I am half German and half Polish and this yeast cake is in both countrys a big tradition but I can tell you - this book has made it so so complicated that I tried to write down the recipe of the yeast cake from my grandmother in English down for everyone who wants to try this cake. She flew 1945 from what is today Southpoland to Germany. 400 g flour 42 g/ 1 fresh cake yeast 200 ml milk 180 g butter 180 g sugar 1 tsp salt 8 gramm vanilla sugar 1 egg 3 tbsp oil 2 tbsp Cream 1 egg yolk Dissolve the fresh yeast, 30 g butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar in half of the lukewarm milk. Pour the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Carefully pour the oil and yeast mixture into the well. Stir just carefully . Cover with a little flour, salt and 1 tbsp sugar,. leave to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes. Mix the pre-dough with the remaining milk and the egg and knead well until the dough bubbles and comes away from the bowl easily. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for another 15-20 minutes until it has doubled in size. Then place the dough on a floured board, knead briefly and lift onto the greased baking tray. Roll out with a floured cake roller, press firmly around the edges and prick the entire dough with a fork. Leave to rise for another 15 minutes. Now spread the softened butter in small pieces evenly over the dough and press down a little. Mix the sugar with the vanilla sugar and spread evenly over the dough. Preheat the oven to 200°C top and bottom heat. Bake the cake on the middle shelf for approx. 20-25 minutes until it has taken on a nice colour. After baking, mix the egg yolk and cream, brush the finished cake with it and make it shiny.
Rebecca, you are too hard on yourself! 😊Trying new recipes for the first time is always a learning curve. You are a creative and good cook. We enjoy your videos, it's fun when you show us new things! ❤❤❤❤❤
you are not the only one who throws the box in the trash and goes back to look at the directions, I do that ALOT lol... sometimes I even go back more than once !! cannot wait to see what you make next ! I am anxious to see what recipes are in that cookbook using cabbage !
This is awesome I like that you're exploring new things Don't feel like you're changed to your name of the channel feel free to express new cooking ideas we will embrace you
The float test for a yeast dough is to lighten its consistency. You are giving time to let the yeast work. The more the carbon dioxide is trapped the lighter the dough will become. Trying to achieve bubbly and doubling in size. You are looking for the "rise" to make it puffy. The float test tells you how well the dough is rising. Also your fruit assortment could be easier possibly by purchasing a nut and fruit trail mix, and add to it, or get 2 two different ones. Might cost less too
thank you so much! I thought about using fruit and nut trail mix, and if I make it again that's definitely what i would do, I just wanted to make sure at least for the first attempt that I used the dried fruits it mentioned specifically and without purchasing a bakalie mix online I didn't see any trail mixes at the store that were nearly identical.
@@DollarTreeDinners Trail mixes can be a good sub, but keep in mind that there's a stronger likelihood that they'll contain extra oils--some dried fruit and nuts do, too--and that oil can give them a rancid odor and taste. Because of the oil, such products will actually have a shorter shelf-life than a dried fruit or nut that doesn't contain added oil.
@@DollarTreeDinnersI recently started eating Dates differently than I used to. I used to just eat them by themselves - we always bought them whole, the seed or pit removed. But now I eat them with peanut butter and sometimes with chocolate, and with p.b. and chocolate they almost taste like peanut butter cups. With those and a peanut, they almost taste like snickers. Try them. They're so good and they're healthier than the candy bars. I definitely recommend them. You should make them in your next video. I would love to see how you like them.
I am SO PROUD of you!! This is how I learned to make new recipes before the internet existed. I would always read the recipes through at least twice before attempting and would STILL get something wrong. I LOVE IT! I hope you inspire many younger cooks to be brave and try new things because while it may be frustrating at times you learn so many new things!
SAME! I made sooooo many mistakes cooking as a young kid. 1995 to 1999, I made more mistakes than not but man I’m a fabulous cook today! We never know till we try!
I’m of Polish heritage and have done a bit of baking and cooking of traditional recipes. The floating of the dough is to allow the flour to absorb some moisture as the yeast does its job. The extra yeast needs a bit of extra moisture to produce a lighter finished product. When you bake in a glass pan you need to lower the temperature by 25*F. It will give you a less dark color by baking at a lower temperature. When a recipe calls for margarine it’s best to follow the recipe as called for because of the way butter and margarine bake differently.
i love the idea of randomly picking recipes from our books rather than going to what we’re comfortable with. i’m adopting this trick. also, my husband is polish and i can say for a fact, you will enjoy incorporating these dishes. polish food is amazing
I've always done that. I'd see a recipe and give it a shot. It's gone well with the exception of some Rachael Ray bs that I made. It was awful. I'll never trust her again!😂
I don't know if anyone else told you this but you have the most relaxing voice I've ever heard and a very chill attitude ❤ Keep it up and best wishes to you and your family 👍
A tip concerning the pith: After peeling strips of any citrus peel with a vegetable peeler or knife, you can use a little spoon or knife (a grapefruit spoon can be handy if you have one) to scrape off any pith that's on the peel.
The candied citrus peel is usually only available in stores around Christmas. I am of Eastern European heritage and we have several seasonal specialty bakery items for holidays. You find the small bottles either in the bakery or the baking areas.
You are quite correct with one little caveat you can buy orange peel all the time in Poland/Europe in general. Not only during Holidays. The rest is spot on i.e. search the baking area of the store.
