Mohnstrudel

There was a time in my baking life, when I did nothing but bake those cake and pastry rolls, I was getting so excited when I see filling of sweet goodness twirling within a fluffy bed of flour and yeast, spinning like a wheel in motion, and white and other (rainbow) colours in kaleidoscope. My poor little boy, he was subjected to taste test in epic proportions. Lol! Mohnstrudel is an Austrian staple and just to be able to bake it, is like getting a few steps closer to my ultimate dream of baking a variety of danish pastries. It may seem a herculean task at the moment, but I will eventually get there.  Sooner or later, I need to muster such indefatigable courage. But I have faith in my heart and infinite possibilities are born of faith, after all. For the meantime, Mohnstrudel will do. And baking Mohnstrudel is no Monster-del task either. Its very easy and anyone can enjoy baking it as much as I did and still do. 

Ingredients

660g Flour (preferably class AA flour)

250g Butter 

60g sugar

7g of instant yeast

pinch of salt

250ml milk

Filling

400 ml Water

180g Sugar

20g Butter

400g ground Nuts (almonds, hazelnuts)

120g Breadcrumbs

80g Raisins

Lemon Peel

Method

1. Crumble the salted flour and the butter (I used my finger tips and mix them until the flour becomes grainy). Knead together with sugar, yeast & milk into a smooth dough (I kneaded mine for at least 8 minutes) and then proof for an hour or until double in size.

2. In the meantime prepare the filling. Bring to boil Water, Butter and sugar. Mix in remaining ingredients to a smooth texture. Let it cool. Divide dough into 3 parts and then roll out each part into a rectangle. Layer with filling and roll.

3. Glaze with eggyolk and poke 20 times with a fork.

4. Bake at 150-170deg for 30mins.

* If you are too tired to do the filling preparations or did not have enough filling for your dough, you can substitute it with nutella spread, trust me its as good as the mohnstrudel filling, or even better.

Chocolate-filled donuts

I think donuts are best examples of oxymoron . It's very easy yet quite tedious to make; no baking needed but there are tons of steps to follow. And mind you, you have to follow the exact estimates (read: steps) to the letter lest you end up crying after all the hard work. But please, you have to try this recipe out, the final product is so delish! Don't get intimidated by the many steps. I did it; its easy peasy! So can you. :)

Let me digress a little bit - I think home-made donuts are made by people with free time on their hands, I think home-made donuts should be made on a Saturday night in time for your lazy Sunday's morning and afternoon snacks. I think.

Ingredients:

7g sachet dried yeast

3 tbsp caster sugar

1/2 cup warm water

Melted butter, for greasing

3 1/2 cups plain flour

1/2 cup warm milk

1 egg

1 egg yolk

1/4 tsp salt

Extra 60g butter, softened

Extra plain flour, for dusting, kneading, sprinkling

Vegetable oil for deep frying

1/3 cup sugar

3/4 cup chocolate-hazelnut spread (such as nutella)

1. Put yeast, 1 tablespoon of the caster sugar and warm water in a small bowl and whisk until the yeast is dissolved. Cover with plastic wrap and stands for 10 minutes or until bubbles appear on surface.

2. Grease a large bowl with melted butter. Put flour, milk, egg, egg yolk, salt, yeast mixture and remaining caster sugar in a food processor and process until well combined.

Add extra butter, and process until well combined (Or, by hand, put ingredients in a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon). The dough should be soft and sticky. Transfer dough to prepared bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, then a tea towel and refrigerate overnight.

3. Dust 2 oven trays with extra flour. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out to 1.5cm-thick. Using a 6 cm round cutter, cut rounds from dough, Put rounds, 5 cm apart, on prepared trays. Press the unused dough together and repeat. Sprinkle top of each round with extra flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave for 30 minutes or until dough almost doubles in size.

4. Half-fill a large saucepan or work with oil and heat on medium until hot. Put sugar in a shallow medium dish and set aside. Spoon chocolate hazelnut spread into a pastry bag fitted with a 1cm round nozzle. Set aside.

5. Put rounds, 2-3 at a time, in the hot oil and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until golden and cooked through. Remove doughnuts, one at a time, using a slotted spoon. Transfer to the dish with the sugar and toss to coat on each side. Put doughnuts on a wire rack while cooking the remaining rounds.

6. Holding 1 doughnut (with tongs if necessary), use a piece of dowel, chopstick or end of a round handled wooden spoon to pierce a hole in 1 side of doughnut. Pipe chocolate-hazelnut spread into the hole. Repeat on the opposite side of the doughnut. Repeat with the remaining dough nuts. Serve warm.