Eureka! Eureka! Recipe for Yummy and Soft Turkish Buns is Reinvented!

by yasemin on January 18, 2012 in Bread & Co. with 6 Comments
Best Pogaca ever
Although everyday I collect some information (recipes, photos and even some experiences) that I would like to share with you, I could not get in front of my laptop for writing a post already for three weeks. I have millions of bread recipes I would like to share with you, but before that; today`s theme will be “Turkish Buns; Pogaca” due to an out of a sudden coming Heimweh that I experienced last week! I can shortly describe it as follows:
I was hearing the smell of Simit -like a nasal hallucination; which did not actually exist, but I wanted to eat it at that moment soooo much, I began hearing the smell…
And Simit is so called Turkish Bagel, and meaning for Turkish people what Brätzel or Bratwurst mean to Germans and what Pizza is for Italians! Current conditions did not let me baking Simit, but I baked the little sister of Simit, “Pogaca” exactly in the shop-bought manner!
So try this recipe, it is so easy and it is delicious, not financially loaded ingredients, 10 minutes to prepare. Eat it on breakfast or by the teatime!
For the ones who have visited Turkey till today, will be feeling the Bosphorus Breeze on their faces with the first bite -at least I did feel it:)
Enjoy!

Ingredients  (for 10-12 pieces)
  • 250 grams Soft Margarine
  • 75 ml. Hazelnut Oil (or any other type)
  • 250 ml. tepid Water
  • 2 tablespoons Sugar
  • 1 pck. Instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoon Salt
  • 2 tablespoons Mahalep (can be found it Turkish shops, if not maybe 1 tsp. cardamom)
    To decorate
  • Yolk of an egg (egg white can be added to the dough, I did so)
  • Sesame(optional)
  • Black Cumin (optional)
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celcius
Mix together water, yeast and sugar and let it rest for 10 minutes
It will bubble up, the mix the remaining ingredients in. Knead the dough till you get a really soft, fatty but not sticking around dough
Let it rest for 30 minutes till it doubles its volume
Tear lemon sized Pieces and shape them as shown on the pictures
Lay them on a tray with baking paper with some space left between each other
Brush egg yolk on it, you can also draw and X with fork for decorating them
Bake in 180 degrees Oven for 25 Minutes
It is sooo easy that I wanna bake it right now again!:) Afiyet Olsun!

Ultimate Christmas Playlist

by yasemin on December 27, 2011 in Travel Notes with 2 Comments
city-cosy-lights-nice-snow-winter-Favim.com-48793
Winter is the time, that we stay at home, share more time with our families and trying to get used to early sunsets.

And in winter there is a great accompany that can warm our souls at home, MUSIC!

After couple of searches, my husband and I have built our “Ultimate Christmas Playlist” that we will be hearing during this time of the year.
We love these songs and we hope that you will also like them!

Listen to the songs, check the snow outside or if you have no snow around, just dream about it or you can even google “let it snow”. Have a Sahlep on top!

It can not feel more “winter” than this.

Have fun! Merry X-Mas and Happy New Year!

Winter Tastes Part I Cinnamon Buns

by yasemin on December 21, 2011 in Sweet Things with No comments
Zimtrollen

Cinnamon Buns

These buns are one of the best reminders of the winter time! They call you within 250 meters radius with their irresistible aroma and duft, and there is no way of saying “Noooooo!” to them. 


You can even have an acute ulcer while passing through the street with a patisserie baking this amazing sweet bite!:) And now we are able to bake it at home, in an easy way and enjoy them at home when they are warm. And these buns come as a full package; they taste great, they look great and they smell great!



Try these buns at home, I assure you your door will be knocked by dizzy neighbors being high due to the great cinnamon duft infused all around the building you are living in:)) The great part is, with one batch of this recipe we will have 24 cinnamon buns, which means, we have plenty for sharing with others.

Instructions have many steps due to shaping the dough, it is simple and takes no time. Just read and try! It is a “piece of cake!”:)

Ingredients (makes 24 buns)

For the Dough:

200 ml. Milk
80 gr. Butter/Margarine
400 gr. Flour
1 Paket Dry/Instant Yeast

 

For the Filling
80 gr. Braun Sugar
1tsp. Cinnamon

For the Topping:
2 tablespoons Milk
1 Egg Yolk

  • Warm the milk and melt the butter in it.
  • Mix flour and yeast in a seperate bowl.
  • Mix together milk mixture to dry mixture (yeast+flour) and mix them with kneading tool of mixer first on low and then on high speed till you get a smooth dough. -approximately 5 minutes
  • Leave the dough to rest till it get 1,5 times of its volume
  • Put baking sheet on or fat the baking tray with butter/oil
  • Divide the dough with mildly floured hands on a mildly floured surface into two
  • Roll each piece to 35cm*24cm rectangular
  • Beat the egg and milk together and brush it to the dough as a thin layer
  • Mix brown sugar with cinnamon and spread this mixture on the dough
  • Roll the rectangular dough starting from the short corner and have a long roll. Do the same with the other piece of dough
  • Cut 2 cm. wide slices and put this slices horizontally on baking tray. Leave space between buns, cause they will get bigger during the resting and baking time. Rest for 20 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
  • Brush the buns with egg yolk milk mixture and bake them for 15 minutes on the middle rack of the oven. Serve it warm!

