As the holiday season approached this year, we in the Recchiuti ‘family’ were thinking of a fun, festive way to welcome winter to the City. One of the benefits of splitting my time between the Ferry Building shop and our offices and kitchens in the Dogpatch neighborhood is getting to be around the fabulous Ferry Building as it is decked out for the holidays and coming into work where the kitchens’ many baking and chocolate-y projects perfume the entire building with tantalizing scents. For me, nothing warms the heart and home like the smell of fresh baked goods (and a decked out tree, of course). My favorite days at the office are when the kitchens bake the graham crackers and permeate the office and kitchens with the wonderful rich scents of cinnamon, brown sugar, and vanilla. So it seemed the perfect way to usher in the holidays would be to bake something spectacular to get us in the swing of things. And since baking wasn’t festive enough we decided to go a step further and turn our grahams into the ultimate ‘gingerbread’ house.

First things first, we needed to create a sturdy base for our house. Enter Angelica, Recchiuti’s wonderful Kitchen Manager, who led me into the great unknown (aka the Recchiuti Kitchens), to experiment with our Graham Cracker dough. After consulting my trusty Joy of Cooking I created some pattern-pieces for our house and tackled the rolling, measuring, layout, and cutting of the house. I learned the hard way that this delicious and wonderful smelling graham dough is a sticky adversary, and began the chilly, somewhat floury journey into cutting out my pattern pieces and prepping them for baking. Next was the all-important baking test: would the grahams hold up in a larger than normal size? Would they bake evenly? Would they bleed and grow? Would they break? Angelica, Peter (one of our chefs), and I had our doubts… After 16 minutes of anticipation the results were in, and the grahams passed with flying colors! Beautifully golden, perfectly crisp and strong, they were the perfect platform to construct our All-Recchiuti masterpiece.

With the grahams cooling, I now got to move on to the fun part. With the oh-so-patient Peter watching me, I was set up a station in the kitchen to make a batch of Royal Icing so I could assemble our house. Oh the joys of professional kitchen equipment! (I made a second, successful batch at home, have no fear, beloved home chefs!) With icing in hand – that is, in a pastry bag – the building could begin. I used a spare cutting board covered in parchment as my base for the house, and after a few sticky icing overflows and one wall cave-in, I had a house!

Now the hard part… waiting, for at least an hour, to decorate it. We took the time to come up with crazy and creative ideas for decking-out our Graham Cracker creation. I had wild notions of enrobing the entire house in tempered chocolate and then decorating on top of it (the sheer weight of all that chocolate might have collapsed the entire project!). Angelica suggested drizzling tempered chocolate for rooftop decorations and I (more reasonably now) was looking forward to a Candied Orange Peel log pile, Marshmallow snowman, and Pates de Fruit Christmas lights and stained-glass windows.  I finally tore myself away from staring at the house long enough to whip up a fresh batch of icing to decorate the house, and after an hour of not-so-patiently waiting, it was time to decorate the house!

After frosting the roof, piping icicles off the eves, and plenty of frosting and Extra Biter Chocolate Sauce glue, (and a little snacking) we had  sweet creation. Just a few tips: if you cut the Pates de Fruit in half, the un-sugared side is marvelously sticky and requires no additional ‘glue.’ Marshmallows are great for anchoring unstable walls or for snowbanks, and also great as snowmen! And don’t be afraid to be creative, using non-food items to embellish your creation and add a personal twist to this holiday classic!

We used: Recchiuti Graham Crackers for the walls and roof; Candied Hazelnuts for the border; Pates de Fruit for the windows; Recchiuti chocolate box pads for the door; a gold Recchiuti seal attached with some Extra Bitter Chocolate Sauce for the knob; a combination of PEPs and Cherries Two Ways for the walkway; Recchiuti Vanilla Bean Marshmallow for the snowman (his nose is made of blended Pates de Fruit, with buttons and eyes of Extra Bitter Chocolate Sauce coal); Candied Orange Peel for the log pile; Pates de Fruit for Christmas lights; and finally a Crimson Recchiuti Ribbon to top off our All-Recchiuti creation.

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If your brown sugar is lumpy, push it through a sieve before measuring it. Also, refrigerating the dough for at least 3 hours before rolling and baking helps to relax the gluten and blend the flavors. If the graham shapes bleed or grow during baking, cut them while still warm to pit the pattern shapes. Once assembled, the house should sit for at least one hour for the icing to harden before you begin decorating.

