How do you try out a new recipe? Do you follow it to the letter, or are you a tinkerer? For years, I didn’t cook often enough to feel confident deviating from the written word; the recipe was law unto the kitchen. But after being forced to improvise when I was living in a rented apartment in the Balkans without cookbooks or measuring cups, I got used to following my own instincts over the stovetop. It helps that I was mainly cooking for myself, and I kept the bar pretty low; Valerian or anyone else daring enough to join me generally wasn’t familiar with what I was trying to do, and didn’t know any better if something came out wrong.

And now? Now I can’t just follow a recipe – I have to tinker with it, either because I have to (lack of required ingredients/tools/skill) or because I want to (impulsive! Picky!).

I can’t remember how I came across this post about Isabelle’s braided hazelnut bread, but when I saw the photo, I immediately wanted to give it a try. So I did. Immediately. I barely looked at the actual recipe, because what really caught my eye was the beautiful effect with the layers of dough and filling. I threw together a slightly-sweet dough, easy-peasy, and we even had some leftover walnut and poppyseed fillings stashed in the freezer.

And then… problems. Getting the baking time right took a little experimentation – the first time I made it, the oven was too hot and the top got a lot browner than I wanted. Even baking at 350° seemed a little hot on the second time around. I got the best results with a cooler oven, then raising the temperature to get the top edges just nicely browned without drying out the center. I ran out of the frozen filling and had to make my own,even.  Oddly, no one complained about having a lot of not-quite-perfect pastry-ish bread to sample.

The technique for getting the fancy layers is simple, but you have to be careful as you twist the floppy, juicy strands. Once you’ve rolled up the dough into a nice compact log:

I recommend transferring it to the baking pan before cutting the center splice:

Then gently cross the two strands over each other to create the twist:

So, will you give this recipe a try? Or just improvise? Because you know, you’ve got to have a slice of this beauty.

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Brunch Twist
adapted from Our Kitchen

Any of the fillings we’ve posted earlier would be great in this bread, I think, but the walnut one I used here was luscious.

Ingredients

Makes one fairly large loaf

• ¾ cup milk
• 1½ tsp instant yeast
• ¾ tsp salt
• 3 tbs vegetable oil
• 2 tbs sugar
• 2¼ cups flour
• Filling of your choice: try one from here, or use jam, or cheese for a savory option. You’ll need about a cup of whatever you’re using.
• glaze: ¼ cup powdered sugar whisked together with the juice of one lemon

Method

• Make a sponge: warm the milk to just below boiling, then set aside to cool to lukewarm. In the meantime, in the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the yeast and half a cup of flour. Stir in the milk and leave until puffy, about 15 minutes.
• Stir in the salt, sugar, and oil, then begin adding the flour. You may not need the last quarter-cup; the dough should be rather soft, but not sticky. Using the bread hook attachment on your mixer, or with your hands, knead until silky and smooth.
• Place in a greased bowl, cover and allow to rise until doubled, about 2 hours. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 350° F/180° C, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly-floured surface. With your hands, gently pat it into a rectangle – this will help it keep its shape as you roll it out. Roll the dough out as thin as you can, turning several times to be sure it isn’t sticking to the work surface; you should end up with a rectangle about 18×24″ (30×45 cm). If you’re having trouble getting it to an even thinness, let it rest for a minute or two then roll some more.
• Spread the dough with your choice of filling, leaving about a 1″ lip along the edge.
• Roll up the dough along the short edge, finishing with the seam on top. Press gently to seal, then move the roll to the baking sheet. Using a sharp knife, cut all the way through the roll lengthwise, leaving about 2″ (5 cm) at one end uncut.
• Handling the dough very gently,  and keeping the cut edge up, lay one strand of the bread over the other, alternating so you have a twist shape. Tuck the end under for a neater appearance.
• Bake for 20 minutes; raise the oven temperature to 375° (180°C) and bake for an additional 7-10 minutes or until the top begins to brown.
• Allow to cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes before brushing the glaze over the top. If you can, wait another few minutes before you slice and serve.

 

Since the kids (mysteriously) don’t love the oatmeal pancakes as much as I do, I thought I’d try using the same method but with a smaller proportion of barley flakes than in the original oatmeal version. “I like regular pancakes better” was still the refrain at the breakfast table this morning, but I was really happy with how these turned out — and, it should be noted, no one left any behind for the freezer.

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Barley pancakes, adapted from Orangette (in turn adapted from the Inn at Fordhook Farm)

So you do have to plan ahead for these pancakes again, since the barley flakes soak in buttermilk overnight, but the result is fluffy, tender and has just enough bite to be interesting without being heavy.

