Plum Scrolls

wow, its been a while!

A friend bough a ton of plums the other week - I mean seriously a lot. They were Italian prune plums. And so she made her way out to my place and we thought we'd see how much we could use.

These babies were inspired by a german plum cake. This usually means a very simple cake made with yeast dough, rolled out to fit a baking sheet and then plums layered on top.

We used the same yeast dough, rolled it out into a rectangle, slathered it with melted butter, sprinkled on some sugar and cinnamon, scattered some plum chunks. They were finished with a simple vanilla icing.

So very good, and very seasonal!

Chocolate-Studded Swiss Sweet Buns from Basel (aka. Schoggiweggli)

These are a crunchy sweet yet salty bun that pair well with a hot coffee. They are laborious, but they are tasty especially for people who aren't so big on sweet things.

Ingredients

1 cup milk

2.5 tsp. active dry yeast

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 Tbs. sugar

2 tsp. salt

4 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened

6 oz. semisweet chocolate (either chips or roughly cut into small chunks)

Eggs wash: 1 egg beaten with a pinch of salt

Method

1. Warm the milk in a small saucepan until it is lukewarm. Pour this into a small bowl and whisk in the yeast. Set aside.

2. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment place the flour, sugar and salt. On the lowest setting mix together for 30 seconds.

3. Add the butter and mix until the butter is well mixed into the dry ingredients (around 1 min).

4. Add the yeast mixture you set aside earlier and beat together for 2 min on the lowest setting. Stop and let the dough rest for 10min.

5. Mix together for another 2 min, this time on medium speed. You want the dough to be fairly elastic.

6. Beat in the chocolate bits on the lowest speed until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Don't beat for too long as this may mean that the chocolate will melt and the dough will be chocolate brown.

7. Scrape the dough into a well oiled bowl and rub the oil all over the outside of the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size.

8. On a lightly floured surface scrape the dough. Press into a rectangle and divide the dough into 14-18 equal pieces.

9. Round each piece of dough using your palms, let rest for 10 min under a tea towel.

10. Roll the dough pieces into ovals, and squash the ends in until the dough looks like a mini canoe (see the photo below). Place on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

11. Cover and let rise for 1 hour. At 45 min into the rising preheat the oven to 375F.

12. Paint with the egg wash.

13. With a pair of scissors cut slashes into the top (around 4 slashes depending on the size of the bun).

14. Bake for 15 min and then swap the trays around (middle to top and top to middle). Bake for an additional 10 min. You want the final product to be a deep golden color.

15. Slide the baking paper from the pan and onto a wire rack to cool.

Taken from Nick Malgieri's "A Baker's Tour" pp. 67-8.

Fruit Buns

I love fruit buns, warm and with lots of salty butter - a heart attacks delight. These were alright, they did however, need some salt, whether it comes from the use of salty butter in the dough, or the addition of salt, it really needed the salt once they were baked. Otherwise these were tasty buns.

Ingredients

1 Tbs. active dry yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1.5 cups warm milk

4.5 cups all purpose flour (sifted)

2 tsp. mixed spice

2 tsp. cinnamon

1.5 oz. melted butter

1 egg

1.5 cups raisins

1/3 cup candied mixed peel (I didn't use this)

Method

1. Place the yeast, 2 Tsp. of the sugar and all of the milk in a large bowl.

2. Set aside for 5 min, or until the mixture starts to foam.

3. Add the flour, mixed spice, cinnamon, butter, egg, raisins, mixed peel, and remaining sugar to the mixture.

4. Using a butter knife mix until a sticky dough forms.

5. Pour the dough onto a lightly floured bench, and knead for around 8 min (or until the dough feels elastic).

6. Place in an oiled bowl and cover. Let it rise fro 1 hour or until it has doubled in bulk.

7. Divide the dough in 12 pieces (I made giant buns, so I divided it into 8). Roll the dough into balls.

8. Grease a tray with sides (it is recommended that you use a 9-inch square cake tin, and line the bottom of it with parchment paper.

