Hi, my name is Maggan. Welcome to Maggan’s kitchen!
2007 was a good year and fate provided me a good closure for it. Yesterday I went to the city to take advantage of the after-Christmas sale. I only had 2 items on my list and I found them in less than 4 hours. H was so surprised when I beat my shopping time record (coming home before the end of the day), and that I had actually bought something.
That shopping success inspired me to flutter into the kitchen and bake saffron rolls. It had been in the line-up of holiday goodies and there was no better day than yesterday to make them. Oh no! Oh well, nothing was going to dismay me. Not even the fact that I didn’t have enough saffron. I was willing to forego the recipe and was seriously considering plain cinnamon rolls instead when H readily volunteered to run to the nearest grocery and buy saffron. Well, ain’t that the nicest and the sweetest?
This saffron bread recipe, which was published in the magazine Food and Wine, is by Lotta Voltaire who writes cookbooks, owns a bakery, and runs a restaurant/pub. I wonder if there is something this girl doesn’t do. Like deliver mail?
Dough for the saffron bread
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50 grams yeast
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100 grams butter
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5 decilitres milk
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250 grams Arla kesella (cream cheese made of sour milk)
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1 gram saffron
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1.5 decilitres sugar
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.5 teaspoon salt
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17 decilitres flour
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In a bowl, break the yeast into crumbs.
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Melt the butter in a small casserole in very low heat.
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Add the milk to the melted butter.
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Heat the milk until it becomes warm to the touch.
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Pour the butter and milk mixture into the yeast.
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Mix with a spoon to dissolve the yeast.
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Add in the kesella, sugar, salt, and flour.
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Work on the dough until it is supple.
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With a tea-towel, cover the bowl with the supple dough in it and leave for 40 minutes.
Saffron bread filling
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200 grams raisins, light or dark
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200 grams almond flakes
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.5 decilitre brown raw sugar
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2 tablespoons cardamom
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50 grams butter
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1 whipped egg
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pearl sugar
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Set the oven at 225 degrees Celsius.
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Sprinkle some flour on the surface where the dough will be rolled.
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Take the risen dough from the bowl and lay it on the floured surface.
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With a rolling pin, roll the dough. This process will flatten and stretch it. Don’t roll it too thinly. Otherwise, it may be difficult to roll it. Also, ensure that the dough is rolled flat to the size that will allow you to roll it at least twice.
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Spread the butter over the whole dough.
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Sprinkle the raisins, almond flakes, raw sugar, and the cardamom.
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Roll the dough, as if rolling a yoga mat.
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With a pair of kitchen scissors, cut 20-30 pieces.
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Whip the egg and brush it over on each piece of saffron bread.
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Sprinkle pearl sugars on top.
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Bake in the oven at 225 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes.
Long recipe, huh? Seems complicated, huh? If you’re not ready to make bread, then you’re just not ready for it. A recipe that requires yeast and rolling can be overwhelming for a baker without professional training. Well, I was ready for bread, yeast, and some good rolling yesterday. Spirit and flesh were both willing.
I pulled a chair and sat before the oven to watch an event unfold. I was like a scientiest watching cell mutation or an obstetrician very closely monitoring a delicate pregnancy. H, who was prancing in and out of the kitchen, was obviously equally excited. Hmm, the kitchen smelled good.
The saffron rolls tasted as good as they looked. When I began with the saffron bread recipe, the yeast, which is a very sensitive agent, had me worried. But everything turned out fine in the end. Either the stars yesterday were in a position that was most auspicious to me or I didn’t miss a word in the recipe instruction. Credit goes to H too for the saffron.
To family and friends who read this blog, many thanks. To those who were led by tags to this blog, I’m grateful to you as well. Happy new year y’all!
Maggan's Kitchen Adventures 
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