Ingredients

Makes about 10 medium pancakes

• 1½ cups buttermilk, divided
• ¾ cup barley flakes
• ¾ cup flour
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 2 eggs
• 3 Tbs butter, melted and cooled slightly, plus more for greasing the pan

Method

• The night before, stir together one cup of the buttermilk with the barley flakes in a small bowl, cover and refrigerate.
• When you are ready to cook, stir together the flour, baking soda, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs together with the remaining half-cup buttermilk and melted butter (don’t worry if the butter forms lumps), then stir the wet mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold in the soaked barley and mix until everything is combined.
• Heat a large skillet over medium-low heat. Once it warms up, coat the bottom of the pan with a thin layer of butter or oil.
• Using a ladle or muffin scoop, drop about ¼ cup of batter onto the pan. If it’s very thick and doesn’t spread a bit, stir in a little more buttermilk to the batter.
• Cook each pancake about three minutes on the first side, turning when bubbles form on the surface and the edges start to look cooked/dry. Cook about three more minutes, then regrease the pan and ladle out more batter.
• Serve warm with maple syrup, or eat hot from the pan with your fingers!

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Valeria’s Potatoe Torte

This is the cake part of the recipe. We used Russet potatoes, which worked great.  The recipe calls for three eggs, but our eggs were small so we used 4. You can experiment with the filling. We tried to mix cocoa and chocolate into the potatoes and we layered that with chunky cherry preserves. The results were ok but not great. I think the original filling is more suitable. You can also try any ordinary buttercream frosting but then forget about the cake being good for people watching their weight! You can also eat it without filling like a coffee cake. In that case add some vanilla and more walnuts.

Ingredients for the cake

• ½ pound floury potatoes
• 3 large eggs
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup walnut halves




Ingredients for the filling

• ½ pound potatoes
• Up to ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup walnuts halves
• rum
• 1 Tbsp butter

Method

1. Cook the potatoes until soft, then mash them or put them through a ricer.

2. Let them cool a bit, but while they are still warm add the egg yolks, sugar, and ground walnuts. Mix well.

3. Beat the egg whites to form soft peaks, and gently fold into the previous mixture.

4. Pour it into 2 nine- inch round pans and bake it at 350F for 20-25 minutes. You wll see that the top is getting a bit golden.

5. Cool on a rack for 10 minutes, then turn out from the pan and frost as desired.

The recipe for filling:

Cook the potatoes until soft, mash them in a medium bowl, beat in the other ingredients. Enjoy!

My mum used to make these amazing Slovak potato pancakes. She would come home during her lunch break and make lunch for us, so it would be waiting for us when we came home from school. She made sure there was some soup and a main course. By the time we would get home, Mum was back at work, but she always left a note about what she cooked and how much we can have — with three hungry boys she left nothing to chance. I still remember that we could have 5 pancakes each.

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Potato Pancakes – Zemiakove placky

This traditional Slovak recipe is delicious as a snack or as a main course after a substantial soup.

Ingredients

Makes enough for 3-4 people

• 2 pounds/1 kg whole potatoes
• 1 egg
• 4-5 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp majoram – optional
• 1 cup/240 ml milk
• 6 tbs flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
  • Boil the potatoes in a large pot of salted water until you can just pierce them with a fork. Drain and let them cool for a minute or two.
  • Peel the potatoes and grate them on a fine grater.
  • Add egg, smashed garlic, pepper, salt, majoran, milk and the flour. Batter should be a thick liquid.
  • Preheat a crepe pan or a nonstick pan to medium low heat. Grease it and add about a ladle’s worth of batter. Fry 4 minutes on each side.
  • Enjoy

Method

I don’t know why is this different then wienerschnitzel or a grilled pork chop, but it is. I thought this meal is only special to me; as a kid I used to request it all the time, and it was always my dad who cooked it for me. But I grew up and this pork chop became forgotten. Until one day I made it again.

You should know that our son does not eat, but rather he lives off the dust particles he breathes in. One day when I had been chasing the kids all on my own, I decided to refuel myself with my dad’s pork chops. After I managed to convince my (at that time 3 year old) son to try it I was shocked. He ate it. My first though was that everybody gets hungry after eating only dust particles for 2 years, right? Well, after a week I made it again, and it was eaten again. And he still keeps eating it.

The recipe is simple:

get a pork chop, pound it flat, salt it, sprinkle flour over it, tap it to shake off the excess flour. Fry it on a non-stick pan with a little oil (like 2-3 tbsp).