Born & grew up in Poland, but living in The States since 1999: you did great with your first meal! I've been cooking polish for 25 years. It's hard to find some of the ingredients, specifically for baking. I've only ever seen vanilla sugar in European stores. It's different from vanilla extract for sure. Twaróg (farmers cheese) is a must for polish cheesecake. Can't substitute that with the american equivalent. It just won't taste the same. The towel thing for dough rising? Never heard of it. I'm sure that cake would have been ok without that step. Poland has a lot of budget friendly recipes, soups especially. Pickle soup fermented in brine (ogórkowa), garlic dill soup (zalewajka), sourdough soup(żurek), cabbage soup (kapuśniak). Żurek you have to start on your own unless you have a polish store where you can get the sour base for this soup. But it's super easy to make at home. You just need patience (at least 10 days of fermenting). Can't wait for you to try some of these!
Did you have any problems with your traditional recipes not turning out correctly? I have a friend from Poland, and she has been having lots of issues with her recipes. It has made her very sad and I was wondering how to fix it or if it was even possible. She has been living in the U.S. for a little over three years now.
When I've made candied peel, ive always followed recipes where you boil it several times with water changes in between and it comes out very sweet without the bitterness.
Putting the dough in a water bath is a pre-fermentation process that determines if the dough is ready to move on to baking. When it floats the gases have formed to make it float to the top. It’s like hydroproofing for lack of a better term.
It’s like a version of Christmas cake my German grandmother would make with dried fruits baked in. I can’t wait to see the cheese making in the next video
Bakalie doesn't have to have every single one of the ingredients listed in it. It is just a term used in baking for a mix of dried fruits and nuts. It's all about just using up what is in your pantry.
According to Elizabeth David, in her book “English Bread and Yeast Cookery“, Beard’s water proofing method (he is mentioned by name in her book, and the method really wasn’t his invention) was known in Victorian times. Later on, in the 1930s or so, it came to be known as the “Peggy Tub Bread” method. Apparently, on really hot days, this method was used to control the rise of dough and this method is better than using a refrigerator due to less extreme cold and higher humidity (not that everyone had refrigerators)
Vanilla sugar is hard to find in the US, you can take a vanilla bean pod and put in a qt jar, shake it every day for a momth and you have vanilla sugar. Keep stored in a cool dry place. I use super fine sugar instead of regular granulated. Yes you left to much pith on the orange peel. Use a sharp paring knife and scrape the excess off then boil in sugar/water. The type of orange also makes a difference, navel orange peel is more bitter than other ones.
I think the step of waiting for the dough to float in water is for the purpose of knowing if there has been enough yeast fermentation to produce enough gas to leaven the dough. If enough gas is produced by the yeast the dough will float. This is an interesting method. For yeast bread the instructions often say let rise until doubled or something like that.
I probably would have just closed it with a rubber band at the top. I would have never been able to figure out a way to tie it. (This is why I don't wear scarves, either. 😂)
I think the yeast now days is pretty accurate and will rise, back then in the old country you probably kept yeast starter in a jar and would use it for bread and desserts .That is probably why they did the step of putting the dough in a towel in cold water to see if their yeast was still fresh.I would skip that step now days.
I am polish and grew up eating and learning how to make babka, pierogi, glombki, and other polish influenced dishes. Making "farmers cheese" is super simple - I do it twice a year when I make pierogies because I can't find it in stores where I live. My kids help me make, assemble, and cook them because it's pretty time and labor intensive. Looking forward to seeing what else you try!!
I was very interested when you said the candied orange peels taking only an hour when I have made them before you add sugar you boil the 3-4- or 5 times. and drain between each boil. That gets rid of the bitterness. Try them again they are really good. a little bitter but not so much when boiled several times.
You ain’t really eaten till you’ve tried ‘duck’s blood soup’ - I grew up with a girlfriend who was first generation american of Polish descent, her mother made incredibly delicious authentic polish food, among which was the aforementioned soup, and most memorably the best potato pancakes EVER.
I have a set of cousins who are part Polish, and a set who are part Armenian. Lots of great food from that side of the family! But they didn't start out on yeast cakes.
it's actually fine to leave the orange pith when making candied orange peels! as long as you cook the candied peels until the pith is translucent they won't be bitter 😃 it also makes them gel better since the pectin is inside the white pith
That's really cool that you learning new recipes. It seems like there is a lot of different steps that we normally don't do with American cooking. It's interesting to see how different countries use different techniques. ❤
Ok so I'm Polish, born, raised, lived in Poland all my life, never left. And this is the STRANGEST ciasto drożdżowe recipe that I have ever seen. I think you did the best possible job you could with this recipe though!!
Same here and I completely agree! The tea towel and water step was completely new to me and I've seen A LOT of ciasto drożdżowe being made since I was a kid! 😂
Rebecca, you are my favorite cook on UA-cam and ALWAYS a complete JOY to watch! I love how you are honest…. And about losing your vanilla, I’ve lost many items countless times. And you’re right about dried fruit being more expensive, BUT it is sooooo delicious and can be GREAT for snacks and to add to cooked oatmeal, cooked rice (like rice pilaf), cookies, and even plain yogurt. They’re definitely worth keeping on hand if one can afford them, especially in the colder months when fresh fruit isn’t as readily available. Your pronunciations are wonderful, too, but I’m not Polish 😂. You’re trying and doing fantastic and that’s what matters most! Thank you for being you, being real and inspiring us all! Have a blessed day! And keep on cooking!!!
You could put the dinner page numbers in your random number picker that way you know your going to get a dinner recipe. I don’t think that would be cheating in anyway.
I think you need a different candied peel recipe and non-navel oranges. I make candied peel often and don't think the recipe you used had the right proportion of sugar/water based on the thinness of the 'syrup' that remained as well as what appeared to be a lack of saturation. Navel oranges are grown for looks more than flavor [story of commercial agriculture!] but the peels never taste good! also, your dried fruit/nut mix would be great on plain yogurt or plain oatmeal as well as quick breads and other baked goods. the floating bit is just a way to tell if the yeast has been effective at leavening the dough without drying it out. I think there are better ways of doing this especially given the reliability of modern day yeasts. Excited to see more of your explorations!
