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2025: German classics and International Yums |
   Ja, ja, I know. Only baking absurdly Yummy S– will maybe not get exactly boring (as it's VERY varied, indeed  ), but probably still a bit one-sided.  But I'll admit it: I'm REALLY decluttering and downsizing my place now, and a LOT of intense emotions are coming up and I need SOUL FOOD.  Because of this recipe, by the way, I bought Luxembourgish Cook, Anne Faber's: Baking with Anne. Ja, ja, I know, I should stop entering bookstores (my equivalent to shoe shops  ) and opening cooking-/baking books at random pages, and then buy them because my stomach / brain like what they see and tell me to. But hey, YOU ALL profit from it, so shut up.  So, I carried both the book and the desire to make this recipe around for some time, but was always distracted by other Yums in "STILL NEW YORK-HUNGRY"  . Also, this one takes a little... LOT time: maybe not the SIX hours it eventually took me , but 4+ is realistic. So this is rather a Sunday Yum.  But SO worth the time.  Of course, there's a little backstory here, too. On 2/26 my cleaning lady was there (I "inherited" her from my late parents), when the bell rang... and, distracted by conversation, I buzzed them in, only questioning the action afterwards. Manuela asked who it was, obviously having picked up on something I didn't yet. After I told her she said, "Hm! Sounds fishy. I'll go look." She went round the elevator next/left to/of my door and opened the Emergency door (firefighter entry) to look down. I followed her, and a few moments later the most dreaded sound echoed through the staircase: my (heavy security) door slamming shut, keys and our phones OF COURSE inside.  There was a time not too long ago when I'd freaked out (which Manuela did a bit) but then I just sighed, shook my head, and said, "Scheiße." The guys came up, Manuela talked to (and "cleared") them, then they started discussing the mishap and what to do. Meanwhile my gaze zoned out onto the community balcony opposite the Emergency entry. It's not accessible because the key(s) have mysteriously vanished after the door had been replaced after a break-in years ago. But a fickle lightbulb popped up over my head. In that exact moment , one of the guys offered to lift one of us up to my kitchen balcony (they were there to clean the building's windows), so I could lift the shutter of the French window and so get in.Great idea, BUT: the open window that had caused the devilish puff of wind was on the OTHER side of the building, where the hydraulic lift couldn't access, and all other windows were closed. In that moment, I saw movement in the corner of my eye in my neighbor Anne's flat – and the fickle lightbulb turned into a bloody strike of lightning!  I rushed over and rang her bell. The poor woman had just come out of the shower and was only clad in a bathrobe when I elaborated the problem... and how I intended to solve it, if she was willing to help. She was a little skeptic, first handed us certain materials to try and "crack" the door – strong cardboard, a loyalty card – but it being a SECURITY door, it wouldn't budge. In the end, when I promised "No, I'm not nosy, I won't look at anything", etc. Anne let me in... and onto her balcony, which was connected to the unaccessible community balcony by a narrow niche. While we removed some gardening stuff, she told me she was worried that I'd fall down the four stories to the backyard. I just said, "Don't worry, I know what I'm doing", hoisted myself up on the balustrade, swung my legs over it and landed on the community balcony. "See?" I grinned at her, and she relaxed. I did it again, onto my terrace – Manuela and the guys gawking through the window from inside – then lifted the shutter and gave Anne a thumbs up before I entered through the open French window into my living room, and eventually let in Manuela. The guys clapped. Anne waved from her balcony, gave a thumbs up herself, and vanished in her flat again. I'm aware that this was NOT a given, since we barely know each other further than from the occasional chat in the community laundry room or a "Bonjour" (French is official language in Luxembourg) in the staircase or – ha ha! – across our balconies when we're outside when it's nice weather. So what could I do to show her that I REALLY appreciated that she'd let in the Allemande folle (crazy German) and let her do her "stunt"? It must be something that could still be done that day, as I didn't want too much time to pass, and buying a bottle wine or chocolate would've been too easy.  So I consulted my cupboards and fridge, and found the frozen berries in the freezer I'd bought for making exactly these. So what better reason to finally make them now?  Fast-forward to the next morning. It was even roughly the same time as the day before. Anne was even wearing the same bathrobe. Déjà vu!  