October 28th, 2012

Ammerländer Apfelkuchen

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Almonds, Apple, Cinnamon, Poolish, Pudding, Vanilla 9 Responses

During autumn, one of the most used fruits in our kitchen is apple. And when I wake this morning very early around due to the change from daylight saving time to winter time, I decided to knead the shortcrust for apple cake Elfriede. And while the dough is resting in the fridge I have time to blog about the apple cake I bake last weekend. I found the “Ammerländer Apfelkuchen” on Chili & Ciabatta and fell in love with the mixture of apple compote and custard which is used for the filling. Because I always cook custards without the help of convenient products I used Petras Recipe as inspiration, but with my own dough (with a preferment and less yeast) and a homecook custard. This apple cake is now the new favourite of me. It has a soft apple filling, topped with rich custard, butter, sugar and almond slices. The compote filling reminds me a little bit of the Rheinischen Riemchenkuchen. And due to this filling, it stays fresh for some days! Continue reading →

October 22nd, 2012

Windfall Bread

Category Bread, Overnight Tags: Apple, Quince, Sourdough, Über-Nacht 3 Responses

When Martin presented his Windfall Bread with grated apples I knew that this is a recipe I had to test. And when I looked in the basket with windfall from my parents garden I saw some quinces which looked like they had to be used up quickly. And so I but some grated quinces in the in the bread dough, too.

The bread is really great with a moist and soft crumb and a hint of sweetness due to the fruits.

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October 21st, 2012

Caraway seed rolls

Category Rolls Tags: Caraway seeds, Sourdough 3 Responses

Since weeks I am longing for bread with caraway seeds. Or for Caraway seed rolls sprinkled with caraway and fleur de sel. These are so delicious that I need nothing else then a little bit of butter with them.

And last weekend I finally found the time to bake these rolls. I made a dough containing sourdough which goes well with the flavourful seeds and some commercial yeast to keep the proofing time shorter.

The Caraway seed rolls match exactly my expectations: a soft crumb with a thin crunchy crust, which is covered with little salt crystals and caraway seeds. When I take them out of the oven they smell so tempting that I eat on while it was still hot from the oven.

Mmmh….

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October 16th, 2012

Yoghurt Bread

Category Bread, World Bread Day Tags: only with yeast, Pâte fermentée, Yoghurt 24 Responses

It is amazing how fast the year flies. It is already autumn and World Bread Day is knocking on my door. And because baking a bread with yoghurt for this day is somehow traditionally for me, I decided to bake again a Yoghurt bread in this year.

As preferment I decided to use Pâte Fermentée. I did not use this preferment for a bread for quite some time. I don’t know why because Pâte Fermentée is such a patient preferment. While Sourdough or Poolish are not willing to wait when they reach their peak the Pâte Fermentée will sit in the fridge until the baker finds time to come to kitchen and bake.

The Bread I pull from the oven the next morning (the loaf proofed in the fridge over night) had a nice even crumb which stays moist for a long time due to the yoghurt. Very delicious!

Happy Bread Baking Day!

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October 13th, 2012

Spicy buns

Category Rolls Tags: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cranberries, Lievito madre, Raisins, whole grain 4 Responses

I love to eats raisin buns. The boy friend has a reverse opinion on the topic of “dried grapes”. He tends to mention “murdered grapes” then and suggest to eat them better fresh instead of drying them.

And so there are seldom raisin breads, or raisin buns or apple cake with raisin and I bake most of the time goods we enjoy both. But sometimes I get a craving for raisins.

And that happened to me when I saw the beautiful spicy buns on farine. Sweet rolls with a lot of wholewheat, raisins and cranberries, seasoned with a mixture of cinnamon, cardamom and anise. I had to bake these rolls immediately. I added a little bit of my Lievito Madre to the dough to add some deepness of flavour and decreased the amount of yeast accordingly. My dough contains also a little bit more raisins, just to prevent myself of storing the remaining 20g of raisins somewhere in my little kitchen.

