Lussekatter! (Kind of monkey-bread style)
Dec. 20th, 2009 02:35 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sapotelunchWhat I cooked: Lussekatter! (Saffron buns for St. Lucia's day, one week late). See a picture here.
How much it cost: About as much as bread normally does, plus 0.99 of whole milk and $3.00 of saffron.
How it worked:
Original
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter
1 tablespoon instant yeast (SAF Gold or Fermipan Brown, if you have it)
4 1/2 cups (19 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or Creme Bouquet Cake and Pastry Flavoring
Glaze
1 1/2 cups glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons water OR 4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) toasted slivered almonds
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat the milk and saffron to a simmer; remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Set the mixture aside to allow the butter to melt, and for it to cool to lukewarm.
Manual/Mixer Method: In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, whisk together the yeast, flours, salt and sugar.
Separate one egg, and set the white aside. Pour the lukewarm milk and butter mixture over the dry ingredients, and mix well. Beat in 2 eggs, the extra yolk and the vanilla or Creme Bouquet Flavoring. Beat for 10 to 15 minutes. The dough will be quite soft, but should lose its stickiness and become shiny as it's being beaten. This is hard to accomplish by hand, but easily done in a stand mixer or bread machine.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let rise for 1 hour. For ease of handling, and to develop flavor, refrigerate the dough for 2 or more hours (overnight is fine).
Bread Machine Method: Place all of the dough ingredients, including the lukewarm milk mixture, and the butter, into the pan of your machine. Program the machine for Manual or Dough, and press Start. Take a look at the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle, and adjust its consistency with additional water or flour, as necessary, to produce a smooth, supple dough. Allow the machine to complete its cycle.
Shaping: Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if it's been chilled). Knead it briefly to expel excess carbon dioxide, and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a thin strip about 12 inches long; shape the strips into pretzels, or the shape of your choice.
Place the shaped rolls on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets; cover them lightly, then let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, till they're quite puffy. (If your kitchen or house is colder than normal, the rising may take up to 3 hours. Don't despair!)
Beat the reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush it over the rolls; if you choose not to use the glaze after baking, a sprinkling of pearl sugar atop this egg white wash is very nice.
Baking: Bake the rolls in a preheated 375°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, just until they're very lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.
Glaze: Near the end of the baking time, prepare the glaze by mixing together the sugar, vanilla and water or heavy cream. Brush the rolls with the glaze, and and sprinkle with the almonds. Yield: 12 buns.
This is not our usual recipe, which is much dryer and more bread-like (and less dinner-roll). I used all white wheat flour instead of a mix of all-purpose and potato flour, used less saffron as I only had the one small envelope on-hand, and added a tiny bit of cardamom (not enough). I also glazed the buns with a saffron egg wash instead of the weird and previously unknown-to-me frosting suggested in the recipe. Because of the cookie sheet shortage mentioned in the last entry, I wound up baking these all together in pyrex instead of separately.
Just a note that kneading these things kicked my butt, and I split the kneading 50/50 with Gerbal. I have sore abs this morning, and used a lot of the muscles in my back that I've recently despaired of recuperating. Maybe I should knead bread every day.
Also, I think my roommates were alarmed when I started buttering down the countertop, but I scrubbed it before and after and it came clean just fine.
Taste: White wheat continues to be on probation, for me. These are entirely decent; I would put in more cardamom next time, as the saffron at the store was way expensive and left these insufficiently fragrant. The baking style also made them moister and less dry than I'm used to. Next time I would cut 50-50 bread flour and whole wheat flour, like I usually do. The golden raisins were added by my roommate, who got really into the Santa Lucia myth when I told him about the whole candles-on-head dealio, but I will not leave the raisins off myself next time, as they improve the whole thing.
Storage: I am not sure these will last long enough to be stored.
How much it cost: About as much as bread normally does, plus 0.99 of whole milk and $3.00 of saffron.
