Gember bolus / Ginger buns

Nice and sweet with a little bite!

“The making of” started with a readers question; since I lived in the Netherlands, would I have a recipe of the Jewish ginger rolls that are served in some tearooms in Amsterdam?

Eh… ginger bolus/rolls? Jewish? Amsterdam? Well Jewish and Amsterdam sound familiar but I had to admit I never had any ginger buns… I didn’t even know they exist! Oops!
So I searched and tried and mailed some sort of guideline back and decided to try myself since the boys were going to stay with my parents for a while and my dad happens to love anything ginger.

So we need a sweet bread dough recipe, a ginger syrup to go on top for the shine and sticky extra flavour, and of course candied ginger to fold inside.

Jewish Ginger buns:
Dough:
500 gr ap flour
1.1/4 ts salt
1.1/2 ts yeast
300 gr water or 320 gr milk (I like milk!)
75 gr butter
optional but nice: zest of one lemon or lemon extract

Filling:
200 gr candied ginger* 
4 el ginger syrup *
2 el sugar

Syrup:
4 el water
4 el sugar
2 el ginger syrup
4 el butter

For rolling: (optional, I didn’t)
4 el sugar
1 tl cinnamon

Mix a straight forward dough, combine ingredients, knead, either by hand or stand mixer! We are looking for a slightly slacker white bread dough, malleable and windowpane test-proof. You might want to play with the liquid here, but I think the 300 water / 320 milk should do the trick for you as well.
The first rise is a fairly short one, approx. 45 minutes. It doesn't necessarily need to double, half way there is fine. Now, proceed to divide the dough in pieces of equal weight. I like to have pieces of 40 to 50 gram each which will give you around 14-16 pieces of dough.

For the filling:
I used half ginger jam, half slivered ginger on syrup, because I had it on hand and it was the fastest thing to do.
Otherwise: make a nice puree out of the crystallized ginger together with a little sugar and some ginger syrup using either a food processor or a hand held blender.

Syrup:
Basically a sugar syrup with the addition of a little ginger syrup and some butter; combine all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a soft boil. Leave to boil for a couple of minutes and cool.

Shaping your dough into a bun follows the same principle as you would make cinnamon rolls. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces, roll each in a rectangle and place some filling lengthwise in the middle. Now roll up from the long side and pinch to seal.
Shape into a bun by spiraling the dough rope as a snail shell. Brush with syrup and leave to rise for 30-45 minutes, again not much visual rise here.

Preheat oven to 180 C and bake off for 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. These buns are best when they are just about done in the middle, trust me on this and make sure not to over bake!
Set them out to cool on a rack and give them another syrup brushing while hot.
Enjoy with tea!

Notes: 
* The ginger syrup used is one we can buy bottled here. It is a by product of candied or preserved ginger. Preserved ginger here is usually found in jars in marble sized balls. Want to make your own? Fellow Babe Cookie Baker Lynn has a recipe which will give you the candied ginger AND the syrup!

My parents loved these! And I am happy to see Tim liked the recipe as well, if you would like to see his version please go here. His idea of folding the ginger puree into the bun is a quick and less trouble some way of doing it.

I made a couple of small ones and couldn’t resist to make one biggie:

Now who calls me tiny?

Or how a very small car trumps men at a DIY-store.

I had my eye on this eh rack? bookstand? accessory-ladder thingy? for some time already. But… too expensive for what it was, did I really need it, the husband wouldn’t understand, should I fill all that lovely space we created etc etc..

But.. on my way back from the hairdresser I walked in the DIY-store to check some paint-colors and there it was again! This time with a 50% price-off tag and already assembled I gave in. Schlepped it all the way through the store to the cashier and paid.

In a skirt, high heels and my hair freshly cut.
Driving my new teeny tiny car.
Never thinking about the size of that tiny car.
Because I am still not used to having a new car.

That realization only came when I walked up to my car and stopped. You see my old –very old as in 17 yr old- car was a little bigger than this one and had fold flat back seats and a fold flat passenger seat because it was a 3-door one.
This new car however is small and has the 5-doors I wanted. Which means that the passenger seat will not fold down anymore. Which means less space.

Enter the damsel in distress. Remember the skirt and the high heels and the DIY-store? Ok.
I stood there for a couple of minutes contemplating how to get the stupid thing home in one piece IN my car. Mind you, I was fairly certain I could do it. The men that passed me by on their way into the store were not so sure.

One grinned in passing and called out: that is not going to work!