Graham Crackers
Yield: 2 12-inch-by-18-inch sheet pans

⅓ cup whole milk
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract, preferably Madagascar Bourbon
4 tablespoons mild-flavored honey such as clover or orange-blossom
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons whole-wheat flour, preferably stone-ground
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
5 tablespoons unsalted butter with 82% butterfat, chilled, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 cup packed dark brown sugar

Royal Icing
Yield: about ¾ cup
2⅔ cups confectioners sugar
2 large egg whites

MIX THE DOUGH
•    Whisk the milk, vanilla extract, and honey together in a bowl. Set aside.
•    Sift both flours, the salt, and the baking soda together into the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the butter and beat on medium speed until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Beat in the brown sugar until on sugar clumps remain.
•    With the mixer running on medium speed, add the milk mixture and beat until a smooth dough forms, 2 to 3 minutes.
•    Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat it into a 5-inch square. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

CUT THE PATTERN
Using parchment or butchers paper cut out and label your patter pieces as follows:
•    One 7-inch wide x 5-inch tall pattern piece for the sides of the house.
•    One 8½-inch wide x 6½-inch tall pattern piece for the roof.
•    One 7½-inch wide x 9-inch high pattern piece for the front and back of the house.
(To form the peak for the front and back of the house: fold the pattern piece in half lengthwise. Mark 5-inches up the side of the paper, two staggered sections. You will cut the shorter section (4-inches) to create the peak of the roof. Using a ruler, angle the ruler diagonally from the top of the folded side out to the mark. Cut along the ruler and unfold your pattern piece. You should now have a ‘house’ shaped pattern.)

BAKE THE CRACKERS

•    Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the bottoms of two 12-by-18 inch sheet pans with parchment paper.

•    On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough ⅛-inch thick. If the dough is sticky, lightly flour the surface of the dough before laying down the patterns. Place your patterns on the dough before cutting so you can map-out how to best use your space. Using a sharp knife, cut two copies of each pattern piece from the dough. If the dough gets too sticky, chill the dough for a few minutes and continue cutting.
•    Transfer your cut pieces to the parchment covered pans, spacing them ½-inch apart.
•    Bake on the middle shelves of the oven, rotating the pans 180 degrees halfway through the baking time, until browned on top, about 16 minutes. Cool completely on the pans on wire racks.
•    Store pieces in an airtight container until ready to assemble the house.

MAKE THE ICING
To glue your house together use Royal Icing. To make Royal Icing:
•    Using an electric mixer with the whisk attachment, mix together the confectioners sugar and egg whites on high speed until the icing is cool and holds stiff peaks. You may add more confectioners sugar until the icing is stiff enough. Transfer to a piping bag or press wax paper or cling wrap against the surface of the icing to prevent it from drying out until you are ready to use it.

MAKE THE HOUSE
•    You may use a pastry bag or a small spatula to apply the lines of icing. Working on a large tray or plate, lined with wax or parchment paper, start by putting the house front, sides, and back together.
•    Pipe a line of icing on each end of one side piece. Place it between the front and back, adjusting as necessary to make the house square. Repeat on the other side piece.
•    Working one side at a time, pipe icing along the angled front and back edges. Place the roof piece against the icing and gently press to lightly hold it in place until the second roof piece is added. Repeat for the second roof piece and pipe icing along the top edge of the roof pieces, adjusting them to fit snugly together to form a peak.
•    Reinforce seams of house with extra icing. Let the house stand for at least one hour, until the icing hardens, before decorating.
Decorating your house: remember, have fun, be creative, and enjoy!

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Bittersweet – it’s the pure emotional description of how I spent the weekend of October 3^rd and 4^th. This marked the finale of Recchiuti Confections 2009 Taste Project, clear blue skies with a slight chill in the air reminding me that summer has passed and the tease of winter is approaching.  This means to those of us who are in a seasonal business that we are slowly climbing up the roller coaster towards the peak before inertia throws us up and down the tracks eventually screeching the a dead halt.  So explains some of the feelings of bittersweet brought on by this last gathering.

Our final partnership is with Acme Bread Company. Monica Contois the heroine retail manager at Acme in the Ferry Building is joining Michael in what is now a define Recchiuti style in the project – we won’t simply be pairing bread with chocolate – we will also incorporate stages of bread making or re-purposing bread oriented foods into appetizing creations. A brainstorm meeting was held earlier at Zuni Café (hmm, I must have missed the memo to join them at that meeting) ideas are bounced back and forth, a menu emerges.

