Plum Sorbet

#sorbet #recipe

Plums Plum puree (a kind of concentrated jam) Invert sugar Lemon juice Amaretto (could be a plum liquor instead) Cinnamon

Blend the ingredients to a puree, stir in 10% invert sugar. Season to taste with the juice of one lemon, amaretto and cinnamon.

Freeze in the freezer or ice cream maker.

Bread roll tales - the sequel

Previous:

2023-09-02

Last week I held about 25g of dough over. I fed it yesterday morning with 50g each of flour and water. In the evening it had started to bubble.

All 125g of it and some dry yeast went into the bread roll dough.

This time I’m going for bigger rolls, (4 * 150) / 1.67 = 360 g of flour, 67% hydration, 2% salt and 34% starter.

Yeah, I know, forgot about the 5% idea from last week.

4 oblong and 1 round bread roll on baking parchment on a holed baking sheet

5 bread rolls fresh from the oven, fairly blond

b/w picture, 5 rolls on the cooling rack, small bread knife to the right of the rack

our holed baking sheet

pizza/baking steel cooling in the oven

I need to work on my forming and cutting, otherwise quite stoked.

2023-08-27

My dough was getting softer and softer. I dropped hydration to 60%, still soft.

So I searched the internet, as you do. This time specifically German sourdough baking.

I had been holding back a bit of the dough from a bake and stored it in the fridge between bakes. As anticipated this turned into sourdough, with a really nice smell, turning my bread rolls even better tasting.

Than, after a few bakes, we entered soft dough territory.

My “research” suggested that keeping the old dough in the fridge, adding all of it to the new dough, and then fermenting the dough in the fridge over night led to too much lacto bacillus. This leads to enzymatic action that weakens/destroys the starch structure.

So, change of method:

  • still keep the old dough in the fridge
  • take 10g of the old dough and mix with 50g each of flour and water and keep on the counter until well bubbly
  • add 5% (of flour weight) refreshed starter to the bread roll recipe

Continue with normal method.

4 dough balls raising on baking parchment paper, bread rolls in waiting

4 bread rolls on the cooling rack

Much improved, need to up the size though

Fava bean purée - a work in progress

#recipe #FavaBeanPurée

Since last year, or thereabouts, we have a bag of fave secce (dried broad beans) in the larder. While doing the week’s shopping I had the idea to purée them and mix them, cold, with herbs and a vinaigrette.

By dint of my not complete reading of the product description when ordering, the beans were not peeled before drying, which turns the leathery skin of the ripe bean kernel into carapace. Good for the shelve life, I guess.

So I watered about 700 g, I forgot to weigh them, beans over night.

Then peeling commenced, this was, mostly, easier than anticipated. Some of the drier beans were difficult, but the rest went easy.

The beans were then cooked in water, together with one quartered onion, 3 sprigs of rosemary and 2 fresh bay leaves.

After about an hour the beans were done. The water, the bay leaves and the rosemary stalks, were discarded and then I let them steam off, while I made a lemongraitte.

First the peel of two lemons was grated and then mixed with salt, Dijon mustard, the juice and the olive oil into a very sharply lemony vinaigrette.

Beans and vinaigrette were mixed and puréed.

Now I’m waiting for the purée to cool before mixing in a bunch each of flat-leaf parsley, dill and chives.

First impression - tasty, but VERY lemony (from the peel)

Now the herbs have been added and the purée has cooled it is still lemony, but it went from VERY lemony to lemony, GREAT.

Made Tagliatelle Quattro Formaggi for the first time. Easy and tasty. Tasty I knew of course, but somehow I hadn’t understood how easy a #recipe it is.

Cut the cheeses, roughly equal proportions, in pieces. In a saucepan add the cheeses, cream and a little milk, slowly heat until the cheese melts, keep stirring.

As the sauce got ready I boiled the ready made tagliatelle, mixed with the sauce, done.

Cheeses used: Parmesan, Swiss Bergkäse (could be Gruyère), sweet Gorgonzola, Camembert (because I forgot to buy the Taleggio).

