Basic Bread Tutorial Video with Becky Lynn from KTAR 92.3

I got to meet the sweet and amazing Becky Lynn known nationally for her radio and voice-over skills! Here in Phoenix she's been on Country music radio (KNIX and KMLE) and now  Talk radio KTAR for years! Becky Lynn is a multi-faceted voiceover actor with an unmistakable sound, heard across the U.S. on major television and radio stations, and on international commercials and business presentations. In fact, the other day when I was driving with my kids and the radio was on, I said, "THAT voice...…It'’s Becky Lynn."

 At any rate, Becky came by to see me at work in the bakery asking me some tips and ideas for what makes perfect bread. We talked about my new Bread Art book and had some serious fun! I love that we got some really great footage of how to form perfect loaves and it is basically my  beginner bread class condensed to 5 minutes. 

If you loved this video, please be sure to visit the KTAR video on their website and give it a tweet or share on facebook. The more they hear from my darlings, the more videos you'll get to see. Xoxo! 

There you go!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

The Bread Art Book Launch Party! This week!

 I'm sharing a lot of pictures, because I am, for once in my life, without words for how I feel. A lifelong dream is finally coming true and my first bread book was released today!  Preparations are underway for the book launch party on Friday evening and all of  you are most heartily invited to attend.

Be among the first to see my beautiful new book, Bread Art! Come taste some of the recipes and get a signed copy! I'll be at Shar's for the full event for hugs, and love! I won't want to miss seeing you and you won't want to miss the party! Plus, I'll be there with some special prizes and gifts for those who attend! Come on down and bring a friend!

Shar's Bosch Kitchen Center
1130 N. Gilbert Rd. Suite 1
Gilbert AZ, 85234
Call us: Local: 480-558-1191 

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Cactus Peach Venison Sliders AZ BBQ Festival

When the folks at the AZ Barbecue Festival asked me to do a cooking demo this last Saturday at their nationally attended event, I was a totally honored.  However, when they asked me to teach about cooking road-kill I almost panicked.  My thoughts immediately raced to images of maggot-riddled skunks and possums scraped off the road by a rusty old fork. I do believe I blurted out loud,  "I'm country but I ain't neeever cooked a varmint." Suddenly I caught a vision of myself with Ace dressed as  Jethro Clampitt sitting at my kitchen table with a gingham napkin tucked into his bib overalls ready to slam down some of my quality home cookin'...

Granted, I'd butter  my husband Ace's biscuits with my fabulous sauce any day of the week (does that sound wrong?), but I had no idea where to start on the main meat for a cooking demo based on road vittles... Then I remembered the poor deer that impaled itself on my brother-in-laws van last summer. Deer would work as road-kill right? Poor, poor, dear.

I didn't actually use the deer that died last summer. That would be wrong.  Sick and wrong.  Of course, with the right sauce can anyone even tell?  Just kidding. Seriously. I am.
This deer steak came from my bishop's freezer...believe it or not. I was super excited to get to mess around with something I didn't actually have to process. Thanks bishop. Actually I should thank his wife. She was the one who did all the actual packaging. She's so cute. Not like me in Daisy Dukes...that would also be wrong. Seriously. Sick and wrong. 

My Tips on Cooking Venison for BBQ:

• Trim all the fat off, that's where all the "game" flavor is found.
• Process the meat as soon as possible after the hunt. The longer it sits, the tougher it gets.
• Use a doe instead of a buck, as the buck meat tends to be more difficult to tenderize. Remember that deer works for a living and the older trophy bucks may have the best antlers, but their legs and thighs are pretty over-worked. 
• Marinate the meat in a flavorful solution and season well.
• Use only venison you trust. Don't buy it from an old rusty van on the side of the road...it may be my brother-in-law trying to make a fast buck. No buck deer pun intended either. Oh dear. 
• Dry the meat well before cooking. This meat has a lot of juices (and by that I mean blood but that sounds sick so I'm not going to say blood I'm gonna say juice) The dryer you pat it, the better it will brown.
• For tender bbq, cook slow and low (around 300 degrees in a tomato or vinegar based sauce for 5-7 hours). 
• Yes you can also use a pressure cooker for the meat. I  actually prefer the use of a good pressure cooker. It only takes 20-30 minutes instead of 7 hours, and the flavor is incredible. I used This one.
• Freezing the meat will add to the tenderness, since the ice crystals will actually break down the sinews and fibrous textures. 

