Tahini buns (tahinli çörek)

While I agree there’s nothing better than dipping a big chunk of warm bread in a bowl of tahini, recipes with tahini are endless and just…good. The Cake Hunter told me that she uses it to make vegan chocolate fudge. Another genius use for tahini is to stir it through some buttercream before layering with cake or adding a teaspoon to Greek yoghurt and dipping cubes of fried aubergine in it. It’s clear that tahini is a sweet and savoury melting pot. 

I’ve recently discovered that my favourite thing to do with it is to complement this stuff of gods with crappy vegetable fat. If I’m going to spread tahini on some dough like I would with a cinnamon bun, there needs to be a savouriness to make up for that lack of spiciness, even if it comes from smelly veggie fat. Dare I even say that using a pastry chef’s nightmare ingredient in a recipe actually yields flakier results? You’re not reminded of the richness of butter with these buns, instead there are crumbly edges and short textured interiors. I tell ya, veggie fat really brings out the pure taste of carbohydrates. Also David Cameron promises to put us through our paces for the next 5 years so I probably won’t be able to afford butter soon. 

Tahini buns (tahinli çörek)

Makes 16 buns

Ingredients

For the dough

• 560g plain flour, plus extra for rolling
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp fine sea salt
• 240g vegetable fat or margarine, cold and cubed
• 300g buttermilk, cold
• 1 egg
• 50g poppy or sesame seeds

For the filling

• 150g tahini
• 120g sugar

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 C/160 fan/gas mark 4 and line 3 baking trays with greaseproof paper. Put the tahini and sugar in a small bowl, stir and set aside. The mixture should be thick and spreadable.
2. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and cubed margarine to a bowl and mix with an electric whisk until the texture is coarse and there are still lumps of butter here and there. Make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk, then mix until the dough looks shaggy. Tip out onto a clean surface and lightly knead into a rough ball, then leave to rest for ten 10 minutes. Split the dough in half and put one aside. Flour the surface again and roll the first half into a 30cm circle, then roll the second half of dough so that it looks identical to the first half. Spread the tahini sugar paste over one half, making sure to go right to the corners, then carefully lay the second half on top. Using a pizza roller or knife, cut ½ inch strips diagonally. Hold 1 strip from both ends, lift and twist, then repeat until the strip is completely twisted. Tightly roll the strip into a round then tuck the end in the bottom of the bun. Repeat with the rest of the buns, then space them apart on the baking trays. Beat the egg in a small bowl and brush each bun with it, then sprinkle with the seeds. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the bottoms are golden brown, leave to cool and then serve. These are best eaten the day they are made. 

Love Em xx

Overnight Chocolate Babka {Marbled Brioche}

In polish, Babka means grandmother. In New York, Babka can be found in all of the Jewish bakeries, but not because that’s where the grandmothers like to hang, oh nooo.  

A Babka is also a buttery rich brioche like cake; it is marbled with chocolate or cinnamon goo much like a pre cut log of cinnamon roll dough, and then baked in a loaf pan. Traditionally it is topped with streusel but I opted for a glace icing (made with double cream) that I flavoured with a few drops of orange blossom water. Because chocolate and orange are two flavours that we should marry together at-all-times. 

I never visited a Jewish bakery during my short-lived time in New York last week. Needless to say, I deeply regretted it after I bit into the Babka and my mouth experienced all that crunch from the crust and chew from the cake/bread hybrid. 

Side note if you’re thinking about visiting New York: Please do, it will make you feel like Deb Perelman, if only for a couple of weeks. Also, there are the most amazing-ly (cheap) juicy burgers at Five Guys and almond croissants at Dominique Ansel’s bakery (not so cheap).

My brother in law bought me the New York Cult Recipes cookbook for Christmas and the Babka was one of the many impressive creations within (New York cheesecake is next on the list, but I’m afraid it’ll be too difficult not to destroy it with my mouth before taking pictures). Nearly all of the ingredients used in the Babka can be found tucked away in kitchen cupboards, which is one of the reasons why I chose it, whose got time to run to the supermarket on Boxing Day slash ever? 

Overnight Chocolate Babka

Adapted from New York Cult Recipes By Marc Grossman 

90 ml lukewarm buttermilk (or add 1 tbsp lemon juice to milk and leave to set for 1 minute)
1 egg + 1 egg yolk + 1 egg white
125g butter, melted + 100g, softened
300g plain flour
3/4 tsp dried active yeast
2 pinches salt
50g + 125g caster sugar
40g cocoa powder
2 tbsp demerara sugar

Note: I’ve discovered this thing recently. Its called refrigerating yeasted dough’s overnight so that they taste ten trillion billion times yeastier. Its amazing. But by all means, don’t feel like you have go with me on this. The Babka will taste just as good if proofed for just 1 hour before baking. I just like to proof dough for a little longer, almost like testing the waters before the dough ends up tasting like stale beer.

The Recipe

Make the dough. Add the buttermilk, egg plus egg yolk and melted butter to a freestanding mixer fitted with the dough hook. Add the yeast, salt, 50g sugar and plain flour and knead on medium speed for 6 - 10 minutes. The dough should come away from the bowl and feel elastic. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1 and a 1/2 hours.

Make the filling. Stir together 125g sugar and cocoa powder. Set aside.

Shape and bake dough. Roll the dough out into a 40cm rectangle. Spread the softened butter over the dough and sprinkle its entirety with the filling. Roll the dough up along its length so that you have a short log instead of a long one. Twist the ends to seal in the mixture. Grease a 8/9 inch loaf tin and place inside. Cover and place in the fridge overnight.

Uncover the babka, brush with egg white and sprinkle with demarara sugar. Put a bowl of boiling water on the bottom shelf of the oven and place the babka on the top shelf. Leave to proof for half an hour. Remove the babka, preheat the oven to 180 C and bake for 50 minutes.

Make a simple glaze of icing sugar and cream and add a drop of orange blossom water. Drizzle over the top when still warm, as the babka is best enjoyed when fresh out of the oven, but lasts for 2 days!

I hope everyone had the best Christmas ever. What plans do you have for New Year's Eve?

Love Em xx