Bulgaria's answer to Scones!

 

Bulgarian Scones - Kazanlushki Korabii - Казанлъшки корабии

  

These lovely bready balls of goodness are one of my favourite snacks. As a little bit of background Kazanlak is a city in Stara Zagora province in Bulgaria, Situated in the centre of Kazanlak Valley, it has some of the most beautiful countryside in Europe. The valley is also known as the Rose Valley, supplying 80% of the world’s rose oil. Surrounded by the Balkan mountain range and carrying a rich history dating back to Thracian times.

But enough of history, let us get back to these lovely golden soft spheres. I did some research and I don’t really know why they carry their name, what I do know is that they are super simple to make and it will take you about half an hour to have a batch done from mixing to baking. Now purists will probably yell at me for I am about to suggest but I don’t care care. The Kazanlak Scone (yes I am renaming it) actually can be very versatile as an afternoon snack. They are amazing with butter and jam, just butter, just jam, clotted cream and jam, or yogurt. They accompany tea, coffee and hot chocolate like a trooper. You can sprinkle crushed walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts on top. You can add dried fruit such as raisins to the mix before baking. With no further adue here is the recipe:    

Ingredients:

1 cup of yogurt

1 cup of icing sugar

½ cup melted butter

3 eggs - 1 is for egg wash

vanilla or the zest of half a lemon

1tsp Bicarbonate Soda

1kg flour - some for dusting

Vegetable oil for shaping the scones

Sugar/nuts for sprinkling on top

Method:

Pre-heat your oven to 200C’ fan pr 220 no fan.

In a large bowl mix the yogurt and the soda. Add 2 of the eggs - keep the 3rd one for egg washing - icing sugar and vanilla and mix. Start introducing the flour, a bit at a time, when it starts forming a dough get your hands in and mix well. You are looking for a relatively soft and sticky dough, it needs to be just firm enough to hold its’ shape when you make it into a ball.

Line a baking tray with baking parchment and use some oil spray just because you don’t want paper on your scones. I find that otherwise the parchment sticks to mine.

Oil your hands with the vegetable oil. Pull a walnut sized piece from the dough, roll in your hands to make a ball and place on the baking tray. Leave about 2cm between each ball. Egg wash and then sprinkle with the sugar or nuts, put in the oven for 12-15 minutes. Do watch them once they change colour they burn quite quickly. You want them to be a deep golden brown. When they come out they would have grown and will end up touching. Leave them to cool before you take them off the tray. They will last for about a week if you keep them in a sealed box. They will get harder the longer they sit, but that is when you can actually turn them into a stupendously good bread and butter pudding if you have had a giant batch left over.

Bon Appetit!      

 

The Humble Banana Bread

Here in the UK tea time is important, and tea time needs a good biscuit or a cake or maybe a sandwich to go with it. There are many different types of cake that you can have with your tea, from lemon drizzle, which is a big hitter for many, to marble cake, madeira cake or even the less popular but equally lovely fennel seed cake. There are flavour combinations to suit any and all. It is when you experience tea in the proper English way, that you understand why it is such a big deal. There is nothing better than a good brew and a good thick slice of cake.

For me Banana Bread is one of my most favourite of the tea time cakes. It is rich and full of flavour, tastes amazing with coffee, tea, warm milk or a hot chocolate. Thanks to the bananas it is moist and melts in the mouth. Plus my recipe has rum in it, and any cake with rum is good in my books, I love the boozy spicy flavour of dark rum, it just gives the banana bread an extra depth.

The recipe I use is from the BBC Food website and it is both simple, quick and guarantees a great result every time.

I will put the ingredients here for you but for the full recipe and method just go here.

Ingredients:

• 285g/10oz plain flour
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ½ tsp salt
• 110g/4oz butter, plus extra for greasing
• 225g/8oz caster sugar*
• 2 free-range eggs
• 4 ripe bananas, mashed
• 85ml/3fl oz buttermilk (or normal milk mixed with 1½ tsp lemon juice or vinegar)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

The only thing I changed is the addition of 50ml of Dark Rum/Spiced Rum to it. I add it to the bananas as I mash them it. You can use rum essence if you want the flavour but not the alcohol, however that is very strong and you need to be very careful when you use it. Depending on the brand it can also leave a chemical aftertaste to your check, so use at your own peril. 

I like mine with a dollop of cool thick Greek Yogurt

Another tip that I have, which I again discovered due to poor maintenance of my baking supplies, is that if you can use *demerara sugar instead of caster sugar that will also give you an extra rich caramel flavour to your bread.

I wish there was a way for me to explain the amazing aromas currently wafting through my flat, or how hard it is for me to not start cutting into this while it’s still piping hot.

                Bon Appetit Everyone!