Croissants

Although the word is French for "crescent", croissants originated in Budapest in 1686 to celebrate Hungary's defeat of the Turks. While the Turks were invading the city by tunneling through the walls, virtually the only people awake during the late night hours were the bakers. They sounded the alarm and saved the city. In honor of this event they created a pastry-like bread roll in the shape of a crescent - the well known emblem of the Turks. French cooks immediately took to these rich bread rolls.
Perfect flaky croissants can be prepared at home, and once you have mastered the knack of making them, each effort should end in success. Croissants at their best, should be spongy and well risen on the inside but flaky on the outside. They may be baked plain or filled with a small quantity of grated cheese or almond filling.
Ingredients:

20 g fresh yeast
5 ml salt
25 ml sugar
250 ml cold milk
1 egg
250 g cold hard butter
+- 460 g Cake flour
Glaze:
1 egg yolk
15 ml milk


Method:


1. Cream yeast, salt and sugar to form a syrup. Add cold milk and egg. Add 30 ml of the butter, cut into small cubes, and sufficient of the flour to form a soft dough. Knead only until smooth, ( 2 minutes), and chill for about 15 minutes.
2. Cut the remaining butter into 6 slices, sprinkle with flour and keep cold. Roll out dough on a well floured surface into a rectangular shape, approximately 5 mm thick. Place 3 slices of butter in the center of the dough and fold over dough from one side to cover the butter. Place the remaining butter slices on top and cover with the dough from the other side, ensuring that the butter is sealed in on all sides completely.
Turn dough 90 degrees and roll out again into a rectangular shape, about 5 mm thick. Fold again into three layers. Repeat the rolling and folding process (turning the dough 90 degrees each time), until you have rolled 4 times. Streaks of butter will still be visible. If pastry is made in hot weather, chill between rolling and folding, for soft butter complicates the process and sticks to the rolling surface.
3. Chill dough at least 30 minutes, or up to 8 hours before shaping. Divide dough into 2 and roll out each portion on a floured surface to form a circle, approximately 250 mm in diameter and 5-7 mm thick. Cut into 8 even sized triangles as you would cut the wedges of a cake. If filling is used, place a small quantity at the base of the triangle. Roll each croissant loosely from the base to the tip and make sure to end with the tips underneath to prevent themfrom curling up during baking. Twist each croissant into a crescent shape, in such a way that the tip will be on the inside, and place slightly apart on greased baking trays.
4. Brush with egg wsh. Allow to rise at room temperature or, if weather is cold, in a slightly warm place for about 30 minutes ( depending on temperature , maybe longer). They need not up to double in size but must clearly show signs of rising.
5. Bake in center of 180 degrees centigrade preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly golden brown.
Tip:Eat warm soon after taking out of the oven with lots of farm fresh butter and fresh jam.

French Baguette with poolish

What is Poolish (Biga)?

A pre-ferment is a fermentation starter used in bread making, and is referred to as an indirect method. It may also be called mother dough.
A pre-ferment and a longer fermentation in the bread-making process have several benefits: there is more time for yeast, enzyme and, if sourdough, bacterial actions on the starch and proteins in the dough; this in turn improves the keeping time of the baked bread, and it creates greater complexities of flavor. Though pre-ferments have declined in popularity as direct additions of yeast in bread recipes have streamlined the process on a commercial level, pre-ferments of various forms are widely used in artisanal bread recipes and formulas.

Biga and poolish are terms used in Italian and French baking, respectively, for sponges made with domestic baker's yeast. Poolish is a fairly wet sponge (typically made with a one-part-flour-to-one-part-water ratio by weight), while biga is usually drier. Bigas can be held longer at their peak than wetter sponges, while poolish is one known technique to increase dough's extensibility.

