Grapes and Walnut Filo Pie

I hope that grapes are still available where you are and that it's not too late to try this delicious filo pie with a very unique taste which I came across recently in one of my mum's magazines while visiting Serbia.

The original recipe required white grapes, but since I could't find a nice sweet variety, I opted for the red - sweet and juicy - German sort. It worked out so good that it made me wonder whether I should ever bother trying to make it with white grapes. It's a matter of preference - you choose, you won't make a mistake either way.

Grapes and Walnut Filo Pie

1 kg grapes ( seedless if possible)

500 g filo pastry

250 g sugar

200 ground walnuts

1,5 dl oil

zest of 1 lemon

2 eggs

pinch of nutmeg

10 g vanilla sugar

 icing sugar for dusting

Clean the grapes, place them into a deep baking pan, sprinkle with sugar and bake for about half an hour on 200 C. Leave it to cool, then add ground walnuts and the rest of the ingredients - mix to combine.

Take a 26 cm round or equivalent square cake tin, oil it and lay two sheets of filo pastry making  across (+) shape over the tin base - let the ends hang out. Sprinkle with filling.Leave 3 pastry sheets on side and divide the rest of the into quarters, then roll them as shown on the pictures below with a spoon of filing in the middle. When you covered the bottom with these small rolls completely, springle them with a bit of filing and cover with  one spared filo sheet, put more filling over and arrange another layer of rolls on the top of it. use the rest of the filling to put it on the top of them, bring the hanging end back , sprinkle with a bit of filling and cover with 3rd spare filo sheet. Brush with a little bit of oil and bake for 20 minutes on 200 C/392F.

Transfer it to a cooling rack then dust with an icing sugar and decorate with some toasted almond flakes.

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Chodské Koláče

Daring Bakers' Challenge September 2014

The September Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Lucie from ChezLucie. She challenged us to make a true Czech treat –Kolaches!

Every so often The Daring Bakers hosts come up with a challenge that I get really excited about. When I read this one, it felt OK -  how new it could be, I come from the Eastern Europe kind of OK. Then I went away and came back right on time to complete the challenge.While away I met for a cup of coffee and a most pleasant chat with a lovely, talented young lady, fellow blogger and a Daring Baker member Miki from Mimi's Kingdom and we of course touched the subject of this month challenge agreeing that this Chodské version of the kolache was looking good to the both of us. 

That it was special,and how special,I realised only when I was about to start baking and  the inspiration to play around with it kicked in.

This is what the baking is about, old well known ingredients that have been part of your upbringing shaped into a beautiful new bake that made you do a silly dance in the kitchen.

Chodské Koláče 

the original recipe

Ingredients

for dough
35 gm (1¼ oz) fresh yeast or 2 packets (4 teaspoons) (½ oz) (15 gm) dry active yeast
1 cup (250 ml) warm milk, or even more
½ cup (120 ml) (3½ oz) (100 gm) granulated sugar
1 small egg + 2 small egg yolks, lightly beaten (you will need the egg whites later)
3-2/3 cup (880 ml) (17-2/3 oz) (500 gm) all-purpose (plain) flour (use semi-coarse grounded if you can find in your store)
1 stick (½ cup) (4 oz) (125 gm) butter, softened
1 tablespoon (½ oz) (15 gm) vanilla sugar
grated zest of ½ lemon
½ teaspoon (3 gm) salt
3 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon (50 ml) dark rum (optional, because we use substitute - potato spirit called “rum” or better “tuzemsky” - according to law – which means “domestic” – with specific aroma)
½ tablespoon (8 ml) cooking oil
almonds and raisins for garnish
1 lightly beaten egg for brushing

for quark filling
3 cups (1-2/3 lb) (750 gm) quark
½ cup (125 ml) whipping cream
caster sugar to taste
rum, lemon zest and vanilla extract to taste
½ tablespoon potato starch (or corn starch)
4-2/3 tablespoons (70 ml) (2-1/3 oz) (65 gm) butter, softened
2 egg whites

for poppy seeds filling
1 cup (250 ml) (4½ oz) (125 gm) poppy seeds
½ cup (125 ml) boiling water
1 small egg
2 – 3 tablespoons ground ginger-breads to thicken the filling
caster sugar to taste
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

for plum jam filling
1 cup plus 3 tablespoons (13 oz) (375 gm) plum jam
lemon juice and rum to taste
½ tablespoon potato starch (or corn starch)

