Kerstbroodjes

Het kan nog net voor kerst, deze heerlijke broodjes bakken. Ze zijn familie van de kerststol, maar dit keer met marsepein. Het is een recept uit Engeland en daar gebruiken ze wel vaker marsepein in plaats van amandelspijs, dat wij hier eerder zouden gebruiken. Je kunt het ook met spijs maken, maar de marsepein is wat steviger en dat eet misschien wat handiger. Bovendien vind ik het leuk om weer eens een andere manier/vorm te maken van het traditionele kerststolrecept. Misschien ook wat voor jou?! Maak er wat lekkers van en heb samen een hele fijne Kerstdagen!

Stolbroodjes

(14 broodjes)

(recept PRINTEN)

500 g sterke bloem

40 g lichte (gele) basterdsuiker

1 tl zout

7 g droge gist

3 tl koekkruiden

85 g boter

200 ml volle melk

1 el keukenstroop

2 el brandy

2 eieren

1 el plantaardige olie

175 g rozijnen en krenten (meng naar smaak)

25 g gekonfijte sinaasappelschil, kleingehakt

40 g gekonfijte kersen (glacé), grof gehakt

rasp van 1 sinaasappel en 1 citroen

350 g marsepein

wat geschaafde amandelen (topping)

1 el melk

50 g poedersuiker + extra voor bestuiven

Meng de bloem, basterdsuiker, zout, gist en koekkruiden in een grote kom. Snijd de boter in kleine stukjes en wrijf ze door het bloemmengsel.

Giet de melk, stroop en brandy in een pannetje en verwarm het tot de stroop opgelost is. Roer het goed door en laat het van het vuur afkoelen tot handwarm. Klop dan 1 ei en de olie erdoor. Giet het bij de droge ingrediënten en kneed het tot een soepel deeg. Vorm het deeg tot een gladde bal en leg die in een ingevette en afgedekte kom om te rijzen tot het verdubbeld is.

Je kunt het deeg op dit punt ook een nacht in de koelkast zetten als je dat uitkomt. Maar laat het deeg eerst weer op kamertemperatuur komen voordat je hieronder verder gaat.

Rol/druk het deeg uit op een licht bebloemd oppervlak tot het formaat van ongeveer een A4tje. Verdeel het fruit en rasp erover en kneed het er voorzichtig doorheen.

(Je kunt dat op verschillende manier doen, ik vind dat het makkelijkste door je werkoppervlak licht in te vetten of te bloemen, hier het deeg op uit te spreiden en de fruitvulling erover te verspreiden. Rol het deeg dan strak op en druk het goed dicht.)

Laat het deeg, afgedekt, 10 minuten rusten, zodat het zich laat uitrollen tot een rechthoek van ongeveer 50 x 15 cm. Rol de marsepein in een dunne rol van 50 cm. Leg het op de lange zijkant en rol het deeg op vanaf de lange kant. Druk de naad goed dicht.

Verwarm de oven voor op 200ºC.

Bekleed 2 bakplaten met bakpapier.

Snijd de rol in 14 gelijke plakken, Maak indien nodig tussendoor je mes schoon en doe er wat bloem op. Leg op elke bakplaat 7 plakken met genoeg ruimte ertussen. Druk de plakken een klein beetje plat met je hand. (Je kunt op dit punt de deegschijven eventueel ook invriezenDek af met ingevet plastic folie en laat rijzen op een warme plek tot ze weer wat gaan rijzen.

Klop het tweede ei met een eetlepel melk en bestrijk de broodjes ermee. Strooi er dan wat geschaafde amandelen over.

Bak de broodjes ongeveer 15-20 minuten of tot ze goudbruin zijn. Haal de broodjes uit de oven als ze gaar zijn, en laat ze op een rooster verder afkoelen.

Meng de poedersuiker met 50 ml kokend water en strijk deze siroop royaal over de broodjes. Strooi voor het serveren nog wat poedersuiker over de broodjes voor een feestelijk tintje.

(recept bewerkt uit “Good Food UK edition dec 2009”)

Bread Baking Babes go Festive

And the Bread Baking Babes end this year with a festive bread with champagne. I am the Kitchen of the month and I’d like us to bake some Baba’s. A syrup drowned brioche-like bread. Well known is the Rum Baba, but to make it even more festive this one is drenched with a champagne-based syrup. You can choose another liquor or dessert wine or flavour with a light coloured fruit juice (like pineapple juice) to your liking.

