Navigation
SEARCH
This form does not yet contain any fields.

    Entries in "where to get squid ink Australia" (1)

    Wednesday
    Jun192013

    Squid Ink Cupcakes and Squid Ink Grissini 

                                         squid ink cupcake with fondant squid arm 

     Join me on Facebook

    During my absence I bet you have wondered "should I or shouldn't I bake squid ink cupcakes?"

    Umm ok maybe not, but just in case next time you're savouring your squid ink risotto it crosses your mind "oh, black velvet cupcakes" you can scratch that idea out and have another glass of vino.

    Guess I should mention the squid ink at this stage; squid ink is available in sachets, jars or by harvesting the ink sac from fresh squid. You can buy prepackaged squid ink from fish mongers, specialty food purveyors and online. Essential Ingredients online store has it if you are in Australia. Amazon has lots of different brands including Spanish Squid Ink Packets. Most of the prepackaged squid ink, such as the Spanish Cebesa brand I used have added salt so you will need to allow for that and reduce the salt in your recipes. 

    Baking squid ink cupcakes; technically you can do it, but do you want to? 

    I baked two batches of the squid ink cupcakes, batch one didn't rise, batch two with extra added baking powder had a better rise... but no doming. 

    Flavour wise; in a rich dark chocolate batter no taste testers picked up any squid ink or fishy flavour at all. 

    Five sachets of squid ink were needed to get a true black in a standard dozen chocolate cupcake batter. Overall, an expensive way to add colour. 

    But you could make a fondant squid arm or eight. Roll a piece of fondant into a squid arm shape, then roll small balls of fondant. Using the end of a small paint brush press the balls in pairs along the squid arm to form tentacles, dampen the base of the balls with water if need be. I frilled the larger suction cups. Leave the arm/s to dry before adding markings with a food marker and colour as desired with food paint and dusts. 

                                       squid ink grissini

    Baking squid ink bread dough; the addition of squid ink to your favourite dough recipe imparts a subtle seafood flavour and results in a stark black dough with no detriment to the finished bake.

    Perfect for your pizza bases, loaves or grissini pictured today. Make sure you play with  the contrast of colour... a black pizza base with the white of buffalo mozzarella and roasted cherry tomatoes or perhaps open sandwiches of crab, mayo and micro greens on a slice of black sour dough. The grissini are fun as part of dressing your table and pair well with seafood pasta, antipasto, tapas, or just to nibble with drinks.

    So grab your favourite bread dough recipe and make the following changes: 

     

    • Omit the salt entirely. 
    • Omit added parmasen, cheeses in recipes.
    • Omit herbs, you want the squid flavour to stand alone. 
    • For every three cups of flour in the recipe you will need approximately five of the 4gram squid ink sachets. 
    • Remove the equivalent liquids from the recipe. I usually hold back around one tablespoon to two tablespoons of the water or milk in the recipe. 
    • Instead of flouring your bench, oil your bench and oil your hands to work with your dough... you don't want white flour streaks on the finished dough. 

     

    Your dough will look a little lighter in colour after rising, but don't worry once it's shaped it's back to looking black. 

    There is no "golden brown"with the squid colour so rely on tapping/listening for a hollow sound if you're not sure your bread is done. 

    Squid ink is also great to use in your homemade pasta dough using the the same proportions as above, 5 sachets to 3 cups of flour. 

    That's it for today... any questions pop over to facebook for a faster reply. 

    Happy Baking :) 

    you might be in the mood now for eating some salt and pepper squid

    or something pretty... blossum cupcake toppers