Minta Eats

Yesterday I asked my friends of FB whether I shall bake macarons or brioche-like cake with plums. The result was simple – everyone was for the latter option. Polish “ciasto drożdzowe”, yeast dough, frequently called “Kuchen”  with plums, strawberries or even without anything except streusel is the most traditional bake I can imagine. Not cheesecakes, chocolate cake, apple pies, but “drożdżowe”. Especially the one you can make in few minutes with no fear that it will collapse under the weight of fruit or do other mean thing.

Drożdżowe with Plums

“Drożdżowe” with Plums
3 teaspoons of dry yeasts
1 cup of warm milk
1/2 cup sugar
500 g plain flour
100 g butter, melted
2 eggs, room temoerature
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
pinch of salt
1 kg plums, stoned and halved

optionally: Streusel
100 g butter, soft
20 tablespoons flour (or 10 tbsp flour and 10 tbsp almond powder)
10 tablespoons sugar
pinch of salt

Mix the yeast with 1/2 cup milk, 4 tablespoons of flour and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Leave for few minutes so the yeasts start to work. Add sifted flour, rest of sugar, melted butter, beaten eggs, vanilla and salt. Mix all ingredients till they will combine, knead the dough until it will became elastic and easy to handle. Leave for 1 hour or till the dough will double in size.
Preheat the oven for 180 degrees Celsius.
Grease a round spring form or a rectangular backing tray, place the dough inside and stretch inside the pan. Top with plums (skins down) and  – if you wish – sprinkle with some streusel. bake for 30-40 minutes. Eat (still warm, straight from the tray with cup of tea or warm milk.

Drożdżowe with Plums

I have stopped buying plums. No, I’m not sick or mad. I just have another wonderful source of those great late-summer fruit – garden by the house my Mum’s company is in. In the garden you can find five or six different varieties of plums. Small “węgierki”, perfect for jams and big Parisiens, sweet and gold inside. And others which names I don’t know (yet;-). So today I came back home with ca. 3 kilos (!) of perfectly ripe plums). With the aim of baking a good ol’ plum cake. It is easy to make (especially if you have some KitchenAid-like helper;-), great for five o’clock tea, for chatting with friends, for sweet breakfast. Yum.

Dimply Plum Cake (adapted from Dorie Greenspan “Baking: From my home to yours”)

Ingredients (for small, 19 cm springform; I have used 28-cm form and doubled the ingredients)

1 1/2 cups  plain or all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt
75 g  butter
100 g brown sugar
2 eggs,
1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
8 plums cut in half and pitted
optionally: 1/2 spoon of orange zest and 1/4 teaspoon of powdered cardamon

Preheat the oven to 175C. Grease and flour a round cake form. In a bowl beat butter with sugar till pale and smooth. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add vanilla essence and give it another stir. In a bowl mix all dry ingredients and add them into buttery-eggy mixture (not everything at one time, but part after part). Mix until just incorporated. Pour the batter into prepared form, place halved plums on the top (skins down) and put into hot oven. Bake for 25-35 minutes, till golden.

Dimply Plum Cake

Despite it’s not even late August, the weather today is rather October-ish, I must say. 18-something degrees Celsius, no sun at all, gray clouds, even more gray sky and totally gray rain. To survive this weather You need something very sunny and summery and comfy. What You say for simple pie with plums, hint of brown sugar and cinnamon and some extra – French white nougat with almonds. I say yes!

Ingredients:
250 g flour
75 g + 1 spoon brown sugar
150 g butter
2 eggs
pinch of salt
pinch of cinnamon
1 kg sweet, ripe plums
75 g nougat with whole almonds

Turn on the oven for 190 C.

Mix flour with sugar and salt, add cold butter cut into pieces and eggs. Mix quickly (if You work with short pastry to long, flour will release its gluten and the pastry will be chewy instead of crisp and flaky). Form dough into a bowl, wrap in cling foil and pt into fridge for hour or more.
Meanwhile wash the plums, cut them on halves and remove stones. Mix with one spoon of brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut nougat into small pieces. Grease the baking sheet You will bake your pie on.
Take the chilled dough and roll to 0,5 – 1 cm thick. Transfer the pastry onto the baking sheet, cover with nougat crumbs  and plums (skins down).
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Put on rack to chill and for juice to set.