One came up to me, sized the car, the rack, me, then shook his head and went on his merry way.

A pair of two walked by laughing and told me: “Now you’ve got a problem Hon!”

Another one took the time to come up to me (thank you sir, you were really nice!) and tried to think of various ways of fitting the thing into my car, even asking me where I had to go. On the brink of offering to take it but when he heard where I was headed he too shook his head, warning me that he wouldn’t take the risk.

Now THAT was all wrong you see? I mean I AM an ace-packer, the one that fits 3 weeks worth of clothes for 5 persons in two bags and always always packs the car and tent trailer. So don’t mess with my skills guys!

HAH!

Granted, it took some time and various ways of trying but after 10 minutes of trying it fitted like this in my car. Back seats folded flat, front seats pushed all the way up, a shopping bag as protection and the chain lock we use to lock our gate looped through the back door and around the rack locked shut to keep it in place and prevent it from sliding out. I didn’t exactly come prepared but used what was in my car.
It took some sort of restraint to not go back into the store and show them that I did it. Yeah that’s me, pathetic.

(The Husband likes it but still feels it should be properly hanged on the wall. It shouldn’t. It is not meant to hang. It is supposed to stand like that. Honestly. All the magazines show it this way honey. Really. See? (Me showing him pictures in various magazines until he is really really bored).

Stoomoven: Bulgur

Niet zozeer voor jouw informatie als wel voor mijn geheugen; Bulgur uit de stoomoven.

Sinds de nieuwe keuken ben ik in het trotse bezit van een stoomoven die eigenlijk nog maar weinig werkuren gemaakt heeft. Het kost me duidelijk wat tijd om te wennen aan het feit dat ik nu de beschikking heb over een meer-pits fornuis, een grotere koelkast, een oven, en alhoewel dat wat meer voeten in aarde had; een inmiddels weer gevulde vriezer.

De vriezer had de verhuizing niet overleefd maar aarzelde om ons dat kenbaar te maken; hij was héél langzaam en onwillig aan het doodgaan. Een minuscuul lekje in een leiding maakte dat het lang duurde voordat zowel de vriezer als wij het opgaven.

Zo nu en dan bekruipt me de gedachte dat het eigenlijk wel prima ging in de caravan met die drie (of eigenlijk twee) gaspitjes, het mini-koelkastje, geen vriezer en de magnetron op de eerste verdieping. Simpel = duidelijk en soms erg prettig.

Wat ook simpel is en erg prettig; Bulgur maken in de stoomoven.

225 gram bulgur
375 ml (groente) bouillon
klontje boter

Bulgur en hete bouillon samenroeren in dichte stoomoven schaal, klontje boter erop en 20 minuten stomen op 100gr C.

Ik heb tegelijkertijd de gaatjesschaal gevuld met 500 gr in plakjes gesneden wortel, 1 kleingesneden prei en 1 in blokjes gesneden courgette. Deze schaal boven de schaal met bulgur gehangen zodat het vocht uit de groente ook nog in de bulgur dript.

Reservoir vullen met water en lekker op de bank een boek lezen.
Of in de tijd dat de groente en bulgur stoomt een vleesmengseltje maken van –lams-gehakt, en zacht gesmoorde uien. Grof gesneden uien smoren in iets boter op een zacht vuurtje, gehakt toevoegen en rul bakken, kruiden met wat kaneel, nootmuskaat, gerookt paprikapoeder, peper en zout en komijn  en koriander. Evt. vet afgieten en gare groente toevoegen. Bulgur afdekken met theedoek en deksel en nog even laten dampen. Voor het serveren losmaken met een vork. Lekker!

Voor een meer vloeibare saus zou je ook deze kunnen proberen!

Bread Baking Babes bake: Broa

I suspect my posting is of such frequency these days that you hardly notice that I was gone but just so you know; the husband and I were in Paris for 10 absolutely fantastic days and returned yesterday, more or less accidently managed to bypass the strikes in France and Belgium by travelling by train on Sunday morning. Carefully hand carried the fresh croissants and pain au chocolat we bought that morning to the boys for an afternoon snack.

It is just a short trip from Parisian French and their baquettes and croissants to the Portuguese and their Broa. We had the opportunity to sample the first for real but had to bake the latter myself.

Late again, late for my Babes post. Sigh. When will I ever learn? Of course the baking of this bread was on my list to bake long before we left for Paris but somehow my to-do-before-we-leave-list was expanding forever and the bread positioned itself to the bottom of that all by itself.  (Well I think it was me after all).

