Tipsy Batter Bread + Other Yeasty Favorites for Easter Brunch

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I've wanted to share this bread with you for a while now, but each time that thought moves to my frontal lobes, I am distracted by something else and my good intentions fall by the wayside. This year,  I am determined to post it before Easter Sunday, in hopes that it reaches some of you before your holiday menus are set in stone. No special skills are needed to prepare this holiday bread. The electric mixer literally does all the work, but you'll get all the credit for a lovely festive loaf that looks professionally made. The recipe for this Polish-style holiday bread appears on both the Fleischman's Yeast and King Arthur websites, but I honestly don't know which to credit for this fabulous sweet bread. While they both call the bread a babka, it truly is not. Babka is the Polish word for grandmother, and the bread that bears that name is baked in a bundt or babka pan that, when un-molded, will give the loaf the appearance of a grandmother's wide pleated skirt. This bread has that shape but it much easier to make than a true babka. A handful of standard ingredients are used to form a shaggy batter to which dry or candied fruit, or toasted nuts are added. No kneading is involved. The batter is poured into the pan in which the bread or cake will bake. That truly is all there is to this recipe. When the bread comes from the oven, it is doused with rum syrup and drizzled with icing that makes it very festive indeed. I personally think the icing is overkill, but I suspect mine is a minority opinion. I do hope you'll give this recipe a try. Festive sweet breads are rarely this easy to make and this recipe is a treasure that I know you will enjoy. Here is how this batter bread  is made.

Tipsy Batter Bread...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite inspired by Fleishman's Yeast and King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:
Bread
1/2 cup lukewarm milk
3 large eggs, at room temperature
heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons) softened butter
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons instant yeast
1/4 cup currants or raisins (golden raisins preferred)
1/4 cup candied mixed fruit or toasted almonds, chopped
Rum Syrup
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water or apple juice
Optional: 1 to 2 tablespoons rum or 2 teaspoons rum extract

Icing
1 cup confectioners' sugar
pinch of salt
2 tablespoons milk; or a combination of milk and rum or apple juice

Directions:
1) Place everything except fruit in bowl of an electric stand mixer. Beat at medium speed until ingredients come together. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 minutes more.
2) Add fruit, beating gently just to combine.
3) Cover bowl, and let dough, which looks like a thick batter, sit for 60 minutes. It won't look like much is happening, but there is no need to worry.
4) Scoop batter into a greased 10-cup Bundt pan. Cover pan, and let dough rest/rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
5) Bake bread for 35 to 40 minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the loaf reads at least 190 degrees F.
6) While bread bakes prepare rum syrup. Combine all syrup ingredients in a small saucepan set over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil, and boil, swirling liquid in pan, until sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat.
7) Remove bread from oven. Gently poke it all over with a toothpick or fork, and slowly pour syrup over surface of bread. When syrup is fully absorbed (about 20 minutes or so), carefully loosen edges, and turn bread out of pan onto a rack.
8) To make the icing: Mix all icing ingredients together, stirring until smooth. Drizzle over completely cooled bread. Yield: 12 to 16 servings.

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Sticky Buns for Easter Brunch

















Pecan Rolls

















Brioche du Careme - Hot Cross Buns


















       Flower Pot Bread






















Colomba Pasquale - Italian Easter Bread


















Ciambellone - An Italian Easter Bread



















  Kulich - Russian Easter Bread

Kolachkes - Glazed Polish Pastries

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I was a bit taken aback when I read a claim that kolachkes were a regional pastry found mostly in Texas. Now, I don't have the culinary chops to wage a frontal assault against that claim, but I can tell you that these pastries were made in the German, Czech and Polish kitchens that I knew as a child, and the last time I looked, the south side of Chicago was a long way from west Texas. Hannie, a German neighbor, regularly made these pastries for her family. Her version was like a jewel encrusted sweet roll and she liberally dolloped spoonfuls of her summer fruits preserves in the center of  perfectly formed  pastry rounds that she cut with an inverted glass tumbler.  I loved them all, save for the ones she made with a drab-looking filling she called prune lekvar. Now, I would agree that time, assimilation and the demise of the grandmother's who made them, have caused these pastries to begin a slow fade into memory in areas outside of Texas, but at one time they were popular wherever Eastern European immigrants settled and raised their families. I found the kolachkes I'm featuring tonight on Martha Stewart's website. The recipe, developed by Karen Mederich, won first place in a cookie of the week contest that was hosted by Martha over a decade ago. Her version is more like a crisp Danish than a soft sweet roll. The buns are buttery and delicious and surprisingly easy to make. I have made one small change to the recipe as it was originally published. I felt they needed salt, so I added a 1/2 teaspoon of it to the ingredient list. These are small, 2-1/2 to 3-inch,  pastries that would make a perfect addition to a morning coffee or afternoon tea. I do hope you will try them. They are delicious and well-worth your time. Here's how they are made.

