Day 6: Panettone

My first contact with panettone was back in 1996 when I was interrailing in southern Europe during the Christmas holidays. In Italy, I bought a huge panettone to take home with me and tied it to my tiny backpack, to the amusement of many co-travelers. But it certainly was worth the trouble!

Ever since, I’ve been a regular user of those mouth-watering Italian Christmas cakes. About two years ago, I realized that it would theoretically be possible to bake one at home, but I still didn’t dare trying it myself. “It’s just too complicated, it’s better to buy one”, advised even the owners of an Italian restaurant back in Germany.

I decided that this year it was time to make my own perfect panettone. Not a "fake one" like I’ baked before - sweet bread with the same flavours as panettone – but a real one.

And judging by everything else but the taste, I’ve managed it this time. (I’ll only be able to taste my panettone tomorrow, but I’ll let you know how it was as soon as we’ve had breakfast!)

The recipe I used is based on this Italian recipe. My Italian is far from being perfect, and I understood roughly half of what I read. I even tried Google translating it into Finnish – which only resulted in the best laugh I’ve had in a long, long time. (It seems that the machine translation has only developed in quantity, not in quality since the time I was studying :) )

This is what you need for 1 big panettone (about 1300g) or two small ones (about 650g):

For the first dough:

• 60g very stiff sourdough starter, refreshed three times with the same flour you’re going to use for your panettone


• 1g fresh yeast, dissolved in 90ml water


• 75g sugar


• 70g egg yolks


• 240g flour (I used a mixture of Italian flour type 00 and all-purpose flour)


• 85g butter

 

For the second dough:

• all of the first dough


• 40ml water


• 80g egg yolks


• 2 Tbsp sugar


• 2 Tbsp orange syrup (from the homemade candied orange peel)


• aromatic butter - made with 90g butter, melted the previous day together with 1 Tbsp honey, 1 vanilla pod, and the grated zest of 1 organic lemon and 1 organic orange, then stored in a cool place


• 120g raisins


• 60g homemade dried orange peels, in small cubes


• 2g salt (4 if using unsalted butter)


• about 200g flour (the original recipe said 60g, but I needed a lot more)

First of all, you need to make sure your sourdough starter is ready for the job! Refresh it on the first day three times, first at about 7AM, then at noon, and still at 4PM or so. Use the same flour as you are going to use for the panettone – special panettone flour seems to be available, but not here, so I used a mixture of all-purpose flour and Italian flour type 00. Make sure that your starter at least doubles in size between the feedings. The original recipe said it should triple – mine the most certainly didn’t; then again, I couldn’t control the temperature – it should have been 28-30C, and even in the warmest and most draft free spot in my kitchen, the temperature must not have been more than 25C. The starter should also be stiffer than usual - for 100g of starter, I used 100g flour and 40ml of water for the first feeding, then 100g flour and 70-80ml of water for the second and the third one.

During the first day, prepare the candied orange peels (use this recipe, only cut the peels into small cubes, instead of long stripes) and the aromatic butter for the second dough.

At about 7 or 8 PM, prepare the first dough. Combine all ingredients of the first dough in a baking bowl and knead about 10-15 minutes (I don’t have any kitchen machine, so I knead by hand). Then cover the dough with a damp kitchen towel and place in a warm and draft free place and let ferment overnight.

In the morning, check that the dough has at least doubled in volume. (If it hasn’t, too bad – my guess is that you’ll have to start all over again!) Mine had, so I proceeded to the second dough.



Add all the ingredients of the second dough into the first dough (remember to remove the vanilla pod from the aromatic butter!) and knead again about 10-15 minutes. Let the dough rest about 1 hour in a warmish place (about 25C). In the meantime, prepare your panettone papers: I didn’t have any, so I looked for instructions for making my own. This is what I used to make mine, and it worked well! Thank you, Chef in disguise!

Then place the panettone in the panettone paper. Cover with a damp kitchen towel and proof until doubled in size, again in a warmish and draft free place. This took about 8 hours.

Heat the oven to 190C and bake the panettone about 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160C or so, and bake until well baked. Panettone tends to burn on top, so keep an extra parchment paper on hand – if needed, just wet it and cover the panettone with it.

Take the panettone out and let cool enough that you can touch it without burning.

Now comes the weirdest part: one way or another, you should be able to hang your panettone upside down for the next 12 hours or so. The best way to do this is to wash well 2 knitting needles for each panettone, push them through it and place on top of a bowl (or on top of four glasses turned upside down, like I did). Be careful if using metal needles like I did: they get very hot!