My Cactus Peach Venison Sliders
3 lb lean, trimmed venison round roast, cubed (or beef)
1/2 cup peach puree
1/2 cup prickly pear cactus syrup
1 cups bbq sauce (I use my Great Grandma's Chile Sauce plus 2 tsp liquid smoke)
1 tsp salt
1T fresh ground ancho chile powder
2T fresh minced garlic
Chef Tess all purpose seasoning to taste (about 1T) It is here. 
Directions: Place cubed venison meat in a 4-5 quart pressure cooker (This one is my favorite) along with remaining ingredients and cook  on high for 30 minutes, natural release. If you want to use a slow cooker, you can do so as well, but it will take 5-7 hours on low. When meat is cooked tender, shred with a fork. Serve with any more

This slaw is off the charts darlings. Really.

Grilled Pineapple Citrus Slaw

Ingredients: 

1/2 medium pacilla pepper, sliced thin

1 cup red bell pepper, sliced thin

4 cups thin sliced cabbage or brussel sprouts. I used sprouts.

1 cup fine shred carrots

Dressing:

1 cup Big Daddy's Sweet-Hot Pineapple, chopped or regular pineapple

1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar (I use Lucero white pineapple)

1/2 cup sugar or 1/4 cup agave nectar

1/4 cup fine minced red onion

1T minced garlic

1 T orange zest

2tsp lime zest

zest of one lemon

1T fine ground ancho chile powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions: Lightly oil the thin sliced pepper and place on a hot bbq for about 3 minutes. Do not over-cook, you just want some smoke and grill marks. Mix with the salad ingredients in a large bowl.  Place all the dressing ingredients in a blender and pulse 5-6 times until smooth.  Pour over the salad ingredients in the bowl. Serve.

I served the venison on these slider buns...

That recipe for the slider buns is here. 

 "Oh Pickles!" {Have I mentioned that I used to say that instead of using a cussing word?}

 I also couldn't go to a bbq festival without some real quality pickles.

I've mentioned this guy before on my Facebook page...but I'm sharing these today here as well. Big Daddy's. True story. The first time I met this guy he walked in with two jars of pickles and asked me to try them. I figured I only live once. What the heck. We cracked one open right there. I figured they could be like Aunt Bee's Kerosene Cucumbers (y'all remember that episode of Andy Griffith?). Or, they could be amazing.

I put one in my mouth and I actually said, "Da...{insert cuss here} that is ridiculous!"  I never cuss. Daggumit!  I had to hug this dude. He has completely nailed pickle perfection. 

At the actual Arizona Barbecue Festival event that I was so excited to be part of, everyone loved the Deer...oh dear. Class went off without a hitch. I didn't cut off a finger. The oven turned on. 

I was thrilled to see one of my dear friends from Valley Dish, Dave Bernstein, in the crowd. It is always nice to see a familiar face isn't it? Dave is a local foodie and serious rock-star. He shared this picture on facebook and I had to steal it to share with all of you guys!

photo courtesy of Dave Bernstein

Oh yeah! This is Dave...who ate my slaw...and he doesn't really like slaw...but he loved mine. Gushing with joy...wowowowow. I'm a nerd. BTW. Dave does an amazing job as a DJ. For more info on weddings you can find him here: db@vipvoiceovers.com

There is it darlings. I dare you to make some venison...or beef. Most of all, I dare you to have an amazing Monday night! I want to see all kinds of bbq foodie selfies on my facebook page from all of you!  xoxo!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Easy 3 Ingredient Holiday Artisan No-Knead Bread Mix

Happy Mix-Monday my darlings!  

Today I just wanted to share a quick and amazing bread mix that we've been working on here in the test kitchen that has been a great "grab-n-bake" mix.  It is "no-brainer-bread" at its finest.  It is my basic 4 Ingredient No-Knead Bread made simple  fast.  Follow the baking instructions using a pot to bake it in, and you'll have great success in having a very crunchy, chewy, amazing crust! The secret is the use of a remarkable Artisan Bread Flour . The one I use has the added benefit of malted barley flour and ascorbic acid, which help with the yeast action and the dough development.  This year, I plan on giving this bread mix away with gallon sized pots and little cute bottles of pink kosher sea salt (to sprinkle on top of the loaf just before baking).  The yeast is included in the mix, which means it is only shelf-stable about a year, but what a great year it will be!

Have fun!

Chef Tess No-Knead Artisan Bread Mix

Ingredients:

3 ½ cups Honeyville Alta Artisan Bread Flour 
1 1/2 tsp. salt

¼ tsp. SAF Premium instant yeast (or ½ tsp. active dry yeast)

Directions: Combine the ingredients with 1 ¼ cup water  in a 1 gallon food-grade bucket or a large 1 gallon bowl with a lid, just until everything is mixed and smooth. It takes about 20-30 turns by hand to get it all combined. Cover with a lid and keep it covered 10-12 hours at room temperature until you're ready to your bake bread. Form into a tight ball of dough. Place  ball in a well greased  gallon sized Dutch oven with a lid or a gallon sized covered oven-proof stock-pot/ pan.  Allow to raise until triple in size, about 2 hours (or 1 ½ hours in a lightly warmed oven no hotter than 110°). Preheat convection oven to 425° (regular oven 450°).. Lightly slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp serrated knife. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Bake at 425° for 25 30 minutes.

