Sunday, March 27, 2011
Daring Bakers Challenge: Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake
The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.
I was so excited to find out I hadn't been kicked out of the Daring Bakers, even though it has been so long since I last participated. And my last attempt was such a colossal failure (I pride myself on its being the only failure, at least). This month's challenge was something simple enough for me to dip my toes in the pool again. I love yeasted doughs and I saw the potential for flavor variations right away. Also, this wasn't too sweet and decadent, so it was still a good option for a Sunday dish during Lent.
Unfortunately, this post won't be as heavy on photos as others have been, but I hope you will get the idea anyway.
My first change was to use whole wheat pastry flour. We grind most of our flour, and we keep soft white wheat around for pastries and cakes and muffins and cookies. So, I I thought I'd see if I could make this treat with whole wheat, ground some up and added a little gluten to it to help it rise and remain a little more elastic while still being delicate enough in flavor and not making a heavy dough. I added the saffron, as Ria suggested. However, instead of turning toward India, I turned toward the Arabian peninsula.
I did not add the vanilla to the meringue, instead, I used a teaspoon of rosewater. For my filling, I used unsalted pistachios with a little more saffron, some cardamom and increased the sugar a little since I left out the chocolate. I did have a little trouble sealing the ring, but I noticed that other pictures strategically left that part of the coffee cake out of the shot, so I'm assuming others had that difficulty as well. It seemed to work its way out in the second rise and baking, though. I did forget to make the egg wash glaze, but the powdered sugar stuck to the warm bread and meringue quite easily without it. I added a tiny bit of cardamon to the powdered sugar as well.
Thank you Ria and Jamie for a great return to Daring Baker's this month!
I was so excited to find out I hadn't been kicked out of the Daring Bakers, even though it has been so long since I last participated. And my last attempt was such a colossal failure (I pride myself on its being the only failure, at least). This month's challenge was something simple enough for me to dip my toes in the pool again. I love yeasted doughs and I saw the potential for flavor variations right away. Also, this wasn't too sweet and decadent, so it was still a good option for a Sunday dish during Lent.
Unfortunately, this post won't be as heavy on photos as others have been, but I hope you will get the idea anyway.
My first change was to use whole wheat pastry flour. We grind most of our flour, and we keep soft white wheat around for pastries and cakes and muffins and cookies. So, I I thought I'd see if I could make this treat with whole wheat, ground some up and added a little gluten to it to help it rise and remain a little more elastic while still being delicate enough in flavor and not making a heavy dough. I added the saffron, as Ria suggested. However, instead of turning toward India, I turned toward the Arabian peninsula.
I did not add the vanilla to the meringue, instead, I used a teaspoon of rosewater. For my filling, I used unsalted pistachios with a little more saffron, some cardamom and increased the sugar a little since I left out the chocolate. I did have a little trouble sealing the ring, but I noticed that other pictures strategically left that part of the coffee cake out of the shot, so I'm assuming others had that difficulty as well. It seemed to work its way out in the second rise and baking, though. I did forget to make the egg wash glaze, but the powdered sugar stuck to the warm bread and meringue quite easily without it. I added a tiny bit of cardamon to the powdered sugar as well.
Thank you Ria and Jamie for a great return to Daring Baker's this month!
Labels: Daring Bakers, Homemaking, Tales from the Kitchen
