Pretzels, Medieval Style

If you ask about any German what’s their best recipe for making pretzels at home, they would look at you as if you were from outer space and say, “I never BAKE them myself, I BUY them!” And that makes sense: every bakery here in Germany has delicious fresh pretzels all day round. It’s like Finns and the Carelian pasties – why bother baking them yourself when you can buy them everywhere?

But here’s the thing: in four months or so, I’ll be living in a country where the only pretzels to be found are sold at Lidl (and from what I’ve heard, they come directly from… China! Please let this be an urban legend!!), or at some exclusive bakery at a ridiculous price. So I thought, it’s time I learn to bake my own.

The first pretzels are said to be baked in 610 AD (according to Wikipedia). Back then, there was no white flour nor commercial yeast available, so I thought it would make sense to try with 100% whole-grain and sourdough starter. I added just a little bit of yeast to speed up the fermentation – but maybe this wouldn’t be even necessary. As a base for my recipe, I used this one from Plötzlblog. But as you can see, mine is quite different…

The problem for us home-bakers is that in bakeries pretzels are immersed into lye solution before being baked in the oven. Now I’m not a big fan of such dangerous experiments in a kitchen - especially with young kids around. But luckily, there’s another way: to use a baking soda soak instead. And hurray, it works! My first result didn’t convince the kids yet (“MUM!!! Go to the bakery and get some REAL ones!”), but the second attempt did. So I’m more than happy to share this recipe with you!

For 6 pretzels you need:

• 140g sourdough starter


• 170ml water


• 300g whole-grain wheat flour


• 0,5g dry yeast


• 10g gluten (for a chewier texture)


• 6g salt


• 10g sugar


• 20g butter (or vegan margarine)

For the soak:

• 3 Tbsp baking soda


• 1 liter water

To garnish:

• 2 tsp or so pretzel salt

Combine all ingredients in a baking bowl and knead the dough for about 15 minutes (I do it by hand, you can use a kitchen machine if you have one), until nice and firm. If you notice that there’s too little water, add some more, but not too much: this dough should be firm, a bit like chewing gum ;)

Let the dough ferment in a warmish place about 30 minutes. Then knead again for 1-2 minutes, divide the dough into 6 equal-sized parts (mine were about 110g each) and wait a few minutes before working them into long thin sticks that are thicker in the middle. If the consistency of your dough is right, you don’t even need flour on the working surface. When all are done, shape them into pretzels. Mine started to look more or less ok after the fourth one or so…!

Place your pretzels on a baking tray covered with a baking sheet. Cover with a cling film and a place in a cool place (fridge, cellar, balcony) – about 7-10 degrees would be ideal. Let ferment over night. (For a quicker fermentation, let ferment in room temperature for 4-5 hours.)

In the morning, set your oven to 225 C. Bring 1 liter of water to the boil. Add the baking soda – it frizzles a lot at first! Then soak your pretzels one by one in the boiling soda soak, about 30 seconds each. Place the soaked ones on the baking tray. When all are done, use a razor blade to make a long cut in the middle of the thick part, sprinkle salt on your pretzels, and bake them in the oven until beautifully brown, or about 15-20 minutes.

Serve with butter and coffee – or beer, depending on what time of the day it is!

Sweet Pesto with Mint and Almonds

The other night I was lying in my bed and couldn’t sleep. Then suddenly I had a vision: sweet pesto! With mint instead of basil and almonds instead of pine nuts. I just couldn’t wait until next day to try it out!

I also wanted to check if I was the first person ever to have thought about making a sweet pesto out of mint, honey, and almonds. I hoped I was. I was already picturing every supermarket in Finland selling a kit including all that it takes to make THE Mint Pesto, just like what happened with the (now) famous avocado pasta.

A quick google search revealed the bitter truth: mint pesto had already been invented. But still, mint pesto is one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted! It’s easy to do and fits perfectly with many fruit desserts. So far, I’ve had it with fresh pineapple, mango, and fruit salad, but it must be great with strawberries, ice cream, and even chocolate cake! In fact, I can’t think of anything that wouldn’t be even better with a bit of mint pesto on top!

This is what you need:

• 15g fresh mint (NOT peppermint!)


• 20g honey or agave syrup


• 25g bleached almonds


• 25g almond/hazelnut/sunflower oil

Place mint leaves, honey, almonds, and oil in your food processor and mix until smooth. Add a bit water if needed. That’s it!

Enjoy!

Lemon Clementine Cake with Chocolate Icing

This recipe comes from Ottolenghi’s and Tamimi’s book Jerusalem, and I tried it for the first time during my No Cost Food Week. Now it has become one of my favourite cakes: it’s chocolaty and fruity at the same time, and it keeps very well at least four or five days in the fridge.

