![]() So today I am bringing you a recipe that I was lucky enough to get from a friend that stay's in Germany. The amounts are estimates as her mother simply said you must be able to feel when the dough feels right. Being a chef and a passionate baker my self I understand what she means by that. It the same with me when I cook at home, I never use exact amounts of each ingredients. But rather add this or that till I feel that the taste and texture is at the correct level or desire. But too make it a bit easier for all of you, I have decided to make the amounts as accurate as possible so you don't have to guess. As for the pumpkin to use when making this fabulous bread is really up too you. I would use a sweeter pumpkin just to ensure that the flavour is properly carried through out the bread. You can also prepare the pumpkin two different ways. The first way is to simply boil it until it is soft and you are able to mash it into a smooth paste. The second way is to roast it in the oven. This method will make the end product a bit sweeter as the natural sugars will be caramelise while in the dry cooking method. (I prefer to roast it, not just because of the extra sweetness but also because the paste will not be as wet) Too spice up this bread, great spices to add is cinnamon, nutmeg or even cardamon. To make it more of a sweeter bread, you can add a it more brown treacle sugar and a hint of vanilla extract. So with out a further a due here is the recipe and method to make this tasty bread. Enjoy and don't be shy to share your pictures and results. Ingredients
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![]() So this is another one of my own inventions, and I had to bake about 8 breads before I got all my ingredient percentages right in order to get the desired consistency in my final product. All the Rye breads I've bought all seemed to be the same, they were all very heavy and dense. I personally don't like having rye bread like that, I would have preferred it to be a bit more aerated with a nice crisp crust. So I took it upon myself to make the kind of rye bread I would enjoy having. But lets first talk a bit about the main things that make rye flour different to that of normal white flour. The two main components which jump out to me is the flavour profile as well as the significantly lower gluten content. The flavour of rye flour is much more prominent than that of white flour, thus rye seeds are also used to make whisky, vodka and even beers. The significantly reduced amount of gluten has a huge effect on the elasticity of the dough, it doesn't allow stretching and instead breaks. You will see when working with rye flour it resembles something more to that of a thick paste than dough. This makes it difficult to work with when your making your bread. Unlike when using white flour where the dough becomes stretched and strengthens when you knead it, rye flour simply does not strengthens at all. This causes a lot of people to add loads of white flour when they make their rye bread, which changes the ratios completely, meaning they won't get what the recipe intended at the end product. Making bread is a science, so when you make this recipe keep in mind not to add loads of white flour, simply combine all your ingredients as directed in the method and work it till everything is well incorporated. Another very important aspect to remember when baking bread and intending to increase the volume of bread is that you can't just simply double or triple all the ingredients. Each ingredient is given a percentage of the complete dough, and to ensure you get what the recipe intended you need to adhere to those percentages. If you just double or triple the ingredients, you will not have the correct consistency. This will leave you with a dough that is either over hydrated or under hydrated, and in return you will add more or less flour than what was intended. You will have noticed that in the final product your dough is very dense, is not well aerated or is even under baked because of this. I will be posting 2 pictures of examples where I increased the original recipe to 3.6kg. If you do not understand what I have done to get the new amounts simply leave a comment and I will be glad to help you out. I will discuss this topic at length on one of my other posts in the near future. In this recipe I've made use of a Poolish method (which is a loose preferment) to gain two different advantages from it, this being increased flavour and gluten development. When you make a preferment, you allow for the yeast and the flour to create a more intense flavour profile. I have also used a small amount of whole wheat flour in the recipe, and made use of the little amount of gluten in there to create some sort of a stretch in the final dough, thus by using it in the preferment I'm allow it to form gluten. Note: The ingredients used in the Poolish method are not extra but instead are from the overall ingredients. Please don't use separate ingredient for the Poolish method. Ingredients Overall amount
Poolish Method (these amount are to be taken from the overall amount)
Poolish Method
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Edited by: Monique Boaventura ![]() Here it is, my rusks recipe I promised you earlier today. I'm going to give you two different variations today, one is a very popular flavour amongst South Africans and the other one is more of a personal preference. The first recipe is a Buttermilk Rusk recipe and the second one is a Walnut and Dried Fig recipe. If I were to have the buttermilk rusk I would go with coffee instead of tea and visa versa with the walnut and fig rusk. You can make these rusks look rustic just for you and your family or you could make them nice and edgy for a High Tea party on a Sunday Afternoon. Buttermilk Rusks: (this is for a large batch, they are easily stored in an air tight container or glass jar.) Ingredients
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Walnut and Dried Fig Ingredients
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Edited by: Monique Boaventura ![]() This is similar to rusks, which is also a favourite accompaniment with a hot beverage like coffee or tea. They are easy to make and you can make them a healthy snack if you a bit of a health conscious person. It's also easily stored, so making them in bulk and placing in big glass jars work great for adding something to your kitchen. There can be enjoyed fresh out of the oven or double bake to dry them out like rusks. Ingredients