Directions:

In a bowl mix together yeast and 1 teaspoon sugar. Add 4 tablespoons (60 ml) warm milk, mix well and sprinkle with 1 tablespoon flour. Cover with plastic wrap and let rest for 10 – 15 minutes.

In a bowl of your electric mixer (or in a large bowl) mix flour, sugar, salt, vanilla sugar, egg and yolks, butter, lemon zest, rum, oil and leavened yeast. Knead with dough hook (or with wooden spoon) on low speed for about 10 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour to double its volume.

Meanwhile, prepare fillings (recipes follow).

Punch down the risen dough, fold it and let rise again.

Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces.

Prepare 6 parchment paper squares (about 40x40cm (16x16 inch)). Roll each piece of dough on the parchment paper with rolling pin into a circle about 30 cm (12 inch) in diameter and make rims with your fingers. Let rise for 15 minutes.

Brush the edges with beaten egg.

Decorate each kolach with quark, poppy seeds and plum jam fillings and with almonds and raisins. As I mentioned before there are two types of decorating.

1) Spread quark filling over the entire cake and using decorating bag decorate it with thin lines of poppy seeds and plum jam fillings. Finish with almonds and raisins.

2) Using decorating bag with plain nozzle (or just with cutting end) alternating stripes of different fillings. Finish with almonds and raisins.

Bake in the preheated moderate 350°F/180°C/gas mark 4 oven until edges turn golden brown – about 20 minutes.

Quark filling:

In a bowl, mix quark, butter and sugar well, add whipping cream, rum, lemon zest, vanilla extract and potato starch and mix together. In a bowl of your electric mixer, beat egg whites until stiff and carefully stir it into the quark mix.

Poppy seeds filling:

Finely grind poppy seeds mix with sugar in a bowl and add boiling water. Stir in the egg, ground ginger-breads and cinnamon. Taste it and add more sugar and cinnamon if you want.

Plum jam filling:

Mix together all ingredients, add hot water if too thick.

What I did differently:

Since the recipe is very generous I used half measurements.

I divided the dough into two equal pieces and then each piece into two further 2:1 (two thirds to one third) parts. 

The bigger part I rolled out into a circle, while the smaller one was used to make an edge twist(s)

I only slightly changed the poppy seed filling: Instead of water I used milk, not a lot, just to be able to make it into a smooth paste then I added a knob of butter and vanilla sugar, left the ginger bread and cinnamon out.

Before baking I egg-washed the edges of the dough with an egg yolk, arranged the twists over it and then filled them in using a patisserie bags. For the decoration I used the almond and glazed cherries. Brush the dough all over with an egg yolk before you put it in the oven.

Now, be happy as you will have an amazing rendezvous with food in less then half an hour:))

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My Black and White Autumn

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Handkerchief Cookies

aka Zakdoekjes

I have a thing for Dutch baking and a few posts to prove it - Gevulde koeken, Dutch pancake, Gevulde speculaas .. The odyssey started last summer when I visited Amsterdam for the first time and I have been visiting and revisiting their cooking sites, blogs and books ever since. Not to mention my admiration for the Chief Dutch baker Rudolf.

