Bienenstich Kuchen - German Bee Sting Cake - We Knead To Bake 12

Sometime in December 2012, Aparna had put a query as to how many of us would like to bake along twelve breads that she had intended to do through the year. I was among the first few enthusiasts; I had no clue as to how I shall be doing such a regular experiment given the odds against me. I travel off and on, I live in countries where certain ingredients are rare to find are a few such I can name.
I was very inspired by the active participation and i am happy though I did not post my breads on time, I attempted all of them. This marks the end of season one and we baked a celebratory cake like bread for the festive season. I am happy to be part of the group through the coming year too.

This month's bread was more in line with the joy of the season. The Bienenstich Kuchen, also known as German Bee- Sting Cake is not really a bread, but a traditional German sweet yeasted cake that has a baked on topping of crunchy almond toffee-like layer and is filled with vanilla pastry cream. This is eaten as dessert or is served with coffee/ tea.
There are funny anecdotes on how this bread got  the name though the more plausible one is that it got the name from the honey flavoured topping. The bread is made with enriched brioche-like dough that is typical of yeasted cakes. It contains loads of butter, some milk and eggs (that I chose to skip in this recipe).
Some of the problems one may face are that the filling should be strong enough to take the weight of the upper layer. the other is cutting the slices/ squares without squishing out and making a mess. However, these can easily be tackled. The first, by stabilising the whipped cream with cornstarch. The second can be taken care by placing the lower layer on a serving plate, making a collar around it with double layer parchment. This shall be slightly taller than the finished bee sting cake. Spread the filling evenly. Pre-cut the top layer in desired slices/ squares. Place them gently over the lower layer to assemble it to look like a whole. Refrigerate for a couple of hours and when ready to serve, remove the collar and cut along the already marked slices.

Bienenstich Kuchen - German Bee- sting Cake

Ingredients:
For the pastry cream filling:
250 ml milk
3 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons vanilla flavoured custard powder ( I used corn flour, vanilla essence and a hint of yellow food colour)
200 ml cream
1 tablespoon corn starch


For the Dough:
1/2 cup milk  ( 1/4 cup as given in the recipe and 1/4 cup to substitute for one egg) (or more, I needed 1 tablespoon more)
100 gram butter at room temperature
2 cups/ 260 grams all purpose flour
2 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

For the Honey-Almond Topping:
50 grams butter
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cups almonds slivered

Method:
The Custard Filling: (This can be made the previous day and refrigerated also)
Keep aside 1/4 cup of milk.
Add sugar to the remaining milk in a saucepan. Bring this to a boil over medium heat stirring frequently.
Meanwhile, add the corn flour, flavour and the food colour to the set aside milk to achieve a lump free batter.
Add this to the boiling milk in a steady stream, whisking continuously to avoid lumps.
Take the pan off the heat when the custard becomes thick and allow to cool. If you find lumps and the custard is not smooth, run the hand blender through it and get the desired consistency.
Transfer to a bowl, cover and refrigerate it till required.
When you are ready to fill the cake, whip the cream until soft peaks appear. Add the cornstarch and whisk further to achieve stiff peaks. You may want to place the whisking bowl and the blades in the freezer for a while before you do this. It helps in getting the proper consistency.
Take the custard from the fridge, whisk to make it smooth and gently fold in the whipped cream.
You might want to refrigerate this again to keep the filling thick.

The dough:
Heat the milk until hot, but not boiling.
Cut the butter in pieces and add to the milk, stirring until the butter melts in the milk. Take off the heat and allow it to cool a little. You shall want it warm to add to the dough,hence let it not cool too much.
Place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in the food processor bowl and whisk. (Add the eggs, if using)
Add the butter and milk mixture while it is warm and knead till it forms a smooth and soft broiche like dough that's just short of sticky. The dough should come away from the sides of the bowl and be easy to handle.
Shape the dough in a ball and place in a bowl. cover loosely and allow the dough to rise well for about two hours. The dough will not exactly double but would have risen well.
Deflate the dough and shape again in a smooth ball. Place it in a 8" (I had used my 24 cm/ 91/4" tin) round spring form pan that is lined with parchment. It is important to line the tin as the topping will melt and ooze a bit while baking, making it difficult to unmould.
The bread amy not fit fully in the pan and it is okay to have it not touching the sides.
Let it rise for another 45 minutes or so until it looks puffy.

