I am searching for a great plum cake my mother used to make, the recipe has since been lost.  I've been trying to recreate it for 15 years with no luck.  I've make about 9 different recipes and they all suck (compared to mom's).  Most of my mother's best recipes are Jewish, either passed down from my grandmother (from Czechoslovakia) or from the spiral bound Jewish fundraising cookbooks.

My mother's was not too buttery, very tender, moist, about 1 inch thick, and used prune plums cut in half laid side by side, not concentrically.  Ingredients included the usual cake stuff: flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, baking powder.  When cooked, the juices would run from the plums into the cake.  Powdered sugar was lightly sprinkled on afterwards.

The ones I have made have been too chewy, tough, and some had more of a cookie crust. 

First I would like to thank Julie J for posting her mother-in-law's recipe for Finnish Cardamom Buns, ie. Pulla on 02-11-09..Her recipe was my inspiration for modifying her MIL's recipe..I am the only one in my family that likes the smell and taste of cardamom..When I announced that I was thinking of trying out the recipe, all hell broke loose..So, to appease the family I sat down and reworked the recipe in order to substitute cinnamon for the cardamom, substitute some dark brown sugar for part of the granulated sugar, and to add raisins where there had previously been none..

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10702/recipe-finnish-cardamom-bunns-pulla

I really like the use of some kind of pre-ferment in my recipes, so I created a sponge stage to get the yeast activated, and to start flavor development..I converted her MIL's volumetric measurements to weight measurements..I also use the bowl of my DLX mixer for the sponge stage, kneading the final dough, and for the first proof of the finished dough after washing out, drying, and oiling the bowl..The recipe follows..

Finnish Cinnamon Raisin Buns---Pulla

Sponge:

22 oz. milk, heated to 100F

3.5 oz. granulated sugar

4 oz. dark brown sugar

20 oz. bread flour

3 tsp. SAF Gold instant yeast

Heat bowl of DLX mixer under hot running water..Heat milk to 100F..Add to bowl of DLX..Add sugars, and mix with whisk until sugars dissolve..Add yeast, and mix to combine..Add flour and stir until all lumps are wet, and flour is well incorporated into wet ingredients..Cover tightly with plastic wrap..Proof for 60 minutes, or until doubled in volume..

Final Dough:

Sponge in DLX's bowl

4 oz. unsalted butter, very soft--(I had to use margarine as my budget is very tight at this time..The extra salt in the margarine did not seem to effect things)

1 large egg, room temperature

20 oz. bread flour, plus 2 oz. to bring dough to a ball stage, and 1 oz. for kneading on bench--total = 23 oz.

1 tbsp. coarsely ground cinnamon--To try and mimic the crushed cardamom in the original recipe I took cassia cinnamon sticks, broke them into 1" pieces, and ground them into a coarse meal in my spice grinder--This worked out very, very well!!..

1 tsp table salt

8 oz. raisins soaked in 4 oz. warm tap water--After soaking for 60 minutes, the raisins were drained and re-weighed--Final weight was 9.95 oz, for all intents and purposes 10 oz..

Bowl was installed on the mixer..Sponge was punched down..Scraper and roller were installed..On low speed the butter and the egg were mixed into the sponge until well incorporated..The flour, cinnamon, and salt were added, brought to a ball stage, and kneaded for 4 minutes..The drained raisins were then added and the dough kneaded for an additional 2 minutes..It was at this time that I added the additional 2 oz. of bread flour..It took some stopping and starting of the mixer, and cutting the dough with the blade of a Cuisinart spatula to keep the now wetter ball of dough from wrapping itself around the roller and spinning uselessly..After realizing that the raisins were not incorporating evenly into the dough, I removed the dough to the top of my wooden kitchen cart, chopped the dough up into about 20 pieces with a bench knife, added 1 oz. of flour, and hand kneaded until the raisins were evenly distributed..This took approximatelt 1 minute..Internal dough temperature was 85F..Yield was 5 lb. 7.6 oz. of kneaded dough..Dough was put back into the washed and oiled DLX bowl, covered tightly with plastic wrap, and proofed until doubled in volume..This took 60 minutes..

