SCHWÄBISCHER APFELKUCHEN - SWABIAN APPLE CAKE

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I wanted to make a seasonal, early spring cake - with fruit. Apples were the obvious choice. You can use them the same day you buy them, unlike pears, you don't have to wait days for them to ripen, or even longer to turn dark, like bananas. 

They are always aromatic, even if they are imported, unlike the sour, tasteless strawberries from California, or the bland, watery blueberries from South America. 

I have no shortage of apple cake recipes, even one cookbook solely dedicated to them, but this time I wanted something fancy, not just Grandmother's homey kuchen, but a real Konditor piece (Konditor is a German pastry chef.)

How beautiful can apples look in a cake? 

 

SCHWÄBISCHER APFELKUCHEN 

Short Crust:
230 g/8 oz. all-purpose flour
70 g/2.5 oz. whole wheat pastry flour (or all AP flour)
75 g/2.7 oz sugar
200 g/7 oz. unsalted butter, cut in pieces
1 pinch salt
1/4 vanilla bean (or 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract)
1/4 lemon, zest
1 egg yolk

Filling:
1 - 1.25 kg/35 - 45 oz. baking apples (small ones look nicer)
100 g/3.5 oz. ladyfinger biscuits (good quality or homemade*)
100 g/3.5 oz. unsalted butter, melted, for brushing
40 g/1.4 oz. raisins, soaked in 1 tbsp. Calvados or apple schnapps

Sauce:
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
400 ml/13.5 fl. oz. whipping cream
40 g/1.4 oz.  sugar
30 g/1 oz. corn starch
1/2 lemon, zest
20 g/0.7 oz. almond slices or chopped walnuts

Glaze:
ca. 1/4 glass apricot jam, put through a strainer
10 g/0.35 oz. Calvados or apple schnapps

*) You can find an easy ladyfinger recipe in "The Joy of Baking" or here.

How to make: 

For the short crust, make a ring of flour on the counter top. Place sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, lemon zest and egg yolk in the middle. Knead together by hands. (Or, alternatively, mix all other ingredients in mixer until well blended, then transfer to flour ring and incorporate by hand.) Pat dough into flat disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Peel, halve and core apples. With sharp knife, cut round side with parallel cuts, ca. 1/2 cm/0.6" deep.

Pat (or roll out) short crust to cover bottom and up sides of a 30 cm/12" springform pan. Cover crust bottom with ladyfingers. Place apple halves over ladyfinger layer, and brush with hot butter. Sprinkle with soaked raisins and nuts.

In a bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients until smooth. Ladle over apple layer.

Bake cake for ca. 50 minutes.

Remove cake from oven, and glaze with apricot glaze. Let cool on wire rack. Cake has to be completely cooled before removing it from the pan.

 

(adapted from Karl Neef: Sonntagskuchen und Festtagstorten - Konditorrezepte zum Selbermachen). 

I reduced the sugar a bit, soaked the raisins in Calvados, added almond slices, and glazed with apricot jam instead with store bought glaze.

TRAVEL AND BAKING IMPRESSIONS

Warnemünde is not only the harbor for Hansetown Rostock, but a graceful old Baltic Sea resort. Thanks to the former GDR's lack of money, none of the nice old houses was torn down to make place to modern nondescript highrise hotels, like in West Germany.

When I first visited my cousin's family in 1957, houses were grey, with flaking paint, looking more and more dilapidated every year. That changed dramatically after the fall of the wall and the reunion 1989. All houses were fixed-up, by and by.

The yacht pier, exclusively used by communistic party VIPs, was opened to the public, and turned into a fish market.

Lots of smoke shacks on the pier (I never saw so many kinds of smoked fish before), and they even had an open air bakery.

Those naughty boys on the bakery sign are Max and Moritz - characters from the classic German childrens' book.  After sneaking into a bakery, camouflaging themselves with dough, they survive being mistaken for breads and consequently baked.

Eating their way out, and hiding in flour bags, they get nabbed, and their long and successful career as juvenile delinquents ends as - kibbles for miller's geese!


Bakery at the fish market with freshly baked potato carrot breads, in a wood fired oven.

In one of the many waterfront restaurants we had "all-you-can-eat" herring. You can't buy them in Maine, though there are plenty - they all end up at bait for the lobster traps. Much as I like lobster, nothing compares to fresh, pan fried herring with bratkartoffeln.

Easter was cold but sunny, we walked along the Alster - a large, artificial lake in the middle of Hamburg.

We had family dinner overlooking the harbor, where paddle wheel boat "Louisiana" passed by.

