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This month's posts -
A bun in the oven |
fredag, december 08, 2006A bun in the oven
I bet that post title made you look twice!
No need to start knitting booties or anything like that, I was merely trying to think of a title a bit less risque than my original thought about Adventures of a Masterbaker and decided to give you all a bit of a scare. Last year, I discovered that my husband is allegedly a great maker of cakes and buns. I say allegedly, because in the six years I've been here, I've NEVER seen him near the kitchen except to eat or rifle through the cupboards looking for where I've hidden his lollies. At a family gathering, I complimented my sister-in-law on her beautiful cake and she said to me that it was nothing compared to the cakes Lars-Göran used to make for birthday parties. After I picked myself up from the floor, I asked her if she was serious and she assured me that "everyone loves Lars-Göran's buns". I was tempted to give her an impromptu English lesson, where I explained why that statement just might be up to misinterpretation, but decided to let it pass. So yesterday, not only did my darling man bring me long stemmed red roses to celebrate our anniversary in Sweden, he also baked a big batch of mouth watering saffron buns. Am I the luckiest woman alive or what? He used a basic bun recipe, like the one from Sju Sorters Kakor (there is an English version available called Swedish Cakes and Cookies). This is the bible of Swedish biscuit, bun and cake recpies and I recommend it as a fabulous, easy to follow book. The closest online recipe I found was for cinnamon buns. In this case, you substitute 0.5g saffron for the cardamom in the buns and used 100g grated almond paste instead of the cinnamon in the filling part. So having heated his milk and butter and crumbled yeast (we used fresh yeast), he begins to mix in the dry ingredients (about three quarters of the flour, plus the salt and sugar all blended together) -716462.JPG) When it was well blended, he added the saffron. Usually, I use saffron threads that I presoak, but I found a new kind of liquid saffron at the shop, so he used that instead. -704958.JPG) To get an even stronger saffron flavour and colour you can crush the saffron and then mix it with the butter first, letting it stand for a couple of hours. This way you get a more intense saffron flavour. He continued to mix in the remainder of the flour until the dough was a suitable consistency. He said that it needs to be a soft dough or else the buns come out too dry. A stiffer dough may be easier to handle and roll out without sticking to everything, but the final product is what really counts. So basically, just as it starts to loosen from the side of the bowl is adequate. -782912.JPG) He covered the bowl with a clean teatowel and left it in a warm place for half an hour to prove. Meanwhile....... He grated the almond paste finely. Don't be stingy with the filling as it adds flavour to the buns. -721522.JPG) He then laid out the paper patty cases on oven trays. He made a double batch of dough, so he put out around 60 cases.  Then he combined the grated almond paste with the softened butter. In the end, he decided that this was a mistake as he had forgotten what he used to do. In future, he thought it would be easier and give a more uniform spread of filling to spread the butter directly on the dough and then sprinkle over the grated almond paste.  By now, half an hour had passed and the dough had risen to double the size. So it was time to pour it out onto a well floured surface and knead it firmly and gently, under the expert guidance of the Master Chef herself, Lambi.  What a beautiful golden colour! It seems to get more intense the longer you leave it. He worked quite quickly and lightly to blend in the dough, while Lambi kept an eye on proceedings in case a small scrap flew her way.  Now it was time to divide the dough into two pieces to make it easier to handle. Take one piece and roll it out to roughly a 30cm (12 inch) square and around 3mm (1/8 of an inch) thick. The dough is very elastic, so you need a firm hand and smooth, even strokes. Keep checking that it doesn't stick to your surface.  Next, spread over your softened butter. Ours was blended with the almond paste and was not easy to spread on the soft dough. A good tip for next time. Lambi is supervising the adding of the filling very carefully.  Next, sprinkle over the sugar. We chose to use a powdered sugar (vanilla sugar), but you could use icing sugar or even fine caster sugar if you like. Using the sieve ensures a nice, even coating.  Now you carefully roll up the pastry, in much the same way you would if you made a swiss roll or if you were making pinwheels.  Then cut the roll into thin slices (we got about thirty or so slices to each roll) and then lay them carefully into the paper cases.  These must be covered with a clean cloth and left to rise again for around half an hour. Here is the proud baker with his buns just before he covers them for the final proving.  While waiting for them to be ready to bake, he preset the oven to 250C (480F), he beat an egg in a small bowl, got out a pastry brush and a packet of pearl sugar. Then he cleaned up and washed everything! No, you can't have him. He's mine! -753674.JPG) Now for the finishing touches. First, brush the buns gently with the beaten egg.  Then sprinkle the pearl sugar on top of each bun.  Now pop them into ´the oven a tray at a time for around 8 minutes. You have to keep an eye on them as they can brown really fast. You want them to be a nice, golden colour, not browned as they will be too dry. They look great bubbling away in the oven and the smell of saffron combined with almond and fresh yeast just can't be beaten. -750743.jpg) Take them out of the oven and cool them on a wire rack. Saffron buns have a tendency to dry out very easily, so you should always freeze them as soon as they are cool enough to bag. Then take out only the number you need for fika and zap them for a few seconds in the microwave to defrost and warm them slightly.  Now all that remains is the all important taste test. For which I quite selflessly volunteer. And see how spoiled I am - a vase of long stemmed red roses, a cup of beautiful, steaming hot lemon-myrtle tea and a plate of saffron buns fresh from the oven. Oh yes, and that poodle on the table - STILL! -777606.jpg) What a perfect way to begin my new year here in Sweden, with flowers, tea, fresh buns and all this provided by and shared with the man I love. I'm afraid to pinch myself in case this is all a wonderful dream and will disappear when I wake up.
Comments:
Aren't they fabulous? I just love cooking with saffron as that colour is superb. I can tell you that they taste just as good as they look, too.
Thankyou for the anniversary wishes. It does feel very much like home for me in Sweden, especially with that lovely man of mine. You can keep George Clooney, I'm really happy with my master baker :)
LG's buns look delicious!! Congrats again on your anniversary. You have to promise that you will keep one saffron bun frozen for me to taste when I visit. I've only had one in my entire life and it was store bought - ha!
My swede is a baker too - makes excellent kanelbuns (don't know how to spell that yet!). They should have a bake off - ha!
So Monica, do I understand that you will let me check out your husband's buns if I let you check out my husband's buns? Very liberal of you :)
Whyen we mentioned the bun making to his kids they immediately put in orders, so he will be making more batches and I'll save a few for you. They are YUM! The cinnamon buns are kanelbullar (though don't do what I did when I first came here and accidentally asked at Blå Porten for a "knullbullar"!) Oops!
Excuse me for not being here until now! Shame on me! But as we say in Swedish: bättre sent än aldrig!
Ah, wonderful Lussebullar! He is a keeper yes :-) I love that minor language mistake.... *giggles* Especially since I've made a similar one (not as fun as yours, but...) despite the fact that I'm swedish!!! Monday Mornings Vicks Blå Oh, and happy anniversery :-)
Mrs Life Cruiser! Welcome..... (lays down the red carpet....).
Yes, he's not bad is he. I think I might let him stay, if he continues to produce such fabulous baked goodies. That was not a "minor" language mistake - at least not in the eyes of the waitress. Or the guy at Konsum when I did a direct translation of "whole wheat flour" and asked for "helvete mjöl"! Hmm...I wouldn't be surprised to hear someone asking for Pripps Blå at 6.30 am - you are a member of A-laget, I presume :) Thankyou for the anniversary wishes.
Oh my god, the deliciousness of it! Happy anniversary! And now I will stalk you on this blog.
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