Small Cakes: Babas II

Yeast-based babas finally came up today, as opposed to the baking powder raised recipes.  Today, though, I had to come up with a solution to an ingredient problem that plagued me for the last couple of days.  Have you ever tried to find one of these in Cincinnati in July or August?

It's called a citron, and even a trip to Jungle Jim's turned out to be fruitless (pun very intended).  This recipe required candied citron peel, and I learned that this time of year it is quite difficult to acquire candied fruits, let alone weird ones.  After several trips all over the city, I finally decided to find a substitution that I could make myself, candied lemon peel (which was what most websites about citron recommended).

Websites go back and forth about whether or not the pith (the white stuff under the peel) causes bitterness or not.  I used a vegetable peeler to avoid as much of it as I could, just to play it safe.

These are dropped in boiling water and simmered for five minutes which removes the bitterness.

Drain, and then take a small bite to determine if they need another bath.  If they are no longer bitter, it is time to candy them.

Make a simple syrup out of equal parts water and sugar, and bring this to a boil.

Simmer in the syrup for about twenty minutes, or until the peels become translucent.

I saved one of the peels to show you a before-and-after comparison.

This is what one lemon will produce.

You can let your candied lemon peel dry as is, or give them a little extra sweetness by dredging them in powdered sugar.

I now had ready-to-go candied citron lemon peel.

It's actually hard to not just sit and eat these, but do your best.  I suggest using several lemons at a time and making these in bulk.  They will last forever.

The simple syrup left in the saucepan should also be saved.  ATTENTION ICED TEA DRINKERS:  you now how when you add sugar/Splenda/cancer in pink packet to your tea and stir to achieve that wonderful snow globe you call a drink?  Well, sugar doesn't dissolve in cold liquids very well (hence the snow globe in your glass), but syrup does!  You now have a lemon-flavored simple syrup that is AMAZING and will sweeten your tea much more effectively than any solid sweetener.

So now it was finally time to make today's baked good, the Kirsch-Flavored Baba on page 53.

Begin by soaking the raisins, currants, and candied lemon peel in the kirsch.

Next, soak the yeast in a bit of the milk.  Ideally, yeast prefers to work its magic in an environment between 90 and 110 degrees Fahrenheit, so aim for that (I used a temperature probe, because I am a geek).

Sift in your flour, make a well, and then add the milk/yeast and the eggs.

Once those have been combined, add the sugar, salt, and butter.

Beat for a while until the batter becomes smooth and glossy.  Drain the fruits, and add these to the batter.

Prepare your molds and baking sheet.

I filled them to the same level as I have been for the previous recipes.  You now have to wait for two hours to let yeast do its thing.  

Here we are, two hours later.  To be honest, these should have gone in the oven earlier.  As they are, they are already above the mold, and will rise further in the oven.  

Yup...they got too tall.

Look at this mess!

I managed to save most of them, but they were too big to be rum-sauced in their molds.  Instead, I used a squeeze bottle to spray them with their  final application.

Overall, they yeast is a significant improvement over the baking powder.  In those two hours, the yeast broke down a lot of the starches in the flour, resulting in a sweeter, more delicate final product.   Whereas the previous two baba recipes ended up tasting more like a biscuit, this tasted much more like a muffin.  I like this recipe the best so far, even though it takes SO much longer to make.  The browning was much nicer, the texture is much more appealing, and the candied fruits make it fun.  This recipe can be modified, even to the point of adding savory items instead of sweet.  I might come back to this one, depending on how the last two baba recipes go.

Final analysis:

What the heck was that?

Meh.

Interesting, glad I tried it, but won't go back to try this again.

Good, but not repeat-worthy.

Very good, with some modifications this could be seen again.

This is company-worthy.