Sourdough & Yeast Bread with Seeds

Yesterday morning, after non-stop rain on Wednesday, I think I could have give a home to some gold fish in my bike's panniers. That's the downside of having waterproof bags, you see .. the water usually keeps out, but if it gets in, it stays in there ;)

My panniers do have a hole...unintentionally...but it doesn't seem to help much in this case.

In any case it is always surprising how much less heavy my bike is without these panniers and the D-lock on it. 

Well, anyway ... I hadn't planned on having a free morning today, but since I now have one, I am tackling the following very urgent issue now:

Finally ... after moving this note from my desk to the kitchen, back to my desk, being carried around on my phone as a photograph when showing a friend how to make this bread  ... I am now putting it into proper writing for you!

Oh, hold on. Maybe you can just use the note? ;) No? Oh, okay then =P

I've made two versions of this bread now; one with seeds, as my Mum's original version was, and one with left-over red lentils and sunflower seeds. I can recommend both versions or simply using whatever you may have on hand.

Sourdough & Yeast Bread with Seeds

Recipe by Ines Feucht

Sourdough yeast bread with seeds, grains, or pulses. Wholegrain rye and wheat.

Prep time: 12 hours
Cook time: 45 minutes
Total time: 18 hours
Yield: 2 loaves

Ingredients

• 245 g rye flour
• 280 g water
• 50 g ready-to-use sourdough-starter (before feeding)

• 120 g mixed seeds, soaked in
• 105 g water OR
• 1 cup cooked lentils/grains

• 350 g wheat flour
• 60 g rye flour
• 16 g salt
• 2 tsp dried yeast (or 10 g fresh)
• honey
• 50 g water

• water
• seeds or flour for decoration

Instructions

On the day before:

1. Mix rye flour, water and sourdough in a bowl. Cover and place in a warm place overnight.
2. Mix seeds of your choice with water and leave to soak OR make sure you have your grains/pulses cooked for the next day. You can also cook them on the next day, but since you wouldn't want them to be hot it is easier to have them ready. You can also add in grains/pulses and seeds.

On the baking day:

1. Dissolve yeast and honey in lukewarm water.
2. Mix wheat and rye flour with salt. Add to the dough you started the day before along with the yeast mixture and the seeds/grains/pulses.
3. Knead until the dough comes together in a ball and keep on kneading for a bit until you have a soft and pliable dough. Knead into a ball, as described here in the kneading instructions and place back into your bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm place for two hours.
4. With wet hands remove from the bowl onto a wet surface. Divide into two equal parts and knead into loaves.
• Either: Place on a baking sheet lined with non-stick backing foil or dusted with a very generous amount of flour. Wet the loaves thoroughly with your hands. Dust with flour.
• Or: Wet the loaves thoroughly with your hands. Dip, upside-down into a plate full of seeds. Turn back around and place on a baking sheet lined with non-stick backing foil or dusted with a very generous amount of flour. 
5. Let the loaves rise in a draught-free place for half an hour and pre-heat your oven to 260 °C. If using fan heat only use 240°C. After 20 minutes place an oven-proof dish filled with water in the oven to let steam develop.
6. With a wet, sharp knife cut into the loaf to determine where it will break up. You can choose the pattern. I did a cross-wise grid sort of pattern, as I remembered too late that I used to make my Mum cut hearts into the surface ;)
7. Bake for
• 15 minutes at 260 °C / 240°C fan heat
• 15 minutes at 220 °C / 200°C fan heat
• 15 minutes at 190 °C / 170°C fan heat
8. Remove from the oven and check if the loaves sound hollow when you knock on them to confirm that they are done. Let cool on a rack until completely cooled, then wrap in a dish towel and store in a paper bag at room temperature OR freeze immediately, when still hot, in a sealed freezer bag.
9. Enjoy :-)

Thyme & Sesame Bagels

Happy Sunday! I know that, at least if you are in Portsmouth, this may not be the loveliest of days, but it is exactly the right day to read this and think about freshly baked goods ;)

I've got some more novelties lined up for you. Okay, maybe just one, but let's start with the the more important things, such as food, first!