You can make one large or smaller baba’s. The large one makes a nice centre piece when you’re having it for dessert, but it is a lot harder to get soaked enough. I made some extra soaking syrup in a little jar to pour over when served, to solve this.

I made one large Baba, but also made 12 smaller baba’s and I loved these even more. Easier to drench with syrup and much more festive to plate up as a lovely dessert. You can of course make 1 X-large, 2 large, 12 mini or something in between. Just keep an eye on the baking time time and check the core temperature in the bread if it's done.

They're not difficult to make, so have a go and bake these for Christmas or as a delicious in-between for new years eve. Become our Bread Baking Buddy, mix, bake, post and enjoy this recipe and let us know how they turned out. Send you details to me (notitievanlien (at) gmail (dot) com) and I'll send you the Bread Baking Buddy Badge for your efforts to place with our post, if you like. Please have your entries send in before the end of the year.  

BBBuddies are not very active lately, but if there are any of course I'll make a round up. Happy Baking.... and remember you only need a little champagne for this, so you can party with what's left in the bottle. Happy baking and Happy holidays! 🎄🎄🎄

Champagne Baba

(1 large or 12 small baba’s)

(PRINT recipe)

sponge:

100 g water

1 tsp instant dry yeast

1 TBsp sugar

100 g bread flour

dough:

180 g bread flour

½ tsp fine salt

¼ tsp instant dry yeast

1,5 tsp vanilla sugar

3 large eggs

90 g melted butter

soaking syrup:
150 g sugar

150 g water

120 g champagne (or Asti Spumante or fruitjuice)

200 g apricot jam (or use a sugar glaze)

Mix all the ingredients for the sponge together in a large bowl (the one you’ll be kneading the dough in). Now sprinkle 180 g bread flour over the sponge, so it is covered and leave to rest for about 1 hour.

Now add the salt, ¼ tsp dry yeast, vanilla sugar and eggs. Start to mix this. If using a standmixer, use the paddle attachment. When it comes together after a few minutes, add the melted (and slightly cooled) butter and keep working it. The dough is a bit batterlike, but be sure to get some gluten developed.

For one large Baba:

Place it in the moulds. You can use a loaf tin or a round baking form (I used a paper Panettone mould (Ø13,4 x H 9,5 cm), filled about half way up. Cover with plastic and leave to rise until 2-3 cm under the rim of the mould.

In the meantime don’t forget to preheat the oven to 180ºC (350-360ºF).
While the baba bakes make the soaking syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a small pan and heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Cool until warm. Add the champagne; set aside.

Bake for about 45-55 minutes, until golden brown on top. If the bread gets too dark too soon, protect the top with a sheet of tin foil. Check the temperature in the bread with a thermometer, it should be about 93ºC.

Take out of the oven and the tin and place on a deep dish. Poke the bread with a long wooden skewer from top to bottom. Brush the syrup all over it, and get as much as possible inside the bread, so take your time. Collect the syrup from the plate and keep pouring and brushing it, until all in absorbed in the bread.

For 12 small baba’s:

Grease a tray with 12 little moulds (containing about 75 ml each) and divide the dough in them. The dough shouldn’t be filling more than half of the shapes. Cover with plastic and let rise until almost to the rim.

In the meantime don’t forget to preheat the oven to 180ºC (350-360ºF). While the baba bakes make the soaking syrup. Combine the sugar and water in a small pan and heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Cool until warm. Add the champagne; set aside.

Place in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes, The Baba’s should be golden on top. Check the temperature in the bread with a thermometer, it should be about 93ºC.

Take them out of the oven and out of the mould. Place them in a wide shallow dish in one layer. Pour the champagne syrup over the baba’s. Now keep turning the baba’s one by one on all sides, including top and bottom, until all the syrup is absorbed.

Topping and serving:

Now heat the apricot jam in a small pan and let it boil, add a little water if it is too thick. Brush or pour it over the top. You can also opt for a simple sugar glaze. This topping keeps the moisture in. If you eat the baba’s on the baking day, you can also skip the topping

For an extra festive feel, serve with whipped cream and fresh fruit or jam.
The baba is best eaten on the day that it’s baked. But if not, keep in the fridge.

(inspired by a Beth Hensperger recipe)

Bread Baking Babes bake breakfast

I made other recipes of these several times before; the English Muffins that our dear Kitchen of the month Babe Elle Baker ("Feeding my enthusiasms") picked for us. This time they're sort of no-knead, which is easy. And the dough is made the day before baking, so they are ready to bake (on the stove) for breakfast without preparing anything. 