The topping: (prepare this while the dough id on the first rise and allow to cool)
Melt the butter, sugar, honey and vanilla in a small pan over medium heat. Keep stirring and mixing until the mixture bubbles up. Let it cook for three minutes or so until it gets a nice beige colour. Add the almond slivers and toss them until well coated. Take the pan off the heat and let it cool a bit. As it cools the mixture will thicken.

Baking the bread:
Once the dough has risen, spread the bits of the now thick, fudge textured topping on the top of the dough. Distribute it uniformly as possible.
Bake the bread at 180 degrees C for 25 to 35 minutes until the top is golden and bubbling. The cake tester sent through the centre shall come out clean. Let it cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then gently loosen the sides and unmould the cake. Allow to cool completely.
When cooled well, slice the cake in two layered halves.
Spread the custard pastry cream over the bottom layer. As suggested above, use the collar and slicing the top tip, assemble the top layer over the lower one.
Refrigerate till ready to serve.
This makes 8 to 10 slices.

I had also meant to bake a thirteenth bread to round off the baker's dozen.  Life outside my blog caught on a fast track and I was kept otherwise busy. However, I did bake the pita bread from Aparna's blog only. I am guiding you to the recipe which is just a click away from here.

Khaliat Nahal - Honeycomb buns - We knead to Bake 9

With this post I would have caught up with the members of the We Knead to Bake group who have tried all of the eleven breads so far and shared them. We are all working on our twelfth bread for December and will post that on the set date as was with every month of the year, the 24th.
Our bread baking experience has inspired more members to join and we are also taking it into the year 2014. Aparna, our mentor has graciously accepted to guide us through. I am sure this has kindled your curiosity and you are looking forward to more wonderful breads.
By September, I did not have to excuse myself  from baking the bread as my house was fully functional and I was very much back in routine. Then we took our vacation and flew home; that followed by some important festivals and all that I forgot to post this recipe albeit even if not on schedule. During the following few weeks, my daughter suggested that we try various fillings and so this bread had become a regular feature.
Khaliat Nahal can be made with sweet as well as savoury fillings. What is special of this bread is that it is filled, baked and then covered with sugar glaze, typical of the Middle Eastern confectionery. the glaze is not for the savoury buns though.
The Arabic word Khaliat al Nahal translates to Bee's Hive in English. These buns are baked in a round pan, closely placed to bring out the shape that resembles the bee's hive. Traditionally, the filling for this bread is a small piece of plain cream cheese. I have filled them with cheese and sauté ed bell pepper for the savoury version. for the sweet version we did two different fillings, one that of sweetened grated coconut and the other of chopped dates with walnuts. The ideas are as varied and you may use any filling of choice.
The recipe given by Aparna would make 18 small buns and would have to be baked in a 9" round cake tin. I had halved the recipe and made both versions that I baked in smaller tins, each having 9 buns on my first trial. For the dates and walnut filling session I worked out so as to yield 12 buns and baked in a 71/2" round tin.

Khaliat Nahal - Honeycomb/ Bee hive buns

Ingredients:
(for 18 buns)
1 cup luke warm milk
11/2 teaspoon instant yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar for the sweet bread (omit for savoury bread)
1/4 teaspoon salt (for the sweet bread)/ 3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt (for the savoury bread)
40 grams butter, melted
2 tablespoons milk for brushing the dough
2 tablespoons white sesame seeds (optional for savoury bread)

For the filling:
Sweet cocnut filling ( For 18 buns)
1 cup of freshly grated cocnut
1/3 cup sugar (reduce if you do not like the buns too sweet)
1 teaspoon cardamom powder
1/2 teaspoon ghee/ coconut oil

Savoury filling ( this is for 18 buns)
3 medium bellpeppers
1/2 cup processed cheese
1 tablespoon oil
1/2 teaspoon garam masala

Sugar syrup/ Glaze
3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
A pinch of saffron
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon lime juice

