Joe’s World Famous, Extra Decadent, Kahlua Cheesecake

Joe’s World Famous, Extra Decadent, Kahlua Cheesecake

Easy to make and fabulous flavor!

Graham Cracker Crust

1 ½ cups ground graham crackers (Try the chocolate or cinnamon)

6 Tbl melted butter

¼ cup sugar

¼ tsp cinnamon

Mix together all ingredients well with a fork or in a food processor. Press mixture into the bottom ½ an inch up the sides of a pie pan or a spring form pan (for the cheesecake use a spring form pan). Place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up a bit. Use with cheesecake or other cream pies.

Cake:

The trick to making this Cheesecake so smooth and creamy is baking it in a water bath and letting it cool down in the oven.

2 lbs. Cream cheese

1 1/3 cups sugar

4 large eggs

¼ cup heavy cream

¼ cup sour cream

1 tsp. grated lemon zest

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 Tbl. Kahlua or any coffee liqueur

Cut up the cream cheese and work it a few pieces at a time, until creamy, in the bowl of a tabletop mixer or food processor, on medium or high. Work in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl or processor with a rubber spatula between each egg. Then set on low and work in the cream, sour cream, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Pour the batter into the pan with the crust and smooth out the top. Drizzle the Kahlua over the top. Place a sheet pan or shallow baking dish large enough to hold the spring form pan in a pre heated 375ºf oven and then place the spring form pan in the sheet pan. Add cold water about ¾ on an inch deep be careful not to spill any of the water into the cheesecake. Bake for 20 minutes reduce heat to 300ºf and continue baking for 40 minutes more or until the center of the cheesecake sets. Turn off the oven and allow the cheesecake to cool for 1 hour in the oven. Remove from oven allow to cool at room temperature for 15 minutes and then place in the refrigerator to cool fully. Work a pastry knife or butter knife around the edges of the spring form pan and remove the ring. Cut it up into pieces and eat it… Yumm!

Serves 12

Meawhile Back at the Bread 7-27-11

We are now getting a very stable product. It is uniformly rising to a round, full shape. The crust is crunchy and the sponge is chewy. We now have a constant, mild, back palate, sour flavor. The loaves are stable for about four days and the bread freezes well. At this point the area of concentration needs to be in the firing of the oven.

As our loaf requirements grow we will need to extend the number of bakings that one fire will allow. I’m finding the gas re-firing with a roofing torch, for about 4 minutes is helpful, allowing a second, third and even forth baking. If you are learning about bread baking, I suggest “Tartine Baking” as a great reference book. Pay attention to all of the mechanical components of the dough development. The times allow flavor maturation and the tensioning of the dough causes the oven spring to do its job, creating a full rise.

My mistake was in not building enough tension into my dough and I had semi-flat loaves. In the bake you need to understand a proper level of oven moister; too much and the crust is too thick, too little and the crust is weak. Well it’s time to run half of the bread through the slicer and to drop it off with my ever-growing customer list.

See you back at the bread. And remember if you have any questions please ask and I’ll do the best I can, in finding an answer.

Meanwhile Back at the Bread 6/19/11

Last week my old friend, Bill Payne made a new door for the bread oven. It is made out of plate steel with a hole centered at about 3 inches up from the bottom. The hole is round and about 3 ½ inches across. It is just large enough for the nozzle of a roofing torch to fit through and has two vents on the bottom at the outer sides. These work, both as exhaust vents and they create legs of a sort, that will help the door to stand by itself. I made the door to allow me to do a second baking as the oven was lousing heat after the first bake.

From that time I have figured out a few things. I believe that I could simply seal the door and the one-ton plus mass would have a thermal shift that would raise the oven temp back up the 50°f or so lost in the first bake. However the new door can reheat the surface of the hearth back up to baking temp in about 5 minutes. So all is well on that front.

Next I have several customers that are questioning the hardness of the crust. This is tough… er… so to speak! In my next baking I’m going to use less wood and start baking at a lower temperature; around 470°f. I have been doing my first bake as soon as the oven temp would drop enough, to not burn the cornmeal that I toss on the hearth floor, which is around 500°f -525°f. What I think is going on is, I’m baking at too high of a temp and the crust is forming fast and very hard. The center of the loaf is then restricted in the initial rise.

