Easter Buns

Happy Easter Baking. Here it comes.
This year, I decided not to put a cross on my buns as I was in a bit of a rush making these buns on the Easter day itself.  Yes, last minute baking. This is a very easy recipe and the buns taste and smell just like the British favourite "hot cross buns." Happy Easter, everyone.  :)

Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour  
• 20g caster sugar
• 7g easy-action yeast
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 50g unsalted butter softened or low-fat spread
• 80ml milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 100g sultanas
• 1 tsp mixed spice
• ½ tsp ground cinnamon

Method

1. Put all the ingredients, apart from the sultanas, in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk with dough hooks for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes a ball. If the dough struggles to come together add 10ml more milk to make it very sticky. 
2. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough in a warm place until it doubles in size. 
   
   
3. Knock down the air and mix in the sultanas with your hands with some oil.
4. Shape the dough and place it in the baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (160c fan) for 10 minutes.
5. Turn down the temperature of the oven to 140c and bake for another 20 minutes.
6. Take the bread from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Then brush with syrup (some sugar and water). Decorate with icing.

Easy Hot Cross Buns

Yes, More Easter Baking from me. Here is my very first attempt at "Hot Cross Buns".
There was no "mixed spice" in my cupboard as Mary Berry suggested to use.
So, I just made up my own "mixed spice" with what I had in the cupboard.
I also found out I had run out of plain flower to make the "cross" decoration. So, instead, I used icing to make the cross.
Result? Surprisingly, the smell of "hot cross buns" came from the oven.
Obviously, these are not text book Hot Cross Buns, but I'm a happy bunny. :)

Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour
  
• 20g caster sugar
• 7g easy-action yeast
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 50g unsalted butter softened or low-fat spread
• 80ml milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 50g sultanas
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• a pinch of ground coriander

Method

1. Put all the ingredients, apart from the sultanas, in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk with dough hooks for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes a ball. If the dough struggles to come together add 10ml more milk to make it very sticky. 
2. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough in a warm place until it doubles in size. 
   
3. Knock down the air and mix in the sultanas and orange zest with your hands with some oil.
4. Shape the dough and place it in the baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (140c fan) for 10 minutes.
5. Turn down the temperature of the oven to 120c and bake for another 20 minutes.
6. Take the bread from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Then brush with syrup (some sugar and water). Decorate with icing.

Easy Brioche with leftover egg yolks

How to use up leftover egg yolks after making pavlova or meringue is an issue.

So, here is another idea for using up the egg yolks.

I had 3 egg yolks left over so I used these 3 egg yolks instead of 1 whole egg in a recipe for sweet dough.

The result was surprisingly good. The bread turned out very soft, fluffy and yet moist.

It was a bit like Panetone or Brioche.

Handling the sweet dough was tricky as it was a very wet dough and stuck to my hands.

Unfortunately, I don't have one of those fancy stand mixers but I just have a good old hand mixer.

Recently, I discovered that the "dough hooks" which came with the hand mixer can do the same job as the stand mixer. I've been using my very basic hand mixer for a long time, but I have never used the "dough hooks" until I discovered they were actually for dough.

Anyway, kneading sweet dough has became a doddle. 

Ingredients

• 250g strong white flour
  
• 20g caster sugar
• 7g easy-action yeast
• ¼ tsp salt
• 3 egg yolks
• 50g unsalted butter softened or low-fat spread
• 80ml milk
• zest of 1 lemon
• 50g raisins

Method

1. Put all the ingredients, apart from the raisins, in a bowl and mix together with an electric whisk with dough hooks for about 5 minutes until the dough becomes a ball. If the dough struggles to come together add 10ml more milk to make it very sticky.
   
2. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough in a warm place until it doubles in size.
3. Knock down the air and mix in the raisins with your hands with some oil.
4. Shape the dough and place it in the baking tray and bake in a preheated oven (140c fan) for 10 minutes.
5. Turn down the temperature of the oven to 120c and bake for another 20 minutes.
6. Take the bread from the oven and cool for a few minutes. Then decorate with icing.

"Kartoffelbrot" German Potato Bread

Yes. This is a potato loaf. A lot of potatoes are in there. When I came across this recipe, I was puzzled how 50:50 potato and flour makes a loaf.  But, here it is. It's soft, moist and more-ish. Although it's a bit of a fiddle to make this humble looking loaf, it's worth the effort. It has very distinctive texture different from any bread I have ever baked. The bouncy texture remains even a day after it is baked. 

Great with a bowl of soup.

