Easter Crown

Brioche Crown filled with candy fruits, brush with chocolate
on top and dust with icing sugar.

Brioche Crown for the family, it looks good, tastes delicious, it is a perfect cake for Easter celebration.  The preparation can be done a few days earlier, which is suitable for all busy people.
The Crown is made out of a rich brioche dough:  plain flour, yeast, milk, a lot of butter and eggs, marmalade for extra flavour, and of course salt, sugar too.

I love brioches, once you are happy with the dough, you could make so many different traditional shapes,  from a loaf, brioche a tete to brioche crown.  You can have sweet and savoury brioche, and the dough freezes well, simply defrost it in the refrigerator overnight if you wish to bake it in the morning.

Now you can get ready, make your shopping list.  Get the dough organised by Thursday, and you will have the brioche by Saturday or Sunday for the Easter Celebration.

The Brioche Dough for Easter 2015

Ingredients for Easter Crown.  Easter 2015

Easter Crown to share.  The recipe worked well, it was based on my basic brioche dough, but a few adjustments were made.  I added extra eggs and butter for richness and added marmalade for sweetness with citrus flavour.

The dough.

The dough before first proofing

The dough is doubled after proofing
for one hour and a half

After mixing the dough well, I did it with an electric mixer, the dough will rise to double after one-hour proofing.

Punch the dough down, and refrigerate until you are ready for shaping.  The dough will rise again, and you have to knead lightly before shaping the brioche as you want it.

The look of the dough in the refrigerator, it has risen again. The dough is outside of the fridge and needs a light kneading and is now ready for shaping.

The dough is in the refrigerator.

The dough is outside of the refrigerator
It is ready for shaping

Shaping and Baking

Long and thin pieces of the brioche dough with sultana filling.
Turning over to enclose the filling, roll to make a sausage shape.
Twist off the two long rolls, and join the edges to make a circle
shape to look like a crown.

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The Brioche Crown before baking.
It has to be baked in a hot oven at 180 degrees C or 350 F

Freshly baked Brioche Crown

The temperature reading for the inside brioche is 88 C or 190 F

Let the brioche sit on tin for ten minutes, transfer to a cooling tray to cool.  Serve slightly warm or room temperature.  It keeps for a few days inside an airtight container.

Decorate as you please, you can drizzle the brioche with chocolate, dust with icing powder or dress with sweet butter and roasted nuts.

I prepared it as  Easter Crown; first I brushed the brioche with sweet butter, dusted with icing powder and garnished with Easter chocolate Eggs.  It looked good, and I am pleased to share it.

Brioche Crown for 2015 is Ready to Serve

 It's a crowd pleaser, people, friends enjoyed the brioche with coffee and tea.

What is sweet butter: it is my term for mixed icing sugar with melted unsalted butter to brush any top of cakes or bread.

For my family, the Easter Crown is decorated with boiled eggs instead of chocolate eggs.

Boiled Eggs - Easter 2011

Our Easter Crown - Easter 2011

Did you know that you could make savoury brioche crown with filling? Fill with egg, cheese and leek mixture, it is delicious.  This savoury brioche is excellent for Easter luncheon, serve the brioche warm with side salads.

Note for my brioche dough: Instead of using special pastry for a Russian pie-Kulebyaka use the basic brioche, it works well too.  I may have to show you how to do it, it is not difficult.

Recipe for basic brioche, look in an older post.


To Be Continued, Stay Tuned.
Susy

Gulai Kambing

Delicious curry, cooked from a leg of goat, a tasty dish, it is excellent for Sunday dinner, or family get together.  The recipe is based on Javanese cooking-gulai kambing.

In my kitchen, - the way I cook the gulai kambing.
I braised the whole goat leg with stock and spices over low heat for a few hours.  The juice makes a creamy sauce, especially after it is added with coconut milk.

The Preparation and the Cooking.