The proofed dough was punched down, turned out onto the cart's top, cut into twenty-one 4 oz. portions, and one 3.6 oz. portion..Each portion was rounded tightly up into a ball and placed on parchment lined 1/2 sheet pans..Eight buns on two of the pans, and six buns on the third pan..I used a staggered pattern..The pan with six buns was bagged in a tall kitchen garbage bag, sealed tightly, and retarded in the refrigerator for later baking..The two pans of eight buns each were placed on top of the stove to proof, and covered with clean cotton tea towels..At the 20 minute mark the oven door was closed, the temperature raised to 375F (my oven bakes about 20 degrees hot), and the oven allowed to come to baking temperature..The buns were allowed a third, and final proof of 30 minutes..A depression was made in the center of each bun, a 1/4" x 1/4" cube of margarine placed in the depression, the entire bun brushed with egg / milk wash (leftover French Toast mix), and sprinkled with granulated organic cane sugar..The buns were baked, both pans together at the same time, for 10 minutes..The pans were then rotated 180 degrees, switched shelves, and finished baking for another 6 minutes..Tops were a dark golden brown, and the internal temperature was 200F..The third pan was removed from the refrigerator when the first pans went into the oven..It proofed, covered with the tea towel, for 45 minutes, everything else that was done to the first two pans was repeated; except that with a single pan of six buns in the oven it only took 14 minutes to bake to completion..

Finished yield was 22 buns with an average weight of 3.75 oz..The buns are approximately 3.5" across at the bottom, and 2" thick with a domed shape..They taste FANTASTIC!!!!..I definitely want to try my version of the recipe with the crushed cardamom, as well as the original recipe from Julie J's mother-in-law..I have the cardamom seeds in my pantry that I purchased from Penzeys Spices..

Thanks again to Julie J, and her mother-in-law (whatever her name may be!!)..Please do try her recipe..I am sure that it tastes as good as my version does!!..

Bruce

coffee cream filled genoese sponge for my S I L birthday tomorrow, 14th valentines day. qahtan

I've made cinnamon buns in the past, but I've frequently been disappointed with how dry they come out (I know it could be rectified by more filling, but I decided to go a different route)

The lady friend found a delicious recipe for kanelbullar, which are basically analagous to cinnamon buns.  I wish I had taken pictures, but they end up looking absolutely beautiful, and were fun to make, and I just thought I'd toss the recipe up here in case anybody wanted to try them!

http://chezlarsson.typepad.com/myblog/2008/08/kanelbullar.html

I usually bake these around Christmas, but the recipe was requested recently and there is no reason they wouldn't be good any time of the year.

The recipe is from a Better Homes & Gardens "Cookies Cookies Cookies" cookbook.

Cranberry-Pecan Bars

Crust
1 cup AP flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine the flour and sugar and cut the butter in until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Stir in the pecans. Press into a 13x9x2 inch baking pan and bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

Topping
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon shredded orange peel
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped cranberries
1/2 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Combine the topping and spread over the partially baked crust. Continue baking for another 30 minutes. Slice into bars while cooling.

I have been playing aroud a lot with a standard white loaf recipe from my grandmother. So this just another experiment to see how far I can take the basic dough. Was up at 5.30 am, so decided it would be buns for a late breakfast.

Full post on my pathetic blog

Time For Cinnamon Buns

Okay! I'm on my way to becoming a full fledged home baker. I have three of Reinhart's books, and I'm having wonderful success so far....not just because of Reinhart's books, but the fine tuning I'm learning from "The Fresh Loaf". The great quality of Reinhart's formulas is that they work! Now! my quest/question. Who/Which is the definitive dessert author(s)/book(s) for desserts. I lean toward European pastries baking my cakes with Genoise batter, but also appreciate American style Chocolate, Carrot, Quick Bread cakes.......chocolate, coconut cream pies......etc............something that highlights special "chocolate" desserts too! There are so many chocolate type cakes and stuff out there that are so delightful.
I've traveled a bit, and let's just wave the U.S. flag a bit......the U.S. has the best cookies....period
We probably make the best pies also.....I would appreciate a really good pie book, with emphasis with butter instead of shortening/margarine/lard. I might add, that I actually have a great Apple Pie recipe, which took me years to find and make......my quest for the perfect Apple Pie! ! !
Any help would be appreciated. Please, and Thank you very much.