Poolish
Poolish was one of the first pre-ferments elaborated with commercial yeast. Polish bakers, where the name originated, are credited with inventing this pre-ferment in Poland at the end of the 19th century. The process was then adapted in Austria and later in France. Bread made with a poolish was lighter and less acidic than the sourdough bread commonly baked during that time, and it started to gain poularity. With the availability of commercial yeast, more bakers began using the poolish process, and the sourdough process declined. Technically, we could classify the poolish as a transitional pre-ferment between baking using sourdough and baking with commercial yeast using a straight process. Even in Paris today, some windows of older bakeries display two signs. One reads "pain Viennois" -bread from Vienna (made with commercial yeast), and the other reads "pain Francais" -bread from France (made with sourdough).
Traditionally, the size of the poolish is calculated based on the water involved in the total formula. Use from 20% to 80% of the water to prepare the poolish. Then, elaborate the poolish using the same amount of flour as water ( this 100% hydration, provides a liquid consistency); no salt is usually incorporated in the poolish. It is important to note that the poolish is allowed to ferment at room temperature. Therefore, the quantity of yeast is calculated depending on the fermentation time of the poolish. Although it is difficult to give precise numbers, the recipe below provides some guidelines to calculate the quantity of yeast to use in the poolish.

Baguette with poolish (biga)

Poolish:

1 Kg white bread flour
10 g wet (fresh compressed) yeast
1 Lt water
Method:
Mix all ingredients together, transfer into a container, cover and leave at room temperature overnight.
P.S. if you are living in an area where the ambient temperature is hot, leave in fridge overnight.

Dough:

1.2 kg white bread flour
50 g salt
80 g wet yeast
Method:
Put the dough ingredients and the poolish together and mix on slow speed for 2 minutes and fast speed for 6 minutes with a dough hook.
Rest dough for 20 minutes before scaling at 400g each.
Rest another 10 minutes. Shape into long thin cigars and place on baking tray.
Cover with plastic and rest for 45 minutes to rise.
Remove plastic. Spray the dough with water ( use a spray gun), and bake at 240 degrees C, for 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 210 degrees C and bake for another 15 minutes.
Cool on rack, (if you can wait that long)!

Crispy Cheese & Onion Fritters

Crispy Cheese & Onion Fritters

(serves 6)

This is a lovely appetizer or TV snack and can be served with a few dips, like sweet chili sauce, chutney, garlic mayonnaise, 1000 Island dressing, etc...

Ingredients:

250ml / 8fl oz milk

250g / 9oz plain flour

100g / 4 oz butter

50 g / 2 oz fine chopped onions

250g / 9oz Cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 tsp / 2.5 ml coarse black pepper

3 large eggs, beaten

Salt to taste

oil for deep-frying

Preparation:

·         In a saucepan, melt the butter and add the onions. Cook over low heat for about 5 minutes until the onions become translucent.

·         Add the flour to the butter / onion mix and mix well with a wooden spoon to form a smooth thick paste.

·         Bring the milk to boil in a large heavy saucepan over a medium heat, stirring occasionally.

·         When the milk is boiling, add the butter / flour mixture and whisk well until very thick, and bubbling. Remove from the heat and mix in the grated cheese.

·         Add salt to taste, the coarse black pepper and the beaten eggs.

·         Allow the mixture to cool. It should now be thick enough to shape into about 20- 26  balls.

·         Heat the oil in a heavy deep saucepan until very hot. Deep-fry the balls in batches of

about six until they are golden brown.

·         Remove from the saucepan with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

·         Serve piping hot with a dip of your choice.

Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake

A delicious mouth-watering moist cake

Ingredients for the Cake:

200 g / 1 C minus 2 tsp Sugar

4 Eggs Large                          

250 ml / 1 C Sunflower Oil

200 g / 1¼ C Cake Flour

10 ml / 2 tsp Baking Powder

10 ml / 2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

5 ml / 1 tsp Mixed Spice

5 ml / 1 tsp Bicarbonate of Soda

125 g Mashed Bananas

125 g Grated Carrots

50 g Chopped Walnuts

Ingredients for the Cottage Cheese Icing:

100 g Medium Fat Margarine (16% Moisture)

250 g Icing Sugar

65 g Smooth Cottage Cheese

Preparation:

1.      Beat eggs and sugar until pale and thick and creamy.

2.      Add Sunflower Oil slowly to incorporate into egg mixture, whilst beating.

3.      Sieve all dry ingredients directly onto egg mixture and fold in gently.

4.      Lastly fold in bananas, carrots and walnuts.

5.      Pour cake mix into 2 x 20 cm greased cake rings and bake in center of preheated oven at 180° C / 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