The problem is to find organic clementines from which it’s safe to use the zest. If you can’t find any, you can use orange as well, but the result is (at least in my opinion) a little bit less delicious. Oh, and I obviously reduced the amount of sugar compared to the original recipe. I’m not a fan of overly sweet stuff – in case you are, feel free to use more sugar!

For one cake you need:

• 200g butter


• 200g sugar


• grated zest of 4 clementines and 1 lemon


• 250g ground almonds


• 5 organic eggs


• 120 g whole-grain (spelt) flour


• pinch of salt

For the syrup:

• 80g sugar


• juice of 4 clementines and one lemon

For the chocolate icing:

• 90g butter


• 150g dark chocolate


• 1 Tbsp honey


• 1 Tbsp cognac

Set your oven to 180 C. Mix together butter (cut in small cubes) and sugar until fluffy. Add the grated clementine and lemon zest. Then add the eggs, one by one, and keep mixing. Combine together flour, salt, ground almonds, and add into the butter-sugar-egg-mixture. Oil a round cake form (mine has a diameter of 24cm) and pour the batter in it. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean, or about 25-30 minutes.

In the meantime, prepare the syrup: combine sugar and juices in a pan and bring to a boil. When the cake comes out of the oven, sprinkle the syrup evenly on it. Let cool down in the form about 15 minutes, then remove and place on a serving plate.

Now it’s time to make the icing: place butter, chocolate, honey, and cognac in a pan and heat slowly until all ingredients melt. Stir carefully with a wooden spoon. You can also do the icing in the microwave oven or in bain-marie – less risk of burning it!

Spread the icing evenly on your cake. Decorate with long strips of (organic!) orange zest. Mine looked more like carrot peels, but it looked kind of cool anyway!

If you have time, cool the cake well before eating it – our unanimous opinion was that it tasted clearly better when cold!

When Tomato Soup Died and Went to Heaven

My oven seems to be somehow broken. Every day, a new loaf of bread pops out of it. We just never manage to eat as much bread as my oven produces. I’ve already suggested we try to get it fixed, but, well, my husband doesn’t seem to take this problem very seriously! Luckily I remembered that a cousin of mine used to make a great Italian tomato-bread dish called Pappa al pomodoro. So I did a quick Google search, found Jamie Oliver’s version, modified it a bit – and voilà! The best tomato soup ever was born. And hey, it happens to be vegan!

To feed two moderately hungry people you need:

• 200g cherry tomatoes


• olive oil


• salt


• black pepper


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• fresh herbs of your liking – I used a mixture of basil, rosemary, and parsley

...and for the soup itself:

• ½ of a big red onion or 1 smallish


• 1-2 garlic cloves


• olive oil


• 100ml white wine


• 400g canned tomatoes


• 350ml water


• 5 slices of bread, preferably 2-3 days old  I used whole-grain sourdough bread - that's what my oven delivers ;) )


• salt and black pepper to taste


• fresh herbs of your liking – I used rosemary and parsley, and some basil to decorate

First, set your oven to 180 C. Halve the cherry tomatoes, peel and slice the garlic (not too thin, or they’ll burn) and place them with the herbs in an oven tray. Sprinkle generously with olive oil, salt, and pepper. Bake for 30-40 minutes, making sure the garlic doesn’t burn!

In the meantime, prepare the soup. Heat the oil in a pan, add chopped onion and garlic and sauté until translucent. Then add the white wine and herbs and let boil for a couple of minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, water, salt, and pepper, and let simmer over a low heat for about 25-30 minutes. Now, cut the bread in cubes and place in the pan. Stir, and let simmer about 10 more minutes. The consistency should be more like that of a stew, not really of a soup, but if it’s really too thick, add some more water.

Divide the soup in two soup plates or bowls, top with baked cherry tomatoes and some fresh herbs. Serve with a glass of red wine – perfetto! For an extra kick, add some peperoncino.

 

Easter Bunny's Favourite Cookies

I’m back, folks! With a lot of new energy and loads of new recipes and ideas.

Every year we’re asked to bake something to the Easter Market that my kids’ kindergarten organizes. This year I volunteered to bake Easter Bunny Cookies, among other things. Unfortunately, the recipe I got from another Mom last year somehow got lost in the meanwhile (what a surprise!), so I had to come up with a new recipe. I decided to combine all of my favourite cookie flavours in one, and here’s the result: almond-lemon-vanilla-butter cookies!

I baked the cookies with whole-grain wheat flour. Not just because of the health benefits, but because I’ve found the perfect whole-grain flour! It’s organic; it’s ground with a special lava-stone mill that grinds it really very fine, so that the texture is just like all-purpose flour; and it tastes WONDERFUL. Not “I-know-this-is-healthy-so-I-decide-it-tastes-good-although-it-actually-tastes-like-hay” kind of wonderful, but really delicious! Now if you don’t find that kind of whole-grain flour, I suggest you either use all-purpose or a mixture of whole-grain and all-purpose.