Method:
Melt 40 grams of butter in a pan and allow it to cool to room temperature.
For the sweet bread, place 2 cups of flour, salt, sugar and the melted butter in a bowl/ the bowl of your processor.
Mix them well.
Combine the warm milk and the yeast in a small bowl. allow it to proof for about 10 minutes.
Add this to the flour mix and knead either by hand or using the processor until you achieve a smooth and elastic dough. this dough shall not be sticky.
Add just as much required of the remaining 1/2 cup all purpose flour and knead to achive the above consistency.
Shape the dough in a ball and place it in a well oiled bowl, turning it around to coat the dough with oil on all sides.
Cover and allow it to double in volume for about an hour.
For the savoury bread, do not add the sugar to the dough. You may want to add a little sugar to the yeast for it to proof.
Proceed as given above and allow the dough to rise.
While the dough is rising, prepare the fillings and keep ready.

Place a heavy bottom or non stick pan on the stove. Add the sugar and the coconut and cook. the sugar will melt and the moisture in the coconut will allow them to combine well. Do not cook it until dry. Allow for it to stay moist, so that you are able to gather it in a soft ball.
Add the cardamom powder and give this a toss with the ghee.
Remove from the heat and keep aside to cool.

For the date and walnut filling, I chopped them both somewhat fine and gathered in a loose ball. 

Wash and chop the bell peppers in fine pieces.
Heat the oil in a pan. Stir fry the peppers in the oil and sprinkle very little water, if absolutely necessary.
Add some salt and the garam masala. Cook until the peppers are just about soft.
Remove from the heat. Allow to cool and mix with grated cheese. I had on hand Amul processed cheese which I grated and used with the above.

Once the dough has doubled, turn it on to your work surface. The dough will be quite manageable that you will not need flour dusting on the surface.
Roll the dough in a long strip and cut out 18 small equal portions.

Flatten each piece in a circular shape, place a small amount of filling in the centre and cover with the dough. Roll this in small balls. Arrange them in a circular pattern in your baking dish eaving very little space in between.
Once all the dough has been filled, rolled back and arranged, cover the tray and allow the buns a second rise for bout 30 minutes to 40 minutes.
Brush milk on the top of the buns.
Bake this in a pre heated 180 Degrees C/ 350 Degrees F oven for 25 minutes until they are done and nicely golden brown on top.
Remove from the oven, cool and transfer on to a wire rack.
Make the sugar syrup ahead while you have put the dough for the first rise only, in order that the syrup is cool when you need it.
for this, put the sugar, water and saffron in a small pan and bring to a boil. turn the heat down and allow it to simmer until it thickens a bit.
Remove from the heat and add the juice of lime and the honey and mix well.
Allow this to cool completely.
Once the buns are on the wire rack and still hot enough, pour the sugar syrup over them. It will be easy if you place the wire rack with the buns over a plate to allow the syrup that will drip to collect in it.
For the savoury buns, if you are using the sesame seeds, sprinkle them on top soon after brushing with the milk just before they go into the oven for baking.
Check this post in Aparna's My diverse Kitchen and head to the other members' posts following the links.

Roasted peppers and tomatoes sauce with pasta

I had not heard of pasta and pizzas until my late twenties. Other cuisines were fairly unknown when I grew up. No multinational food giants ventured to do business in India then. Even in restaurants that prided continental or other cuisine, I had only come across fewer items on the menu. Then,few years of living in the Middle East was my introduction to foods that were unfamiliar until then. Friends would recommend certain restaurants and choice dishes. Nonetheless, our food choices remained limited for long. While pizzas were easily liked, we were still warming up to pasta and would give it a pass most times. Even with a great sauce, my husband felt pasta was bland.
To make pasta at home, I had never ventured so much so that my friends used to make pasta and invite my daughter to have some fun food with her mates. She was then thrown to living on pasta in her first year at university when we paid for a set number of meals from the dining services available. There she was introduced to varieties of sauces that go with pasta and found that she quite liked them too.
Thus, she picked up a 500 gram pack of the vermicelli from the super market to make it for us. We discussed the sauces and I decided to make one with roasted bell peppers, tomatoes with herbs and onions. We also made a mild peppery stir fry to accompany the dish. With few choice herbs, now it is a good meal to have once in a while.


