Well that’s good to be able to do that. I know they have to be carefully packed with the freezer packs, wasn’t sure if you shipped or not.
Bake your bread, make your desserts 2020
I made a King Cake using the KAF recipe. I’m still a newbie when it comes to yeast dough, so I made a couple of errors that led to the dough not rising as much as it should have. So, the texture is more of an actual cake than a sweet bread. Also, because of the way my oven is, even with tenting the King Cake with foil part of it managed to nearly burn. It tastes OK, but I’m not going to bring any into work like I’d planned.
I’ve bought several times chocolate online, they never arrive with freezer pack. Although one place refuse to ship certain items in summer. Although I don’t know the practice in U.S.
Same here. Here’s my try of King Cake this year, I’ll tried to make another one to see if there will be an improvement. These days, I’m making all types of brioches to improve my knowledge of active / fresh yeast. (I’ve post this in the French COTQ)
Not a big success, home made brioche des roi of Epiphany due to problem of yeast. The fresh yeast added did not raise the dough. In panic, I added all the dried yeast I had at home, not ideal, the outcome was a bit too compact and dried. Too bad, the recipe was good. Raisin soaked in dark rum, roasted almond, pistachio, fruit confit with lemon zest, cinnamon and cardamom in the interior of the brioche flavoured with orange blossom water.
I like the brioche king cake more than the galette version in the Parisian region, which consists of puffy pastry and almond paste.
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I think it depends on the time of year @naf, and their ultimate destination. I’ve sent specialty chocolates I love that are made in Las Vegas, and they come in styrofoam with freezer packs, or so the recipients said.
I tried to recreate a memory but it was a fail. In my college days (Hanover, NH), there was a pizza place that made and sold Portuguese muffins. Butter and jam, or as the base for their burgers and chicken sandwiches. These were super delicious and I’ve never seen them on the west coast. I tried a King Arthur Flour recipe. They were fine, but not anything like the fluffy sweet chewy things I remember. Does anyone know of these delights and have a tried and true recipe?
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Are they at all like the sweet rolls sold at Mexican bakeries?
No not really. Maybe a cross between an english muffin in texture (but a little bigger and a little fluffier) and a king’s hawaiian in terms of level of sweetness.
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@Sasha - I’m sorry for your fail; had one recently trying to recreate my granny’s hamburger soup made in a pressure cooker,
Having never tried the muffins you’re trying to duplicate, I’m not sure I can offer much help or advice. I do however, suspect the muffins are richer than the KA recipe, which I did take a look it. They may also be more of a batter bread, with no kneading required.
I do have a number of New England cookbooks, one especially from a place with a lot of Portuguese immigrants. I can do a little research tomorrow and report back with my findings, if any. I do love quests as well as successful reproductions of taste memories.
How fun! Thank you. In my bit of google research, it appears the muffins are a northeast thing. And I have to confess, I only ever had them at this college pizza joint, and they may have been making them all wrong! So what I think of as a portuguese muffin may have had nothing to do with the real deal. But college nostalgia is so strong!
I’m afraid I’ve come up kind of empty handed on this search @Sasha, but if you want to retry, I’d go with a richer dough than the KA recipe, and stir in just enough flour to handle the dough. Or, alternatively, knead in just enough flour, so they’re not overly sticky. For the first rise I’d put them in a greased bowl, covered, until doubled in size. Punch down, roll into balls and place them together in a pan with an inch or two between them. Flatten slightly, cover again and let them rise until again doubled in size. Brush with an egg wash or with heavy cream, and bake at 350 degrees until done. Good luck and let me know the results, should you attempt them again.
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Sorry, Sasha, I haven’t made Portuguese muffins, but they are currently quite popular in the Boston area. Several places use them for eggs benedict and as hamburg buns.
Actually, your rolls look quite impressive! Here’s an older article from Huffpost with a link to another recipe that sounds quite similar to my husband’s Azorean grandmother’s sweetbread recipe:
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I had a 1/2 cup of pumpkin puree left and literally made up a recipe that turned out like a soft bar cookie kinda thing that I later enjoyed with vanilla yogurt.
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Thanks! I ran across that article in my research. I didn’t go with the recipe though, because the quantities were massive. 5 lbs of flour for starters…!
A picture of my Valentine gifting haul from Babette’s shop. Everything is absolutely delicious! Happy Valentines Day all 
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Fantastique !!!
Ah hah! Be happy that I am a pack rat and did not clean out my cookbooks…
Your description rang a bell and I thought I had made a recipe like that from “Beard on Bread.” Hunted, found the cookbook and yes! Portuguese Sweet Bread. Off for a walk now, will post recipe when I return.
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Mrs. P made black olive cake with orange zest and fresh basil ice cream topped with date honey and orange zest for Valentine’s Day😋 It went great with a 10 year old port.
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Apologies for the delay - I was away so long the website would not let me edit my orig. post.
Anyhoo, I really liked the James Beard’s version of the sweet bread but doing some online research, some folks did not. Here’s a King Arthur flour one, that got excellent reviews.
And here’s someone who DID make the James Beard version, with great pics. They had a problem with a slow rise, I did not (maybe cuz my kitchen is warm.)
I made mine as small individual rolls, loved being able to grab one as a snack.
Huffington Post leads me to this recipe - I hope this is the one for you!
http://portuguesediner.com/tiamaria/bolos-levados-portuguese-muffins/
