Doughgirl8 Recipe Reviews (Pg. 1) - Allrecipes.com (18948147)

Cyprus Gyro Burger

Reviewed: May 6, 2012

Really great burgers. I used about 1½ cups of Greek yogurt and skipped the straining step. The urfa biber was wonderful; it has a smoky, almost chocolatey flavor. I didn't need a whole red onion; next time I'll just eyeball how much I think I’ll need for four burgers. I will make these again!

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2 users found this review helpful

Mustard Mousse for Ham

Reviewed: May 6, 2012

This was so good! I've been wanting to make it ever since I saw the recipe—but haven't had an occasion to cook a big ham to serve it with. We had it at Easter, and 6 adults and a couple of kids hardly made a dent in it. It's basically a mustard Bavarian cream. I put the leftovers in the freezer (mmm! Mustard "soufflé glacé"!) and maybe can figure out how to use it in a cold ham salad this summer. Next time, I’d reduce the sugar a bit, because I wanted it to be more tangy.

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1 user found this review helpful

Kashmiri Lamb

Reviewed: Mar. 26, 2012

Really, really good. It tastes very rich, yet doesn't feel heavy. I started prepping the ginger and garlic, then thought to myself, "Those onions are going to take awhile; I should get those going." So, while the onions were caramelizing, I finished the spice puree and cubed the lamb. I also added the saffron threads to the yogurt and let them soften for about 20 minutes. I had just about a pound and a half of lamb, but I made the full amount of sauce—just reducing the chiles slightly. Oh, and I didn't have blanched almonds, so just used regular raw almonds. I think the leftovers are going to be even better than the original meal!

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11 users found this review helpful

Serano Chocolate Cake

Reviewed: Feb. 12, 2012

I've been having a hard time rating this recipe. The frosting/filling is a definite 5 stars—wow! What a lovely chocolate mousse! The sponge cake, though…that was tough. And I mean that literally. I soaked it with the entire amount of simple syrup, but even a day later, the cake was very chewy. I think, if I tried again, I'd split the cake into three layers, rather than two; the cake is easy to slice and handles well, so it wouldn't be a problem to cut it into thinner layers. However, I think I'll probably just use a different sponge cake recipe. I love the frosting part, though, and will definitely make it again. Oh, and it goes without saying (but I'll say it): high-quality ingredients really matter in this cake.

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6 users found this review helpful

Lahmacun Turkish Pizza

Reviewed: Jan. 13, 2011

LOVED this. It's a real project, that's for sure, but I was expecting it to be. I made the sauce ahead of time, browning the lamb first and draining the fat before adding the other ingredients. The dough was very tight; I think next time I'll add more water. To shape the rounds, I divided the dough in 10 pieces and shaped them into balls. I covered them with plastic wrap and let the balls sit for 10 minutes to relax. Then, I started the round-robin process of flattening them into rounds. At first roll, the dough rounds were about the size of pita bread. It took three or four sessions with the rolling pin, resting in between each workout, to get the dough into a nice thin round like a flour tortilla. I baked them as directed, about two at a time on parchment-lined baking sheets; it took 8 minutes in my oven. (Meanwhile, I kept rolling out other dough rounds.) The breads were a little brittle the first night, but I stacked the rest in between the parchment I baked them on, put them in a zipper bag, and refrigerated them. The leftovers softened up and can be topped and rolled up nicely to bring for lunches. We topped them with shredded red and green cabbage, the yogurt sauce, chopped parsley, tomatoes, onions, and harissa. I gave a miserly bite to two of my coworkers, who promptly had to leave the building and go to the nearest gyro place for something similar—it's that good.

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27 users found this review helpful

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Reviewed: Oct. 17, 2010

I've now made this twice in one week, the second time using half chanterelles, half creminis (see changes in Custom Recipe).

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4 users found this review helpful

Hungarian Mushroom Soup

Reviewed: Oct. 15, 2010

Terrific soup! I used chanterelles and 2 Tbsp. fresh dill instead of 2 tsp. dried. I sautéed the onions and mushrooms in 2 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp. olive oil, and removed them with a slotted spoon. I added one more Tbsp olive oil to the mushroom juices in the pan, and stirred in the flour, paprika, salt, and pepper. Cooked it for a minute or two, and whisked in 4 c chicken broth (I like a brothy soup) rather than the broth and milk. Added the mushrooms/onions back to the pot, the soy sauce (I used tamari), the fresh parsley, and dill. Before serving, I stirred in about ¼ cup heavy cream, for richness. I served lemon wedges and sour cream on the side. I'm definitely making this again. With an extra cup of broth, this made four good main-dish servings…but I wish I'd doubled it! Oh, and I think it would be flavorful with any mushrooms, but the chanterelles were a real treat.

