mintsaltMASCARA

ENG

This recipe is dear to me because my grandma made it for me for Easter every year. I'm not a massive fan of 'potica', so I didn't have anything sweet to eat for Easter. And I have a massive sweet tooth. So she made this sweet milk bread for me. And this year, along pinca I baked this. Here's the recipe for you to try.

The ingredients:

- 1000 g of flour for yeast dough

- 1 yeast cube

- 6 egg yolks (5 for the dough and 1 for brushing)

- 150 g of powder sugar

- 130 g of soft butter

- 400 mL of warm milk (and some extra for brushing)

- 1 teaspoon of salt

- 0.5 teaspoons of lemon zest

- 0.5 teaspoons of orange zest

The how-to:

Warm the flour up - either in the oven for half an hour at 70 C or let it rest on a warm radiator for about an hour. Whichever is easiest for you.

The first thing to do is to make the yeast mixture. In the recipe for 'pustni krofi' and for 'pinca' I explained how to do that. Then, mix the 5 egg yolks with the powder sugar to a fluffy foamy consistency. Add then the yeast mixture and mix again well, add the butter and again mix well. Then add the sifted warm flour and salt. After the dough is kneaded through and through, cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling film and let it rest and rise for about an hour. So it rises and doubles in size.

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

After the dough is risen, knead it with your hands and roll it about 1 cm thick. Make braids. (I made 3 smaller and one larger). Brush them with one egg yolk and a tablespoon of milk. At this point you can decorate them with funfetti. Let them rise again, wait 15 or 20 minutes then bake for 20 minutes at 200 C. Let them cool and cover with a napkin or cling film so they don't get dry.

SLO

Recept za ta mlečni kruh mi je zelo dragi, saj mi je moja babica Ditka pekla mlečni kruh vsako leto za veliko noč. Potice ne maram posebej, a ker imam sladko rada, sem dobila to. Letos se spekla pinco in mlečni kruh. Tu je recept za slednjega, da tudi vi probate.

Kaj se potrebovala?

- 1000 g moke za potico

- 1 kocka kvasa

- 6 rumenjakov (5 za testo in 1 za premaz na koncu)

- 150 g sladkorja v prahu

- 130 g zmehčanega masla

- 400 mL mlačnega mleka (in še kakšno jedilno žlico za premaz na koncu)

- 1 žlicka soli

- 0.5 žličke limonine lupinice

- 0.5 žličke pomarančne lupinice

Kako sem mlečni kruh naredila?

Najprej je potrebno moko segreti. Jaz sem jo presejala in dala za pol ure v pečico na 70 C, lahko pa jo damo za kakšno uro na topel radiator.

Najprej sem nastavila kvas. Kako se to naredi, lahko preberete v mojem receptu za pustne krofe ali pinco. Potem sem penasto umešala 5 rumenjakov s sladkorjem. Dodala sem mešanico kvasa in zadevo ponovno dobro premešala. Pred moko sem dodala še maslo in ponovno dobro premešala. Nato sem dodala toplo presejano moko in sol. Testo sem putila, da ga Arty gnete s svojim kljukastim nastavkom za kvašeno testo. Testo sem potem pokrila s čisto kuhinjsko krpo, lahko bi tudi s prozorno folijo za živila. Počakala sem kakšno uro, da je testo 'kipnlo' in se podvojilo v svoji velikosti.

Pečico sem segrela na 200 C. 

Vzhajano testo sem pregnetla še enkrat z rokami in ga potem razvaljala na debelino približno enega centimetra. Razrezala sem ga in naredila 3 manjše in eno večjo kitko. Premazala sem jih s stepenim rumenjakom in mlekom. Na tem mestu se jih lahko dekorira z mrvicami. Pustila sem jih vzhajati še kakšnih 15 ali 20 minut ter jih nato pekla 20 minut na 200 C. Ko so se ohladile sem jih zavila v serviete in folijo za živila, da se ne bi izsušile.

ENG

Last year I bought this recipe book in English for my Kummi mommy Airi. I found it interesting, so I bought one for myself in Slovenian. I've decided to make PINCA, a coastal sweet milky bread, for next year's Easter. And so I did. The first batch wasn't the best, the quantities, in my opinion, were not perfect. The dough was way too moist once it was done. But the end result was quite okay. So for the next batch, I've changed it a bit, and the result was perfect. 5 days in and the pinca still tastes fresh. We ate it all weekend, so sadly I couldn't type up the recipe soon enough. But as I've read, the Italian (Milan) original version is made for Christmas, so you can try to make it then. 

