FFwD: Financiers Fraises-Pistaches (Erdbeer-Pistazien-Financiers)

Today we are baking Financiers for the French Friday with Dorie group.

It is usually said that these small French almond cakes were created around 1890, by the pâtissier Lasne whose bakery was located near the Paris stock exchange. Lasne knew that his clients who were working in the financial district, were not only wealthy but also always in a hurry. So he came up with the idea to create a small and elegant little cake that could be eaten by his clients without any utensils and without risking a stain on their clothing.

But before Lasne created the financiers for his clients, however, it should be mentioned that since the Middle Ages, the Sisters of the Order of the Visitation (les sœurs de l'ordre des visitandines) used to bake small, oval, and soft delicious almond cakes. But like most almond pastries, these little delicacies experienced a rather dark period after the Renaissance. Potassium cyanide smells much like bitter almonds and it was rumored that the lovely Catherine de` Medici and her followers had the unfortunate propensity to give poisoned gifts to certain personae non gratae. Therefore,  it was taboo for centuries to bake anything containing almonds. But in 1890, it is said that the talented pâtissier Lasne breathed new life into the original recipe. Lasne also had the idea (très marketing) to change the oval shape of the original small cakes to a rectangular shape to evoke the association of a gold ingot – hence, the Financiers were born!

Financiers are certainly as rich as the bankers they were named for.  They consist of ground almonds (100 grams),  white sugar (200 grams), unwhipped egg whites (6 large), plain flour (90 grams), and a good amount of unsalted melted butter (170 grams), which can be cooked until it is golden brown (beurre noisette).

Not only is the list of ingredients nice and short but the Financiers are also very easy to make. All you have to do is butter and flour about 12 financier molds, a 12-hole mini muffin pan, or other pretty little cake pans or molds and put them in the fridge so the butter sets. You melt the butter for the dough in a pan until it starts to brown and strain through a fine sieve. Set aside. Mix the almonds and sugar in a pan, stir in the egg whites and gently heat for two minutes. Add flour and butter and chill the batter overnight. Pour the mixture into the molds and bake for 15-18 minutes (depending on the exact size of your pans) until golden brown and risen in the center. Cool very slightly before taking them out of the cake pans or molds.

You can get really creative with this recipe, I have seen such additions as blueberries, raspberries, pineapples and kumquats, hazelnuts or pistachios instead of the almonds, herbs such as rosemary or thyme, lemon and many more. I decided to add strawberries and pistachios. We have seen a lot of strawberries in stores lately and while they might not be the sweetest yet, they were perfect for these Financiers as they held their shape even when I added them to the dough…

…and delicious alongside the ground pistachios.

As I do not own any Financier molds, I decided to use my tiny vintage Mondamin cake molds. At first I was not sure about being able to unmold these little cakes from these vintage molds, but a while ago, I read in one of the many recipes that I looked at that if you place the buttered and floured molds in the fridge for a few minutes before baking, the cakes will unmold easily – be that as it may, it worked.

Overall, these almond cakes are very pretty and not overly sweet. They are also simple to bake, very versatile, and just perfect served with coffee or tea. And they can be made ahead and be brought to a picnic or even be kept for a nice weekend dinner party.

To see how pretty the Financiers of all the other Doristas turned out, please click here.

Les financiers sont de délicieux petits gâteaux!

Bon weekend!

Burger Brezel (Burger Pretzel)

The traditional pastry that I am featuring today is called Burger Brezel (Burger Pretzel). They were  originally produced in an area around Burg Castle (Schloss Burg) in a region called Bergisches Land (North Rhine Westphalia). The Town of Burg nowadays belongs to the City of Solingen, world-renowed for the production of incredibly good kitchen tools such as the Wüsthof or Zwilling knives and scissors.

