Paris-Brest

Paris-Brest
The November Daring Baker’s challenge took us for a ride! Luisa from Rise of the Sourdough Preacher challenged us to make Paris-Brest, a beautiful pastry celebrating the Paris-Brest bicycle race.

Paris-Brest
This has been in my baking to do list for a very long time so I was glad this challenge came up in the Daring Bakers. It's supposed to represent a bicycle wheel to commemorate the Paris to Brest bicycle race. Well my pastry certainly isn't very round. It's more like oval. But I did have problems in the baking of the choux pastry. After watching it rise wonderfully in the oven it deflated when I took it out. Maybe the oven temperature was too low, maybe the baking time was too short, or I took it out too soon. But it doesn't matter, instead of slicing each of it horizontally for the filling, I just put it on top of the other and I think it's as good as any. :)

Paris-Brest


Paris-Brest

*For the Choux Pastry:
1/3 cup water
1/3 cup + 2 tsp [100ml] whole milk
1/3 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
1/3 cup [85 g] butter
100 g  [3/4 cup] plain flour
3 medium eggs - slightly beaten
slivered almonds
extra egg for brushing on top
  1. Preheat oven to 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F.
  2. In a saucepan, combine milk, water, butter, sugar, and salt. Bring to a gentle boil on medium heat while stirring with a wooden spoon.
  3. Add the flour in one go and stir vigorously. Bring the heat to low and stir continously until the mixture come together into a firm, smooth dough. It must be dry and should come away from the bottom of the saucepan easily.
  4. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
  5. Using an electric mixer, add the eggs one at a time beating well after each addition. The dough will be smooth like a very thick cream.
  6. Line a baking sheet with baking paper. Draw 4 1/2-inch circles on the underside of the baking paper to help in piping the circles.
  7. Use a pastry bag with a 3/8-inch (10 mm) nozzle to pipe the pastry. Pipe the pastry dough into two concentric circles tracing the guide you drew previously. Pipe a third circle on top.
  8. Brush all over with the extra beaten egg and sprinkle the slivered almonds.
  9. Bake for 25 minutes. Let cool inside the oven with the door slightly ajar.
*Note to self: Next time try baking with high heat initially and/or increase baking time.


*For the Praline:
60 g  [1/3 cup] whole almonds
60 g  [1/3 cup] whole hazelnuts
80 g   caster sugar
1 Tbsp water
  1. Gently caramelise the caster sugar in a non-stick pan over medium heat.
  2. Add water and bring to boil.
  3. Add the nuts and stir to coat the nuts with the syrup. At this point the sugar will crystallize again. Continue stirring until the sugar caramelize again.
  4. Immediately transfer the nuts onto a baking sheet grease with oil. Cool completely.
  5. Break up into smaller pieces and grind in a food processor until you have a thick paste.


*For the Creme Mouselline:
1 cup whole milk
1 vanilla pod or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 egg yolks
1/4 cup caster sugar
3 Tbsp plain flour
85 g  [1/3 cup] unsalted butter - softened
80 g  praline
  1. In a heatproof bowl whisk the egg yolks and flour until combined.
  2. Bring the milk to boil in a saucepan on medium heat.
  3. Pour half of the hot milk in the egg yolk-flour mixture while whisking vigorously. Once mixture is well combined, pour it back to the saucepan with the rest of the milk and cook on medium heat while stirring continously.
  4. When mixture is thick and smooth, remove from heat and transfer to another heatproof bowl and cover the cream with cling film touching the cream. This is to prevent a crust to form on top. Let cool completely.
  5. In a bowl, combine the softened butter with the praline until smooth.
  6. Add the cooled pastry cream and mix until well combined.


*To assemble:
  • Slice the baked pastry horizontally.
  • Spread or pipe the creme mouselline on the lower half and then carefully put the top half on.
  • [Optional] Dust with some icing sugar on top.

Kolach

The September Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Lucie from ChezLucie. She challenged us to make a true Czech treat –Kolaches!