Some recipes said you could eat your panettone right away, others instructed to wait a couple of days. Well, I don’t care, I the most certainly will try the first one tomorrow!

Sweet dreams :)

7.12: And here's the final product:



 

Sourdough Bagels

A bit more than one year ago, I started baking bagels with the recipe from “New York – les recettes culte”. Everyone loved them, and still do. They are everything you’d expect for good bagels to be – delicious and chewy!

Then I got curious: would it be possible to bake perfect bagels without yeast, using only levain instead? And, as usual, the answer is yes! No yeast needed, unless you want the fermentation go faster. (Then just add ½ tsp dry yeast or so.) I used 50% whole grain, 50% all-purpose flour, which I found a perfect compromise between health and pleasure ;) It’s possible to use 100% whole grain, but, well, one would have to get used to it first.

A very significant advantage of this recipe is that the dough doesn’t need to ferment twice – convenient for a lazy baker like myself!

Here’s what you need to make 10 mouth-watering bagels:

• 300g whole-grain wheat or spelt flour


• 325g all-purpose wheat flour


• 325g water


• 150g sourdough starter


• 10g salt


• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 2 Tbsp agave syrup (or other liquid sugar)


• 1 Tbsp gluten

And for the poaching:

• 3 liters water


• 1 Tbsp salt


• 1 Tbsp potato starch


• 1,5 Tbsp agave syrup (or other liquid sugar)

And some sesame and/or poppy seeds to decorate

This is how to do it:

Mix all ingredients in a baking bowl. Knead until you get a smooth but strong, chewing-gum-like dough – that takes about 10 minutes, at least if kneading by hand like I do.

Let the dough (and your poor hands!) get 10 minutes of rest before going to the next step!

Now divide the dough into 10 parts, each weighing about 110g. Form a smooth ball out of each, then make a hole in the middle. This, by the way, is the unorthodox way of making a bagel: actually, you should roll each piece in a long snake-like-form, then close the ends to form a circle. I’ve tried that method as well, but for me it just doesn’t work!

Place the bagels-to-be on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet. Dust them with a bit of flour, cover with a cling film and let ferment in room temperature for about 4 hours or in the fridge overnight.

Then it’s time to turn your oven on (225 C) and boil the poaching water in a large saucepan. Mix the starch with 100ml of cold water and add it to the poaching water, mixing with a spiral whisk so that the starch doesn’t go clumpy! Then add salt and syrup. Poach your bagels for about 30 seconds from both sides, remove with a skimmer, and place back on the oven tray.

Sprinkle with seeds – my favourite ones are black and white sesame seeds and poppy seeds.

Bake your bagels until they are golden brown, or about 20-25 minutes. Let cool on a rack before serving them!

P.S. Note that the amount of water you need for the dough depends on the flour you use: my whole-grain flour is very “thirsty”, that is: it needs more water. So I'd advise you to start the dough with a bit less water and add more if needed.

Putin's Pickles

I was strongly advised against calling my pickles “Putin’s Pickles”. I didn’t follow the good piece of advice, though, as very often is the case. (Will I ever learn?!) These pickles don’t actually have anything else to do with good old Vladimir except for the fact that they are made with a Russian-style recipe – without vinegar, that is.

Besides, many things in Finland are called Putin’s something these days: there’s been Putin’s cheese, Putin’s butter, and there’ll be Putin’s fish, from what I’ve read. All this because European products are no longer welcome in Russia, and now we poor Finns are drowning in food that is not good enough for uncle Vova.

But enough of politics and back to the pickles.

This is the way my parents used to prepare pickles every autumn. I’d never done it before myself, but now it was really the time! It’s not difficult at all, and the result is so much superior to anything you can buy that it is more than worth the trouble (not as much trouble as waiting, by the way). All you need is a bucket with a lid, cucumbers, blackcurrant leaves, horseradish, dill, and brine. One slice of rye bread is also needed to start the fermenting process.

What you need is:

• enough pickling cucumbers to fill a 3-liter bucket


• about 30 large blackcurrant leaves


• a couple of slices of horseradish


• some dill


• 1,5 l water


• 1,5 tbsp salt


• one slice of rye bread

First, make the brine: Bring the water to the boil, add the salt and let it melt. Let cool a couple of hours or overnight. Wash the cucumbers well and place them into cold water. Let them stand a few hours or overnight.