Candied orange peel is usually by the spices. Same kind of bottle you would get your nutmeg, cinnamon, etc in. It’s not usually by the other bagged dry fruit. Hope this helps 😊 It will be way cheaper to make your own though. During the holidays you can find bigger bags of candy orange peel.
I actually paused the video to search the comments regarding the dough being immersed into cold water. I have never heard of that either. This was very interesting. You did a great job on this! It's fun to see different dishes like this. Looking forward to the next one!
Every so often when I was growing up my mom would attempt a recipe from a different culture or region. She’d call it “multicultural night” and it was like a whole party atmosphere. Sometimes the recipes worked out, sometimes they didn’t but she always made it feel like a fun learning experience.
I love your curiosity! I am not sure but I have a feeling the dough in the bag method is a timer to let you know when it's proofed enough to add the sugar.
Aleksandra August is a Polish person/actress born in Chicago. I watched 4 or 5 episodes where she featured areas (brief tours) in Poland & their local cuisine & then went home to make these foods. It was a fun program to watch & you may enjoy it also.
Thank you Rebecca for all of your recipes I started watching your content earlier last year. I appreciate how creative you are with the ingredients you choose. You are wonderful at learning and teaching how to stretch a buck. Thank you for taking time to make good quality content. Looking forward to amazing new recipes.
I can't tell you how many times I have missed a step or two in a recipe. Then had to redo it. I am enjoying this series and hope that you will incorporate other cultures into your channel. I always learn new things from you.
I'm also Polish, born and raised! I can echo the voices here that: 1. This was a truly bizarre recipe for ciasto drożdżowe, it's like one of the easiest cakes and the tea towel and water situation is NOT common at all. 😂😂 2. I am in awe of your work because I think in the end (despite questionable instructions) the cake turned out well. Very similar looking to what I would expect from my grandma or aunt who are both absolute masters of this type of cake. Also AMAZING JOB on pronunciation. Polish is one of the hardest languages especially when it comes to pronunciation so wow! 🎉 3. Yes, candied lemon peel and orange peel are widely available and easy to find in Poland. I don't think many people would choose to make it from scratch.😅 4. Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but ciasto drożdżowe is definitely better with fresh fruit because on it's own it tends to lean very dry and only mildly sweet. The fruit give it an interest and much needed moisture. Also, even with the sweet crumb coating on top I've seen icing (powdered sugar plus lemon juice or water) drizzled on top. And lastly, this cake is definitely the best soon after baking. Like I mentioned, it goes dry after. And lastly as a personal note: it's also never been my favorite. I think Poland excels in so many domains when it comes to food and ciasto drożdżowe, while very popular, is not the best showing imo. PS. If you'd like any help in finding/translating/assisting with Polish recipes, I'd love to offer my help. ❤
I'm not Polish per se but I'm Ashkenazi (European, in my case eastern European) Jewish and we use candied orange peels for a number of dishes. Try looking in the ethnic section of a grocery store in a heavily Jewish neighborhood. Or a Trader Joes.
I think it would be OK once you randomly pick a recipe to look up the same recipe online to see if any of them have more information to help. I'm pretty sure the dried fruit was supposed to be mixed into the batter and that the cooking temperature would be lower for a glass dish. Little tid bits of information like that from different recipes would help with the final results. Great job experimenting!
Next time just get some yarn, twine, something, and twist the towel closed and the lowest edge, then tie it off. That's what I do when I'm trying to get whey out of my homemade cheese and yogurt lol. (Reference to 15:20-16:15)
Love this , my husband's Grandad was born and raised in Poland. Before Christmas my husband took his Dad to Poland to visit Wroclaw. Special memories for them both . You did great job
U r doing great as success is in the doing! Learning as we go~ maybe those beautiful oranges would be better cut into supremes as some navel oranges are not as good for juicing. Looking forward to your next cooking adventure ❤❤
Jacques Pepin has a show where he makes the candied orange strips. They are supposed to be bitter. They are much cheaper to make than purchase. PBS has a Polish cooking / travel program hosted by a Polish American actress. I watch it on the PBS Create channel. I am 25 percent Polish. Unfortunately, I know very little about my Polish heritage.
We drove to Poland one Easter with friends. Took forever to cross the border. Every Polish person in Germany must have been going home for Easter. We went to a Communion and the meal was held at an Asian buffet (Vietnamese) and the food was really different. The church we went to was very old. There were no pews just folding chairs for the elderly. Everybody had to stand and the men sat outside on bleachers. There were speakers outside. The kids had to bring their Easter baskets to be blessed before they could eat from them. Might go back. My girlfriend retired there.
When you make candied peel its best if you boil the peels and simmer for 20 mins. It helps with the bitterness. Rinse and then candy them. I simmer mine in the sugar water until there is very little water left. Toss in sugar then dry on a rack overnight (my home is not humid, especially in winter).
This is one of my favorite videos that you've done! My hobby is trying my hand at cooking different culture's cuisines. I've messed up recipes plenty of times, but I learned something with each mistake! I love that you let us see the mistakes. It helps take the fear out of cooking for a lot of people!
Love Polish food! Hubby and I went to Old Montreal for our 20th anniversary, and went to dinner at the most incredible, elegant Polish restaurant. SO delicious!
The floating lets you know if your starter/ dough is producing enough gas to rise properly. I think it also makes the cake lighter and fluffier. It's so cool that you are trying new things like this. I like your idea of a random number generator! I am going to have to try that with some of my cookbooks. This was a fun watch! I definitely would like to see more videos like this.
I'm also Polish on my dad's side. His dad passed when he was 15 so he missed out on learning lots of things about that side of the family unfortunately.