The Burger Pretzel is an artfully looped, manually produced pastry made with a lighty sweeted yeast dough. According to tradition, around the year 1795, a wounded French soldier from Burgundy stayed with the family of a baker in the Town of Burg while he recovered from his injuries. In his other life he was also a baker and it is said that he left his recipe for Pretzel with the Burg family as a way to show his gratitude for the care that he had received during his recovery. Based upon his recipe, the recipe for Burger Pretzel was developed. At first the recipe was kept a secret but a couple of years later,  almost every little town in the area had a baker who produced Burger Pretzel.

Last month, we received a copy of the traditional recipe for Burger Pretzel during  Pretzel Day at the outdoor museum.

So-called Kiepenkerle (peddlers transporting their wares afoot carrying wooden back frames and panniers) sold the Burger Pretzel throughout the region and beyond. And while we were visisting the museum that day, a woman wearing the traditional gear of the Pretzel vendors distributed the Burger Pretzel.

Today only a few bakeries still exist which produce the Burger Pretzel by hand and according to the traditional recipe. The traditional four-time loop of these Pretzel cannot be achieved with machines.

The Burger Pretzel differs from other Pretzels in its appearance. According to its size it has a minimum of four or five twists in its middle segment. In order to twirl the knot of the Pretzel (Schnackenstock), the baker throws a string of dough in the air and “spins” it by hand. Characteristically, the Burger Pretzel becomes hard and crispy within a few hours after baking. Its crust is golden brown and  it tastes a bit like rusk.

During the Pretzel Day, pictures of different forms of Pretzels were put on display. Here you can see the basic shape, the original shape as well as the Burger Pretzel shape with the traditional four-time loop, the Bavarian, and the Swabian shaped Pretzel.

Today, the Burger Pretzel is often served as an integral part of the menue of the so-called Bergische Kaffeetafel, an afternoon meal somewhat resembling an English Afternoon Tea and still very much alive today, in homes as well as in restaurants. On special occasions, when guests are expected or family celebrations are planned, everything that the country farm in the Bergish countryside can and could provide was put on the table.

The opulence of the food emphasized the special hospitality of the region and attracted many city dwellers out into the green countryside to enjoy eating sweet yeast buns (with or without raisins), various black and rye breads, sweet spreads as well as hearty things to put on your bread like honey, pear- or apple butter or sugar beet molasses.

There was also butter, quark, and cheese, in addition to blood pudding and liverwurst, ham as well as various cakes and, in some places, boiled or scrambled eggs. Another essential item is rice pudding with cinnamon and sugar and freshly baked Bergish waffles with hot sour cherries. And the Bergische Kaffeetafel is always dominated by the Dröppelminna (Coffee Maid), a special coffeepot made of pewter. While enjoying your coffee, it is traditional to dip the Burger Pretzel into your coffee.

Since 2010 the Burger Pretzel has been a passenger of the so-called Slow Food’s Ark of Taste (Arche des Geschmacks). The international project of Slow Food lists about 1.000 endangered, but regionally important products and points the public to the loss of food culture. In the region of the Bergish countryside (Bergisches Land),  a group has initiated a campaign to save the Burger Pretzel by organizing baking workshops, gastronomic weeks and special events like “German Bread & Butter Day”.

Recipe for Burger Brezeln (Burger Pretzel)
(translated and adjusted slightly from a recipe by the working group for the Burger Pretzel/Arbeitskreis Burger Brezel)

The recipe yields 10 to 12 pretzels

Ingredients for the Pretzel

• 20 grams fresh yeast
• 250 ml lukewarm whole milk
• 500 grams AP (plain) flour or spelt flour 
• 75 grams sugar
• 50 grams unsalted butter room temperature or 50 ml of a neutral oil
• a pinch of salt
• sugar for decoration (optional)

Preparation of the Pretzel

1. Dissolve the fresh yeast in in the warm milk. 
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, butter and salt.
3. Add the dissolved yeast to the flour mixture and knead the dough either by hand or using your mixer with the dough hook for about five minutes or until the dough comes together and looks homogenous.
4. Let the dough rest for about thirty minutes or until it has doubled its volume.
5. Divide the dough into twelve portions.
6. Roll each portion first into a bun shape and then into a strand of about 35 cm.
7. Then form a loop and twist the ends around each other for four times, then lay them under the middle part of the loop to form a Pretzel.
8. Carefully place the Pretzels onto a parchment lined baking sheet and let them rest for about thirty minutes.
9. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius. Brush the Pretzels with a bit of water  - at this point you could also decorate them with sugar.
10. Bake for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned. 
11. Transfer to cooling racks and serve the same day with butter and jams or store in tins or jars.