The ingredients:

- 1000 g of plain white flour, sifted

- 1 cube of yeast (as fresh as possible)

- 200 g of soft butter

- 200 g of mascavo sugar

- 1 vanilla powder sugar

- 7 egg yolks (6 for the dough and 1 for brushing), put out of the freezer 1 hr prior to preparation

- 400 mL of warm milk (and a spoon extra for brushing)

- 2 shots of rum

- 0.5 teaspoons of eco-bio lemon zest

- 0.5 teaspoons of eco bio orange zest

The how-to:

Sift the flour and warm it up in the oven at 70 C for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile make the yeast mixture. Use about 70 mL of warm milk and add two tablespoons of sugar, then mix well, so the whole sugar blends in nicely with the milk. Crumble then the yeast into the cup with milk and sugar and, again, mix well. Add a tablespoon of flour and mix well. There should be no lumps in the mixture, it is best when it is smooth. Wait for 10 minutes for the yeast mixture to double in size (look picture below).

While the yeast is working its magic, whisk the egg yolks into a fluffy foam and add the sugar, mixing again. Use a whisk attachment on the mixer.

To the eggs and sugar then add the yeast mixture and mix well. Add then the butter, rum,  lemon and orange zest and mix well. Then change the attachment - from now on use the hook one for yeast dough. Add in thirds the flour and milk and knead the dough well. (1/3 of milk and 1/3 of flour, knead, then again 1/3 of milk and 1/3 of flour, knead, …). Once all the ingredients are in the mixture knead for another 5 minutes. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or cling film and rest in a warm place for the dough to double in size.

While it's resting preheat the oven to 180 C. Once the dough is doubled in size, knead it again with your hands and divide the dough into 4 balls of (semi) equal size. Brush them with one beaten egg yolk and a bit of milk, with a sharp knife make a star in the middle (see picture below). Wait about 15 minutes for the balls of dough to rise again. Then bake at 180 C for 20 to 25 minutes. And 5 more minutes if you really like them to be crispy.

Once they are out of the oven and cooled down, cover with a napkin and cling film for them to stay fresh as long as possible.

SLO

Lansko leto sem kupila to knjigo z recepti v angleščini za mojo finsko mamico Airi. Recepti so bili videti zanimivi in tako sem kupila še en izvod zame v slovenščini. Ko sem videla, da je noter recept za PINCO, primorski sladki mlečni kruh, sem se odločila, da ga naredim za naslednjo veliko noč. In tako sem pretekli teden pekla. Prvo 'rundo' sem se držala recepta popolnoma, a se mi razmerje količin ni zdelo najboljše. Testo je bilo prevlažno, čeprav je bil pečen končni izdelek kar dober. V drugo sem malo priredila količine in sedaj je perfektno. Po petih dnevih je pinca še vedno sveža, ni izsušena, še vedno dobra. Ker pa smo jedli ves konec tedna, nisem prišla do tega, da bi recept napisala in objavila prej. A kot sem prebrala je originalna italijanska verzija (iz Milana) pečena za božič in tako jo lahko poskusite narediti takrat.

Kaj sem potrebovala?

- 1000 g gladke moke, presejane

- 1 kocka kvasa (naj bo čim bolj svež)

- 200 g zmehčanega masla

- 200 g mascavo sladkorja

- 1 vanili sladkor

- 7 rumenjakov (6 za testno in 1 za premaz na koncu), vzela iz hladilnika 1 h pred začetkom priprave

- 400 mL toplega mleka (in še kakšno žlico več za premaz na koncu)

- 2 'štamperlčka' ruma

- 0.5 žličke limonine lupinice (eko bio)

- 0.5 žličke pomarančne lupinice (eko bio)

Kako sem pinco naredila?

Presejala sem moko in jo dala v pečico na 70 C za pol ure, da se je segrela.

Potem sem naredila mešanico kvasa - v približno 70 mL toplega mleka sem dala dve žlici sladkorja in dobro premešala, da se je ves sladkor raztopil. Nato sem noter razdrobila kocko kvasa in spet dobro premešala, da se je ves kvas 'raztopil'. Dodala sem eno žlico moke in premešala, mešanica naj bo gladka, brez kakšnih grudic. Počakala sem kakšnih 10 minut, da je kvas narastel (glej sliko spodaj).

