Blueberry Yeasted Sugar Tart - Berry Week #5

Remember the Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart? It was so delicious that I made another version 2 weeks later with blueberries. My blueberries were wrinkled... hahaha. But then it won't matter when it's smothered with cream and baked.


Recipe here

Simply sprinkle the blueberries on top instead of pressing the apples in at step (8). The rest of the instructions remain the same.
Because the blueberries weren't pressed in, the yeast tart might puff up during baking and cause the cream topping to flow down the sides. To prevent this, I shaped a ring around it, with small pieces of dough.
I also changed my baking temperature to 180C (first bake) and 150C(second bake after putting on the cream). Colour was better this time. The baking temperature may vary with your oven.

Verdict:
Frankly, I preferred the apple version. The inserted apples gave the tart a moist and soft texture. This version is not as soft, but still nice.

I'm taking a week off.

Happy School Break to all parents and students

and see you again on

21st March 2011

I am submitting this to Aspiring Bakers March 2011 Fruity March

Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart -Fruit Week #1

Sick of soup already? I'm going to drown you with fruits this week. *Evil look*

Apples. I bought 2 granny smiths 3 months back (post done in Sept 2010). Yes. And one was still with me after the apple crumble.
Then I saw on technicolour kitchen (again!!!!) , an apple yeasted sugar tart, and it looked so so appealing to me. I knew I will be having some cream after the birthday cakes and oh yes!!! I definitely will make this very soon.

Today I finally used the 3 month old apple, and it still looked fine, just like the way it was when I bought it. Hahah!! The wax really does a good job preserving the apple. Can I use the wax on my face???? Hahaha!!!

My oven is always too hot for breads made with milk. It always browns too fast when baked according to the instructions and I always, always have to do it at 150C, which is far far lower than recommended. And today is no different. How hot you need to bake this with, you really have to gauge it yourself. I gave you the original temperature, so make your own decisions.

Apple Yeasted Sugar Tart
Recipe taken from Technicolor kitchen who sourced from "The Cook's Companion"

245gm all purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
Small pinch of salt
1 tsp yeast
120gm warm milk
1 egg, room temperature
28gm softened butter
2-3 eating apples (I used 1 large granny smith, and it was enough)
67gm demerara sugar (I used a mixture of demerara with brown sugar, as I ran out of demerara)
120ml whipping cream (I was left with 100gm of it, just used this)

Method: If you think I'm being too long winded here, please check out Technicolor Kitchen's version. Hers is a lot more "compact"
1. Combine flour, sugar, salt and instant yeast together in a mixing bowl. Make a well in the center.
2. Mix milk and egg together and pour into the well.
3. With a spoon, try to bring the flour in gradually and form a dough.
4. When everything has come together, knead in softened butter. Continue to knead (I did this by hand), it is very soft and sticky at the beginning and knead it (by pulling the dough from the bowl and putting it back, and pull it away and put it back cos the dough is the soft tacky type) until it no longer feels sticky, and a smooth dough is formed. *I used only my right hand to knead and kept my left hand clean. I used my left hand to test the dough’s stickiness as the right hand is always covered with the glob of dough. When the dough is ready, you rub the dough off your working hand, touch the dough with your working hand and it should not stick too, but it will still be very soft.
5. Then cover and let it proof for 30 minutes. Meanwhile prepare a loose bottomed 9 inch tart pan. Generously butter the pan.
6. Punch down the dough and give it a 1-2 minutes knead. Let it rest for 5-10 minutes before flattening it into the pan.
7. Let dough in pan proof for another 30 minutes.
8. Meanwhile, peel and cut apple(s). When 30 minutes if up, the dough looks puffy. Press the apples in and sprinkle the demerara sugar onto the apples.
9. Preheat the oven at 200(fan)/220C, the tart will continue to proof until the oven is ready and bake the tart for 10 minutes. (I found this too high for my oven, I think I’ll do it at 180C next time, cos my tart was nicely browned at 8 minutes)
10. Meanwhile beat the whipping cream to soft peaks.
11. Remove tart from oven and spoon the cream over the apples.
12. Return tart back to oven at 180(fan)/200C (I used 150C only) for 20 minutes or until the base of the tart sounds hollow when tapped.
13. Remove from oven and transfer tart to cooling rack, remove mould and let it cool on rack.
14. Slice only when tart turned warm to touch, if not the cream filling will be runny.

Verdict:
Darn it. This tasted so good. The baked cream topping is super!!! I wanted to make another one the next day to bring to my mom, but I ran out of cream. I don’t want to buy another large carton, cos I won’t be around for days.
This is the perfect "bread" for lazy kneaders. Even with the short kneading time, I assure you that you'll get the soft bread fresh from the oven due to the moisture from the apple being baked in the bread. It's best eaten warm, but then, it's still not hard later. Well, not as soft as fresh and warm, but acceptable even to the next day, but please keep air tight.
But for those who are thinking of trying this out, I suggest you mix the topping sugar with some cinnamon or scraped vanilla. That’s the only miss about this yeasted tart, if not it’ll be perfect!!!

Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake

** Cheeky grin**

Why such a title?

This is a cake…

No....

this is a bread….

No…

This is a cake….

No….

I don’t know!!!!!

** Serious look**

Okok. Seriously I am confused too. The actual name of this is Danish Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake.
I am very confused, there’s no Danish pastry in there, doesn’t look like a cake at all here, not a bit. So let’s take it as a bread. Or is there anyone that can answer me why is this thing called a cake. I think same goes for all the questions regarding why is banana cake usually called banana bread. Oh, this one I can answer, cos banana cake is considered a quick bread, leavened by baking powders/sodas instead of yeast. But why is this Chocolate Streusel Coffee Cake called a cake and not a bread???? Anyone out there???

But who cares what the name is… important is it’s YUMMY!!!!
The texture is so soft, the choc streusel’s heavenly. And the best is I only knead it by hand for 10 minutes!!!! The last time I baked bread was more than a year ago, in my collection of Sweet Buns. I was so into the sweet bun thingy, that I wanted to really learn how to make soft sweet buns, and I made it every few days until I really got the hang of the kneading process. 30 minutes by hand, my friends.. 30 minutes. When I finally got it, I said, no more sweet buns… for an indefinite period of time. My arms were very tired.

And now, my bread kneading has come out of it’s hibernation because of this site and was taken to the original recipe. I changed the recipe a bit, both ingredients and method (slightly only). My husband is no fan of cinnamon, so I used vanilla in both the cake?? and streusel.

 

Cake dough … not bread dough …LOL 
125ml milk
1 empty vanilla pod (seeds scraped for streusel filling)
1 and ½ tsp dry yeast
30ml water
Pinch of sugar
80gm butter (salted), slightly softened
40gm sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
Small pinch of salt
350gm all purpose flour


1. Bring milk and vanilla pod to a boil. Leave to cool down to warm.
2. While milk is cooling down, proof yeast with water and pinch of sugar until very frothy.
3. Beat butter and sugar until pale and light.
4. Beat in egg yolk, then the whole egg until well incorporated.
5. Beat in ¼ of the flour. Then 1/3 of the milk. Beat until smooth
6. Repeat step 5 twice. Give it a good beating for 2 minutes.
7. Beat in the yeast mixture and the final ¼ of flour.
8. Transfer to your kneading table or basin and give it a good knead for 10 minutes by hand until smooth and elastic. (you can use your machine, of course, but it won’t 10 minutes, 5 or 6 will do)
9. Place in a buttered bowl, turn to coat, and cover with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel, leave to proof until double in size for about 1 hour (I just dumped the whole basin into my cool oven to proof)
10. Meanwhile do the streusel.

Streusel Filling
70gm sugar
Vanilla seeds from 1 vanilla pod
2 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
25gm melted butter

Pulse everything in a food processor except butter. (Or if you don’t have a food processor but only a blender like me, mix cocoa powder and flour together with a spoon until well combined. Pulse sugar and vanilla seeds in the mill for a few seconds. Combine sugar and flour mixture.) Drizzle melted butter over prepared dry ingredients and mix until well combined like fine chocolate crumbs. Leave aside until use.

Assembly:
1 egg white beaten until frothy
Almond slices

1. When dough, has risen to double in size, punch down and give it a good knead for 1-2 minutes. Leave it to sit for 5 minutes.
2. Roll out dough into a rectangle about 10X14 inch. Spread streusel mixture on top evenly,. Roll up dough and put dough seam side down on your lined baking tray.
3. With clean sharp scissors, snip ¾ inch intervals along the roll, cutting through ¾ of the dough only.
4. Start with one end, pull one piece of cut slice and twist it to the right. Take another cut slice and twist it to the left of the roll. Cut surfaces facing up. Repeat with all the the cut slices.
5. Leave to proof in a warm place for another 45 minutes or until doubled up again.
6. Preheat oven at 180C
7. Brush the loaves with the beaten egg white and sprinkle with almond flakes.
8. Put in preheated oven , close the door and immediately turn down the temperature to 160C. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown.

After reading through, do you have the answer why this is called a cake?
I guess it’s due to the creaming method used in the earlier part of the recipe. Still… it’s very much a bread in my eyes. So, it'll be categorised at bread in my blog.

If you do not have access to vanilla beans, you can either follow the original recipe that uses cinnamon or just substitute with some vanilla extract. Please note that the cake/bread dough is soft and tacky, but not very sticky.