These risen cuts are called "ears"

I’m getting beautiful ears on the loaves and a distinct sponge. But the sponge is very tight and I’m not finding the shine on the inside on the sponge bubbles and the loaf has some additional weight and density. At a lower temp I think the bread will rise and then develop, a lighter dough with a slightly thinner crust. Everyone is pleased with the flavor except one person asked for a stronger “sour” flavor.

I think I’m very close to “World Class” bread and I’ willing to listen and try figure out which is best. With each new bake I learn more about this beautiful oven and the art of turning flour, salt and water into bread that makes people very happy. In closing today I’d like to thank those that are buying bread from us the money is enough to keep this project going.

Bread at Last, Bread at Last, Thank God Almighty, We’ve Got Bread at Last

After a year of planning, building the oven, learning how the oven works, researching, baking, tasting, rethinking, baking again, re-tasting, re-rethinking, re-baking again… you get the idea…

we’ve finally made the bread we’ve been looking for. Today we made bread with a proper sponge, crust, color, and even the ears we were looking for.

By ears I’m talking about the ripped cuts that stand above the bread when it comes out of the oven.

We just cut into the first piece and the whole loaf is now gone! This is real bread. Now we need to see if we can produce it every time and in large batches. Stay Tuned!

Caprese Salad

As it gets hotter I'm always looking for something to eat that will refresh without stuffing. This classic salad is just right for a warm summer evening listening to the quail and enjoying a beautiful Arizona sunset with my wife of 31 years. Add a good, cold, crisp Chennin Blanc and who knows?

Caprese Salad

I’ve added the balsamic vinegar to this, I like the extra sweet bite. This salad is great either way.

8 OZ Water Buffalo Milk Mozzarella, sliced thin

3 Large Plum or any “garden fresh”, Tomatoes, sliced thin and salted lightly

1/2 C Fresh basil, finely chopped

Fruity olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

Kosher salt

1. On a serving plate, arrange the mozzarella and tomatoes in circles, exposing at least half of the slices...a slice of tomato then a slice of mozzarella then a slice of tomato, and so on. Sprinkle with salt, basil, olive oil and then balsamic vinegar. Let stand for 10 minutes and serve with a good red wine.

2. Serves 6-8.

Meanwhile Back at the Bread III

Okay this what I learned tonight about bread. It is imperative to use (as directed in Tartine Bread) a mixture of Whole Wheat and Rice flour to line your, towel-lined breadbaskets. Today as I was working my dough, through the bench rest and the final rise, I being a rocket scientist, thought to myself, I’m out of the rice flour that is suggested in the directions for lining the baskets. What could it hurt? I’ll tell what it can hurt. When you have 22 loaves of bread that you have been working on for 3 days and then you go out and cut the Mesquite for the fire and you light that fire and watch it for 5 hours, while the bread is rising and then you clean the oven and wash it out, while hot and then you wait until it reaches 575°f and then you take your dough out and as you gently turn over the first loaf and it sticks to the towel and tears and deflates as you watch in horror. That’s the time when you realize that maybe they meant it when they said us a 50/50 mixture of whole wheat and rice, flour to line your baskets.

Alright, after a glass of wine and some thought I gently turned the baskets over and used a plastic dough scraper and got the dough to release and I scored it. However it did lose a little of it’s rise. Once again this is a learning process!

So the bread came out a little flat but it was delicious. I’ll bake again in 3 or 4 days.

Back at The Bread... Pilot Error

Meanwhile back at the bread… Pilot Error!

Take a look at this bread. It’s color is great but it’s a failure! The reason why, I made a mistake. I made this in a Ditch Oven and forgot to drop the temperature from 500°f to 450°f for 20 minutes with the lid on.

Then I baked another 25 minutes I tested the internal temperature it was 209°f, just 3 degrees short of the target temp. At 212°f the steam is released and the bread is perfect along with the maximum crust tention.Because the oven was too hot the crust developed nice and brown but too quick. Notice the cuts in the surface did not develop ears or deep tears. The flavor will be fine but this is a 9 not a 10. My advice make sure that your oven is not too hot or the crust will cook too fast. I’m baking in the wood fired oven tomorrow and I’ll post the results.

The bread is cooling and Kathy and I are going to have tomato, basil and Parma butter sandwiches as soon as it cools. Life is good!

Warmly,

Mad coyote Joe