Afiyet olsun! Bon appetit! Guten Appetit! Enjoy!

By the way, as you know on Sunday we have handed our cookies to our neighbors. They were welcoming us and our cookies in a really positive way.

We have received many compliments,calls and messages regarding the content of the boxes, the packages and also our approach. I have today received a call if I receive orders for baking for others. This made me proud:) At the end of the day, everyone had a smile on face. I think we have achieved our aim…

Best part of a fest?

by yasemin on December 18, 2011 in Sweet Things with 2 Comments
christmas_cookies_1

Best part of a fest is neither receiving presents nor buying everything. The best part of a festivity day is getting closer, being in a great mood and enabling others having a good mood.

Due to this, I try my best in learning different cultures and enjoying other traditions, and I always begin with Festivity days. Till today, due to my friends living abroad or due to my job, I got the opportunity of traveling, and get to know local people. Now I am on another adventure, I am living in the middle of a total different culture, and try to learn about their traditions. And what do I do for that purpose???

 
 
 
  
 


German Traditions 101 : Plätzchen Backen (Baking Christmas Cookies)

On top of the German traditions list we can state “Christmas Bakery”! And for celebrating together, you can bake together with friends, which I do; and you can share the cookies you have baked with the loved ones. This year, we will go one step further and we will be sharing our cookies with the loved ones and also with our neighbors that we would celebrate and be in a happy mood all together! Last three weeks we have baked and packed more than 60 packages with my husband. And today is the day for knocking the doors!:)

 
 
 

Hopefully they will like the package and also its content of 13 types of cookies we baked till today.

I will keep you posted about the reactions. I am already exciteeeeeedddd!:))))

Rushing to the Christmas and a “Happy” New Year! Part I

by yasemin on December 6, 2011 in Sweet Things with No comments
Chevy Almond Chocolate Bites

Each year the same rush! As a “hybrid” family, we are celebrating each and every festivity from both traditions.

This has for sure several advantages including having a festivity day each and every month (so we do not need to celebrate Halloween or any other merchandise fest:)) and also disadvantages like being occupied in the kitchen all year long!:)

Christmas and new year celebrations have a lot in common; like

  • you need to start getting prepared for both approximately 10 days in advance!:)
  • consumption of these preparations takes only 3-4 hours ! :)
  • the guilty conscious invading your mind the morning after with the following sentence:

 

“It would have been better, if I haven`t eaten the third plate of the
mud cake :S “

 

 

 

Despite these facts mentioned above,getting ready for a celebration is soooooo joyful, I could not have missed mentioning it on my website. Currently I am baking and trying many recipes, cookies, fudges etc. from morning till evening! So, you are very welcome to my new series of articles : Christmas Baking!!!

For being able to mention as many variety as possible, I will keep the articles short, attach millions of pics and hints to the recipes! Below are the demo pictures for you to see what you will be seeing in my following articles! :)

 

***To be Continued***

Innocent and Delicious Mixed Flour Bread

by yasemin on November 6, 2011 in Bread & Co. with 1 Comment
mischbrot

If your approach, to the breads made with only whole wheat flour, is hesitative like me; and if you are looking for a healthy, easy to bake alternative to whole wheat bread; this is the recipe you are looking for and I can easily state that you are on the right page. This bread is soooo easy to prepare and so delicious I personally still can not believe if I am dreaming of it?:)

It is baked as follows:

Ingredients (for 2 loafs å 400 grams)

250 grams Whole Wheat Flour

400 grams White Flour

100 grams Rye Flour

1 tbsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cardamom (optional)

1 ½ packs Fresh Yeast (or as an alternative 3 packs instant yeast)

250 ml. Tepid Water (app. 38 degrees C)

1 tsp. Honey

  • Mix all dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  • Mix in honey to tepid water till it dissolves and crumble frest yeast in.
  • Mix in the yeast, water and honey mixture into the dry mixture. Knead it till it gets smooth and non sticking.
  • Cover the dough with stretch foil and let it ferment for approximately 1 hour.
  • Following the fermentation, knead the dough once more, and divide the dough into two equal pieces.
  • Shape these doughs into long loafs and cut sideways several lines on the loafs with an oiled knife.
  • Preheat the oven to 230 degrees Celsius.
  • Let the doughs rest for 30 more minutes on a baking tray covered with baking sheet.
  • Bake the loafs for first 10 minutes at 230 degrees and following 35 minutes at 200 degrees on the middle rack of the oven.

    And that is all!

Afiyet olsun!

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