It certainly can be both intimidating and fun to try new recipes. Waterproofing, I remember reading about it in a bread baking cookbook (Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley). He refers to a Russian cookbook from the 1800s in which it states "you may put the loaves in a bucket of water (the temperature of a river in summer), where they will lie on the bottom until fully proofed." I have the bread cookbook, but not the Russian one. I remember thinking that was interesting, but never tried it myself. There was no mention of putting it into a towel. I think that may have been to make it easier to pick it up out of the water.
I think the purpose of putting the dough in the towel and cold water is to stop the dough from rising too fast, because there is yeast in it. Then while in the water, it solidified into a dough
I have ordered dried fruit mix after Christmas when they discount it from King Arthur on line and froze it until the next year. I bet your leftover fruit will be great in cookies or some vegetable dishes. You've probably already googled.😅
If you ever visit Massachusetts, grab a bag of Wachusett potato chips. A polish family started them and you can find them at most pizza shops around here. They do my favorite sour cream and onion chip 🤓
The best time to buy your candied fruit is at Christmas time. They have all types of candied and/or dried fruit for fruit cake. My mom would get dried fig mix for her cakes.
Fun video…love it that you are trying things from your heritage! I have made candied citrus peel in the past and I had to cook it three times with a change of water each time before finally finishing in the sugar water, apparently that takes out the bitterness. I then rolled it in sugar when they dried and as I recall they were very good. I did both orange and grapefruit.
Very fun video! Trying new things good or bad is a cool experience!!! I'm actually REALLY excited for the farmers cheese video. This is something I have been looking into myself the last couple months BUT I have yet to try. I think watching you try it out will finally push me too also so thanks ahead of time!!!
If you are interested in Polish recipes, "Rose Petal Jam: Recipes & Stories from a Summer in Poland" by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target, is an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully made cookbook with stunning photographs. The stories and photos just transport you to Poland.
This is meant to be like the Italian fruit bread Pannetone , the dry fruit is essential , candied fruit can be purchased at b7lk food stores , big ingredient at Christmas , definitely European .. You did amazing , the crumb topping also popular in European baking like coffee cake .
I also am part Polish. While I have not made this. I lived in St Joseph Mo. There was a Polish grocery store and bakery. I remember trying something with similar ingredients 😊😊
I love Polish food. I have only made the golumpki (stuffed cabbage). I am very fortunate our local Polish church has a good sale once a month. Next month I will have to look if they have this cake.
Excellent job on acknowledging and nixing the bias with random selection. Bad luck it seemed to have chosen the worst for you given lack of experience and where the (vanilla) chips fell that day, but sometimes that’s where adventure takes us. I love Polish food, myself. Feels very familiar having grown up half German Midwestern. Talking about Polish products on the shelf, I most prize them for their jams/jellies. 🤔and mushrooms, including pickled.
I've come to realize over the years. That healthy foods cost more. Aldi has alot of dried fruits much cheaper than most places. I especially like the dates and pineapple, both make delightful treats, when craving something sweet.
I am half German and half Polish and this yeast cake is in both countrys a big tradition but I can tell you - this book has made it so so complicated that I tried to write down the recipe of the yeast cake from my grandmother in English down for everyone who wants to try this cake. She flew 1945 from what is today Southpoland to Germany.
400 g flour
42 g/ 1 fresh cake yeast
200 ml milk
180 g butter
180 g sugar
1 tsp salt
8 gramm vanilla sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp Cream
1 egg yolk
Dissolve the fresh yeast, 30 g butter and 1 teaspoon of sugar in half of the lukewarm milk. Pour the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Carefully pour the oil and yeast mixture into the well. Stir just carefully . Cover with a little flour, salt and 1 tbsp sugar,. leave to rise in a warm place for 15 minutes.
Mix the pre-dough with the remaining milk and the egg and knead well until the dough bubbles and comes away from the bowl easily. Leave the dough to rise in a warm place for another 15-20 minutes until it has doubled in size. Then place the dough on a floured board, knead briefly and lift onto the greased baking tray. Roll out with a floured cake roller, press firmly around the edges and prick the entire dough with a fork. Leave to rise for another 15 minutes.
Now spread the softened butter in small pieces evenly over the dough and press down a little. Mix the sugar with the vanilla sugar and spread evenly over the dough.
Preheat the oven to 200°C top and bottom heat. Bake the cake on the middle shelf for approx. 20-25 minutes until it has taken on a nice colour.
After baking, mix the egg yolk and cream, brush the finished cake with it and make it shiny.
How much comes in one sachet of vanilla sugar?
Sachet means packet
@@sharimeline3077Google says between 1-1/2 to 2 teaspoons sugar. Probably the equivalent of a little drop of vanilla extract
When I lived in Germany, my landlady/nanny taught me this and we loved it. Your right the recipe book is making it difficult.
Do you know what the equivalent of 1 cube of yeast would be? And the type of yeast
Rebecca, you are too hard on yourself! 😊Trying new recipes for the first time is always a learning curve. You are a creative and good cook. We enjoy your videos, it's fun when you show us new things! ❤❤❤❤❤
Agree! 😃
you are not the only one who throws the box in the trash and goes back to look at the directions, I do that ALOT lol... sometimes I even go back more than once !! cannot wait to see what you make next ! I am anxious to see what recipes are in that cookbook using cabbage !
:), me too. Did it just today :)
This is awesome I like that you're exploring new things Don't feel like you're changed to your name of the channel feel free to express new cooking ideas we will embrace you
That's the plan! Thank you so much!
The float test for a yeast dough is to lighten its consistency. You are giving time to let the yeast work. The more the carbon dioxide is trapped the lighter the dough will become. Trying to achieve bubbly and doubling in size. You are looking for the "rise" to make it puffy. The float test tells you how well the dough is rising. Also your fruit assortment could be easier possibly by purchasing a nut and fruit trail mix, and add to it, or get 2 two different ones. Might cost less too
thank you so much! I thought about using fruit and nut trail mix, and if I make it again that's definitely what i would do, I just wanted to make sure at least for the first attempt that I used the dried fruits it mentioned specifically and without purchasing a bakalie mix online I didn't see any trail mixes at the store that were nearly identical.