BREAD & CHOCOLATE MENU

Panzanella – A bread made with Acme batard, Far West Fungi chanterelles & glacier greens, finished  chili flakes, 64% semisweet Maris Otter dragées, oyster mushrooms, McEvoy olive oil and fresh mint.

Savory Tartine - Acme sourdough baguette open-faced sandwich of Ploughgate Creamery’s Willoughby cheese (Albany, VT), drizzled Valrhona 64% chocolate garnished with fresh rosemary and artisan finishing salt and pipette of McEvoy olive oil.

Pretzel – House made pretzel sticks made with Acme sourdough dipped in dark chocolate and garnished with artisan salt. A “refresher” drink of active bread starter, burnt sugar, balsamic vinegar with a touch of St George Spirit cacao brandy finished with a shot of seltzer water.

Dogpatch Pop Tart – A pop tart made with Michael’s buttermilk scone dough recipe. Filled with candied orange peel and semisweet chocolate.

Bread Pudding – Bread pudding made with Acme croissant topped with crème caramel and encased in a burnt sugar cage

Ice Cream Sliders – Cacao nib ice cream sliders made with Acme pain de mie served with a side of Recchiuti PEP (Peppermint Thins)

Saturday October 3^rd

The last of the Taste Project has proven to be somewhat of a family affair. Joining us on Saturday in service, is Hannah who from Boston adds a charming east coast edge to the retail team at the Ferry Building Recchiuti Store – she is also famous for coining the word “Delicious-ness”. Hannah uses it frequently with customers in describing various Recchiuti confections like the Candied Orange Peel and seasonal specials like the Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies, customers in turn nod knowingly; acknowledging how the newly inscribed word resonant with them. Alongside Hannah are Sugey (lived in Boston and speaks of it with much affections, big Red Sox fan) who spearheads Recchiuti Customer Service at 3^rd St and Jessie also in customer service (our in house songwriter and joy spreader). Today Jessie is riding shot gun with Peter our last Tasting Project chef de cuisine as they both are culinary school graduates and are entrusted to plate the various savory and sweet concoctions about to unfold. 

Familiar faces dot the tables as we welcome people into the tasting room – many have attending multiple tastings and familiar with the routine. For those unable to attend here’s a peek at what we do…

Lights are dimmed, tea candles are lit at each setting alongside the tasting menu, the tone is calming, warm and cozy, (well, as cozy as you can be with twenty-five people sitting in a U shaped table) – frequently we will have a  tiny cup of pre-tasting sample – in this case; un-milled wheat berries a precursor to bread. Movement catches the eye as a two separate walls are projected with silent  images; one is a day at Acme – dough is mixed, rolled out, cut and baked – this was filmed weeks before by Michael to allow Monica a reference point as these images typically ignite conversation or specific questions of curiosity. The other is an instructional CD from the award winning book Dough (again a bittersweet moment as this is the very book that beat our book Chocolate Obsession at the James Beard Awards). All this adds texture and further excitement to the attendees as education and information fills the room.

Enter Michael and Monica – with each course is served they both speak with excitement of what their passions bring to the dish placed on the table. Anecdotes and factual details are shared with everyone; it’s not only about what they know of bread & chocolate – it’s more than that, it’s what we in the artisan food industry live for, it’s what we eat, drink dream about and in the case of Recchiuti Taste Project what we share with those who want to catch the contact high from living the life we do here in the bay area. The love for food and drink and where things come from, how they are prepared give us the common bond for a short time this Saturday afternoon in Dogpatch. Throughout the courses Hannah, Sugey and I glide about serving and clearing and Jessie and Peter set up for following courses. Jessie, Sugey and I take turns taking photos to document for Sugey’s posting on our Recchiuti fan Facebook wall and for my writing of the Recchiuti blog.

During a short break which incorporates a tour of our kitchen with the making of a course tasting, as a side we have already baked off pretzel sticks made with Acme sourdough. The pretzel is to accompany a drink, a very special drink – Monica and Michael have concocted a beverage that includes active bread starter it is presented in with seltzer water that makes it look like a root beer float. The foamy drink has a syrup made with St George Spirits cacao brandy, balsamic vinegar, burnt sugar blend; the flavor is reminiscent of Saba  (currant balsamic vinegar) with notes of caramel, red berries, just enough bitter sourness from the vinegar  and foamy bread starter – it’s unexpectedly pleasant.