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![]() Today I decided to bring you two different South African dishes and pairing them together. Vetkoek is a deep fried pastry which is enjoyed with several different types of fillings. Some of these fillings include savoury minced meat with peas, potatoes and carrots. You can also find this loved deep fried pastry at the street venders which pair it with "russian sausages", polony and if you have a sweet tooth you can also get it with apricot jam and butter. And because this addictive pastry is so versatile I've chosen a slightly sweet but savoury filling to go with it. Bobotie is a base of minced meat, enriched by a sweet savoury curry flavour which is topped with a silky smooth egg and cream mixture. Some of the other key ingredients in this dish is the raisins, sultanas and almonds. But enough about that, lets get to the important part, the recipe and how to make this wonderful dish. I will first be posting the Vetkoek recipe and then later today I will post the Bobotie recipe, so keep an eye out for that. For those who do not know what Vetkoek means, if roughly translated it means "Fat cake". I saw some one that translated it to meaning "fat cook", which is incorrect. Ingredients
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![]() So many people I know go crazy for a good Eggs Benedict. I've chosen to post a recipe today for the eggs Benedict, starting from the base to the topping! There are three different Benedict's, well at least three different traditional variations. Firstly there is the Eggs Benedict, which includes Gypsy Ham with a two poached eggs and hollandaise sauce. Secondly there is the Eggs Royale, this is a more dressed up Benedict, it has smoked salmon in the place of the Gypsy Ham and also has the poached eggs and Hollandaise sauce. Then last but not least, we have the eggs Florentine, this Benedict is served with a spinach base. All of these different Benedict's are all traditionally served on a English muffin which is split in half and then place onto a pan or flat top with butter to crisp up. But now days we get a lot more variations of this morning delight, some of the others I've heard of is using bacon or parma ham. One thing which I have noticed when I go to restaurants in South Africa is that the Chefs name there Benedict's incorrectly, I don't know if they do this for the people so that they know that its still a Benedict that they ordering or just out of ignorance. Ingredients for English Muffin
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Ingredients for Hollandaise
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Now that you have all your required ingredients ready, you are now able to construct your very own home made Eggs Benedict and enjoy it in the comfort of your own home. ![]() Yesterday while I was out shopping with my dad and sister, my dad picked up a tray of chelsea buns which where totally over priced and way too small for my liking. So I suggested to him, that if he got the necessary ingredients it would be my pleasure to bake him some wonderful home made large chelsea buns. And as you can see here, he made the right choice and got chelsea buns for less than half the price, larger and most importantly freshly baked. I chose to have two different filling and just used what was available around the house. I hope you will try out this wonderful recipe and give me some feed back on what you would change or what you like or did not like about them. You can use the same dough to make dinner rolls, hotdog buns, and even a loaf of bread. This dough mixture is also known as a enriched dough as it has eggs, butter and sugar, which gives this bread a soft texture and a sweeter taste. Ingredients
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Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do and hope everyone is having a wonderful Festive Season! ![]() Round two of my baking week, I've decided to replace the soft butter rolls with my very own creation. I call them cream cheese dinner rolls, as the cream cheese is the unique ingredient. Its a very simple recipe which don't need a lot of ingredients, but it does take quite a bit of elbow grease to get the dough to the right texture. The overall time from start to finish is about 3 hours. I then made dinner using the dinner rolls by making a rump and avocado slider! Ingredients:
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![]() The French Baguette was first made in Vienna during the Mid 19th Century. When a law in France was past which stated that bakers can't bake before 4 am in the morning, the French Baguette came to the rescue as it could be made and baked more rapidly than the French Boule. Before the law was past the French enjoyed the Boule for breakfast every day, but with the new law there was not enough time for the boule to be prepared and baked in time for breakfast. This past weekend I prepared and baked a traditional French Baguette (to be able to call any bread you make french it should only contain four basic ingredients which include flour, yeast, water and salt.) with had a pre-ferment which I had to prepare the night before. This is to develop a much stronger flavour in the bread (the french are known for there artisan bread baking skills, and using only the four basics they are able to produce several different bread. They achieve this by changing proofing times, kneading methods and quantities.) and it also provides better gluten development. The next day I was ready to make my bread, I did not use any fancy mixers or specialised equipment to make the bread. So there is no excuse for anyone not to try out this great recipe. ![]() Pre-Ferment Ingredients
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Enjoy and please post pictures of your Baguettes. ![]() Bread baking is one of those thing I tend to do when I want to just take a time out and relax a bit. Seeing how each bread grows as you go through all the different steps from weighing out all the ingredients to exact measurement, to the bulk proofing and then finally the part where you just take it out the oven and smell the sweet smell of home made quality bread. So as you can see, i've started my bread baking (French Baguette) early this week. Still to come is soft butter rolls, ciabatta, focaccia, and possibly chelsea/cinnamon buns. So keep an eye out for those recipes through out this next week and hope everyone had a great weekend. I use Eureka Flour, which is local to South Africa and sources its wheat from Heidelberg as well as Swellensdam. The method of farming the wheat is by crop rotation, which allows for the soil to maintain its natural organic materials thus less fertiliser is required. This also promotes the presents of earth worms and also gives the soil a higher nitrogen level which keeps insects and weeds away. The nitrogen levels and organic materials also allows fro the wheat to posses a higher nutritional value. Commercial methods of wheat grinding requires 14 different steps which result in high temperatures, which damages and destroys. Where as the method that Eureka implements only requires 3 different steps and a very small amount of heat is produced during this process, preserving the vitamins and minerals. Which is stone milled and not bleached in any way! They have a wide range of flour such as Plain Cake Flour to Rye Flour. To have a look at there range simply press the button below. |
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July 2017
AuthorI'm a chef at heart and by trade, enjoy what I do and have a passion for the culinary world. |