I see some happy experimenting in the future

#CuccinaItaliana #QuattroFormaggi #Pasta

They keep rolling

Leaving aside my forgetting for the second week in a row to put steam into the oven, the #BreadRolls keep getting better.

Hydration reduced to 65%, 28% old dough (sourdough), 2% salt, 1% dry yeast.

Fermented overnight in the fridge.

Oven heated to 250C + and held there for 30 minutes to heat through the pizza steel. Put rolls into the oven, directly above the steel, reduced temperature to 220C and baked for 30 minutes.

6 dough balls proofing on a rack, raising to the occasion

6 nice bread rolls, lightly floured

2 bread rolls, cut open, to reveal their holey crumb

I reduced the weight per roll to 80g, will go to 100g next time, too much crust for too little crumb.

#baking #sourdough #recipe

Still the easiest way to get to sourdough. Make your preferred bread (or in this case bread roll dough) and hold some back.

Mine goes into the fridge in a jam jar. One week later your nose will confirm, sourdough.

I feed once and then incorporate into my dough. When I start shaping one undersized bread roll goes into the jam jar.

Old dough, from last weeks bake, in the jam jar it survived in the fridge in

#sourdough

Bread rolls & baguette

Tomorrow I’m planning on making, or rather try to make, baguette. As the dough is basically the same as my #BreadRoll #recipe yesterday I made a bigger batch of the dough.

Though the hydration at 70% is the same as my normal recipe, the dough was almost unshapable and could definitely not be cut.

6 well risen bread rolls

So they’ve burst at odd places.

Will report on the baguettes tomorrow.

#baguette #baking

Quite happy with the look of my first baguette. At 70% hydration portioning and shaping were not easy. As with the bread rolls from yesterday, making cuts was difficult

3 homemade baguettes on cooling rack

Recipe

1000 g flour (550)
700 g water
20 g salt
14 g dry yeast

Mixed, fermented in the fridge

Took 780 g of the dough for the bread rolls after a day in the fridge. Gave it an hour on the counter before shaping, then another 30 mins on the baking sheet

The dough for the baguettes got another day in the fridge plus three stretch & folds

Then an hour on the counter, pre shaping, and after the final shaping onto a couche made from baking parchment for another 30 mins

For both rolls and baguettes I put a pizza steel and an empty tray into the oven, heated to 240° C, put some water into the tray and baked the rolls and baguettes for 20 - 30 minutes

Baguette cut open with a nice open crust

2023-06-10

Next batch. Dropped hydration to 68%, still too wet for my skills. Oven to maximum, ca 260° C, 20 mins

2 baguettes on cooling rack

Couldn’t even cut the loaves this time. Crust could have been a bit stronger and darker.

Sliced baguettes, nice open crumb

2023-06-17

4 short baguettes on cooling rack

This time I used a 65% hydration and kept the dough cold longer. I think it was less the reduction in hydration than the temperature that made forming much easier this time.

Also this time I used some of the dough I kept back last week and stored in a jam jar in the fridge since then. I am very curious to taste this batch.

2023-06-24

www.zahr.koeln/2023/06/2…

2023-07-02 baguettes

3 shaped baguettes resting between folds of baking parchment

Went back to 70% hydration, shaped right after coming out of the fridge. Again I held some dough ca 40 g back for rolls/baguette next week. It’s now hibernating in a jam jar in the fridge.

Freshly baked baguettes on cooling rack

2023-07-16

Today is K2s birthday. And she has invited more or less the whole family to barbecue at home. So this time I had to use double of the bread, roll recipe and forward measure do another focaccia.

To make it all a little more exciting this time I am mostly used the held back dough from the last baking plus enough instant yeast for 500 g of flour.

The focaccia is 750 g 00 and 250 g semola. The bread rolls 1000 g type 550 (bread flour).

When the door went into the fridge, after sitting out on the counter for about two hours, I started to get worried that I had put too little yeast into the dough. I’ve put it into the fridge anyway.