How it worked:
Original
1 cup (8 ounces) milk
1/4 teaspoon saffron threads
1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter
1 tablespoon instant yeast (SAF Gold or Fermipan Brown, if you have it)
4 1/2 cups (19 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces) potato flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or Creme Bouquet Cake and Pastry Flavoring
Glaze
1 1/2 cups glazing sugar or confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 to 3 tablespoons water OR 4 to 5 tablespoons heavy cream
1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) toasted slivered almonds
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, heat the milk and saffron to a simmer; remove from the heat and stir in the butter. Set the mixture aside to allow the butter to melt, and for it to cool to lukewarm.
Manual/Mixer Method: In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer, whisk together the yeast, flours, salt and sugar.
Separate one egg, and set the white aside. Pour the lukewarm milk and butter mixture over the dry ingredients, and mix well. Beat in 2 eggs, the extra yolk and the vanilla or Creme Bouquet Flavoring. Beat for 10 to 15 minutes. The dough will be quite soft, but should lose its stickiness and become shiny as it's being beaten. This is hard to accomplish by hand, but easily done in a stand mixer or bread machine.
Place the dough in a greased bowl, turn to coat, then cover and let rise for 1 hour. For ease of handling, and to develop flavor, refrigerate the dough for 2 or more hours (overnight is fine).
Bread Machine Method: Place all of the dough ingredients, including the lukewarm milk mixture, and the butter, into the pan of your machine. Program the machine for Manual or Dough, and press Start. Take a look at the dough about 10 minutes before the end of the final kneading cycle, and adjust its consistency with additional water or flour, as necessary, to produce a smooth, supple dough. Allow the machine to complete its cycle.
Shaping: Remove the dough from the refrigerator (if it's been chilled). Knead it briefly to expel excess carbon dioxide, and divide it into 12 pieces. Roll each piece into a thin strip about 12 inches long; shape the strips into pretzels, or the shape of your choice.
Place the shaped rolls on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets; cover them lightly, then let them rise for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, till they're quite puffy. (If your kitchen or house is colder than normal, the rising may take up to 3 hours. Don't despair!)
Beat the reserved egg white with 1 tablespoon of water. Brush it over the rolls; if you choose not to use the glaze after baking, a sprinkling of pearl sugar atop this egg white wash is very nice.
Baking: Bake the rolls in a preheated 375°F oven for 12 to 15 minutes, just until they're very lightly browned. Remove them from the oven, and transfer them to a rack to cool.
Glaze: Near the end of the baking time, prepare the glaze by mixing together the sugar, vanilla and water or heavy cream. Brush the rolls with the glaze, and and sprinkle with the almonds. Yield: 12 buns.
This is not our usual recipe, which is much dryer and more bread-like (and less dinner-roll). I used all white wheat flour instead of a mix of all-purpose and potato flour, used less saffron as I only had the one small envelope on-hand, and added a tiny bit of cardamom (not enough). I also glazed the buns with a saffron egg wash instead of the weird and previously unknown-to-me frosting suggested in the recipe. Because of the cookie sheet shortage mentioned in the last entry, I wound up baking these all together in pyrex instead of separately.
Just a note that kneading these things kicked my butt, and I split the kneading 50/50 with Gerbal. I have sore abs this morning, and used a lot of the muscles in my back that I've recently despaired of recuperating. Maybe I should knead bread every day.
Also, I think my roommates were alarmed when I started buttering down the countertop, but I scrubbed it before and after and it came clean just fine.
Taste: White wheat continues to be on probation, for me. These are entirely decent; I would put in more cardamom next time, as the saffron at the store was way expensive and left these insufficiently fragrant. The baking style also made them moister and less dry than I'm used to. Next time I would cut 50-50 bread flour and whole wheat flour, like I usually do. The golden raisins were added by my roommate, who got really into the Santa Lucia myth when I told him about the whole candles-on-head dealio, but I will not leave the raisins off myself next time, as they improve the whole thing.
Storage: I am not sure these will last long enough to be stored.