I was to lazy to make eggs florentine (with spinach), eggs royale (with smoked salmon) or eggs benedict (with bacon, which I don't eat) but just put a slice of baked pastrami and a stirred fried egg on my muffin and that was a wonderful breakfast. It is a treat to have fresh baked bread like that in the morning. But do not be mistaken, they're great for lunch too!

The original recipe called for 100 g honey, I reduced that to 40 grams so there was not a sweet taste to the bread, for me that worked better when combined with eggs. I didn't make any other changes to the recipe. With these sort of rolls you always need a lot of cornmeal or rice flour to keep them from sticking, especially because they rested overnight, I always find it a shame that I have to throw that out after using it. The chickens didn't want it. That was the only thing that is not good about these.

So wanna treat your family or yourself to a luxureus breakfast with these delicious English muffins.... go and bake some too. Become our Bread Baking Buddy, Tell us how it went, post, make a picture of it ad send all of this to Elle (look for her email at her blog; deadline 29th of this month. Happy baking!

English Muffins

Makes 8-12 muffins

(PRINT recipe)

285 g bread flour

140 g whole wheat flour

10 g fine salt

4 g instant dry yeast

340 g cold milk

40 g honey

1 large egg white, cold

145 g fine cornmeal, for dusting

30 g butter, for griddling

In a large bowl, mix bread flour, whole wheat flour, kosher salt, and yeast together until well combined. Add milk, honey, and egg white, stirring with a flexible spatula until smooth, about 5 minutes. Cover with plastic and set aside until spongy, light, and more than doubled, 4 to 5 hours at 21°C. (The timing is flexible depending on your schedule.)

For the second rise: Thickly cover a rimmed aluminum baking sheet with an even layer of cornmeal. With a large spoon, dollop out twelve (or less) portions of dough; it's perfectly fine to do this by eye. If you'd like, pinch the irregular blobs here and there to tidy their shape. I ended up making just 9 muffins, more didn’t fit on my sheet. Sprinkle with additional cornmeal, cover with plastic, and refrigerate at least 12 and up to 42 hours. MIne came out quite flat, don't be alarmed, this will fix itself when baked.

To griddle and serve: Preheat an electric griddle to 160°C or warm a (cast iron) skillet or griddle over medium-low heat. I used a frying pan. When hot, add half the butter and melt; griddle muffins until their bottoms are golden brown, about 8 minutes. Flip with a square-end spatula and griddle as before. Transfer to a wire rack until cool enough to handle, then split the muffins by working your thumbs around the edges to pull them open a little at a time. Toast before serving and store leftovers in an airtight container up to 1 week at room temperature (or 1 month in the fridge).

(source: Serious Eats, Stella Parks,http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/04/no-knead-english-muffins-recipe.html)

Bread Baking Babes bake seasonal bread (or rolls)

This month our lovely Judy ("Judy's gross eats") is this months Kitchen of the month for the Bread Baking Babes challenge. And I love her delicious choice that is perfect for this autumn: Pumpkin cornmeal bread. You can make the bread the shape you like, or divide the dough in rolls. I used half the amount of the original recipe and turned the dough into 12 rolls. And that was the only bad thing about it... I should have made double that amount! They are delicious and have a little sort of bite from the cornmeal. I used honey instead of molasses. We all loved them here.

And you will love them too, bake along with us and become our Bread Baking Buddy. Bake and make some pictures, then send your baking story to Judy (jahunt22 dot gmail dot com) and she'll add you to the round-up. Deadline the 29th of this month. So get baking!!

Pumpkin Cornmeal Bread

Yield:  1 loaf or 12 dinner rolls

(PRINT recipe)

1 tsp active dry yeast

pinch of sugar

124 g lukewarm water

124 g lukewarm buttermilk

45 g  melted butter or oil

40 g honey

70 g pumpkin purée (either canned or homemade)

1 tsp salt

70 g fine- or medium-grind yellow cornmeal

60 g medium rye flour

About 360 g bread flour

In a large bowl, combine yeast, sugar, salt, cornmeal, and rye flour. Whisk to mix well.

Add warm water, buttermilk, melted butter/oil, honey, and pumpkin purée.  Beat until smooth (1 to 2 minutes) using either a whisk or the paddle attachment on a mixer.

Add the unbleached all-purpose flour or bread flour, 70 g at a time, until it becomes a soft dough. Knead until smooth and slightly tacky, either by hand or with a dough hook.

