America's Test Kitchen Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Ingredients:

• 1 ¾ cup (8 ¾ ounces) all–purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons unsalted butter
• ¾ cup packed (5 ¼ ounces) dark brown sugar
• ½ cup (3 ½ ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
• 1 ¼ cups (7 ½ ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chunks
• ¾ cup slivered almonds 

Steps:

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl.
2. Melt 10 tablespoons butter in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly, until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes.
3. Transfer browned butter to large bowl and stir in remaining 4 tablespoons butter until melted. Whisk in brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla and salt until incorporated. Whisk in egg and yolk until smooth with no lumps, about 30 seconds.
4. Let mixture stand for 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans, if using.
5. Working with 3 tablespoons dough at a time, roll into balls and space 2 inches apart on prepared sheets. (Raw cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month; bake frozen cookies in 300-degree oven for 30-35 minutes.)
6. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until golden brown and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft and puffy, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool completely on sheet and serve.

Multigrain Bread - Attempt #1

 

1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1 3/4 cup boiling water

2 1/4 teaspoons yeast

3 Tablespoons brown sugar

3 Tablespoons room temperature butter

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1/2 cup dark rye flour

1 1/3  cup bread flour

1 1/2  cup whole wheat flour

1/3 cup flax seed

1/3 cup wheat germ

(I would love to add sunflower seeds too, but didn't have any)

Place oatmeal in a  bowl of your stand mixer. Pour boiling water on top. Let the mixture cool to 110°F (43°C). This usually takes 20 minutes. 

Add the yeast and sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook . Cover and allow to sit for 5-10 minutes or until foamy and bubbly on the surface.

Add the butter, salt, and 1 cup flour to mixing bowl. Beat on low speed for 30 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a silicone spatula, then add another cup of flour. Beat on medium speed until relatively incorporated (there may still be chunks of butter). Add all of the remaining flour, flax seed and wheat germ (and the seeds/nuts if using), then beat on medium speed until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 -7 minutes. If it seems too sticky, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time until it begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Turn the dough out on a floured surface and knead by hand a few times and then form into a ball.  

Lightly grease a large bowl with olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise in a relatively warm environment for 1-2 hours or until double in size.

When the dough is ready, punch it down to release the air. Lightly flour a work surface.  press the dough out into a large rectangle, roll the rectangle up, turn it, roll again and used your hands to form the dough into a ball with smooth tension on the surface of the dough. 

Line a small dutch oven with parchment paper and place the dough on the paper to rise again for about and hour.  Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  if the dutch oven does not have a lid, add a small oven proof non breakable pan to the oven.  

When the dough is ready, score the top of the bread with a razor or sharp knife,  place the dough filled pan (dutch oven) into the oven and bake for about 40 minutes.  if the dutch oven does not have a lid, add a few cubes of ice to the oven proof pan you placed into the oven earlier.  this is the add steam to the oven to help develop a nice crust on the bread.  

Cool completely before cutting into the bread.