NOTE: the Pretzel will taste like sweet buns on the first day and they can be kept for several months if stored properly – at that point they will taste like rusks and can be enjoyed by dunking them into coffee or tea.

I  baked one batch using spelt flour (Dinkelmehl) and no sugar for decoration (you can the the results on the first and eighth picture) and the second batch with regular all purpose flour (Weizenmehl Type 405) and sugar (you can see the results on the forth, tenth and eleventh picture). Both times the Pretzel turned out wonderful - the recipe is easy and forgiving and we liked to eat them the same day while they were still soft and tasted a bit like regular sweet buns.

For more information regarding the Working Group for the Burger Pretzel and the local chapter of Slow Food, please click:

www.burgerbrezel.de
or
www.slowfood.de/biodiversitaet/die_arche_passagiere/burger_brezel

FFwD: Sablés aux Olives Noires Pierre Hermé - Pierre Hermé´s Black Olive Sablés

Today we are baking Pierre Hermé´s Black Olive Sablés - Sablés aux Olives Noires Pierre Hermé for the French Fridays with Dorie group.

This unusual appetizer-style savory cookie consists of but a few ingredients namely one hard-boiled egg yolk (jaune d´oeuf bouilli), plain flour (farine), potato starch (fécule de pommes des terres), 215 grams unsalted butter (beurre non salé), some fruity olive oil (huile d´olive au fruité vert), powdered sugar (sucre glace) and oil-cured black olives (olives noires á l´huile).

I am no stranger to adding grated or mashed hard-boiled egg yolks to sweet or savory cookie and cracker doughs. I have prepared many absolutely delicious butter cookies (Butterkekse), spritz cookies (Spritzgebäck) and cheese crackers (Käsegebäck) with this traditional ingredient and all I can say is that the dough always turns out wonderful and very tender.

The dough for these fabulous sablés came together like a charm, it rolled out beautifully after only a two-hour chill in the fridge (not overnight) and the cookies held their shape when baked. And best of all, the kids devoured them! So glad to have some open-minded and adventurous taste testers at home. The cookies had a fabulous texture when baked, they were light and tender. And they tasted sweet yet salty from the black olives. Delightful!

This very French savory shortbread-style cookie would be perfect whenever you have friends coming for supper, as not only is it perfect with drinks, but it can be made in advance. You could make the dough, wrap it well and then leave it in the fridge for up to three days before slicing and baking. All you have to do when guests arrive is to remember to let the dough sit out on a kitchen counter just long enough to get the fridge-chill off the dough before slicing or cutting into different shapes and baking.

To see what the other members of the French Fridays with Dorie group thought of these delicious savory bites, please do click here.

Historic Mustard Mill Monschau - Historische Senfmühle Monschau

Monschau Mustard is widely known as Moutarde de Montjoie. On a visit to the Historical Mustard Mill Monschau founded in 1882, one can learn how mustard is made from mustard flour and various addititional ingredients. The Moutarde de Montjoie has been produced in the Monschau Mustard Mill for more than 120 years and to this day the mustard is manufactured using traditional methods. Today the fourth and fifth generation of owners runs this family-owned enterprise.

Originally powered by a water wheel, the mill has undergone numerous changes but is still operated with the old belt transmissions.

The Mustard Mill is famous across borders because of the 19 different varieties of mustards and mustard blends that are manufactured there.

Aside from the original mustard called “Ur-Rezept”, a mustard that goes well with almost any dish, cold or hot, visitors can also taste about 18 other creations and buy them in the adjoining shop that also carries quite a few other regional specialties such as jams, chutneys, brandies and such unique products as mustard liquors and mustard chocolates. There is also a wine cellar that carries a vast array of wines.