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4 users found this review helpful

Nannie's Hot Milk Sponge Cake

Reviewed: Jun. 15, 2010

This recipe was exactly what I was looking for. I wanted to make strawberry shortcakes with a sponge cake base, and this was perfect. One recipe made enough batter to fill my pan (for 6 individual sponge cakes) plus one 8-inch round. Next time, I may halve the recipe. I added about ½ teaspoon of orange zest (to complement the orange liqueur I was adding to the strawberries) and a pinch of salt.

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6 users found this review helpful

Pain de Campagne - Country French Bread

Reviewed: Mar. 15, 2010

This is my favorite kind of bread: just flour, yeast, water, and salt. The staff must’ve fixed the instructions the previous reviewer mentioned; even so, I used ¾ cup water because I like a thinner poolish. I mixed the dough in my Kitchenaid for at least 15 minutes; it’s a very loose dough. Somewhere, I have a baguette pan, but couldn’t find it when I was ready to shape the loaves. So, I had some shaping disasters. One loaf was too long for my baking stone, so the ends fell off and hit the oven rack; the other loaf wasn’t floured well enough and kind of stuck to my towel, so it had some puckering on the surface. (Hence, no pretty pictures!) The taste is very good, though.

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14 users found this review helpful

Meat and Spinach Ravioli Filling

Reviewed: Mar. 3, 2010

This was very good. I used the larger holes on my grinder but think I'll go for the finer texture next time. I only filled enough ravioli for one meal (it was getting late) and I barely made a dent in the filling; I should have enough ravioli to freeze for several meals. Instead of garlic salt, I used fresh garlic (and salt); I also used a handful of chopped fresh parsley instead of dried. I made it with the Fresh Semolina and Egg Pasta dough recipe and served it with a vodka tomato cream sauce.

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15 users found this review helpful

Pumpkin Brioche

Reviewed: Dec. 14, 2009

What a terrific recipe! Brioche is one of my favorite doughs to make—it’s got an absolutely luxurious texture once all the butter is incorporated. I used this recipe to make pecan sticky buns, which were wonderful, but I also wanted to taste the plain brioche, so I shaped one piece of dough as a brioche à tête. If you’re thinking of making this recipe, don’t expect the bread to taste like a sweet, spicy, pumpkiny quick bread: the pumpkin flavor is very subtle. It’s a perfect rich loaf, though, for serving with butter and jam or, if you’re getting fancy, for canapés. (I bet it would make absolutely outstanding French toast, too). At any rate, this is a very wet dough. It firms up after the first rise, and then again after refrigeration. I made it into sticky buns by letting it chill for 6 hours. I divided the dough in half, rolling each half out and brushing the dough with egg wash, sprinkling with about ½ cup sugar mixed with 2 tsp. cinnamon and then a heaping half-cup or so of chopped toasted pecans. I rolled up the logs in parchment and let them chill in the freezer for about 45 minutes before slicing into 2-oz rolls. I arranged the rolls in greased pans filled with a caramel goo topped with more pecans: I think I used 1½ cups brown sugar, 8 oz. butter, and 3 Tbsp golden syrup (dark corn syrup would work, too.) I covered the pans with plastic and put them in the fridge overnight, letting them rise again at room temp before baking the next morning. It made about 28 rolls.

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17 users found this review helpful

Quince Paste

Reviewed: Dec. 2, 2009

This was outstanding! I was so excited to see this recipe on here, because I’m crazy about quince. The first time I tried them, I thought, “Where has this fruit been all my life?!” I think I added too much water, though, during the quince cooking stage. Next time I’ll add a couple of cups to start with, and add more if needed. From 4½ pounds of whole quince, I got more than 5 lbs of quince puree! Like I said: too much water. It took a long time to cook down. I spread it into a pan and left it in a 100 degree F oven overnight (we have a “bread proof” cycle that was perfect for this). Wonderful! As good as the membrillo we had in Portugual. Perfect with crusty bread and slices of manchego cheese. It made a ton, so I'm giving away slabs as gifts to a select few!

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12 users found this review helpful

Sicilian Spaghetti

Reviewed: Nov. 10, 2009

I can't believe I never reviewed this--it's one of my go-to quick dinners. It's a delicious, savory, simple dish. I brown the breadcrumbs in olive oil and set them aside; then I warm the anchovies and garlic and some red pepper flakes in olive oil. I save about a half cup of the pasta-cooking water and add that to the anchovy mixture, toss that with the pasta, then mix in the breadcrumbs and top with cheese.

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21 users found this review helpful

French Country Bread

Reviewed: Sep. 14, 2009

I loved this recipe. Seattle has great bakeries so I almost never bake my own bread, but if I lived in the middle of nowhere, this might be the recipe I'd use for everyday bread. It had a wonderful spongy texture, mild flavor, and chewy crust. I made the starter the night before, made the dough, and then—because I didn't have time to bake that night—I shaped the loaves and let them rest overnight in the refrigerator and baked them the next morning. The loaves got very slightly overproofed, but it was worth it for the convenience factor. I used whole wheat pastry flour, which is all I had at home, and the result was an almost-white bread that would be great for sandwiches (our bread got eaten too fast to try it with anything fancier than butter); it kept well overnight, too. The dough was very wet, but I just kind of kept kneading it in a mixing bowl, which was more of a flopping-the-dough-around action than kneading...but by the time I was ready to shape the loaves, the dough had tightened up nicely. I baked one round loaf and one in a loaf pan; I used a baking stone and covered the loaves with cast iron Le Crueset-type pans to trap the steam and give them a thick crackling crust. Wonderful!