Quite an interesting challenge considering I've never tried kolach before. So how was it? Well, as of posting time it is still cooling on a wire rack and I only tried a little portion without the cream filling. It was a bit bland though springy and soft which makes it perfect for some sweet or creamy filling. I was intrigued by the mayonnaise in the recipe but if you think about it mayonnaise is made up of oil, eggs, and vinegar or lemon juice. These ingredients are ubiquitous in cakes and breads so I was not surprised it worked.

A number of tweaks were done in the recipe such as reducing the size of the bread itself, added more baking time, and halved the streusel topping. Otherwise, it is a great recipe as an introduction to the world of kolaches!


Prague Kolach

Prague Kolach

*Cake:
250 g  [1 3/4 cups] plain flour
7 g  active dry yeast
2 Tbsp granulated sugar
5 Tbsp milk - warmed
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 egg - slightly beaten
1/2 tsp fine sea salt

*Streusel topping:
3 Tbsp plain flour
2 Tbsp caster sugar (superfine)
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 Tbsp butter - chilled

*For finishing:
1 egg - beaten

*Cream filling:
2 cups full-fat milk - divided
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup custard powder (vanilla pudding powder)
1/4 cup unsalted butter - room temperature
5 Tbsp double cream - chilled

*For cake:
  1. In a large bowl, sift flour and make a hole in the middle.
  2. Pour the yeast, 1 tsp of the sugar, and 1 Tbsp of the warm milk in the hole. Lightly mix the yeast, sugar and milk with a fork and sprinkle the surface with a little flour.
  3. Cover the bowl with kitchen towel and let rise for 15 minutes.
  4. Add the rest of the ingredients and knead with dough hook or by hand until you have a smooth dough (about 10 minutes).
  5. Lift the dough from bowl. Lightly flour the bottom of the bowl and set the dough on it. Cover with clingfilm or towel and let rise for an hour until double its volume.
  6. Punch dough and knead a little. Form the dough into a ball and place onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper.
  7. Press the dough with your hands to shape it to a disc about 7 inches (18 cm) in diameter and 3/4-1 inch thick (2-2.5 cm). Cover with clingfilm and let rise for 30 minutes.
  8. Preheat oven to 325°F/160°C/fan 140°C.
  9. Brush top of the cake with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the streusel topping generously.
  10. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on a wire rack.
  11. Cut the cooled cake crosswise and spread the cream onto the bottom half. Cover with the upper half.

*For the streusel:
  1. Combine the flour, sugar, and cinnamon in a small bowl.
  2. Cut in the chilled butter in the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until crumbly.

*For the cream:
  1. Mix 1/2 cup of the milk with the custard powder in a small bowl. Set aside.
  2. In a saucepan mix the rest of the milk and sugar and bring to a gentle boil.
  3. Add the custard powder mixture and simmer for 3-5 minutes while stirring constantly.
  4. Remove from heat, transfer to a bowl of your electric mixer and cool completely while blending at low speed.
  5. Add diced butter and beat until well mixed in.
  6. Whip the double cream in a separate bowl into stiff peaks. Fold in the custard mixture into the double cream.

Coiled Delight

Baked Ensaymada
The August Daring Bakers' Challenge took us for a spin! Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen taught us to make rolled pastries inspired by Kurtoskalacs, a traditional Hungarian wedding pastry. These tasty yeasted delights gave us lots to celebrate!

Actually, the challenge was to do either the kurtoskalacs or the ensaymada. Naturally, I chose ensaymada - the Filipino version that is. This recipe from my sister-in-law (Ate Eva) has been in my to-do list for years! I finally had a good kick in the butt to do it.