On our way back, at Hamburg Airport, we had time for breakfast and were utterly amazed to find this:

A bakery that made everything from the scratch, from organic ingredients, right in Terminal 1!

On the left is a dough divider (for rolls), the glass box is a proofing cabinet.

"Marché Bakery" offers a large selection of breads and pastries. I chose this roll with a twist:

It was as good as it looked like! The best breakfast I ever had in an airport.

POPPY SEED DINNER ROLLS

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A great fan of crusty breads, I'm normally no friend of dinner rolls. I had them sometimes in restaurants, soft, bland and usually so pale that they seemed almost under-baked.

I could never really understand why anybody would prefer to eat these fluff balls with their dinner instead of a nice crispy baguette.

But, fortunately, my baking friend Hanaâ prompted me (again) to overcome my bias against seemingly weird American predilections - with the Buttery Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls from Abigail Dodge's "The Weekend Baker".

What I like about the book are its practical make-ahead instructions. Being convinced that even enriched doughs benefit from long fermentation, I followed Abby Dodge's suggestion (option 1), mixing the dough in the evening, and letting it rise slowly in the refrigerator overnight.

I made some changes to the original recipe. In my experience 5 g instant yeast (instead of 7 g) is sufficient for this amount of flour - the dough, even a rich one, will rise well.

Since I like substituting some whole grain for white flour, I also replaced 68 g of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat (adding 16 g water to the dough to make up for the whole grain addition). The amount of sugar in the recipe seemed rather high, so I reduced it by half (to 35 g).

I opted for the poppy seed version, adding 2 tablespoons instead of the measly one. And I mixed all the seeds into the dough, instead of sprinkling them on top of the shaped rolls - I knew from  experience that those seeds would fall right off after baking, if there is no egg wash to make them stick.

As with the other recipes I made from "The Weekend Baker", this one turned out really nice. The rolls were very flavorful, slightly sweet, with a nice crunch from the poppy seeds - and they looked very pretty, too.

And if you can't eat them all? No problem, they freeze really well, first wrapped in plastic foil, and then placed in a freezer bag.

This is my version of Abigail Dodge's Buttery Pull-Apart Dinner Rolls - the original recipe you can find here 


POPPY SEED DINNER ROLLS  (16)

8 fl oz half and half
16 g/0.5 oz water
85 g/6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
400 g/14 oz all-purpose flour
68 g/2.5 oz whole wheat flour
5 g instant yeast 
35 g/1.25 oz sugar
1 tsp. sea salt
3 large egg yolks
2 tbsp. poppy seeds
28 g/2 tbsp. melted butter, for glazing

DAY 1
In small saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter in the half-and-half, stirring constantly, until mixture registers ca. 125º F/52° C (instant-read thermometer.)

In bowl of stand mixer, stir together flours, yeast, sugar, salt and poppy seed until well blended. 

With dough hook, on medium-low speed, slowly pour warm liquid into flour mixture. Add egg yolks and water. Mix until all flour is hydrated.

Increase speed to medium-high, and knead for ca. 5 minutes. Dough should be very smooth, and clear bottom of bowl.

Place dough ball into lightly oiled container with lid, turning it around to coat. Cover, and let dough rise 1 1/2 times its original size, then refrigerate overnight.

DAY 2
Lightly grease a 9 x13" (23 x-33 cm) Pyrex baking dish. Transfer dough to (unfloured) work surface. Divide dough into 16 equal pieces (using a scale), covering them with plastic wrap.

To shape rolls: take one dough piece (or two, with both hands), place on dry work surface, and, with cupped palm, roll it with gentle pressure in tight circles until it forms a taut ball.

Place rolls, seam side down, in prepared baking dish, spacing them evenly. Mist with spray oil and cover with plastic wrap.

Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Let rolls rise in a warm place until they have grown ca. 1 1/2 times their original size, 45-60 minutes.

Bake rolls for 10 minutes, rotate dish 180 degrees, and continue baking until they are well browned, 10-15 minutes more. Remove rolls from oven and brush with melted butter. Serve warm.

DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

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When I saw the original name of these: "Emergency Blender Cupcakes", I almost decided to skip this month's ABC challenge. "Emergency" sounds like "fast food", using "just some stuff you might have at hand", like "throwing something haphazardly together". In other words - not very enticing for an avid baker!

But, trusting Hanaâ's judgement, and keeping in mind that the Cinnamon Rolls from "The Weekend Baker" had been fantastic (see my blog), I overcame my reservations, studied the recipe, and couldn't find anything in the list of ingredients to confirm my arrogant assumptions.

The cupcake batter is, indeed, mixed in a blender, but can be easily made in a regular mixer, too. And that's what I recommend, for I couldn't see any advantage in the "blending". The sides of the bowl had to be scraped down several times, it's more difficult to empty it out, and the mixing process is not any faster.

