Pumpkin povitica

   Finally done and rewardingly tasty and soft, povitica from ''The gingered whisk''.

                        Yeast mixture

                        1Tbs                                  sugar

                        1tsp                                  flour

                        60ml                                 warm water

                        7gr                                   instant yeast

                        Dough

                        600gr+                               bread flour

                        240gr                                warm milk

                        85gr                                  sugar

                        60gr                                  melted butter

                        2                                      eggs

                       1tsp                                   salt

                       Pumpkin filling

                       250gr                                flour

                       1tsp                                  cinnamon

                       130gr                                butter, room temperature

                       300gr                                brown sugar

                       2                                      small eggs

                      320gr                                 pumpkin puree

                      as preferred                       vanilla

First prepare the yeast mixture stirring all the ingredients together and let it rest for about 10min. Then, in a seperate bowl, combine the dry dough ingredients and gradually add the eggs with milk, butter and yeast mixture. Stir and then knead the dough with an addition of flour -if necessary- until it can form a ball yet soft and quite sticky. Let the dough rest at warm temperature until doubled in size.

Aftrer the fermentation, punch down the dough and divide it in half so each portion can be made into a small loaf or a batch of 12 individual rolls. For the filling -in which pumpkin should already be baked at 190C for 50min and mashed-, beat butter with suggar and add the eggs. Stir in the puree and finally the rest of the ingredients adding optionally some more flour to make a thick spreadable paste.

For the individual bread, roll the dough until 7cm thick, spread the pumpkin filling and form it into a filled log. Using a thin string such as dental floss cut 12 slices and place them in paper-liner filled muffin tins. Let them gain quite more volume, brush optionally with egg wash and bake at a preheated oven to 190C for about 30min. Repeat the same procedure for the loaf, rolling the dough to a minimum thickness, filling and giving a longer fermentation time. Finally bake at 180C, reducing gradually to 160C for about 45min.



Apple tart with almond and apricot cream

Because of a current obsession with apple desserts and although more of them are to be tried, I've already discriminate this  particular one among the rest of its kind. However for those who dislike any crunchiness left in the baked apples I suggest sauteing the slices with 1-2Tbs of butter and for anyone unkeen of the apricot cream I could easilly recommend a fruit jam. Overall it's a great, almost too easy and quick dessert with components I repeatedly use.

                       Tart dough

                       1                                         portion pasta flora dough from ''Apple pasta flora'' post

                      

                       Filling

                       790gr                                 granny smith and northern spy (net w.)apples                                 

                       75gr                                   melted butter

                       3                                        eggs

                       130gr                                  brown sugar

                       150gr                                  ground almonds

                       40gr                                    cornstarch

                       1/2tsp                                cannelle

                       as prefered                         vanille powder or extract

                       8-10Tbs                              apricot cream from ''Croissant'' post

                                                                                                                            

First prepare the dough as described in previous post and chill until less soft for about 30min. Meanwhile, core, peal and slice the apples, tossing the slices in some lemon juice.

When finished, roll the dough on the bottom of a 24x20cm pan and return in fridge. Proceed with the almond filling by whisking the eggs with the sugar to thick ribbon stage (it doesn't matter if doesn't get that stiff, it may be the used type of sugar).

Fold the ground almond, cornstarch, butter, cannelle and vanille in the beaten eggs and spread the apricot cream on the bottom tart crust. Pour in the filling, tightly arrange the apple slices in rows and optionally sprinkle some additional sugar on top.

Finally bake at a preheated oven to 190C for about 50min, reducing gradually the temperature to the lowest point of 160C if the fruit on top starts to get burnt. Let the tart cool and maybe brush with some of the cream (or jam) or dust with powdered sugar.





Croissants

This is my second and much anticipated attempt at laminated dough after the vol-au-vent challenge but still not quite successful in terms of volume and flakiness (probably short proofing time in high room temperature). However the flavor was excactly what someone could ask from a buttery, sweet-savory, crispy crusted and soft centered croissant and goes perfectly well with the apricot-chocolate filling recipe given bellow.

           Croissants

           450gr                                                             bread flour

           260gr                                                             milk

           75gr                                                               sugar

           10gr                                                               salt

           10gr                                                               instant yeast

           300gr                                                             butter

           1                                                                    egg

           Apricot cream filling

           240gr                                                             dried apricots

           480ml                                                            orange juice

           130gr                                                             sugar

           60gr                                                               butter

           100-150gr                                                       chocolate chunks

I suggest that you make the apricot cream one day before filling so that it's completely cool and set when need to be used. For start, simmer the dried apricots and juice for about 25min, melt in the butter, add the sugar and set aside at room temperature. As soon as it gets lukewarm, mash it in a blender and refrigerate for a few hours. Then proceed with the dough and warm the milk to  approximately 32C. Dissolve in the yeast, mix the dry ingredients together and combine the two mixtures into a dough. Knead the dough for about 10min and let it rest for 1h until doubled in size.  Meanwhile prepare the butter by cutting 1cm thick slices from your butter pack and placing them on a silicone mat (or a piece of parchment paper) in the form of a 13x18cm rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and when the butter has quite soften, roll it into a homogenous piece of slightly smaller thickness and chill. 

When the dough is ready, punch it down and roll it on a floured surface into a rectangle with length double of the butter block's small dimension and width equal to it's bigger one. Place the unwrapped butter on top in a way that it can be covered completely by the dough and enclose it, sealing the sides. Roll the dough block into a 12cm thick, long rectangle and fold it creating one layer with each one of the block's thirds. At this point, wrap well in plastic and chill for about 30min. Then roll the folded dough to combine its layers, fold in thirds again and refrigerate. After another 30min repeat the same process and when the waiting time ends, make a final roll and leave the dough overnight in fridge and wrapped well in plastic.

This portion makes about 15 croissants. To shape them, cut the dough into thirds and roll them to 6mm thick rectangles. Cut each of them into 5 triangles and roll them from base to top into crescents spreading some apricot filling on their inner surface. Complete the filling with the chocolate chunks, roll and proof in room temperature until doubled or for at least 5hours in fridge. I guess that the melted butter as a result of the warm proofing environment that I worked in is something you'd want to avoid for better volume and flakiness. Finally bake at a preheated oven to 190C for 15-20min and optionally brush with some simple syrup made as described in previous posts such as ''Kirsch torte''.