Then take cucumbers out of the water and place them in layers with blackcurrant leaves, dill, and horseradish in the bucket until you’ve used up all of the cucumbers. Pour the brine over the whole – they should be completely covered. If not, prepare more brine. Place one slice of rye bread somewhere in the middle!

Now starts the waiting part: first, only partly cover the bucket with the lid (that means, the cucumbers should get some air). Let stand in room temperature about 2-4 days, or until some foam appears in the liquid. By this time, the cucumbers will have gained their typical smell – a bit sour, yet fresh and very pleasant. The time needed depends on the temperature – I did mine during the great heat wave, and only 2 days were needed.

Then place a small plate on top of the cucumbers and press, making sure all of your future pickles are under water. Close the lid well and place the bucket in your fridge. Check once in a while – after 2 to 4 weeks (mine took almost 4 weeks but do check every few days), the cucumbers will have turned into the most delicious pickles you’ve ever had! They will have changed colour from fresh green to yellowish green, they should be soft yet not too soft, and when you cut them (lengthwise, of course!!), you can see that they are almost translucent from the inside.

That’s when it’s time to enjoy your pickles: cut them lengthwise and eat with rye bread, butter, smetana, and a bit of honey. Or the vegan way: just with sto gram vodka!

Mushroom Bruschette with Lemon and Parsley

Making a bruschetta is a perfect way to use up bread that otherwise would not be eaten – and as I’ve told, we quite often have to deal with that problem due to our “broken” oven ;)

Everyone loves tomato basil bruschetta, but this mushroom version is at least as tasty! Besides, it’s very quick to make. For this portion for two, I only needed 8 minutes.

 

 

For 2 as a light meal or 4 as a starter:

• 4 large slices of bread


• 1 garlic clove


• 200g mushrooms


• 2 Tbps lemon juice


• olive oil


• a handful of flat leaf parsley


• salt and black pepper to taste

This is how to do it:

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Quarter the mushrooms (or cut them even smaller if the mushrooms are big) and fry over a high heat about 5 minutes, stirring once in a while.

2. In the meantime, toast the breads and rub them with garlic clove.

3. Now,  add lemon juice, salt, pepper, chopped parsley in the pan, stir, and then remove from heat.

4. Place the bread slices on a plate, divide mushrooms on top of them, and decorate with some more parsley. Serve immediately!

Radish Green Soup

If you’ve ever been to Portugal, you know that a meal without a soup just isn’t possible. Even the Portuguese McDonald’s serves soup, I’ve been told. And there’s a fast-food chain serving only soups!

The inspiration for this soup comes from the most famous Portuguese soup, caldo verde. But instead of Portuguese kale, traditionally used in this soup, I opted for radish greens – a part of radishes I wasn’t used to eat! But they actually taste better than the actual radishes, if you ask me. They have a pleasant, nutty taste, and can be used fresh in a salad as well.

If you’re a meat eater, feel free to add a couple of slices of choriço per portion. Instead, I added some Backerbsen, or traditional German soup pearls.

For 4 portions, served as a starter:

•  200g leek


• 2 garlic cloves


• 450g potatoes


• the greens of 2 radish bunches


• olive oil


• salt and pepper to taste


• Backerbsen, if available


• water or vegetable broth, about 1 liter, divided

First, peel the potatoes and cut into cubes. Wash the leek and chop it. Peel and slice the garlic. Heat olive oil in a saucepot, add potatoes and leek and fry over a low heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the garlic and let fry a 1-2 minutes. Then add water or broth to amply cover the vegetables, and salt and pepper to taste. Cover and let simmer over a low heat until potatoes are tender, or some 20 minutes. Puree with a hand mixer.

In the meantime, prepare the radish greens. Wash them thoroughly and chop, using a knife or scissors. Boil about 300ml water or broth in a smaller pan. Add 2 pinches of salt (not needed if using broth) and the radish greens. Let cook until the leaves are cooked but still somewhat crunchy. It goes quite quickly!

To serve, divide the pureed soup onto four soup plates. Then divide the radish greens on the plates – with a bit of their cooking water, especially if the soup is very thick! Then sprinkle some olive oil, salt, and pepper – and Backerbsen, if available. Enjoy with a slice of good bread – and good conscience!

P.S. Unfortunately, one needs to peel the potatoes to make this soup. But instead of throwing them away, you could deep-fry them in oil, sprinkle with some salt, and serve as chips! Remember to use organically grown potatoes and wash them well.