Skip to content

Monthly Archives for January 2010

Sweet Yeast Pastry

In spite of what you might hear or read, preparing a basic yeast dough, is (litterally) a piece of cake. When preparing, the most complicated part is kneading it, and even amateur bakers or beginners can handle that. By the way, if you have a good mixer, you’re not even going to do that!

I agree that some yeast doughs can require some time and a little more skills (but only very little), but this is the simplest of all, and I bet everybody can master it easily!

Some yeast dough tips before you get to work:

  • You can’t be spontaneous about yeast cakes and pastries, because it has to rise for several hours. Therefore, when you plan to bake a yeast cake, take into account that it will probably take at least 6 hours from the moment you start mixing the dough ingredients until you take the cake out of the oven.
  • From my experience, the rising time usually depends on the type of yeast you’re using – fresh or dry, when dry usually takes longer. Another factor is the room temp where the dough rises.
  • A yeast dough can left to rise overnight in the fridge.
  • 25g fresh yeast = 1 tbsp quick dry yeast = 1 sachet of 7 grams.
  • The milk can be replaced with a similar amount of sour cream or natural yogurt.
  • When working with a sweet yeast pastry, I sometimes dust my work surface with icing sugar rather than flour. There’ll be no complaints if the dough is just a little sweeter than it supposed to be (which is not too sweet anyway!).
  • A baked yeast pastry can be freeze. When necessary, just warm it up again in your oven.
  • The quantities specified in the following recipe are sufficient for: 1 Kugelhopf OR 2 loaf tin sized yeast cakes (25-30cm long)

So what so complicated about yeast dough?…

Continue Reading »

Written on 21 January 2010 by admin under Baking Basics and Tips with No Comments
Tagged with ,

Lemon Meringue Roulade

Lemon Meringue Roulade

Lemon Meringue Roulade

Also in this article: how to beat egg whites

Do you also have too many egg whites in your fridge or freezer? A few days ago, when freezing another egg white I realized I had too many jars, full of them. I then decided I must do something about it. I figured a meringue roulade is a great solution. When I think of meringue, I have the crunchy type of meringue in mind, from the time I was a little girl, when a cute coloured meringue swirl was called “A kiss”. This roulade has a different texture, a very soft, spongy meringue that almost melts in the mouth. An absolute yum!

The filling: I chose to fill my meringue roulade with lemon cream. If you prefer, you can fill yours with any other cream of your choice: vanilla, chocolate, berries (add some smooth berry purée of your choice to the whipped cream) etc.

It is also gluten free, so suitable for those who are allergic (coeliac/celiac disease). I think of those things because of my mom, so whenever I find a recipe suitable for her, I immediately call her, expecting her to try it the next day, if not immediately (though it never works that way..)

But before you go on and try the recipe, here are some beating egg whites tips:

  • For best results, bring the egg white to room temperature before beating them. This will ensure your foamed egg whites will get into the highest possible volume.
  • It is recommended to beat egg whites for meringue with a mixer. If you don’t have one, a hand mixer can do the job as well. However, it might take 2-3 more minutes to get similar result.
  • When you start beating the egg whites, start at a slow speed and gradually move into higher speed.
  • You should beat your egg whites until they are well firmed and fluffed (stiff peaks). At that point, you should stop! The texture should be smooth and look glossy and shiny. Another way to know your foam reached it’s max volume is to tilt the bowl, and the beaten egg white will not flow. Even if you overturn the bowl in the air (carefully!), the foam will remain in the bowl in the same shape. I never dare to do that, but I think rolling the bowl to it’s side is good enough.
  • If you overbeat the egg whites, the texture will look dry and granular and it will liquify again.
  • Use the beaten egg whites immediately

Continue Reading »

Written on 15 January 2010 by admin under Gluten Free Desserts, Quick and Easy Desserts with No Comments
Tagged with , , ,

Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd

Lemon Curd

Lemon curd is a great addition to many baked goodies, and upgrade them with the sensational citric aroma.

It can be served along with cakes and warm cobblers (e.g berries cobbler), fill cookies, be spread between cake layers, spread on your breakfast toast or scone, fill tarts, turn cream into lemon cream when mixed together, be mixed with yogurt and whatever you can come up with.

I will soon publish a recipe which puts into practice the lemon curd, so stay tuned!

Continue Reading »

Written on 14 January 2010 by admin under Dessert Sauce Recipes with No Comments
Tagged with

Vanilla Biscuits

Vanilla Biscuits

Vanilla Biscuits

A simple, basic cookies recipe, that can never be wrong. These cookies can be served as is, but can also be served in more interesting manners:

- You can serve the cookies with dips, such as lemon curd, smooth Berries Purée, cream cheese frosting, vanilla custard, chocolate genache and more.

- You can make sandwich cookies, by filling them with one or more of the above dips. This might take a little longer than just serving along with some dips, but this suggestion (and the following one) is a nice exercise in relaxation, creativity and can be a lot of fun, too.

- You can coat or decorate the cookies with a simple flavoured icing. Just mix icing sugar with a little bit of naturally flavoured liquid, such as freshly squeezed lemon juice, raspberry juice (that’s a good use for the liquids from frozen raspberry packs). If you wonder how much liquids, I can just say I always start with one tbsp, and add as much icing sugar as it can absorb. The ratio can be more that 1:3 (liquid:icing sugar) and the texture – a little bit thicker than a double cream. Once mixed, set aside for 15-20 minutes before applying on the cookies.

Few tips regarding the preparation:

- The easiest way to prepare the dough is by using a food processor. It’s OK if you don’t have one, just use your fingers. It’ll take few more minutes, but will end up with the same cookies.

- If you shape your cookies in different sizes, I recommend you’d bake them in more than one batch. In each batch bake the shapes that are similar in size.

Happy baking and decorating!

Continue Reading »

Written on 10 January 2010 by admin under Uncategorized with No Comments
Tagged with ,

Lime Pie

Lime Pie

Lime Pie

How to describe this pie in one word: Sensational!

A simple American dessert, requires very few ingredients and little effort. Also known as Key Lime Pie, when using limes from the Florida keys. As of 2006, it is the Florida state pie.

The filling should be slightly yellowish, since the lime juice is more yellow rather than green, but also due to the egg yolks. Mine is slightly more greenish, due to the added lime zest, and it can be noticed. If you happen to find a greenish lime pie but no visible zest, it most probably contains food colouring. I would keep my distance from such pie.

An interesting fact: early lime pies weren’t baked at all, due to a chemical reaction between the condensed milk and the lime juice when combined, which causes the filling mixture to thicken without baking. These days, however, the consumption of raw eggs is not recommended. Therefore, the pie is being baked for a short time, just enough to cook them, but it also thickens the filling more than the chemical reaction alone.

Continue Reading »

Written on 03 January 2010 by admin under Quick and Easy Desserts with No Comments
Tagged with ,