Tag: Yeast

Racuszki made with Yeast

  • One of my Polish friends came over and whilst we were chatting we found that we both had a copy of the Kuchnia Polska, that I call my bible.
  • She had wanted to show me how to made Racuczki (fritters/pancakes) made using yeast.
  • We followed the instructions from the book.
  • We had ours with a bought apple and rose petal jam.

INGREDIENTS

  • 250g  of  plain flour
  • 2 eggs
  • 250 ml of milk
  • 15g of fresh yeast
  • 50g of granulated sugar
  • *
  • Sunflower oil for frying.
  • *
  • Jam or fruit syrup to serve.

METHOD

  • Warm the milk to hand heat and add the yeast and  ½ teaspoon of the sugar.
  • Leave to start to bubble.
  • Mix the eggs with the rest of the sugar.
  • Mix together the yeast mixture and the egg mixture with the flour.
  • You are aiming for a thick cream mix – adjust with more milk or flour as necessary.
  • Cover and leave until the mixture rises.
  • *
  • Heat sunflower oil in a frying pan.
  • Add large tablespoonfuls of the mixture to fry.
  • Using 2 spoons is a help.
  • Fry till golden on both sides.
  • *
  • We had ours with apple and rose petal jam.

Yeast Pancakes

  • These would be called placuszki drożdżowe in Polish.
  • They are small American style pancakes.
  • They are similar to dropped scones in the north of England.
  • They are similar to bliny but made with wheat flour.
  • They are a variation on my bliny recipe and you could use half wheat and half buckwheat flour  (I intend to try this soon).

Ingredients

  • 170g plain flour
  • 1 tablespoon of dried yeast
  • 250ml of lukewarm milk.
  • 3½ tablespoons of granulated sugar
  • 50g of melted butter
  • 2 eggs
  • Pinch of salt
  • *
  • Little bit of sunflower oil for frying

Method

  • In a bowl mix the yeast, 1 tablespoon of  sugar and 125ml of milk.
  • Leave for around 10 minutes to froth up.
  • In a large bowl mix the flour, salt and 2½ tablespoons of sugar.
  • Mix in the eggs, 125ml of milk and the butter.
  • Add the yeast mixture and mix well.
  • Cover the bowl (a shower cap is good) and leave to rise.
  • This will depend on the room temperature – mine took 90 minutes.
  • Use a cast iron gridle pan or similar.
  • Heat the pan up and add a little sunflower oil.
  • Place large tablespoons of batter on the pan.
  • Adjust the temperature to a medium heat so not to burn them.
  • Cook on both sides.
  • Keep in a warm oven whilst making more.
  • Serve sweet or savoury

Served here with caster sugar on La prune by Jet for Ter Steege of the Netherlands.

Rye Bread

Having made a super sour dough rye bread   ,  I now thought I would have a go at one using baker’s yeast as this is a quicker option.

Only rye flour is used which does make it a harder to handle dough.

Ingredients

500ml yoghurt & water ( around 1:1 ) at hand heat

1.5 tablespoons of dried yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

100g rye flour

**********

650g rye flour

2 teaspoons of salt

2 tablespoons of caraway seeds – plus extra for sprinkling on top

Method

Day 1

In a bowl mix the yoghurt and water , yeast , sugar and flour.

Leave for a while until it starts to bubble.

Mix the rest of the flour, salt and caraway seeds in a large bowl.

Add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix with a wooden spoon.

Aim for a “wet” mixture, adjusting with water or flour as necessary.

Cover this with a cling film or a cloth and leave overnight.

Day 2

This will make 2 loaves – either two round or oval loaves which you can place on greased baking sheets or you can use small baking tins – shallow ones rather than loaf tins work out best I think – I used a 16 x 27cm mermaid tin.

This dough is very hard to work with – I cut it into two and shape each piece without much kneading and try not to add much extra flour.

Cover and leave to rise – this may take several hours – you do not get much of a rise.

Pre-heat the oven to GM 4 – 180°C.

Brush the top of the loaf with hot water and sprinkle with caraway seeds. You can make 1 or 2 cuts on the top of the loaf.

Whilst experimenting with this recipe  I found  that if you make the loaf too thick then it can burn on the outside and still be uncooked in the centre.

I found that a flatter loaf and the one in the rectangular tray came out consistently better.

Bake for 50 – 55 minutes – I swap the trays around after 20 -25 minutes.

 

 

Chleb – Bread

Today is the third anniversary of my blog – I started posting on 4 July 2015 and this will be my 155th post!

I am really enjoying the research, the cooking, the photography  and the writing and have many more recipes to share with you all.

Chleb – Bread

A wedding tradition in Poland is to greet the bride and groom on their arrival at the reception with bread & salt.

The bread is seen as a gift from God and is a wish that they never go hungry.

The salt is a seen as a gift from the earth and is a wish that they overcome the bitterness of life.

Rye

  • To be called bread in Poland the loaves or rolls must contain some rye.
  • Wheat loaves or rolls are called bułki or bułeczki but this is also the name  given to some cakes and buns – hence there is often some confusion!
  • Żyto is the Polish for rye.
  • Rye   – Secale cereale  is a grain and is used for bread and for making some of the best vodkas.
  • It grew  wild in Turkey and  since the Middle Ages it has been cultivate widely in    Central and Eastern Europe.
  • Rye grows well  in poor soil and in cold and harsh conditions.
  • Nowadays rye is grown primarily in Eastern, Central and Northern Europe and the top three rye producing countries are Germany,  Russia & Poland.
  • Poland consumes the most rye per person at 32.4 kg/capita (2009) followed by Nordic and Baltic countries. (From an article in Wikipedia).

Sour dough

  • This method of bread making uses the natural yeasts that are found on the grain and in the atmosphere.
  • I had never tried using a sour dough method before.  I have now tried it out twice –  even as a former science student  – it felt like MAGIC! – the results were wonderful!
  • This recipe is adapted from one in found in my American book – Polish Heritage Cookery by Robert & Maria Syrybel.

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It takes around 3 days to make 2 loaves.

I suppose I could halve the recipe but I am quite happy to cut and freeze any surplus and the bread keeps for several days and can always be toasted.

Whey

This recipe uses whey which I often have if I have made any twarog – curd cheese.

If I do not have any whey I make a mixture of around 2 parts yoghurt to 1 part water instead.

Method

Day 1

At around 5 pm mix 150g of  rye flour with  250ml of hand hot water in a bowl.

Cover with a tea towel and leave for 24 hours.

Day 2

Again at around 5 pm,  mix 150g of  rye flour with  250ml of hand hot water and the mixture from the night before in a bowl and leave overnight or around 12 hours.

Day 3

In the morning

Ingredients

  • 350g rye flour
  • 350g (strong) plain flour
  • 2 tablespoons honey
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons of caraway seeds
  • 450 – 500ml  of whey  or a mixture of 2 parts yoghurt & 1 part water
  • Plus the starter mix from the days before

Method

  • Combine all the ingredients together.
  • Aim for a “wet” mix – it is harder to handle but gives the best results.
  • Knead for around 5 minutes – longer if you can!

  • Shape the dough – cut  it in half and make 2 oval-shaped loaves and place them on greased baking trays or you can put them into tins – I used  a round – loose bottomed tin – 20cm in diameter in my second bake.
  • Leave to rise  for around 5 hours.
  • Pre-heat the oven to GM4 – 180°C
  • Place some water in a roasting tray at the bottom of the oven.
  • *
  • They take around 50 minutes to bake – I swap the two trays around after about 20 minutes.

Top two slices – sour dough loaf

Delicious with just butter – Well worth the wait!