Kolachkes - Glazed Polish Pastries...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite courtesy of Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sour cream, room temperature
1 (2 1/4 teaspoons) package active dry yeast
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1 cup fruit preserves
Sugar Glaze
1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 to 3 tablespoons whole milk

Directions:
1) Heat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sour cream and yeast in a small bowl. Set aside until slightly bubbly, about 10 minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in egg and salt until smooth. Set aside.
2) Using two knives or a pastry cutter, cut butter into flour until it resembles coarse meal. Stir in sour-cream mixture until dough comes together.
3) On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into 2 1/2-inch rounds. Transfer to ungreased cookie sheets, about 1 1/2 inches apart. Cover with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap. Let sit for 15 minutes.
4) Make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Fill each thumbprint with 1 teaspoon preserves. Bake until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.
5) While cookies bake make glaze: Combine sugar and butter. Add corn syrup, stirring to combine. Drizzle in milk a little at a time until the glaze has a runny consistency.
6) Transfer pans to rack to cool. Let cookies cool on pans for 5 minutes. Remove cookies to rack. While cookies are still warm, drizzle with sugar glaze. Yield: 4 dozen.









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Two Years Ago Today: Spotted Dog














Three Years Ago Today: Yangzhou Fried Rice














Four Years Ago: Chicken Persillade

Haluski - Polish-Style Cabbage and Noodles with Bacon

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...I had a sense at breakfast this morning that this probably wasn't the day to suggest soup and salad for supper. The Silver Fox, who is not normally a breakfast person, was eating like there was no tomorrow. I made a mental note regarding dinner and then dashed out to complete my chores for the day. The weather here was dreadful. It poured and by the time I made it home I was drenched and cranky and needed a timeout. I curled up on the sofa with the intent of reading, but promptly fell asleep. I don't know if it was the noise or the smell that first got to me, but banging pots and the overwhelming smell of cabbage certainly disturbed my sleep. Our first apartment was a basement flat in building so old it probably housed someone's immigrant ancestors. Over time, cooking odors had settled in the walls and hall runners and I suspect that no amount of paint or shampoo could ever rid the smell of cabbage from that building. Talk about déjà vu. At any rate, the Silver Fox, who doesn't do a lot of cooking, had taken over my kitchen and the odors of bacon, cabbage and onions were a sure clue that "guy" food in the wind. Strangely enough, his appetite had taken him back to a meal we both learned to cook in that old tenement building almost fifty years ago. Our landlords were a wonderful old couple who thought we were too young to be on our own. We were taken under their wings, despite protestation, and that's how it happened that two Catholic kids from the South side of Chicago ended up with a Jewish mother who taught them how to cook dishes from the ghettos of Eastern Europe. My Fox was making a version of Haluski, a somewhat heavy dish that combines noodles with copious quantities of cabbage and bacon. It is not a dish for the faint of heart or those with peckish appetites, but it is delicious and really easy to make. So easy in fact, that I'll let the recipe speak for itself. Nowadays folks make this dish with bow tie pasta. There wasn't a lot of farfalle floating around the Warsaw ghetto, so if you'd rather make the dish with noodles feel free to do so. It will be more authentic and in keeping with tradition. Here's the recipe for those of you who are really hungry.

Haluski - Polish-Style Cabbage and Noodles with Bacon...from the kitchen of One Perfect Bite

Ingredients:
1/2 pound bacon, ham or Polish sausage, diced
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, chopped
8 cups cabbage, sliced
1 pound bow tie pasta, cooked
Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1) Fry bacon and onions with butter and garlic in a large deep skillet.
2) Add cabbage, stir to combine and continue to saute in covered skillet until cabbage is cooked through. Add water as needed to keep cabbage from browning as it cooks.
3) Add cooked bow tie pasta and season with salt and pepper. Continue to cook until warmed through. Yield: 4 to 8 servings.

One Year Ago Today: Penne with Garlic Roasted Mushrooms

Two Years Ago Today: Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread with Streusel Topping

Three Years Ago Today: Cuban Reuben with Mojo