After 17 minutes baking time, the cupcakes domed nicely, showing moist, glistening cracks, as they should. And while they were still hot from the oven, the best of all husbands came into the kitchen and shamelessly grabbed one, under the pretext that he loved lava cake, and didn't care for frosting, anyway (wait and see...!)

Like the cake batter, the frosting was easy to prepare. As a Mainer, coffee addict, and proud owner of a pantry full of flavored liquors (don't get me wrong - as fancy ingredients, not for raw consumption!), I couldn't resist adding a tablespoon of Allen's Coffee Brandy to the mixture. (Two wouldn't have hurt, either.)

Abby Dodge, the author of "The Weekend Baker", admits to having a weakness for mountains of frosting. I saw that comment only after I was wondering how much was left in the bowl. But when I took my first bite, I realized her wisdom in piling the fudgy chocolate higher on the cakes. This frosting alone was worth the effort! (Half of the amount is plenty, though).

Chocolate on chocolate - a finishing touch was clearly needed. Though I always like something crunchy to bite on (Ben & Jerry's spoiled me for plain chip and chunk-less ice creams), sugary, colored sprinkles, as suggested in the recipe, don't do it for me. A nut topping was the obvious alternative. I used toasted walnuts, but hazelnuts would have been just as good.

In spite of their unassuming name, the cupcakes are delicious. Intensely chocolate-y and moist, not too sweet, and with the best chocolate fudge frosting I've ever tasted. The toasted walnut topping adds a satisfying crunch.

And the best of all husbands? Did he shun the frosted goodies? Guess, what .....


DARK CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES  (adapted from "The Weekend Baker")

Cakes:
43 g/1.5 oz        unsweetened natural cocoa (not Dutch processed)
175 ml/3/4 cup hot water
128 g/4.5 oz      all-purpose flour
227 g/8 oz         sugar
1/2 tsp              baking soda
1/4 tsp              sea salt
107 g/1/2 cup   canola or other vegetable oil
1                       large egg
1 1/2 tsp           vanilla extract

Frosting:
114 g/4 oz        bittersweet chocolate (60%), chopped
57 g/4 tbsp       unsalted butter
160 g/1/2 cup   sweetened condensed milk
40 g/1/8 cup    light corn syrup
1/2 tsp             vanilla extract
1 tbsp              coffee flavored liquor (optional)
1 pinch            salt
1/2 cup            walnuts, toasted and chopped, for topping


Preheat oven to 375ºF/190ºC. Line muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a small bowl, whisk together hot water, oil, vanilla, and egg. In a medium bowl (with a spout), whisk together flours, cocoa, sugar, baking soda and salt. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk until blended, ca. 1 minute.

Divide batter evenly between cupcake liners. Bake until needle comes out clean, 17 - 19 minutes. (Don't over-bake, the cracks on the surface should still look moist). Cool pan on wire rack for 10 minutes, then remove cupcakes from pan, and let cool completely before frosting.

Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler. Remove from heat and add condensed milk, corn syrup, vanilla, coffee liquor, and salt, whisking until well blended. Let cool to room temperature, whisking frequently.

With small spatula, spread frosting generously on top of cupcakes. Sprinkle with toasted walnuts.

Cupcakes can be stored, covered, up to 4 days at room temperature. Frosting can be stored for 3 weeks in refrigerator (leftovers can also be warmed and used as fudge sauce).

 
The original recipe you find in "The Weekend Baker", and in Abby Dodge's website (though here with a marshmallow frosting): 

And if you'd like to join the Avid Baker Challenge - there's definitely room for more! 

SAATENBROT - GERMAN MANY SEED BREAD

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The best recipe collection (bread, rolls and snacks) of German bakers' magazine,
"Allgemeine Bäckerzeitung", supplied this "seedy" bread for my "Equal Opportunity Baking" list.

A heavy weight, scaled for 21 loaves, with selling points, marketing tips, production cost and time calculation, including sales tax (7%) and even a suggested retail price (1.83 Euro). The production steps are briefly listed - no need to explain to professionals what they do every day.

Scaling the ingredients down to home baking proportions was not difficult (a minimum of 3 loaves), and the instructions, though brief, were precise, and didn't overtax my mental capacities.

The recipe said (more or less) only: "make a dough". I tried to stretch and fold it, but that didn't work too well, the dough was too wet. Therefore, instead of soaking only the flaxseeds in hot water for 1 hour (original recipe) I would include some of the flour in the soaker, to have a larger preferment, and more water already absorbed in the flour.

