Tag Archives: Sweet starter

November 22nd, 2014

Lye rolls with sweet Starter

Category regional breads, Rolls Tags: lye pretzels, Sweet starter 43 Responses

It is near to self torture to bake lye rolls which has to be frosted as soon as they are cooled. While starring on the still hot rolls I asked myself: “WHY? Why did you not make the double amount?” Because I LOVE lye rolls. But I proofed that I can control myself and did not snack a single one. But just because they were meant for the birthday brunch of my love. If they wouldn’t be for him, I would not guaranteed for anything…

For this lye rolls I followed Dietmars advice and warmed the lye to 30°C. This gave the rolls an incredible shine! And because they are so delicious and beautiful and a star for every birthday table they are perfect not only for my loves birthday but as well for my blog birthday event!

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September 13th, 2014

Autumn Streusel cake with Powidl

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Cardamom, Cinnamon, Nuss, Streusel, Sweet starter, Vanilla, Zwetschgen 8 Responses

When August changes into September it marks the beginning of autumn for me.

Now I start to search for my scarfs for the already cool, misty mornings and in the evening I will lit the first candles when the light goes down. Saying goodbye to the summer is not so hard for me, especially when between the cool morning and early evening lies a sunny, golden day. And when I can spent the light filled afternoon with a cup of hot tea together with a pieces of streusel cake filled with the autumn flavours of plum sauce and hazelnuts, then I will welcome autumn light-hearted!

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August 31st, 2014

Butterkuchen (with sweet Starter)

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Almonds, Butter, Sweet starter, Zucker 8 Responses

A Butterkuchen in its simplicity is one of the most enchanting cakes for me. It is only made with some flour, milk, butter, sugar and yeast and allows each ingredients to shine. And when the fridge is still rather empty after coming home after our vacation trip, it is the perfect cake because it only needs so few ingredients. And after a short search in the cupboard I even found some almond splices which I sprinkled over the cake for the more luxury variant.

And because the sweet starter had to be fed after being trapped in the fridge for two weeks anyway I decided that I would bake the cake with sweet starter instead of yeast. To ensure that the starter is strong enough after sleeping in the fridge for so long I fed it once in the evening, put it in the fridge after 3 hours at 30°C and then fed it again the next morning. Due to the fact that a sweet starter will not let a dough rise as fast as with commercial yeast it takes from 8 o’clock in the morning until half past three in the afternoon until we could try the still warm cake.

It may not be the fastest method to bake this cake but you will be rewarded with a soft, fluffy cake packed with a lot of tender but complex flavour notes. And while the cake it technically baked with a sourdough, there is not even a hind if acidity. I love my sweet starter!

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July 27th, 2014

Alsacian Kougelhopf

Category Cake & Pastry, Special Occasions Tags: Almonds, Butter, Cake, Eier, Elsass, Raisins, Sweet starter, Vanilla 45 Responses

Nearly a year has passed since our visit in Alsace in our summer vacation. One of the souvenirs I brought home after two splendid weeks in france was a clay baking form for Kougelhopf. It is sitting on my kitchen cabinet since then, waiting for me to create a recipe for Kugelhopf.

This weekend I finally found the time to study different Kougelhopf recipes. But I did not like them, all of them use a lot of yeast and give the dough no time to rest properly to develop a good flavour. And I wanted a recipe which uses a preferment for better taste and longer shelf life! And so I decided to use my own interpreation with a sweet starter which helps to rise the buttery dough without using a lot of yeast.

The cake is more time consuming then other recipes you may find in the web, but it develops a fine complex flavour and light and feathery crumb. I imaging that even my alsacian great-grandmother would have enjoyed it!

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July 13th, 2014

Quark Blueberry Pastry

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Blaubeeren, Cardamom, Curd, Sweet starter, Vanilla 3 Responses

It’s berry season! After we spent the last weeks with cooking red currant, raspberry and strawberry jam we turned our attention to the blueberries. Beside of cooking jam I set some aside to use them for a little weekend treat. Together with some quark I baked quark blueberry pastries.

For the dough I used my sweet starter which was just freshly feed. But like for this Sonntagszopf you can use Lievito madre or a biga instead. What ever you choose as a preferment, it will be delicious!