This week I've tried so many new recipes and taken lots of Instagram photos that last night that I couldn't remember when the last time had been that I had had pasta. So, with the surprise bag of ingredients that a friend of mine had brought from the shop I made us some stir fried sweet potato, thyme-mushrooms and bok choi with lemon, soy sauce and lightly fried spaghetti. We loved the result and it was exactly the right thing for the day. For some reason, pasta is a food I often turn to when I feel like I need something that is definitely going to work and is sort of comforting, that is exactly the right thing after a long day and a busy week.

I think that today I may have finally gotten one step further on my dissertation work, so I deserve some time off for posting after spending lots of time on it during the week ;)

Well, I have to admit that I had a day off going on a trip to London. On that day there was a tube strike, so it was crazily busy and it was amazing to be back here in the evening with nobody out on the streets and  . . .  the silence!
It is a great place to visit and we had a great time seeing the ICA and wandering around in Tate Modern, but one day in the city centre is definitely enough for me. I think this time my art interpretation skills were not spot-on, but amazingly there was one, a video of a cube of sugar cubes being drizzled with crude oil, where we actually agreed on what we thought it was supposed to mean. Probably that was completely different from the artist's intention, but let's not be too critical ;)

In galleries I always find it amazing how people have such different opinions about artworks and I like the thinking that in art usually you won't be right or wrong.

These bagels are something that is right, though ;)
It was an experiment, so I noted down some things I would change the next time I am making them, but am sharing these notes with you!

Thyme & Sesame Bagels

Inspiration from these Whole Wheat Za'atar Bagels

Time: 10 minutes + 1 hour rising + 10 minutes + 2 hours rising + 30 minutes + 20 minutes baking

for	7	bagels
	550 g	wholewheat flour
	1/2 tsp	dried yeast
	1/2 tsp	honey
	100 g	luke warm water
	2 tsp	salt
	3 tsp	cornflour-locust bean gum mixture (or 1 egg) *
	60 g	water
		water
	3 tbsp	sesame seeds
	1 handful	fresh thyme, chopped
	1 tbsp	organo, dried
	3 tbsp	honey
	2 l	water
		coarse salt
		sesame seeds

• For detailed yeast dough-instructions, see here.
• Start the dough by dissolving yeast and honey in 100g of water and pouring into a well in the middle of the flour. Let rise, covered in a warm place until the dough has visibly started to rise.
• Add salt, egg/fake egg*, sesame seeds, thyme, oregano and, gradually, water. Knead into a smooth, soft, non-sticky dough. Let rise until the volume has doubled.
• Set 2 litres of water to boil in a wide pot. Preheat your oven to 230°C (upper-/lower-heat). Use 20°C less if using fan heat.
• Divide the dough into 7 pieces of equal size (they will weigh about 120 g). Form each piece into a small roll. Keep water at hand. Wet your index fingers. Poke one index finger from the top through the roll, lift up and poke the other finger through from the bottom. Making rotating movements with both hands, stretch the hole with your fingers until it is about 6cm in diameter. Place formed bagels on a non-stick baking sheet.
• When the water is boiling, stir in the honey and lower heat to a slight simmer.
• Have a soup plate with sesame seeds on hand.
• To boil the bagels (first try with a single one and then you may be able to do two at a time):
• Gently drop bagel into the water. Using a slotted spoon, nudge it from time to time to make sure it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot.
• After some time the bagel will rise to the surface. When it does, after 15 seconds, flip it over and boil for another 20 seconds (approximately).
• Lift it out with the slotted spoon and place in the soup plate with the sesame seeds. Flip.
• Return to the baking sheet.
• Sprinkle with a little bit of coarse salt.
• After boiling all bagels, bake for 10 minutes, flip them over and bake for another 10 minutes.
• Leave to cool on a rack and enjoy immediately. If eating them after a few hours I recommend re-heating them on a toaster as it crisps them up very nicely.

• If you want to freeze them, freeze immediately. Let defrost in a plastic bag later and place on a toaster to crisp up when defrosted.

