Pumpkin Tea Cake

Tartine is a warm, inviting and busy San Francisco bakery. It sells outstanding bread, pastries and café fare, such as quiche and croque-monsieurs. In my mind, it is the perfect neighborhood bakery. I would go to Tartine everyday if only I didn’t live twenty-two long miles away across the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Fortunately, Tartine’s owner/bakers have written two solid cookbooks: Tartine [2006] by Elisabeth Prueitt and Chad Robertson, and Tartine Bread [2010] by Chad Robertson. An excellent recipe from Tartine is its Pumpkin Tea Cake. This cake is now a family staple enjoyed not only with tea, but also at breakfast, as a dessert and, of course, for elevenses.

Prueitt and Robertson present their bakery’s philosophy in Tartine; they are purists when it comes to ingredients and presentations: “we believe in keeping it simple. We want our cakes to look as natural as the flowers we use to decorate them, our pies and tarts and fruit desserts to change with the season, and our cookies to look like they’re made with loving hands. But most of all, we want everything we make to taste of what was used to make it.”

Tartine’s Pumpkin Tea Cake embodies the bakery’s philosophy of simplicity; it is a straightforward and delicious cake. Its crumb, as advertised in the recipe, is soft, even and moist. You can assemble this cake in less than 30 minutes.

A quick note on measurements. Prueitt and Robertson present three measuring systems: volume, avoirdupois and metric. Ounces and grams are rounded off. With care and consistency, each of these systems will yield fine results.

• All-purpose flour         12/3 cups / 8 oz / 225 g
• Baking powder         1½ tsp / 7 ml
• Baking soda         ½ tsp / 2 ml
• Ground cinnamon         1 tbsp + 2 tsp / 25 ml
• Nutmeg, freshly grated         2 tsp / 10 ml
• Ground cloves         ¼ tsp / 1 ml
• Pumpkin purée         1 cup + 2 tbsp / 9 oz / 255 g
• Vegetable oil such as safflower or sunflower         1 cup / 8 oz / 250 ml
• Sugar         11/3 cups / 9½ oz / 270 g
• Salt         ¾ tsp / 4 ml
• Large eggs         3
• Sugar for topping         2 tbsp / 30 ml

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly butter the bottom and sides of a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan.

This recipe is easily mixed by a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or by hand with a whisk. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves into a mixing bowl and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, beat together the pumpkin purée, oil, sugar, and salt on medium speed or by hand until well mixed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until incorporated before adding the next egg. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. On low speed, add the flour mixture and beat just until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then beat on medium speed for 5 to 10 seconds to make a smooth batter. The batter should have the consistency of a thick purée.

Transfer the batter to the prepared loaf pan and smooth the surface with an offset spatula. Sprinkle evenly with the sugar. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for about 20 minutes, and then invert onto the rack, turn right side up, and let cool completely. Serve the cake at room temperature. It will keep, well wrapped, at room temperature for 4 days or in the refrigerator for about 1 week.

Some final notes. Prueitt and Robertson warn not to overmix the batter or you risk a coarse, tough crumb. If you decide to make your own pumpkin purée, cut your culinary pumpkin in half and scoop out its seeds. Place the pumpkin cut side down on a baking sheet and roast in a preheated 350°F oven for 1 hour. (Roasting times will vary based upon the size and variety of your pumpkin.) Purée the cooked pumpkin in a food processer. You can freeze the unused purée for future use.

Freshly puréed pumpkin (depending upon the variety) can be watery. In their recipe for Pumpkin Pie, Prueitt and Robertson advise either cooking down the purée or draining it in a cheesecloth bag overnight. Your pumpkin variety will dictate if this step is necessary or not.

I enjoy the shape created with a rectangular loaf pan. When using this pan, I reduce the cooking time to 55 minutes. Finally, I prefer this cake after it has been refrigerated. But try it both ways and see what you enjoy.

Toppe

This is the second post in a series on making fresh pasta. Using Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta [2009] as our guide, we began our survey of shapes and dough by making pappardelle with an all-purpose flour and whole-egg dough. We now turn to toppe, a Northern Italian pasta made with whole-eggs and two different types of wheat flour: durum and tipo 00. Making toppe allows us to expand our understanding of the different wheat flours available to make fresh pasta.

