- [Andy] My story with cookies is a long one,
stretching back to my very earliest memories
so classic that they practically feel invented.
In spite of doing little more than spilling
my mother's carefully measured ingredients
and getting to set of the timer,
I'm pretty sure the exact words,
"Look, everyone, Andy made cookies,"
"All by myself," and "Wow, they're perfect
"we got a baker on our hands," were said aloud
and on more than one occasion during my preschool career.
All that is to say my perfect cookie streak came
to a screeching halt when she succumbed
to her third bout with breast cancer.
In the years after, I kept making the recipe off
the back of the bag, albeit to a far more inaccurate
and imprecise extent, some blew up like softballs,
others melted into pools, but every once in a while
they'd come out a little like they used to.
When they did, I couldn't help but feel
the warmth still radiating from my mother's oven,
hearing its metal crackle, and creak, and yawn
even long after its flame was extinguished.
After years of practicing on my own,
I don't screw up cookies as often as I used to
and usually when I do it's
because I still forget to set a timer.
Mine are bigger, more complex and labor intensive.
Nothing like the ones in my fading memory.
But I still smile sometimes when the blast
of heat from my own creaky oven yields a perfect batch.
I never could get them to come out right
without my mother's help to this day, I still can't.
(upbeat music)
All right so, this week I'm out of the studio,
but I still wanted to make bread for my BLTs
so I've lightly modified a recipe from the book
so that all you need is a bowl and a bread pan.
Obviously a scale helps, but I understand
if you don't travel with one.
First, we're gonna make a no knead sandwich loaf
with everything bagel seasoning, starting with 400 grams
or 3 1/3 cups of bread flour,
2 1/4 teaspoons, or one packet of instant yeast,
25 grams or about 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar,
7 grams or 1 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt.
Then optionally 2 to 3 tablespoons
of everything bagel seasoning
for an everything bagel seasoning style bread.
Whisk the dry ingredients together
or mix by hand until homogenous.
Then I'm combining 1/2 a cup or 125 milliliters
of hot tap water with 125 grams of cold milk water,
or milk, which should even out to
a nice balmy 90 to 100 degrees fahrenheit.
I've also got 50 grams or 3 1/2 tablespoons
of unsalted butter, I'm gonna melt that on the stove top
while I give my workspace a wipe down.
And then once just melted but not boiling or hot
we're gonna add all the wets to the dries
and we're just gonna gently mix these guys together by hand
until a nice shaggy dough forms, kneading it just
a little bit to make sure that no dry patches remain.
Then we're gonna do the lift and fold method.
So we're gonna put this guy back in the bowl,
cover it with a moist towel and let him sit for 15 minutes.
One not quite a full episode of Frasier later
we're uncovering the bowl, grabbing the dough
by an arbitrary corner and, per the name of the method,
lifting and folding it up and toward the center
of the dough round, rotating then repeating
until you've done about 8 to 10 folds.
Then we're gathering up the dough,
placing it seam side down back in the bowl and covering,
letting it rest for another incomplete episode of television
or 15 minutes before uncovering and repeating the process.
We're gonna do this a total of four times
during which time the dough should develop enough gluten
to pass the window pane test.
If it doesn't, just go ahead
and do 1 to 2 more lift and folds.
In the end, we should have a smooth, supple, tacky,
but not sticky dough, which after one more
15 to 20 minute rest we're going to shape into a loaf.
Now, you could just do this by hand patting
and stretching it out into a rectangle,
but if you have a rolling pin, a bottle of wine,
or a smooth rounded chunk of marble like this
it can obviously be a huge help in rolling it out
and making sure that there are no air bubbles in the dough.
Now I want the width of the rectangle to be roughly
the same width as my intended loaf pan,
this 9 x 5 aluminum number that I found
at the grocery store.
Then I'm gonna roll up the dough lengthwise
into a tight log, making sure to press and seal,
and squeeze out any air bubbles as I'm going.
Then thoroughly pinching and pulling the seam shut
underneath the bottom of the loaf.
And there you have it, our dough is ready to become bread.
First, we have to generously grease our loaf pan,
especially an aluminum one like this
that is full of dangerous crooks and crevices.
So make sure to rub in the oil universally and prolifically.
Carefully drop in the dough that looks an awful lot
like a burrito seam side down and if it's
a little bit too long, you need to squeeze it,
make sure that it doesn't curve in the pan.
Otherwise, it might rise unevenly.
Cover with oiled plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel
and let rise at room temperature
for 1 1/2 to 2 hours depending on
the ambient temperature of your kitchen or until doubled
in size and rising above the edges of the loaf pan.
The oven is preheated to 350 degrees fahrenheit
but before the sky heads into the hot box
we're gonna brush him down with more melted butter.
Then you can either cut three diagonal slashes
into the loaf or one long slash down the center.
