Swedish Rye (Limpa): BBAC#37

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge #37: Swedish Rye (Limpa)

Wow, I love this bread. I was prepared for a disappointment but reading through the ingredients I knew this would be a yummier rye bread because of the spices and orange flavoring. These are the ground spices that made me fall for it: aniseed, fennel, and cardamom. These spices combined with dried orange peels*, brown sugar, and a small amount of molasses make this fragrant sweetish loaf so good just by itself, with butter, or with mild cheeses such as brie or young Gouda. The crumb and crust are soft with a bit of chew and the flavors complement each other, not one flavor is dominant.

I think I'm beginning to really love rye breads but will probably take a long time or maybe never to appreciate the 100% Sourdough Rye Bread (BBAC #32).

extra yummie with brie

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 30
Average: 5

* I usually get dried orange peels [for Chinese-style meat stews] from the Asian grocery store. About a month or so ago I dried some orange peels from 4 large oranges by leaving them on the kitchen counter for 3 days. Then to make sure they are super crispy I put them in the very low heat dry setting of the toaster/convection oven for 20 minutes and stored them in an airtight jar. I pulverized the peels in a coffee grinder for the limpa.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays: Chocolate

champorado with dark and white chocolate

Champorado, a Filipino breakfast food, is a sweet chocolate sticky rice porridge. The rice is boiled in water with cocoa powder and sugar, then served with milk just like cereals. After a day in the refrigerator the leftover champorado becomes thick and pudding-like but still very yummy.

The photo is ancient, taken in 2006. I chose this photo from my "chocolate" archives because it's perfect for this edition of LaPis: Chocolate. I made 2 separate champorado, one with dark and another with white chocolate, and served them both in one bowl. There is no need to add milk to enjoy this all-time Filipino favorite and you get to savor two kinds of chocolate all at once in one spoonful.

Lasang Pinoy Sundays is a gallery of food photography, Filipino style, is hosted by SpiCes and FeistyCook.

Stollen: BBAC #36

The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge #36: Stollen. This bread (or is it cake?) has been one of our Christmas treats for the past 20 years. I do not bake them, we buy the German-made loaves which appear at the grocery stores around November up until the first week of January. They are not expensive so I never bother to make them myself until this challenge.

There were two things I didn't follow in the recipe. One, I omitted the cinnamon powder because I have never eaten stollen with cinnamon flavor. I love cinnamon but not in stollen. Second, I shaped them using different methods.

Immediately after baking, the loaves were brushed generously with melted butter, sprinkled with a little granulated sugar, then covered with vanilla-infused powdered sugar. I wrapped the loaves in plastic film then placed them in the pantry. After 5 days they were ready to eat and the slices were moist and delicious. I love it.

an easier way of shaping stollen: form the dough into tallish loaves then cut a slit on top less than ½ inch deep just before baking

Rating:
flavor 5
texture 5
visual appeal 5
ease of preparation 5
performance 5
worth 5
Total: 30
Average: 5

Palitaw

palitaw ribbons

Palitaw is a Filipino glutinous rice cake similar to mochi, the difference is the method of cooking. The pieces of palitaw dough are boiled in water until they rise to the surface. LITAW is the Philippine word for surface, hence palitaw. The photo of palitaw in the Filipino guidebook KULINARYA caught my eye because they don't look like the palitaw I grew up eating. The cooked palitaw are stretched into long and thin ribbons before rolling in a mixture of sugar, chopped roasted peanuts, and toasted sesame seeds. I have never eaten palitaw shaped into ribbons and with this combination before which is interesting and also yummy but I still prefer my palitaw dredged in grated coconut, sugar, and toasted sesame seeds.

Palitaw
adapted from KULINARYA guidebook

2 cups glutinous rice flour
¾ - 1 cup warm water
freshly grated coconut
tasted sesame seeds
chopped roasted unsalted peanuts
sugar

• Place the rice flour in a medium bowl then slowly add the warm water. Stir to combine thoroughly.
• Roll about 2 tablespoons of dough into 1-inch balls and using the palms of your hands, flatten each ball until ½-inch thick. With your thumb make a dent by pressing the center of each cake. Arrange flattened cakes side by side on a baking tray.
• Fill a medium pan with water and bring to a boil. Drop the cakes in, one at a time, in batches. When they rise to the surface, the palitaw is cooked. Transfer them to a large bowl of water to prevent them from sticking together.
• Just before serving, take each cake and stretch into ribbon-like pieces. Dredge in sugar-sesame seeds-peanut mixture (or coconut-sugar-sesame seeds mixture). Coil the pieces and arrange on a platter. Sprinkle with grated coconut.

with toasted black and white sesame seeds