*Video: see explanation below

*Cornflour-Locust Bean Gum Egg:

Mix 300 g fine whole cornflour with 30 g locus bean gum. You can buy locust bean gum in health food stores or organic shops. Make sure there are no clumps. You can use a sieve for this. Keep in an airtight jar. To substitute 1 egg, use 2 tsp of the mixture and mix with 40g water.

And now the exciting news ;)
I did a video of me making these bagels, so have a look (on YouTube itself the quality is a bit better)!

I hope it is useful! I apologise for it not being super professional and me walking in and out of the picture, but as I will never have a perfect first video I thought I might as well get started with this one.

Swabian Hearty Bread Rolls

I have had a very productive and busy day today so far! Besides baking these delicious rolls I spent some time on my job search. So keep your fingers crossed for me that one day I'll be successful ;-) But I guess, as the saying goes, persistence is the key to success ;-) Sometimes, that is...if you don't make the same mistake all over again all the time. After that I indulged in my weekly cleaning project =P and in between ...

... I made these delicious rolls! So here we go in case I have confused you earlier on.

Usually I make a batch and freeze it so that I can take some out each day for lunch without any hassle ... I just love home-baked bread! I have had some conversations about my seemingly snack-like lunch...but, honestly, real, crunchy, hearty bread is so much more than a snack!!!

Bread rolls also remind me of weekends when I was a child. During the week we'd have bread, but on weekends it would be bread rolls. That was before the time when my Mum started baking, so I was a very small child then ;-)

My Dad drove to the bakery in the next village each Saturday and Sunday morning, since that used to be the one where they'd still make the bread themselves from scratch. They used to have different breads and rolls on different days of the week, since, when you actually make things from scratch, you cannot make 30 kinds of bread each day.

That reminds me... ! Have you ever seen Laugenbrot (= pretzel bread)? Actually, myself, I have only ever seen it in this specific bakery. Laugenbrötchen (= lye rolls), Laugenbrezeln (= pretzels) or Laugenstangen (= pretzel breadstick) are very common and available everywhere, but Laugenbrot doesn't seem to be. I loved to pluck it apart, as, since it was braided, like a Hefezopf bread (= braided sweet yeast bread), it was possible to divide into pieces in the places where the different strands met. I love thinking back to all the amazing things they used to bake....but let's get back:

The bread rolls: In the morning we'd have rolls with butter, jam, chocolate spread, honey or Eszet-Schnitten.
Eszet-Schnitten are very thin chocolate slices, available in different degrees of darkness, that you lay on your bread. I don't eat them anymore these days, but putting them on freshly toasted toast (on weekdays) was so much fun! They'd melt and go all gooey and, well ... CHOCOLATE! =)

The following recipe is similar to the Potato Bread one, but slightly heartier. Since it doesn't contain milk you only need items that you may have in your pantry anyway and if you'd been using nut milk it saves you that one step of making it.

Swabian Bread Rolls

recipe inspired by a recipe by Adelinde Häußler

Time: 30 minutes + 1 hours rising + 15 minutes + 3 hours rising + 15 minutes + 35 minutes resting & baking = 5 h 35 min (not all working time!)

for 7 rolls
100 g	water, lukewarm
2 g or ½ tsp	dried yeast (or twice the amount fresh yeast)
½ tsp	honey
450 g	whole wheat flour
50 g	whole rye flour
½ tsp	bread spice (usually a mixture of fennel, coriander and caraway seeds)
125 g	potatoes
12 g	salt
¼ tsp	nutmeg, ground
½ tbsp	red wine vinegar

• Dissolve yeast and honey in water. Grind up the bread spice in a mortar or with a blender. Place flour and bread spice in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the flour and pour in the water-yeast-mixture. Mix with some flour from the sides of the well until you achieve a mud-like consistency. Sprinkle with some flour from the sides and cover with a lid, plate or cling film. Let rest in a warm place for an hour. 

