Miss Foodwise

Celebrating British food and Culture

breakfast

Swedish Saint Lucia Buns on the darkest day of the year

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First of all good news! My book Belgian Café Culture (Authentieke Belgische Cafés) has won the ‘Food History’ Award for Belgium at the Gourmand World Book Awards! I’m extremely happy that our Belgian café heritage is getting such recognition, in the hope that this will lead to some day preserving cafés as protected heritage. Now on to todays business…

Ever since I spent some time in Sweden I can not stop baking traditional Swedish delights! So of course I had to bake on Santa Lucia, which is celebrated in Sweden today. They go by a few names: Lussebullar, Lussekatt, Lussekatter, St.Lucia bullar and plain old saffron buns.

According to tradition it is the eldest daughter of the family who is in charge of baking these buns. Santa Lucia is the christianised pagan feast of the winter solstice. Today is the darkest day of the year and therefore light has to be celebrated and cherished. Before christianisation the Nordic people would celebrate the goddess Frigga or Freya and her awakening from the tree in which she was hiding with her child Baldur. This marks the shortest day and the moment in which the days will start to lengthen again. For pagans today is christmas….

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Kanelbullar, Swedish style cinnamon buns

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I’ve always had a thing for cinnamon buns, but I’ve also always hated half of the ones I’ve tried.
They’re often either too sweet, too soft, too fluffy, too dry or too yeasty.
It’s my opinion a bun should not be so light that it is an afterthought, it should be the main affair proudly in the middle of your plate. A bun should fill you up and get all your attention. I’m obsessed by the ones Gails sells in London, I buy a couple to take home to my equally obsessed husband and usually have to go back for an extra one because I could not take waiting until the Eurostar had taken me home… These buns cover your fingers in cinnamony sugar and you just have to continuously rudely lick your fingers. Starting by the outside layer you have to pull away a piece like you do when you’re eating cotton candy. Gails buns are sticky in a dry way, they have something delightfully savoury, are made in a mould and often the bottom part will have bits of syrup from the filling dripping out. They remind me a little of a pastry we have in Belgium called ‘Bolus’ which is also made in a mould.
The last time I was a Gails the customer behind me asked if I really liked them because I was buying five. I told him they were all for me and my husband, over in Belgium. He was impressed the buns would travel to Belgium and got quite a couple for himself.
Another great bun is the Swedish type, kanelbullar, the traditional pastry for Fika, the Swedish coffee break accompanied by a snack. Recipes vary, just like they vary with all cinnamon buns. Some use a lot of yeast which creates a fluffy bun, I am not really looking for fluffiness when it comes to kanelbullar. I’ve seen these type of knot-kanelbullar and discover those are the traditional shapes.
They are made not by simply rolling up the pastry smeared with filling, these bullar are made by folding the pastry in half, both sides smeared with the butter, sugar and cinnamon mixture and then strips are cut from it. Those strips are then pulled slightly, turned and tied into a knot. Then they get a coating of whisked egg and a drizzle of pearl sugar before they bake in the oven and fill the house with the smell that could sell a house.

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Bath buns – or the tale of English buns #1

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Bath-buns-regula-ysewijn--6330If you have visited the city of Bath, nestled in a green valley with its Roman baths, elegant Georgian townhouses and impressive circus, you might have noticed that there are two famous buns in town. Both are competing to be the oldest, most authentic, and most valuable to the city’s heritage. The Sally Lunn and the Bath Bun – they both even have their own tea room in town. Of course the notion that one of these buns is more important than the other is bollocks. At the end of the day, it’s just something to spread your butter on. I’m far more interested in both of these buns history than I am in their importance.

One bun maker claimed that the Bath bun was just simply a Sally Lunn which was slightly changed and then given the name Bath Bun for the tourists. A rather simplistic way of looking at it, but it has happened to other foods in the past. Of course in this case we are talking about two entirely different buns.