Clean and Trim the Leg of Goat

The Spices

The cooking of spices paste

 Cooking/braising the goat leg

Cooking the leg of goat in spices before adding the stock

The second braising: meat is tender, pulled off the bone, chopped into small pieces and added with coconut milk. ( I added tomato and red capsicum sauce for extra colour).

Beautiful looking curry, the sauce is so creamy, the vibrant colour 
of the spice paste mixed with the coconut milk comes out beautifully

THE SERVING

Transfer the gulai onto a large serving bowl or a tureen and place on the dinner table together with the garnishes-steamed white rice, shredded lettuce and prawn crackers, maybe fresh green chillies.

To Be Practical

Simply serve the dish from the kitchen and bring them to the dinner table, and everyone can enjoy.

The dish freezes well, so it does not matter to spend a lot of time to cook, but it is worth it.

The Recipe for Leg of Goat Curry or Gulai Kambing is here for you.

Gulai Kambing-Goat Leg Curry

Using a leg of goat meat.

The tradition Javanese gulai kambing uses mixed meat from the goat including the offal.

The Recipe-Susy’s recipe

Gulai Kambing

Ingredients:

A leg of goat (2.2-2.5 kg)

1 lime, 1teaspoon salt

400 ml coconut milk (a tin)

A ½ cup of vegetable oil

2 litres light stock or hot water

1tablespoon salt and 1 tablespoon brown sugar

Spices:

1 tablespoon turmeric powder + a small piece fresh turmeric

2 teaspoons ginger powder + a small piece fresh ginger

1 teaspoon galangal powder + a small piece fresh galangal

(a small piece = as big as your thumb)

2 teaspoons coriander powder

1teaspoon white pepper, ground

1teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon cumin seeds/ powder

½ teaspoon nutmeg powder

¼ cloves powder

7 candlenuts

3 red chillies

1 large brown onion. Chopped.

6 cloves garlic

2 fresh limes (the juice only)

Herbs and Citrus

1 lemongrass

1 piece of fresh galangal (small piece)

3 kaffir lime leaves

3 daun salam (salam leaves)

2 fresh limes

Method

1. Grind the spices ingredients in a food processor, or with mortar and pestle until smooth, add in the juice of limes and mix thoroughly.  (if you use a blender to make the spice paste, add in a cup of water to make the machine goes better). Now you have a smooth and slightly runny spice paste.
2. Rub the leg of goat with lime and salt, put it in a large hot pan, and seal the meat with the oil.  Take it out and keep aside.
3. Use the same pan, put the spice paste in and add 2 cups of water stir and cook, bring to simmer.  Keep cooking, add in the lemongrass, kaffir lime and salam leaves, the fresh galangal, salt and sugar.
4. Add the sealed leg of goat, put the lid on and cook for 10 minutes each side over low heat.
5. Add in the 2 litres light stock or hot water, to make sure the liquid is almost cover the meat.
6. Put the lid on and continue cooking, for 3 hours over lower heat, stir it from time to time and turn the meat over to cook evenly.
7. Check the seasoning, and after three hours braising, switch of the burner, keep the pan aside and leaf the meat to cool in the sauce.
8. Take the meat off the bone, cut in small pieces, put them back in the pan.
9. Reheat, the gulai/curry add in the coconut milk, and cook to a gentle simmer.  Now place the lid on, and braise over low heat for another 45 minutes.
10.  (optional: add some tomato and red capsicum sauce for extra colour)

To Serve:

Serve with steamed white rice and garnish with shredded lettuce and krupuk-prawn crackers.

Place some rice in a bowl, ladle the gulai over it (be generous with the broth/gulai sauce) and add the shredded lettuce.

Enjoy the recipe and happy cooking.

Susy

Repotting Orchids and Ferns.

