roll

Lava Rolls

January 25, 2017


My son is interested in volcanoes. He asked me to bake lava rolls. Lava rolls? There's a challenge! What lava rolls should look like? They should look like lava, of course!

Honestly, I had no idea what I was doing, but I had five tricks up my sleeve to get the right look. First, I made a moist dough. This way the shape of Lava Rolls will be a bit unpredictable. Second, I kneaded the dough only 5 minutes, because I didn't want it to be strong. Instead, I hoped that the rolls will be tearing in the oven. For the same reason I didn't let the rolls rise properly. I was hasty. Fourth secret was the quark dough, which will make the crumb pale. Color palette will be perfect if the oven temperature is hot and the rolls are in the oven as long as possible without burning. At this point, all this was pure speculation, but when I saw the outcome, I was pleased with it.

 Add wheat flours, knead the dough 10 minutes, let the rolls rise a little bit longer and decrease the oven temperature to 200°C, and - Voilà! - you get ordinary rolls with no lava in sight. 

 12 pcs.

250 g quark
2 dl (200 g) milk
50 g fresh yeast
1 tsp salt
0,5 dl (70 g) honey
1 tbsp caraway seeds
0,5 dl (50 g) butter, melted
2 dl (100 g) bean flour
7 dl (450 g) wheat flour

Dissolve yeast, salt and honey in lukewarm quark-milk-mix. Add caraway seeds and melted butter. Gradually mix in the flours and knead the dough for 5 minutes. 

Cover with a tea towel and let rise.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead about 3 minutes. Roll the dough into a rope. Cut the rope into 12 pieces. Shape each piece into a knot. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the rolls on it. It's lots of rolls on one tray! Rolls might touch each other in the oven, but it's quite ok, because they are "lava".

Cover with a tea towel and let rise.

Preheat the oven to 225°C and bake for 20 minutes. 

Let cool on a wire rack.

tin

Breakfast Bread

January 18, 2017


This is a lovely bread for breakfast and also a perfect match with Scandinavian-style mushroom salad.

The recipe is very versatile. You can replace milk with water and walnut oil with ordinary cooking oil. You can also use any kind of nuts. 

1 bread 

4 dl (400 g) milk 
1 dl (80 g) dried peas, crushed 
30 g fresh yeast 
1 tsp salt 
1 tbsp honey 
0,5 dl (50 g) walnut oil 
1 dl (60 g) walnuts, chopped 
0,5 dl (30 g) sesame seeds 
8 dl (520 g) wheat flour 

Boil up the milk and pour it over the crushed peas. Let cool. Stir the yeast, salt and honey into the lukewarm milk mix. Add oil, nuts and sesame seeds. Gradually mix in the wheat flour and knead the dough for 8–10 minutes. 

Cover and leave to rise at room temperature for about 30 minutes. 

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it. Shape the dough into a loaf and put it into an oiled tin. 

Cover and leave to rise for 30 minutes. 

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Bake for 50–60 minutes. 

Let cool on a wire rack.


granola

Paradise Granola

January 12, 2017


Paradise Granola brings sun to any breakfast. It's so hard to resist this treat that sometimes we all go to the granola jar and eat this like candy. You might be tempted to do likewise.

7 dl (250 g) old fashioned oats 
2 dl (120 g) nuts, crushed 
1 dl (35 g) coconut flakes, coarsely crushed 
2 tbsp cane sugar 
2 tsp vanilla sugar 
0,5 tsp salt
1 banana 
0,5 dl honey 
0,5 dl (45 g) coconut oil 
0,5 dl (50 g) water 
0,5 lemon, juice 
1 tsp vanilla sugar 
100 g chocolate, chopped 
1 dl (60 g) dried mango, chopped 

Combine the oats, roughly chopped nuts, coconut flakes, cane sugar, vanilla sugar and salt in a large bowl. Mash the banana and mix it with coconut oil, water, lemon juice and vanilla sugar. Pour the wet-mix into the dry-mix. Stir well. Line a large baking tray with a baking paper sheet, spread the granola on top and press it down with the back of a spoon as firmly as you can.

Preheat the oven to 175°C. Place the baking tray on the center rack of the heated oven. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, flip over and put the granola back into the oven. Bake for another 20 minutes. Make sure the granola is completely dry and remove from the oven. 

Break the granola in rough pieces. Set aside to cool. Add chocolate and mango to the granola. Mix and store in an airtight jar. 

Enjoy with yoghurt.


malt

Sourdough Bread

January 05, 2017


This bread has character! It has strength like rye breads even though it's a wheat bread. What's more, it keeps well and only gets better after a day or two. 

 1 bread 

First day 

2 dl (200 g) water 
2 dl (130 g) wheat flour 
1 dl (100 g) sourdough starter 

Combine the ingredients in a baking bowl. Cover with a tea towel and leave at room temperature (22–24°C) overnight. 

Second day 

the starter dough from the day before 
1 dl (100 g) lukewarm water 
1 tsp salt 
1 tbsp caraway seeds 
3 tbsp bread malt 
4 dl (260 g) wheat flour 

Blend lukewarm water, salt, seeds and bread malt with the starter dough. Add wheat flour and knead for 5 minutes. Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rise for 15 minutes at room temperature. Fold. Cover and let rise for 15 minutes. For the second and the third fold, repeat as the first fold. For the fourth and final fold, repeat the folding as before and shape the dough into a round bread. Put it into a proofing basket. Cover with a tea towel and let rest in the refrigerator overnight. 

Third day 

Take the bread from the fridge, let it come up to room temperature and rise until it has almost doubled in size. 

Preheat the oven to 250°C. Line a baking tray with a sheet of parchment paper and flip the bread on it. Score and put the bread in the oven. Reduce the temperature to 225°C and bake for 20 minutes. 

Let cool on a wire rack.