I like to retard my doughs, overnight fermentation works better for my schedule, and, also, improves the taste (the original recipe had only the longer starter development.)

The Bäckerzeitung says: "roll the shaped loaves over a wet towel, and then dip them into the (topping) seed mixture". Though this coated the breads nicely with seeds, they didn't stick well enough, and a lot of them fell off during and after baking. Next time I would brush the loaves with egg white, instead of just moistening them with water.

The breads turned out very nice, crusted with seeds they looked quite attractive, and the taste? Modestly (haha!) I will only quote my friend Lynn - beneficiary of this triplet bake: "Our seedy, seedy bread was delish! We toasted it which really brought out the flavor of the seeds! Mmmmmmm!"

SAATENBROT - MANY SEED BREAD (3 loaves, ca. 600 g each)

SOAKER
143 g whole wheat flour
  84 g medium rye flour
299 g water
     4 g salt
129 g flaxseed

 STARTER
  21 g rye mother starter (mine is 100% hydrated)
214 g medium rye flour
214 g water, lukewarm

FINAL DOUGH
130 g medium rye flour
143 g bread flour
187 g water
    5 g instant yeast
  12 g salt
129 g sesame, toasted
129 g hemp seeds
    2 g anise, caraway, fennel and/or coriander
    1 egg white (for brushing)
 14 g sesame seeds (for topping)
 14 g hemp seeds (for topping
 14 g flaxseed (for topping)

 DAY 1:
In the morning, stir together all ingredients for soaker, cover and let sit at room temperature. Mix all ingredients for starter (in 1-step), cover and let ferment at room temperature.

In the evening, mix together all ingredients for final dough for 1 - 2 minutes on low speed. Knead on medium-low speed for 4 minutes (or knead by hand). Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Resume kneading for another minute (dough will still be somewhat sticky). Divide dough into 3 portions, place in oiled containers, cover and refrigerate overnight.

DAY 2:
Remove dough from refrigerator 2 hours before using. Shape into sandwich loaves, or bâtards for free standing loaves. Brush breads with egg white, and then roll over seed mixture.

Place breads in oiled loaf pans, if making sandwich loaves, or bâtards on parchment lined baking sheet (no scoring.) Mist with spray oil, cover, and let rise for 45 - 60 minutes, or until they have grown 1 1/2 times their original size.

Preheat oven to 240ºC/465ºF, including steam pan. Place breads in oven, steaming with 1 cup of boiling water.  Bake at falling temperatures: 10 minutes at 240ºC/465ºF, 10 minutes at 220ºC/428ºF, then turn loaves out onto baking sheet, remove steam pan and continue baking for 10 minutes at 200ºC/400ºF, and 10 minutes at 180ºC/355ºF. The internal temperature should be at least 200 F/93 C.

Let breads cool completely on wire rack before slicing.

Update: I made them again, this time with chia instead of hemp seeds, and as free standing bâtards. With flour included in the soaker, it was much easier to handle the final dough. Brushing the loaves with egg white worked much better for the seed topping than the wet towel method.

Saatenbrot - Many Seed Bread


The German version of this post you'll find here.                                    Submitted to YeastSpotting

(UN)GLAZED CINNAMON ROLLS

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Fellow baker Hanaâ instigated me to buy yet another baking book - as if my bookshelves were not already buckling down under the weight of my cooking library. She invited me to join her ABC baking challenge, every month trying out a new recipe, currently from Abby Dodge's: "The Weekend Baker".

My husband loves sticky buns and their sugar laden relatives, but, though I like cinnamon, I was never very fond of the overly sweet stuff, he would sometimes buy. Therefore, without Hanaâ's challenge, I would probably never have thought of baking cinnamon rolls.

What I especially like about "The Weekend Baker" and this recipe, are the several "do ahead" options. I prefer working with slow fermentation, and most doughs show their appreciation for the cold treatment with a significant better taste, so, after a 30-minute rise, I put my my dough to sleep in the fridge overnight.

I always try to incorporate some whole grains in my recipes, a substitution of 10% white flour with whole grains doesn't require additional liquid, so I replaced 47 g of all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour.

The recipe was easy to follow, and the next morning the dough had nicely risen in the fridge. I rolled it out cold - it will come to room temperature quickly - and the filling was no problem, either. Next time I probably would add some toasted, chopped nuts, though.

Cutting a roll of dough in even slices with a bench scraper or knife is not that easy, the layers slipping away over the crumbly filling. Using dental floss, as Hanaâ suggested, works much better.

