St. Lucia Buns

St. Lucia buns

December 13th is Saint Lucia day.

St. Lucia buns aka lussekatter aka lucia breads, is a classic Swedish bun. Served on St. Lucia Day, december 13. in celebration of the light coming back. Young girls dressed in a white dress and a red sash (as the symbol of martyrdom) carrying a candle in their hands. One girl (the Lucia bride) wears a crown or wreath of candles on her head, all of them singing the Lucia song.

These St. Lucia buns are light, sweet with a nice saffron taste. I have to make these again soon. These buns reminds me of my moms version of birthday buns, a recipe lost forever.

Makes 24 lussekatter.

Ingredients:

• 300 g (1¼ cup) milk 
• 25 g live yeast or 2 teaspoons dry yeast
• 100 g (½ cup) sugar
• 1 teaspoon saffron
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 100 g butter, room temperature
• 500 g  (5¼ cups) all-purpose flour
• 1 egg + some for egg wash

Directions:

Put the saffron in a mortar and pestles with about a tablespoon of sugar, and pulverize the saffron-sugar.  In a saucepan heat the milk, saffron-sugar together until  the sugar dissolves and the milk warm to the touch, but not hot. 

Disolve the yeast in the warm milk, and add the rest of the milk. 

Add  the milk-mixture to the bowl of a stand-up mixer and mix in butter, egg, sugar, salt and most of the flour. Save some flour for the shaping of the Lucia buns.

Knead the dough for about 5 minutes. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise for about 40 minutes until almost doubled  in size.

Pour the dough onto a flour dusted workspace and divide into 24 small balls. Roll the balls out into snakes, about 14 inches long. Then curl the ends in opposite directions, forming an "S" with spirals at each end. Place the buns on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and repeat. Cover the buns and place in a warm spot to rise until the dough shapes double in size, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 440°F (225°C). Brush the buns with some egg wash (beaten egg). Place raisins in the centers of the "S" spirals. Bake the Lucia buns  for about 8 to 10 minutes, until the buns are light golden brown.  Remove from oven and let cool covered by a kitchen towel for 5 minutes before eating.

Serve the buns warm with cold butter.

Enjoy!

Bagels

Bagels

Living in the US, I had to try making bagels. I have been somewhat reluctant because you need to boil bagels before baking. But after makings these, I will definitely  be making bagels again. It was well worth the effort. 

I have to thank Bettina from the Danish baking group on Facebook, she inspired my to give bagels a try.

Ingredients:

• 400 ml warm water + 50 ml
• 50 g live yeast, or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 20 g salt
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 200 g whole wheat flour
• 500 g all-purpose flour or bread flour
• 2 tablespoon maple syrup, for the boiling water
• 1 beaten egg white + a splash water, for the glaze
• 2 tablespoons cornmeal, for the pans

Toppings:

• sesame seeds
• poppy seeds

Directions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine 400 ml warm water and yeast. If using dry yeast add a sprinkle of sugar  and leave to sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast begins to blossom.

Add honey and both flours and mix it for about 3 minutes on low speed. Let the dough rest for about 5 minutes so the flours get hydrated. Add the salt and the rest of the water and knead dough on low for about 8 minutes. Cover the mixer bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough to rise for 1 hour.

Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface and punch down. With a bench scraper or knife divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 100 g a piece. Shape each piece into a ball, and allow them to rest for 3-4 minutes.

Spray a piece of parchment paper with oil, and sprinkle cornmeal all over it. Preheat the oven to 450℉ (230℃).

Poke a hole through the center of each ball to create a bagel shape. Holding the dough with both index fingers in the hole, rotate the dough with your hands, gradually stretching it to create a hole about 2 inches in diameter. Place the bagels on the cornmeal, and let them rise for about 10 minutes covered with a clean kitchen towel.

Bring water and maple syrup to a low boil. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, and set a side.

Gently lift bagels, one at a time, and lower into the simmering water. Do not do more than 2 or 3 at a time, so you don't lower the water temperature to much. Cook the bagels for 60 seconds on each side, give or take, then flip them over in the water using a slotted spoon, and cook for another 60 seconds. Lift bagels out with the slotted spoon, and place on the baking sheets. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Brush the bagels with the foam from beaten egg wash, and sprinkle with the toppings.

Bake the bagels for 20-30 minutes until golden brown.

Let the bagels cool completely on a wire rack. 

Serve Bagels with your favorite cheese or use the bagels for a sandwich.

Enjoy!

This post has been submitted to YeastSpotting

Crisp bread with beer

Crisp bread with beer

I have been making crisp breads (knækbrød) for a long time now, but I wanted to change the flavor profile by adding beer and rye. The beer gives the breads a bitter note, that really pairs well with blue cheese or a cold beer.

Ingredients: 

• 150 g all-purpose flour
• 50 dark rye flour
• ½  cup (1 dl) oil, (sunflower- or rapeseed)
• ¾ cup (2 dl) stout, I used Mikkeller chipotle porter
• 50 g oats
• 50 g pumpkin seeds
• 50 g flax seeds
• 50 g sunflower seeds
• 50 g sesame seeds
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1,5 teaspoon salt + more for sprinkling

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients in a stand mixer until combined.  