The mustard blends offered include mustard with chili, currants, English curry, fig, garlic, ginger/pineapple, green pepper, honey/poppy seeds, horseradish, lemon, orange, Riesling, tarragon, tomato and wild herbs with ramson.

The mustard seeds that are the main raw material for the manufacture of the Moutarde de Montjoie, come from Canada, Sweden, Eastern Europe, as well as Asia. A distinction has to be made between yellow and brown mustard seeds, the typical sensation of "heat" on the tongue is more pronounced in brown mustard seeds than in the yellow variety. The ratio between brown and yellow seeds as well as the other added flavoring ingredients will thus determine how fiery or mellow of a mustard or mustard blend the creation will turn out to be.

Historically, mustard was established as an indigenous crop, initially in Germany and in France, by around the 10th century. British cuisine discovered it in the 12th century. In the 13th century, new mustard mixtures were developed specifically by the French in the city of Dijon, which has since remained renowned for its mustard.

The Dijon recipes were special because of the French practice of mixing the ground seeds with “must”, the young, unfermented juice of wine grapes, thus substituting the vinegar traditionally used in blending mustard. The French “moutarde”, the English “mustard”, and the German “Mostrich” all reflect this particularity.

There is also a Restaurant next to the Historic Mustard Mill called “Schnabuleum”. It is a lovingly restored restaurant that seats up tp 56 guests on two floors and an outdoor patio. While there, you can sample a variety of mustard dishes and numerous regional and seasonal specialities prepared by chef de cuisine Heinrich Leipold and his team.

The delightful menue in the Restaurant includes such creative dishes as Monschau cream of mustard soup (Monschauer Senfcremesuppe), char with a mustard-thyme crust (Saibling unter einer Senf-Thymian-Kruste) or for dessert a honey poppyseed mustard parfait (Honig-Mohn-Senf-Parfait).

For more information on the Historic Mustard Mill Monschau and the Restaurant Schnabuleum, please click here:

www.senfmuehle.de

Tuesdays with Dorie - Rustic Potato Loaves

Today´s recipe for the Tuesdays with Dorie group are Rustic Potato Loaves. The recipe for this fabulous bread was contributed by baker Leslie Mackie.

The ingredients for these loaves are plain flour (I substituted part of the plain flour with whole wheat flour), and cooked russet potatoes (I made the dough sans potato skins)...

…as well as active dry yeast, a bit of extra-virgin olive oil, some salt and a bit of reserved potato water.

I took the liberty of shaping the bread a bit differently, not a long loaf but rather a chunky, round loaf this time.The whole wheat flour made the dough darker than it was in the picture of the original recipe but we liked it that way and since I bought so much flour at the artisinal flour mill a few weeks ago, I felt that I should use a mix of their wonderful flours instead of going for all purpose white flour as stated in the recipe.

I use cooked, mashed or riced potatoes in many of my recipes, for cakes as well as breads and focaccias - I even did a small blog series on that in February and March of this year featuring a Potato-Lemon Cake (with mashed potatoes), a Potato-Raisin Gugelhupf  and a Potato Crumb Cake (both with riced potatoes). I am always amazed at how wonderful everything turns out - just like this fantastic bread - it has a nice, moist crumb and a delicious and rather photogenic, rustic crust. Just right!

Since we are still in the middle of the two-week, no-school Easter vacation around here, we took the kids on a day trip to the wonderful Town of Monschau or Montjoie (since the town is located in an area of Europe where Belgium, Germany and Luxembourg meet, it was also given a French name). The town itself is located in the west of Germany, in the district of Aachen (Aix-la-Chapelle), North Rhine-Westphalia.

The historic town center where vehicles are generally prohibited on town streets, has many preserved half-timbered houses, gray slate bridges, a mustard mill and flower-decked market square and its narrow streets have remained nearly unchanged for about 300 years, making the town a very popular tourist attraction nowadays. Historically the main industry of the town were cloth-mills.