You're welcome and I loved the cabbage casserole recipe. I added a bit more than 1/2 can water tho@@DollarTreeDinners
@@DollarTreeDinners Trail mixes can be a good sub, but keep in mind that there's a stronger likelihood that they'll contain extra oils--some dried fruit and nuts do, too--and that oil can give them a rancid odor and taste. Because of the oil, such products will actually have a shorter shelf-life than a dried fruit or nut that doesn't contain added oil.
@@DollarTreeDinnersI recently started eating Dates differently than I used to. I used to just eat them by themselves - we always bought them whole, the seed or pit removed. But now I eat them with peanut butter and sometimes with chocolate, and with p.b. and chocolate they almost taste like peanut butter cups. With those and a peanut, they almost taste like snickers. Try them. They're so good and they're healthier than the candy bars. I definitely recommend them. You should make them in your next video. I would love to see how you like them.
@@cziegle3794I have recently discovered dates stuffed with bleu cheese. A friend recommended them - not for everyone, but I really like them!
I am SO PROUD of you!!
This is how I learned to make new recipes before the internet existed. I would always read the recipes through at least twice before attempting and would STILL get something wrong. I LOVE IT! I hope you inspire many younger cooks to be brave and try new things because while it may be frustrating at times you learn so many new things!
SAME! I made sooooo many mistakes cooking as a young kid. 1995 to 1999, I made more mistakes than not but man I’m a fabulous cook today! We never know till we try!
I’m of Polish heritage and have done a bit of baking and cooking of traditional recipes.
The floating of the dough is to allow the flour to absorb some moisture as the yeast does its job. The extra yeast needs a bit of extra moisture to produce a lighter finished product.
When you bake in a glass pan you need to lower the temperature by 25*F. It will give you a less dark color by baking at a lower temperature.
When a recipe calls for margarine it’s best to follow the recipe as called for because of the way butter and margarine bake differently.
The recipe does have a larger portion of yeast than most recipes, so this does make sense. Thank you.
I am going to try that floating tip for when I'm baking my breads in the winter when our home is dryer. Thanks for your comment giving me the idea!
i love the idea of randomly picking recipes from our books rather than going to what we’re comfortable with. i’m adopting this trick. also, my husband is polish and i can say for a fact, you will enjoy incorporating these dishes. polish food is amazing
I've always done that. I'd see a recipe and give it a shot. It's gone well with the exception of some Rachael Ray bs that I made. It was awful. I'll never trust her again!😂
@@naelyneurkopfen9741same experience with mrs. fields cookie recipes😅
Yup, mom was Polish and I got all my best recipes from her mom :)
Possibly, metal pan vs glass may produce a difference in color of cake.
I don't know if anyone else told you this but you have the most relaxing voice I've ever heard and a very chill attitude ❤ Keep it up and best wishes to you and your family 👍
Yes her voice, is money!
A tip concerning the pith: After peeling strips of any citrus peel with a vegetable peeler or knife, you can use a little spoon or knife (a grapefruit spoon can be handy if you have one) to scrape off any pith that's on the peel.
You could divide the rest of the fruit into snack size portions, for healthy snacks, or to add to granola.
Agreed. It would also be nice on yogurt or oatmeal.
Yes 🙌 or add to cooked rice or cooked oatmeal or over yogurt or add to chicken salad, too!!!
The candied citrus peel is usually only available in stores around Christmas. I am of Eastern European heritage and we have several seasonal specialty bakery items for holidays. You find the small bottles either in the bakery or the baking areas.
You are quite correct with one little caveat you can buy orange peel all the time in Poland/Europe in general. Not only during Holidays. The rest is spot on i.e. search the baking area of the store.
@sznurowadlo thank you! 😊 I wish that was true near me!
Born & grew up in Poland, but living in The States since 1999: you did great with your first meal! I've been cooking polish for 25 years. It's hard to find some of the ingredients, specifically for baking. I've only ever seen vanilla sugar in European stores. It's different from vanilla extract for sure. Twaróg (farmers cheese) is a must for polish cheesecake. Can't substitute that with the american equivalent. It just won't taste the same. The towel thing for dough rising? Never heard of it. I'm sure that cake would have been ok without that step.
Poland has a lot of budget friendly recipes, soups especially. Pickle soup fermented in brine (ogórkowa), garlic dill soup (zalewajka), sourdough soup(żurek), cabbage soup (kapuśniak). Żurek you have to start on your own unless you have a polish store where you can get the sour base for this soup. But it's super easy to make at home. You just need patience (at least 10 days of fermenting).
Can't wait for you to try some of these!
I buy my vanilla sugar in a local Mennonite store. The price is far more reasonable than the online spice stores,etc.
All that food sounds amazing!
Did you have any problems with your traditional recipes not turning out correctly? I have a friend from Poland, and she has been having lots of issues with her recipes. It has made her very sad and I was wondering how to fix it or if it was even possible. She has been living in the U.S. for a little over three years now.
When I've made candied peel, ive always followed recipes where you boil it several times with water changes in between and it comes out very sweet without the bitterness.
Putting the dough in a water bath is a pre-fermentation process that determines if the dough is ready to move on to baking. When it floats the gases have formed to make it float to the top.
It’s like hydroproofing for lack of a better term.
Hydroproofing!!! Thank you for a technical term for it, off to researching for me!
If I forget to chop something I always use scissors just a pro tip that I stumbled upon over the years
Great tip!
It’s like a version of Christmas cake my German grandmother would make with dried fruits baked in. I can’t wait to see the cheese making in the next video
Yes, Stollen! I love it and haven't had it in a few years. I'll need to make one next Christmas.
