Kouign Amann

It's such a long time that I haven't played with yeast..so I'm back on track with this one !

The recipe could be found here.

A Mix of Lardy Cake & Cinnamon Rolls

While I was preparing an apple filling for the Szarlotka in the kitchen , my daughter could smell cinnamon from the dining room and shouted to ask if I was making cinnamon rolls, one of her favorite baked goods...then I shouted back to answer her question which made her come straight to the kitchen and started complaining why I didn't make something she fancies !

As a good mum but more importantly and honestly, to stop her moaning for the rest of the day , I agreed to make what she liked but with a condition that is to make it in different form which made her happy enough and left the kitchen with a big smile..:)

Truth to be told.. I've recently spotted this lardy cake on bloglovin and wanted to give it a try. And all of a sudden, it came through my mind when my daughter asked me to make cinnamon rolls , so I decided to mix and match between the two recipes to make my own version and here it comes...


The recipe for the dough is from here which is my favorite one that I always use to make cinnamon rolls. ( note : I reduced the sugar to only 30 g )

For the filling

100 g unsalted butter , softened
75 g soft dark brown sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon
a pinch of nutmeg

a mixture of egg and milk for egg wash.

To make the filling : mix or cream everything until well combined and smooth.

To assemble the bread : Roll out the prepared dough to an oblong. Spread half of the filling on the dough. Roll up like a swiss roll and then roll out the dough again in the same action then spread the remainging filling and roll up again. Shape the dough into a round one and place in a lined and greased 7" springform round cake tin. Cover and leave to rise for about 45 minutes. Brush lightly with the eggwash and use a sharp knife to make slits accross the top. Bake in preheated oven at 190C (375F) for 30 to 35minutes. Serve warm with or without butter. ( it's nice to serve toasted with butter on the next day! )

 

Sweet Pandan Buns

I've got some concentrated pandan juice left from making pandan chiffon cake, then I had an idea of making a bread version which I ended up with my own creation in a bun form !

The recipe :

Ingredients:

285 g plus few tbsp bread flour
50 g sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
85 g concentrated pandan juice
85 g Tangzhong water roux ( made from 25 g flour + 125 g water )
one sachet ( 7g) instant yeast
50 g butter, softened and cut into small pieces
some demerara sugar and slivered almonds for topping
1 egg + a tbsp milk for egg wash

Directions:

Combine the flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center. Add all wet ingredients (milk, egg, Tangzhong and pandan juice). Fit the dough hook attachment on your stand mixer and begin mixing on low speed and knead until your dough comes together. Add butter and continue kneading until the dough is smooth, not too sticky on the surface and elastic (about 25 minutes with mixer and the last 5 minutes by hands).

When the dough is ready, you should be able to take a chunk and stretch it to a very thin membrane before it breaks. When it does break, the break should form a circle. Knead the dough into a ball shape. Take a large bowl and grease with oil. Place dough into the bowl and cover with wet towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size, about 45-60 minutes.

Transfer to a clean surface. Divide dough into 16 equal portions. Shape each into a ball. Place the balls into 9" square tin. Cover with cling wrap, let rest for 30 minutes. Brush the top with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar and almonds. Bake in the preheat oven ( 180c ) for 20 minutes. Cool slightly before serving.

Torcettini ( Italian Sugar Crusted Twisted Cookies )

Honestly speaking, the only reason why I decided to give these cookies a try is beacuse of a yeast called for in the recipe! However, I was tempted at the first glance by its look & shape that somehow reminded me of taralli , one of my favourite Italain savory snacks/biscuits , although they are obviously different in a few ways..


The recipe could be found here. ( Note : I weighed the dough and divided into the same size pieces,15 g. each before rolling and baked a bit longer ( 30 minutes ) than the original recipe states..)

  

Oatmeal Cinnamon Raisin Rolls

I planned to make buttery sugar buns that I came across during usual food blogs surfing to begin with but somehow I, instead, ended up with these rolls !

With cinnamon called for in the recipe, I knew it would undoubtedly be a big hit for my beloved eaters..and as always, I was so right about my guess..:)

The recipe  ( slightly adapted from here. )


Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk, warmed

1 1/4 teaspoons active dried yeast

1 large egg

2 tbsp honey

45 g softened butter

1/4 rounded teaspoon salt

11/2 cups plus 2 tbsp bread flour

3/4 cup old-fashioned whole rolled oats

1/2 cup raisins (combination of raisins, cranberries, currants, or other dried fruit may be used)

1 scant teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted

1 tablespoon honey

Method :

Add the milk to a glass measuring cup or microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power to warm it, about 30 seconds.

To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the milk and sprinkle the yeast on top of it. Beat on low speed for about 10 seconds, just to combine; let mixture stand for 10 minutes.
Add the egg, honey, salt, and mix until well-combined on low to medium-low speed.

Add the flour, oats, raisins, cinnamon, and beat until a dough forms. Scrape off any dough bits stuck to the paddle and remove the paddle attachment. Put on the dough hook.

With the dough hook attached, turn mixer on low speed, and add the butter. Knead dough for about 15 to 20 minutes, stopping to scrape down the bowl and dough hook as necessary. Dough will be firm, smooth, not sticky, and elastic. Place mounded ball of dough in a lightly greased large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place mounded ball of dough in a cooking sprayed or lightly greased large bowl and cover with plasticwrap. Place bowl in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours.

After dough has risen and doubled, punch it down to release the air bubbles, and turn it out onto a Silpat or floured work surface. Devide the dough into 9 pieces, shape them into ballsr and place balls into 8*8 baking tin ( slightly greased and lined with parchment paper ).