Place in a greased bowl, turning once to coat the top; cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise at room temperature until double, about 1 ½ to 2 hours, depending on how warm it is.

Turn onto work surface and divide the dough into 12 equal round portions for the rolls or 1 large round for the loaf.  Place on parchment-lined baking pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 45 minutes.

Place on parchment-lined baking pan, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 20 minutes, or place in refrigerator for 2 hours to overnight.

Twenty minutes before baking, heat the oven to 180ºC, using a baking stone, if you wish.  While the oven is heating, brush the tops with melted butter.

Bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown:  40-45 minutes for loaves or 15 to 18 minutes for rolls.  Remove from oven, let cool on rack until completely cool.

(adapted from Bread for All Seasons by Beth Hensperger)

BBBabes bake Bulgarian bread

And off to Bulgaria we go this month for our bread recipe. Tanna ("My kitchen in half cups") is our Kitchen of the month and she choose a savory bread recipe with feta and herbs for us to bake. (she will be on with her bake later).

I just had baked this one from Jane Mason's book "Book of buns". In fact I finished baking all the recipes from her book recently and I can highly recommend her book when you love bread and especially small breads.

The bread is baked as a whole and cut it pieces afterwards.. so not a real "small bread" or bun in my book, but who cares.
I used a little less feta than the recipe said (I didn't have more) and some flat leaf parsley.

You can bake along with us as a Bread Baking Buddy, post about it, tell us about is and sent all this to Tanna and she will send you the Bread Baking Buddy Badge to add to your post if you want. And most important of all you get to bake this wonderful bread and eat it too! Get baking!

 Tootmanik

(makes 9 to 16 pieces)

(PRINT recipe)

dough
450 g bread flour

2 g instant yeast

250 g milk, warm to room temp.

9 g salt
100 g butter

filling
1  egg
200 g feta cheese crumbled

50 g butter melted and cooled
paprika powder for garnish, optional
fresh herb(s), optional

glaze: 1 egg and 1 tsp water

20 x 20 cm tin at 5cm deep, greased and lined

Add the salt and knead it by hand or with a dough hook in the standmixer, until the dough is souple and elastic. Then add the butter in pieces and knead for 10 minutes. Place the dough in the bowl, cover and allow to rest for 2 hours.

Mix the egg together with the feta cheese in a bowl.  Melt the butter and allow to cool.
Pull the dough out of the bowl onto an unfloured surface.

Divide the dough into 9 equal pieces.  Dust with flour and roll one piece out into a rectangle of  10 x 10 cm. If the dough springs back, cover and let rest for 10 minutes until it relaxes. Brush with melted butter.

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well.  Sprinkle the yeast in the well and pour on the milk. Sprinkle the top with the surrounding flour and let rest for 1 hour.

Take another piece of dough and roll it out the same size, place on top of the first and brush with butter. Then place the third piece of dough, rolled out the same size and place on top of the first two, this time don’t brush it!

Using a rolling pin, roll the stack of dough into a rectangle the size of your baking pan and lift it up (you can roll it around your rolling pin if that is easier) and place it in the prepared baking pan.

Repeat with the final 3 pieces of dough, and place the stack on top of the dough in the pan.

Seal in the cheese by pressing together the outside edge of the dough stack with your hands.  Pull down the very top layer of the bread and stick it well on or even under the rest of the dough, so the dough will stay in place during baking. Cover with a dry tea towel and allow to rest for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 230°C. Brush the top of the dough with the melted butter and sprinkle some paprika on it if you like.
Pop the pan in the preheated oven and immediately turn the oven down to 200°C.
Bake for 35 minutes.

Remove from the oven. Place on a wire rack and allow it to cool down a bit.  When it is still warm (not hot), cut it into squares and enjoy with a salad or some soup.

Brush it with melted butter and spread over half the feta cheese mixture and soeme fresh herbs if wanted. Repeat with the next 3 pieces of dough, and place that stack on top of the first stack.  Brush this with melted butter and spread it with the remaining half of the feta cheese mixture and any optional toppings.

(Adapted from “Book of buns" – Jane Mason)

Bake a purse! BBB in June

Another month with another Middle Eastern recipe for the Bread Baking Babes to bake; thanks Karen ("Bake my day!") for this lovely choice. The fun bread shape looks like a purse and is meant to carry around after buying it from a street cart in Lebanon that sells these. You can bake them yourself and please feel free to parade in your house and/or street! Bake these in a weekend and eat them for dinner or take them on a picnic! Bake with us, taste, post about them en sent your details and findings to Karen (bakemyday(at)gmail(dot)com) and become our Bread Baking Buddy!! Enter before the 30th of this month!