• In the meantime: Cut the potatoes in small pieces (1.5 cm size) and steam until very soft. For this place them in a metal colander or a steaming basket. Take a pot of a suitable size for the colander and add about 3 cm of water. Place the colander in the pot and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil and let cook in the steam for 15-20 minutes until the potatoes are very soft. Keep the water.
• Mash the potatoes and add some of the cooking water as you go to achieve a creamy consistency. (I use a potato masher and do this in the pot I cooked the potatoes in, since you need something with an even bottom surface).

• When the yeast has visibly started to rise, add the mashed potatoes, nutmeg and vinegar. Also add the salt, but don't pour directly on the yeast, as direct contact causes some of the yeast-cells to die. Add a slight bit water. Knead until everything starts to come together and add more water as necessary.
• When you have reached that consistency take the dough from the bowl and form into a ball by folding in the sides and rotating the ball of dough until the bottom side of the dough is smooth. Turn over and return to the bowl. Cover the bowl and return to the warm place. Let the dough rise until it has at least doubled in size. This may again take about 2-5 hours, depending on the temperature and the amount of yeast.

• Pre-heat your oven if necessary. You'll want 210°C. Use upper and lower heat. If you have fan heat turn to only 190°C. Place a casserole dish with a bit of water in the oven to let steam develop.
• Keep a bowl of water at hand. Wet the surface you'll be kneading on. Remove the dough from the bowl and put onto your surface. Divide into 120 g pieces and evenly divide up any leftover dough. I had seven rolls.
• Form rolls: Using the same technique as for the whole of the dough before, do this with the first roll. Then, place, open side down, on the surface and move your hand in circular movements, as if you were rolling a ball in circles over the table. This will make the rolls more ball like, as opposed to the flatter shape they may have had before. Don't worry though if it doesn't entirely work, it is all a matter of practice and your rolls will turn out fine no matter what!
• Repeat with all rolls and place open side down on a flour-covered baking sheet. You can also use a non-stick baking sheet. Wet all the rolls with water.
• Let them rest for 10 minutes in a draught-free-place. Bake for 25 minutes. To test for done-ness, tap the bottom of a roll with your finger. It should sound hollow.

• Let the rolls cool on a rack and eat immediately or place into freezer bags immediately after baking and freeze. If you do this take them out a couple of hours before you want to eat them, keep in the freezer bag and the re-heat on top of a toaster-oven.

You can turn this into a bread by baking it according to the instructions in the Potato Bread recipe.

PS: Don't forget you can now follow me on Instagram! The link is on the right side in the sidebar.

Schneckennudeln with Nut Filling

As you might remember from my post on my Mum's Crusty Potato Bread I was on Easter break in Germany. I was enjoying cooking and baking with my Mum and re-creating some traditional German dishes. There are dishes I remember having as a child, which sometimes also my grandma made for Sunday lunch and some I've just never made myself... and any recipe I find on the internet wouldn't be the same as my Mum or may grandma used to do it.

One of these is Kohlrouladen (that's Cabbage Rolls in English), with a vegetarian filling, though ... But okay, maybe that was the main traditional dish we made. It was my Easter wish, as sometimes food memories just don't want to leave my head anymore until I've had that dish. The recipe for the Cabbage Rolls still needs some tweaking so I have something different for you first!


Last week my Mum and I made the original version of Schneckennudeln, which I told you about when I made my version with Orange, Almond and Raisin Filling. Traditionally Schneckennudeln are filled with either a nut filling or a poppy seed filling, as you will see when you look for Schneckennudeln on Google.

Since probably the nut filling is the most popular - and since that's the one my Mum wanted to do ;-) -  I am posting this one today.

Nut Filling for Schneckennudeln

Time for making the filling: 10-15 minutes

filling for Schneckennudel dough made of 500 g flour
200 g	hazelnuts, ground
60 g	honey
1 tbsp	carob powder (you can substitute cocoa)
3/4 tsp	cinnamon
1 pinch	salt
150 g	raisins, soaked in water and drained
about ⅓ cup	orange juice
optional
½ cup	cashew cream for brushing (use a bit more cashew nuts (1:7) than when making cashew milk (1:10))

• Grind the hazelnuts if you haven't bought them ground and drain the raisins. You can reserve the water from the raisins and use it if you haven't got any oranges or orange juice.
• Place all ingredients except for the orange juice in a bowl and mix well. Then add as much orange juice as needed to turn the mixture into a sticky paste.
• Use for filling your Schneckennudeln. You can find the recipe for the dough here.
• If you want, brush the Schneckennudeln with cashew cream after letting them rise the last time before baking. That way they will be a bit more moist even though the filling is not as moist as a jam filling.