I cut mine a little bit too deep.
Don't go quite as deep as that.
Once buttered and slashed, this guy's headed
into the oven for 20 to 35 minutes, rotating halfway through
until golden brown and making a hollow thump
when thumped upon the bottom.
While it's still hot give it another brush down
with melted butter, which is gonna give it
a nice burnished surface.
Let it cool in the pan for 10 to 15 minutes
before turning it out and letting it cool directly
on a rack or some elevated grate like surface
like your stove top for at the very least four hours,
ideally overnight before slicing and serving.
I know the idea of fresh hot bread
out of the oven sounds delicious,
but it will ruin the bread's texture.
As you can see, despite being a no knead bread
we've got a nice crumb going here.
It's super soft and fluffy and moist,
but it's firm enough for me to cut it without a bread knife.
So there you have it, no knead,
everything bagel flavored bread.
Only real tools you need are a bowl and a pan.
But let's say just hypothetically
that you travel with your favorite stand mixer
and you wanna make something a little bit more complicated
for your BLTs like a marble rye.
Well, I know you're traveling with
a scale so we'll just go by weight.
First up, 270 grams of bread flour,
185 grams of dark rye flour, 28 grams of dried milk,
or you could substitute this with flour
and instead use half milk and half water later on
in the wet section, 1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons
of onion powder depending on how onion-y
you want things to get.
1 tablespoon of caraway seeds, 18 grams of granulated sugar.
You could also optionally use
the same amount by weight of honey.
35 grams of potato flour, I couldn't find any
so this is just instant mashed potatoes
that I ground into a powder in the blender.
2 teaspoons of instant yeast
and about 1 3/4 quarter teaspoons of kosher salt.
Go ahead and whisk that together until homogenous.
And then we're going to divide
the dry mixture into two equal parts,
one of which we're gonna add a heaping tablespoon
of unsweetened cocoa powder to, this is gonna be
the darker of the two ryes that make up our marble.
Whisk that in there, make sure there are
no clumps cocoa hanging around.
Then we're adding 140 milliliters of room temperature water
and 14 grams of vegetable oil.
Grab the stand mixer outta your carry-on bag,
strap in the bowl, affix the dough hooks.
Mix together on low speed for 1 to 2 minutes
until a dough forms and then knead
on medium speed for 6 to 8 minutes,
scraping down the hook if necessary
until a smooth elastic window pane passing dough forms.
Set that aside and then we're gonna rinse
and repeat this entire process with the non-cocoa powder
half of the dough, so another 140 mil of water,
14 mil vegetable oil, mix, knead, and there you have it
each of which is being placed in its own oiled bowl,
covered with plastic wrap and being allowed to rise
for 1 to 2 hours until doubled in size.
Then we're gonna unwrap these starting with the darker rye
and it's a little stickier than the previous dough
so this time I'm going to lightly flour the countertop
before rolling out into a rectangle.
Repeat with the lighter dough, brush off any excess flour
and lay it right on top of the darker dough.
Once again brushing off any excess flour.
Then we're rolling this guy up,
same as last time, pressing out any bubbles,
making sure no flour is getting stuck between the layers.
Otherwise, you might end up with bubbles in your bread.
And this guy's ready to rock.
Place him seam side down in a well-oiled loaf pan.
Once again, making sure that the loaf doesn't curve
in one direction or the other.
Loosely cover with oiled plastic wrap
and let it rise at room temperature
for 1 to 2 more hours until double in size.
Now, because I wanna stick caraway seeds
to the outside of this thing, instead of butter
we're gonna brush this guy down with a beaten egg
generously sprinkling caraway seeds over top
and then instead of one long slash
I'm gonna do those three diagonal slashes down
the length of the loaf, not cutting quite so deep this time.
Now we're gonna start this guy off
in a 400 degree fahrenheit oven tented with foil
very loosely, almost like a foil balloon
to make sure that it doesn't impede the bread's rise
into the oven it goes for 15 minutes.
Then we're gonna lower the temperature to 350,
bake for another 20 minutes, then uncover
and bake for a final five until it's golden brown
and the thickest part of the loaf
registers 190 to 200 degrees fahrenheit.
Let it rest for 10 minutes in the pan.
Turn it out, listen for a good thump
and let it cool completely at least four hours,
ideally, overnight before slicing and serving.
Let's take a look at that cross section,
see if we got a good spiral and we did.
Little bubble in there, not the end of the world.
A nice hearty wholesome rye that also has
a soft rich texture, so we got our bread out of the way.
Now how about the everything else?
Obviously you can use store-bought mayonnaise
in your BLT, but if you have the option
to make your own the answer is always do it.
I'm combining the rest of that beaten egg
that we were using for brushing with one teaspoon
of Dijon mustard, one whole clove of garlic.
