Enjoy the silence

Huh, flying back to Germany already next week! I’ll be updating more from there then – got lots of things to try out back at home.

I’m especially waiting to get to bake some deep-fried meat-pies. Mother showed me how to make them, and at least the once she cooked turned out to be quite delicious.

And well, ’cause it’s the first-of-May season, I’ll be anyway using some frying oil for making doughnuts. And another thing to go with the season is mead. Will be interesting to see how that turns out for I’ve barely ever made anykinds of drinks myself.

But before baking those, I think I’ll take the time to make me a birthday cake. Should start looking for recipes – afterall, I’ll be having some guests to host in Germany.

So, enjoy the silence ’till I get home – then I’ll have lots to write about again!

Marika~

 

The Free Dictionary: American manufacturer of breakfast cereals and the coffee-substitute Postum. →

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Basic loaves

Not so much to post about, been simply enjoying my days here in Finland. I’ve been baking just basic loaves, to eat with breakfast or meal. It’s so simple to make them as I warm up the fireplaces. At the same time as I put fire in the kitchen, I make a dough. When the fire is gone, I tuck it in and in half an hour I have a delicious bread.

Feels like I’m saving energy, baking some “green” bread here. And the best thing is that we still have to warm up everyday. Just why didn’t I do this when I lived here? Having a baking oven like that is such a luxury!

Marika~

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Finland for a while

Sorry for my little while of absence – been adapting to Finland. I’ve been walking in the depths of forest enjoying the lack of people. Things are great here; dogs, cats, bunnies and the eagle owl are all doing just fine.

Of course I’ve already baked couple of breads as well. They’ve been ok, though I’ve a feeling that salt is saltier here. Well, it might be more than a hunch, since I did find out that the salt I’ve been using is actually grinded sea salt… That could explain it.

Still, baking here is such a luxury. Mother has a nice wood fired baking oven and it’s so cool to be able to bake bread there. It’s difficult, though, since I didn’t find anything to measure the oven temperature with. Well, I was lucky and it did turn out to look and taste quite good. Next time I’ll tuck it in just a bit earlier, also right before the fire has gone out.

If one is as imaginative as I am – doesn’t it look like a heart on top of the bread? Or maybe it’s just me being all-happy having baked a bread in a real oven. Oh well, I’ll be posting more oven breads soon.

Marika~

Wikipedia: In the Box was a 30 minute preschoolers’ television program which aired in Australia on Network Ten at to, from Monday to Friday. →

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Pasha

Celebrating and enjoying Easter here in Germany as well. And what would an Easter be without pasha! It’s one of my favorite seasonal desserts. And so, from the countless dessert and baking options for Easter, it’s the one I decided to prepare for us. Also some mämmi would be more than welcome, but for some reason it’s not available in our local store…

Anyway, let’s post the recipe for pasha here as well, so I’ll never forget it – and someone else might try it out, too:

Pasha

100 g  Butter
1-1,5 dl  Sugar
500 g  Quark
2  Eggs
2 dl  Whipping cream
1  Lemon – zest and juice
3 ts  Vanilla sugar
1 dl  Crushed almonds

1. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy. Whip the cream.

2. Stir the quark, eggs, lemon zest and juice, vanilla sugar, crushed almonds and the whipped cream gently into the butter and sugar mixture until smooth.

3. Line a colander with large gauze or coffee filters and place it on top of a bowl. Pour the pasha mass into the lined colander, cover it with clingfilm and let the pasha drain for 24 hours in the refrigerator. You can also place a small plate on top as a weight.

4. On the next day turn the pasha over onto a serving plate and decorate it with lemon, almond, grapes or such. Enjoy!

This serving of our pasha is a bit strange for it doesn’t usually come with a sauce. I just felt that throwing away the drained sweet liquid would be such a waste, so I decided to cook it into a sauce. Hah, tastes ok, but next year I’ll try to find some other use for it.

Also baguette baking is doing better. Finally made some with my sourdough, and yay – they taste like baguettes and have a nice crust. Slashing still doesn’t work out that splendid, but I’ll work on that. Also had a nice structure with some bigger bubbles. I followed the recipe from here – and it was worth the 6 hours of baking.

And next week back to Finland for a while. We’ll see if post anything before that. Happy Easter for everyone for now!

Marika~

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