 Roasted peppers and tomato sauce with pasta

Ingredients:
Makes three hefty servings
250 grams vermicelli/ angel hair pasta
Salt
Few drops of oil
1 teaspoon oil
1/2 teaspoon oregano coarsely crushed


For the sauce:
2 large red bell peppers
5 large tomatoes
1 big red onion
Paprika to taste
Salt to taste
1 small stalk fresh basil
2 tablespoons oil

For the vegetable stir fry:
1 each of a green bell pepper and a yellow bell pepper
2 teaspoons olive oil
Salt to taste
Paprika to taste

Method:
Cook the vermicelli in boiling water with a pinch of salt and a few drops of oil.
When it is done, drain the water by transferring the vermicelli to a colander.
Place under running cold water and cool it.
Place the red bell peppers on direct flame of the stove. Keep turning it on the fire evenly charring the outer skin.
Place the tomatoes, cut in halves in a baking tray. Put them in a pre heated 160 degrees C oven for about 15 - 17 minutes or until they are well roasted.
Remove the charred skin off the bell peppers and peel the tomatoes.
Make a puree of both the vegetables together.
Chop the onion as desired.
Heat oil in a pan. Add the onions and sauté until they are translucent.
Add chopped fresh basil into it and toss just until the oil coats the basil.
Add salt, paprika and the puree and cook on medium heat until it becomes a thick sauce.
Remove from the stove and transfer to a serving dish.
In a shallow pan, heat the oil for the stir fry and add all the listed ingredients.
Stir fry until the vegetables have cooked a bit while they still hold a bit of their crunch.

Remove from the stove.
In the same pan, heat the 1 teaspoon oil and add the oregano. Toss the pasta in this for a few minutes.

To serve, place the required quantity of pasta on the plate. Make a small well in the middle and add the sauce there.
Surround the pasta with the stir fry vegetables and serve.

We Knead to Bake - Torcettini di Saint Vincent

This is yet another bread that is overdue by several months. We Knead to Bake group did this for April 2013 project. I had to be excused for I had moved home to another country then and had not settled in. However, I did attempt these soon after I had my home functional, yet did not find the opportunity to post. Now I am hoping to be abreast with all the members who were regular and thus this recipe is here today. I have yet to share another bread to be at par. I look forward to be part of the baking group which is continuing into 2014 also with many more interested members. I hope I shall be more regular.
Torcettinis are sugar crusted twisted cookies, made with a bread like dough with yeast. These are smaller versions of Torcetti, which mean small twists; they are made in pear/ teardrop shapes. The dough is made of flour, butter and yeast, shaped and then rolled in sugar before being baked.
A snippet information that Aparna shared with us is that these are synonymous with the town of Saint Vincent in Valle d'Aosta, a small mountainous region in North-Western Italy, even though they are well known throughout the Piedmont region.

The origin of these biscuits, as Aparna shares, is believed to be from Grissini (breadsticks) which were made from the leftover scraps of bread dough. The story goes thus: One Grissini baker had some left over butter that needed to be used up. On a momentary whim he added the butter to the last of his batches of Grissini dough for the day. to be able to differentiate these from his other breadsticks, he rolled them in sugar and made them like loops.Thus the torcettinis came into existence. They taste even better if lemon zest  or anise is added to the dough.
It is also legend that Queen Margaret, wife of King Umberto I of Savoy loved these biscuits so much during her stay in Valle d'Aosta that she ordered enough supplies for her servants to bake them in abundant supply.
These biscuits are mildly sweet and pair well with milk, chocolate drink, tea or coffee. They taste good served either warm or cold. You may store them in airtight boxes for a period.

Torcettini di Saint Vincent
(Adapted from A Baker's Tour by Nick Malgieri)

Ingredients:
Makes 24 Torcettinis

1/2 cup warm water at about 110 deg F
1 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast (or 1 teaspoon instant yeast)
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon lime/ lemon zest
40 grams unsalted butter, cold, cut in small pieces
1/3 cup of sugar for rolling the cookies in

If you are making chocolate torcettinis, remove 2 tablespoons flour from the above and replace with 2 tablespoons cocoa powder. Also replace the lemon zest with orange zest.