The ensaymada of my childhood were very much like the original Spanish version. They were coiled flat and more flaky with lard often used for this purpose. Sometimes there were nuggets of raisins in it that were like little oasis of delight in my juvenile mouth. Yum! Nowadays, the modern Filipino ensaymada are more brioche-like. In fact some of them are so rich they resemble cakes more than a pastry. Nevertheless, they are equally wonderful and great as a midday snack. As with most things in Filipino food, the modern ensaymada combines the buttery sweet taste of the butter-sugar topping with the saltiness of the grated cheese so you get that familiar salty-sweet flavour with the soft pillow-like pastry.

Ensaymada resting
This recipe is indeed a challenge for me. I am not very experienced with pastry so when the dough came out very very sticky after the first rising, it took me a looong time to get it to a manageable state with all the kneading and adding of more flour. In the end it was still sticky but did not cling too much when handled. I think I'll reduce the liquid a lot the next time I bake this. This particular recipe is not the 'special' ensaymada variety they call in the Philippines. That one has *a lot* of eggs and butter which make it more cake-like and quite rich. Ate Eva's is less rich and more bread-like. As a matter of fact, when I tasted the finished product bare without any toppings I thought it was okayish. But when you combine it with slathered soft butter, sugar, and grated cheese on top it was great! Exactly what I intended to make.

Ensaymada out of the oven
As a note to myself, this is the actual recipe from my SIL (with some adjustments in some ingredients and more elaborate procedure steps). And it makes a ton of ensaymada! It roughly makes about 30 medium-sized ensaymada and probably double that for the muffin-sized ones. In which case I believe this can be done with just a third of the recipe if only to keep me from eating ensaymadas for weeks!
The freezer is my friend now.

Baked Ensaymada


Ensaymada

*Yeast mixture:
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar

*Dough mixture:
6 1/2 cups strong flour (bread flour)
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter
3 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cooking oil

*Topping:
butter - softened to room temperature
granulated sugar
grated cheddar cheese or edam
  1. Mix the yeast mixture in a small bowl, cover and set aside. After about 15 minutes it should start to foam. If it didn't that means your yeast is probably old. In that case, throw away the mixture and start again. If you are using instant, rapid-action, or fast-action dry yeast you can skip this step and add the yeast and sugar directly with the flour and the water with the other wet ingredients.
  2. Combine the flour with the sugar in a large bowl.
  3. In separate bowl, mix the melted butter, egg yolks, and vanilla.
  4. Add in the milk. Mix well.
  5. With a wooden spoon or with a mixer on low speed, stir in the milk mixture and the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Combine well.
  6. Add in the cooking oil and mix until well combined.
  7. Cover and let it rest to rise in a warm area for about 1 hour or until double the size.
  8. Punch down dough and turn out onto a well-floured surface.
  9. Knead the dough while adding more flour. In the end it should be soft and sticky but should come away from fingers when kneading.
  10. Prepare the baking moulds by brushing the bottom and sides with softened butter.
  11. Divide into portions - 75-80 g  for medium-sized ensaymada and 25-30 g  for small ones.
  12. On a greased surface, roll out each portion thin into a rectangle shape and brush generously with softened butter or with your choice of fillings - cheese, chocolate, ham, etc.
  13. Roll portion from the long side into a thin log (about 1/2-inch or less in diameter).
  14. Coil the rolled dough into a spiral shape inside the prepared moulds taking care to tuck in the outer end.
  15. Cover loosely with tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours. They will double in size again.
  16. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F for about 18-20 minutes for medium-sized ensaymada.
  17. Cool completely on a wire rack.
  18. Put toppings - slather softened butter then press top onto a small bowl full of sugar then sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Baked Ensaymada

Coiled Delight

Baked Ensaymada
The August Daring Bakers' Challenge took us for a spin! Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen taught us to make rolled pastries inspired by Kurtoskalacs, a traditional Hungarian wedding pastry. These tasty yeasted delights gave us lots to celebrate!

Actually, the challenge was to do either the kurtoskalacs or the ensaymada. Naturally, I chose ensaymada - the Filipino version that is. This recipe from my sister-in-law (Ate Eva) has been in my to-do list for years! I finally had a good kick in the butt to do it.

