Sødmælksfranskbrød - Whole Milk Bread

Sødmælksfranskbrød - Whole Milk Bread

The smell of this fresh baked whole milk bread, is bringing back childhood memories. My mom baked this bread, and served it with, butter, cheese and homemade jam. Somehow the smell made me think of summer days in my parents kolonihave. A kolonihave is a place with small lots, where the city folks could rent a little garden with a small house, to get out from the apartments, growing vegetables and flowers. I have so many fond memories from this place. My dad build the little house himself, and my parents loved working in the garden.  

Anton eating pålægschokolademad for the first time.

The main reason for baking this white bread, was a visit from this little guy, Anton. And as you can see, the whole milk bread with chocolate (pålægschokolade), is approved by Anton. 

This Recipe is from my moms recipe book. 

Makes 2 loafs.

Ingredients:

• 600 ml whole milk
• 50 g butter
• 50 g fresh compressed yeast or 4 teaspoons dry yeast
• 900 g all-purpose flour
• 14 g sea salt
• 10 g sugar
• sprinkles: poppy seeds, optional
• Egg wash: 1 egg + 1 tablespoon whole milk
• Sprinkles: poppy seeds
• optional : two 9x5-inch loaf pans

Directions:

Warm the milk in a saucepan until finger-warm, remove pan from the heat. Melt the butter in the warm milk. Crumble the yeast into the warm milk and stir to dissolve. 

Mix flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add the liquid, and knead the dough for 3 minutes, to form an elastic dough. 

Let the dough rise for 30-40 minutes until doubled in size. 

Gently ease the dough out on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough in two, and roll both into tight balls. Let the dough rest covered for 5-10 minutes.

Spray 2 loaf pans with cooking spray, and set aside. If baking in loaf pans.

Deflate the dough, and fold in the sides about ½-inch (2 cm), and roll the dough into a log. Roll the log to fit your loaf pan. Or form to 11-inch (30 cm) breads, and place them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Cover the breads with a kitchen towel, and let them rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 360℉ (180℃) or if using convection: 320℉ (160℃).

Brush egg wash on both breads, and sprinkle poppy seeds on top. Score the bread once lengthwise for the pan baked. And several times across for bread baked without pans. 

Bake the breads for 35-45 minutes until dark golden, and having a hollow sound, when tapped on the bottom.

Enjoy!

Avocado Hollandaise

Baked salmon with avocado hollandaise.

Avocado hollandaise is an easier and healthier version of the real hollandaise sauce. This is a no anxiety sauce. No fear of curdling the egg yolks, no fear of separation (elmulsion break), just blend, season and serve. It's that easy.

My favorite breakfast has been eggs Benedict. Before we moved to California, I didn't even know it existed. Sadly Eggs Benedict is not particular healthy, but by substituting the buttery hollandaise with this avocado hollandaise, you can cut down the calories, not sacrificing taste or creaminess.

Avocado hollandaise is great with fish, eggs Benedict and on asparagus. 

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 2 avocado, peeled and deseeded

• 1½ lemon, the juice from + more to taste

• water, to get the right consistency

• salt, to taste

• cayenne pepper, sprinkle on top

Directions:

Puree the avocado, lemon juice and salt in a blender until smooth adding just enough water to make the sauce creamy and thick like a  real hollandaise. Season the sauce with salt and lemon juice. 

Enjoy!

Marzipan Brioche

Marzipan Brioche

Making a classic brioche is time consuming, but well worth the effort. The best thing, it's not hands-on all the time, so you can get a lot of thing done, while making this. Brioche is made from an enriched dough with eggs and butter.  By all means it's not a health food, more likely a comfort food for special occasions.

I wanted to add some more flavor to the rolls, and added some pistachio marzipan. This gave a slightly flaky brioche with a hint of sweetness from the marzipan. 

Makes 10-12 rolls

Ingredients:

Dough Starter (Sponge):

• 30 g (2 tablespoons) water, room temperature

• 12.5 g (1 tablespoon) sugar

• 70 g all-purpose flour

• 1 g (¼ teaspoon) dry active yeast

• 1 large egg, room temperature

Dough:

• 155 g all-purpose flour

• 30 g sugar

• 4 g dry active yeast

• ¼ teaspoon  salt

• 2 large eggs, cold

• 115 g butter, salted and soft

Remonce:

• 100 g pistachio marzipan (ODENSE Dessertmasse med pistaciesmag)

or

• 50 g butter room temperature

• 50 g sugar

• 50 g marzipan

Directions:

Dough Starter (Sponge):

Whisk the ingredients together  in a bowl and keep whisking for about 2 minutes to incorporate air.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Sift together flour, sugars and yeast, then stir in the salt. Sprinkle this mixture on top of the dough starter, do not mix it in. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap again and let it sit to ferment for 2 hours at room temperature.

