Simple For Recipe

Hazelnut Lace Cookies

Lace Cookies are thin, crisp, delicate and buttery cookies with a deliciously sweet taste and a toffee-like flavour. They are made with just a few ingredients and the batter comes together in just minutes. As they bake, they spread out to form a lace pattern, hence the name. Enjoy them as they are or sandwich two cookies with a layer of chocolate. If you prefer a less brittle consistency, use up to 35 grams flour.


110 g Unsalted butter 100 g Raw sugar 12 g Spelt pastry flour 80 g Hazelnut meal A large pinch of sea salt 30 ml Heavy cream 1 tsp Vanilla extract 1 tsp Finely grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Line 2-3 baking trays with baking paper.
Melt butter and raw sugar in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar dissolves and butter melts. Stir in spelt flour, ground hazelnut, salt and cream until incorporated and slightly thickened.
Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla extract and orange zest. Drop the batter by the teaspoon onto the baking sheet, leaving about 2-3 inches of space between each one.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges of the cookies start to turn dark golden brown, rotating the baking sheets halfway through. Remove from the oven and as soon as they are firm, use a wide spatula to transfer them to the rack to cool completely.

Labels: Cookies and Bars, Holiday Specials, Nuts and Seeds, Spelt

Panettone with Poolish Sponge

Panettone is a typical bread of Milan, usually prepared and enjoyed for Christmas and New Year around Italy, and one of the symbols of the city. This cake-like bread is typically baked into a tall, cylindrical shape (empty fruit cans work great as baking pans). Traditionally, panettone is made with raisins and candied orange and lemon peel. But you can choose the dried fruits you prefer. The bread is delicious eaten fresh and keeps well in an airtight container for about a week. It also freezes well for up to two months.

Poolish is a fairly wet sponge with baker's yeast, typically made with a 1:1 ratio of flour and water by weight, that means 100% hydration.

1 package / 7 g Dry yeast
60 ml Water at 43C/110F
60 g German #550 flour ((AP or bread flour)
100 g Butter, room temperature
2 Eggs, medium
4 Egg yolks, medium
150 g Sugar

110 ml Milk at 43C/110F
Seeds of 1/2 vanilla bean
angiesrecipes
540 g German #550 flour (AP or bread flour)
1 tbsp Lemon zest
200 g Dried fruit (raisins, cranberries, cherries or apricots)
50 g Almond slices plus more for topping

To make the sponge, dissolve the yeast in 60 ml warm water in a bowl. Add 60 g flour and stir to make a very loose dough. Cover the bowl with a plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for at least 6 hours, or overnight.
In the bowl of your mixer, combine the butter, eggs, yolks, sugar, milk, and vanilla seeds. Add in the starter dough. Gradually add the flour, beat on low speed just until dough begins to leave the sides of the bowl and pull together. Increase speed to medium, and beat until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn it once to coat both sides. Cover bowl of dough with plastic wrap, and let rise on the kitchen counter until doubled in size (mine took about 5 hours). Or leave it in the fridge overnight. With your hands, flatten the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle. Evenly distribute the lemon zest, raisins, apricots, and almond over the dough. Fold the dough to seal the fruit and knead to distribute the fruit throughout the dough.
Line a 8-inch mousse ring or baking pan (or panettone paper case) with parchment paper that has been well buttered on both sides and set it on a baking tray. Place the dough in the mould, cover with a towel, and let rise for 1-2 hours in a warm place. The key here is to have the rise above the rim of the pan or case.
Preheat the oven to 200C/400F. Make a cross on the top of the bread with a sharp knife and insert a cube of butter. Sprinkle some extra almond flakes if you desired. Bake the bread on the middle rack of the oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 180C/350F. Continue to bake for 30-35 minutes until the surface is golden and crispy. The panettone is ready when a skewer comes out clean.
Place the bread on a rack to cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the mold. Dust the bread with icing sugar if desired. Be sure the bread has cooled completely before wrapping for storage.

May your holidays be filled with lots of LOVE, HAPPINESS and PEACE!

Labels: bread, Fruit, Holiday Specials, Italian, Nuts and Seeds, Preferment

Sourdough Challah with Grape Sourdough Starter

Challah, usually braided and typically eaten on Jewish holidays. The dough is enriched with eggs and oil, while using sugar or honey for some sweetness. The fun and exciting part comes from the braiding the dough. A simple 3-stranded braid would be gorgeous enough as the centerpiece for your dinner table. But a 4, or 6 stranded challah would really impress your guests. You can also coil the long braided loaf into a circle.

Grape Sourdough Starter	Dough
454 g Organic red grapes Rye flour Water	240 g Wild Grape Sourdough Starter 2 Eggs, lightly beaten 1 Egg yolks, lightly beaten 120 ml Water 55 g Honey 50 g Sunflower oil 2 tsp Salt 440 g All-purpose or bread flour 1 Egg white 1 tbsp Water 1 tbsp Oatmeal bran or seeds/nuts

Start with the starter. Stem grapes into a medium mixing bowl. Crush with hands and cover with a plastic wrap. Use a fork or wooden toothpick to gently poke some holes along the top and set aside for 3-4 days at room temperature. After 3-4 days there should be bubbles in the grape juice/must, indicating fermentation has begun.
Measure 240 grams of strained grape juice and pour in a 1-quart glass jar. Stir in 120 grams of rye flour to make a thick, porridge like mixture. Set aside for 24 hours at room temperature.
Measure 1 cup starter, discard any extra. Add in 110 grams of filtered water and 110 grams of rye flour. Let stand at room temperature for 24 hours.
Repeat the following day. Some activity should be noticeable: the mixture should be starting to bubble. Repeat twice more. You will need to discard some of the mixture each day.
The starter is full of bubbles and ready for use to make bread. If you won't be using the starter for several days, put the jar, with the lid covered loosely, into the refrigerator until you're ready to use it. If you are going to use the starter in the next day or two, just leave it out and feed it every 12 hours or so.
Prepare the dough by mixing the starter, eggs, egg yolk, honey, oil, water, and the salt. Stir. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough, adding more flour sparingly, until the dough is smooth, satiny, has lost most of it's stickiness, and is fairly firm. Cover and allow it to rise until tripled in volume.
Punch down the dough, knead briefly and cut into 4 equal pieces. Divide one piece into 3 equal portions. Form each of them into strands of about 30-cm in length, tapered so the center of each piece is thicker than the ends. You should now have three thick and three thin strands.
Braid the three thick strands into a loaf and set aside. Braid the three smaller strands into a smaller loaf. Lightly indent the top center of the larger loaf down its length. Wet it slightly with water. Put the smaller loaf on top of the indention. Beat egg white with a tablespoon of water. Brush this egg wash all over the loaf and allow them to rise until doubled.
Preheat oven to 180C/350F. Brush the loaf with the egg wash again and sprinkle the top with oatmeal bran. Place it into the oven, bake about 35 minutes.