Saturday, March 12, 2011

Mint Lemon Knots

The first time I used the original recipe my bread looked a little bit like the snowflakes Susan made; Lemon Anise Snowflakes. I had enough candied lemon peels. Last week I bought lemons and after a few hours I had my own candied lemon peels. I have to hide them for Peter, because he eats them like candy, and he really doesn't like lemon.Tomorrow we are going to Chiang Mai and like something to eat during the 4 hour drive. I decided to use this recipe, but with a few changes. The first time I baked them I had a hard time grinding the anise seeds, probably not the same Susan used. Peter, my husband, suggested using Thai mint. This herb is something we always have in our kitchen. We buy fresh Thai mint, which tastes milder than the European mint. We dry it in the suns and drink it as a tea. It tastes delicious and it calms the tummy. Peter offered to chop the herbs.

The other change was the shape. I’m not ready yet to make the beautiful snowflakes and decided to make a knot. But, do have a look at the WildYeast original snowflakes .
The last change was that I didn’t have any osmotolerant yeast and replaced it with dry instant yeast.

This is what I used for 6 knots:Sponge Ingredients:
71 g flour
32 g milk
9 g egg
0.1 g (a small pinch) instant yeast

Final Dough Ingredients:
all of the sponge
270 g flour
22 g cold water
7.6 g dry instant yeast
5 g salt
76 g cold egg
51 g olive oil
84 g lemon syrup from candied lemon peel
51 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
46 g candied lemon peel, diced
27 g candied ginger, finely diced
6 g grinded dry Thai mint

Topping Ingredients:melted butter
icing sugar

This is what I did:
In a bowl, combine the sponge ingredients. Cover and ferment at cool room temperature for 12 – 16 hours, or until approximately doubled in volume. Summer has arrived in the north of Thailand and there is no cool place to be found in our house. I made the sponge in the evening and it fermented during the night.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook, combine the sponge, final dough flour, water, yeast, salt, egg, olive oil, and about one third of the lemon syrup. Mix on low speed until the ingredients are incorporated, adding a little more syrup if necessary. The dough will be very stiff and dry at this point.

Increase the mixer to medium speed and continue adding the syrup little by little, mixing for a minute or two after each addition, until all of it has been incorporated into the dough. Continue mixing in medium speed until the dough is soft and smooth. Add the butter all at once and continue mixing until it s evenly incorporated into the dough.

Add the lemon peel, ginger, and mint and mix in low speed until they are evenly distributed. Transfer the dough to a lightly-olive-oiled container. Cover and ferment for about an hour at room temperature.

Divide the dough into 6 pieces, shape each piece into a ball and let rest, covered, for about 20 minutes.

Shape the knots on a parchment sheet. Slip the sheet into a large plastic bag and refrigerate overnight. I proofed the knots for 2 hours and baked them the same day.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 175 C.

Bake for about 25 – 30 minutes, until the crust is evenly brown.
Brush with melted butter and dust with icing sugar while they are still warm. Cool on the wire rack.
I found this recipe and used Susans text of the recipe of WildYeast
I will send these knots to Yeastspotting


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