Sweet cinnamon and cardamom rolls

I don't know why I suddenly felt like making these... Oh yes I do, I saw this recipe.  I thought I might try veganising it, but then I discovered we are low on fake butter, so decided to try a different recipe instead. I used this one, which uses oil.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I think I am always dreaming about Fitzbillies' (the bakery in Cambridge, UK) Chelsea buns.  These buns are swirled and gloriously cinnamony like the Chelsea buns, but less sticky, less decadent and more everyday than Fitzbillies' buns.  Which is a good thing if you intend eating more than half of one.

This made nine, and neatly filled my square Pyrex dish.

Dough

1-1/2 tsp dry yeast
1/6 cup sugar + 1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
3/8 cup fake milk
1/6 cup veg oil
3/8 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
2 cups flour

Filling
1/8 cup brown sugar
1/8 cup white sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp flour 
~1/8 cup fake butter

Icing (optional)
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 tbsp fake milk
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Mix the yeast with the 1/2 tsp sugar and 1/8 cup lukewarm water and let sit for ~10 min until it starts to bubble.

Put the rest of the water in a bowl with the remaining dough ingredients, then add the yeast mixture.  Combine and then knead for ~5 minutes.  Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour.  Knock down.  Rest for 10 more minutes.  During the wait period mix together all the filling ingredients except the butter.

Flour a clean surface and then roll the dough out to ~30 cm x 20 cm.  Rub the butter all over the dough with your fingers, making sure to take it right up to the edges.  Sprinkle the sugar mixture evenly on top, again making sure to go right to the edges.  Then roll it up: roll starting from the long side, trying to go as tight as possible.

Oil a ~20 cm square Pyrex oven dish (or similar).  Cut the roll into 9 pieces with a sharp knife - mark and cut into thirds first, then mark and cut each piece into thirds.  Cover with a clean dishcloth and leave in a warm place for 30-45 min.  They will grow to fill the space.

Meanwhile, heat the oven to 375F.  Bake for ~20 min, until pleasantly golden brown on top and not burnt underneath.

If you are using icing, make it while the buns are baking by mixing the ingredients in a small bowl (add vanilla to sugar first, then add the milk slowly to make sure it doesn't end up too runny).  As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, spread the icing on top.


I experimented a little with how thick to cut the roll, and with whether to ice or not (I iced half of them).  I feel like there is a lot of scope for adding / removing ingredients - raisins or flaked almonds might be good, I could try varying the spice combination (that ground cardamom I have is kinda weak, could try using it with a mixture of roughly-ground seeds), adding more or less butter...

They look wonderful, and are really soft and tasty.  The somewhat crappy cardamom means they mainly taste of cinnamon.  They are mostly bready and not too sweet without the icing, which is good.  The icing does add in some goopiness though, which I feel goes quite well.  Does massively up the sweetness though.  Ooooh perhaps using mincemeat in combination with the cinnamon sugar mix would be good, I have lots of mincemeat laying around...  Still warm from the oven they are lovely - will have to see if they're still good when cooled down.  S voted for the iced ones, although I do think are prettier when you can still see the whorl.

Carrot, coconut and cardamom muffins

1 1/2 cups flour (use 2?)
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup desiccated coconut
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 cup grated carrot (one large one)
1/2 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup veg oil
1/2 cup tinned coconut milk
1 tbsp ground linseed + 3 tbsp boiling water


Heat oven to 350F and line muffin tin with paper pieces. Mix dry ingredients (first seven, flour through cinnamon) in a mixing bowl with a fork. Add grated carrot and raisins and mix. In a separate bowl, mix the linseed and hot water, then add the coconut milk and veg oil and mix. Add the wet to the dry and mix until just combined. Dollop the mixture into the muffins cups with a spoon (made 10-11), then bake for ~45 min until golden brown on top and nicely cooked inside.


Came out tasty - the flavours seem to be really well balanced, and the texture is good. perhaps a little sticky (moist from the carrot, sweet+juicy from the raisins and fibre from the coconut). The mixture was a little bit runny - might try using 2 cups of flour instead of 1 1/2 another time. And they didn't rise that much, which doesn't matter that much, but adding 1 tsp of cider vinegar to the coconut milk mixture might help, as might adding a little bicarb as well as baking powder.