What a difference a bun makes
We know that during the Great Exhibition of 1851 in London, set up by Prince Albert,  934.691 Bath buns were sold to the public. This shows they were either popular, or they were the best option! According to bun legend people remarked that the Bath bun sold in London was not exactly like the one sold in Bath and soon Bath buns in London were renamed London buns. However, mentions for London buns can be found 20 years before the Great Exhibition. So I’m fairly sure we are again talking about two different buns. To confuse things even more is that in Australia a Chelsea bun is known as a London bun.

The Sally Lunn which I will get to in another posting, is a light bun with a nice dome shaped top, it looks like a brioche but is less rich and not sweet at all. It is known since 1776. The Bath bun used to be a Bath cake in the 18th century. But although it was called cake, it was definitely treated as a bun, which according to Elizabeth Raffald The Experienced English Housekeeper, 1769 should be the size of a French roll and sent in hot for breakfast. Bath resident and cookery author Martha Bradley, gave a recipe in her book in 1756 entitled ‘Bath seed Cake’. Over the course of the 18th century eggs were added to the batter making the buns richer. In Andre Simon’s ‘Cereals: A Concise Encyclopedia of Gastronomy’ from 1807 the recipe instructs the cook to:
Rub 1 lb. of butter into 2 lb. of fine flour; mix in it 1 lb. of caraway comfits, beat well 12 eggs, leaving out six whites, with 6 spoonfuls of new yeast, and the same quantity of cream made warm; mix all together, and set it by the fire to rise; when made up, strew comfits over them.

Jane Austen was a fan of Bath buns and promised to stuff her face with them if her sister Cassandra would not be joining her for a visit to Paragon that May….

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The perfect scone is a joyeus thing

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While I am wondering where summer is hiding, and rain is dripping down on my evergreen garden, it feels like the perfect time to start baking scones for tea. How else will you lock out the dreariness that comes with the looming end of joyeus long days, summer dresses and dainty shoes. There has to be tea, and something to go with it.

Tea was introduced to England by Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of Charles II, in the mid 1600s. Her dowry included a chest of tea.
It isn’t certain when exactly the afternoon tea ritual was introduced. The most popular tale is that the 7th Duchess of Bedford had invented it in the 1840’s to fight a ‘sinking feeling’ during the late afternoon. Knowing that in the 18th century people had to wait for dinner until eight o’ clock after having breakfast, I would have had many sinking feelings in the afternoon as well.
The Duchess would have had a tray with tea, bread and butter in her room in the afternoon and soon she started to invite friends to have tea and refreshments with her as well.
By the 1880’s it became a social event and soon the etiquette surrounding a proper teatime occasion was born.
There should be fresh water in the teapot at all times, and loose-leaf tea is believed to be best. The tea caddy should always be placed closest to the host to show that she or he is in charge. On the tea tray should be the teapot, a sugar bowl with sugar tongs or a spoon if cubes aren’t used, a milk jug, a tea strainer, a bowl for the used tea leaves, a dish with lemon wedges, a lemon fork and a pitcher of hot water to dilute the tea if a guest would require it. On the tea table: teacups and saucers, forks and spoons, small cake plates, napkins – preferably linen. A plate filled with sandwiches, warm scones and small cakes. A pot of the best jam, double cream or clotted cream each with a spoon.
Then there’s that other thing, ‘the cream or jam first’ debate, that Devon and Cornwall have been fighting over for decades. I guess it is no longer about what’s proper but how one likes his scone. I like to break my scone in pieces bit by bit, then I spread on a layer of jam (and when that jam is home-made raspberry jam it can be some kind of heaven) then spoon on a generous dollop of clotted cream.
I believe a scone shouldn’t be too sweet, that way you can generously spread it with cream and jam without feeling too guilty or going into a sugar coma after 1 scone.
The secret to the best risen scone is not to overwork the dough and not to turn the cutter while cutting out your scones.
This is my perfect scone recipe, I like them rough instead of soft, with a crumbly outside and a soft inside. Just like I remember my first scone and the scones I enjoy most at my favourite tea-room.

