Eric Kayser's Pink Caramelized Almond Bread
This recipe is from page 130 of Eric Kayser's Beyond The Bread Basket. It is part of a dessert called Strawberries in Wine with Pink Caramelized Almond Bread. As winter is now in full swing down under, strawberries are everywhere in fruit & vege stores and supermarkets; I thought it would make a relatively healthy dessert for after dinner.
Formula for Pink Caramelized Almond Bread
250g bread flour
a pinch of salt
2.5 g active dry yeast (or 5 g fresh yeast) dissolved in 4 tsp lukewarm water
20 g granulated sugar
45 g butter 10 g powdered milk
20 g whipping cream
125 g water
75 g pink caramelized almonds*
* I belive this is pink pralines, the same ingredient in Eric Kayser's other recipe, Brioche with Pink Pralines in his book, Eric Kayser's New French Cuisine. When I spoke to G. Detou, they did tell me there are two types of pink pralines, one with whole almonds (20%, 30% or 50% to sugar content) and the other with pre-crushed almonds (only 20%). I find it odd that the sugar content could be so high but it is really not easy talking to a French man over the phone. Maybe I misunderstood him somewhere, typical me. As I have a bag of raw almonds in my pantry, I thought I could try to make my own pink almonds (like pink almond candy). Into a large bowl, I put 122 g icing sugar and started adding pink and red food coloring and a little bit of water until I got a sticky paste. I chopped up 215 g almonds into small pieces and add them into the paste. They were baked in 160 C oven for about 25 min. The ratio of my almonds to sugar is 176%, way higher than the information I got from talking to G. Detou, but it will do for now. Here is a picture of my my homemade pink pralines look-alike:
home-made pink almonds
This is a very easy bread to make. Place all ingredients except pink almonds in the mixer, knead for 5 min at low speed and 8 min at high speed. Add the pink almonds, kneading them in by hand. Set aside the dough to rest for 30 min, covered with a damp cloth. Shape, then leave to rest at room temp for 2 hours. Preheat oven to 210 C and bake for 25 min. (The book says to bake at 160 C for 25 min, but I wonder how the crust gets brown at this temp.)
Pink Caramelized Almond Bread
The crumb
The recipe for the Strawberries in Wine follows:
300 g strawberries*
75 g red wine*
75 g granulated sugar*
2 black peppercorns
2 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, slit lengthways
* Note: These three are the key ingredients; the rest are there for more depth in flavors and are not essential.
Bring the red wine to the boil and flambe it. Add all the other ingredients except strawberries to the wine and simmer. Cut strawberries into quarters and add them to the liquid and simmer for a further 2 - 3 min. Remove from heat and allow the flavors to blend.
To serve: Cut the bread into cubes. Spoon the strawberries with wine into a desert bowl and add the bread cubes.
Strawberries in Wine with Pink Caramelized Almond Bread (page 131 of Beyond Bread Basket)
This dessert is simply divine. My son loves the bread on its own too. For a slightly different texture in mouthfeel, lightly toast the pink bread before cutting it into cubes to go with the strawberries. The Strawberries in Wine would also be wonderful with a scoop of home-made vanilla ice cream:
300 g milk
300 g cream
1 vanilla pod, slit lengthways and scrape the seeds out
5 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
300 g mascapone
Heat up the milk, the cream and vanilla seeds to almost boiling. Whisk the egg yolk and sugar. Pour the hot milk/cream over egg yolk and sugar, whisking vigorously, so the lumps don't develop. Return to heat until a custard is formed. Remove from heat, stirring to let custard cool down then place in freezer for 30 min. Mix in mascapone, and freeze for 4 hours or overnight. (Note: Dip your scoop in hot water before using it to scoop the ice cream out; alternatively, let ice cream stand in room temp for 15 - 20 min.)
Pink almond candy
my trick to lure kids to drink tea
Enjoy!
Shiao-Ping