Coconut Balls

I am sharing an easy recipe with you today since - at least here in Germany - the sun is shining and it is amazingly warm! So, if by any chance you have some of the same luck, then maybe you won't fancy being in the kitchen for ages ... Even though that's a very nice way to spend an evening! ... But you wouldn't have expected to hear anything else from me I guess ;)

These coconut balls are an easy to make dessert or snack. They are sweet and any visitors we ever had who've tried them have always loved them. My Mum found the recipe a long time ago and since then the recipe has become a staple in hers and my kitchen.

You can make them ahead and keep them in the fridge or put into a jar and give away as a present.

Coconut Balls

Inspired by this recipe for Kokoskugeln by georgia.

Time: 10 minutes preparation, min. 1 hour cooling, 15-20 minutes forming

150 g	desiccated coconut
80 g	honey, preferrably acacia honey*
2 tbsp	cashew milk/cream/coconut milk
about 50 g	desiccated coconut for decoration

• Finely grind the 150 g of desiccated coconut in a blender or food processor until it has an almost flour-like consistency. Don't over-blend, as at some point the mixture will start to get too oily when the coconut begins to release its oils.
• Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add the honey and the cashew milk (or whatever you choose to use). With a spoon mix very well until you have a uniform mixture. Place into the fridge for at least an hour.
• Have some storage box at hand. Pour your coconut for decorating into a soup plate. If you think it is too coarse give it a short (!) blend as well. Then, using your hands, form the coconut mixture into bite-sized balls. If the mixture is hard use a spoon to break it up and if it still is too hard wait 10 minutes.
• Drop the balls in the soup plate with the coconut and every once in a while, when some balls have accumulated, give the plate a good shake so the coconut balls get coated in desiccated coconut. You might need to roll them again by hand if the coconut doesn't stick on right away.
• Store in a box in the fridge.

*Acacia honey: acacia honey is the honey that has the least own, characteristic taste. Other honey can be used, but the more neutral it tastes, the better it is to bring out the coconut flavour. I'm sure some of the honey blends you get in the stores are also fairly neutral. Just give it a try!

Apfelmus

Hi there!
In case you were wondering where I've been over the last weeks - the "evil flu" got to me at the beginning of last week. So I was in bed for two days with a horrible headache and had several versions of colds for the rest of the week. I hope this doesn't sound familiar to you!!!

So I haven't been doing much.

Well, this is not true. Since I've been at home at lot, I've taken lots of photographs of what I've made. Only I've succumbed to sleep in the evening instead of writing. I hope you're forgiving me ;-)

So, to get back on track: Right now I've got a Schneckennudel dough rising next to the heating and . . .  *insert-the-sound-of-some-drums-here* . . . an apple filling waiting for tomorrow morning in the fridge.

I know I told my friends I'd make an original German nut filling the next time, but I was so tempted by the apples today. I'm sorry! The nut filling is still to come!

The apple filling is an Apfelmus or apple puree, just like you would use it for pancakes, Schupfnudeln or Kartoffelpuffer. Am I confusing you there?

"Apfelmus" is the German word for apple puree. "Apfel" means "apple" and "Mus" means "puree".

I don't know what you'd have apple puree with here in England, but where I come from it is common to have with the above mentioned dishes.
Pancakes I'm sure you all know one way or another.
Schupfnudeln are longish shaped potato dumplings which have pointed ends. They are cooked and then usually pan-fried and served with honey-braised Sauerkraut or with Apfelmus.
Kartoffelpuffer are, as Wikipedia tells me, called potato pancakes in English. Maybe you could compare them to hash browns. I have to admit that I've never liked them, but maybe I haven't found the right recipe yet.