As everyone files back into the tasting room warm buttermilk scone in a Pop Tart shape filled with chocolate and candied orange is warmed and served, a nice palette cleanser for those who may not have enjoyed the unusual drink they just consumed.

We continue on through the next two courses without a hitch, Michael and Monica on-going banter out front, behind the scenes team Recchiuti work together in plating and finishing touched on the last two courses.

The first of the two day tasting goes by without incident – what little tension from anticipation has dissipated as well all know now what is expected for the tasting on Sunday. We quickly and efficiently set up and prep for the next day and off we go …

Sunday October 4^th

We begin with a new service team – back are Peter and Sugey but to replace our Saturday gals:

Peggi a dear long-time friend who most  willingly replaced me in the break of dawn waking and tending of the Ferry Plaza Farmer’s Market  tent on Green Street all those years ago before the Ferry Building was resurrected. Peggi was referred to as the “market wife” as she and Michael would bicker from time to time like an old married couple as I snuggled into a sleep-in at home before heading into the kitchen to prep. It’s funny because to this day old Green St Market customers tell me at the store, that they were very close to Michael and his wife as they frequented the market back in the day – little do they know I’m Michael’s wife or at least the wife that was spared the bickering at pre-dawn on a Saturday morning.

Also on hand is Jason – he’s a very special family member … that is to Monica, another married couple in this ever growing Recchiuti family of characters. Jason is an extraordinary sales man; he has this deep low growling sexy Barry White kind of voice. We often send him out to conquer ladies who dismiss the female members of the team only to curry favor with Jason; purchasing armful of suggestions he has gently made. He is our James Bond, we make sure we shake him and not stir …sigh! Okay, focus – Jason is the welcoming host, he will take up the station of greeter and gatekeeper at the back entry. Sundays the building is locked down so we need Jason to guide people into the enclosed parking lot and in the building.

Peter is in for a surprise this morning– Unbeknownst to him Michael in his typical cowboy fashion has decided to make burnt sugar cages to top off the breading pudding course, this was not on the menu or planning. Peter’s eyes light up as this is the first opportunity for him to get direct mentoring from Michael; after a quick lesson they are both skillfully drizzling molten hot sugar over a ladle and creating an battalion of golden domes in sugar.

In the mean while I get a strained call from Monica – she calmly explain that her oven had gone on the fritz and Jason will be coming soon with as many pain de mie buns as they were able to make. Here’s where the previous mention of “heroine” part comes in Monica handles the emergency at the bakery with professionalism and efficiency then dashes over to fulfill her commitment to us – bloody hell! How she does handle all this in one morning and still shows up with such vigor to set up her live yeasty bread starter mise en place is beyond me!? But then again she is married to James Bond so it may be the prerequisite to have super powers.

The energy is high and positive as we all take of prep and setting up for day two. The panzanella is the first course and works like clock-work since Peter has worked out the kinks for the first day, the smell of olive oil cooking up chanterelle mushrooms and toasting bread permeate the room. All goes well, on to the next courses and the kitchen break. Jason is running back and forth between assisting Peter and helping with serving.

Finally the bread pudding course is upon us – the sugar cages are gently placed on each of the plates. It looks like a miniature village of sparkling, golden castles. Peggi and I grab the first plates and head out to serve. As I turn back to get more plated sugar domes I see Sugey emerging from behind the curtain beaming with her bright smile – the addition to the dessert has set a wonderfully glowing feeling for everyone – it shows on Sugey’s happy face as she proudly sets down the plate. Michael made the right choice to add this extra bit on this last day of our project.

We finish off with comfort food – Michael’s amazing cacao nib ice cream atop a toasted pain de mie bun, if that’s not enough we add aside garnish of our newly launched long awaited PEP – Peppermint Thins. Michael has told a story of his favorite “American” candy as Junior Mints, for years he has been thinking of a way to capture the cool but not overpowering minty-ness balanced with just enough chocolate … he has succeeded! We now offer it online, at the store and in our pantry at home to enjoy when watching a movie projected on the wall – our version of a large screen as we have not owned a television for years, I’ll make a bowl of popcorn and Michael will nibble on PEP’s and that is how we will spend our weekends for now that the Taste project has ended we have the free time to rest, recuperate and plan for the 2010 Taste Project. Michael and I have been brainstorming on other ideas to make it interesting for the next round – who knows if you attend next year you may be served by a Market Wife, Red Sox fan or even James Bond … see you there!

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