Repotting  Orchids

It is a good idea to divide orchids after finished flowering, I got a few cymbidium which need to be split and also to be repotted.
The creamy cymbidium orchid needs repotting, the pot has cracked because of the overload roots. Everything that I may need to do is there, pine bark, garden lime, blood and bone and potash. Somewhere in the backyard, I did it, I don't have orchid's house, just as well the cymbidiums are very hardy and easy to care for.

Dividing and Reporting Orchids

It was a large orchid, now it becomes three pots, two large pots and one small 

The three new repotted orchids look so good, they have new barks, added with lime and blood and bone. After they watering the three pots, let them rest for a while under the sun. The last step is adding slag bite. Then the process of reporting has done.

The orchids are ready to transfer to their place, which is a more relaxed spot and protected by the wind. They are labelled and looking good.

Repotted 17-12-2014
Dark Red Cymbidium

Other orchids which are repotted are dark red and mini cymbidium orchids.

The mini cascading cymbidium gives us pretty flowers every year, but we will miss them this coming year, as it won't be flowering after dividing.



I am so pleased to see that the new orchid plants look so fresh and clean.

We both have been so busy in the garden.

Rayner was busy cutting the hedges - my green wall, but unfortunately, the saw was broken.  We need a new one, I hated it when it happened.

You do need decent tools to get a good job done.



More dividing and re potting work to do, the fishbone fern is overgrown, it is root bound.


The fern does not look good, and it has been in the pot for a few years. Three pots I need for the Fern are here

Repotting Fern

Dividing the Fish Bone Fern.

 Two new potted ferns have been done, one more to go, I am sure it will be done by next week.

They are watered well, and they need some trimming and clean.

 The last fern has to be done soon, in the meantime, it is soaked in water.

I am looking forward to finishing off this job.  Other potted ferns in the garden are growing very well, what they need only regular watering.


Enjoy Your Garden, and Happy Gardening!




Until Next Post
Susy

Susan sponge cake is gluten free cake.  The cake is deliciously coated with sugar and desiccated coconuts, dressed with honey and mixed roasted nuts and filled coconut custard cream.

It is for you Sue, I hope you will like it.  xx


Recipe (adjustments from other methods)

Susan Sponge Cake

¾ cup caster sugar

4 eggs

¾ potato flour

¼ cup tapioca

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Method

Butter and line two round baking tin (20 cm)

Preheat oven to 160 degrees C (fan forced)

Sift together the flours. bicarbonate of soda, and cream of tartar a few times.

Beat the eggs and sugar until thick, light and fluffy about 11 minutes.

Fold and stir in the flour mix, do it gently

Pour on to the prepared baking tins

Bake the sponge for 11-13 minutes

Take them out from the oven, and let them stay in the tin for five minutes

Transfer to a cooling tray and keep them away from the draft.

To serve

Fill the sponge with sweet custard coconut cream, and dust the top with icing sugar.

It is delicious to serve with fresh fruits, strawberries, raspberries and passion fruits. 

The Preparation and The Baking

Two tins are lined and buttered, the flour and raising agent is sifted 

Sugar and eggs are beaten together for 13 minutes until thick and fluffy.

Divide the mixture into two, and pour into the two prepared tins

Freshly baked the two sponge cake for 13 minutes.

The cake is cooling on a try.

I think next time I may have to bake for 11 minutes only in my

oven, 13 minutes is too long.

NOTE:

From this batter, you could add some melted butter to make small cakes, serve as you like.

Add in about two tablespoons melted butter at the end, mix and fold gently.  Spoon onto a baking cup tin, and bake in medium heat 165 degrees C for 11 minutes.

Keep in the freezer for better freshness, and thaw to dress.

I am sure it is going to be more posting regarding gluten-free baking and cooking.

Until Next Post

Susy

In My Kitchen.

Different Dishes and Delicious Food.

It is good to prepare food from the childhood 's favourites, 'Gado Gado -salad with peanut dressing is one of them (the last group of the pictures).
Cooking pleases me, especially it is good to be doing it with my grandchildren and family.
COOKING IS FUN!!!.
Susy