Professionals, of course, know that the crackers are the “closest relatives” of gingerbread.
Unleavened pastry is the basis of gingerbread and biscuits, and therefore it is clear what result one should strive for in preparing dough for biscuits: on kefir, on sour cream or milk, or even on water.
It is clear, because not only in the vastness of our vast country, but even outside its borders, Russian gingerbread has become famous long ago.
Gingerbread dough is also used to make shortbread.
Actually, the difference between the gingerbread and the cake is only in the name. True, according to old recipes, gingerbreads were prepared only on a honey basis, but in modern cooking the difference has almost disappeared. After all, the recipes for gingerbread dough appeared among the Slavs during the times of paganism, while the gingerbreads themselves, molded in the form of figures of birds or animals, served as a sacrifice in ancient Slavic pagan rites.
In the old days, sugar was rare and expensive, but now the situation with the ingredient for gingerbread dough has changed in the opposite direction: real honey is expensive, and finding it is a problem, so it is easier to prepare sugar syrup from an inexpensive product.
Another abolished distinction between gingerbreads and biscuits, reflected in the name of these types of pastries - spices. The root of the word directly indicates the presence of spicy spices in the test. It was believed that the shortbread or gingerbread - a more simple, everyday baking, not related to the category of cult. Although, in other cuisines of the world, very far from Slavic roots, small piece products, and large semi-finished products for cakes, from gingerbread and other types of unleavened pastry, were called cakes or shortbreads - that is, cakes made from dough, which often included spices , appeared Rus only with the arrival of Christianity, the establishment of trade with Asia and the East. Over the centuries, these and other historical milestones important for the development of the state and society extended the culinary boundaries of world cuisine, allowing not only to assimilate, say, European traditional traditional spices in European cuisine, but also to learn from the experience of cooking various dishes, cooking dough and baking sweet products.
Shortbreads on kefir - basic technological principles
In addition to the already mentioned spices, sugar or honey, the composition of the gingerbread dough, as well as the dough for biscuits on kefir or other dairy products, includes butter or other types of fat, flour, eggs. As an additional ingredient, you can use dried fruits, nuts, jam, chocolate or fruit glaze (for decoration). To create a porous texture of unleavened dough, ammonium (powder), baking soda, baking powder and other additives are used.
If the liquid base of the gingerbread dough is a fermented milk product, then a small amount of baking soda is sufficient as baking powder, which in this case does not need to be quenched with acid, because lactic acid reacting with an alkaline medium (soda) will provide a loose and light dough structure.
The next important technological point: after mixing, it is necessary to give the dough “rest” by covering it with any air-tight material so that the gas released as a result of the interaction of soda or other disintegrating agents with lactic acid does not evaporate, but is distributed in layers of dough, creating its porous structure.
The number of these or other components may vary depending on the composition of the recipe or the desired texture and taste of the biscuits on kefir.
Increased fat content provides a crumbly structure similar to shortbread dough. Whipped butter will make the dough more tender. Eggs, too, along with soda and dairy products, saturate the dough with oxygen, providing the splendor of unleavened dough products. Eggs, kefir and butter are products containing proteins that, when whisked, form fatty protein fibers that trap air in the dough layers, also combining with the gluten contained in the flour.
For the preparation of yeast-free dough, it is desirable to use beating to improve the quality of the finished shortbread on kefir.
Of course, you need to pay attention to the quality of flour or flour mixture for biscuits on kefir, as the percentage of gluten in flour is important for the quality of baking. Shortbreads can be a sweet addition to tea and replace bread when serving savory dishes. In this case, as an additional ingredient, cottage cheese, cheese, other unsweetened ingredients and spices that are not related to the category of confectionery spices are used.
The main advantages of this baking should include the speed of their preparation and the variety of the range, low level of complexity. Cakes are baked for 10-15 minutes, at 180ºC, and together with the time spent on preparing the dough and the formation of semi-finished products, it will take a total of no more than 45 minutes.
Recipe 1. Cakes on kefir: vanilla with nut powder
For the main test:
Flour, wheat premium 700 g
Kefir (or sour milk) 150 ml
Water (or milk) 100 ml
Eggs 3 pcs.
Soda 15 g
Oil (or spread) 120 g
Sugar 150 g
Vanillin 3g
For powder:
Almond chips 70 g
Syrup, vanilla 50 ml
Cooking:
In sifted flour, add soda, vanilla powder, a small pinch of fine salt. Stir. In the beaten eggs gradually add sugar, a soft spread at room temperature. Add 100 g of flour to the milk, whisk the mixture until the lumps are removed. Heat this mixture, without stopping stirring, on the stove until thick and let cool. Into the warm mass pour kefir, beaten eggs and butter. Gradually add the flour mixture. Knead the dough as for dumplings and leave it in a sealed container.
Prepare vanilla syrup from 1 g vanillin, 50 g sugar and 50 ml of water. Combine the ingredients and bring the mass to a boil. Prepare the almond chips or use any kind of nuts of your choice, crushing them into crumb.