I quickly reassured her that I hadn't locked myself out again but that instead I'd have "une petite chose" (a little something) for her as my expression of gratitude that she helped me the day before. She assured me it was nothing, and was delighted when she took the big, fluffy rolls, and impressed when I confirmed that I made them myself. I already hinted at that I've F–ed up when making these, which resulted in them taking SIX whopping hours, but... as I also said: every minute's worth it! And, NO, you CAN'T shortcut ANY of it, otherwise they're just dead, wasted time. So no more babbling and off to the kitchen. Serves: 10 big ones Or 18 small ones => BUT: these only with half of the ingredients  Prep Time: 3 hrs 40 mins RECIPE. More realistic: around 4+ hrs; ME: 6 hrs (first time) => 4.5 hrs second try Degree of Difficulty: Intermediate => Complex because time & temperature sensitive WE NEED DOUGH 600 (300)gr / 5 (2.5) cups flour 100 (50) gr / 3.5 (1.75) oz. sugar The yeast needs it to work its magic 1 (1/2) tsp ground cinnamon Rather: 1 tbsp ALSO: Ceylon instead of Cassia. That contains too much Cumarin, which at regular use can damage the liver 50 (25) gr / 1.75 (1) oz. live yeast 125 (63) gr / 4.5 (2 1/4) oz. butter 200 (100) ml / 6.75 (3.4) US fl.oz. milk Full fat 1 (1/2) egg Beat the egg and pour half of it into the batter for the halved version. Ratios must stay the same 1 pinch salt FILLING For the HALVED recipe, I found I only needed about 3/4 of the cream cheese mix and about half of the berry jam mix. BUT: keep to the quantities / ratios below, nevertheless, otherwise it's just a hassle that will delay all following steps further Dudes, those SIX hours it took me the first time didn't come out of thin air!200 (100) gr / 7 (3.5) oz. cream cheese 80 (40) gr / 3 (1.5) oz. icing sugar 1 (1/2) lemon's ZEST 250 (125) gr / 9 (4.5) oz. frozen blueberries I used a mix of blue + raspberries the first{//b} time and WILD blueberries the second time 1 (1/2) tbsp sugar 1 (1/2} tbsp water GLAZE 1 (1/2) egg The remains of the beaten egg for the dough from above for the halved recipe.   A bit more of each for the halved recipe, as more rolls must be "syrup-ed". 100 (60) gr / 3.5 (2.5) oz. sugar 100 (60) ml / 3.5 (2.5) US fl.oz. water WE DO In the recipe these steps are reversed but do them in my order. Trust me, HERE I royally F–ed up, and that by-caused the 2 extra hours 1. Melt butter + milk in a double-boiler over a saucepan, then leave to cool. ONLY when it has reached luke-warmth = 27°C / 80°F proceed. Depending on how hot the mix got when you melted it, it can take up to 30-60 minutes until you can proceed Consider carefully to put a HOT pan into the fridge The temperature needs to be so low, because otherwise the yeast would get killed, and couldn't do its magic. 2. In a bowl, mix flour, sugar + cinnamon and crumble in the yeast. Add melted butter + egg and knead for a few minutes – I did 3-4 minutes – then add the salt, and keep kneading for about 12 more minutes. When the dough's too wet, add more flour, tbsp-wise, when it's too dry, milk tsp-wise. Btw., kneading by hand works the following: gently slide your hand under the dough, turn it over and press the heel of your hand into it. For 4+12 minutes. That's it.  ALSO, I'd recommend that YOU, and not your KitchenAid do The Work. You won't only get a great arm workout (or relief for pent-up emotion) but... the dough makes noises, guys, resembling panting, puffing, even farting... like the live being it is. This is the yeast (literally!) getting its workout. You wouldn't hear it when the loud machine does the work. It's bloody wondrous Shape the dough into a ball and let it rise in the bowl for 1.5 hrs under a (damp) dishtowel at room temperature. 3. Meanwhile, wash hot the lemon (to rid it of pesticides), and zest it. Whisk cream cheese, icing sugar + lemon zest until creamy. 4. Put 80 gr / 3 oz. of the blue-/berries into a little sauce pan and briefly cook it on middle heat with 1 (1/2) tbsp each of sugar + water until the mix has a jammy texture. 5. When the 1.5 hrs have passed, lightly dust a working surface and roll out the dough into an about 75 x 40 cm / 2.5 x 1.25 ft. rectangle. You want it to be the thinnest, without the dough ripping.  6. Spread the cream cheese filling over the dough. Dollop the blue-/berry jam on top and evenly distribute it with a spatula. Distribute the remaining blue-/berries over the dough. For the HALVED recipe – and smaller rolls – "jam" the whole amount of blue-/berries. Also be sparse with cream cheese + berries because the thicker the respective layer the greater the SAUEREI you have to clean up (and the "un-prettier" the result) You can whisk together remaining cream cheese filling + berry jam and top pancakes with them, as I found out at lunch yesterday. 7. Line a rectangular tin with baking paper. Cut the long side of the dough rectangular into about 1-1.5 in-thick strips, roll them up, and put the rolls into the tin with some space between them. I had to use two square-sized tins, both fitting 5 (9) rolls. Cover the tin(s) with some baking paper and let them rise for another 30 minutes. 8. Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F top-/bottom heat. If your oven doesn't have that function I suppose 160°C/320°F fan/convection is okay, too. Then brush the rolls with the beaten egg and bake them for 40 (20-25) minutes OR until golden-brown. Yeah, right: since every oven's different that can take longer/shorter. When the rolls darken quicker than the baking time, cover them with some aluminum foil until baking time's reached. Otherwise they burn superficially without being done yet ALSO, I had to bake each variation of the recipe successively as both tins didn't fit into my oven as at top-/bottom heat the vessel has to be in the middle of the oven so it's heated optimally from above & below... and both tins were too big to fit onto the middle rack together.  9. While the rolls are in the oven, make a syrup by melting the sugar in the water. Once the rolls are out of the oven, brush them generously with the syrup. 10. Let the rolls cool in the tin. The rolls will keep fresh for 5 days wrapped in clingfilm. Since it takes me longer to eat them (especially the more in numbers smaller rolls), I keep them in the tins covered with aluminum in the fridge. About 15 minutes before eating I take the number I want out to let them gain room temperature. And now... Go STRAIGHT to "roll heaven"! |
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