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July 5th, 2014

Sunday braid with sweet starter

Category Bread Tags: Almonds, Hagelzucker, Sweet starter, Zopf 94 Responses

I like to eat some “Zopf” (or Challah or some other kind of soft braided bread), especially for breakfast on sunday. In the last year I often baked Schwiss Butterbraid. I like it very much but for the most people who grow up in Germany this kind of bread has to be sweet while the swiss version is not sweet. And for those with a sweet tooth I baked this sunday braid. It is so delicious, that I baked it for the goodbye breakfast of a colleague again. And each time I bake it I’m thrilled because of its buttery, sweet flavour and the soft crumb.

A big portion of cream makes the crumb incredible soft and fluffy. And the advantage of cream instead of butter is that the dough (or the shaped bread) rise well in the fridge. With higher butter amounts I made the experience that the butter hardens in the cold and so hinder the dough to rise proberly. And for forming the dough ít is necessary to keep it in the fridge for at least one hour. But then braiding will be easy.

For a good flavour and good oven spring I included my sweet starter in the recipe. If you don’t have one, you can use instead some Lievito madre or a Biga, which rise overnight in the fridge.

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June 1st, 2014

Brioche

Category Rolls, Special Occasions Tags: Butter, Egg, Eier, Sweet starter 13 Responses

Since some weeks I have some niece little brioche forms sitting in my cupboard which are only waiting for being filled with a new recipe. This long weekend was the perfect time to try the idea of baking Brioche with sweet starter. This strong, not tangy sourdough adds a niece complexity to the dough while the big amounts of egg and butter yield a soft and fluffy crumb.

But this big amount of butter makes it necessary to use a kitchen machine for kneading. When the butter is added, the dough loose all of its strength and becomes soft and smeary. So soft and smeary that I had my doubts if I could knead it to good consistency. But during intensive kneading with the kitchen machine the dough gains back its strength and after 15 min the gluten network was fully developed. But it is worth to find the patience to knead for such a long time because this will result in a fluffy crumb which can be torn into long fibres.

The only thing I will change the next time is that I would form the upper ball for the Brioche à tête a little bit smaller so that the head is easier to recognize.

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May 18th, 2014

Rhubarb and Custard Streusel Cake

Category Cake & Pastry Tags: Pâte fermentée, Rhababer, Streusel, Sweet starter, Vanilla 19 Responses

Some recipe ideas develop spontaneously. Like the idea for this cake. It started when my favourite colleague asked me if I had a good recipe for a rhubarb streusel cake. Instantly the custard streusel cake come to my mind. Rhubarb and vanilla pairs so greatly and so I suggested to add another layer to the custard streusel. My colleague liked the idea as well and after a short discussions we decided that the rhubarb should be slightly cooked and then bound with some starch like a custard. When I bought my groceries this evening, I saw rhubarb in the fruit section of the supermarket and decided that I had to bake this cake as well. And I’m happy that I did it, because the combination of rhubarb, custard, streuel and a fluffy yeast dough is really divine!

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April 24th, 2014

Wild Herb Fan Rolls

Category Rolls Tags: Giersch, Liebstöckel, Mint, Pimpinelle, Sauerampfer, Sweet starter, wild Garlic 6 Responses

The Inspiration for this wild herb fans was Michas wild garlic pesto. But instead of using only wild garlic I used other wild herbs I found when I strolled through in my parents garden: wild garlic, ground elder, sorrel and salad burnet. From the domesticated herbs I choosed – like Micha – some leaves of mint and lovage. I can strongly recommend to make a bigger batch of the pesto, it is great for seasoning risottos or pasta dough, to season a salad sauce or for a spring time variation of remoulade.

But back to the wild herb fans… I decided to make another dough then for the herb fan rolls, using sweet starter and making the dough stripes a little bit longer, placing them as a “U” shape in the muffin form. This give the rolls a nice shape.

The rolls are delicious, perfect to start the barbeque season.

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April 20th, 2014

Colomba pasquale

Category Cake & Pastry, Special Occasions Tags: Almonds, Chocolate, Eastern, Holiday pastry, Krokant, Orange, Sweet starter, Vanilla 29 Responses

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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