By now the dough starter will have bubbled through the layer of flour. Add the 2 eggs and knead the dough for about 5-6 minutes, scraping down the sides, until the dough is soft, elastic and shiny. Add the butter a little at a time, making sure to get the butter fully incorporated. The dough will end up very soft and it is meant to be like that. Lightly coat another bowl with some vegetable oil. Using a oiled spatula to scrape the dough into the prepared bowl. Lightly coat the dough with a small amount of oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Put the dough in the refrigerator for 1 hour, to prevent the butter from separating. 

Deflate the dough with a spatular, and return it to the refrigerator for another hour.

Letter fold

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and roll it into a rectangle, and make a letter fold, like the one used in laminating a puff pastry dough. 

Carefully brush off any excess flour, to avoid hardening the dough.

Make the letter fold three times, before placing the dough in a plastic bag in the refrigerator. 

Let the dough mature in the refrigerator for 6 hours or up to 2 days. I left mine overnight. 

Remove dough from the refrigerator and let it warm for about 1 hour. Make the Remonce, if using, I used a flavored marzipan instead.

Remonce:

Mix the sugar and marzipan well. Add butter little by little until it’s just incorporated.  Be careful not to over mix or the remonce will be runny when baked.

Forming the rolls:

On a lightly floured surface roll the dough into a good sized rectangle, gently spread the remonce on two thirds of the rectangle. Fold the part without remounce over half the part without, then fold the last part over this. Like the letter fold earlier. Make another letter fold. 

Roll the dough into a rectangle, and roll it up, so you end up with a long log. Cut the log in slices, and place the slices in muffin pans looking like cinnamon rolls.

Let the rolls rise for 60-90 minutes, until doubled in size.  (You can brush off any excess flour)

Preheat the oven to 325℉ (160℃).

Bake the rolls for 15-25 minutes until dark golden.

Serve the brioche warmed and with a nice cup of tea.

Enjoy!

Grapefruit Avocado Salad

Grapefruit Avocado Salad

The healthy colorful salad contain two of my favorite ingredients: avocado and grapefruit. The slightly sourness and sweetness from the grapefruit pairs well with the creamy avocado. When I stumbled upon this recipe, I had to try it, and it was a winner for sure.  

This is how I made the salad:

This recipe is adapted from a recipe by Elise Bauer from Simplyrecipes.com.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 2 avocados, peeled and sliced
• 2 grapefruits, peeled and cut into filets
• lettuce

Dressing:

• ½ shallot, minced
• 1 teaspoon fresh oregano leaves, chopped
• 1 lime, zest and juice
• 50 ml olive oil 
• 1 teaspoon honey
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Mix and emulsify the dressing in a bowl and set aside.

Fillet the grapefruits with a sharp knife. Cut the top and bottom off. Set your knife where the white meets the flesh and start cutting downward in a curved motion following the shape of the grapefruit. Keep doing this until you have peeled the grapefruit. Carefully cut the segments out as filets.

Arrange the avocado and grapefruit segments on a platter, on top of some lettuce. Drizzle the dressing on top, and serve immediately.

Enjoy! 

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

Ymerdrys - Rye Bread Crunch Topping

When I grew up in Denmark we had two options for breakfast during the weekdays. We could have 1. quick oats with milk and a sprinkle (or spoonfulls if my mom didn't look) of sugar or 2. Ymer (a fermented milk product) or A38 (milk fermented with Lactobacillus acidophilus) with a good sprinkle of rye bread crunch topping aka ymerdrys. Both healthy breakfasts born long before we had the cereal isle in the grocery stores, or at least before me and my brother discovered it.  

I always opted for the A38 and ymerdrys. So when I tried to make it, I was in heaven. Now I have the perfect breakfast: Yogurt with ymerdrys and fresh raspberries. A perfect start to your day.

Ymerdrys can be made as healthy as you like. This recipe is my version, but you can skip the butter and toast the breadcrumbs and sugar in the oven at 400℉ (200℃) for about 10-20 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 50 g butter
• 250 g rye bread, grated
• 50 g sugar
• 50 g brown sugar

Directions:

Grate the rye bread. Melt the butter in a pan and toast the rye bread in the butter over medium heat, until light crispy. Add the sugars and let it just caramelize and coat the rye bread. Spread the crispy rye bread on a piece of parchment paper, mix in the brown sugar and let the crunch cool completely before using.

Use the topping on yogurt or in desserts.

Enjoy!