Please, could someone share their best chocolate chip cookie recipe.....I usually use the recipe on the back of the Hershey's chocolate chip bag, and use butter. Thank you.

I know chocolate chip cookies is a rather mundane topic.....but, I've found EXCEPTIONAL chocolate chip cookies at bakeries.  First, I though that it was only in Chicago.  Now I live in Boston (MetroWest, anyway) and I've found the SAME cookies.  Does anyone have a recipe and technique to share?

The cookies: NO gluten development that I can feel.  They fall apart in your mouth.  Very light, when they do so.  The shape is a bit odd in that they don't taper to the edge much, at all.  Very cylindrical, that way.  The surface has little shallow cracks.  Nicely sweet flavor. 

Does anyone else know the cookie(s) that I am talking about?  Better yet, does anyone know how to make them!

I hope to hear many suggestions!

John

I am relatively new on this forum..I have been perusing the various sub-forums to read old threads so as to get a sense of the forums..I noticed that many people have been requesting recipes for a danish dough that tastes good..I believe the following recipe will satisfy the most descriminating pastry lover..It is a modern distillation of a commercial recipe given to me in my first bakery job while I was attending culinary school..I have made substitutions for the home baker as regards to ingredients that are not easy to come by outside of commercial bakeries..For instance, we used orange icing fruit as a flavoring ingredient in the dough..I have chosen to use a combination of fresh orange zest and Boyijan orange oil as a substitute..I have found that orange oil is preferable to orange flavorings, as the orange flavoring seems to get lost in the background of some of the other flavors..This is not a quick and easy recipe to execute..It will require several days time before one can roll out the dough to actually form pastries from it..Nevertheless, it is well worth the time and effort to make this dough..The following recipe will make approximately 7 lb. 12 oz. of danish dough..It will completely fill a half-sized sheet pan several inches thick..This recipe is one-eighth of the recipe that I used to make 5-6 times a week back in the early 1980's..

Danish Dough

Butter To Roll Into The Dough: Cold Weather--Room temperatures below 75-80 degrees Fahrenheit

32 oz. unsalted butter

4 oz. King Arthur bread flour

If the room temperatures are above 80 degrees Fahrenheit then add an additional 4 oz. of bread flour to the flour mix.This will give the butter / flour mix more mass and allow the baker to roll the dough in hotter temps without the butter melting as quickly..

Wet Ingredients

17 oz. whole milk, 100 degrees Fahrenheit

13.25 oz. whole large eggs (1 1/2 cups by volume) (approximately 9 eggs) (room temperature)

4.75 oz. large egg yolks (1/2 cup by volume) (approximately 8 egg yolks) (room temperature)

8 oz. light brown sugar

1 tbsp. bourbon vanilla extract

1 tsp. oronge oil

Zest from 4 large oranges

Dry Ingredients

48 oz. King Arthur bread flour

1/2 oz. fine sea salt, or table salt

2 tsp. ground cardamom

1 tsp. ground cassia cinnamon

3 1/4 tsp. SAF Gold instant yeast

NOTES:

I make the butter mixture up the day before I am going to make the dough..This gives it time to get as cold as possible before the rolling in process..I place it in the coldest section of my refrigerator..I allow the butter to soften at room temperature until it is soft enough to be easily worked in the mixer..You want to completely incorporate the flour and butter together without developing the gluten any more than is absolutely necessary..When the butter and flour are evenly incorporated, remove the mixture from the bowl onto a well-floured surface, divide it into two equal parts by weight, and roll each piece out into a rectangle that measures approximately 12" x 17"..This is 1" less in width and length than the dimensions of a standard size 1/2 sheet pan..Brush off any excess flour clinging to each side of the rectangle..Place each rectangle of butter and flour between two sheets of parchment paper, stack the rectangles onto a 1/2 sheet pan, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 8 hours..