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9 users found this review helpful

Angel Food Cake I

Reviewed: Jul. 13, 2009

This is a good, classic angel food cake recipe. I had leftover egg whites and creme Anglaise from making a big birthday cake, so I used them up in this light-tasting dessert. My only change was the baking method & temp: I don't really understand the reason for the cold oven. From what I was taught, you want to quickly set the cake's structure and not lose the air you so carefully beat into the batter. I baked the cake in a preheated 350 degree oven and started testing the cake for doneness at about 45 mins.

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12 users found this review helpful

One - Two - Three - Four Cake II

Reviewed: Jun. 9, 2009

I really liked this recipe for a classic yellow cake. I let my ingredients come up to room temperature before I started mixing. Next time, I might add an additional egg yolk just for a deeper yellow color. I used two 8-inch cake pans, so I needed to increase the baking time since I had more batter per pan. I started testing the cakes at 25 minutes, and they took about 35-40 minutes. The cake wasn't too dry for me, but next time I may use a soaking syrup for just a little added moistness.

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8 users found this review helpful

Easiest, Most Delicious Meringue Buttercream

Reviewed: Jun. 9, 2009

This is my favorite type of frosting. I usually make it using an Italian meringue (cooking the sugar syrup and adding it to the whipped egg whites), but the Swiss meringue method in this recipe worked well. I made a half-batch of the recipe and made it into a chocolate buttercream: I melted 2 oz. of chopped unsweetened chocolate in the microwave and let it cool. Once the buttercream was mixed according to the directions, I blended in the cool melted chocolate and a third of a cup of sifted cocoa powder. One half batch was just enough to fill and frost an 8-inch layer cake, if you're careful with it.

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8 users found this review helpful

Choereg (Armenian Easter Bread)

Reviewed: Mar. 16, 2009

I've had my eye on this recipe for a couple of years now, and finally got around to making it. The flavor is great—I'd never baked with mahleb before. I didn't like working with the dough, though. I found it to be greasy and sticky, almost like braiding cookie dough. I think that the next time I make this recipe (and I do plan to make it again) I'll try bread flour instead of all-purpose and use the method for mixing brioche: letting the dough mix and the gluten structure form before adding room temperature butter, a tablespoon or so at a time, until fully incorporated.

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11 users found this review helpful

The Best Rolled Sugar Cookies

Reviewed: Dec. 21, 2008

Honestly, I'm not much of a fan of this recipe. I wanted to make it as written in order to review it...but as soon as I saw that the recipe called for 4 eggs, I thought, "Uh-oh. These are gonna be puffy." Sure enough, the result is puffy, cakey cookies that don't keep their sharp edges (and yes, I refrigerated the dough after the cookies were rolled out and cut, didn't over-cream the butter, etc.). I think rolled cookies should have a crisper butter-cookie texture. The flavor was too mild and eggy as well. If I made this recipe again, I'd use just two eggs plus one egg yolk, and double the amount of vanilla extract.

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5 users found this review helpful

Pakistani Meatballs with Gravy (Koftay)

Reviewed: May 13, 2008

These were delicious—but you have to change the preparation method. Meatballs will never get nice and brown cooking in a liquid; they'll just turn gray. You need to brown them separately. I cut about half an onion in a fine dice for the meatballs, the rest in thin slices. Use cayenne pepper, not what Americans call chili powder: that's a Mexican spice blend that'll change the flavor. I added a clove of minced garlic and a bit of minced ginger to the meat mixture as well, and salt. I only used a ¼ tsp. of cloves, because they're so strong, but I probably could've gone with the full amount. For the sauce, I caramelized the onions; added the garlic, ginger, and spices and stirred for a minute or two. Then I added 2 c. water and the lentils (I used chana dal, but red lentils would cook faster). I didn't add the yogurt until the end, because I didn't want it to curdle; and don't add salt until the end of the cooking time, either. Cover and simmer until lentils are tender; add the half cup of water if you need it (I didn't). Meanwhile, shape the meatballs. Heat a tablespoon or so of oil in a skillet, and brown the meatballs on all sides. Set aside. When lentils are tender, stir in salt to taste and whisk in the yogurt. Don't let the yogurt boil, or it will curdle. (Full-fat yogurt works best.) Add meatballs just to warm them. I served this with brown rice, topped with chopped cilantro (aka fresh coriander), with naan on the side. For me, total prep/cooking time was about 1.5 hrs.

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44 users found this review helpful