Monthly Archives: November 2015

November 29th, 2015

Christstollen with sweet Starter

Christstollen mit süßem Starter (2)Last year I saw a Christstollen with Sourdough which “Ofenkante” published on his blog. This stirred my brain and I started to think about Stollen made with sweet starter. But as I was already done with Stollen baking at this time point, I stored the idea in the back of my mind. After one year of thinking about it I decided to bake directly two stollen for this Christmas: a traditional and a experimental one.

In the experimental stollen with sweet starter I kept the same ratio of ingredients then in my traditional one (never change a winning team) but build the the sweet starter over several steps to get a enough strength for rising. It is always amazing to see how strong the sweet starter gets when fed three times in a row! But as the feeding is time consuming, this recipe needs a day until it is done.

After four weeks of ripening I brought the stollen from the cold attic back to the warm kitchen and sliced it. The crumb was perfect, firm but moist and the different flavours had fused to a harmonic consonance. Compared to the traditional stollen there are subtle differences in flavour nuances, but it is hard to pin them down. After all, both of them taste terrific and I can not name a favourite.

 

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November 27th, 2015

Bread baking for beginners XXII: Quark-Streusel-Kolatschen

Quark-Streusel-Gulatschen (1)There is one wish still open for the Bread baking course: yeasted cake! And what would be a better idea to celebrate the seventh blog birthday of “Hefe und mehr” then to make little yeast pastries with a fluffy dough and delicious Quark filling? And as a bonus point this Quark-Streusel-Kolatschen are very variable as well. You can replace the Quarkfilling with a poppy seed filling or make them without quark but with an increased amount of streusel. It is a basic recipe that can changed to meet your own preferences.

When working with doughs containing much sugar and butter you have to take in account that they inhibit gluten development (as described here as well). Due to this fact they are added at the end of the kneading in small portions. And you can feel how the added sugar will change the consistency of the dough and becomes more soft and sticky when the sugar draws away water formerly bound in the dough.

 

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November 21st, 2015

Spitzweckerl

Spitzweckerl (5)The idea for this rolls started when I pull a nearly forgotten glas with Pâte fermentée from the fridge saturday night. I planed to prepare some sunday morning rolls and so I added some spelt flour (white and and whole grain) for the nutty flavour and egg yolk, butter and milk for a soft crumb. Together with the fermented dough this promised to yield rolls with a deep, complex flavour.

But it was already late at night and so I place the dough in the fridge to rise there until the next morning. Early on Sunday morning I degased the dough, formed the rolls and let them proof for a rather short time. The short proofing made sure that the rolls develope a good oven spring and that the slash opens widely.

The rolls are perfect for a sunday breakfast: beautiful, crisp with soft crumb and as flavourful as they promised to be!

 

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November 15th, 2015

Zürcher Pfarrhaustorte

Zürcher Pfarrhaustorte

Apple cake is always a good idea. And after sorting my windfall apples I had a small basket of “to use immediately” apples with small dents. These kind of apples are best in cakes where a beautyful form is not so important, like my alltime favourite apple cake. For the “Zürcher Pfarrhaustorte” (Zurich parsonage cake) I had to select a  bit. The good looking halves where used for the apple topping, while the halves with brown spots where grate (of course after removing the brown spots!). The grated apple is then mixed with grounded hazelnuts, sugar and eggs and form so the basic on which I put the halfway sliced apple slices.

For this cake I found more or less only one recipe in the Net and my recipe continue this as well. I make only minor changes like using my favourite short crust pastry with a bit of buckwheat flour to make the dough a bit more nutty. And I baked the cake longer and at lower temperature to ensure that the apples are all soft and tender.

This cake will find its way in my personal favourite folder as it is filling is fruity, moist and not too sweet and can be enjoyed on the next days as well.

 

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November 15th, 2015

Technical Problems 2

 Update: We found the failure and the shop is working again.

Sadly, the technical Problems are back. This time there are problems in the bookshop presumably due to rooting problems of the provider. If you want to order a book you can do so by sending a mail to “post @ hefe-und-mehr.de”. I update this post when we fixed the problem!

I’m very sorry for any inconvenience.

November 14th, 2015

Seeded Whole Wheat Bread

Vollkorn-Saatenbrot (1)

This week was laborious and exhausting. And add this twelve hour workdays I was happy about the nourishing whole wheat bread that was waiting for me in my lunchbox in the breaks. A soaker made of seeds, nuts and whole wheat flour keeps this bread long moist and fresh while a wheat sourdough adds the desired flavour.

As whole wheat sourdough tends to develop more acidity as the white flour variant, I build the sourdough in two stage and let it ferment rather short and warm. This makes the sourdough strong and mild. A bit of honey in the dough helps to balance the flavour in a harmonic way.

With all the seeds and its sturdiness it is a perfect bread for cold November days.

 

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November 10th, 2015

Technical Problems

Just in time for the blog birthday, we had some technical problems which made it e.g. impossible to comment. The problem is solved for now 🙂

November 9th, 2015

The seventh Blog Birthday and a Blog Event

Blogevent hoch It is the seventh birthday candle I lit today for “Hefe und mehr” and I wonder how time is flying. Did I thought about how much the blog would be a part of my life? I don’t think so. But at this day was the start of a big adventure and things happend I never dreamed they would ever happen, like the advents calender or the book. I learnt a lot in this years, both in baking and taking pictures. And I met a lot of nice people due to the blog. I’m so happy that I clicked the publish button seven years ago.

To celebrate I would like to start another birthday blog event like I did in the last two year. This year I would like to collect recipes for bread baking beginners, fitting the new category I started this year. So here is my wish for this event:

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November 8th, 2015

ABC-Burger

ABC-BurgerFinally I found it: my perfect vegetarian Burger patty. It is a Aubergine, Beetroot and Champignon mushroom patty which is hold together by chickpeas, rolled oat and buckwheat flour. And this means the patty is not only vegetarian, it is vegan. And it is easily made gluten free by exchanging the rolled oats with rolled millet. An important point for a good binding is to use soaked, uncooked chickpeas and not canned one!

For the mixture of vegetables I tested already different compositions. Already my last try contained mushrooms and beet, and the idea to use aubergine was spontaneously but good. The aubergine adds a good texture to the patty while mushrooms and beet add a deep, earthy flavour which goes well with the hint of smokiness due to the pimenton de la vera. And finally I’m happy with the consistency as well as they have a juicyness without being soft. The patty stays well together while eating and is not mashed like the previous versions.

Together with homemade burger buns (see below or here (vegan) or here), some lettuce, caramelized onion and sauce it is a fantastic burger!

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