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October 13th, 2012

Winter Spice Mix

Category Spices Tags: Allspice, Cardamom, Cinnamon, clove, Macis, Sternanis, Vanilla 4 Responses

For MCs Spicy Buns I need a spice mixture which I could not get here. And so I decided to try a own mixture – something that worked even better then expected. I think I will use my winter spice mix often for baking this winter

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October 2nd, 2012

Apple Cinnamon Rolls

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Allspice, Almonds, Apple, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Herbst, only with yeast 17 Responses

In the morning the mist is already lingering in the valley I am living in, the air is getting colder and some windy and rainy days made it clear: Autumn is finally here. And so the first windfall from my parents garden is waiting in my kitchen to be used in some delicious recipes.

But what should I do with them? Appel strudel, Apple cake or Apfelküchle are all good recipes, but I was longing for something else. Something with yeast. Something like Cinnamon-rolls?

And so I started a yeast dough and bake some Apple-Cinnamon-Rolls. They are filled with a cream made of egg, butter, almonds and cookie crumbles, which I topped with finely chopped apples. Cinnamon is the main flavour in the seasoning, but a touch of allspice and cardamom add a little bit of deepness it.

A gorgeous treat, perfect for the early autumn!

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September 23rd, 2012

Marzipan-Braid

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: almond paste, Almonds, lactose free, Sourdough 6 Responses

When I bake cake to celebrate with my colleagues (e.g. at my birthday) it is some kind of tradition to include a nut filled braid. But sometimes I need to break out of the routine and so I decided to bring a marzipan braid this year, too.

I make a dough with sourdough, which kept the braid fresh for 2 days (well, the small left over of it at least). But if anyone don’t like sourdough in a sweet pastry, the 1.5 amount of dough from the nut filled braid would go nicely with the filling, too.

The filling contains beside marzipan grounded almonds, some bread crumbs and egg white. The mixture is lovely, the taste of marzipan is dominant without overpowering the aroma from the dough.

It is a recipe for Marzipan lovers – and you can find a lot of some among my colleagues. And so everyone was very happy with this new recipe!

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September 15th, 2012

Honey Spelt Bread

Category Bread, hand kneaded, Overnight Tags: Hand kneaded, Honey, Sourdough, Spelt, wheat free 38 Responses

Some German Bloggers already baked Martins Honungssyrad råg with variations. He played with the recipe, too. For me, the recipe was not so tempting because once again I try to avoid rye to reduce my skin irritations.

But the recipe kept spining in my head. When I can not use rye, what’s about spelt, I asked myself. The combination of spelt and honey is something I like very much. And my sourdough starter was so lively after the last warm summerdays. And so I decided to bake a sourdough bread with honey and spelt.

It has nothing in common with Martins recipe anymore despite the fact that it contains sourdough and honey.

The bread dough is easy to handle, but you need a little bit of time management: The sourdough is prepared in the morning, the dough is kneed in the afternoon and the bread is formed in the evening. It proofs then overnight in the fridge and 24 hours later you pull a delicious smelling out of the oven.

The slight sweetness of honey fits perfect to the mild aroma of the spelt while the sourdough adds a subtle tartness.

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September 9th, 2012

Greta-Garbo-Schnitten

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Hand kneaded, only with yeast, Pastry, Saure Sahne, Walnuss 17 Responses

There are recipe which even I do not dare to change. The recipe for Greta-Garbo-Schnitten is one of this examples. It is a traditional sweet from the side of my family which stemmed from Siebenbürgen /Transylvania. I firmly believe that this recipe is rooted in the cake Gerbeaud-Schnitten of the Cafe Gerbeaud, but I stay with the Name in which it is filled in the handwritten cookbook of my grandmother. That is traditional, it will keep its Name Greta-Garbo-Schnitte.

The only change I dared to make is that I let the dough rest a little bit before I roll it into sheets. That makes rolling it thinly much easier.

The little slices are a great treat with a cup of coffee. And if you have a little bit patient and self-control, you can let them rest some days before eating them and they will reward you with a perfect mellow texture and a taste infused by walnuts, currants and chocolate.

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