I wasn’t fan of this pastry until some time ago that I tasted it at this bakery. Since then I wanted to try so last weekend was finally the time. I used this video as inspiration (recipe) I used my typical croissant dough, pastry cream and soaked the raising as the bakery mentions.
Pain aux Raisins Ingredints:
1 or 2 bags of your favourite tea
200g or raisins, sultanas and mixed fruit
Bloody orange marmelade
Splash of spirit (scotch, rum, etc) – optional
1 egg for egg wash.
Process:
Boil 500ml of water. Put the tea bags and dry fruit on it. Optional add the spirit.
Remove tea bag after a couple of minutes.
Let it soak for 1h.
** Do this when doing the croissant folds
Filter the liquid (you can drink it) and let the fruit to dry at room temperature
Pastry Cream Ingredients:
500ml milk
2 eggs
4 yolks
125g sugar
75g plain flour
50g butter
1 ts vanilla paste
pinch of salt
glass sugar to cover the cream
Process:
In a pan, put the milk to boil. Add a bit of sugar and dont stir it!
In a bowl, mix eggs, yolks, sugar and vanilla. Then Add flour. Mix all well. Add a pinch of salt.
Just when the milk starts boiling, remove from the heat, and pour it bit a bit in the egg mix.
Return the mix to the pan, and dont stop stirring, this is the key for cooking the flour!
Keep stirring until the mix thickes up. You should see bubbles forming up.
Remove from the heat and add the butter. Mix until all combined.
Spread the cream in a clean tray, spread sugar on top so a crust doesnt form.
Cover with cling film and put into the fridge.
** you can do this the day before or while doing the croissant folds.
Croissant Dough Ingredients:
500g strong white flour
12g fine sea salt
55g sugar
40g soft butter
15g dried yeast
140ml cold water
140mg milk
250g butter block – unsalted if possible.
Croissant Dough Process:
Put flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Mix all together
Add the butter and crumb it with your fingers until all is mixed.
In a another bowl, mix water, milk and dried yeast.
Make a well in the center of the flour mix and add the liquid. Mix all until all is combined. Dont over do it.
Cover the bowl and put in the bridge for 8-12 hours.
Make an envelope of 20x20cm aprox with baking paper. Put the butter block inside and pounce the butter until it fills the paper with a rolling pin. You should have a nice thin flat block of butter. Put the envelope back in the fridge
Take the dough out of the bridge and place it on a lightly floured surface.
Roll it out to for a rectangle double of your butter blocker.
Place the butter in the center and then cover it with the rest of the dough.
Tap the dough gently with the rolling pin to help to seal the sides.
With the seam running top to bottom, roll the dough out into a rectangular shape, roughly 1/2 rolling wide, 1 1/4 rolling pin long (rolling pin aprox 50cm).
Brush any flour and fold the dough in thirds. Tap the dough with the rolling pin. Repeat the same process: roll the dough 1/2 rolling wide, 1 1/4 long and fold. This is a full fold.
Wrap the dough in baking paper and cling film. Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Take the dough and give it half fold, so only roll and fold once instead of twice. Rest for another 30 minutes in the fridge wrapped in baking paper and cling film.
Apply the last half fold and put back in the fridge for 30 minutes.
Take the cream pastry cream from the fridge and give it a whisk until becomes manageable, like a cream and not solid as we will have to spread it over the dough.
Take the dough out of the fridge. In a lightly floured surface, roll it 3/4 pin wide and 1 1/4 long.
Spread the pastry cream with a spatula evenly on top of the dough.
Spread the raisins, sultanas, etc on top.
Roll the dough as like making a giant cigar or pipe line.
Get ready two trays with baking paper.
Slide the dough roll with a sharp knife. Clean it after each cut. Put each slide into the trays. I managed 16 slides plus two leftovers.
Seal putting the seam underneath each slide.
Egg wash all slides.
Turn the lights from the oven, put the two trays on it and add a small bowl of boiling water. We want to create a proving room.
Let it raise for 1h, check it and be sure they dont over proof
Pre-heat the oven at 180C-190C.
Egg wash again all slides.
Put one tray in the oven and add some splash of water to create steam.
Bake for 20m aprox or until all golden on top
Remove and add second tray.
In a small bowl, add 3-4 tsp of bloody orange mermelade and boiling water so it gets thinner and more liquid.
Brush the pastries with the mermelade as soon as you take them from the oven.
This is the result!
To be honest, for being the first time, I was quite happy with the outcome.
Room for improvement:
1- I think I put too much pastry cream
2- I think I over proof them (2h in the oven!) as the pastry wasn’t really crunchy.
3- A bit mor fruit?
4- Pastry cream had only 3 egg yolks. I should try 4 and use full fat milk.
This is a typical Southern Portugal cake that I tried two Christmas and quite liked as looks simple and tasty. So finally this weekend was the time to try this recipe.
Ingredients:
2 medium eggs
100g sugar
100g honey
75ml olive oil
150g plain flour
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1/2 tbs baking powder
1/2 ground anise grains.