No Knead Artisan Bread Mix Label:

Directions: Combine the ingredients with 1 ¼ cup water  in a 1 gallon food-grade bucket or a large 1 gallon bowl with a lid, just until everything is mixed and smooth. It takes about 20-30 turns by hand to get it all combined. Cover with a lid and keep it covered 10-12 hours at room temperature until you're ready to your bake bread. Form into a tight ball of dough. . Place  ball in a well greased  gallon sized Dutch oven with a lid or a gallon sized covered oven-proof stock-pot/ pan.  Allow to raise until triple in size, about 2 hours (or 1 ½ hours in a lightly warmed oven no hotter than 110°). Preheat convection oven to 425° (regular oven 450°).. Lightly slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp serrated knife. Sprinkle with salt if desired. Bake at 425° for 25-30 minutes. www.cheftessbakeresse.com

If you have any questions, 
visit the post on my   4 Ingredient No-Knead Bread! Xoxo!!

Another way to do a bread kit is to just give the recipe and smaller packages of the ingredients. No matter how folks get their bread supplies, they'll be excited!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Easy Spiced Apple Caramel No-Knead Bread

For the last several weeks I've been serving this remarkable bread to folks who come into the Teaching Kitchen. It has been truly delightful moving into the new office and being able to be more available for people to ask questions as I work there.  The other side is that I get to have the real and honest opinions of my darlings! That side has given me the opportunity to fine-tune some recipes and make them amazing!  So today I want to share the next in our series of no knead bread recipes. This one has just the right balance of tart apple, lightly sweet with buttery caramel and a kiss of spice.

Apple Caramel Spiced No-Knead Artisan Bread

Ingredients:
6 c Alta Artisan Bread Flour
½ c shredded or diced green apple
½ c  Organic coconut sugar
1T Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice Blend
2 tsp Instant Yeast
1T Real Salt
2 tsp LorAnn Natural Caramel Flavor Oil
½ c powdered butter
2 ½ cup cool water

Directions: Combine all ingredients in a 2 gallon bucket with a lid and place in the fridge overnight (up to 7 days).

 

To bake bread: Remove bucket from the fridge. Form into 2 baguettes and roll each lightly in quick cook oats. Place in a Chicago Metallic Commercial Non-stick Baguette Pan and allow to raise until triple in size, about 2 hours (or 1 ½ hours in a lightly warmed oven no hotter than 110 degrees).   I usually let mine raise uncovered in an UN-heated oven, lightly misting the oven with water and then putting a pan of hot water in the bottom of the oven.  This gives my bread a place out of the way of my busy kitchen to relax and have a spa day. I sometimes imagine myself on that pan just resting and puffing up like that...mmm. Bloating bread thighs.

• If you do let the bread raise in the oven, remove it before the pre-heat.  Preheat convection oven to 425 degrees (yes I leave the water pan in the oven as this actually helps with a crispy crust).
•  Lightly slash the tops of the loaves with a sharp serrated knife.

•  Bake at 425 degrees 25 minutes. Yield 2 baguettes.

As a final drenching of love, I've been using my favorite butter blend to smear on the bread.  This is by and far my favorite way to serve toast.  When I was growing up we had two kinds of cinnamon toast. The regular toast, and the "Sunday Morning Toast". When there was a quit morning, and time to do it, my mom would smother her hearty homemade bread with some a cinnamon smear and then put it under the broiler.  The resulting toasted bread had a crisp caramelized layer of spiced sugar and butter melted into the bread. It may be one of the most cherished tastes of my childhood. 

 Building on that, I've made this new smear.  It uses a kiss of vanilla bean paste, coconut sugar for added nutrition and deep caramel flavor and the depth of my spice blend that is rich with Saigon cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, spices, orange, lemon, rosepetal and lavender.

Spiced Caramel Butter Smear

Ingredients:
1 c butter
1 cup coconut sugar
½ tsp Madagascar Vanilla Bean Paste
½ tsp LorAnn Natural Caramel Flavor Oil
1T Chef Tess Wise Woman of the East Spice Blend

Directions:  Combine all ingredients and place in a quart sized jar. Smear a few Tablespoons on a slice of Apple Caramel Spiced No-Knead Artisan Bread. Broil in the oven 3-4 minutes until bubbly.


