Pretzel Burger Buns

Though the Victoria Day weekend is over, it lives on in my heart... and my bread basket. I made a large batch of homemade burger buns for the veggie burgers my mum grilled, and to give it a special twist, I also made a different kind of bun... these ones have the outside texture and saltiness of a pretzel, with the inside pillowy-softness of a roll. I used a specially-designated pretzel salt for the outside, but any coarse salt will do.

These are really good with a pat of butter on their own, or for sandwiches. One good idea is to make elongated buns to use with hot dogs. In any case, these are a welcome addition to any grill-oriented feast or celebration.

Pretzel Buns
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

For the Dough:
4 1/2 C. All purpose or bread flour
1 Tsp. Diastatic malt powder or honey
1/4 C. Whole milk powder
2 TBSP (30 g.) Butter, softened
3/4 Tsp. Salt
1 3/4 C. Water
2 Tsp. Active dry yeast, or 30 g. Fresh yeast

For the Water Bath:
8 C. Water
1 TBSP Salt
1/4 C. Baking soda

To Top:
About 1/4 C. Coarse salt

Mix the yeast, water, and malt powder. Whisk together the flour, salt, and milk powder, and add the water mixture, kneading until a soft dough forms. Add the butter and mix until incorporated. Let rise in a covered, greased bowl for 60-90 minutes, or until doubled.

Divide into 10-14 pieces and shape into balls. Let rest for 20-30 minutes- in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200℃ and bring the water bath ingredients to a boil in a wide, large pot. 

Using a slotted spoon or spatula, lower the dough balls into the boiling water bath and let cook for 30 seconds. Flip and let cook another 30 seconds, then remove and put onto a parchment-lined baking pan.

Score the tops of the buns with a sharp knife in an 'X' pattern and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts (Tangzhong dough)

Here's a belated Valentine's day post- simple, rich and soft buns shaped like hearts. Not that they need to be- but they're cute! To shape them, cut a rolled-up log of the dough and filling (like a jelly roll) into 10 segments. Cut each segment most of the way through in the middle, then turn it on its side. Imagine moving the hour hand from the minute hand on a clock so it's set to 2 o' clock to get the angle right. Then, press down with your palm.

The tangzhong makes these rolls stay soft inside for a long time, and they're not too sweet despite the nutella and cream cheese filling. The walnuts add a nice toasty touch, but obviously hazelnuts are also good.

Nutella-Cream Cheese Rolls with Walnuts 

For Tangzhong:
15 g. Flour
72 g. Water
Mix well and cook on medium heat until 65℃, or until consistency is pudding-like. Let cool to room temperature before using.

For Dough:
Adapted from Kochtopf
All of tangzhong
90 g. Milk, lukewarm
30 g. Fresh yeast, or 3 Tsp. Active dry yeast
1 Egg
150 g. Bread flour
150 g. All purpose or type 550 flour
60 g. Sugar
1 packet vanilla sugar
2 TBSP Powdered whole fat milk
1 Tsp. Salt
80 g. Butter, softened

For Filling:
125 ml Nutella (half a small jar)
50 g. Cream cheese
1 TBSP Powder sugar
1 TBSP Hazelnut oil
1/2 C. Walnut pieces

Prepare the filling by mixing the nutella, cream cheese, sugar and oil until smooth, then stirring in the walnuts. Set aside for later.

For the buns:

Mix the flours, salt, sugars, and powdered milk with a whisk.

Dissolve the yeast in the milk and add the egg. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ones to form a smooth dough, adding more milk or flour if necessary to get it soft and pliable. Add the butter in pieces until well incorporated. Let rise, covered, for 1 - 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled.

Punch down dough and form a large rectangle. Spread the filling and roll up, then cut into 10 pieces. In the middle of each piece, cut a slit about 2/3 of the way in, then pull apart the two sides about 45 degrees while laying it rolled-side-up. Press down to form a heart shape. Let the buns, once shaped, rise for about and hour.

Bake at 180℃ for 18-20 minutes.

Honey and Green Walnut Gelato

Recently I bought a jar of green walnut jam at my local Starsky- more like green walnuts in syrup, but still. I'd never tasted green walnuts, since I don't have access to a tree, so it piqued my curiosity. 

This is the brand I used- mind you, it wasn't empty before.

Green walnuts are simply unripe walnuts, and can be preserved in syrup, pickled, or even made into liqueurs such as nocino and liqueur de noix. The whole immature walnut is used, fleshy outside and all, cut into pieces if it's big. I'd love to try preserving my own, but I somehow suspect that the walnut trees in my neighbourhood are the more strongly flavoured black walnuts, so I'll have to do further research as to whether it's a good idea to use them (furthermore, I'd have to find a tree in a secluded enough place that nobody is questioning me picking the unripe nuts...).

'Till then, this jam made a lovely introduction to their flavour. They've got none of the taste you'd expect from walnuts, nor the texture- they seem more like giant raisins, only with a more floral, subtly nutty taste and some sourness from the syrup (which contains citric acid). The note of acidity helps keep the sweetness from becoming too cloying as well. It's kind of odd, but they kind of remind me of a sweet version of capers in that they make an interesting, hard to describe addition in terms of both texture and flavour. Seriously, I have no idea how else to explain these things. You've got to try them for yourself.

Anyways, I wanted to do something with the jam that'd take full advantage of its uniqueness and also allow me to stretch it a bit further (it ain't cheap!). I've been meaning to try making gelato for quite some time- the idea of a frozen desert that has a smooth texture without requiring eggs or vast quantities of cream is and was very appealing. I can't say this is a purist's recipe, given the powdered and evaporated milk, but it gives a very impressive result in terms of smooth, non-icy texture and rich taste. The ease of preparation and lack of a need to buy a new box of eggs is also a plus. I still kind of consider eggs and cream luxury products, since if I'm going to get them I'll only get the organic, free-range, top-notch ones, and those can get pricey. I've already gone through nearly two dozen eggs and a litre of cream (really) so I had to temper my ice-cream-making enthusiasm with something else.

I used a manuka honey from New Zealand that has a flavour just as unique as the green walnuts- it's kind of musty, but in a good way, and almost smokey along with the floral aroma. Honey goes with green walnuts just as well as it does with ripe ones, with the sweetness contrasting the tanginess of the green walnut jam and the subtler flavours complimenting one another. You can use any nice, light honey, but I wouldn't recommend anything too strong as it would compete too much with the green walnuts.

This is definitely not going to be the last gelato I make along this formula, since it works so beautifully. I'll want to make my own evaporated milk for next time, though... But that's an experiment for another day. 

Honey and Green Walnut Gelato
Adapted from Kochtopf

200 g. Whole milk
50 g. Evaporated milk
50 g. Powdered whole milk
1 TBSP Cornstarch
110 g. Light honey, preferably manuka
210 g. Whipping cream (35%)
150 g. Green walnut jam

Whisk together all but the whipping cream and green walnut jam. Pass through a strainer into a small saucepan, pushing through any clumps with a spatula to crush them. Bring to a rolling boil, then cook for about 2 minutes over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Take off the heat and keep stirring for another minute.

Pour into a cool bowl and refrigerate overnight. The next day, whip the cream and fold half of it into the cooked mixture. Fold in the other half. Spoon the mixture into an ice cream maker and operate according to the manufacturer's instructions.

In a freezer-safe tupperware container, spoon in about 1/3 of the gelato. Drizzle on 1/3 of the green walnut jam. Repeat this until all the gelato and jam is used. Put in the freezer immediately to firm up, and leave at least 6 hours (preferably overnight) before consuming.