Daring bakers December-Panettone

The december 2012 Daring bakers challenge was hosted by Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread.
I absolutely loved Panettone made by Marcellina recipe, it was great. I made half batch and than baked Panettone in a muffin pan so I got 12 little Panattones that I shared with my friends.

RECIPE:

SPONGE:

3,5 g active dry yeast
40 ml warm water
35 g flour

FIRST DOUGH:

3,5 g active dry yeast
25 ml warm water
1 egg
90 g flour
30 g sugar
60 g butter, room temperature

SECOND DOUGH:

1 egg
2 egg yolks
75 g sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon essence
1/2 teaspoon salt
115 g butter, room temperature
210 g flour + 50 g for kneading

FILLING AND FINAL DOUGH:

125 g rasins
40 g candied strawberrys, sliced in small pieces
40 g candied apricots, sliced in small pieces
grated zest one lemon
 2 tablespoons flour

For the sponge: Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy, about 10 minutes. Mix in the flour. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size for about 20 to 30 minutes. 
First dough: Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl and allow to stand until creamy. Mix in the sponge and beat well with wooden spoon. Stir in the egg, flour and sugar. Mix in the butter well. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to double in size, about 1-1 1/4 hours.
Second dough: Be sure to have first dough in a large bowl. With the wooden spoon mix in egg, egg yolks, sugar, honey vanilla and lemon essences and salt. Mix in the butter. Than add flour and mix until smooth. At this stage the dough will seem a little to soft. Turn it out and knead it on a well-floured surface until it sort of holds its shape. Don t knead in too much flour but you may need as much as 50 g. Be careful, the excess flour will affect the finished product. Oil a large bowl lightly, plop in your dough and cove with plastic wrap. Let the dough rise for two hours in a warm place and then place it in a refigerator over night. 
Next day soak the raisins, apricots and strawberrys in water 30 minutes. Drain and pat dry with paper towels. Now take your dough and cut it in half. Combine all filling ingredients and mix well. Press one portion of dough into an oval shape. Sprinkle over one quarter of the filling and roll up a dough into a log. Press out again into an oval shape and sprinkle over another quarter of the filling. Roll into a log shape again. Cut the dough in to six equal pieces and shape each into a ball and slip into your prepared muffin tin furred with muffin paper cup. Repeat with the second portion of dough. Cut an X into the top of each panettone and allow to double in size. This will take about 4 hours. When the dough has only about 30 minutes left to rise preheat your oven to 200 C. Just before baking crefully cut the X into the dough again and place in a knob of butter. Place your panettone in oven and bake them for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180 C and for another 10 minutes. Reduce the heat again to 160 C and bake for 25 minutes until the tops are browned and a skewer inserted in panattone comes out clean. 
Cooling your panettone is also important. Lie your panettone on their side cusioned with rolled up paper towels.

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Daring bakers challenge may 2012- Challah

May s Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood. Ruth challenge everyone to make challah. Using recipes from all over, and tips from "A taste of challah", by Tamara Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.
I made whole wheat challah and I really loved it. It wasn t too sweet so i eat it both sweet and sour spreads. I made three straind braid because I liked the story about it.Here is the story: many attrebute a word to each of the three strands used: zachor (remember), shamour (observe or guard) and b dibur echad (with one word). The braiding of the three words is  a physical reminder of the importance of remembering and observing Sabbath as one commandment.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

15 g dry yeast
240 ml warm water 

100 g brown sugar

120 ml margarine
15 g salt
3  eggs
280 g whole wheat flour
280 g all-purpose flour
50 g rolled oats
Additional flour for kneading
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water for glaze

In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve yeast in warm water. Allow to stand about 5 minutes until creamy/foamy.With paddle attachment beat 3 eggs, sugar, margarine (or butter), whole wheat flour, all purpose flour and oats into the yeast mixture. Or, if mixing by hand (ok, spoon), combine eggs and margarine/butter with yeast mixture until well mixed. Add flours and oats and mix until it becomes difficult to mix.Once combined, switch to the dough hook and knead for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding flour as/if needed. If kneading by hand, this should take about 10-12 minutes.Form dough into a round, compact ball. Turn in oiled bowl, cover with a kitchen/tea towel. Let rise in warm area until doubled, approx. 2 hours. Once dough has doubled, punch down. Recover with towel, allow to rise again for an hour, but even 30 minutes will be fine if you’re in a hurry. Punch the dough down again, divide in two.Shape each half as desired. Place shaped loaves onto parchment covered baking trays. Cover with the towel and allow to rise another hour. Preheat oven to 180 C.Brush loaves with egg wash. (Sprinkle with vanilla sugar/sesame seeds/poppy seeds/other topping here if desired).Bake 30 to 40 min. until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.Transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool before serving.