This morning, it was nicely bubbly as usual.

6 roughly shaped bread roll on baking parchment

another 6 roughly shaped bread roll on baking parchment

Pan filled with my tomato focaccia ready for baking

2023-07-30

Smaller batch for this Sunday, again with some old dough from the last baking.

4 crusty bread rolls on the cooling rack. Fairly irregular.

Lemon Dill Labneh

#recipe

Ingredients

  • Labneh from 500 g of Greek/Turkish yoghurt
  • 1/2 Amalfi lemon
  • 1/2 bunch of dill
  • 4-5 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Method

Make labneh from the yoghurt. Put yoghurt on a paper towel in a kitchen sieve in a bowl, and let the wey run out over night.

In a mini blender blend the lemon, dill, garlic, salt and pepper.

Mix into the labneh

Goulash Flamande

#recipe

Ingredients

1,2 kg beef, cubed 1 kg leeks, sliced 1 head of new garlic 5 pointed peppers 700 ml passata 1 glass of red wine salt 1 tbsp black pepper 1 tbsp rose paprika (hot) 2 tbsp sweet paprika chilli to taste sour creme

Method

Brown the meat, then, separately wilt the leak, add the peppers and the halved head of garlic. Then add back the meat, spices, red wine, sour creme and passata. Bring to a boil.

In an oven heated to 130 C cook for three hours.

Why leeks, why flamande?

I was to lazy to peel and dice 1 kg of onions, but the frozen, sliced onions were sold out. Leeks were available. Leeks are something not entirely unheard of in Belgium.

Bread Rolls

Ingredients

340 g water (lukewarm) 15 g fresh yeast (or 5 g dry yeast) 10 g salt 455 g wheat flour (type 550)

Method

Mix all the ingredients and leave covered to prove for two hours. Continue proving over night in the refrigerator.

Next morgen shape into 6 rolls and let prove on the baking sheet for an additional 30 minutes before placing in the oven, heated to 230° C.

Pour halve a cup of water on the bottom of the oven.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

6 bread rolls on a cooling rack

Update 2023-05-17

Reduced water to 315 g

Will report how it goes

Update 2023-05-18

At 70% hydration the rise was basically the same. Shaping was easier and the dough slightly less sticky.

Crumb as nice as before.

Will Go with 70% hydration for the next bakes.

#recipe

Blueberry Sorbet

#sorbet #sorbetto #recipe #blueberries

600 g blueberries 200 g sugar (sugar syrup) 1 lemon, juice of 1 jigger gin

Mix everything in a bowl using a blender, until smooth. Optionally pass mixture through a sieve, which is an excellent way to spread blue stains around.

Freeze with ice machine, alternatively put mixture into freezer, stir well every 30 minutes or so until consistency is good.

Sauce Remoulade

#recipe

  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 baked onion 1
  • 0,15 l vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 4 - 6 chopped Cornichon
  • 1 hard boiled egg, chopped

Mix all ingredients, except the Cornichons and egg, in a blender. Season to taste, add Cornichon and egg, done.


  1. wrap peeled onion in baking paper, microwave for 2-3 minutes ↩︎

re: www.zahr.koeln/2023/03/1…

this basically works, but needs a lot more concentrated flavours than the home made version. will keep testing.

  • time needed ✅
  • consistency ✅
  • flavour 🤔 needs work

Icecream Test

#recipe #icecream #custard #blackberry

Todays custard based ice cream is a test, as I’m using store bought custard. Objective: find out if this is an alternative if a quick ice cream is desired.

  • 750 ml vanilla custard, store bought, the good stuff
  • 3 table spoons sugar
  • 150 g blackberries, halve of them puréed

Now churning away in the ice machine

Cream goulash

#recipe #RahmGulasch #pork #gulash

2500 g pork goulash
1000 g onions, sliced
1200 ml chicken stock
600 ml whipping cream
3 tbsp chilli salt (salt, brown sugar, chilli, pepper, allspice, mustard seeds, cloves)
bunch tarragon
Lemon zest

Bring to the boil, finish simmering in the oven at 130 C for 3 hours with the lid slightly open.

