Tag: fresh yeast

Churros, our newly adopted snack

Why suddenly churros?

Churros breadNbutterkids

A month ago I was there 20 minutes before dinner looking online for ideas of very quick desserts.  For a change I wanted to stir away from a chocolate cake, chocolate souffles and all other chocolate treats for that reason.

Maybe I had an overdose of chocolate, we had just been preparing our Easter chocolate eggs.  Making Easter eggs and a few bunnies has become a rite just before Easter. The children are the doers once the chocolate is tempered.  They love it. I do as well and I must say the chocolate eggs and bunnies are pretty good!

chocolate eggs

So what happened?

So I was looking through a collection of recipe from I can’t remember a French or Australian foodie magazine website.  I was probably looking at both.  Anyway, I happened to see a churros recipe.  That was it, I had everything available: flour, eggs, a little bit of sugar and some butter.

So here I am making my churros dough, then we are having our dinner with a break for the cooking.  The first batch is just out that some neighbours pop up.  Churros gone, I just had time to dust some icing sugar on them. The last batch was cleaned off very quick as well.

The batch of churros for the photos was done this weekend while doing a 1,000 pieces jigsaw puzzle of the map of Australia found at the local wharf (wharf treasures).

Churros breadNbutterkids

 

The recipe is HERE!

Churros breadNbutterkids Churros breadNbutterkids

What else?

I bought a block of fresh yeast when wandering in Haberfield, an inner west suburb of Sydney with a strong Italian tradition.  So I made quite a few  things.

sugar tarte

One family favourite is the Tarte au sucre, a northern France specialty.  It is very simple. I know I often says so. Trust me, this raised dough has nothing to scare you off: mix, let rise, spread, spread soft brown sugar and cream and bake! the recipe is HERE.

croissants

I hadn’t done any croissants for a while. I was not that happy with my lamination but they turned out better that I thought they would.  It is always fun to have the children rolling them. We also had a traveller staying with us who loved this type of activities and was happy to learn.

 

The sugar tarte

The sugar tarte, known in Belgium and northern France as “la tarte au sucre” is a tarte based on a yeasted dough, soft brown sugar and cream.  It is very simple to make and you can get the kids involved all along.

sugar tarte

Ingredients:

For the dough

  • 200 g of plain flour
  • 100 g of butter
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp of milk
  • 1 tbsp of caster sugar
  • 10 g of fresh yeast (or 4 of dry yeast)
  • 1 pinch of salt (omit if using salted butter)

For the toping:

  • 125 g of soft brown sugar
  • 1 dL (100 mL) of cream
Method:
  1. In a large bowl, place the flour in the bowl and with a spoon, make a well (a hole in the middle of the flour in which you will place all the other ingredients).
  2. Dissolve the yeast in the warm milk.
  3. Add in the well, the yeast, butter, caster sugar, egg and salt.
  4. Mix until you obtain a nice dough.
  5. Transfer into a large bowl, cover with a clean tea-towel and allow to rise in a warm corner until almost double.
  6. Preheat the oven on 180°C.
  7. Butter and flour your tarte tin. Transfer the dough and using the palm of your hand, spread it gently making a little edge.  in the centre spread the soft brown sugar, then randomly pour the cream.
  8. Bake until the edges are golden brown.
  9. Eat warm or cold (do not place in the fridge).