For about 60 small bunnies you need:

• 250g butter


• 300g flour


• 80g ground almonds


• 90g sugar


• 8g vanilla sugar


• 1 tsp baking powder


• a generous pinch of salt (less if using salted butter)


• grated zest of an organic lemon


• 2 egg yolks (keep the whites to make a Pavlova, for example! Recipe will follow…)


• 3 Tbsp cream

First, cut the butter in small cubes and place the cubes in a baking bowl. Add lemon zest. Combine together flour, sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, almonds, and baking powder. Pour the flour mixture in the bowl. Work butter and the flour mixture with your fingertips until the texture resembles fine crumbles. Then add egg yolks and cream and work with your hands to form a ball. Add more cream (or water) if needed. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Set your oven to 200 C. Roll the dough out about 4mm thin and cut out cookies using a bunny-shaped cookie cutter. Place the cookies on a oven tray covered with a baking sheet. Bake about 8 minutes or until golden brown.

For an even prettier result, decorate your cookies with sugar cookie icing!

Day Seven: Pizza Polenta with Spinach and Peas

On the final day of my No Cost Food Week I wanted to use up a polenta package that I had open, to make the easiest of my polenta recipes. I didn’t use to like polenta at all, actually. But after moving to Germany I decided to give it another try - and I loved it! Best of all: the kids did as well.

This dish is yet another alternative to pizza, and even simpler and quicker than Flammkuchen. And very, very tasty! As toppings I used spinach and green peas that had been lying on the bottom of my freezer for ages. Just like with the Shepherd’s pie recipe, this first time combination of ingredients (thank you No Cost Week!) beats the one I would normally make, by far. Normally I would use garlicky mushrooms, but spinach really gives the Pizza polenta a fresh taste!

For four portions you need:

• 250g polenta


• 100g frozen spinach


• a handful of frozen peas


• ¼ onion, cut in thin rings


• 1 mozzarella (125g - or more if you have!)


• any grated cheese available - I used Parmesan


• salt and pepper to taste


• 2 Tbsp olive oil

Boil 1 liter of water in a pan. Add 1 tsp salt and 2 Tbsp olive, then add the polenta and whisk. Turn the heat down and let simmer a couple of minutes. Pour polenta on an oven tray covered with a parchment paper and spread it out about 1cm thick using a spatula. Place spinach, peas, and onion rings evenly on top of polenta, then the mozzarella cut in slices and finally grated (Parmesan) cheese, salt, and pepper.

Bake in a preheated oven (200 C) until the cheese melts and starts to get brown. Serve piping hot with some salad - if you've got any left. I didn’t :)

Day Six: Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

On the sixth day of No Cost Food Week I had run out of milk and all-purpose flour. I don’t need any milk myself, but the kids do. And I don’t need all-purpose flour either - but my sourdough would die without it! So I decided to cheat a bit and buy these two things.

For lunch we had leftovers from Pasta 007. For dinner I didn’t have much choice anymore: I had lentils (brown, black, and red), a couple of carrots and onions, a bit of Savoy cabbage, one butternut squash, a bit of celeriac, potatoes, a bit of butter, frozen peas and spinach, a bit of cheese, and that’s about it.

I decided to cook a vegetarian shepherd’s pie. Normally I’d use a variety of veggies and mushrooms, but now I had no choice. I used half of the butternut squash, one onion, the rest of the cabbage, and red lentils. Surprisingly enough, this combination was much tastier than the one I normally do!

This is what you need for 4 portions:

• 1 onion


• ½ butternut squash (large-ish)


• 200g Savoy cabbage (even more if you’ve got :) )


• 100g red lentils


• 2-3 garlic cloves


• 2 Tbsp olive oil


• 800g potatoes


• 30g butter (optional)


• salt and pepper to taste

First, peel the potatoes and cut them into cubes. Boil them in salted water until tender, or about 15-20 minutes.

In the meantime, chop the onion, crush the garlic cloves, peel the squash and cut it into cubes, and wash and drain the lentils. Heat oil in a large pan. Sauté the onions until they are translucent , then add garlic and cabbage and sauté five more minutes. Then add squash, lentils, water, and salt and pepper, and let simmer over a low heat until the vegetables are tender.

Now return to the potatoes: leave enough water to mash the potatoes (or use milk instead: I didn’t have any to spare at this point..!). Add the butter (if using) and stir until it melts.

Place the veggies-lentil-mixture on the bottom of an oven pan (a Pyrex or a lasagne form is perfect). Top with mashed potatoes and cook in a preheated oven (200 C) until golden brown spots start to appear on the surface.

If I’d have to choose one dish so far from the ones I’ve cooked this week, this would probably be it! Oh wait, it would be the meat stew. But you get the point: it’s delicious!