Carrying my mum with me
Ela
My mum’s cake
It is called 'ciasto drozdzowe' ( yeasted cake) but 'baba' or 'babka' is also good. It is a form of panettone - the Eastern European version which is Baba or Babka.)
Recipe
Crumble 15 dkg of fresh yeast with a pinch of sugar into one glass on warm milk, cover with some flour on top and leave it to rise in a warm place.
Sieve 1 kg of flour into a large mixing bowl (the flour must not be cold) onto sides of the bowl, making a groove in the middle. Pour the yeast with milk into this groove and cover with flour from both sides of the bowl. Cover with a linen cloth.
Now mix 10 eggs (3 whole eggs and 7 yolks) with two glasses of sugar (30 dkg). Mix well, heating very slowly on a hot metal plate with the wooden spoon until well blended. When smooth and ready pour it into the flour and yeast in the mixing bowl.
Start working the dough, kneading it with your hands. This is quite hard work and will take some time. Do not give up; carry on until the dough gets smooth. It will come “unstuck” from your hands and will become a kind of independent and firm entity.
Add one spoon of oil and melted butter (30-40 dkg, mented but not too hot) and carry on kneading. Add vanilla, orange peel (or grate the zest of an organic orange) and raisins (if you like). Mix again. Cover with linen cloth and leave it in a warm place until it raises - doubling its mass ( about 2 hours).
Prepare the baking trays, greasing them lightly with a bit of butter and fill them with dough ⅓ of their capacity. Leave again to grow for some time.
In the meantime make crumble: Mix and crumble together 10 dkg of flour, 8 dkg of butter and 8 dkg of icing sugar.
When the pastry is fully raised, gently brush its top with egg white and sprinkle generously. Put it into the a warm over and bake for 50 minutes or so.