I place the wet ingredients into the bowl of my DLX mixer..I stir the flour, salt, cinnamon, and cardamom togrther with a whisk before adding the instant yeast, which I stir evenly into the flour mixture..I add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and knead for approximately 6 minutes..This should be a somewhat sticky dough..A lot of flour will be incorporated into the dough during each stage of the rolling out / folding process..The dough should temp 78-82 degrees Fahrenheit when fully developed..I remove the scraper arm and the roller, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and proof until doubled..

When the dough has doubled in volume, it is turned out onto a large, well-floured work surface, flattened into a rough rectangle, dusted generously with flour, and rolled out until it measures one times the length and three times the width of a standard 1/2 sheet pan..It helps greatly to have a heavy, large diameter rolling pin that is 13"-16" wide when making danish dough, or puff pastry..Any excess flour is brushed off the top side of the dough..This is now going to form what is called a book fold..The first rectangle of cold butter / flour is now placed onto the exact center of the brushed off dough..Bring the left side of the dough over top of the butter to the right completely covering the butter..Pinch it down around the edges of the butter..Brush any excess flour off of what was once in contact with the work surface..Now, set the second rectangle of cold butter / flour directly on top of the dough-butter-dough..Bring the right side of the remaining dough over to the left, covering the second rectangle of butter / flour..Pinch this down tightly around the edges..Flour a 1/2 sheet pan generously, place the dough-butter-dough-butter-dough rectangle onto the floured sheet pan, and using your rolling pin, gently roll the dough mass to fill the sheet pan in all directions..Slide the sheet pan containing the dough into a tall kitchen plastic garbage bag, gently press out as much air as possible, secure the bag with a twist tie, and place the covered dough into the refrigerator to relax and get COLD..This might take as long as 2-4 hours..The dough and butter should be as cold as possible from this point forward when statrting the rolling out and folding process..Seperate layers is the goal here..If you have hot hands, as I do (high, active metabolism!!) then I might suggest encasing your hands in 3-5 layers of latex or vinyl gloves to insulate them from the dough while working it..Speed is of the utmost essence during rolling out and folding..A heavy rolling pin, a cold kitchen, a stone work surface, cold hands, anything that can keep the butter cold, and make the process go faster is to be desired..At the end of this initial roll / fold process you have 3 layers..

When the dough-butter-dough-butter-dough mass is truly cold it is removed from the refrigerator and plastic bag, and turned out of the sheet pan onto a well-floured work surface..It is now rolled out to measure one times the length and four times the width of the 1/2 sheet pan..The top surface is brushed free of any excess flour..Both the left and right edges of the dough are brought over towards the exact middle of the dough rectangle until they meet in the center..The excess flour of what was once in contact with the work surface is now brushed off..The dough is now folded one more time to create a rectangle the same size as the 1/2 sheet pan..The dough is placed back into the floured sheet pan, gently rolled with the pin to evenly fill the pan (if necessary), placed back into the plastic bag, the air pressed out, the bag secured, and placed back into the refrigerator to relax and get cold..You now have 12 layers..

The process of rolling the dough out and folding four times is now repeated three more times..After the fourth 4-fold the dough is returned to the sheet pan, covered with the plastic bag, sealed, and allowed to rest / cold slow proof overnight..The dough will grow to several inches thick overnight, and be ready to use the following day..This is where most recipes fall short..The average home baker simply does not want to spend the better part of a 16 hour day to accomplish in the home what might take 4--5 hours in a bakery with commercial equipment..A bakery's refrigerators will chill the dough far more quickly than a home refrigerator will, speeding the process up considerably..Many recipes stop with the second 4-fold..The more folds, within reason, the greater the number of layers, and the flakier the pastry will be..

Book fold= 3 layers

First 4-fold= 12 layers

Second 4-fold= 48 layers

Third 4-fold= 192 layers

Fourth 4-fold= 768 layers

A really good basic filling to put between the layers of the rolled out danish dough prior to twisting into shapes is:

Almond Smear

16 oz. almond paste

16 oz. granulated sugar

24 oz. yellow cake crumbs

2 tsp. ground cassia cinnamon

Sufficient water to bring the above ingredients to an easily spreadable consistency at room temperature that will not tear the danish dough when spread with an offset spatula..

I hope this recipe helps those that have been searching for a tasty danish dough recipe..

Bruce