6.      Cool on wire rack.

7.      Meanwhile cream the room temperature margarine until light and creamy.

8.      Fold in the sieved icing sugar and finally the cottage cheese.

9.      Sandwich the cooled cakes together with half of the icing

10.  Cover the top of the cake with the remainder of the icing and garnish with whole walnuts

Brandy Snaps

Brandy Snaps

Makes between 30 – 36

Ingredients:

5 oz / 140 g Butter

5 oz / 140 g Castor Sugar

5 oz / 140 g Golden Syrup

5 oz / 140 g Cake Flour

½ T / 7.5 ml Ground Ginger

50 ml Brandy

Filling:

200 ml Cream, whipped

Preparation:

·        Preheat oven to 350° F / 180° C with a rack in the middle of the oven.

·        Prepare a baking tray in the following manner: Brush the bottom of the tray with a little oil and cover with a sheet of silicone baking paper. This allows the paper to stay firm on the baking tray. Draw a round shape about 8 -10 cm in diameter on the paper. Draw another round next to the first one with a gap of 3 cm between each circle.

·        Melt the butter in a microwave (pouring consistency, not very hot)

·        Add Golden syrup and mix until both ingredients are incorporated.

·        Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly until smooth.

·        Add brandy and mix well.

·        Fill a teaspoon heaped up with the brandy snap mixture and place in the middle of the round drawing.

·        With a pallet knife, smooth out the mixture to cover the circle. Repeat with the other circle.

·        Put baking tray in the middle of the oven and bake for about 4 to 5 minutes, or until golden brown and bubbling.

·        Remove the tray from the oven and place on table.

·        Place a wooden or metal tube, 1.5 cm in diameter, on top of the circles nearest to you and roll the snap up on the tube.

·        Slide the brandy snap of the tube and leave to get cold.

·        Fill a piping bag, fitted with a thin round nozzle, with the whipped cream. Take a brandy snap and half fill with cream from one extremity and repeat from the other extremity until the whole brandy snap is filled.

Notes:

1. Only fill the brandy snaps with cream just before serving, as otherwise they will lose their crunch.

2. You can store the brandy snaps, without cream, in an airtight container for up to 12 hours at room temperature before they start deteriorating.

Bread Baking Course Chapter 4

Potato yeast

In the early days when bread making was part of every housewife’s daily routine, the simple technique of preparing a potato-yeast starter or plant was a common practice. This ensured that yeast was continually available for the baking of breads or rusks.

Bread prepared in this way has an unmistakable flavor, with the added advantage that it lasts considerably longer because of a very slow rate of fermentation. Due to the slow rising process the grain as well as the shape is beautifully even. The best time to prepare the yeast is early in the morning. The dough is kneaded in the evening and left to rise overnight.

Potato-yeast starter

1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced

6 g yeast or 2 ml dry yeast granules

15 ml sugar

15 ml salt

15 ml flour

750 ml lukewarm water

1.      Place potato slices in the bottom of a screw-top jar with at least 1 liter capacity. Combine crumbled yeast, sugar, salt and flour, and pour over potato. Stir and close jar tightly. Allow to stand in a slightly warm spot for 8 to 10 hours until a thick frothy layer forms on top of the liquid (in warm weather room temperature is sufficient)

2.      Stir mixture and pour off approximately 625 ml active liquid. The remaining liquid should be sufficient to cover the potato slices. The active liquid is then incorporated into the dough as leavening agent. The remaining potato slices form the starter or potato plant. No additional yeast will be required to restart the fermentation. The starter may be refrigerated several days until required.

3.      To reactivate the plant, remove two thirds of the potato slices and add again:

1 small potato, peeled and thinly sliced

15 ml sugar

15 ml salt

15 ml flour

750 ml lukewarm water

Stir mixture and continue in the same manner as described above.

4.      To use the active potato-yeast liquid, omit yeast and replace approximately 625 ml of the liquid in any recipe with this mixture. To allow for the salt and sugar present in the active yeast liquid, decrease the salt and the sugar in the recipe used by 10 ml each. If a recipe calls for milk instead of water only, powdered milk may be added with the flour.

5.      Prepare the dough and allow to rise tightly covered for 6 to 8 hours in a warm spot, or overnight at room temperature. If sufficient time for this prolonged rising is not available, add 6 g yeast for quicker results. The best time to prepare the dough is in the evening. Allow to rise overnight in a large covered bowl and knead down first thing in the morning.