Med tem, ko je kvas deloval, sem penasto umešala rumenjake in jim dodala sladkor. Potem sem dodala mešanico kvasa in lumonino in pomarančno lupinico (ki je narasla na dvakratno začetno velikost) in ponovno premešala. Nato sem dodala maslo in rum ter ponovno mešala. Potem sem zamenjala nastavek na Artyu iz metlice na kljukast nastavek za kvašeno testo in po tretjinah dodajala mleko in moko (1/3 mleka in 1/3 moke, gneti, 1/3 mleka in 1/3 moke, gneti, …). Ko so vse sestavine bile v mešanici, je Arty testo gnetel še 5 minut. Nato sem skledo pokrila s čisto kuhinjsko krpo (lahko tudi s prozorno folijo za živila) in čakala, da naraste za dvakrat.

Pečico sem ogrela na 180C. Ko je testo 'kipnlo' sem ga ponovno pregnetla, tokrat le z rokami, in naredila 4 kroglice (približno) enake velikosti. Premazala sem jih z rumenjakom in malo mleka, vanje zarezala trikrako zvezdo (glej sliko spodaj) in počakala se kakšnih 15 minut, da ponovno vzhajajo. Nato sem jih pekla na 180 C za 20 do 25 minut. Morda pecite kakšnih 5 minut več, če imate radi res zapečeno in hrustljavo.

Ko je bila pinca pečena, sem jo vzela iz pekača, dala na krožnik. Počakala sem, da se je ohladila in jo nato pokrila s servieto in prozorno folijo za živila, da je ostala kar se da dolgo sveža.

The original Sacher ™ cake is my favourite cake ever. It's chocolaty, aromatic, tasty,  … 

I happen to have a Vienna tradition - a glass of Grüner Wetliner and a piece of the cake in the Sacher Hotel every time I'm in Austria's capital with my mom. Doesn't it sound just dreamy? And when in Graz, I try to have a slice, too. #Goals.

I'm sure all of you know that the original recipe's a well hidden secret and us mortals will never have it.  (Insert sad emoji.) 

But what you're eying up now, is a close second to the original one and has a plus point: it's easy to make. Why you (probably don't) ask? Well, up to this try, I've never made a cake in my life. And if you're such an absolute beginner, you simply need a fail proof recipe that works every time. This one is from my BF's mother and gets two thumbs up.

Ingredients:

- 300 grams of cooking chocolate 

- 150 grams of butter (soft) plus extra for greasing the cake pan

- 150 grams of icing sugar

- 150 grams of flour plus extra for greasing the cake pan

- 6 eggs (yolks and egg white separated), cca. 300 grams

- 1 tea spoon of baking powder, cca. 4 grams

- 200 grams of apricot jam

- 1 glass of warm water

- 50 mL of rum

- 70 grams of margarine

- 30 grams of coconut oil

The how-to?

First things first, all ingredients should be at room temperature. Just take the eggs out of the refrigerator 1 hour before you start making the cake. Do the same with butter, or, if you prefer, you can soften it in the microwave.

Preheat the oven to 180 C. Grease the cake pan with butter and flour.

Melt 150 grams of cooking chocolate, and the let it cool for about 10 minutes. 

In the first bowl separate the egg yolks from egg whites and beat the whites to 'soft peaks foam' with about two thirds of the sugar (100 grams). In a separate, second, bowl whisk the egg yolks into a foamy texture and add one third (50 grams) of icing sugar. Add then the softened butter and melted chocolate, mixing on medium speed all the time. Add the sieved flour, mix again on medium speed. Add then the egg whites for the first bowl and mix on low speed. In the end add the sieved baking powder. Pour the batter into a cake pan. (I used an 26 cm one.)

Bake for about 30 minutes at 180 C.

Take it out of the oven and let it cool for at least an hour. The sponge should be completely cooled down before you proceed.

Cut the sponge horizontally into two pieces. To a glass of warm water add one table spoon of apricot jam and rum, mix it well and use this mixture to moist the sponge. Then spread the apricot jam generously over both halves of the sponge. Put one half of the sponge over the other.

In a bowl melt the rest of the cooking chocolate, margarine and coconut oil and mix well so there's no difference in consistency. Cover the whole cake with this mixture. (At this point I decorated the cake with M&Ms and funfetti, …) Put the cake in the fridge over night for the chocolate icing to cool.

Originalna Sacher ™ torta je moja naj naj naj (ja, 3x je bilo potrebno to poudariti!) torta sploh. Čokoladna, aromatična, njen okus je nebeški, …

Moja dunajska tradicija je košček torte in kozarec 'Grüner Wetliner' v Sacher hotelu, kadar sem v avstrijski prestolnici z mojo mamo. Se ne sliši sanjsko? In ko sem v Grazu, poskušam priti do Saher Cafeja in tam pojesti en kos. #Goals.