Caution: Cream curdles, just mix well and then thicken a little.

Season to taste with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

This gives a lot of sauce, maybe reduce the broth.

Orange vinaigrette #recipe

20 g white wine vinegar 80 g olive oil 100 g orange juice 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons sugar 2 teaspoons Dijon mustard 2 teaspoons Tangerine jam

Spiced butter #recipe

1 red chilli 1 sprig rosemary 1 sprig thyme 2 teaspoons smoked paprika 2 teaspoons spice salts (salt, chilli, pepper, yellow mustard, cloves, allspice, juniper) 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

Pancake recipe

I needed (read that as wanted) to make a lot of pancakes, I also wanted to use some buckwheat in the recipe

This is what I came up with after some research in my notes and the internet

350 g wheat flour (450) 150 g buckwheat flour 1 l of milk (3,5% fat) 8 medium eggs

The batter was rested for about 2 hours before baking

Worked and tested great

Stack of delicious pancakes on a plate

#Pancake #Recipe

Sauerbraten f/u

#recipe

In www.zahr.koeln/2022/12/1… I put the beef into the marinade.

Today took it out of the marinade and salted, peppered and browned the meat all around. The meat went with diced carrots, celeriac, leek, onion into a cast iron pot. Added Pumpernickel and Lebkuchen, 1 l of beef broth and enough of the marinade to mostly cover. Brought to a simmer. Now for 3 h in the oven at 120 C

The sauce will be done tomorrow.

Sauerbraten in pot, mostly covered in liquid, pieces of Lebkuchen swimming on top.

Sauerbraten

So, Cristmas Lunch prep done. #Sauerbraten #recipe

2.5 kg of beef (leg) will marinate for a week in 1l of red wine, 0.5l of red wine vinegar, water so that the meat is covered.

spices: onions, coriander, pepper, allspice, paprika, juniper berries, mustard seeds, ginger, bay leaves, cloves, cinnamon, thyme, mace, carrot, leek, celeriac, parsley

Beef in Sauerbraten marinade, spices floating on the surface

Gänseschmalz - Goose fat

Poured into an ice cube bag yesterday, now going from fridge to freezer. This is about half the fat from a goose dinner for eight.

#Gänseschmalz #GooseFat #Recipe

Goose fat in ice cube bag ready to freeze

Braised Savoy Cabbage

  • Salsicca or Rhenish Coarse Sausage, 5 links, filling off
  • Chopped onions, about 4
  • Garlic, 1 bulb
  • Goose fat, or butter, 1 tablespoon
  • Stock, about 400 ml
  • Savoy Cabbage, medium size, quartered and sliced into 1 cm strips
  • Rosemary
  • Thyme
  • Pepper, ground from 1/2 tablespoon of pepper corns
  • Chilli, dried, ground, 1
  • Salt

Soften the chopped onion in the goose fat, add the sausage meat and break it up.

Add herbs, salt and spices.

When sausage meat is fried add the cabbage. When the cabbage starts to collapse add the stock and braise for 15 minutes.

Serve with substantial pasta.

#recipe #SavoyCabbage #Wirsing #Schawur

Sunday Dinner

Potatoes, 1 kg Carrots, 1 kg Onions, 2 Sausage, 5 (Grobe Bratwurst) Rosemary Thyme Salt Lemon, 1/2 TSp Pepper, 1 TSp Salt Olive Oil

180 C, 1 hour

#SundayDinner #recipe

Roast potatoe, carrots, sausage, onion

Recipe frozen yoghurt

So, now we have a working recipe for frozen yoghurt.

We use 300 g of Greek or Turkish yoghurt and 200 g of cream. To that we add some vanilla extract and a fruit compote or juice or jelly and some sugar, of course.

#recipe

Burger Sauce #burger_sauce #recipe

2 parts tsatsiki 1 part Hela Curry Gewürzketchup 1 part sauce remoulade

Mix, enjoy

burger on a plate