Baking Bliss

I have found a new cooking pleasure. Baking. It has never really interested me before, but since Little Man really loves a good 'bolle' (bun) I have starting dabbeling with that fickle fickle yeast. And although both my savoury and sweet buns aren't as good as my baking godess' friends goods, I've started loving to bury my fingers into the sticky doughyness.

I used to think that cooking in pots, cheffy style, was the creative way of cooking. No measuring instruments, just a good pallet to guide you. Now I've found out that I can be creative with my baked goods as well. I just have to get the feel for it.

According to Julochka, Norway has the best cinnamon baked goods in the world. Here's the recipie I got from the goddess and used (and sent to Julochka last week. How were they?).

Cinnamon Swirls

1 kilo flour

300 grams sugar

200 grams butter

50 grams fresh yeast

1 ts cardamom

100 millilitres water

1/2 litre milk

Sugar and cinnamon

Stir the yeast out in fingerwarm water. Add it, milk and melted butter to the flour, suger and cardamom. Mix together.

This makes a sticky dough. Pour it out on a counter, and knead a little. Divide in two equal pieces. Take one of the balls of dough. Roll into a rectangle about 1cm thick. Sprinkle sugar and cinnamon all over the rectangle of dough. Roll like a pancake, and cut into rounds.

Now comes the waiting. Let the rounds rize for at least two hours in a warm room. (Like on a heated bathroom floor, or like I do: Next to my wood fired oven)

Bake in hot oven at 200 degrees celcius for 10 to 12 minutes. Cool a little and enjoy.

A slightly healthier version are the savory pizza rolls. These are made with rougher flour, no butter and only 1/2 a teaspoon of sugar. The dough is an adapted pizza dough. The filling is my own concoction.

Pizza Swirls

Dough:

300 grams of white flour

400 grams of rough flour

1 ts salt

1/2 ts sugar

50 grams fresh yeast

400 millilitres of water

Filling:

400 grams of ground lean beef

1 onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 tin of tomatos

salt/pepper

Fresh oregano and bazil (can use dried)

A bit of sugar to adjust the sauce.

1/2 litre of grated cheeze

Mix the dry ingredients together, and add the yeast to the fingerwarm liquid. Add liquid to dry ingredients and mix. I find it helps to finish it off on the counter. Put the dough back in the bowl and put in a warm place to rize for about 45 minutes to an hour.

Chop onion and garlig and fry off in a little olive oil. Add the ground beef and brown. Season with salt and pepper, add tomatoes and sugar (if needed). Simmer for five to ten minutes. Chop herbs and add at the end. Let cool.

Divide the dough into two. Roll out two rectangles. Approx 1 cm. Spread half the meat sauce on each rectangle and drizzle over half the cheeze. Roll up like a pancake and cut into rounds. Put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle the rest of the cheeze on each round. Let rize for 30 minutes.

Bake in 225 degrees celcius oven for 15 minutes. Enjoy.