While I was working from the Netherlands during last couple of weeks, I got addicted to eating rustic granary bread loaf sandwiches with variety of Dutch cheeses. A simple yet hearty bread and cheese sandwich with some greens thrown in used to be my favorite and staple lunch option. The complex flavors of different kinds of flours and sourdough breads just always worked for me….
Kanelbullar, Swedish Cinnamon Buns
It is getting pleasant day by day but the languish to stay in bed for late in the morning is as predominant as it used to be a couple of weeks back during cold winter days. As the days are getting warmer, it’s the right time to bake the breads, if not the ones needing long resting hours, at least the quick ones to start with. Baking cinnamon rolls had been on my todo list for a very long time. But every time I thought about them, it was cold harsh winter which was just too hostile for a bread baking plan. And I never wanted to ruin my weekend being perplexed whole day staring over the dough not rising due to sun not showing up. But this is also true that the cinnamon buns are not meant for a hot scorching summer day either. So now when it is spring for us, I thought of baking them, thinking they can’t go wrong at least this time of the year. Neither they’ll be too heavy for a Sunday breakfast. Hmm…cinnamon, without any second thought is my most favorite spice after cardamom. I just love it! And if you have been following my posts, you would know that I love adding cinnamon to my cakes quite often. This sweet spice has a wonderful warmth attached to it. I just can’t resist anything sweet which is flavored with cinnamon. And the Sri Lankan cinnamon variety is the one we get here from the down south. It is surely an amazing spice to deal with and probably the most dependable when it comes to desserts. The recipe I adapted from is Donal Skehan’s. It was one easy recipe to follow. Donal’s recipes are way more traditional and rustic, just the way I love. The Swedish Cinnamon Buns are basically the sweet bread dough rolled up with a swirl of sweet buttery cinnamon throughout. These are sprinkled with pearl sugar, which can resist the high temperature in oven without melting, which makes the buns look very beautiful and rustic at the same time. Now clearly, it was difficult for me to source the pearl sugar and I didn’t want to forgo this recipe just because I didn’t have that specific kind of sugar. So the mind started playing on thoughts and it occurred to me about crushing the white sugar cubes roughly to make my own homemade pearl sugar. Isn’t it innovative, huh? Haha, although it didn’t look as perfect, but it did the job quite nicely. And in return, I got these beautiful pearl sugar studded soft warm buttery Swedish cinnamon buns to be enjoyed with coffee on a relaxed Sunday morning. Do I need anything else in life? nah!


- 400 ml milk
- 110 gm butter
- 2 x 7 gm sachets of dried yeast
- 110 gm caster sugar
- 750 gm plain flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 4 tbsp of pearl sugar
- 1 egg, beaten
- 110 gm soft butter
- 90 gm sugar
- 2 tbsp of cinnamon
- Melt the butter in a large pot gently on a low heat and then add the milk. When the mixture is lukewarm, remove from the heat and whisk in the dried yeast.
- Mix the flour, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl. Make a well and pour the wet ingredients in. Mix and knead the dough using your hands for about 6 minutes until dough is soft and supple.
- Transfer the dough to a floured bowl, covered by cling film and let it rise for 45 minutes in a warm dark place.
- Preheat the oven to 220°C.
- To prepare the filling, in a bowl, beat the butter, sugar and cinnamon together until you have a smooth paste.
- When the dough has risen, punch it down in the bowl and cut it in half. Roll one of the halves into a rectangle about 3mm thick, and then spread the filling all over.
- Then, from the long side, roll the dough in a spiral and slice into approx 12 pieces. Place the slices in a non stick pie tray or a muffin pan face up and coat with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the buns with pearl sugar.
- Reduce the heat to 190˚C and then bake the rolls in the oven for about 15-20 minutes or until they turn golden brown.
- Repeat the process with the second half of the dough.
Ciabatta
Can anything be more satisfying and therapeutic than baking your own bread at home? I hope not, not at least for a home baker like me, who thrives more on simple cakes and tea bakes. You would see more cakes and cookies recipe here than of breads. But I love baking my own bread. Especially, when it is of rustic artisan nature. Baking a bread having crisp, chewy crust and a spongy big hole crumb is just a perfect way to spend one lazy Sunday afternoon. I have been in love with rustic loaves of artisan breads, ever since I baked my super easy artisan bread, from Artisan Bread In 5. I have baked that bread, I don’t know how many times now. And I have been wanting to bake bread, since it is becoming hotter day by day, which is quite yeast friendly, I would say.