6.      Shape breads; allow rising in a warm spot for 4 to 6 hours and bake according to the instructions given for a specific recipe.

Terminology

Enzyme: (n)

An unorganized or unformed ferment, in distinction from an organized or living ferment; a soluble or chemical ferment. Ptyalin, pepsin, diastase and rennet are good examples of enzymes.

Gluten: (n)

The viscid, tenacious substance which gives adhesiveness to dough.

Bread Baking Course Chapter 3

Baking

Home-made breads which are thoroughly baked right through but not allowed to over bake and become dry, will have an excellent keeping quality. There are several ways to determine whether your loaves are baked to the right degree of being done.

Firstly, use the appearance as a guide. The loaves should look well risen and browned to the degree expected of the specific product. After taking a loaf from the oven, it should sound hollow when tapped with the knuckles on the top crust.

Loosen the sides carefully with a knife, bump the pan on a hard surface and shake it sideways to ensure that the bread leaves the pan. (Sesame seeds or crushed wheat sprinkled into greased pans facilitate easy removal of the loaves). Carefully turn out onto a cooling rack and turn over.

Gently press the sides of cooked products with the fingertips. A loaf should feel firm to the touch but slightly springy. If the sides dent markedly and feel soft, return to the pan and bake another 10 to 20 minutes, depending on your own discretion.

At this stage it may be necessary to cover the top crust loosely with foil to prevent further browning. It will not harm but in fact improve the texture as well as the keeping quality of your bread if you return it to the oven and bake it until completely firm and done.

Insufficient baking will cause breads to be doughy and moist in the center During cooling the doughy part will collapse and form a hollow which will spoil the texture of the entire product. The taste will also be affected, and a strong yeasty flavor will soon develop during storing.

Cooling and storing

After baking has been completed, the loaves should be removed from the pans immediately, unless otherwise stated in a specific recipe. Allow baked products to cool completely on a wire rack, away from draughts which will cause shrinkage. Do not wrap or store until quite cold and all the moisture has evaporated, for mold can only grow in the presence of moisture on the surface of breads.

For freezing, products should be wrapped airtight in plastic or aluminum foil. For storing, breads should be allowed to “breathe” and kept in loose plastic bags, large semi-airtight containers such as bread-tins with pin-holes for ventilation, or wrapped in a cloth. Be sure to keep bread-tins quite clean. They may be sterilized with any mild hydrochloride solution.

These are the golden rules to preserve freshness and prolong the keeping quality of your products. Brown-paper packages absorb moisture and will dry out breads, rolls or buns.

Although old-fashioned, a very practical way of storing breads, especially moist whole-wheat loaves, is to wrap them in cotton material or to place them in clean flour bags or pillow-slips. In Spain, where the climate is very hot, bread is kept in special cotton bread-bags which hang in an airy place, for instance at the back of the kitchen door. In this way the breads remain fresh tasting and moist instead of becoming sour and yeasty due to storing in small airtight containers or plastic bags.

Home-baked breads will become stale fairly quickly if baked and stored incorrectly, for no preservatives are added. A small amount of vinegar added to the liquid will act as a mild preservative, but moisture on the outside of loaves will still cause molding and staling. If cooled and stored correctly, your produce will remain fresh for 3 to 6 days, depending on the type of product and the climate.

Freezing

Freezing is the perfect answer for preserving freshness in cakes and breads but, unless it is done correctly, results will be poor. All products should be frozen while still quite fresh but completely cold to prevent moisture forming on the crust after wrapping.

Plastic wrap, plastic bags and light-weight foil make convenient wrappers as they can be sealed airtight. If products are not well sealed they will dry out and become hard and tasteless.

Yeast products may be kept frozen for up to 2 months, or only a day or two. Large breads should be given time to thaw before reheating. An average bread will require approximately 1 hour, and may be used as is or reheated as explained for individual products.

Your bread will taste marvelously fresh, but bear in mind that, after freezing, all breads and cakes become stale rapidly.

When baking for the freezer, plan your portions roughly according to requirements for one meal. Frozen small rolls or croissants may be popped into a preheated oven without defrosting, especially if they were baked until only half or three-quarters done.

