Ingredient: milk, divided

Puddingbrezel – Classic German Pastry

The puddingbrezel  is a special kind of pretzel. Made with buttery ‘danish pastry’, filled with a smooth, sweet vanilla pudding. The term danish is connected to a strike among Danish bakers in the 19th century. When bakers from neighboring countries, especially Austria, were invited to work, they brought with them a new kind of dough. As soon as the strike ended, the Danish bakers started to experiment with this new dough adapting it to their needs. 

This dough technique was called lamination. Although the dough is prepared with yeast, it is processed with cold ingredients. After kneading, it is folded and rolled out again multiple times to achieve the desired fluffy and flaky texture. For successful danish pastry, butter is needed as it works to separate the various layers of the dough as they bake.

To put it simply, we have an Austrian pastry that was adapted by the Danes, which is used to make a German delicacy. How is that for ‘interculinary’.

If you like danish, your sure to love these!

 

Print Recipe
 German Puddingbrezel
Using the shortcut version of danish pastry eliminates having to 'knead' the dough.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course dessert
Cuisine American, German
Servings
Ingredients
Shortcut Danish Pastry
Vanilla Pudding
Course dessert
Cuisine American, German
Servings
Ingredients
Shortcut Danish Pastry
Vanilla Pudding
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
Shortcut Danish Pastry
  1. Dissolve sugar into lukewarm water & sprinkle with the yeast. Allow to stand 15 minutes. In a food processor, combine flour, sugar & salt; pulse in cold butter cubes. Mixture should resemble pea sized chunks. Remove mixture from food processor & transfer to a large mixing bowl.
  2. Whisk together eggs & whipping cream. Stir in yeast mixture & pour over the flour mixture. Toss together with a wooden spoon, just enough to make dough form. Divide into two portions. Each portion makes about 8-10 pastries so if you don't need it all right away, double wrap one portion in plastic wrap & freeze for later. Refrigerate dough for several hours or overnight.
Vanilla Pudding
  1. In a small dish, combine cornstarch with 1/4 cup milk & beat until completely smooth. Slice vanilla bean lengthwise & scrape out the seeds. Cut the remaining pod in half crosswise.
  2. In a saucepan, add remaining 2 3/4 cups milk, sugar, salt, vanilla pulp & pod. Place on stove over high heat. As soon as the mixture begins to boil, remove from heat & add cornstarch mixture stirring constantly. Return saucepan to stove, continue cooking ONLY until bubbly & thickened. Remove from heat & take out vanilla pod. Cover with plastic wrap to avoid forming a skin as it cools.
  3. To make PUDDINGBREZELS: Roll a portion of the dough into a 12 x 18-inch rectangle. Cut strips on the long side of the rectangle, about just over 1/2" wide. Twirl two of the strips together & form into pretzels. Transfer carefully to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, with some room in between to expand during baking. Let rise 30 minutes before filling.
  4. Preheat oven to 375 F. Using a pastry bag, pipe cooled vanilla pudding into the two holes of each pretzel. Brush each pastry with an egg wash consisting of 1 egg whisked together with 2 Tbsp water. Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden.Timing depends upon the size you chose to make your puddingbrezels.

Ham & Spinach Rolls

While I was giving some thought to something different and interesting for supper today, a unique memory came back to me. I don’t know if you are familiar with Black Iberian Ham. Brion and I certainly were not aware of the Iberian pigs until we had traveled in Spain and Portugal one year. 

Iberian pigs have black skins and hooves and very little hair. Their history is steeped in mystery. Beginning with the acorns from oak tree pastures in Spain to their long curing process. Magically each ham is transformed into one of the world’s most exquisite foods.

Immediately after weaning, the piglets are fattened on barley and corn for several weeks. During the spring and summer, cattle and sheep graze on the oak forest pastures. In fall and winter, when the acorns are falling from the trees, the Iberian pigs are then allowed to roam in the pastures and oak groves to feed naturally on grass, herbs, acorns and roots until slaughtering time approaches. At that time, the diet may be strictly limited to olives and acorns for best quality Iberian ham. It is possible for a pig to eat 10 kilos of acorns in a day.

The hams from the slaughtered pigs are salted and left to begin drying for two weeks, after which they are rinsed and left to dry for another four to six weeks. The curing process then takes at least 12 months although some producers cure their hams for up to forty-eight months. The extraordinarily long curing process is possible because of the huge amount of fat on each ham. Over that time period, they loose nearly half their weight as the fat drips away.

The curing hams hang where open windows allow mountain air to ‘caress’ them as they transform from a piece of pork into the ultimate flavored  BLACK IBERIAN HAM.

Brion and I have always found that travel is unmistakably the most interesting form of learning one can experience.

This recipe for  HAM & SPINACH ROLLS,  although quite simple, makes a nice little elegant meal in a short space of time. 

Print Recipe
 Ham & Spinach Rolls
A nice way to transform basic into special.
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
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Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings
Ingredients
Course Lunch, Main Dish
Cuisine American
Servings
Ingredients
Votes: 1
Rating: 5
You:
Rate this recipe!
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor, place egg, 1/3 of soup, onion, garlic powder & salt & pulse for 30 seconds. Add half of the milk, spinach, mustard, bread, thyme & Parmesan. Blend another 30 seconds.
  2. Lay ham slices on work space and divide filling evenly among them. Arrange filled ham rolls in a shallow baking dish. Combine remaining soup & milk; spoon evenly over rolls. Bake, covered for 15 minutes, remove foil & bake 10 more minutes or until bubbly & filling is cooked through. If preferred, garnish with dried parsley.