On the heights above the city is Monschau Castle or Le château de Montjoie, which dates back to the 13th century - the first mention of Monschau was made in 1198. There is actually a Youth Hostel located in the castle itself and its grey stones makes the perfect backdrop for the summer concerts and operas held here.

Guests at the castle feel transported back to the times of the knights and great lords and during their stay and enjoy a rather unique view on the idyllic old town of Monschau with its many winding medieval alleys.

Part of our picnic in Monschau today was one of these wonderful Rustic Potato Loaves, we really enjoyed this bread - and while it was just perfect for a lunch outdoors, it is certainly a versatile bread to be enjoyed as sandwich bread or even toasted the next day.

To see how the other Doristas fared with this recipe, please do click here.

The recipe can be found at Dawn´s blog - Simply Sweet - "Thank you for hosting today´s recipe, Dawn"!

For more information on the Town of Monschau/Montjoie and/or the Monschau Castle, please click:

Town of Monschau
Youth Hostel located in Monschau Castle

Easter Baking Pans (Vintage and New)

Following are pictures of some of my most treasured Easter baking pans, most of them are vintage but some of them are new and were modeled after the originals. I started collecting these baking pans many years ago.

These seasonal baking pans come in a variety of sizes and designs, there are sheep...

...and Easter bunnies with an Easter egg.

Some of them were are made of cast iron....

...and others are made of metal.

Then there are hens and roosters and more sheep, small one and bigger ones. But all have one thing in common, they are always two parts to each set, held together with metal clicks that have be be released after baking and in order to unmold the cakes before transferring them to the cooling racks.

Following is the translation of a recipe for a plain Marble Cake that I like to bake in these Easter baking pans. It was given to me in 1989 (the picture of the original recipe card is above) and I have been using it ever since.


Recipe for two Marble Cake Bunnies or Hens or Roosters or Sheep
(this recipe can also be baked in a Bundt pan, springform or loaf pan)


Ingredients for the Marble Cake

• 200 grams (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 170 grams (3/4 cup) superfine (caster) sugar 
• 1 package/2 1/2 tsp  pure vanilla sugar (or 2 tsp pure vanilla extract)
• 4 eggs, use organic or free range whenever possible 
• finely grated zest of a lemon, use organic if possible
• 200 grams (1 1/2 cups) AP (plain) flour, sifted
• 1/8 tsp fine salt (I use fine sea salt)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the chocolate dough add:

• 2 tbsp dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar
• 3 tbsp dark rum or milk, room temperature

Preparation of the Marble Cake

1. Preheat your oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Butter and flour your baking pans, knocking out the excess. Make sure to attach the metal clips to the pans before continuing with the recipe.
3. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy.
4. Add the sugar and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
5. Beat in the vanilla sugar or extract.
6. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
7. Beat in the lemon zest.
8. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, the salt and the baking powder.
9. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix only until combined.
10. Pour half the batter into the prepared pans.
11. To the other half add the cocoa powder, sugar and rum or milk and mix only until combined. Do not overmix.
12. Add the chocolate batter on top of the vanilla batter in the pans and carefully draw swirls through the batter to marbleize it. Very carefully place the filled baking pans on parchment lined baking sheets (to catch any eventual overflow) and slowly slide the baking sheets into the oven - holding onto the pans with oven mitts.
13. Bake for about 45 to 60 minutes. Carefully take the pans out of the oven.
14. Place on a wire racks to cool for about 10 minutes before removing the cakes from the pans to cool completely by releasing the metal clips first, then one side of the baking pan and then the other. Make sure to cut the cakes flush with the pans (using a serrated knife).
15. Decorate as desired and use dark or white chocolate, just some powdered sugar or dessicated coconut for the sheep to give them that "furry" look.

These pans are just part of my ever-growing collection. And they are perfect for baking not only fabulous marble cake bunnies, but also vanilla sheep or coconut hens or chocolate roosters. The possibilties for baking delightful Easter cakes using these molds seem endless.

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