Kartoffelbrot

Still on the German baking thing.  We were looking for some crap to watch the other night and ended up watching the Hairy Bikers (/Bakers) in Germany on the BBC.  I'd been thinking of making a Kartoffelbrot anyway, they reminded me, and I used their recipe.

375g/13oz potatoes, peeled and cut into even chunks (300g/10½oz peeled weight; 2 large potatoes)
1 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 tsp salt
300g/10½oz strong white flour, plus extra for kneading (or 100g/3½oz strong wholemeal flour and 200g/7oz strong white flour)
1 tsp onion seeds – or use a mixture of caraway (2/3 tsp), anise (1/3 tsp) and fennel (1/3 tsp) seed

You need exactly 300g/10½oz potatoes to make the bread so check the weight once they are peeled.  Place the potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and cook for 15–20 minutes until they are tender but not falling apart.

Drain the potatoes in a colander over a bowl and reserve the cooking liquid. Return the potatoes to the pan and toss over a very low heat for 2-3 minutes until any excess liquid has evaporated.

Pour 75ml/5 tbsp (90ml / 6 tbsp if using a wholemeal / white flour mix) of the warm cooking liquid into a large bowl and leave to cool for a few minutes. When it’s lukewarm, sprinkle in the yeast. Stir in the sugar and leave in a warm place for about 10 minutes until a light foam appears on the surface.

Mash the potatoes with the oil in the saucepan until they’re as smooth as possible, then stir in the yeast mixture and salt.

Mix well with a wooden spoon and gradually add the flour, a few tablespoons at a time, stirring well before adding more. When the dough becomes too stiff to stir in the flour, turn it out on to the work surface and knead the remaining flour into the dough. Don’t be tempted to add more water or the dough will become too sticky to work with.

Knead the dough for 10 minutes until soft and pliable. Place it in a bowl, cover and leave to rise in a warm place for 45–60 minutes, or until well-risen and spongy to touch.

Knock back the dough with your knuckles and shape it into a rough ball. Flatten the ball on a floured surface until it is about 2cm thick, then split into three and braid. Sprinkle on some wholemeal flour, for additional texture, on the outside of the loaf. Place it on a baking sheet lined with baking paper, and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 220C/428F. Sprinkle the top with your choice of seeds. Bake the loaf in the centre of the oven for 35 minutes until well risen and crusty on top. Cool on a wire rack.


This is really good - came out as a big, rustic, golden-brown braid, and we disappeared almost all of it as soon as it was cool enough.  Nice, soft texture and hearty, comforting taste.

Edit: I've re-made this a few times since and we still love it. It is wonderfully soft and moist, and keeps well - still easy to slice after a week.

baked tofu / miso asparagus

 Baked tofu from this recipe.

1 package firm tofu
1 teaspoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons grated or finely minced ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons mirin or other white wine
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce.

Heat the oven to 375°F.  Cut the tofu into ~10 slices and put them in an oven dish.  Mix the other ingredients, and pour them over the tofu.  Bake for 40-50 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed.

Miso asparagus from this recipe.

1 large bunch asparagus, trimmed
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
4 teaspoons white miso
4 teaspoons white wine
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon sesame oil

Heat the oven to 375°F.  Mix all the ingredients except the asparagus together.  Spread the asparagus on a baking sheet and pour the marinade on top, mixing around a bit.  Put in the oven for about 35 min.


I stumbled on the asparagus recipe and it seemed like a great idea as S has been super into miso and to a lesser extent asparagus recently.  And the tofu one was just an afterthought as I had some tofu that needed eating and hadn't tried baking it before.  Actually, in the end I liked the tofu much better - didn't think the miso texture went all that well with the asparagus, but the tofu was dead tasty - the sweetness from the honey, saltiness from the soy and gentle fire from the ginger went really well.

Seelen (Swabian bread rolls with caraway and salt)

Another German baking effort, following a recipe from the same website as the last couple.  I mentioned to S that I was thinking of making Seelen, and he was super enthusiastic.  Apparently they are a forgotten favourite of his, and you only really get them in the Schwäbische Alb region, where he grew up.