A bit of butter
Process:
Pre-heat oven at 180C
Whisk eggs and sugar until double in volume. It takes time doing it by hand!
Add honey and oil, bit a bit and keep whisking.
Add flour, cinnamon, baking powder and anise. Mix all well
Pour the mix in a greased tin.
Bake for 45 minutes aprox. Use a tooth stick or similar to check the inside is cook before removing from oven.
Result:
It raised more than I expected. It wasn’t as moist as I remember but it was tasty. Based on the ingredients reminded me of a olive-Greek cake I did some months ago.
I checked other recipes like this so maybe I will try again at some point.
1/2 lemon skin cut at julienne (long and narrow stripes)
50ml water
50g caster sugar
1/2 lemon juice
Process:
Mix water and sugar in a pan. Heat up to boil water.
Add the lemon zest and mix for 10 sec, while water is boiling
Add lemon juice and keep mixing for another 10 sec.
Check the mix is getting some consistency then remove from heat
Let it cool down for later. It should be like a syrup and solidify while cooling down. You can heat it up in microware for 10-15s to make it liquid again.
Lemon Pudding souffle ingredients:
125ml milk
35g butter
70g caster sugar
70g plain flour
2 eggs yolks
4 eggs whites
1/2 tsp vanilla paste
1/2 lemon zest
butter and sugar for greasing
Process:
Pre-heat oven at 180C
Grease (solid butter and sugar) 4 dariole moulds. Be sure there is no shiny parts! Cut a small square of baking paper and put in the bottom of the mould.
Make a “beurre manie” that is mixing the butter and flour by hand in a bowl.
Scold the milk with the vanilla (just hit the boiling point). Then at medium heat, add pieces of the “beurre manie” and whisk non stop with the milk. It is like doing “bechamel” sauce. Once the whisk is not useful, move to a wooden spoon and keep mixing.
At the end you will have kind off a ball, keep cooking for 1-2 minutes to be sure the flour is properly cooked.
Remove from heat and let it cool down
Add the 2 egg yolks one at each time to the “ball”. It should become like a thick cream.
Whisk the egg whites until snow peak. Then add the sugar and lemon zest and whisk again until snow peak. This is the meringe
Now fold a 1/3 of the meringe into the pudding butter. Keep doing the same 1/3 at the time.
Once you have all mixed, pour the butter into the moulds up to 3/4.
Using a deep tray, put the moulds and fill it with water (hot if possible). Be careful the moulds dont float!
Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden on top and risen.
Prepare the egg custard while waiting
Fresh egg custard sauce ingredients:
75ml double cream
75ml milk
35g egg yolk
25g caster sugar
1/2 tbs vanilla paste
Process:
In a glass, mix egg yolks and sugar.
Mix double cream, milk and vanilla in a sauce pan. Add a bit of the sugar and put to the boil.
Add the egg mix to the liquid and mix with a wooden spoon.
Keep mixing until the liquid thick up a bit! Dont over do it! If you ran a finger in the back of the spoon when covered with the custard, it should keep apart.
Remove from heat and pour it in a container. Cover with cling film
Presentation:
Once the pudding moulds are ready, remove the mould, be sure you take off the paper too!
Put each pudding in the middle of a dish.
Pour the custard around the pudding
Put a spoon of the lemon syrup on top of the pudding (put in microware if solid)
100g unsalted butter, melted, plus extra for greasing
oil for greasing
1 tsp sea salt
Filling ingredients:
25g melted butter
100g currants, chopped
50g sultanas, chopped
2 tsp mixed spice
25g caster sugar
Glaze:
200ml water
200g caster sugar
Process:
Mix together the flour, yeast, sugar and salt. Make a well in the center.
Warm the milk at body temperature
Pour milk, melted butter and beaten eggs into the flour. Mix all together and then knead for 10 minutes until you have a smooth and elastic dough. It will be a bit sticky at the very beginning but dont add any flour.
Shape the dough into a ball, add a bit of oil into the bowl, put the dough, cover with clean film and let it prove until double in size (1h?)
Pre-heat oven at 180C
Prepare a tray with butter and a coating of flour to make it anti-sticky.
Prepare the chelsea buns tins. Put a layer of melted butter, then add a piece of baking paper of the same diameter to cover the bottom. Cover again with a bit of melted butter. Tray to cut another piece of baking paper for the side of the tin. Add a bit of butter again.
Swiss Buns:
Once the dough has double in size, put it on a lightly flour surface and knock the air out.
Cut 6 pieces of 80gr aprox. Cover the pieces and the big dough with the bowl and a towel so they dont dry out.
For each piece, make a ball, flat it with your palm, put pressure and make circules with your hand, remove pressure gradually and until you have a ball again.
Then roll it as it were a “cigar”. Put it in the tray. Leave around 3cm distance between each “cigar”.
Prove again until double in size (25-30m). Move to the Chelsea Buns.
Then bake for 6 minutes aprox or until golden light brown.
Let it cool down before adding the sugar coating.