The ensaymada of my childhood were very much like the original Spanish version. They were coiled flat and more flaky with lard often used for this purpose. Sometimes there were nuggets of raisins in it that were like little oasis of delight in my juvenile mouth. Yum! Nowadays, the modern Filipino ensaymada are more brioche-like. In fact some of them are so rich they resemble cakes more than a pastry. Nevertheless, they are equally wonderful and great as a midday snack. As with most things in Filipino food, the modern ensaymada combines the buttery sweet taste of the butter-sugar topping with the saltiness of the grated cheese so you get that familiar salty-sweet flavour with the soft pillow-like pastry.

Ensaymada resting
This recipe is indeed a challenge for me. I am not very experienced with pastry so when the dough came out very very sticky after the first rising, it took me a looong time to get it to a manageable state with all the kneading and adding of more flour. In the end it was still sticky but did not cling too much when handled. I think I'll reduce the liquid a lot the next time I bake this. This particular recipe is not the 'special' ensaymada variety they call in the Philippines. That one has *a lot* of eggs and butter which make it more cake-like and quite rich. Ate Eva's is less rich and more bread-like. As a matter of fact, when I tasted the finished product bare without any toppings I thought it was okayish. But when you combine it with slathered soft butter, sugar, and grated cheese on top it was great! Exactly what I intended to make.

Ensaymada out of the oven
As a note to myself, this is the actual recipe from my SIL (with some adjustments in some ingredients and more elaborate procedure steps). And it makes a ton of ensaymada! It roughly makes about 30 medium-sized ensaymada and probably double that for the muffin-sized ones. In which case I believe this can be done with just a third of the recipe if only to keep me from eating ensaymadas for weeks!
The freezer is my friend now.

Baked Ensaymada


Ensaymada

*Yeast mixture:
3/4 cup lukewarm water
3 tsp dry active yeast
1 tsp sugar

*Dough mixture:
6 1/2 cups strong flour (bread flour)
1 cup sugar
3 Tbsp melted butter
3 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cooking oil

*Topping:
butter - softened to room temperature
granulated sugar
grated cheddar cheese or edam
  1. Mix the yeast mixture in a small bowl, cover and set aside. After about 15 minutes it should start to foam. If it didn't that means your yeast is probably old. In that case, throw away the mixture and start again. If you are using instant, rapid-action, or fast-action dry yeast you can skip this step and add the yeast and sugar directly with the flour and the water with the other wet ingredients.
  2. Combine the flour with the sugar in a large bowl.
  3. In separate bowl, mix the melted butter, egg yolks, and vanilla.
  4. Add in the milk. Mix well.
  5. With a wooden spoon or with a mixer on low speed, stir in the milk mixture and the yeast mixture into the flour mixture. Combine well.
  6. Add in the cooking oil and mix until well combined.
  7. Cover and let it rest to rise in a warm area for about 1 hour or until double the size.
  8. Punch down dough and turn out onto a well-floured surface.
  9. Knead the dough while adding more flour. In the end it should be soft and sticky but should come away from fingers when kneading.
  10. Prepare the baking moulds by brushing the bottom and sides with softened butter.
  11. Divide into portions - 75-80 g  for medium-sized ensaymada and 25-30 g  for small ones.
  12. On a greased surface, roll out each portion thin into a rectangle shape and brush generously with softened butter or with your choice of fillings - cheese, chocolate, ham, etc.
  13. Roll portion from the long side into a thin log (about 1/2-inch or less in diameter).
  14. Coil the rolled dough into a spiral shape inside the prepared moulds taking care to tuck in the outer end.
  15. Cover loosely with tea towel and let rest at room temperature for 1-2 hours. They will double in size again.
  16. Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/fan 160°C/350°F for about 18-20 minutes for medium-sized ensaymada.
  17. Cool completely on a wire rack.
  18. Put toppings - slather softened butter then press top onto a small bowl full of sugar then sprinkle grated cheese on top.

Baked Ensaymada