Monthly Archives: May 2013

May 26th, 2013

Baguette royal 2013

Category Bread, hand kneaded, Overnight  Tags: , , ,   50 Responses

Baguette royale

The Newspaper Tagesspiegel published an article about Ridha Khadher, who’s Baguette was the only one which get 20 of 20 points in the Best Baguette of Paris award 2013. In the articel, Monsieur Khadher mentioned the ratio of water and flour (T65) he uses, and gave a rough overview about the procedure. It was enough for me to build a recipe out of that.

A intersting point was that he uses nearly ice cold water (5,6°C) and kneads his dough more then other recipes I knew. Then the dough rest for 24 hours in the fridge, which seems to be a very important point for great baguettes, because Anis Baboussa (Winner of the award in 2008)as well as Jean-Noël Julien (Winner of the award in 1995) and Jean-Pierre Cohier (Winner of the award in 2006) opt in their baguette recipes for a long and cold fermentation instead of using a poolish or levain. Continue reading →

May 19th, 2013

Spelt crowns

Category hand kneaded, Overnight, Rolls  Tags: , , , , , ,   10 Responses

Dinkelkrönchen I got the Idea to bake this little Spelt crowns, when Lena asked me if she could bake the Yoghurt Honey Whole Wheat Bread as rolls instead of a loaf. Of course you can do this, was my answer and I started to think that I could bake something like that, too! But I decided to change the recipe a little bit, using spelt instead of wheat and buttermilk instead of yoghurt. To improve the dough handling, I cut down the amount of liquid a little bit and decided to let the dough rise overnight. As form for the rolls I tried something I was thinking about now for some time. I used my kitchen scissors to cut small tips on top of the roll which form a little crown during the oven spring. Just take care to keep the cuts short enough otherwise very long and hart tips will form during baking, and eating a roll with sharp edges is no fun at all. The rolls turn out very well: Soft crumb, crisp crust, a complex aroma due to long fermentation and the combination of spelt and sweet honey harmonize very well. A roll for a royal breakfast…

Continue reading →

May 12th, 2013

Streuselkuchen

Category Cake & Pastry  Tags: , ,   36 Responses

Streuselkuchen

Streuselkuchen is a simple cake.

But it is although an art to bake the perfect Streuselkuchen. The yeast dough should be not dry, but rise fluffy and light. The streusel has to be crisp but not hart. A favourite cake of mine which awakes great expectations in me. And often disappoints them.

But finally I found my perfect comination of dough and streusel. The dough recipe is a slightly modified variation of the swiss butter braid which contains a little bit more sugar. And for the streusel I decided to add a pinch of baking powder. An experiment with a very good result.

When I cut the cake into slices I could already see that the dough has risen to a soft and tender crumb with thick crisp streusel as contrast. A thin band of apricot jam conect both layers in a fruity way.

That is my perfect Streuselkuchen!

Continue reading →

May 9th, 2013

Curd Mousse

Category Dessert  Tags: , , ,   2 Responses

Quarkmousse

I liked to use second part of my oven roasted rhubarb in a delicious way, too. And when I saw the Curd-Mousse, that Micha made, I was instantly in love. Micha found the recipe on Verenas Blog Schlammdackel, and Verena found it at Living at home. In the original recipe, the Mousse was made with sea buckthorn berries, but Micha used strawberries instead. I like strawberries as well but the fact that I’m allergic against them made it necessary to change the recipe.

To cut a long story short: I made the Mousse with oven roasted rhubarb instead of buchthorn berries or strawberries. And that tasted great, too.

I think this Mousse is a great basic for a lot of different fruits. I can not wait to try it with some fresh blueberries, or raspberries, or…

 

Continue reading →

May 6th, 2013

Three Grains Bread

Category Bread, hand kneaded, Overnight  Tags: , , , , , ,   20 Responses

Dreikornling

I like a hearty whole grain bread. Like this one. It is a really mild one, perfect for persons who do not like sour breads. It is a bread without sourdough but with a very long and cold fermentation, which is only shortly disturbed every now and then when the dough is stretched and  folded. Even the loaves proofs in the fridge, too.

Due to slow fermentation the bread developes a incredible taste. The sweetness of the freshly milled flour is clearly recognizable, combined with the nutty undertones of whole grains and the complex notes due to the fermentation. The long rest let the flour absorb more water then normally and so I could add more water to the dough. This makes the crumb moist.

It is a bread, which in its simple way of preparing is perfect for beginners who are still a little bit scarred of sourdough. It requires not much more then a good deal of patient, because you need two days until you can pull it out from the oven. But then your patient will be rewarded…

Continue reading →

May 5th, 2013

Tote Hosen-Brot

Category Bread    7 Responses

Toten Hosen Brot

I do my best to make Birthday wishes come true. Even if the motive for the bread is a strange one for me.

But when my boyfriends sister wished for a bread with the symbol of her favourite punk band “Tote-Hosen”, then I will bake a bread with a skull.

As basis I used my new favourite recipe for the wheat rye bread No 2. I’m still thrilled about the phantastic oven spring and the great taste which is due to the two preferments I use. And the handling of the dough is great, as well. You can do as much “nonsense” as you like with it, roses or skulls or whatever you like. I love this recipe … Continue reading →

May 4th, 2013

Oven roasted Rhubarb

Category Dessert  Tags: ,   12 Responses

Rhabarber-Kompott

Opinions are divided over Rhubarb. Some dislike this sour vegetable very much, other – like me – love it. I love to drink Rhubarb Schorle in the summer or eat rhubarb in cakes, with pancakes or – really simple – as compote.

The oven roasted rhubarb I made two times last year: one time as a filling for cream puffs and one time for Rhubarb Napoleons. Both times I was completely stunned by the taste of the compote.

During roasting in the oven, the rhubarb develops a deep caramel flavour which is nicely underlined by the vanilla flavour while the tart taste is well balanced with sugar.

This time I served it only with some whipped cream, a simple but perfect dessert for spring!

Continue reading →

May 3rd, 2013

Kartöffelchen

Category hand kneaded, Overnight, Rolls  Tags: , , ,   11 Responses

Kartöffelchen

The television broadcast “Markt” featured a interesting report about potatoes, including a potato tasting. The tasting take place in the Restaurant of a colleagues spouse, and she and one of my other colleagues were part of the tasting, too. So watching TV last Monday was mandatory. The result of it did not suprise me so much: the imported potatoes from Egypt and Cyprus looked very good, but tasted – as my colleague Birgit stated – like putty while the local potatoes, grown in the Rhineland, was very flavourful.  I made this experience by my own, too and always try to buy potatoes from a local farmer.

To honour the potato I decided to bake some potato rolls. But my “Kartöffelchen” (little potatoes) should not only be called “little potatoes” they should look like a potato, too. And so they have a dark brown crust and a fluffy yellow crumb. But the soft dough is not so easy to form. If you would like to have a simpler shape, I would suggest to cut the dough  into squares like described Yoghurt Sesame Rolls.

Continue reading →