Divide the dough in two. Roll the dough as thin as the pumpkin seeds allow, between to sheets of parchment paper. 

Carefully remove the top parchment paper and cut the dough in desired sizes with a knife, or use a cookie cutter to make different shapes. Slide the parchment paper with the dough unto a baking sheet. Sprinkle salt, puppy seeds or other seeds. You can brush the breads with a little bit of water before sprinkling.

Bake the breads for 20 - 25 minutes at 400°F.

When the crisp breads are done, remove from oven and let cool completely on a rack and store in an airtight container.

Levain Bread

Levain Bread

Levain means wild yeast in French, but is also covers the use of sourdough. A bread kan be called a Levain if the amount of compressed yeast (live yeast) doesn't exceeds 0.2%

This Levain is more sour than the breads I normally bake, but I really like the sourness with the rye flour. This bread is a good bread for artisan cheeses or as a side for dinner.

This bread came about by mistake. I was making the leaven for the basic country bread a la Tartine, but I used rye flour instead of whole wheat flour by mistake. So instead of discarding the leaven, I came up with this bread.

Makes 2 breads

Ingredients:

Leaven:

• about 2 tablespoons sourdough (the starter you keep in the refrigerator and feed every other week) 
• 200 g water (78℉)
• 70 g all-purpose flour
• 65 g rye flour

Bread:

• 600 g water
• 10 g live yeast (¾ teaspoon dry yeast)
• 3½ dl (275 g) leaven 
• 3 dl (200 g) rye flour 
• 12 dl (840 g )all-purpose flour
• 1½ tablespoons salt

Directions:

Leaven:

Make the leaven the night before you want to bake the bread. If you like a more sour note to your bread, make the leaven in the morning, and after about 8 hours fermentation, put the leaven in the refrigerator until next morning.

Mix all the ingredients well in a bowl, and let the leaven rest covered on the counter for 8-10 hours. To test leaven's readiness, drop a spoonful into a bowl of room-temperature water. If it sinks, it is not ready and needs more time to ferment and ripen. If it floats, it's ready to use. As it develops, the smell will change from ripe and sour to sweet and pleasantly fermented.

This time I just used 275 g of the sourdough 8 hours after the feeding instead of making the leaven.

Bread:

Next morning:

In a large bowl, pour in the water, yeast, sourdough, and rye flour, mix it well. Add salt and  the all-purpose flour a little at a time, until you have a firm but slightly sticky dough. You might not need all the flour.

I always knead my doughs in my stand mixer, and I knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes until the dough is a bit shiny and elastic. 

Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let the dough rise for about 4 hours.

Pour the dough out on a non-floured kitchen table, divide the dough in 2 and shape them into rounds.

Line 2 baskets with clean kitchen towels, generously dusted with flour. Transfer each round to a basket, smooth side down and let to rest, covered, at room temperature, about 3 hours before baking.

Baking the Bread:

Twenty minutes before you are ready to bake the bread, preheat oven and dutch/french oven to 500 degrees, with rack in lowest position.

Gently flip one bread into heated dutch/french oven. Score top twice using a razor blade matfer lame. Cover with lid. Return to oven, and reduce oven temperature to 450℉. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove lid and continue to bake until crust is deep golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes more.

Transfer loaf to a wire rack, and let it cool completely.

To bake the second loaf, raise oven temperature to 500 degrees, wipe out dutch/french oven with a dry kitchen towel, and reheat with lid for 10 minutes.

Enjoy!

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site.

Danish Rye Bread revisited

Danish Rye Bread revisited

I really like my other recipe for the rye bread, I think It is close to perfect to my taste. But I needed to make the process easier. I love using a scale for baking, but just adding the flour in deciliters makes it so much easier, when baking 2 breads at the time. 

Makes 2 big loafs

Ingredients:

Sourdough Leaven: (You are not using it all in the recipe, you need to save some for next bake)

• 200 g sourdough/starter (the starter you keep in the refrigerator and feed every other week)

• 400 g water

• 2 dl (110 g) rye flour

• 2 dl (120 g) all-purpose flour

Berries and seeds:

• 2 dl (135 g) flaxseeds

• 2 dl (135 g) sunflower seeds

• 2 dl (140 g) cracked rye

• 2 dl (180 g) rye berries

• 2 dl (160 g) bulgur (100% whole grain quick cooking bulgur wheat)

• 2 dl (190 g) wheat berries (hard red spring wheat berries)

Dough:

• 1500 g water (use this to soak the berries and seeds)

• 600 g sourdough leaven

• 3 tablespoons salt

• 1 splash food coloring (kulør) - optional

• 2 teaspoons malted barley flour

• 8 dl (440 g) rye flour (dark rye flour)

• 4 dl (240 g) all-purpose flour

Sprinkles:

• sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds or poppy seeds.