Bakalie doesn't have to have every single one of the ingredients listed in it. It is just a term used in baking for a mix of dried fruits and nuts. It's all about just using up what is in your pantry.
According to Elizabeth David, in her book “English Bread and Yeast Cookery“, Beard’s water proofing method (he is mentioned by name in her book, and the method really wasn’t his invention) was known in Victorian times. Later on, in the 1930s or so, it came to be known as the “Peggy Tub Bread” method. Apparently, on really hot days, this method was used to control the rise of dough and this method is better than using a refrigerator due to less extreme cold and higher humidity (not that everyone had refrigerators)
Aldi's carries a trail mix with most of these ingredients in it you might look for trail mixes 😊
I have Polish genes too. One of my favorite dishes is halushka (fried cabbage with bacon and egg noodles). I love it!!
Vanilla sugar is hard to find in the US, you can take a vanilla bean pod and put in a qt jar, shake it every day for a momth and you have vanilla sugar. Keep stored in a cool dry place. I use super fine sugar instead of regular granulated.
Yes you left to much pith on the orange peel. Use a sharp paring knife and scrape the excess off then boil in sugar/water. The type of orange also makes a difference, navel orange peel is more bitter than other ones.
I think the step of waiting for the dough to float in water is for the purpose of knowing if there has been enough yeast fermentation to produce enough gas to leaven the dough. If enough gas is produced by the yeast the dough will float. This is an interesting method. For yeast bread the instructions often say let rise until doubled or something like that.
I probably would have just closed it with a rubber band at the top. I would have never been able to figure out a way to tie it. (This is why I don't wear scarves, either. 😂)
If you search water proofed dough or water rising for bread dough you will find some information about this method.
I think the yeast now days is pretty accurate and will rise, back then in the old country you probably kept yeast starter in a jar and would use it for bread and desserts .That is probably why they did the step of putting the dough in a towel in cold water to see if their yeast was still fresh.I would skip that step now days.
I am polish and grew up eating and learning how to make babka, pierogi, glombki, and other polish influenced dishes. Making "farmers cheese" is super simple - I do it twice a year when I make pierogies because I can't find it in stores where I live. My kids help me make, assemble, and cook them because it's pretty time and labor intensive. Looking forward to seeing what else you try!!
Golabki is my favorite. The version I make has sour cream in the tomato sauce on top. It's so yummy.
I was very interested when you said the candied orange peels taking only an hour when I have made them before you add sugar you boil the 3-4- or 5 times. and drain between each boil. That gets rid of the bitterness. Try them again they are really good. a little bitter but not so much when boiled several times.
You ain’t really eaten till you’ve tried ‘duck’s blood soup’ - I grew up with a girlfriend who was first generation american of Polish descent, her mother made incredibly delicious authentic polish food, among which was the aforementioned soup, and most memorably the best potato pancakes EVER.
I have a set of cousins who are part Polish, and a set who are part Armenian. Lots of great food from that side of the family! But they didn't start out on yeast cakes.
I'm Polish and I can confirm candied orange and lemon peel is a very popular baking ingredient in Poland :) You can buy it at any supermarket.
it's actually fine to leave the orange pith when making candied orange peels! as long as you cook the candied peels until the pith is translucent they won't be bitter 😃 it also makes them gel better since the pectin is inside the white pith
That's really cool that you learning new recipes. It seems like there is a lot of different steps that we normally don't do with American cooking. It's interesting to see how different countries use different techniques. ❤
Ok so I'm Polish, born, raised, lived in Poland all my life, never left. And this is the STRANGEST ciasto drożdżowe recipe that I have ever seen. I think you did the best possible job you could with this recipe though!!
Same here and I completely agree! The tea towel and water step was completely new to me and I've seen A LOT of ciasto drożdżowe being made since I was a kid! 😂
Vanilla completely changes the flavor.
Rebecca, you are my favorite cook on UA-cam and ALWAYS a complete JOY to watch! I love how you are honest….
And about losing your vanilla, I’ve lost many items countless times.
And you’re right about dried fruit being more expensive, BUT it is sooooo delicious and can be GREAT for snacks and to add to cooked oatmeal, cooked rice (like rice pilaf), cookies, and even plain yogurt. They’re definitely worth keeping on hand if one can afford them, especially in the colder months when fresh fruit isn’t as readily available.
Your pronunciations are wonderful, too, but I’m not Polish 😂.
You’re trying and doing fantastic and that’s what matters most!
Thank you for being you, being real and inspiring us all! Have a blessed day! And keep on cooking!!!
Your extra fruit and nuts would be so good in oatmeal
Also in cold heartier cereals like Wheaties or Grape Nuts.
You could put the dinner page numbers in your random number picker that way you know your going to get a dinner recipe. I don’t think that would be cheating in anyway.
I really enjoy your new type of videos! ❤
Glad you like them!
I’m polish. We’re going to a polish festival in a few weeks. There was a czech Slovak one south of us this fall. Very nice.
I think you need a different candied peel recipe and non-navel oranges. I make candied peel often and don't think the recipe you used had the right proportion of sugar/water based on the thinness of the 'syrup' that remained as well as what appeared to be a lack of saturation. Navel oranges are grown for looks more than flavor [story of commercial agriculture!] but the peels never taste good! also, your dried fruit/nut mix would be great on plain yogurt or plain oatmeal as well as quick breads and other baked goods.
the floating bit is just a way to tell if the yeast has been effective at leavening the dough without drying it out. I think there are better ways of doing this especially given the reliability of modern day yeasts.
Excited to see more of your explorations!
