Tag Archives: Eastern

April 20th, 2014

Colomba pasquale

 

Colomba (2)When I baked the little Colombinas about five years ago I was already searching for the traditional paper mold for Colomba pasquale. But I had no luck finding one neither in the “real word” nor in german onlineshops. And so I finally give in and bought a silicon mold, ignoring my dislike of this kind of baking molds. And the mold was delivered just in time, so the only thing I had to was to refresh my sweet starter and start baking.

Raisins and candid orange peel would make my beloved one rather unhappy, so I choose semisweet chocolate drops and chopped candid almonds instead. The fits well with my first colomba memory, when some years ago a former colleague brought back a big, chocolate filled colomba after visiting her parents in Italy. The dough for the dove is similar to my pandoro recipe, but this time I kneaded the butter into the dough. The dough was easy in handling and after baking I was able to unmold the colomba without any problems, much to my relief.

After cooling down we cut the dove and the first bite of it was pure delight. The crumb could be torn into long strands and was as light as a feather, and the combination of chocolate and candied almonds is great, too! This colomba is a real dream dove!

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April 19th, 2014

Attendorner Ostersemmel

Attendorner Ostersemmel (1)

It is tradition in Attendorn, a small city in the Sauerland, that the pastor will issue a bless on the “Ostersemmel” (which means Easter bread) on Holy Saturday. It is a big event, that takes place in front of the church where the citizens of the Attendorn will hold their bread into the air. The Bread is forked on both ends, a shape that should depict the Christian symbol of a fish.

It is a bread made with rye, wheat and caraway seeds. My interpretation of the Ostersemmel is made with 30% Rye and Sourdough, and the recipe yields to breads. With a round cookie cutter I make an inprint for the eye, like I saw it in some pictures.

It is a perfect bread for caraway lovers like me, very aromatic with a soft crumb and a shiny crust.

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April 18th, 2014

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Ostereier färben (1)

To dye easter eggs with different natural dyes is always great fun for me. This year I had the idea to use plant juices instead of the time consuming boiling and filtering of plant extracts I used until now.  Since I call an old juice centrifuge my own I bought some red cabbage ad red beet. That the red beet would yield a fair amount of juice I knew, but what would happen with the red cabbage? To my great joy the yield of cabbage juice was amazingly  high, too.

I mixed the cabbage juice with baking soda  or vinegar and let the hard boiled eggs sit in the solutions for some hours.  When I take the eggs from the soution, the red beet juice has dyed them in deep red, while the cabbage juice with soda yielded green eggs. The eggs from the red cabbage juice with pink when I take them out but turned brightly blue during drying. I dipped one of the blue eggs shortly in the red beet juice and so I get a dusky pink egg as well.

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March 31st, 2013

Aachener Poschweck

Poschweck

When I saw the Poschweck that Petra baked some days ago, I knew that I had to bake some as well because it looked so delicious!

The Poschweck is a very traditional bread which the Bakers of Aachen gave as present to their customers during Easter since the late medieval. It is first mentioned 1547 in the “Aachener Bäckerverordnung” (Bakers edict). In 1760 some bakers tried for the first time to get rid of this custom but they where forced by the municipality to deliver the sweet breads.  After nearly another 100 years they tried again to break with the tradition, which ended with the so called “Poschweck riot” in which angry citizen demolished shops. To restore the public order the bakers where forced once again to bake and give away the Poschweck. Finally, in 1946 the bakers succeed with their claim to sell the Poschweck instead of giving it away.

I used Petras Recipe as a start for my own variation of Poschweck. With a pâte fermentée and less yeast the bread develops a complex taste. With almonds, raisins and sugar cubes and the hint of orange and vanilla it is a really rich bread. I love the fact that the sugar cubes will melt during baking and leave sweet and sticky holes in the bread (which you can see on the picture below).  A perfect bread for persons with a sweet tooth!

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March 30th, 2013

Easter bunnies 2013

Osterhäschen

When I take a look out of the window on Good Friday, I had to blink and take a second look. Yes, during the last night our street was dusted with snow. During Christmas I would be happy with snow, but at the end of march I don’t need it anymore. I shortly considered to go back to bed and to stay there until it is finally spring. But complaining about the weather will not change it and so I started some dough to bake a nut-filled braid, some “Poschweck” and this sweet Easter bunnies.

I bake Easter bunnies every day. We eat some for Breakfast and the rest I give away. So we gave one of the bunnies as Easter present to my little niece. This year I made the dough with a pâte fermentée and seasoned it with some grated orange peel.

They taste good – my niece eat immediately a big part of her “Hasi” – is there a bigger compliment?

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April 9th, 2012

Easter bunnies – Overnight-Variation

Osterhäschen

Eastern without homemade Easter-bunnies-buns? That is impossible.

I bake Easter bunnies every year, varying the dough and the shape. This year their shape are a little bit more abstract then in the last years. The boyfriend needed a little hint to see the bunny in this shape. But I fell in love with the shape when I saw it here.

I made the dough as a overnight variation similar to the saffron stars on Christmas. I like the fact that you can sleep longer on holidays and be able to serve warm bread for breakfast.

The long and slow proofing is good for the taste, too, making it more complex. They taste very good, with hints of butter and vanilla, a very delicious treat for a Easter breakfast or brunch!

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April 8th, 2012

Easter pinze with sourdough

Osterpinze(2)

Since some years I always thinking during Eastern, that it  would be nice to bake an Easter Pinze. Until now, I never did it, but this year it seems to be the perfect time. After a quick search in the internet showed me that there are two different recipe variation. One is made with anise wine, the other one with grated lemon or orange peel. I would never allow anise seeds into my kitchen, not to mention to bake with them… So it was an easy decison.

As basis for my recipe I started with Petras Recipe, but added a sourdough and a milk roux and changed the rest of the recipe accordingly.

When I take the bread out of the oven, it smells already very good, after fresh lemons. And its taste is great, too. Lemon with the tiny bit of tanginess from the sourdough make the bread taste like the fresh air in spring.

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