Toppe is a thick noodle that is 1½- to 2-inches wide and about 6-inches long. It is found in Tuscany, especially in the Casentino. Toppe literally means “patches”; its shape resembles the cloth patches the poor used to mend their clothes. What distinguishes toppe from pappardelle (in addition to the former’s added width) is that traditionally toppe is made with a blend of two wheat flours: durum and tipo 00.

Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta chronicles an incredibly diverse range of pastas. Just as remarkable as the spectrum of shapes are the different types of flour used to make pasta in Italy. The culinary encyclopedia Larousse Gastronomique defines flour as a finely ground cereal. Zanini De Vita documents pastas made with barley, buckwheat, carob, chestnut, chickpea, corn, farro, fava bean, rye and a range of wheat flours. (One of these wheat flours is made of burnt wheat or grano arso. The very poor collected bits of burnt wheat after a farmer had threshed, gleaned and, finally, burned a field to fertilize the land. The poor milled this burnt wheat and added it to extend flour used to make pasta.)

Durum

There are thousands of different wheat varieties. In the United States, wheat is divided into six classes: hard red winter; hard red spring; hard white; soft red winter; soft white; and durum. Hard wheat contains more gluten-producing proteins than soft wheat. This makes hard wheat well suited to breads and pasta where the additional protein allows greater elasticity. Soft wheat is used in cakes, biscuits and pastries where the lack of protein results in tender baked goods. Durum is the hardest wheat. Durum’s high protein allows an elasticity that aids the production of extruded, shaped pastas. Fine dried pastas are made with durum wheat.

The words durum and semolina are often used interchangeably. Semolina is made from durum wheat. Semolina flour often is fairly course, but finer grinds of semolina are available. Course semolina creates a gritty texture in pasta that I do not enjoy. I use a finely ground durum (designated as Extra Fancy) produced by Giusto's.

One of the lovely qualities of durum flour is its amber color. Sometimes this color is vibrant, other times it is subtle. When durum is combined with high-quality eggs, the resulting pasta can be a vivid yellow.

Tipo 00

Tipo means “type” in Italian and 00 signifies the level of refinement. The more refined the flour (i.e., the more of the bran and germ removed during production) the lower the rating. Tipo 00 is the most highly refined Italian grade of flour. Tipo 00 flour is snow white in color. As the grades increase from tipo 00 to tipo 0, 1, 2 and, finally, farina integrate, the flour becomes darker and courser. (Farina integrate is made from the entire wheat grain.) Because Italy’s flours are graded by their refinement, the protein levels of tipo 00 flour can vary. (Some mills sell different tipo 00 flours with varying protein levels.) In general, if flour is designated as grano tenero it will be softer than flour designated as grano duro, which will be harder.

The Encyclopedia of Pasta is full of examples where different flours are blended together to make dough. These traditional pastas (as well as their sauces) are born of local products, created by what was on-hand in the larder, the garden, the local field and trees. In her preface, Zanini De Vita writes that the Encyclopedia of Pasta is a record of “what ordinary people did and do and have always done with available recourses.” With repetition the seeds of a tradition sprout, are nurtured and, frequently, further refined as dishes are handed down from one generation to the next. Zanini De Vita observes: “In reality, dishes are almost always the fruit of slow transformations over time and space, dictated by the need to perfect drying techniques or cooking systems, or even simply to obtain a tastier or more visually appealing result.”

• 150 grams Extra Fancy durum flour
• 150 grams tipo 00 flour
• 3 large eggs

The steps to make toppe are similar to those set out in our examination of pappardelle. The only differences are: (1) mix the durum and tipo 00 flour together before sifting the flour; and (2) after rolling the dough through setting No. 6 (or your pasta machine’s penultimate setting), cut the sheet with a knife into pieces that are 1½- to 2-inches wide and about 6-inches long.