9. Place the dough balls onto the parchment paper.

10. Cover, and allow to rise again for 30 min.

11. Preheat oven to 400F.

Bake for 35 min, or until well browned and springy to the touch.

12. Serve warm with butter.

From the beautiful Modern Classics 2: Cookies, Biscuits + Slices, Small Cakes, Cakes, Desserts, Hot Puddings, Pies + Tarts, Donna Hay, pp.50-

Cinnamon Rolls

These taste and smell amazing. As long as they aren't over baked, they are soft, and pliable. Really nice.

Ingredients: Dough
2 packages active dry yeast
1 cup whole milk (I used buttermilk), heated to 105-115F.
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
5.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. ground mace
2 tsp. salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp.

Ingredients: Filling
6 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. freshly grated cinnamon
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

Ingredients: Pecan stickiness
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 Tbs. ground cinnamon
1.5 cups chopped pecans

Method: Dough
1. In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in the warm milk and let stand until foamy (around 5 min.).
2. Add the granulated sugar, eggs, 5 cups of flour, mace, orange zest, and butter.
3. Stir by hand or with a wooden spoon until a rough mass forms.
4. Using a plastic scraper, scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface.
5. Knead the dough, working in the remaining flour, until it is smooth and elastic. (around 6 min). The dough should be soft, but not sticky.
6. Form the dough into a ball, and transfer to a lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let sit for around 2 hours, until it has doubled in bulk.
7. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface.
8. Divide the dough in two.
9. Roll out half the dough into a 10 x 16 inch rectangle.

Method: Part Assembly & Filling
1. Butter the sides of two 9-inch cake pans.
2. In a small bowl combine the sugar and cinnamon.
3. Spread half the melted butter oven the rolled out dough, and then sprinkle half the cinnamon sugar mixture on top.
4. Starting from the short side away from you, tightly roll the dough towards yourself.
5. Cut the dough into 2 inch rounds.
6. Repeat with the other half of the dough.

Method: Pecan Stickiness & Assembly
1. Combine the butter, sugar, and cinnamon, and mix thoroughly.
2. Place this concoction on the bottom of the cake pans.
3. Sprinkle the pecans over the top.
4. Place the 2 inch round on top of the pecans.
5. Cover with a kitchen towel, and allow to rise at room temp. for another 30-40 min.
6. Preheat the oven to 400F.
7. Bake until a toothpick placed in the center of a bun comes out clean - around 25-30 min.
8. Let the buns cool for 5 min.
9. Carefully place a serving tray/plate over the top of the cake pan. Invert the pan (careful as the butter-sugar mixture will be very hot), and remove the cake pan.
10. Serve when the buns are cool enough to touch.

These can also be warmed up in the microwave for 15seconds the day after, and they still taste amazing.

Taken from Williams -Sonoma Essentials of Baking by Cathy Burgett, Elinor Klivans and Lou Seibert Pappas, pp.68-9.

Experiments with Brioche: Jam Buns

A slightly sweet, deeply rich bun. It can be made with or without the icing.
I used around 1/2 the brioche dough. I baked half of the and then froze the other half. They will keep for 2 months tightly wrapped in the freezer. Defrost overnight, and then treat as you would normally (30 min rising time, and then bake).
Ingredients
1/2 brioche dough
2 Tbs raspberry jam
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 tsp water
Method
1. On a lightly floured bench, roll out brioche dough into a rectangle roughly 16 x 12 inches, with the narrow edge towards you.
2. Spread the jam evenly over the dough, leaving a couple of cm (1 inch) spare around the edge farthest from you.
3. Roll the dough from the edge closest to you, to the edge farthest away from you. Making sure that the roll is tight.
4. Using a sharp knife cut the jam log into 1 inch rolls, and place on the baking sheet. At this stage you can tightly wrap the log with glad wrap and place in the freezer - it keeps for around 2 months.
5. Preheat the oven to 375F.
6. Allow the buns to rise for 30 min.
7. Bake for around 20-25 min. Make sure at around half way through baking, you rotate the baking sheet, for even baking.
8. Place on a cooling rack to cool.
9. Sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and add the 1 tsp of water. Stir until combined, and drizzle on top of the rolls.