I keep thinking how good it would be to make sort a of Serbian-Dutch-Scandinavian baking book one day and unite the cultures of the North and the South through baking - their calmness, practicality and sense for simplicity with our passion, liveliness and desire to be the best in .. well pretty much everything. Could I successfully mix oil and water? Who knows. First things first - I have to master the art of baking, and by saying that I mean getting better at it, although coming even close to that stage would be an essay writing worth of feeling.
With that (and a few more) ideas in mind I keep baking. A few northerly bakes are patiently waiting in my draft box, more are on my to do list and I am still finding new ones that I can't wait to try. All of them unpretentious with a touch of something special - my favourite kind of baking. Then as you will find out soon in one of the coming posts, I have also had a call from the Middle East. I never, ever thought in a million years that extra sweet and spicy food would speak to me. That is what passion for something does to you and why I keep my options open when saying few more ideas.
Have I mumbled enough about what pretty pictures my daydreaming brings to me? I certainly think so and I better give you the recipe for these crispy, elegant handkerchiefs that come from the Drenthe province of the Netherlands. It requires a cone waffle iron (courtesy of my husband from one of his business trips to the Netherlands) that I've already used a few times but posted only Ice cream waffle cones .

 Handkerchief Cookies ( Zakdoekjes)

makes 10-12 cookies

160 g sugar

80 ml warm water

55g melted butter

135 g flour

1 small egg

pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla sugar or essence

Begin by dissolving the sugar in warm water and melting the butter in a separate bowl. Set both aside and when cool add the beaten egg into the sweet water, stir in the flour, then add the butter and vanilla, mix until well incorporated into a silky thick batter.

Preheat the waffle iron to a medium to hot setting and bake one waffle at the time using around 40 ml of the batter ( depends on the size of the iron) - make a test with your first handkerchief cookie. Don't open the iron for about a minute to allow batter to settle, then you can check it and continue baking until it reaches a golden brown colour. When it's done fold it in half, and then again in half and transfer to a cooling rack to crisp up.

To remain crispy, keep them in an airtight container. They are traditionally served with plum compote and powdered with icing sugar.

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Sourdough Cornbread

Sourdough surprises September 2014

For this months Sourdough surprise I chose to adapt my old cornbread recipe  which I combined with this recipe.

And as much as I like my moulded version, I thought that it would be a great opportunity to finally make a batch baked in corn husks - so I did!

It turns out that the recipe can be used equally successfully for a fancy party or for an informal picnic bake! 

Sourdough Cornbread

Makes 12 muffin size cornbreads

For part I

150g sourdough starter

240 ml milk

150 g cornmeal

120 g plain flour

Mix all ingredients to get a thick batter ( add more flour if necessary), cover and leave on room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. 

For part II

125 g natural Greek yoghurt 

3 eggs

120 ml oil

30 g plain flour

45 gr cornmeal

150g crumbled feta cheese

2 tsp baking powder

pinch of baking soda

1tsp salt

Beat the eggs, add the yoghurt and oil, combine with the sourdough mixture, then add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, soda and salt.

Bake for 30 minutes in a 180C preheated oven.

If you are using husks, let them soak in a bowl of hot water for at least one hour prior to using. Brush them with oil, fold  into a cone shape and place into muffin tray holes.Pour the batter in husk cones and bake.

An InLinkz Link-up

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Chrysanthemums

These beautiful Chinese/Japanese pastries are originally filled with sweet bean paste made from red, black adzuki beans. Although the paste is available to buy from Asian food shops, having my family's taste preferences in mind I decided to play it safe and give them a dessert I knew they would love. Besides, using almond paste would also give those who don't like or can not easily get their hands on the bean paste the opportunity to to enjoy them.

Chrysanthemums

Makes 12

Pastry:

200 gr plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

100g chilled, cubed butter

3-4 tbsp cold water

Almond paste:

150g finely ground blanched almonds

150 g sugar

enough beaten egg to bind

to cover:

beaten egg yolk

poppy seeds or black sesame seeds

chocolate powder - to flavour the paste - optional

You will also need 3 round cookie cutters - 9 cm, 5 cm and 2 cm

For the pastry rub in the butter with flour and salt until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add enough water to make it all come together. Wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

For the almond paste mix the dry ingredients in a food processor if possible, then little by little add the beaten egg, until you get a compact texture. You will probably need about 30 to 35g of egg. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate - it will keep for at least two weeks, so you can do this well in advance.