500g white spelt flour (didn't have - used ~400g plain flour and ~100g wholemeal flour)
20g fresh yeast (or one sachet dry)
300 ml warm water
2 tsp salt

For sprinkling: caraway seeds and coarse sea salt

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and knead all ingredients for about 10 minutes to get soft and fairly sticky dough.  Leave to rise in a warm place for about 60 minutes, kneading briefly after 20 min and after 40 min.

When the dough has risen turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.  With wet hands shape it into a square of about 20 cm.  Use a wet knife to cut the dough into six strips.  Transfer the strips onto a baking sheet lined with baking paper.  Irregular shapes are fine, even good.  Cover with a clean dish towel and leave to rise for another 20 minutes.  Heat the oven to about 240C / 460F and place a bowl of water on the bottom shelf.

When the Seelen are ready to go into the oven wet them again with your hands and sprinkle with caraway seeds and coarse sea salt.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.


These came out pretty good.  S said they taste almost like the real Seelen - the only obvious difference was the top is usually more golden and shiny.  Probably the lack of spelt flour didn't help (my best guess was the Russian store, they only had wheat and rye flour) - perhaps Amazon.

Easter: Hot cross buns

When I first made these (in Norwich) I guess it was my first real effort at any kind of yeast bread baking, plus I remembered my Mum saying that hot cross buns were a bit of a 'mare to make as the dough gets sticky, so I was pleasantly surprised when they came out looking like hot cross buns.  Alice came round for a cup of tea on Sunday afternoon, bringing tea leaves she'd just bought in Darjeeling, and it seemed like a perfect afternoon tea combination.

In the USA, I discovered that the closest you get to a hot cross bun is an over-sweet abomination with an icing cross.  So I was glad I'd realised I could make them myself, and made a whole lot of mini ones to take into work and share.

I didn't actually make these today, but had some in the freezer and heated them up because it is Easter Sunday.  I can't find the exact recipe I used, but I think it might have been this one.


For the buns:
625g/1.3lb strong white flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground mixed spice
45g/ 1.5 oz fake butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
85g/3oz sugar
1 lemon, zest only
1½ tsp fast-action yeast
1 tbsp ground linseed mixed with 3 tbsp boiling water
275ml/10fl oz tepid milk
125g/4oz mixed dried fruit

For the topping:
2 tbsp plain flour
water
vegetable oil, for greasing
1 tbsp golden syrup, gently heated, for glazing

Mix the flour, salt and ground mixed spice in a large bowl, then rub in the butter to make 'breadcrumbs'.  Mix in the sugar, lemon zest and yeast.  Add the linseed mixture and the tepid milk.  Mix together to a form a soft, pliable dough.  Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface.  Carefully work the mixed dried fruit into the dough until well combined.  Knead lightly for 5 minutes, or until smooth and elastic.

Grease a large, warm mixing bowl with butter.  Shape the dough into a ball and place it into the prepared bowl, then cover with a clean tea towel and set aside in a warm place for one hour to prove.  Turn out the proved dough onto a lightly floured work surface and knock back the dough.  Shape it into a ball again and return it to the bowl, then cover again with the tea towel and set aside for a further 30 minutes to rise.

Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and divide it into 12 equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a ball, then flatten slightly into a bun shape using the palms of your hands.  Cover the buns again with the tea towel and set aside to rest for 5-10 minutes.  Grease a baking tray with butter and transfer the buns to the tray.  Wrap the tray with the buns on it loosely in greaseproof paper, then place inside a large polythene bag.  Tie the end of the bag tightly so that no air can get in and set aside in a warm place for a further 40 minutes to rise.  Heat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 8.

For the cross, mix the plain flour to a smooth paste with 2 tablespoons of cold water.  When the buns have risen, remove the polythene bag and the greaseproof paper. Spoon the flour mixture into a piping bag (or a plastic bag with a little corner cut off) and pipe a cross on each bun.

Transfer the buns to the oven and bake for 8-12 minutes, or until pale golden-brown. As soon as you remove the buns from the oven, brush them with the hot golden syrup, then set aside to cool on a wire rack.


Shamefully, I have to note that, while these are wonderful, I actually kind of love the slightly gluey texture you get in (British) supermarket ones.