Elizabeth kindly opened up her kitchen to us this month and presented us with her choice of Portuguese Broa or maybe Pao de Milho.

I was surprised to find the white corn meal in the little Turkish supermarket so all was ready to go. I didn’t bother to find corn flour…. for the 2 tbs that are used. (And to be real honest, I am not entirely sure that I had the right corn meal.. I think I did but my dough was very very soft. Ish. Gooey even.) This bread starts out with a corn meal mush/porridge which is then kneaded with additional flour.
Baked it for longer than the recipe said to get a good color on it, so mine took about 45-50 minutes. Haven’t cut into it yet. I suspect from the heavy feel of the loaf the crumb will be very moist. Hum. Not sure.

Broa - Portuguese Corn Bread
based on Jane's (Little Compton Mornings) Pao de Milho
makes one large round loaf or two smaller ones

• 300gm (~1¼ US c) boiling water
• 7 gm (~1 tsp) honey
• 145 gm (~1¼ US c) white cornmeal, finely ground²
• 4 gm (1 tsp) active dry yeast
• 120gm (~½ US c) lukewarm water
• 60 gm (~½ c) whole wheat flour
• 300 gm (~2½ c) unbleached all-purpose flour, not necessarily all of it
• 15 gm (~ 2 Tbsp) white corn flour ³
• 10 gm (~1¾ tsp) sea salt
• corn flour, for dusting

1. About an hour before mixing the dough, put the cornmeal (finely ground meal from dried corn, aka maize) and honey into a large mixing bowl. Pour in boiling water and stir well. Set aside to cool until just warm (do the baby bottle test on your wrist to test)
2. When the cornmeal has cooled, pour lukewarm water into a small bowl; add yeast and whisk well. Set aside.
3. Add the corn flour, wholewheat flour, 275 gm (~1¾ c) all-purpose flour , and salt to the cornmeal mixture (you'll use some or all of the remaining flour for kneading). Stir well. Check the temperature again to make sure it isn't hot. Stir in the yeast mixture. The dough should be pulling away from the side of the bowl. Don't worry if it's somewhat sticky. Don't be surprised if it's down right sloppy.
4. Kneading: Sprinkle a little of the extra all-purpose flour onto the board. Plop the dough out.
5. Hand wash and dry the mixing bowl. (Yes, this step is important. It prepares the rising bowl, gets your hands nice and clean AND allows the dough to rest a little.)
6. Knead the dough by hand about 10 minutes. Use your dough scraper to keep the board clean . Add a tiny bit more flour if the dough seems sticky but try not to add too much – the dough should be soft (you don't have to use up all the extra half cup of all-purpose flour).
7. Proofing: As best you can, form the dough into a ball and plop it into the clean bowl (there is NO need to oil the bowl!!) and cover the bowl with a plate. Don't worry if the dough doesn't seem to be all that smooth. Cover the bowl and leave in a non-drafty area of the kitchen for 20 minutes.
8. After 20 minutes has passed, very lightly sprinkle the work surface with flour. Carefully turn the dough out. If necessary, gently spread the dough out (try not to disturb any bubbles). Using the dough scraper and still trying not to disturb any bubbles, fold the sloppy left side into the center, then the top into the center, then the right side, then the bottom. As you lift it into the bowl, fold it in half once more. Try to place it in the bowl smooth side up. Cover the bowl. Let it ferment at room temperature for 20 minutes again. Repeat this step two more times. (This step is done at 20 minutes, 40 minutes, 60 minutes after the first kneading.) It may not be until the third time that the dough will look like the smooth soft pillow that is described in books. The amount of dusting flour used in those three maneuvers is not more than a couple of tablespoons in all and probably much less (I have never actually measured). It's the merest dusting.
9. After the final folding maneuver, cover the bowl again and let rise in a no-draft place on the counter (or in the cold oven with only the light turned on), until it has doubled in size. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, this can take anywhere from 1 to 4 hours - if your kitchen is around 21C (72F) it will take about an hour. A good way to tell if the dough has doubled is to dip your finger in cold water and poke a hole in the top of the dough. If the hole fills up, it hasn't risen enough. If there is a whoosh of air and the dough deflates a little, it has risen too much. If the hole stays in exactly the same configuration and the dough remains otherwise intact, it is ju-u-st right.
10. Shaping: Turn the dough out onto a floured board. Press the dough into a rectangle. Fold the left side into the center, then the top, then the right side then the bottom. Turn it over. Continue to fold it underneath itself to form an even tight ball without actually deflating the dough. Place it seam side down on parchment papered peel or cookie tray. Cover with a clean tea towel followed by any old large plastic bag and allow to the bread to rise in the same no-drafty area of the counter until is has about doubled. To test, flour your finger and press gently on the edge – it should very slowly spring back. For comparison, try pressing early on to see how it quickly springs back when the dough has not risen enough. (1 to 4 hours, depending on the temperature of the kitchen)
11. Preparing the oven: About fifteen minutes before baking the bread, make sure there is a rack on the second to the top shelf. Preheat the oven to 400F.
12. Baking: Spray the loaf liberally with water then sprinkle with cornflour. Slide the bread onto the stone if using (the parchment paper can go onto the stone) and bake the bread at 400F for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, turn the oven down to 375F and turn the bread around at the same time to allow for uneven heat in the oven (remove the parchment paper if the bread is on a stone). Bake a further 15 minutes until the bottom sounds hollow when knocked or the internal temperature is between 200F and 210F.
13. When the bread is done, remove to cool on a footed rack. Wait until the bread is completely cool before cutting it (it's still not finished baking inside when it's hot out of the oven).