Method:
Dissolve the active dry yeast in warm water and allow it to froth for about 15 minutes.
Whisk the flour and salt well, whether using a processor or kneading with hands.
Add the lemon zest and mix; next add cold butter pieces and rub it in to the flour mix to resemble powdery crumbs. I pulse it in the food processor until they looked powdery.
Add the yeast in and work until the dough comes together in a ball. Take care not to over run your processor or over knead the dough.
Place the ball of dough in an oiled bowl, turn it to be coated with oil on all sides. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise quite a bit. The dough will not double in its volume, but will considerably puff up in about an hour. You will find that the interior has acquired a honey comb like texture, if you pinch off a bit of the dough from top.
Press the dough down and deflate it. Cover with a cling wrap and refrigerate the dough. Leave it in the fridge for a minimum of an hour. It can be left in upto 24 hours.
Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly roll the dough into approximately a six inch square. Using a pizza cutter, cut out 24 equal pieces. This exercise is to get somewhat even sized pieces. You are free to pinch out portions too.
Roll each of the pieces in a 5" long pencil thick rope. Sprinkle sugar on the work surface while rolling these so the sugar will crust the rope uniformly. Make the rolled rope into a loop; cross the ends over.
Place the shaped dough on lined baking sheets leaving about 1 1/2 inches space between them.
Leave them for about 20 minutes allowing them a second rise. Again they are not going to rise much, but will look puffed ever so slightly.
Bake these at160 Degrees C for about 25 minutes until they are nicely golden brown.

 

Remove them from the oven and cool on wire racks.
Serve them warm or cool completely and store in airtight containers.

Apple Fudge

There is this fruit vendor who sets up shop outside the Indian store I frequent. she does not have much in her ware but whatever she gives me is good. She has the ability to persuade you into buying something or the other every time I go there. I may try to ignore, but she will walk into the store and plonk herself until I am done and follow me out, directing me to her shack. Her grapes and apples are truly good and we end up purchasing them, however reluctant I am. I end up having extra apples or grapes that threaten to go bad.
One of the days some staff in my husband's office were wanting him to get home made fried snacks for their self appointed 3:00 PM break. He took some pakoras, but they were wary; they sniffed them, took tentative bites etc., that my husband decided that he will not entertain such requests anymore. Again when it was Deepavali and they knew that I would be making sweets and savoury, one or two voiced out their demand. I was not willing to labour in my kitchen, but my daughter suggested that we make something that they will recognize by taste. Thus we worked a bit on taking the apple pie filling to the fudge level. This recipe was thus the result of such an experiment.
We sent it to other friends along with all the treats i made and the feedback was good.
I have used 4 large apples, powdered jaggery, cinnamon, powdered almonds and roasted and powdered semolina. This has the texture of badam halwa with a fruity taste. For this post, I give half the recipe of my original.

Apple Fudge/  Apple Halwa

Ingredients:
2 Large semi sweet, crunchy apples
1 cup powdered jaggery
1/3 cup powdered almonds
1/2 cup semolina, roasted and powdered almost fine
1/3 cup ghee
2 teaspoons cinnamon powder
Few strands of saffron
2 tablespoons cashews roasted and broken for garnish



Method:
Wash, peel, core and grate the apples. This when measured was little short of 4 cups.
Place the jaggery in a heavy bottom pan. Add a little water and warm this solution. Once the jaggery is completely dissolved, strain to remove scum.
Mix the semolina and cashew powder and keep aside.
Place the jaggery solution in the pan and boil it down to a soft ball syrup.
Add the grated apples and cook until they are well cooked and soft. You may want to mash them a bit.

Add the cinnamon and cook for a further five minutes.
Add two tablespoons of the ghee and stir in the cashew- semolina mix. Give a brisk stir to avoid any lumps that may form. Break lumps, if any and continue cooking.
Add ghee at intervals and cook the above until they come together in a fudge like texture and the ghee forms a film over the top.
Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Roll out the mixture in small balls and serve.