In any case apple puree is versatile and you can use it, like I am planning to, as a filling or simply as jam or to have with anything you fancy!

Apfelmus

inspired by Ella Woodward's Apple Puree from her new book (Woodward, E. (2015). Deliciously Ella: Awesome ingredients, incredible food that you and your body will love. Hodder & Stoughton, p.19)

for 1 small jar / 1 Schneckennudel filling
2	apples
1/4 tsp	cinnamon
	water

• Core the apples and roughly cut them up. Place the pieces in a small pot and add a bit of water, so that the bottom of the pot is covered.
• Bring to a boil and cook the apples uncovered for 30-40 minutes. Add more water as necessary. In the end there shouldn't be a "soup" left, but the apples should not have burnt.
• Having added the cinnamon, pour the apples into a blender or use a stick blender. Blend until very smooth.

Keep in the fridge.

You can adjust the seasoning to your liking. Vanilla or cardamom might be interesting options! If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them!

Banana Bread Rolls

I have been baking again this week as you might guess!

Besides, I've been tackling my list of saved recipes this week! The result so far is: I have actually tried three new recipes in three days. None was a disaster, one was fantastic, one quite good and one...not bad, but not on the list for making again.
I am happy about how this went this week. Usually I save so many recipes and at some point I decide that I have to do a clear-out, because I can't find anything anymore =P
So in case you are curious - the one that was fantastic (honestly! I think I haven't tried anything that nice in quite some time!) was this version of Shepherd's Pie from Edible Perspective.

But back to what I've been baking! Banana Bread Rolls!
And no, they're not muffins, even though I always make them in a muffin pan - the dough is quite sticky and soft, that's why.
They don't require any artistic talent in case you didn't want to make the Schneckennudeln because of that ;-) These rolls are not like a typical cake or muffin recipe. They're made with yeast and resemble a typical yeast roll that is a bit heavier and has a subtle taste of banana and cocoa that is not overwhelming, though.

Banana Bread Rolls

Time required: about 30 min + waiting + 30 min + waiting + 10 min + 30 min for rising + 25 for baking

	for 9 rolls	for 12 rolls
	335 g (34 g nuts	445 g (44 g nuts)	Cashewmilk
	6-8 g	8-10 g	fresh yeast
OR	3 g	4 g	dried yeast
and in that case	1 tsp	1 tsp	honey
	335 g	445 g	whole wheat flour
	335 g	445 g	whole wheat flour
	2 tsp	2 ½ tsp	cinnamon
	1 tbsp +1 tsp	2 tbsp	cocoa powder
	1 tsp	1 1/3 tsp	salt
	300 g	400 g	banana, mashed
equals	2 large	3 normal sized	bananas
	2 2/3 tbsp	3 ½ tbsp	honey
	54 g	72 g	butter, melted

•  Grind cashew nuts and blend with water  to make cashewmilk. Pour a part into a jug and, in the same blender, blend the remaining milk with yeast and (if using dried yeast, honey).  In a bowl, mix flour, yeast-milk and remaining milk. If using a electric machine, use the paddle attachment. Using a spatula, try to fold in the sides to give the dough a bit of tension. Let rest covered for at least 3 hours at room temperature.

• In a second bowl mix second part of the flour, cinnamon, cocoa and salt. Add mashed banana, honey, melted butter and the flour mixture to the dough. Knead into a dough. This will not become smooth, but will remain very sticky. If using a machine, use the dough hook attachment. If the dough seems quite hard add some water. Cover the dough and let it rest for at least 8 hours at room temperature.

• Cut out squares of baking paper (do not use - under no circumstances - greaseproof paper - this will only give you lots of grief! ... I've done that) and, smoothing them over a small glass turned upside-down, turn them into moulds. You can also use non-stick muffin tin liners (but only if they're non stick). If you only have paper versions, rather just grease the muffin tin very well.
• Knead the dough again. With wet hands pull the dough into pieces and place them in the moulds. This doesn't have to look nice. Just rip the dough in pieces and make sure it's all in the moulds. Put the muffin pan in a warm place where there is no draught and let the rolls rise for about 25 minutes.
• If your oven needs preheating, preheat to 210°C.