Defrosting in a microwave oven is possible yet tricky, and personal experimenting is necessary for this procedure. Follow the instructions given for the specific oven.

Traditional South African “mosbolletjies” – must-rusks

Crushed ripe grapes have been called “mos” in the Cape wine lands for many years. “Moskonfyt” is a jam made of ripe grapes. For “mosbolletjies” the yeast is prepared from seeded raisins, covered with water and left to ferment. The fermented raisin liquid acts as the rising agent and at the same time imparts a characteristic flavor.

The addition of a small quantity of fresh compressed yeast or dry granular yeast will speed up the process of fermentation considerably, although it will also take place if only raisins are used.

Although a little more complicated to prepare, these favorite old-time Cape rusks are undoubtedly worth the effort. If you intend to dry out your rusks, you will have to guard your loaves well, because freshly – baked “mosbolletjies” are irresistible!

The preparation of “mosbolletjies” requires three basic steps. Firstly, the raisin yeast or must is prepared. The mixture is strained and the liquid used to make the sponge which is left to rise. Lastly the sponge is turned into the dough. The superfine texture is achieved by kneading the dough thoroughly twice.

Raisin yeast may replace the yeast and water in any recipe, but rising will be considerably slower. Very good for raising fruit loaves.

Raisin Yeast (must)

150 g seedless raisins

625 ml boiling water

6 g compressed yeast

Or

2.5 ml dry granules

1. Prepare the dough at least a day in advance. Cut raisins in half with a pair of scissors. Place in a large screw top jar. Add boiling water, and cool to room temperature. Add crumbled fresh yeast or granules, stir and cover tightly.
2. Leave 1 t o3 days until mixture becomes frothy and all the raisins have risen to the top. If the mixture stands in a warm spot it will ferment within 12 to 24 hours. A low temperature, however, will retard fermentation. The best time to prepare the sponge is early in the morning. If the fermentation is frothy before you are ready to use it, stir down and place in a cool spot.
3. Strain through a sieve and use the liquid to make the sponge. Press the liquid out of the raisins as well. (Raisins may be re-used in the same way for a second time or discarded.)

Sponge mixture

±280 g (500 ml) cake flour

±500 ml strained liquid from raisin yeast

6 g Compressed yeast

Or

2.5 ml dry yeast granules

(Yeast optional)

1. Prepare the mixture early in the morning. If strained liquid is less than 500 ml, make up with water. If liquid is slightly more, all of it may be used. Combine the liquid with the flour, and beat to form a smooth batter.
2. Cover, and allow to stand in a warm spot until spongy. This may take from 2 to 6 hours depending on the temperature, weather and the strength of the fermentation. If after 2 hours the mixture does not yet show signs of activity, another 6 g of compressed yeast may be crumbled and beaten into the mixture, or 2.5 ml dry yeast granules may be activated in 50 ml lukewarm water and then added in the same way.

Dough

625 ml lukewarm milk

250 g (280 ml) soft butter or margarine

3 eggs

25 ml salt

400 g (500 ml) sugar

15 ml aniseed (optional)

±2.5 kg cake flour (4 Lt)

1. Prepare the dough in the late morning or early afternoon. Beat down sponge and add milk, shortening (cut into portions), eggs, salt, sugar, aniseed and sufficient flour to form soft dough.
2. Knead down thoroughly on a well floured surface (10 to 15minutes). Dividing dough into portions simplifies kneading and ensures thorough kneading. (Kneading half of the dough at a time will give better results than kneading the larger piece of dough all at once, unless you are a very strong kneader!)
3. Cover and allow to rise in a slightly warm spot until doubled (2 to 3 hours).Knead thoroughly for a second time, cover and allow to rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours).
4. Do not punch down, but pinch off egg-sized balls of well risen dough and pack very tightly together in well-greased loaf pans to make the pans approximately half full.
5. Allow to rise until rusks have almost doubled in size and bake 40 to 50 minutes at 160º C until golden and firm. Turn out one loaf to test whether it is done. If not, return to the pan and bake a while longer. As soon as the top crust is a good golden color, you may cover the pans loosely with a large sheet of foil to prevent further browning.
6. Loosen around the sides, bump on a hard surface and shake pans from side to side to release loaves. Turn out and cool completely. Break apart and dry out.