Traditionally toppe is served with Tuscan olive oil, pepper and local pecorino cheese. Zanini De Vita reports that it is also accompanied with various tomato sauces. If you make toppe, you see that combining durum with a soft flour prevents an extra wide noodle from tearing when it is cooked and eaten. Even though the pasta is tender, it still retains a nice bite. Durum flour also adds a beautiful color to this unique, regional pasta.

Pappardelle

This is the first in a series of posts on making fresh pasta. Using Oretta Zanini De Vita’s Encyclopedia of Pasta [2009] as our guide, we will explore different pasta shapes, dough and techniques. Our survey begins with pappardelle made with an all-purpose flour and whole-egg dough. If you decide to learn how to make just one pasta dough, this dough is a good choice. Once it is mastered you are ready to make a wide range of shaped and flat pastas such as farfalle, garganelli, maltagliati and tagliatelle, and the exterior of stuffed pastas like cannelloni, marubini, ravioli and tortelli. But before we begin, a quick aside.

A reoccurring theme discussed during our examination will be the relationship among dough, shapes and sauces. For some these relationships are near sacred; they will only use a certain sauce with a specific shape of pasta made with particular dough. Often there is a good deal of sense in how these specific pairings evolved; traditional shapes frequently develop because they expertly carry and compliment a sauce made with local ingredients. Although I believe it is interesting to understand these pairings, I present them as guidelines and not rules. With food and wine, one should not have to defend personal preferences.

Pappardelle is one of the wider of the flat pastas. Its roots are in Northern and central Italy. The pasta’s width (usually around 1-inch) and its relative thickness lend itself to a more substantial sauce such as a ragù made of meat or game. Zanini De Vita reports that homemade pappardelle was originally made with wheat flour and water; now eggs commonly replace water.

Pappardelle is a good place to begin our pasta survey for a number of reasons. This pasta is traditionally made with all-purpose flour, the most readily available of the flours that we will explore. All-purpose flour is a blend of hard and soft flours containing different levels of protein and starch. “Harder” flour contains more protein and less starch than “softer” flour. Knowing whether your flour is hard or soft suggests what you can do with your dough. All-purpose flour is blended to be somewhere in the middle between a hard and soft flour. Its “all-purpose” designation reflects its versatility. The exact blend and protein level of all-purpose flour varies from mill to mill. In the United States all-purpose flour has a range of 9 to 12 percent protein.

Another reason to begin our survey with pappardelle is that its all-purpose flour and whole-egg dough is easy to make. The dough is simple to knead and forgiving. Eggs supply the necessary liquid to bind the flour (eggs are approximately 75% water) and create a silky yet firm texture. High-quality eggs add a beautiful yellow-orange color to pasta.

Finally, making pappardelle allows us to introduce a versatile pasta machine that rolls and cuts dough. If you want to invest in a single piece of equipment to help you make fresh pasta, this is it. My machine has metal rollers that adjust to create a fine ribbon of pasta up to 6-inches wide. There are a number of different brands of machines available. I use a Marcato Atlas 150 that is over 20 years old. It is a wonderful, trouble free machine. Although you certainly can learn how to roll out fresh pasta by hand with a rolling pin, a pasta machine makes easy work of a challenging skill. When discussing how to roll the dough, I will reference the roller settings on my Atlas. (No. 1 is the widest setting; No. 2 is slightly thinner; and No. 7 is the thinnest setting.)

One last point before we begin in earnest. A number of variables can affect pasta dough such as temperature, humidity and the variations in flour, eggs and other ingredients. This is why you will likely need to slightly adjust the amount of your ingredients each time you make pasta. When working the dough you may need to add a bit more flour as you knead; the next time you make pasta, you may find that you need more liquid to create your dough. The goal is a firm yet supple dough that is neither wet nor sticky. You will achieve greater consistency from batch to batch if you use the same mill’s flour and measure your ingredients by weight rather than by volume. But even then, expect variations in how the dough responds. Overtime you will develop a feel for making dough and instinctively know when and how to compensate. This is part of the craft of making fresh pasta.

• 400 grams all-purpose flour
• 4 large eggs

1) Weigh out the flour and sift it into a large mixing bowl.