Dough rising slowly, sitting on the kitchen counter top gives the confidence and the hope of triumph over the yeast monsters, and gives you a reason to believe that half the battle has already been won. And that is the reason that keeps me away from baking bread in winters, as I feel the weather is not conducive. May be some day, I would conquer over that too. I have been thinking of baking a bit more complex and time taking breads, which are in fact more flavorful than the quicker breads.
The long fermentation duration lets the yeast work slowly and lends the bread a unique whole bodied flavor, which definitely you’ll miss in a quick bread, which call for greater amount of yeast. Ciabatta is one such rustic bread. Ciabatta means slipper in Italian. It’s a stubby, short and relatively flat body is probably the reason, that it gets such name. It has got a lovely moist and porous interior with a crunchy and chewy crust. It’s a perfect bread for making sandwiches, garlic bread, or just for mopping the sauce off the plate.
This bread is slightly daunting to make, because of the excessively wet dough which calls for near equal amount of flour and water in it. It is easier to knead the dough in a stand mixer or food processor than by hand. Because of the extremely wet nature of the dough, you get tempted to add more flour, which is where you start to spoil the fermented dough.
Don’t worry, my intention in not at all to scare you all. As I said, you just need to follow the instruction carefully and try to knead the dough in a stand mixer or a food processor. Trust me all this fuss is worth doing for those lovely loaves of bread. A little bit of planning and some instructions to be followed and voila, life seems easier than ever.
Recipe adapted from LeitesCulinaria
Ingredients
For Biga or Pre-ferment
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water
3/4 cup plus 4 tsp water, at room temprature
300 gm all purpose flour
Vegetable oil, for the bowl
For Ciabatta Bread
1 tsp active dry yeast
5 tbsp warm milk
1 cup plus 3 tbsp water, at room temprature
1 tbsp olive oil, plus more for bowl
2 very full cups or 500 gm of biga, rested for 12 hours
500 gm all purpose flour
1 tbsp salt
cornmeal
Directions
- To make the Biga or pre-ferment, stir the yeast into warm water and let stand for about 10 minutes, until creamy. Mix in the remaining room temperature water, followed by flour. Mix with a wooden spoon, for about 3-4 minutes. Transfer the biga into a pre-oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at cool room temperature, for about 12 hours, until the starter has tripled in volume. You can store the biga in fridge covered, if you are planning to use it next day.
- To make the bread dough, stir the yeast into warm milk in a large bowl and let stand until creamy. Mix in the 1 cup plus 3 tbsp of water, oil and biga into the yeast mixture, squeezing the biga through your fingers to break it up. Place the flour and salt in the bowl of food processor, fitted with dough hook/attachment and pulse several times to sift the flour and salt together. With mixer running, add the biga mixture into the flour, until the dough comes together. The dough will be very sticky. Process more for about 2 minutes. Finish kneading on a well-floured surface until the dough is still sticky but beginning to show signs of being velvety, supple, moist, and springy. Take care at this time to not to get tempted to add more flour at this stage. Otherwise, your bread will be tough.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature, until dough has doubled, for about 1 – 1 1/4 hours. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces on a well-floured surface. Roll each piece into a cylinder and then stretch each cylinder into a rectangle, pulling with your fingers.
- Place the loaves onto generously floured parchment paper, cover loosely with damp kitchen towel and let rise, until puffy, but not doubled, for about 1 1/2 – 2 hours. At this stage, loaves might look flat, but don’t worry, they’ll rise in oven.
- Preheat the oven to 220 degree C with 2 baking trays/stone. Sprinkle the baking trays with enough cornmeal and place the loaves on to the preheated baking trays and bake for 20-25 minutes, spraying the oven 2/3 times during first 10 minutes of baking. Steam from water spray helps the formation of a chewy crust. Alternatively, to produce steam, place 2 ice cubes in another baking tray on lower rack beneath the baking tray with loaves. Once baked, place the loaves on to cooling rack and let cool completely before slicing.