Optional: make white fondant icing. For each Swiss bun, dip only the top, the lift it, let the fondant to drip by one side and then with a finger, clean the fondant drip without leaving the finger mark.
Chelsea Buns:
With the left-over dough and using a rolling-pin, spread the dough into a big rectangle. At least 42x25cm.
With a brush, cover the dough with the melted butter.
Mix sugar and spice, then spread it over the dough.
Spread evenly the chopped currants and sultanas.
With the roll, push a bit the dry fruit.
Make a roll with the dough, start by the “long” side. Be sure it is tight but dont break it.
With a sharp knife, cut both end until you have an even form. Then cut 12-14 pieces from the roll.
Put one piece in the middle, then put another at 5 or 6 other pieces around as it were a flower. Be sure the end of each piece points to the middle.
Put for tins to prove again. Aprox 25 minutes. They should grow until there is no space between each piece and raise a bit too.
Bake until the top is golden brown. At 180C, aprox 15-20 minutes.
Glaze with the sugar syrup as soon as the tins are removed from the oven. Remove the buns from the tin!
100ml boling water + 100g sugar + cinnamon stick + star anise
jam
double cream: whipped + vanilla essence or 1tsp of coffee.
Process
Warm water and milk at body temperature. Then add yeast and mix.
In a bowl, mix flour, salt and sugar. Then rubber the butter until you have a breadcrumb look mix.
Add egg to the milk and mix.
Add liquid mix to the flour.
Mix all together until forming a ball.
Knead on the table until you have a smooth ball. When you poke it, it should spring back in slow motion. For 7-10 minutes aprox.
Put the dough in the bowl, with a bit of oil, cover with cling film and let it prove until double in size. This is the most difficult thing to do at home. Try to put in a switch-on oven with a bit of boiling water in a small pan to simulate a proving machine (40C?). In a proving machine takes 1h.
In a lightly flour surface, tip your dough and roll it as a long ping. Use a scale and cut 12 pieces. It should be 92g each aprox.
With each piece, make a ball, with one plant of your hand, push to the table and start rolling releasing pressure until a ball forms. Put each ball in a tray with baking paper. Cover the pieces while you make the balls.
Prove the balls again until double in size. Try the oven again with a bit of boiling water. 1h aprox. You can as well, try donuts with a whole. Just with a dusted finger, make a whole in the middle and spin the dough. Be sure the whole is quite big in diameter and when it proves may close.
Second most difficult part. Deep frying. Keeping the temperature is critical so your will need a temperature prove and patience. Be sure the oil is at 170C. Add two balls (max) in you have a deep fryer. If you use a sauce pan, fry one ball at each time. Fry aprox for 1 minute each side. Ideally you should have a white lien in the middle. If the oil is below 170C the donuts will get soggy, too hot, they will burn. So again, be patience.
As well, you can bake in the oven, aprox 10 minutes at 180C. Just give it an egg wash and bake until golden. Use a toothpick to check they are baked inside. Then give it a sugar-water coating immediately after taking out of the oven.
For the deep-fry donuts, let them cool down. Then coat them with a mix of sugar/cinnamon.
Now you can add the fillings. With a knife, make a hole in the white line and pipe your filling. For the oven ones, cut in the middle around 3/4 and pipe your fillings.
This is my outcome:
I filling some with coffee cream, jam and plain cream.
They were really nice. I didnt expect this result. Again, critical is the proving and deep frying at the correct temperature.
I had aquafaba left over from making humus and always wanted to do something simple with it. As well, it has been a long time since I do brownies. So found a recipe that mixed both:
Ingredients:
Liquid from a can of chickpeas (around 120ml)
290g sugar (I think it is too much)
150g dark chocolate (I used 85% dark) chopped
110g margarine
180g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp coffee powder
optional: chocolate chips (I didnt use…)
2 handful of frozen cherries
Process:
Pre-heat oven at 175C
Let the frozen cherries to get to room temperature. Dont add them frozen to the butter (as I did…) as it will solidify it….
Sift flour and cocoa powder.
In another bowl, mix sugar and aquafaba. I dont have a mixing attachment to my hand blender so I did it manually. I didnt get to the point as in the video.
Add the vanilla, salt, coffe to the liquid. Fold it with a spatula.
Melt the margarine and chocolate using Bain Marie. I ran out of bowl and had to use a saucepan directly on the heat….
Pour the melted chocolate over the aquafaba mix. Fold everything together.
Add the flour mix to the wet ingredients. Combine properly but dont over mix.
Add the chocolate chips and cherries if you want to. Mix all a bit.
Pour the butter into a baking tin covered with baking paper. Mine is 30x20cm and I think it is a bit too big. You dont have to spread the butter everywhere if you want a bit thicker brownies.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Use a toothpick to check if the center comes out with a bit of moister. Dont over bake it! (as I did)
Let the brownies to cool for 0 minutes then you can cut them.
To be honest, I made many mistakes. The worse one was adding the cherries frozen!!! And I left the brownies too long in the oven. As usual, more practice!!!
I think my normal brownies are much better but still it was a way to use aquafaba. Need to find more usage for that anyway.