There you go. Make something rediculously awesome!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

3 New Rolls for Spring (from one base dough) Tutorials of Love

It is Tutorial Tuesday! Spring is in the air. Baking with darling friends is in the air. Carbs are in the air. Guess what?! I got to bake some delightful rolls with my sweet friend Sassy Cassie! She's heading off to start her culinary training soon and I certainly needed some Cass' face-time before that happened...and all the way through school. I told her she needs to tag me on facebook everyday so I feel like I'm not missing her adventures! You know how it is right? You meet someone who is such a kindred spirit that it is almost scary. She's one of those.  

So, here's a peek at what we did. I know you can do them too because they are just some cool shapes to do and make with dough. For each of the variations you can use any of the Basic Bread Recipes. I personally prefer my mom's 5 Day Bread Dough. The dough is good in the fridge up to 7 days and I was raised with this bread. It is my mother's recipe.  It can be used for a variety of recipes...basically any recipe that needs some kind of delightful dough base. 

First variation today, 

  Herb fans. 

I'm the biggest herb fan. Ever...so this is basically a hot-bun version of me.

 How's that for scary?

A fan roll is a fabulous way to have an herb or spiced pull-apart layer-by-layer love bomb. 

Roll out a pound of dough as you would a cinnamon roll, on a lightly floured work surface about 1/2 inch thick. Then cover with a light layer of butter and sprinkle with your favorite herb combination.  Today I used my Chef Tess Big Dill Seasoning. It is a delightful combination of garlic, onion, bell pepper, citrus and dill. Perfect for a Spring salad or in this case, a spring dinner roll.  There really is a little bit of me inside...but in a very non-cannibal way.  At any rate, cut the dough into 1 1/2 inch strips the entire length of the dough and stack the dough strips. 

Cut the stack into 2 inch stacks and place sideways into a greased muffin pan. 

Raise until doubled in size. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake 25-30 minutes until golden brown. Yields about a dozen rolls. 

Next up...

Savory French Herb and Smoked Paprika Pinwheel:

I know you know what a cinnamon roll is...if you've lived on this planet for more than a week in America. Well...here's my favorite variation (today). 

Roll out 1 lb of dough in a 12 inch by 8 inch rectangle.  Spread with a thin layer of butter to the edges and sprinkle with French Provencal Essential blend. It is a bold, rustic blend of herbs, citrus, and garlic, and sea salt. I love it with chicken, but I especially love it in buns. Roll up the dough and cut into 2 inch pin-wheels. 

Place in a greased muffin tin and sprinkle lightly with a really good smoked paprika.  This gives the buns a beautiful spring color and a bold spring flavor...plus they just look like flowers in your dinner roll basket!

Last but certainly not least...
Bear Claws-o-Glory
This is a classic breakfast bun and it can be filled with a wide variety of flavorful blends. Today I chose a sweet variation  using hazelnut paste, a kiss of ginger and touch of lemon. You can do any number of flavors but I've done them with raspberry jam and a little jalapeno. They're excellent as a blue cheese and black pepper roll. Amazing as an orange-cardamom roll...with a hint of lavender or nutmeg. You name it. You're only limited by your giant brain!

Roll out your pound of dough into a rectangle, twelve inches by 8 inches. Spread with the filling of your choice. I used 1/2 cup of hazelnut butter and a sprinkle of sugar...along with the zest of half a lemon and 1 tsp of ginger. It works best to cream the spice and zest into the hazelnut butter. 

Roll tightly and pinch at the seams. Cut into 4 3 inch rolls and flatten the rolls with the heal of your hand.

Cut with 3 notches along the length of the bun, being careful not to cut through the roll. 

Place on a greased  baking sheet. 

Lightly mist with water and allow to raise until doubled. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees 30-35 minutes. 
They're the perfect grab-n-go!

Speaking of that. Grab your favorite baker and GO! Start creating today my darlings! I'm excited to see what you're up to! Seriously. It always makes me smile to read about your success!



Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess

Spring Time Mother's Day Bread Class with Lin Sue Cooney

Remember all the fun we've had with the amazing, remarkable, talented and fun Lin Sue Cooney and her bakery Sweet-Stops?!! Well I've got something awesome to share with you!

 It is a month away, but I can't stop myself from telling you what I've been baking today! Mother's Day braids and Forget-Me-Knots (glorious dinner rolls)! What do you think? Aren't they just fantastic?!!

 The pearls and lace one turned out really pretty! 

 All that being said, I get to visit my friend Lin Sue Cooney from NBC 12 here in Phoenix for a wonderful joint class in May out at Honeyville! We're teaching Mother's Day Breads like this on May 3rd!  If you're interested in joining us, contact the number below:

There you go!

Always My Very Best,
Your Friend Chef Tess