Directions:

Day 1, morning: 

Feed the starter to make the leaven. The leaven will be ready to use when the leaven is bubbling and smells like beer, after about 8 hours at room temperature. Cover the leaven with a clean towel. 

Soak the berries and seeds in water in a large bow (I use to bowl because of the big amount). Cover the bowls with large plates. Let them soak at room temperature until the leaven is ready.

Day 1, night: 

Add the leaven to the soaked berries and seed. Cover the bowls with large plates. Let the mixture ferment overnight at room temperature . 

Save the leftover leaven and put it in the refrigerator in a sealed container. This will be your sourdough starter for the next batch of bread. It will keep without feeding for about 14 days in the refrigerator. *

Day 2, morning: 

Add the salt, coloring and the flours to the dough and mix thoroughly, to make sure all the flour is fully incorporated, let rise for about two hours.

Add the dough to two rye bread baking forms. (I use Eva Professionel Rye Bread Tin which holds 3,3 liters).

Let the bread rise for about an hour, covered with a clean towel. The longer you let it rise, the more sour the bread becomes.

Poke a few holes with a cake tester or a knitting needle, to prevent the crust to rise and crack.

Brush the bread with water and sprinkle with your favorite seeds.

Place the baking form in a preheated oven for 1 hour 15 minutes at 350°F (175℃). 

Turn off the heat, remove the breads from the baking forms, spray with water on all sides and place them back in the oven directly on the rack for about an hour, while the oven cools.

Take the breads out and wrap them in an clean kitchen towel. This will help softening the crust. Let breads cool completely.

Rye bread

It's best to wait cutting the bread until the next day. 

Enjoy the bread with your favorite deli meat or cheese. 

* Feeding: Discard half of the sourdough/starter and add ½ cup rye flour, ½ cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup water. Mix well, and let ferment for about 8 hours at room temperature.

The Danish version:

Rugbrød

Ingredienser:

Surdej: 

• 200 g surdej/starter (Den surdej du har i køleskabet og fodre hver 14. dag)

• 400 g vand

• 2 dl (110 g) rugmel

• 2 dl (120 g) hvedemel

Korn og frø:

• 2 dl (135 g) hørfrø

• 2 dl (135 g) solsikkefrø

• 2 dl (140 g) knækkede rugkerner

• 2 dl (180 g) hele rugkerner

• 2 dl (160 g) bulgur (grov bulgur)

• 2 dl (190 g) hele hvedekorn

Dej:

• 1500 g vand

• 600 g nyfodret surdej

• 3 spsk salt

• 1 slat kulør - valgfrit

• 2 tsk maltmel

• 8 dl (440 g) rugmel

• 4 dl (240 g) hvedemel

Drys:

• solsikkefrø, græskarkerner, sesamfrø eller birkes.

Directions:

Dag 1, morgen: 

Fodr surdejen for at gøre den klar til bagningen. Lad surdejen stå tildækket på køkkenbordet i ca 8 timer, indtil den bobler lystigt og lugter af øl. 

Udblød frø og kerner i vandet i et par store skåle ved stuetemperatur. Dæk skålene med store tallerkener. Lad kernerne stå indtil surdejen også er klar til brug.

Dag 1, aften: 

Kom de 600 g surdej over i de udblødte kerner. Dæk skålene med store tallernener igen og lad blandingen fermentere/gære natten over ved stuetemperatur.

Gem resterne af surdejen i en lufttæt beholder. Dette er surdejen du skal fodre inden næste bagning. Surdejen kan holde sig i ca. 14 dage i køleskabet imellem fodringer.*

Dag 2, morgen: 

Tilsæt salt og kulør til kernerne. Tilsæt melet, bland det godt sammen, indtil der ikke er mellommer i dejen. Lad dejen hæve i ca 2. timer på køkkenbordet. 

Fordel dejen i 2 rugbrødsforme. (Jeg bruger Eva Professionel Rye Bread Tin).

Lad brødene hæve tildækket på køkkenbordet i endnu 1 time. Jo længere brødene hæver jo mere surt bliver brødet.

Prik små huller med en nål eller strikkepind, for at undgå at skorpen hæver og knækker under bagningen.

Pensl brødene med vand og drys med frø på toppen.

Bag brødene 1 time og 15 minuttewr ved 180℃. 

Sluk for ovnen, og tag brødene ud af formene. Dryp vand på brødene og sæt dem tilbage i ovnen på eftervarmen i omkring 1 time.

Tag brødene ud og pak dem ind i et rent viskestykke, og lad dem køle helt af.

Brødene er letteste at skære dagen efter de er bagt.

Nyd brødet med dit yndlings pålæg.

Velbekomme!

* en fodring er: smid halvdelen af surdejen ud og tilsæt 1 dl hvedemel, 1 dl rugmel og 2 dl vand. Rør det sammen og lad det fermentere/gære på køkkenbordet i ca 8 timer.

This post has been submitted to the Yeast Spotting Site.