The Sunday Recipe: Buchta Loaves (Polish Nut Roll)

January 3, 2021 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
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Buchta is a traditional Christmas breakfast in our house, along with oranges or apples and homemade eggnog. We usually make it in one large spiral, this recipe will make two, but I turned the batch of dough into four loaves this year — easier to share that way. Either one works, rising times and baking times are the same. It’s also very easy to halve the dough recipe, make one filling, and get two loaves. Each filling will fill one large round buchta or two loaves. I always make the fillings first.

Ingredients for dough

  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter.
  • 2 cups of flour plus 4 cups of flour and some for kneading.
  • 2 teaspoons of salt
  • 2 packages of active dry yeast (4 1/2 teaspoons)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs

Directions

  1. Heat the milk for about a minute and 45 seconds in the microwave to scald. You can also do this on the stove top. You know it’s ready when steaming and a skin forms on the top.
  2. Cut the butter into chunks and melt in the hot milk. (Best if the butter is straight from the fridge. If it isn’t, you may want to let the milk set for five minutes after putting butter in before adding to yeast or it could kill the yeast.)
  3. In a large bowl, sift 2 cups of flour with 2 teaspoons of salt.
  4. Stir in the yeast.
  5. Add the brown sugar and stir in milk/butter mixture using a whisk.
  6. Set aside until bubbles form, about ten minutes.
  7. Beat in 2 eggs and 4 cups of flour.
  8. Mix well then knead for 10 minutes, or about 5 minutes using a dough hook in a stand mixer.
  9. Cover dough and let rise in a warm, draft free location for 1 1/2 hours.
  10. Prepare two cookie sheets or 4 loaf pans with grease/shortening or cooking spray and parchment paper.
  11. Divide into 2 or 4 and roll out to 1/4 inch thickness.
  12. Spread with filling and roll up, Try to pinch dough together at seams and end. (It can be hard to do and a little leakage during baking is not abnormal.)
  13. If making large round ones, wrap the roll around one end, like a snail shell.
  14. Rise another 1 1/2 hours.
  15. Bake at 325 for 60 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Pecan Filling

  • 1/2 pound pecans, picked over for shells and ground or processed
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup melted butter
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions: Just mix to combine and chill to stiffen before spreading on dough.

Cranberry Orange Filling

  • 1/2 cup dried craisins (I used 50% reduced sugar ones.)
  • Orange juice to cover, about 1/2 cup.

Directions: Combine and microwave for one minute. Stir and let sit for 2 hours. Process in blender or food processer until fairly smooth.

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The Sunday Recipe: Eggnog Bread

December 27, 2020 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
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Eggnog Bread

If you’ve never made an eggnog bread, I highly recommend you give this a try before the eggnog is gone. It’s a great holiday treat. Don’t be intimidated by the 2 teaspoons of rum extract. You’ll miss it if it isn’t there. This is adapted from a recipe at The Recipe Critic –  https://therecipecritic.com/eggnog-quickbread-eggnog-glaze/  If you want a recipe that uses regular flour and sugar, follow the link.

Ingredients

  • 2 eggs plus 1 egg white
  • ¾ cups maple syrup
  • 1 stick of butter, melted
  • 2 teaspoons rum extract
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 ¼ cups of Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 baking mix, or 2 cups white rice flour with 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • Optional glaze: 1 cup sifted powdered sugar well mixed with 3 tablespoons eggnog

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease and flour a loaf pan, or spray with cooking spray and create a parchment sling.
  3. Cut the butter into tablespoons and melt in a microwave proof mug or bowl on 50% power, approximately 1 minute. (If there are chunks, stir so they dissolve instead of microwaving more to keep the butter at lower temp.)
  4. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the eggs.
  5. Whisk in the maple syrup, eggnog, rum extract, and vanilla.
  6. Add the melted butter in a thin stream, whisking continuously.
  7. Stir in the baking mix, baking powder, nutmeg, and cinnamon just until combined.
  8. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.
  9. Allow to cool ten minutes before removing from pan.
  10. Cool completely before glazing, if using glaze.

This bread is best served cut into thin slices to get the full effect of the flavors. I cut the slices in half so they can be easily picked up, particularly when serving with other Christmas cookies.

*This year I had made vanilla buttercream frosting for molasses cookies so I just heated a half cup in the microwave for 45 seconds and poured it over the top of the second half of the loaf on Christmas Day. It worked great.

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The Sunday Recipe: Blueberry Lemon Loaf

August 9, 2020 at 6:00 am (Recipes)
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I had an incredible yen for something blueberry and lemon last weekend, it is blueberry season after all. I went through multiple recipes online looking for something that would work with my baking requirements and found this one https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2019/06/blueberry-lemon-ricotta-tea-cake.html from Karen’s Kitchen Stories. I proceeded to deconstruct it and figure out how to make one that would work for me.

I cut the recipe in half to start with. I wanted to be able to make it in a loaf pan instead of my big spring form cake pan. (I also only had a couple cups of blueberries and one lemon.) I figured out how much of my different flours I would use in place of wheat flour, and switched out the sugar for maple syrup. It looked like there was enough eggs and baking powder that I wouldn’t need to add more. I also traded the vanilla for lemon extract.

I got all the dry ingredients put together on Saturday night, set out the butter and maple syrup, then got up early Sunday morning to bake a loaf before the heat set in for the day. It turned out fabulous!

I’m sure it would work fine if you substituted a gluten free flour blend of your choice for the blend of flours I use, but this one is my favorite.

Blueberry Lemon Loaf

Ingredients

  • 1 ½ cups blueberries
  • 1 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 stick of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 6 Tablespoons maple syrup
  • ¼ teaspoon lemon extract
  • Zest from 1 lemon
  • 2 large eggs
  • ½ cup ricotta cheese
  • 1/3 cup (or 42 grams) tapioca flour
  • 1/3 cup (or 42 grams) coconut flour
  • ½ cup + 1 ½ Tablespoons almond flour (or 70 grams)
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon sea salt

Directions

  1. Heat the oven to 340 degrees.
  2. Spray or grease a loaf pan.
  3. Take a square of parchment paper. (Picture below.)
    1. Fold back and crease two opposing sides so that it is as long as the loaf pan.
    2. Place it into the loaf pan and crease so that it goes down one long side, across the bottom, and up the other side. It should extend up well beyond the sides of the pan.
    3. Fold the wings down and crease.
    4. You now have a parchment cradle for lifting the bread out after it is baked.
  4. Clean the outside of the lemon and dry then peel just the zest off (the very outer yellow part) and chop up fine.
  5. In a small bowl, mix the blueberries and cornstarch. Set aside.
  6. Cream the butter and maple syrup.
  7. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each addition.
  8. Mix in the ricotta cheese.
  9. Add the lemon extract and lemon zest.
  10. Combine the flours, baking powder, and salt.
  11. Mix the flour combo into the wet ingredients, stirring until combined.
  12. Gently stir in the blueberries.
  13. Pour into the greased and lined loaf pan.
  14. Bake for 80 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean.
  15. Cool in the pan for about ten minutes.
  16. Lift the loaf out using the paper cradle and cool on a rack until desired temp for eating. (It’s good warm or cold.)
  17. Enjoy!
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