Candied orange peel is usually by the spices. Same kind of bottle you would get your nutmeg, cinnamon, etc in. It’s not usually by the other bagged dry fruit. Hope this helps 😊 It will be way cheaper to make your own though. During the holidays you can find bigger bags of candy orange peel.
Nice job! I really enjoyed this video.
Being part polish I’ve made a few things that my grandma taught me. I’m interested in learning more ❤
Thanks!
I actually paused the video to search the comments regarding the dough being immersed into cold water. I have never heard of that either. This was very interesting. You did a great job on this! It's fun to see different dishes like this. Looking forward to the next one!
Every so often when I was growing up my mom would attempt a recipe from a different culture or region. She’d call it “multicultural night” and it was like a whole party atmosphere. Sometimes the recipes worked out, sometimes they didn’t but she always made it feel like a fun learning experience.
my brother in law was Polish (RIP) and we used to go to his parent's home to eat ..it was wonderful. Thanks for this
Very flawless. I'm part Polish myself.
My Mother was Polish LOL , my issue was Poland was a poor country so most recipes were very BLAND lol
I was trying not to say that exactly but yes it was very bland 😅
I love your curiosity! I am not sure but I have a feeling the dough in the bag method is a timer to let you know when it's proofed enough to add the sugar.
Aleksandra August is a Polish person/actress born in Chicago. I watched 4 or 5 episodes where she featured areas (brief tours) in Poland & their local cuisine & then went home to make these foods. It was a fun program to watch & you may enjoy it also.
Thank you Rebecca for all of your recipes I started watching your content earlier last year. I appreciate how creative you are with the ingredients you choose. You are wonderful at learning and teaching how to stretch a buck. Thank you for taking time to make good quality content. Looking forward to amazing new recipes.
I can't tell you how many times I have missed a step or two in a recipe. Then had to redo it.
I am enjoying this series and hope that you will incorporate other cultures into your channel. I always learn new things from you.
My husband is polish so I appreciate this 🎉🎉
I thought it was supposed to be crumbly. I thought that’s what the title said so it came out perfect! ❤
That's what I thought at first, too, but at the end there was a crumbly topping put on top
I love that you are trying to learn recipes from your heritage. And doing it on your own is amazing. I’m here for it! :)
What a cool idea! Can't wait to see this series.
I'm also Polish, born and raised! I can echo the voices here that:
1. This was a truly bizarre recipe for ciasto drożdżowe, it's like one of the easiest cakes and the tea towel and water situation is NOT common at all. 😂😂
2. I am in awe of your work because I think in the end (despite questionable instructions) the cake turned out well. Very similar looking to what I would expect from my grandma or aunt who are both absolute masters of this type of cake. Also AMAZING JOB on pronunciation. Polish is one of the hardest languages especially when it comes to pronunciation so wow! 🎉
3. Yes, candied lemon peel and orange peel are widely available and easy to find in Poland. I don't think many people would choose to make it from scratch.😅
4. Not sure if anyone mentioned it, but ciasto drożdżowe is definitely better with fresh fruit because on it's own it tends to lean very dry and only mildly sweet. The fruit give it an interest and much needed moisture. Also, even with the sweet crumb coating on top I've seen icing (powdered sugar plus lemon juice or water) drizzled on top. And lastly, this cake is definitely the best soon after baking. Like I mentioned, it goes dry after. And lastly as a personal note: it's also never been my favorite. I think Poland excels in so many domains when it comes to food and ciasto drożdżowe, while very popular, is not the best showing imo.
PS. If you'd like any help in finding/translating/assisting with Polish recipes, I'd love to offer my help. ❤
Also if you have a recipe for hunter's stew (bigos) in the book - I would love to see you try it!😊
I love the idea of trying different countries recipes. My daughter and I have tried several Swedish recipes, just because, it's fun!!
Kudos to you for stepping out of your comfort zone! You've encouraged me to do the same thing. I'll do it soon🤗
If the book is organized in categories, I would choose randomly within a category. This is a fun series!
I'm not Polish per se but I'm Ashkenazi (European, in my case eastern European) Jewish and we use candied orange peels for a number of dishes. Try looking in the ethnic section of a grocery store in a heavily Jewish neighborhood. Or a Trader Joes.
Good job! Randomly try new recipes and cooking techniques are a lot of fun.
I think it would be OK once you randomly pick a recipe to look up the same recipe online to see if any of them have more information to help. I'm pretty sure the dried fruit was supposed to be mixed into the batter and that the cooking temperature would be lower for a glass dish. Little tid bits of information like that from different recipes would help with the final results. Great job experimenting!
Next time just get some yarn, twine, something, and twist the towel closed and the lowest edge, then tie it off. That's what I do when I'm trying to get whey out of my homemade cheese and yogurt lol. (Reference to 15:20-16:15)
I like this concept!! Looking forward to more test kitchen videos.
Love this , my husband's Grandad was born and raised in Poland. Before Christmas my husband took his Dad to Poland to visit Wroclaw. Special memories for them both . You did great job
U r doing great as success is in the doing! Learning as we go~ maybe those beautiful oranges would be better cut into supremes as some navel oranges are not as good for juicing. Looking forward to your next cooking adventure ❤❤
Jacques Pepin has a show where he makes the candied orange strips. They are supposed to be bitter. They are much cheaper to make than purchase. PBS has a Polish cooking / travel program hosted by a Polish American actress. I watch it on the PBS Create channel. I am 25 percent Polish. Unfortunately, I know very little about my Polish heritage.
I checked the show is called Flavor of Poland. It is very good.
This is such a cool idea!! I love that we could come along for the ridee too!! 😊
We drove to Poland one Easter with friends. Took forever to cross the border. Every Polish person in Germany must have been going home for Easter. We went to a Communion and the meal was held at an Asian buffet (Vietnamese) and the food was really different. The church we went to was very old. There were no pews just folding chairs for the elderly. Everybody had to stand and the men sat outside on bleachers. There were speakers outside. The kids had to bring their Easter baskets to be blessed before they could eat from them. Might go back. My girlfriend retired there.