Ingredients  

• about 375g/13oz potatoes, peeled and cut into even chunks (Exactly 300g/101⁄2oz peeled weight. Check the weight once they are peeled.)
• 1 tsp dried fast-action yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar
• 1 tbsp sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
• 1 tsp fine sea salt
• 300g/101⁄2oz strong white flour, plus extra for kneading (or 100g/31⁄2oz strong wholemeal flour and 200g/7oz strong white flour) 

Method

1. Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and cook for 15–20 minutes until they are tender but not falling apart.
2. Drain the potatoes in a colander over a bowl and reserve the cooking liquid. Return the potatoes to the pan and toss over a very low heat for 2-3 minutes until any excess liquid has evaporated.
3. Pour 75ml/5 tbsp of the warm cooking liquid into a large bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. When it’s lukewarm, sprinkle in the yeast. Stir in the sugar and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until a light foam appears on the surface. (Add an extra tablespoon of the cooking liquor for a mixture of wholemeal and white flour.)
4. Mash the potatoes with the oil in the saucepan until they’re as smooth as possible, then stir in the yeast mixture.
5. Mix well with a wooden spoon and gradually add the flour and salt, a few tablespoons at a time, stirring well before adding more. Turn it out on to the work surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough. At this stage, the dough looks dry, do NOT be tempted to add more water otherwise the dough WILL become too sticky to work with.
6. Knead the dough for 10 minutes until soft and pliable. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with lightly oiled cling film and leave to rise in a warm place for 60-90 minutes, or until well-risen and spongy to touch.
7. Knock back the dough with your knuckles and shape it into a rough ball. Flatten the ball on a floured surface, then bring the sides up to the middle to give a rustic surface to the bread. Sprinkle on some flour. Place it on a lightly oiled and floured baking sheet and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 220°C/Fan 200°C Score the dough with a knife along the pinched join and sprinkle the top with the onion seeds. Bake the loaf in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes until well risen and crusty on top. Cool on a wire rack. 

Cinnamon Buns

I love Cinnamon Buns. These are very sticky, light and very Cinnamony.

It's good to be generous with the cinnamon sugar filling as it gives a very distinct flavour. 

They are great for breakfast, coffee break ...... or anytime really. 

You can add crushed walnuts and/or sultanas in the filling, but I still love the simple Cinnamon flavour. 

Ingredients ( for the dough) 

•      600g (1lb 5oz) strong white flour, plus extra to dust

•      10g fast active dried yeast

•      100g (3½oz) caster sugar

•      275ml (9fl oz) milk

•      1 medium egg

•      50g (2oz) unsalted butter, melted, plus extra to grease

Ingredients (for the filling and topping)

•      40g (1½oz) unsalted butter, very soft

•      60g (2½oz) caster sugar

•      2 tsp (or more) ground cinnamon

•      50g (2oz) pecans or walnuts, roughly chopped

•      50g (2oz) sultanas

•      125g (4oz) icing sugar

Method

1      Sift the flour into a large bowl and stir though the yeast, sugar and 1tsp salt. Heat the milk until it's just warm (too hot and it will stop the yeast from working). Whisk in the egg and melted butter, then add to the flour bowl in one go. Quickly mix to a soft but not sticky dough.

2      Scrape dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 min until elastic and smooth. Transfer to a large greased bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place until well risen (about 2hrs).

3      If you have time, take dough out of the bowl, knead it to burst any air bubbles, then return to the bowl. Cover and leave to rise for a further 30min (this will help develop the flavour).

4      Line a large baking sheet with baking parchment. Lightly dust a work surface and roll out dough to a rectangle roughly 23cm x 38cm (9in x 15in). Arrange so a long edge is in front of you, then spread butter with your finger over the rectangle (right to the edges), and scatter over sugar, cinnamon, nuts and sultanas.

5      Brush the long edge furthest away from you with water (to help it stick). Roll up the dough tightly starting from the nearest edge - keeping it as round as possible, and pressing lightly to seal on the watered edge.

6      Cut roll into 2.5cm (1in) slices and arrange swirl-side up on the baking sheet (leaving space between the rolls to allow for expansion). Loosely cover with greased clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 30min to 1 hour.

7      Preheat oven to 190°C (170°C fan) mark 5. Remove clingfilm and bake buns for 25-30min until nicely golden and well risen. Five minutes before buns are finished baking, sift icing sugar into a bowl and mix in just enough water to make icing with a smooth, thick, spoonable consistency.

8      As soon as the buns come out of the oven, spoon over the icing and leave to set. Serve warm or at room temperature.