I skipped glazing the rolls, nice as it looks, it adds even more sugar, without contributing to the taste. And even without this decoration - the cinnamon rolls looked beautiful when they came out of the oven and their wonderful aroma filled the whole house, so that I could hardly wait to try one until they had cooled down a bit.

"... now I know their taste - now I'm a believer..." you don't have to be a Monkee to love these treats!
I am converted, and my husband could wallow in them, so good are they!

They, also, freeze well, wrapped in plastic foil and then placed in a ziplock bag. To enjoy them you only have to nuke them for a few seconds, and then re-crisp them at 350ºF/175ºC for a few minutes in the oven.

I can only encourage everybody to purchase Abby Dodge's "The Weekend Baker" - I got it, used, at amazon. But, if you would like to bake the cinnamon rolls, and don't have the book, Abby posted the recipe in Cookstr http://www.cookstr.com/recipes/glazed-cinnamon-rolls-2

And if you would like to join the ABC challenge - Hanaâ will be happy to welcome you (if you are not a jerk!)

MALT RYE ROLLS WITH SESAME & PUMPKIN SEEDS

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My first "Equal Opportunity Bread" (see my last post) had to be a batch of rolls. I like having a supply of rolls in my freezer, when we come home from a trip, and want a bread that thaws less sluggish than a large loaf.

So I grabbed one of my most favorite baking books - hey, who said I couldn't include my favorites in my fair baking? - "Brot aus Südtirol". Richard Ploner's breads are all small, mini breads, or rolls. The (professional baker's) reasoning: "They should all have the same size in a mixed bread basket".



This baking book has everything going for it, interesting recipes and appetizing photos. Unfortunately, it has not been translated into English, yet. Because of this sad omission I am happy to be able to translate at least some of its wonderful recipes for English speaking bakers.

The one thing I always change - apart for an adaptation of the ingredients to what is available in the US - are the very short fermentation times. Ploner doesn't retard his doughs, but I do, using either pre-doughs or the Stretch-and-Fold technique (S + F) and I am sure that even these nice breads benefit from it.

The original recipe lists sugar caramel color (15 g) - I didn't have it and didn't see a real need for it, either. Richard Ploner lets you choose between toasted soy flakes and pumpkin seeds - for me a no-brainer, since I love toasted pumpkin seeds, and buy them in bulk. The sesame seeds I toasted, too, to enhance their "nuttiness".

MALZBROT - TYROLEAN MALT RYE ROLLS WITH SESAME AND PUMPKIN SEEDS

    6 g instant yeast (or 9 g active dry)
280 g water, lukewarm
300 g all-purpose flour
100 g medium rye flour
100 g whole wheat flour
    5 g malted barley flour (non diastatic) (1 1/2 tsp)
    5 g sugar (1 tsp.)
    6 g sesame seeds, toasted (2 tsp.)
  50 g pumpkin seeds, toasted, chopped
    3 g caraway (1 tsp.)
  10 g salt

DAY 1:
1. Dissolve instant yeast in warm water. (Though this is not strictly necessary, it helps with the stretch-and-fold technique.) Mix with other dough ingredients to form a rough ball, 1 - 2 minutes on low speed (or with a wooden spoon). Let dough rest for 5 minutes.

2. Knead on medium-low speed (or by hand) for 2 minutes, adjusting tablespoon-wise with more water, if needed (dough should be a bit sticky). Continue kneading for 4 more minutes, the last 20 seconds at medium-high speed (dough should still be more sticky than tacky).

3. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled work bench, and, with wet or oiled hands, stretch and pat into a rough square, then fold it in thirds like a business letter. Fold it the same way again from the short sides. Tuck sides under dough to shape a ball, and place dough package in oiled bowl, seam side down. Cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.

4. Repeat S & F for 3 more times at 10 minute intervals (total time 40 minutes). After the last fold, place into oiled container, cover, and refrigerate overnight.

DAY 2:
5. Remove dough from refrigerator, it should have doubled in size.

6. Preheat oven to 428ºF/220ºC, including steam pan. Divide dough into 10 equal pieces. Pre-shape into rounds. Cover and let relax for 5 minutes.

7. With both hands, roll rounds into 10-cm/4" long strands, with tapered ends. Place, seam side down, on parchment lined baking sheet. Score lengthwise. Mist with oil spray, cover with plastic foil, and let rolls rise for 45 - 60 minutes, or until they have grown ca. 1 1/2 times their original size.

8. Bake rolls for 12 minutes, steaming with 1 cup of boiling water. Remove steam pan and rotate rolls 180 degrees for even browning. Continue baking for another 13 minutes, until they are golden brown. Leave rolls in switched-off oven with door slightly ajar for 5 more minutes, then let them cool on a wire rack.

Submitted to Yeast Spotting.