Prepričana sem, da veste, da je originalni recept skrbno varovana skrivnost in mi navadni smrtniki ga nikoli ne bomo imeli. (Vstavi žalostni emoji.)

To, kar sedaj gledate, je recept za srebrno medaljo, ki se zlato sveti zaradi super lastnosti: enostavna je za narediti. Zakaj, se morda (ne) sprašujete? Do tega trenutka nisem spekla še nobene torte v mojem ne-prekratkem življenju. In, ko si taki začetnik, rabiš preverjen recept. Ta je od Lubi*jeve mame in je za odl (10).

Kaj sem potrebovala?

- 300 g jedilne čokolade

- 150 g zmehčanega masla in še malo za mazanje modela za torto

- 150 g sladkorja v prahu

- 150 g (gladke) moke in še malo za model, da se torta ne sprime

- 6 jajc (loči rumenjake od beljakov), cca. 300 g

- 1 žlička pecilnega praška, cca. 4 g

- 200 g marelične marmelade

- 1 kozarec tople vode

- 0.5 dcL ruma

- 70 g rastlinske masti = margarine

- 30 g kokosovega olja

Kako sem jo naredila?

Za začetek najpomembnejše stvari. Vse sestavine morejo biti na sobni temperaturi. Jajca, maslo, margarina, vse sem vzela kakšno uro pred začetkom dela iz hladilnika. Lahko pa maslo segrejemo v mikrovalovni pečici, zna biti lažje. 

Pečico sem zagrela na 180 C. Z maslom sem namastila model za peko torte in ga posipala z moko.

Na sopari sem raztopila 150 gramov čokolade in počakala kakšnih 10 min, da se nekoliko ohladi.

Ločila sem rumenjake od beljakov in v prvi posodi stepla sneg iz beljakov in 2/3 sladkorja (100 g). V drugi posodi sem penasto stepla rumenjake in nato dodala ostanek sladkorja (50 g). Nato sem dodajala zmehčano maslo in čokolado, vedno sem mešala na srednji hitrosti. Nato sem dodala presejano moko in še dalje mešala na srednji hitrosti. Potem sem dodala sneg in počasi mešala na majhni hitrosti. Na koncu sem dodala presejani pecilni prašek. Mešanico za testo sem vlila v model za peko torte (26 centi premera). Čokoladni biskvit sem pekla pol ure na 180C.

Model sem vzela iz pečice in počakala vsaj eno uro, da se je biskvit popoloma ohladil. Biskvit naj res bo ohlajen, komaj takrat nadaljevati!!

Bisvit sem nato vodoravno prerezala na pol. V kozarec s toplo vodo sem zamešala žlico marelične marmelade in pol deci ruma ter s to mešanico navlažila oba biskvita. Nato sem ju na debelo namazala z marmelado in dala enega na drugega, da sem ponovno dobila torto.

Nad soparo sem stopila preostali del (150 g) jedilne čokolade, margarino in kokosovo olje, ter jih zamešala tako, da je konsistenca bila gosta a vseeno dovolj tekoča, da sem z njo oblila torto. (Torto sem kičasto dekorirala.) Nato sem jo dala preko noči v hladilnik. 

ENG

My BF and me, we love spanish food. And drinks. Well, Spain in general. Imagine this - august, the really hot sun in shining, you're sitting at the beach, a cool Estella Damm in you hand, … I just can't wait for the holidays to come. But, sadly, there are still some months till that lovely time in all our lives is finally here, so to make the wait less bitter I made a typically Galician dish a couple weeks ago. It's actually the first thing my has BF ever cooked for me, so it's really special to me. And as it's yummy and easily prepared it will be for you, too. I think.
Now it may not look like a lot, but looks (in this case) can be deceiving. The taste will more than make up for the visual presentation. And as the fish is cooked it does not really taste like fish, so it's a good Rp. to try if you're not a massive fish eater.

You can find the original Rp. on this site: Merluza a la Gallega SPANISH RECIPE. My BF translated it for me, and I pimped it a little, so it's even yummier.

