Seasons Best


Baking a Better Holiday!
 
   

December 2011
We've Teamed Up With Bob's Red Mill: Facebook Contest Launches Today Thru Dec. 8

Post your favorite combo of BRM and COR products on our FB Contest Tab

Bob's Red Mill

Iced Sweet Potato and Spice Loaf

We asked a group of talented bloggers to create fabulous baking recipes which we'll highlight throughout December.   

Check Our Blog and Facebook Page to View and Give These Bloggers a Shout-Out!


Seasons Best
This month, look for more to come from our Seasons Best program:

Community
About Us
Products
Store Locator
  
Why We (and Others) Bake with Olive Oil          
We'll be in the kitchen 'Baking a Better Holiday.' And extra virgin olive oil will play a leading role in our recipes. From artisan bread to chocolate almond Arbequina EVOO Bottletorte, olive oil adds a wonderful, nuanced flavor to baked goods. Plus, experts everywhere have found it's better for your heart than butter, which is higher in saturated fat.  So what's not to love?

We aren't the only ones who turn to extra virgin olive oil in our baking. Open a good restaurant menu, read a cookbook or food magazine, or scan a food blog. Increasingly, you'll find delicious tortes, pound cakes, cupcakes and other baked goods made using extra virgin olive oil. 

The upshot? A new baking repertoire has taken hold in this county featuring good extra virgin olive oil - like the oil made in California.

Here' why:

FLAVOR:  "It just so happens I love the flavor of olive oil," says Jeff Hertzberg, a best-selling author and doctor who has just released a new book, Artisan Pizza and Flatbread in Five Minutes a Day (St. Martin's Press, 2011), says. "I use it in baking mainly for the flavor contribution, and the fact that it's a healthy fat."

"Olive oil adds a depth to the flavor," says vegan pastry chef Fran Costigan, Arbequina EVOO Bottlewho once relied mainly on canola and other "neutral" oils in her desserts. "I seem to be getting a richer product when I use olive oil rather than the neutral oils."

TEXTURE:  "Extra virgin olive oil produces light and moist baked goods with rich olive oil background notes while letting the accompanying flavors shine through," says Sarah House, recipe specialist for Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods, the Oregon provider of high-quality flours and other natural foods.

Moreover, the use of extra virgin flavor can improve cakes, pie and tart crusts, as well as pizza and bread dough, bakers and pastry chefs tell us.  "It tenderizes the dough," Hertzberg, the author and doctor, says. House notes that olive oil helps baked good retain their freshness "much longer than when using butter or margarine."

HEALTH:  Health factors initially inspired the rise in olive oil baking several years ago. "An abundance of polyphenols, monounsaturated fat, and Vitamin E makes olive oil a champion for heart health," Matthew Kadey, a registered dietitian, recipe developer, and magazine writer whose work has appeared in EatingWell and Men's Health, says.

We've found you can eliminate butter in many baking recipes and replace it Arbequina EVOO Bottlewith olive oil. Use olive oil so it equals three-quarters of the amount of butter.

If a baking recipe calls for a stick of butter (8 tablespoons), for example, use 6 tablespoons of olive oil. (Click here to see a conversion table.)

And by all means experiment. If a recipe, like a carrot cake, calls for canola or some other vegetable oil, we've found you can substitute olive oil on a one-for-one basis. You'll get the added bonus of better flavor.

BAKE AWAY!  During 'Baking a Better Holiday' all month long we'll  feature baking recipes, tips and more across our entire online community - Facebook, Twitter, Blog, and our website's recipe section.

We've teamed  up with Bob's Red Mill as well as chefs and quality food bloggers to showcase their recipes using extra virgin olive oil in baking.  We encourage you to visit their communities for additional holiday favorites.

And don't forget to enter our Facebook contest now through Dec. 8 and post your favorite combo of COR and Bob's Red Mill products for fabulous prizes!

Happy Holidays! And Happy Baking!

 Our Baking Recipes  
Chocolate Spice Cake
Chocolate Spice Cake with Figs

 Recipe credit: pastry studio blog

Olive Oil Spelt Cake with Caramelized Apples
Olive Oil Spelt Cake w/Carmelized Apples













Recipe credit: Sarah House, Recipe Specialist, Bob's Red Mill Natural Foods
 

 

Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Fig and Honey Relish
Rosemary Olive Oil Cake with Figs Full




















Recipe credit: Recipe credit: Sondra Bernstein, the girl & the fig, Sonoma, Calif.


Chocolate-Dipped Almond and Anise Biscotti










 

 

 

Recipe courtesy of Fran Costigan, More Great Good Dairy Free Desserts Naturally (Book Publishing Co., 2006)   

 

 

 Zucchini Flatbread with Roasted Tomatoes and Pine Nuts
Zucchini and tomato flatbread


Recipe credit: Flatbread and olive oil dough recipes adapted with authors's permission from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day (St. Martin's Press, 2007) and Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (St. Martin's Press, 2009), by Jeff Hertzberg and Zo� Fran�ois


Olive Oil Rosemary Bread
Olive Oil Rosemary Bread












Recipe credit: Matthew Kadey and
Muffin Tin Mania


 Primer: Pairing Olive Oils With Baked Goods    
Like wine, different extra virgin olive oils deliver different flavor profiles. And to help you with your holiday baking, here are suggestions for how to use Arbequina EVOO Bottleour extra virgin olive oils as an ingredient in baked goods and flavors.

These rules aren't set in stone. They come from author and olive oil guru Fran Gage and other experts. In the end, experiment - and let your palate be the final judge.

Delicate oils, which are fruity and have a slight peppery note, including: our Everyday Fresh, Arbequina, and Artois Ranch Mild and Buttery 

Robust oils, which deliver the most peppery tingle and bold flavor profile, including our: Miller's Blend, Arbosana, and Oroville Ranch Bold and Peppery

 Thank You

Happy and Healthy Holidays from California Olive Ranch!


Email your comments to [email protected]

We want to hear from you!

California Fresh COR