants on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Either wrap in saran wrap and stick them in the fridge overnight, or let your croissants sit at room temperature until they are nice and springy when you touch them.
**If you stick your croissants in the fridge, just pull them out about 40 minutes before you want to bake them so that they can come to room temperature and proof.


Step 7: When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to about 400-425°F. Crack an egg and beat it with a touch of cream. Brush your croissants with the egg wash. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until golden everywhere.

OMG eat them eat them eat them…yum yum yum, they are so beauuuuttttiiiiifffffullll and delicious and flaky and warm! Gah!!!!


**NOTE: Rolling these out takes a bit of practice. The first time I made these all on my own, I did not pinch my ends together nor did I make sure the tip of my triangle was tucked underneath. Alas, here is what my first batch came out looking like:

Not too shabby, but I like the pinched ends look better!

Homemade Croissants Part I: Laminating the Dough

Homemade croissants. The ultimate guide. Arrrrrreeeee yooooooouuuuu reeaaaaaaddddddy?!

I think we may need to do a warm-up before we start.

Drop and give me 20 push ups. Ok, now lets see those arm muscles go to work!

Homemade croissants are very simple (I know you think I’m crazy for saying that making croissants are simple, but keep reading). Only a few ingredients needed to make a big, flaky, buttery pastry. What makes the process so daunting is the amount of time it takes; not necessarily on-hand time, just waiting around time. Rolling out your dough, folding it, refrigerating for an hour. Rolling out your dough, folding it, refrigerating. Etc. etc. etc.

Ok people, really, it is sooooooo worth it! You can make a bunch of dough and just freeze the amount that you are not using right away.

I want to make this dough again and again and again (and I will).

Alright, pop quiz. What does it mean to laminate dough? Laminate means alternating layers. In the culinary world, this means alternating layers of dough-butter-dough in the case of puff pasty, flaky pastry, Danish or croissant dough.

I made a LOT of dough. Like a LOT. I used roughly 12 cups of flour and 3 pounds of butter. Yes people, 3 pounds of butter! (Just remember, those 3 pounds got spread over many many many croissants).

Here I give you an abbreviated version of my dough recipe. Shout out to my boss, Kiri, who showed my the ways of croissant making!

You ask: Stephanie, how dooooo you do it?
I answer: why LOVE of course!

What follows is a quick overview of the process, step-by-step, picture-by-picture (the actual recipe is below):

Yeasty, sugary, milky, foamy mixture

Yes I used 3lbs. of butter


I got a little help from one of my housemates to pound out the butter (here is where the push-ups begin to come in handy)!

Yeasty flour mixture ready to be rolled out


Here is the yeasty flour mixture rolled out into a rectangle


Lay your block of butter on top of the flour mixture like so

Fold it like a letter (in thirds)

Nice!

Once again, push-ups are helpful to build up the arm strength

This is what your dough should look like when done! Yahoooo!

Croissant Dough

Recipe from Kiri, adapted from Nancy Silverton

Yield: about 2 1/2 lbs. of dough (aka about 20 croissants?)

Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups whole milk, heated to warm (105°F–110°F) (You should be able to comfortably stick your finger into the warm milk)

* 1/4 cup sugar (I used half brown, half white)

* 1 tablespoon plus 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast (from two 1/4-oz packages)

* 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (you may need to add more or less depending on your dough)

* 1 Tablespoon kosher salt

* 3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) cold unsalted butter

Make dough:
Stir together warm milk, sugars, and yeast in bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If it doesn’t foam, discard and start over.) Add your flour and salt and mix by hand until dough is smooth and very soft, about 7 minutes (or if you own a standing Kitchen Aid mixer, you can mix the dough with a dough hook).

Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead by hand 2 minutes more, adding more flour as necessary, a little at a time, to make a soft, slightly sticky dough. Form dough into a roughly 1 1/2-inch-thick rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until cold, about 1 hour.

Prepare and shape butter:
After dough has chilled, arrange sticks of butter horizontally, their sides touching, on a work surface. Pound butter with a rolling pin to soften slightly (butter should be malleable but still cold). Scrape butter into a block and put on a kitchen towel or piece of parchment paper, then cover with other towel or parchment. Pound and roll out on both sides until butter forms a uniform 8- by 5-inch rectangle. Set aside for now.

Roll out dough:
Unwrap dough and roll out on a lightly floured surface, dusting with flour as necessary and lifting and stretching dough (especially in corners), into a 16- by 10-inch rectangle. Arrange dough with a short side nearest you. Put butter in center of dough so that long sides of butter are parallel to short sides of dough. Fold as you would a letter: bottom third of dough over butter, then top third down over dough.

Turn dough so a short side is nearest you, then flatten dough slightly by pressing down horizontally with rolling pin across dough at regular intervals, making uniform impressions. Roll out dough into a 15- by 10-inch rectangle, rolling just to but not over ends.

Fold in thirds again like a letter, as above, stretching corners to square off dough, forming a 10- by 5-inch rectangle. (You have completed the first "fold.") Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, 1 hour.


Make remaining "folds":
Make 3 more folds in same manner, chilling dough 1 hour after each fold, for a total of 4 folds. (If any butter oozes out while rolling, sprinkle with flour to prevent sticking.) Wrap dough tightly in plastic wrap and chill at least 8 hours but no more than 18 (after 18 hours, dough may not rise sufficiently when baked).


****NOTE: Since I made about 3 times this recipe, I cut my dough into thirds at the end, wrapped each one in saran wrap, stuck one in the freezer, and the rest in the fridge.