 

Makes 10-12 scones
450g self raising flour
150 g unsalted butter – room temperature
40 g sugar
2 medium eggs, beaten
a tiny pinch of salt
90ml milk
1 egg, for egg washing
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas mark 7
Line two  baking trays with baking parchment.
1. Put the flour into a bowl and add the butter and rub it in until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
2. Stir in the sugar.
3. Add the egg and gradually add the milk stirring it in until you have a soft, slightly sticky dough.
4. Turn the dough out on to a generously floured working surface and gently knead it for a minute until it ceases to be sticky but still soft.
5. Now flatten it to a thickness of 2cm. It is better to do this with your hands as opposed to a rolling pin, this will help the scones rise better.
6. Use a 5cm (or use a larger one for larger scones) cookie cutter to stamp out the scones by pushing it straight down into the dough without turning it, then lift it straight out. This will provide a better and more even rise as well.
7. Push the leftover dough together and knead lightly, add currants if you like and flatten again and cut out more scones.
8. Arrange the scones on your prepared baking tray and brush the tops with beaten egg.
9. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the middle of your oven until risen and golden.
10. When ready transfer to a wire rack to cool. When cooled, cover them with a tea towel to keep them nice and moist.
Serve warm, reheated in a warm oven, or cold, with clotted cream or whipped double cream and the best raspberry jam you can find or freshly crushed raspberries …
You can freeze scones perfectly, just defrost the evening before in the fridge and warm as suggested above before serving.
 
Part of this article first appeared on the Denby UK Blog 10/08/15

 

Enjoy!
 
You might also like
Cornish splits
A perfectly simple white loaf
Hot Cross Buns
EDITED
While moving my blog the comments on my last few posts got lost, I’m so sorry if you are looking for your comment and it isn’t there. I’m really sad about losing our conversations!

Parsnip and apple breakfast cake

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day, we all know it.
There is a saying: eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar
In Britain and Ireland the day is started as a king with their traditional cooked breakfast “the iconic fry-up”. Cooked well, the “English breakfast” truly is a wonderful dish.
If you want to do it right you should start with a bowl of cereal and a piece of fruit, fresh juice and finish the meal with a slice of toast topped with marmelade. Last but not least, all this must be washed down with a nice cup of tea.
If this isn’t a hearty breakfast, I don’t know what is.
Naturally you can’t eat like this every day, most people only treat themselves on a traditional “Full monty” when on holiday or on special occasions.
So alternatives are beans on toast or perhaps this breakfast cake.
Also perfect with your ‘four O’ clock’ cup of tea and much better than a candybar.
Go on, treat yourself.

“And then to breakfast, with what appetite you have.” Shakespeare
This breakfast cake is very moist and more a cross between a bread and a cake.
Someone from Ireland told me it also resembles an “Irish tea brack” though this is not made with tea.
I left out the “normal” sugar in this cake and substituted with honey and apple sirup. This makes this cake a healthier treat.

What do you need
180 g unsalted butter
1 cup of honey
0,5 cup of apple sirup, plum sirup or golden sirup
3 organic eggs
330 g selfraising flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 apple, grated
0,5 tsp mixed spice (see here to learn what goes into mixed spice)
2 parsnips (250 g), grated
80 g walnuts, chopped
2 tsp of fresh orange juice
a little bit of orange zest

Method
Grate the parsnips and apple.
Preheat your oven to 180°C.
Grease a loose bottom baking tin or line with baking paper
Melt the sirup, honey and butter, allow to cool
Mix the flour, mixed spice and baking powder.
Add the egg and sirup mixture to the flour followed by the grated apple and parsnips.
Finally add the orange zest an juice.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake tin and bake for 1 hour.
Let the cake cool in the tin and dust with Icing sugar when cooled.

My cake tin was a bit smaller so I made some smaller cakes from the leftover dough, ideal to stick into boyfriends’, husbands’ or childrens’ luchboxes.