I love baking but at the same time, I have a little fear of baking with yeast.
My fear is that the dough will not rise enough and that all the waiting for it to rise and rise again, was a waste of time. But I also love baked goods made with fresh yeast, so I have decided to overcome this fear.
A chance to do so, offered itself when I had some fresh yeast left over (from the waffles) and cake sale coming up at work. I decided to try out these Apple Marzipan Swirls, knowing that they would be a good treat for my brunch blog. They are great fresh from the oven, first thing in the morning but all the work has to be done the night before.
They proved a success - so much so that they all sold out within the first few minutes!
For 12 swirls you’ll need
- 450g flour (plus extra for the work surface)
- 20g fresh yeast
- ca 250ml milk
- 2 Tbsp sugar
- a pinch of salt
- 400g apples
- 150g good quality marzipan
- 2 Tbsp lemon juice
- 100g apricot jam
Start with the dough the night before baking:
As this is a fresh yeast dough, you’ll have to make a ‘pre-dough’ (I’m not actually sure of that is the real English term for this or just a direct translation from German but let’s just go with it). Tip the flower into a big bowl and make a little well in the middle of it in which you crumble the yeast, along with about 3-4 tablespoons of lukewarm milk and a pinch of sugar. Dust this with a little flour from the sides and leave, covered under cling film, in a warm corner for 15 minutes. I covered my bowl under my duvet (!) and also put a hot water bottle underneath.
Add the rest of the milk and sugar as well as the salt and knead the ingredients together in the bowl – be warned, it’s a very sticky business!
Dust a work surface with flour and tip the dough onto it. Knead for at least 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky. Now put it back in the bowl, cover with cling film again and bring it back to the warm corner to leave it to rise some more – this time, until it rises to double its size. This will take 30 – 60 minutes (when checking on this, just look through the cling film – don’t lift it).
While you wait for the dough to rise, make the apple marzipan filling:
Peel and core the apples and cut them in to small pieces and when I say small, I’m talking little tiny squares of about 1-2 square cm. Follow suit with the marzipan by cutting it in pieces of a similar size. Mix both together with the lemon juice and set aside until the dough is ready for the next step.
When the dough has doubled in its size, roll it out on a flour-dusted surface, to a rectangle of about 50 x 25 cm. Pour the apple-marzipan mix on to it and roll it up, from the longer side, so you end up with a long roll. Cut the roll in 12 pieces and put those on two non-stick baking trays. You will need to spread them out as much as possible as they will rise again. Cover the trays with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for the night.
The next morning, the swirls will have risen again. Take them out of the fridge and let them come back to room temperature while you preheat the oven to 200 degrees.
Bake the swirls – one tray at a time – for 25 minutes. Heat the apricot jam in the microwave so it becomes fluid and spread the rolls with it, as soon as they come out of the oven. Leave to cool but then enjoy as soon as possible!
