Savarin, Rum babas and Parmesan Grissini

Well after the success of my last post and being retweeted by Richard Bertinet I thought I probably couldn't leave so much of a gap in between posts as I did last time. I'm cheating slightly as I'm skipping ahead a week with the recipes from my course because I seem to have miss placed week 2. Once I've retrieved them on Wednesday I can get back in order and everything will be right with the world again. 

So if I recall correctly (this was in october 2012 so bear with me) week 3 was continuing on with all things yeasty. Savarins and Babas are both made with the same enriched dough containing yeast, eggs and lots of lovely butter. They are then proved, piped, baked and soaked with a syrup. You can decorate with whipped cream or fruit though I'm not sure I got that far looking at my photos. The only tricky thing about the savarin is that you'll need to get a special savarin ring but you can pick them up easily in most homeware shops. For the babas you can use a normal individual pudding basin or anything mini as long as you can turn it out easily. The grissini recipe is from a chef called Giorgio Locatelli and it makes the most amazing breadsticks. If you fancy making some bread but want to do something a bit different then make these. Seriously, they are so good and actually pretty quick and easy for a bread recipe. If you have friends coming for drinks then this is the recipe to impress them with. Also with all that salt they will be drinking a lot more which will make any party a hell of a lot more fun. Not that I think you might need help in making your parties fun..... oh jeez. 

Savarin/Baba Dough

300g strong flour
20g yeast
6g salt
100g milk at roughly 37 degrees (body temp)
3-4 eggs
the zest of 1 lemon
5g barley malt extract
30g sugar

125g melted butter

• Preheat the oven to 220C/fan 200C/gas 7
• Disperse the yeast in the milk but be careful not to have the milk too hot or it will kill the yeast. Place the flour, sugar, salt and malt in to a bowl and mix. 
• Slowly mix in the yeasty milk and then incorporate the eggs.
• Pour the melted butter over the top and just allow it to sit like that while the batter proves. 
• Leave in a warm place for about 20 minutes or until the mixture starts to bubble. 
• Add in the lemon zest and stir in with the butter that's been sitting on top. 
• Fill a piping bag with the mixture and pipe in to the savarin ring and baba molds so they are about half full.
• Leave to prove for another 20 minutes or until the mixture is three quarters up the side.
• Bake for 15 minutes or until well risen and golden. Whilst they bake make a syrup up of 3 parts water to 2 parts sugar and add lemon peel, orange peel, coriander seeds, cinnamon stick and a bay leaf. Heat up and then leave to cool a bit. 
• Once the savarin/baba have baked then turn them out and while still warm soak with the syrup. The most effective way to do this is pour some syrup in the mould and place the savarin/baba back in to soak it up. They will need a lot more soaking than you would think so don't be afraid of over soaking. Brush of the tops of the babas with rum to give them their name.
• Once cooled you can pipe whipped cream on top and place any fruit of your choosing. 

Giorgio Locatelli's Parmesan Grissini

(makes about 25)

50g unsalted butter
200g whole milk
10g fresh yeast
375g strong white bread flour, or Italian “00” flour
3 generous tbsp grated parmesan
10g fine salt

• Preheat the oven to 230
• Melt the butter in a pan, add the milk and heat gently till it is warm to the touch, then whisk in the yeast.
• Put the flour, Parmesan, and salt in a bowl, then add a little of the milk mixture at a time, mixing it well and kneading it.
• Turn the dough on to a clean work surface, and dimple it with a method called “colomba”
• Spread the dough out into a rough rectangle by pressing down with the tips of your fingers (like you would for a foccia), stretching and dimpling the dough at the same time, to create pockets of air that can be trapped. Fold the top third down to the center and dimple it lightly again, then fold up the bottom third over the top and dimple again, then turn the dough 45 degrees and repeat the process.
• Cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 30 min.
• Repeat the dimpling process, cover again, and leave for another 30 min
• Cut the dough in half lengthways, flour your work surface and roll each piece out into a big rectangle. At this point you can sprinkle with a little rock salt and cracked black pepper. 
• Cut the dough across it’s width into strips about 1 cm wide.
• Roll each strip with your fingertips, starting at the center and moving outwards, stretching the dough slightly as you go. Press each end lightly with your thumb to make an “ear” shape, lay on a non-stick baking sheet, and leave to rest for 10 min.
• Turn the oven down to 180c, and bake for 10-15 min until crisp and lightly golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.