Ingredients:

- 3 hake filets
- 4 potatoes (2 per person), cut into smaller pieces
- 1 red pepper
- 6 cherry tomatoes (I didn't have any more)
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 red onion, cut in half
- olive oil
- sweet red paprika (powder)
- salt

How-to:

Peel the onion and cut it in half. With the palm of your hand and a knife 'smash' 2 garlic cloves (you know, the fancy way chef's do it on TV!). Wash and peel the potatoes and cut them into smaller pieces of equal size. Take a bigger pot, pour into it a bit of olive oil and heat it up. Then add the onion and garlic and wait for a couple of minutes for them to get brown-ish. Add water. I used boiling hot water, if you use cold water, it will take a bit longer, but it is fine either way. Salt the water at this point of time, but you can also salt the whole dish in the end. Put the potatoes, tomatoes, 4/5 paprika in the pot and cook them for about 20 minutes before adding the hake fillets. The filets cook really quickly, 5 minutes are more than enough. This may be a bit more difficult to time the first time around, but once you've prepared the dish a couple of times, it gets easier. The idea is, that once the filets are cooked, the potatoes are too.
While the potatoes are being cooked and before adding the fish, prepare the sauce.
Take a pan, add olive oil and whole garlic cloves. Let them cook on medium high heat until the garlic gets brown. Then lower the heat and add 1/5 of the red pepper (cut into little pieces) and 2 tea spoons of sweet red paprika (powder) and mix them quickly so they don't burn. Add the water from the potatoes into the sauce so it doesn't burn and it gets a bit more fluid.
Once the potatoes and fish are done, put them onto a plate and pour the sauce over the fish.

SLO

Moj Lubi* in moja malenkost obožujeva špansko hrano, pijačo in Španijo na splošno. Kako le ne bi? Zaprite oči in si predstavljajte: vroč avgust, nekje na plaži, v roki oroseno ledeno hladno Estrella Damm pivo. O, le kdaj boš kočno tu, moj ljubljen dopust? No, do tega super trenutka, ko bodo možgani na off (in čivava na straži, Smisel življenja ™) dovolite, da vam predstavim zelo dober recept iz Galicije. To je prva hrana, ki mi jo je moj Lubi* skuhal in morda še posebej zato, mi je tako pri srčku. A ker je tako dober in enostavno pripravljen, sem prepričana, da bo tudi vam všeč. Probajte!

Originalni recept lahko najdete s klikom na to povezavo: Merluza a la Gallega ŠPANSKI RECEPT. Moj Lubi* ga je prevedel zame, a sem izvirni Rp.  malo 'spimpala', tako da je še mnogo bolj njami.

Kaj sem uporabila?

- 3 fileje osliča
- 4 krompirje (2 po osebi), narezane na enake manjše kose
- 1 rdeča paprika, narezana
- 6 češnjevih paradižnikov (več jih nisem imela doma)
- 5 strokov česna
- 1 rdeča čebula, narezana na pol
- olivno olje
- sladka paprika v prahu
- sol

Kako sem jed naredila?

Čebulo sem olupila in narezala na pol. Vzela sem dva stroka česna in ga z dlanjo in nožem 'pretisnila' (sej veste, tako kul, kot to naredijo šefi na TVju!). Umila in olupila sem krompir ter ga narezala na manjše koščke, ki so sicer približno enakih velikosti. Vzela sem kar velik lonec, vanj vlila nekaj olivnega olja in ga segrela. Vanj sem nato dala čebulo in česenj in ju segrevala, dokler nista po robih porjavela. Dolila sem vrelo vodo (jed bi bila enako dobra, če bi dala hladno, le trajalo bi malo dlje). Na tem mestu se voda lahko soli ali pa se jed posoli na koncu, ko je pripravljena. Vanjo sem nato dala krompir, paradižnike, 4/5 paprike. Kuhala sem jih približno 20 min, preden sem dala noter fileje osliča.  Oslič je skuhan v 5 min, res ne potrebuje dosti časa. Tajming je tu nekoliko bolj pomemben in ga je na začetku težko uloviti. Ideja priprave je, da ko je kuhan krompir je kuhan tudi oslič.
V času, ko se kuha krompir in potem tudi oslič, sem naredila omako.
Vzela sem ponev, jo dala na srednje močan plin in vanjo dala olivno olje in cele storke česna. Ko porjavijo po robovih, sem plin zmanjšala in dodala 1/5 paprike (narezane na majhne koščke) in 2 žlici sladke paprike v prahu. Mešala sem hitro in pazila, da se ne požge. Dodala sem tudi vodo iz posode z ribo, da je omaka postala nekoliko bolj tekoča.
Ko je krompir in oslič skuhan, serviraš tako, da preko ribe poliješ omako.