Roll out the dough (0.7-0.8 cm) and cut round tortillas, or give the biscuits on any kefir any shape. Put on a prepared baking sheet, brush with syrup and sprinkle with chips. Bake as above. Remove the hot breadcrumbs from the oven, cover them with a linen cloth to cool.
Recipe 2. Honey shortcakes on yogurt
Ingredients:
(see recipe number 1)
In addition, honey, liquid 100 g
Cooking:
Combine honey, sugar, milk (or water), mix the mass, heat to dissolve the sugar. Remove the dishes from the heat, hammer in one egg, stirring with a whisk. Allow to cool slightly, add spread, kefir, without stopping stirring the dough. In the flour mixture (flour, soda, salt), add vanilla half as much as in the previous recipe. Connect the dry and liquid parts of the dough, knead, roll the ball and, covering it, leave on the work surface.
Cut the rolled layer using dredging grooves, grease with melted honey mixed with water (1: 1) or sugar syrup. Dust with chips and bake.
Recipe 3. Cakes on kefir with raisins and rum
Ingredients:
Flour 500 g
Sugar 150 g
Ammonium 20 g
Eggs 1 pc.
Rum 50 ml
Kefir 100 ml
Oil 72.5%
Raisin 180g
Vanilla 2g
Icing sugar 50 g
Cooking:
Sift flour, add sugar, ammonium, vanilla, salt. In the flour mixture chop the butter on the working surface, preparing a homogeneous mass. Collect everything in a bowl, make a well, add prepared raisins, a beaten egg combined with kefir, and rum. Knead the dough and put in the cold. Divide into portions of 120 g, roll out the round flat bread and bake. Powdered chilled finished products.
Recipe 4. Cakes on fruit-flavored kefir
Ingredients:
Sugar 100 g
Flour 400 g
Orange Peel 30 g
Rum essence 7-8 drops
Vanilla 1 g
Eggs 3 pcs.
75 g oil
Kefir 150 ml
Soda 15 g
Fruit glaze 1 pack. (100 g)
Cooking:
Mix sifted flour with dry ingredients. Combine the beaten eggs with kefir, essence and fresh orange zest. Combine the two parts, adding softened butter, knead the dough. After forming the oval flat cakes from the rolled dough, put them on a baking sheet and bake. When the products have cooled, apply icing on their surface, prepared as indicated on the package.
Recipe 5. Marble cakes on kefir
Ingredients:
See the composition of the products in the recipe number 1;
In addition, 50 g of cocoa powder
Cooking:
Mix flour with dry ingredients for the dough. Divide the mixture in half and add cocoa powder to one of the parts.
Beat the eggs, add to them a soft spread or butter, kefir. The liquid mass is also divided into two parts and add to each of the prepared dry mixes. Knead the dough with cocoa, and then - white dough. Roll out two layers of cooked dough and place one of them on top of the other. Roll up the layers twice and continue rolling the dough until a marble pattern is formed. Cut the dough into a round notch with jagged edges (3-4 cm in diameter) and bake.
Recipe 6. Cakes with kefir and cherry jam
Ingredients:
Cherry preserves, pitted 150 g
Oil 120 g
Flour 400 g
Rum 50 ml
Kefir 100 ml
Soda 20 g
Cooking:
Combine the flour with soda and melted butter. Combine the whole whole seedless, jam jam with rum and kefir, then add the flour and butter to the flour, knead the dough and distribute it into the prepared silicone forms - baskets. Bake until tender.
Recipe 7. Biscuits on kefir with banana and decoy
Ingredients:
Kefir 300 ml
Banana, peeled 240 g
Semolina 250 g
Eggs 3 pcs.
Oil 120 g
Vanilla
Soda 25 g
Sugar to taste
Coconut 50g
Strawberry Syrup 30 ml
Cooking:
Pour the kefir into a large deep tank. Chop peeled bananas and add to kefir. Here, hammer eggs, pour sugar and vanilla powder, put the softened butter. Beat the mixture to double the volume and combine with semolina and soda. Mix well, cover the bowl with a film so that the dough does not oxidize from the air and put in the fridge until the semolina swells: the dough must have the consistency of thick sour cream. Pour it into the prepared molds for small cupcakes and bake. Cool cooled products on top with strawberry syrup and sprinkle with coconut chips.
Shortbreads on kefir - tips and tricks
- It is not worth adding a large amount of flavors to honeycakes in order not to muffle the smell of honey.
- Choux pastry products do not get stale for a long time.
- If gluten is not enough in flour, brewing the dough will help to achieve the desired texture.
- Do not forget to pickle sweet dough: a small pinch of salt emphasizes the taste and aroma.
- Remember that a surplus of soda in unleavened dough can spoil the baking: the products will come out overdried, with cracks on the surface, dark color and with a characteristic unpleasant smell. It is better to add a little less soda and wait more until the well-mixed dough ripens at proofing.