2) Make a well in the flour and crack the eggs into the well. Beat the eggs with a fork and incorporate the beaten eggs into the flour with the fork until the eggs disappear and a crumbly mixture forms.

3) Clean the dough off your fork and add the dough to the mixture.

4) Holding the bowl with one hand, reach into the bowl with your other hand and continue to mix the dough by hand. The goal is to incorporate all of the flour in the bowl into a rough dough that holds together. If this mixture is too dry and will not come together, add a quick spritz or two of water from a spray bottle.

5) Turn your dough onto a clean work surface. Wash your hands to remove any dough before kneading.

6) Lightly dust your work surface. Begin to knead the dough ball by forcefully pushing it down and away from you with your palm’s heel. Fold the dough back over itself toward you. Slightly turn the dough counterclockwise, and knead again. The dough may become slightly tacky at the outset depending upon how the flour and eggs are behaving. If the dough sticks to your work surface or hands, lightly dust your work area with flour. When you resume kneading, this flour will work into the dough. Be careful not to add too much flour; you do not want the dough to become dry and stiff. As you continue kneading, a slightly tacky dough will become elastic and smooth. Knead for a full 10 minutes.

7) Lightly flour the dough and wrap it in plastic. Let the dough rest at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour. During this time the dough continues to absorb and distribute its moisture.

8) Unwrap the dough and lightly dust it with flour. Cut the dough into equal quarters. Remove one piece to roll and cover the remaining pieces to prevent the dough from drying out. Make sure the pieces are not touching one another or they may stick together.

9) Attach your pasta machine to a steady work surface and set the rollers to their widest setting; on my Atlas this is No. 1. Lightly flour the cut surfaces of the dough and then flatten it with your palm so as to be thin enough (approximately ½-inch) to feed through the two rollers. Place the flattened dough between and against the two rollers and turn the roller handle. The rollers will grab and flatten the dough into a strip.

10) Lightly dust the dough strip. Visually divide the length of the dough into thirds. Fold the left third over the center third followed by the right third over the center. The width is the same but the dough is now thicker. Using the tips of your fingers, push down to compress the dough to approximately ½-inch. Feed the dimpled dough through the rollers, lightly dust the dough and fold it into thirds again. Compress with fingers and feed the dimpled dough through the rollers a third time.

11) Set the rollers to the next, slightly thinner setting (No. 2). Feed the dough through, lightly dust with flour, fold into thirds, and compress. Repeat this process twice more at this setting. Set the rollers to the next, slightly thinner setting (No. 3) and repeat the process (feed, dust, fold, compress) three more times.

12) Set the rollers to the next thinnest setting (No. 4). For this setting and the next two, the process slightly changes—there is no need to fold the dough into thirds and compress it with your fingers. Just feed the dough through, lightly dust, adjust the rollers to the next thinnest setting (No. 5), and feed the dough through again. Each time the dough will become thinner and longer (but, on my Atlas, no wider than 6-inches). Pappardelle is a thick noodle; stop rolling after the dough has passed through the pasta machine’s penultimate roller setting (No. 6).

13) Lightly dust both sides of the dough. Using a sharp knife cut the dough into approximately 6-inch lengths. Using a fluted pastry wheel, cut the dough into noodles that are 1-inch wide. Light toss the pappardelle with flour and place on a tea towel. Cover with another towel.

14) Repeat the above procedure with the three remaining pieces of dough. When complete, you should have slightly over 1 pound of pappardelle.

Cook the pappardelle in a large pot full of salty, boiling water. When you add the pasta, the boil may slow or disappear. Mix the pasta in the water to help prevent the pasta from sticking together. After the water has returned to a full boil for approximately 3 minutes, start testing the pappardelle. The pasta is ready when it loses its raw taste yet is still firm to the bite. Drain the pasta into a colander and shake the colander to remove excess water. Add the pasta into your ready sauce and cook the two together for a minute or so.

Pappardelle will support a range of sauces but excels when carrying a substantial sauce, such as a ragù made of meat or game. For a classic pairing consider serving pappardelle with a chicken liver sauce.