• When the rolls have risen, place them in the oven and bake for 22-24 minutes.

• Remove them from the tin directly after baking and place on a cooling rack. If you used any paper for lining remove this. If you'd like to freeze any rolls, freeze them in sealed plastic bags directly after baking when hot (this way they retain the moisture). For thawing let them thaw in a plastic bag at room temperature for 4-5 hours. If you have the possibility you can reheat them for example on a toaster rack.

As always: If anyone tries this I'd love to hear from you!
Also I'm happy about any wishes and comments :-)

Pan-Baked Spiced Millet-Balls

As Sunday is coming, I thought this might be nice for you to read on Sunday or maybe even to make!

Well, no ... in fact I didn't plan this. I just made it the second time this week. The first try was not quite what I wanted, but I think I've now found a good way to make these. And tomorrow it just happens to be Sunday and I was looking for a nice introduction to this post.

The recipe Millet Cakes with Carrot and Spinach by Love & Lemons, which I read earlier this week, was my inspiration for these. I have changed a few bits and pieces to my taste, though.
The key to these is to get them nice and crispy on the outside, but still soft on the inside. But I have to say that the mixture itself tastes pretty good too. I just couldn't resist while forming the balls...

Maybe, you'd like to do these as a starter or have them as a side, but you could also do a lot of them and just eat them on their own. Or make a lot and save some for lunch the next day...
Which was my plan, but in fact my housemate and I ate all of them ;-)

I can imagine that either a tahini-based sauce - like hummus - or something based on sour cream would go well with these. They are not hard to make and something quite different.

Time: I forgot to precisely watch the time, but I think in total it took me about 45-50 minutes to make these.

for 16 tabletennis-sized balls
(1 as a main or 2 as a side)
100 g	millet
1 cup	water
1/4 tsp	salt
1/2	onion
1	garlic clove
1 tbsp	olive oil
1	carrot
90 g	spinach (fresh or thawed)
1 heaped tbsp	flaxseed
1 tbsp	cashews
about 1/4 cup	water
	salt
	pepper
1-2 tsp	curry (depending on the curry)
	mint leaves (fresh & chopped or dried and crumbled)
	butter

• Put millet in a pot, along with 1 cup of water and ¼ tsp of salt. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and let simmer with the lid half on for about 10 minutes. Turn the heat off as soon as the water has been absorbed and let stand covered until you have prepared everything else.
• Chop the onion and separately chop the garlic. Grate the carrot and chop the spinach into large pieces.
• Heat the olive oil over low heat in a pan. Add the onion and fry for about 5 minutes. In the meantime place flaxseeds and cashews in a blender and blend finely. Add the ¼ cup of water and blend again. Then add carrot and spinach to the pan and continue frying for another 5 minutes until the vegetables have wilted.
• Add some salt, pepper, the garlic, the mint and the curry and fry for another 3 minutes.
• Put flaxseed-cashew milk in a bowl. Add millet and the spinach-mixture. With a spoon mix everything very well.
• Take out a large plate. For the millet mixture into little balls (I'd say about the size of table tennis balls). Place all balls on a plate. Over low heat. heat a little bit of butter in a frying pan (you can use the same one as before) and place the balls in the butter. Over medium heat fry the balls from one side. Don't turn them, since you want them to get brown. Be patient. When they turn brown, turn them over, using two spoons. Also add a bit more butter in little pieces at different places into the pan. Fry the balls until the other side is also brown. The balls might stick a bit to the pan, but if you use a spoon you should be able to "lift" them off the pan so they stay relatively whole. If they don't do that completely, don't worry, the crusts will still taste good!
• Turn off the heat, place balls on a plate and serve them in whatever way you like.

You could replace spinach and carrots by other vegetables and adjust spices to your taste!

I hope that you enjoy these or thinking about them! :-)

Schneckkennudeln with Orange, Almond & Raisin Filling

Hey there to all of you!
As I wrote on Monday the Anti-Gloom-Orange Jam had a "greater purpose" ;-)
...yesterday morning it found its final destination in some Schneckennudeln.