2.) and 3.) Corn meal is what is used to make polenta. Corn flour should NOT be confused with "corn starch"; it is dried corn that has been finely milled to look just like flour.

ABC bakers; Orange chiffon Tweed cake

*cough* imagine this is my Sound of Music voice, pretending I can sing (and read but that is a story that follows)…

“Let’s start at the very beginning
A very good place to start
When you read you begin with A-B-C…”

To introduce you to the fact that I joined another group of bakers; ABC-bakers founded by Hanaâ; read all about it here. ABC stands for Avid Bakers Challenge.

Each month a recipe is chosen and on every first Tuesday of the month, we'll post our experiences and photos of the baked creation, but never the original recipe from the book, as they like to encourage everyone to buy the book.
For the year 2010, they've chosen to bake from Flo Braker's "Baking For All Occasions".

I guess I just need a challenge after all to bake those items I longingly look at in my cookbooks and then dismiss because either:
A) too many eggs/butter/cream
B) too much hassle
C) I can’t
D) who is going to eat it (well, easy to answer that one)
E) my hips are doing well enough without….
or all of the above!

So on to my first challenge, due today! An Orange Chiffon Tweed Cake. The tweed here is not the fabric but the sprinkling of chocolate throughout the cake.

Really for a brief moment I thought of contacting Hanaâ how to prepare the pan, because the recipe just said: “prepared pan”. I decided against asking because well, I do know how to prepare a pan right? Wrong! I used a teflon coated tube pan and sprayed with baking spray.
The cake had to be inverted while resting on a long necked bottle and stay there hanging for 3 hours to completely cool. (Now talk about scary, I never tried an angel food cake because of A, B, C, see above).

Sure enough had you looked into my kitchen this morning you would have found me wearing big oven gloves, a precariously positioned bottle with a long neck and an inverted cake that immediately started to slide down the bottle.

And only 1 pair of hands.

Hot Damn!

Not sure how I did it, but I managed to shove it back into the form with those big gloved hands while balancing the bottle trying not to upset the cake, causing only minor damage. It's resting on a wire rack now, looking very sad and deflated.

So am I.

The funny thing is that while I was contemplating what to do (I can contemplate very very fast) my first instinct was that I had to take a picture of this stupid situation. Which of course wasn’t possible. Why Why do we only have two hands hm?
On the bright side, next to my elbow I can see an inverted (!) pan of mini-bundts, balanced on two small glass bowls, cakes still intact! See my tube pan wasn’t big enough so I decided to use a 6-bundt pan for the remainder of the batter. Hope that one works out!

{Ploink!} I suddenly remember why I never use that pan… and why it probably was in that yard sale in the first place. It’s in the trash now.

I hope you’ll understand why I didn’t make the zabaglione that had to go with it. Not today. Is it too soon to ban myself from ABC?

Edit to note:
- I should have looked up how to treat a pan for baking these type of cakes...

- the 6 mini bundt all disappeared; the boys love this cake

- the texture of this cake is lovely! I really like the orange shining through and the fact that it's not dry at all, still I think it could use something creamy to go with it. (wow, that's why Flo wanted us to make a sabayon to go with it in the first place I guess).

- Note to self: do grate the chocolate using a food processor, I used a knife and chopped but it's so much nicer to have an even sprinkling of chocolate throughout the cake.

- all in all: a success recipe which deserves a better treatment and a next time!