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Nazook-Daring bakers challenge April 2012

April 2012 Daring bakers challenge was hosted by Jason at Daily Condor. He challenge everyone to make one of two Armenian standards: nazook or nutmeg cake. I chose to make nazook. Nazook is layered yeasted dough pastry with a sweet filling. I really liked it, but be careful it is truly addictive.

RECIPE:

Pastry dough:

420 g flour
7 g active dry yeast
225 g sour cream
225 g softened butter

Filling:

210 g flour
340 g sugar
170 g softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Wash:

1 egg

Make the pastry dough:place the sifted flour into a large bowl. Add the dry yeast, and mix it in. Add the sour cream and the softened butter. Use your hands to work the dough. Continue to knead for about 10 minutes, or until the dough no longer sticks to the bowl or your hands. If it remains very sticky, add some flour, a little at a time. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 3-5 hours or overnight if you like.
Make the filling: mix the flour, sugar and the softened butter in a medium bowl. Add the vanilla extract. Mix the filling until it looks like clumpy, damp sand. Set aside.
Make nazook: preheat oven to moderate 175 C. Cut the refrigerated dough into quarters. Form one of the quarters into ball. Dust your working surface with a little flour. Roll out the dough into a large rectangle or oval. The dough should be thin, but not transparent. Spread 1/4 of the filling mixture across the rolled-out dough in an even layer. From one of the long sides, start slowly rolling the dough across until you have a long, thin loaf.Pat down the loaf with your palm and fingers so that it flattens out a bit. Apply your egg wash with a pastry brush. Cut the loaf into equally sized pieces. Put onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Place in a preheated oven for about 30 minutes, until the tops are a rich, golden brown. Allow to cool and enjoy.

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Povitica-Daring Bakers October 2011

October 2011 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Jenni from The Gingered Whisk. Jenni challenge everyone to make povitica.
Povitica is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. I Croatia where I live it is called orehnjača.
I was really satisfied with this challenge. I haven t made this kind of dessert for some while. The original recipe was quite big so I made just quarter batch.

RECIPE: 

To activate the Yeast:

½ teaspoon  sugar
¼ teaspoon   flour
2 tablespoons warm water
1½ teaspoons  dry yeast

Dough:

120 ml whole milk

43 g sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 egg

30 g butter, melted

280 g flour 

Filling:

280 g ground walnuts

60 ml milk

60 g butter
1 egg yolk beaten
¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

115 g sugar
¼ teaspoon cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

To Activate Yeast:

In a small bowl, stir sugar, flour, and the yeast into 0.5 dl warm water and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to stand for 5 minutes.

To Make the Dough:

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk up to just below boiling, stirring constantly so that a film does not form on the top of the milk. You want it hot enough to scald you, but not boiling. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, mix the milk, sugar, and the salt until combined.Add the beaten egg, yeast mixture, melted butter, and flour. Blend thoroughly. Turn dough out onto floured surface and knead, gradually adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and does not stick.Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with a layer of plastic wrap and then a kitchen towel and let rise an hour and a half in a warm place, until doubled in size.

To Make the Filling:

In a large bowl mix together the ground walnuts, sugar, cinnamon and cocoa. Heat the milk and butter to boiling. Pour the liquid over the nut/sugar mixture. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Allow to stand at room temperature until ready to be spread on the dough. If the mixture thickens, add a small amount of warm milk.

To Roll and Assemble the Dough:

Spread a clean sheet or cloth over your entire table so that it is covered. Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons to a handful of flour (use flour sparingly) Place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until it measures roughly  25  cm by 30 cm in diameter.  Using the tops of your hands, stretch dough out from the center until the dough is thin and uniformly opaque. You can also use your rolling pin, if you prefer.As you work, continually pick up the dough from the table, not only to help in stretching it out, but also to make sure that it isn’t sticking.
22. When you think it the dough is thin enough, try to get it a little thinner. It should be so thin that you can see the color and perhaps the pattern of the sheet underneath.Spoon filling evenly over dough until covered.Lift the edge of the cloth and gently roll the dough like a jelly roll.Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently lift it up and place it into a greased loaf pan in the shape of a “U”, with the ends meeting in the middle. You want to coil the dough around itself, as this will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.Brush the top of each loaf with beaten egg white.Cover pans lightly will plastic wrap and allow to rest for approximately 15 minutes.Preheat oven to moderate 180°C. Remove plastic wrap from dough and place into the preheated oven and bake for approximately 15 minutes.Turn down the oven temperature to 150°C and bake for an additional 45 minutes, or until done.Remove bread from oven and brush with melted butter.It is recommended that the best way to cut Povitica loaves into slices is by turning the loaf upside down and slicing with a serrated knife.

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