When you make candied peel its best if you boil the peels and simmer for 20 mins. It helps with the bitterness. Rinse and then candy them. I simmer mine in the sugar water until there is very little water left. Toss in sugar then dry on a rack overnight (my home is not humid, especially in winter).
This is one of my favorite videos that you've done! My hobby is trying my hand at cooking different culture's cuisines. I've messed up recipes plenty of times, but I learned something with each mistake! I love that you let us see the mistakes. It helps take the fear out of cooking for a lot of people!
Love Polish food! Hubby and I went to Old Montreal for our 20th anniversary, and went to dinner at the most incredible, elegant Polish restaurant. SO delicious!
Leftover fruit and nuts will be delightful on yogurt or pancakes
The floating lets you know if your starter/ dough is producing enough gas to rise properly. I think it also makes the cake lighter and fluffier.
It's so cool that you are trying new things like this. I like your idea of a random number generator! I am going to have to try that with some of my cookbooks. This was a fun watch! I definitely would like to see more videos like this.
I'm also Polish on my dad's side. His dad passed when he was 15 so he missed out on learning lots of things about that side of the family unfortunately.
Great UA-cam! It’s awesome you are exploring your heritage and learning (and teaching us) new things!
As an orange peel option, maybe zest some of the peel and use some of juice mixed with little sweetener of choice. Then soak raisins.
I’m proud of you for trying new things. 😊
Looks delicious, YUM! 😋
This is giving Jamie and Julia series from @antichef, love seeing you work through recipe challenges
Oh thank you! I'll have to check that out!
It certainly can be both intimidating and fun to try new recipes.
Waterproofing, I remember reading about it in a bread baking cookbook (Bread Matters by Andrew Whitley). He refers to a Russian cookbook from the 1800s in which it states "you may put the loaves in a bucket of water (the temperature of a river in summer), where they will lie on the bottom until fully proofed." I have the bread cookbook, but not the Russian one. I remember thinking that was interesting, but never tried it myself. There was no mention of putting it into a towel. I think that may have been to make it easier to pick it up out of the water.
I think the purpose of putting the dough in the towel and cold water is to stop the dough from rising too fast, because there is yeast in it. Then while in the water, it solidified into a dough
I think it does look like more work than it’s worth though
I have pureed oranges then put in a seive to separate juice from pulp and saved the pulp for muffins, this way always yields me the most juice
I have ordered dried fruit mix after Christmas when they discount it from King Arthur on line and froze it until the next year. I bet your leftover fruit will be great in cookies or some vegetable dishes. You've probably already googled.😅
My grandmother used to make candied orange peels and they were always bitter so don’t blame yourself.
If you ever visit Massachusetts, grab a bag of Wachusett potato chips. A polish family started them and you can find them at most pizza shops around here. They do my favorite sour cream and onion chip 🤓
The best time to buy your candied fruit is at Christmas time. They have all types of candied and/or dried fruit for fruit cake. My mom would get dried fig mix for her cakes.
I was so excited to watch this iam polish as well so it's so exciting to see polish dishes i didn't get raised to know my polish side
Fun video…love it that you are trying things from your heritage! I have made candied citrus peel in the past and I had to cook it three times with a change of water each time before finally finishing in the sugar water, apparently that takes out the bitterness. I then rolled it in sugar when they dried and as I recall they were very good. I did both orange and grapefruit.
Very fun video! Trying new things good or bad is a cool experience!!!
I'm actually REALLY excited for the farmers cheese video. This is something I have been looking into myself the last couple months BUT I have yet to try. I think watching you try it out will finally push me too also so thanks ahead of time!!!
If you are interested in Polish recipes, "Rose Petal Jam: Recipes & Stories from a Summer in Poland" by Beata Zatorska and Simon Target, is an absolutely gorgeous and beautifully made cookbook with stunning photographs. The stories and photos just transport you to Poland.
This is meant to be like the Italian fruit bread Pannetone , the dry fruit is essential , candied fruit can be purchased at b7lk food stores , big ingredient at Christmas , definitely European .. You did amazing , the crumb topping also popular in European baking like coffee cake .
We have different deli's in our area of different cultures so it's nice to go in and order something I've never tried.
Good for you for even trying. It looks great.
I also am part Polish. While I have not made this. I lived in St Joseph Mo. There was a Polish grocery store and bakery. I remember trying something with similar ingredients 😊😊
I love Polish food. I have only made the golumpki (stuffed cabbage). I am very fortunate our local Polish church has a good sale once a month. Next month I will have to look if they have this cake.
Thank you for this video...my grandpa on my mother's side is Polish and ive been trying to find easy Polish recipes to explore
Excellent job on acknowledging and nixing the bias with random selection. Bad luck it seemed to have chosen the worst for you given lack of experience and where the (vanilla) chips fell that day, but sometimes that’s where adventure takes us.
I love Polish food, myself. Feels very familiar having grown up half German Midwestern. Talking about Polish products on the shelf, I most prize them for their jams/jellies. 🤔and mushrooms, including pickled.
I enjoyed watching this so much! I'm really excited to see the rest of the polish dishes you make, too :)
chop orange peels and dredge in sugar, keep for other uses, pith is ok , if you have another liquor to replace vanilla use it, it should be ok.
I've come to realize over the years. That healthy foods cost more. Aldi has alot of dried fruits much cheaper than most places. I especially like the dates and pineapple, both make delightful treats, when craving something sweet.
Rugeluch is a Polish pastry. That would be a great video.
I too love rugelach, but the word is Yiddish, not Polish
You are correct, a Yiddish word, a Polish pastry. Rugeluch originated in the Jewish communities of Poland.