After all pieces are in the pan, cover it with plasticwrap and allow to dough to rise for about 1 hour, or until rolls are nearly doubled in size. While dough rises, preheat oven to 375F. Prepare honey-butter mixture by melting butter in a microwave-safe bowl on high power, about 1 minute. To the melted butter, add the honey and stir to combine; set aside.

After the rolls have risen and before baking, brush tops and sides of dough with the honey-butter mixture, getting into the sides and crevices and with a pastry brush. Bake rolls for about 20 minutes or until golden. Allow rolls to cool before serving. Serve with Cinnamon-Sugar Butter.

  

Sally Lunn Bread

We were supposed to go to England on Easter's break but we didn't make it at the end because of few reasons ! Consequently, I've been stuck at home since the school finished last week..

Without friends around, nothing is better than spending time on interenet looking for something new and interesting to bake and cook for my family ! Fortunately, I've found this  Sally Lunn bread that reminded me of what I've done long long time ago..

Instead of being plain, this version of Sally Lunn bread calls for some dried fruits to jazz things up and that's why I liked and wanted to give it a try !!

The recipe could be found here.

     

Earl Grey Teacakes

Both of my eyes and attention were caught when I saw the photo of this teacake on BBC GoodFood magazine (march issue).. I therefore looked through the recipe quickly and what left to me once finishing reading is a question why it's called teacake ?? Given ingredient and method, in my opinion, it couldn't be anything but a basic bread ! What I wanted to do next is to find out why it's called teacake..

Unfortunately, having had an English husband for more than 10 years doesn't help me to figure my wonder out at all..what he said when I asked him about it was maybe it's because the recipe calls for Earl Grey tea ?? At the end, I used google to enlighten myself and as always..it never lets me down!

So, according to Wikipedia, a teacake is a light yeast-based sweet bun containing dried fruit, typically served toasted and buttered ( click here to read more about it )

Anyway, what made me more interested and keen to give it a try is not the name but it's an earl grey tea called for in the recipe! Though, I have to confess that I was a bit disappointed with the outcome because I couldn't really taste or smell the tea in the buns like I expected..but lucky enough, the teacake itself tasted good and even better when eaten with a smear of butter as it's supposed to be!


The recipe ( makes 6 )

100 g mixed dried fruits + dried apricot
zest 1/2 orange
150 ml hot Earl Grey tea, made from 2 tea bags
125 ml whole milk
45 g butter
250 g strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting
3/4 tsp mixed spice
30 g caster sugar
1 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1/4 tsp salt
1 small egg
apricot jam, to glaze

1. Put the fruits and zest in a bowl and cover with the hot tea. Leave to soak overnight.

2. Heat the milk in a small pan until hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat and add the butter. Leave to cool to hand temperature. In a mixing bowl , put together the flour, mixed spice, sugar, salt and yeast. Pour in the warm milk mixture, egg and a tablespoon of the tea from the soaked fruits. Mix with kneading hook on the machine and knead the dough for 15 minutes until smooth and elastic , adding more flour if the dough is too sticky. Leave in a warm place to rise until doubled in size about 1.30-2 hours.

3. Knock all the air out of the dough and add the soaked fruits ( drain first if you have any liquid left in the bowl ). Knead the fruits into the dough until well distributed , add more flour as needed. Divide into 6 pieces and shape each into a ball. Place on silicon mat lined on the baking sheet, well spaced apart and pat each down lightly with your palm. Cover loosely with oiled cling film, then leave to prove for 30-60 minutes, until doubled in size.

4. Heat oven to 200C. Uncover the buns and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden and hollow-sounding when tapped on the base. Brush each with apricot jam and return to the oven for 1-2 minutes. Leave to cool on the wire rack. Serve warm or split and toasted, topped with lashings of butter.

   

A good start of the year..

We was spending  a great time in NZ with good old friends during last year's Christmas break and now have been back to settle with the new year which it's been so far so good...especially about my cooking and baking !

Here is what I've successfully done for a good start of the year..

Begin with this aromatic and tasteful 'Chilli Marrakech' that I've got the recipe from my most favorite food magazine...in my own opinion, it's much more interesting than normal chilli !

Secondly, I chose this 'Finnish Pulla' to be a debut of my baking and it's totally a big hit in my family..:)

And the lastest dish I'd proudly like to present here is 'Masala Chicken Pie' ...the way that makes the curry much more interesting !!

  

Bluecheese Bread Sticks

I haven't played with yeast as often as I'd like..luckily, this bread stick came at the right time when I felt like making bread and coincidently, there are few ingredients need to be used before they pass the expiry date..so it's kind of win-win situation !

The sticks are not crispy type..instead it's more like pizza sticks that are soft and a bit chewy. Surprisingly, it turned out to be a hit for my daughter..:)  

The recipe :

200g bread flour
125ml warm milk
1tsp instant yeast
50g bluecheese ( I used gorgonzola )
1tbsp honey
1/2 scant tsp salt
1/2 lemon zest
30g butter,softened  
1egg + a tbsp milk for glazing

Method :

1. Combine all ingredients (except glazing ) into mixing bowl and use a dough kneading head to form a soft dough and with a low speed, keep kneading the dough until smooth and elastic about 20-25 minutes.


2. Let the dough rest for an hour or till double in size then punch & knead dough to release air.

3. Place the dough onto a slightly floured working table and roll it out flat about 11x8" & cut into thin & short sticks. Place sticks on lined baking tray and leave the sticks to rest for about 30-40 mins then brush on egg glaze.

4. Bake in the preheated oven 195-200'C for about 10-12 mins or till brown.