Then normally I'd use the juice
of half a lemon but, not having one,
I'm gonna use about two teaspoons
of white wine vinegar, little pinch of kosher salt
and then it's immersion blender time.
You wanna use a container like this one where the head
of the immersion blender just barely fits in the bottom.
This is gonna create the vortex necessary at the bottom
of the container to emulsify together the eggs and the oil.
Speaking of which, here comes the oil
one cup of neutral flavored stuff like canola.
Come on Andy, you can do this.
Poured gently down the side of the container
so that it settles on top of the oil.
This allows you to control how much oil you're emulsifying
into the egg by moving the immersion blender up and down.
Speaking of which, here it comes on high power starting
at the bottom and slowly pulsing towards the top.
Watching a beautiful creamy mayonnaise come to life
before your very eyes and all over your apron.
Give it a few more passes from the top to make sure
that all the oil is emulsified into the mayo
and there you have it the best mayonnaise you'll ever eat.
And in a sandwich with this few ingredients,
having a high quality mayonnaise really makes
a huge difference.
Now we're gonna do things slightly outta order
starting with the L of our BLT.
My favorite lettuces for the application
are either Boston bib or butter lettuce
which I'm going to make extra crisp by letting it hang out
in ice water for 30 minutes before serving.
This is a great way to crisp up any salad green,
especially if it's wilted.
Next onto the T obviously we need
really high quality tomatoes in a good BLT.
Look for vibrant color, firm but yielding flesh
and a pronounced tomato-y smell.
I like to slice these as thin as possible
so they're easier to bite through
and you don't end up slipping them outta your sandwich.
Last but certainly not least, in fact,
technically first is the bacon, which I'm going to roast
in the oven rather than fry on the stove top
especially if you're dealing with limited or small cookware.
Roasting bacon at 375, preferably with convection
on a sheet of aluminum foil set
in a rimmed baking sheet gives you nice
even cooking relatively flat slices
and unparalleled control in doneness and texture.
I like to give things a flip after about 15 minutes,
or once you start seeing things brown and curl,
flipping the bacon and rotating the pan.
Now depending on how evenly your oven heats
some pieces might be done before others.
This could be good if you have multiple diners
with different bacon doneness preferences,
but if you want all your pieces cooked evenly
you can take some off during cooking,
shuffle around the stragglers and finish them off
in the oven before draining on paper towels.
Then you're left with this big wide vat of bacon fat,
whatever will you do with it?
Well, it turns into the perfect bread dipping station.
I like to fry my bread rather than toast it for a BLT
and bacon fat is about as ideal a lubricant as I can imagine
Lettuce is headed out of the ice water
and is getting patted dry, and I'm toasting the bread
in a non-stick pan more on one side than the other.
I like for the outside of the sandwich to be less toasted
so that doesn't tear up the roof of your mouth
but because it looks so nice for food styling purposes
I'm gonna do the opposite.
Generously, but not gluttonously spreading
our homemade mayonnaise on our homemade bread.
Then in terms of assembly, I like to go
lettuce, bacon, tomato, lettuce.
This prevents all the moisture
of the tomatoes from coming in direct contact
with the bread disallowing any pronounced sogginess.
Set up a nice flatbed of bacon for our tomatoes
and then arranging the tomatoes over top
in a sort of staggered Olympic ring pattern.
This is gonna prevent too many tomatoes
from overlapping in one place so the sandwich doesn't dome.
Lightly season with kosher salt, flaky salt,
if you have it, maybe a few twists
of freshly ground black pepper
and another leaf of nice chilly, crispy lettuce.
Top things up and there you have it, my ultimate BLT
with homemade bread, homemade mayo, crispy yet meaty bacon,
juicy thinly sliced tomatoes, and extra chilly lettuce.
Let's take a look at that cross section, beautiful.
And that's all there is to it.
Just do be careful because it does end up being quite
a drippy sandwich with all those tomatoes.
Next up our slightly more advanced version
we have our toasted marble rye bread
and I'm stepping slightly outside the BLT box
with this one, so I melted on a slice of Munster cheese,
still spreading with plenty of mayo, both sides
and of course the usual lettuce, bacon, tomato, salt pepper
but let's throw a sunny side egg up on there.
Fried in bacon fat, nice crispy edges.
I know this fully disqualifies it
from being called a BLT, but I don't care
because when I press down into it lightly this happens.
Oh yeah, that's some good egg yolk drip
so it's not a BLT, it's a BLECT, a BLECT,
doesn't quite roll off the tongue like BLT,
but it sure rolls onto it nice.
Also wow, those are some juicy tomatoes.
I haven't even taken a bite yet.
I hope you guys enjoyed the short
at the beginning of the episode about the cookbook.
It is available now for pre-order, comes out October 24th.
And tickets for my book tour are on sale now.
Check out the links in the video description
to get your tickets today.
(gentle music)