Schneckennudeln are the German version of cinnamon rolls and usually, if bought at a bakery, bigger and available with different fillings. Most common are probably poppy seed or nut fillings and often Schneckennudeln are coated with sugar icing. They could be filled with anything and still be a Schneckennudel, though, as the name means "Snail"-"Fried-Dumpling". Snail, because of the shape and "Nudel" is a special term for yeast-dough, that is formed into rolls, which are then either fried or baked, so that one side is crispy and all other sides are steamed.
I hope this doesn't sound too weird ;-) At some point I'll try making some Dampfnudel as well, but since you need a nonstick-pan with a well-closing lid (preferably glass so it's see-through) I cannot do that right now. In fact it was my special Christmas wish last year when I was at home and we had salty Dampfnudeln with pea-soup on Christmas day. And that was very, very nice!

So, back to the weird German cinnamon rolls!

These take a bit of effort to make, but they are totally worth it I think and you do not have to be a magician to make them. With a bit of practice you will get better and better at doing this!

Time: it will take about 45 minutes to make the dough the evening before and another 30 minutes to assemble the rolls in the morning plus 1 hour rising and baking.

dough (make ahead the night before)
500 g	flour (I used whole wheat)
5 g	dried yeast
OR 10 g	fresh yeast
65 g	honey
250 ml	cashew milk (blend 25 g cashews & 225 g water)
1 1/2	eggs (I used self-made egg replacer, see below)
½ tsp	salt
70 g	butter
filling
	orange jam
100 g	raisins
40 g	almonds, slivered or chopped

• Dissolve yeast with one tsp honey in half of the cashew milk. Put flour in a bowl and make a dent in the middle. Pour mixture into the dent and stir in a bit of flour from the edges until the mixture reaches a creamy consistency; cover by gently nudging a bit of flour from the edges over the mixture. Put a lid, cling film or a plate on top of the bowl so that any draught is kept out. Put the bowl in a warm (!) place and let rise for about 15-20 minutes until you see that the flour over the mixture has cracks.
• Put butter and the remaining milk in a casserole or small pot and melt very gently over as low heat as possible. Add honey, and egg to the bowl. Put salt around the rim of the bowl (not directly on the yeast mixture, since salt tends to kill the yeast). Pour the warm butter and milk mixture around the rim of the bowl as well (since it is warm it is better to avoid direct contact with the yeast, as too high heat can also kill yeast cells).
• Knead all ingredients (easier with some kind of food processor or anything that can knead heavy dough) until a smooth dough forms (about 5-7 minutes with a machine, so I guess about 10 minutes by hand). Then take the dough and fold edges to the middle, rotating the dough when doing so, until the bottom side of the dough is completely smooth. Then, that side facing up, place the dough back into the bowl and cover with a lid (as before). Place the bowl in a warm place and let rise over night.

• In the morning, line a baking tray with baking foil or baking paper (not greaseproof paper!). On a nonstick baking mat or on a very well floured surface roll out the dough into a rectangle of about 5 mm thickness. Make sure all the corners are well defined and not too rounded.
• Spread the orange jam evenly over the rectangle (up to all edges). Sprinkle raisins and almonds on top.
• Now, from the long side of the rectangle roll up the dough. If you have a mat, it might help to lift the mat up at times. If you use a mat roll the roll onto a cutting board for slicing. If you have it on your counter then also try to get it onto a board or use a knife that won't damage your counters.
• Slice the roll into rounds of about 2 cm width. Use a knife that you would use for cutting tomatoes (not with an even edge, but with lots of small ripples (does anyone know the name of that?) or a very sharp one).
• One by one, tucking the end of the roll under it, place each Schneckennudel on the baking tray. Let them rise on the tray in a warm, draught-free place for 20-25 minutes and then bake at 200 °C for 25-30 minutes until slightly browned.

• Let cool on a rack or freeze immediately (that way the moisture stays trapped in them and they'll be fresher when thawed). For thawing, thaw them in a plastic bag for 4-5 hours. If possible you can warm them up on a toaster or in the oven, but they are great either way!