Kaak bread (a Lebanese bread with sesame seeds)

(makes 6 large Kaak)

(PRINT recipe) 

dough:

235 g milk

230 g water

2 TBsp olive oil

1 ½ TBsp sugar

1 ½ tsp salt

1 TBsp instant dry yeast

135 g whole wheat flour

490 gr all purpose flour, you may need a little more, but don’t add too much flour

Topping:

1 egg for egg wash

1 TBsp sesame seeds per kaak

You will also need lined baking sheets

Mix all the dough ingrdients in a standmixer bowl and knead it until souple dough. What you'll be looking for is a malleable non-sticky dough.

Shaping; divide dough into 5 parts of 200 g (or make smaller ones about 100 g each) and ball up. The last part of dough will be smaller, but you add all the cut out circles to that one, so it’ll be about the same size. Let rest to relax and using a dough pin roll each ball into a circle approx. 18 cm diam., about 1 1/2 cm.

Place the shaped breads on lined baking sheets, be careful not to stretch the dough. Use a large cookie cutter to cut out a circle near the top to form the "handle". and loosely cover to rise another 25-30 minutes. Add all the cut-out circles to the last smaller piece of dough and shape this one like a purse without cutting a whole (make a hole with your finger and carefully open it up. Or do it as it’s done in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdxMY-53pMU )

Egg wash the breads, sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Bake for ±15-18 minutes or until golden and puffed in a pre-heated oven 200-220°C. I think they will benefit from a bit of steam in your oven. Use your preferred method; either ice cubes, boiling water in a heated pan... bake on a stone...

Let them cool on a wire rack. You can eat them like they are or make a horizontal slit in the bottom part of the purse, which you can fill with whatever your fancy.

We stuffed them with lettuce, tomato, cucumber and some vegetable "sausages"

Bread Baking Babes bake Shubbak el-Habayeb.

This month it is Karens ("Karens kitchen stories") choice and it's a great one! A delicious little bread with a slight sweet taste. It's the second time I've baked them. The first time I rolled them too thin, this time it was better, a bit thicker that made a lovely crumb. Even though I didn't make the slices right :) . It's a lovely little bread to bake along with us. So give it a try and become our Bread Baking Buddy by baking and telling us about it.

Send your findings and results to the Kitchen of the month to Karen ( karen.h.kerr@gmail.com), check out her blog for more information. Deadline 29th of the month. Have fun baking!

Shubbak el-Habayeb

Yield: 12 rolls

(PRINT recipe)

600 g  all purpose flour

3 g tsp instant yeast

100 g sugar

225 g milk, scalded

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp orange blossom water

1/2 tsp rose water

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

1/2 tsp ground mahlab

12 g salt

50 g butter, melted and cooled

about 100 ml water, added to the dough by wetting your hands as you knead the dough.

glaze

1 egg

1 TBsp water

Pinch of salt

Pinch of sugar

Sesame seeds (white and/or black)

Pour the flour into a bowl, and create a well in the middle. Sprinkle the yeast and sugar into the well, and add the milk. Cover the milk with some of the flour from the sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a towel, and let rest for one hour.

Add the eggs, flower waters, cardamom, mahlab, and salt to the mixture in the bowl and mix with your hands to form a rough dough. Turn it out onto an unfloured counter, and knead for 10 minutes.

Add the butter, and knead for 10 more minutes. While kneading, if the dough is too stiff, dip your hands in the water, and continue to knead. Continue to dip your hands in the water until you have a supple dough. You can also do this with a dough hook, adding the water, one tablespoon at a time. Place the dough into an oiled bowl and let rise in a warm spot, covered, for about two hours, until doubled.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces and form them into balls. Cover with a towel or oiled plastic wrap, and let rest for 15 minutes.

Roll each ball with a rolling pin into a square that is about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough with a sharp knife to make short vertical cuts in each quadrant of the dough. Open the slits with your hands to make sure they are cut through.

Place the squares on baking sheets (two sheet pans, prepared with parchment), six squares per pan.Cover each sheet pan with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for one hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 220ºC) with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Whisk together the glaze ingredients and brush the glaze over the rolls on one of the sheet pans. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds. Bake the first pan of rolls for 15 minutes, until golden. Remove them from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the second pan of rolls.

(source: Jane Mason – “Book of buns”)