Preheat the oven to 180/350F/gas 4

Divide both the pastry and paste into 12 equal portions. Since you will have about 330g of pastry and the same amount of paste, each portion should weight around 28g.

Use 9cm round cutter to cut the pastry - roll each piece roughly to that size, then cut it out for neater finish.

Make balls from almond paste, roll them in chocolate powder if you wish, place in the middle of your pastry cut outs, press slightly and bring the pastry together then seal it. Flatten it a bit to a diameter of 5cm, sealed side down - use the 5cm cookie cutter to check the size and shape.

Now take a 2cm cutter and press very lightly into the top of the pastry. Use a sharp and pointed knife to cut through the pastry from the edge of the circle to just under the base. Cut 12 slices.

Place the pastry on the baking sheet and press lightly again to separate the "petals", then brush the centre with beaten egg yolk and sprinkle seeds over it. 

Bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool on a wire rack

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Anatolian Manti

If you feel like dedicating you afternoon to creating something somewhat special in your kitchen, arm yourself with tonnes of patience and make this Turkish hot snack, which can easily be a meal on its own. I promise, you will not regret it.
Mantis can be large or small, boiled or steamed, and are usually filled with ground meat, lamb or beef, although chicken and duck meat is also used. This particular variety is filled with chickpeas paste and is popular in the region of eastern Anatolia and are very small in size. In a city of Kayseri when a couple is engaged to be married, the mother of the groom visits the bride's house and during this visit the bride should prepare manti for her prospective mother-in-law. The smaller the manti dumplings are, the more the bride is considered to be skillful in the kitchen. Traditionally the dumplings prepared for the prospective mother-in law are supposed to be so small that 40 of them can be scooped up with one spoon (an extract form Wikipedia)

A distinct flavour comes from the process of baking, where you first bake them the regular way in a lightly oiled tin and when they are done, you add extra flavour and texture by pouring hot vegetable stock over them and return to the oven until the liquid is absorbed.

It's served with red pepper and tomato sauce, usually topped with a spoonful of natural yoghurt, which all together makes it suitable for vegetarians.

Anatolian Manti

Pastry:

450 g plain flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk beaten together

50 ml water

600ml vegetable stock, boiled

Filling:

400 g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1tsp red paprika ( or sweet chilli flakes)

pepper, salt

1 tsp cumin seeds crushed (optional)

Sauce: 

1tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 onion

1 garlic clove

3 Romano peppers, grilled, skin peeled, then chopped

2 tsp sugar

400 g can chopped tomato, juice drained if you wish

bunch of parsley, chopped

salt and pepper

Make the dough by mixing and kneading all the ingredients together, then make a ball and let the dough rest covered with a damp dish cloth for 1 hour.

For the filling mash the chickpeas with a fork and add paprika, herbs and seasoning.

For the sauce heat the oil and butter and fry the onion and garlic, add Romano peppers, seasoning, cook for few minutes to combine, then stir in the tomatoes and sugar. Cook until the sauce is thick, add chopped parsley, adjust the seasoning and remove from the heat.

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas 6

Roll the dough as thinly as possible and cut it into small 2.5 cm x 2.5 cm (1 in) squares. Spoon a little chickpea mixture into the middle of each square and put the corners of the dough together to form a small parcel (see the above pictures).

Bake the parcels for 15 to 20 minutes until golden brown then pour the boiling hot stock over them. Return the tin to the oven and bake for another 15 to 20 minutes or until almost all the stock has been absorbed. 

Serve with warm tomato sauce and few spoons of natural yoghurt mixed with crushed garlic. 

  

Note: I made around 100 parcels and put the rest in a freezer, which was enough to be served as a side dish for 2 people.

Adaptation from  Recipes from Turkish kitchen, by Ghillie Basan

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