Saturday 10 September 2016

My Dampfnudeln...

Are too big!
Cheap humour but it amused me... and it seemed a more interesting title than The Great Bloggers Bake Off part two! And dampfnudel has now pretty much become my word of the week... because it's funny!  (or is that just me?)


Given the disppointing results of my attempt at the chocolate Barmbrack... (in my defense I am pretty sure the recipe was way out on its ratio of wet to dry ingredients and even though I thought it was pretty revolting Stewart has been eating it with relish)... I decided to bite the bullet and give the technical challenge a go after all! I used Paul Hollywood's recipe for Dampfnudel and followed it pretty much to letter, only substituting semi skimmed milk for full fat because that was what I had. It was pretty straightforward but quite a lot of faffing about. And it took me way longer than the two hours alloted. If you add up all the resting plus cooking times it adds up to two hours and five minutes so how the contestants were meant to weigh ingredients and do all the other bits of prep I will never know. Hats off to each of them for actually getting something made at all. No wonder their dampfnudeln were nearly all under cooked!


I made the plum sauce and vanilla custard too!


The method of steaming bread in a pan is entirely new to me so I wasn't sure what to expect. Despite using my biggest pan they cooked up into the the most enormous dumplings, all tightly squished together. With the lid all steamed up it was difficult to see if they were cooked but I gave them the full 30 minutes after which they still looked very pale. And even more difficult to see if they were evenly browned underneath. I was just beginning to get a whiff of burning as I whipped them off the heat.


Now dear reader... should you wish to try these at home, do not be fooled by the instruction "Carefully lift out the dumplings using a slotted spoon". You will need a knife... a very big sturdy strong knife...  or possible even a chisel. And the result as you can see above was not little round even dumplings but big fluffy uneven pillows of dough, that were stuck together with bases that were probably just a little on the wrong side of golden and caramelised!

And as for my pan... a good soak is required! Do you think the Bake Off contestants have to do their own washing up?


Anyway... I know what you are wondering... what did they taste like? Well, surprisingly good! Despite their silly name and rather pale and insipid appearance, they were light and rather delicious. Not unlike a brioche or an iced bun in fact.


The plum sauce and custard were tasty additions but I have also eaten one cut in half and buttered and I almost preferred that. So I may not have got points for twelve identical little round buns... but they were cooked and tasted good.


And I'm glad I tried the technical challenge this week, because at the start of Bake Off I thought I would challenge myself to do the technical challenge every week as part of my "Sixty by Sixty". This was the project I set myself last year to do sixty new or different things before my sixtieth birthday next year. As many of the things on my list involved walking I was rather thrown off track when I broke my ankle and I cast the project aside. But I've taken it up again with gusto and have lots of ideas in the pipeline (many involving cake)... although still a very long way off sixty! And there are several weeks and plenty more technical challenges to complete before I can add this to my list!

Joining in with Jenny of Mummy Mishaps for the Great Bloggers Bake Off.

Mummy Mishaps

23 comments:

  1. Wow, you are just amazing! Glad the Dampfnudeln were good. If I wasn't about to loose half my kitchen, I might give them a go... Have a great weekend. x

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  2. I didn't opt for the Dampfnudeln but I wish I had tried something different. Yours may not be perfectly shaped but they look light and fluffy xx

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  3. Your dampfnudeln look good to me! Seems like a lot of effort for a roll, but I guess you have to try, right? Sixty by Sixty sounds like a great challenge. I think my challenge would be coming up with sixty things. I read back about your chocolate bread. I'm with you on the chocolate in bread (hmmm, no). Your other bread looks yummy!
    Wendy

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  4. you are up for a challenge Gina, I'll give you that, I'm afraid that recipe is way too much faffing for me! ;)

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  5. Gina, reading this post and having a look at the excellent photo have given me more reason to be just a tad suspicious about the behind the scenes goings on at the Great British Bake Off.

    This doesn't mean that I wouldn't still be a regular viewer of the show if I lived over there...but still. The timing strictures always seemed a bit designed to create drama for the cameras. But...if dough won't rise, it won't rise.

    Please do keep the reports and testing coming. I still want to volunteer as your taste tester. I know the competition from Hector is stiff. xo

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  6. It's tricky to try something that different. Your damfnudelns look fab, I think they have to slightly stick to the pan, not sure, it's what I think it has to happen if you steam bread (or what would happen to me too).

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  7. i also find the word dampfnudel funny - i mean, who wants to eat damp noodles???
    Anyway, that aside, yours look really lovely, very light and so what if they were a bit big? Size isn't everything! I do like a soft white roll, so i can iuamigne with lashings of butter and jam they would be delicious, although the cooking sauce they are made with must be like jam.
    thank you for linking up x x

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  8. Your dampfnudeln look good to me! Maybe Mr Hollywood should be made to make the challenge in the same time as the bakers, minus the recipe reading time, just to prove it it possible?
    The 60 x 60 challenge sounds a good idea - if I start now I might just mange that ... there's a thought!

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  9. Steaming bread in a pan on the hob is certainly an unusual technique, though maybe not in Germany! I was intrigued when I saw dampfnudeln on Bake Off, so thank you for trying them out and giving us your feedback. The contestants on Bake Off have my full admiration!

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  10. There's nothing wrong with having big dumplings! You deserve a gold star for even trying such a strange recipe and at least you were able to eat the result. Good luck with the 60x60 challenge. I shant try to compete as mine would have to be 90x90! Nearly 10 years to do it but not enough energy!

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  11. You just made me laugh out loud Gina! Good on you for being undoubted and they look brilliant but I don't think I'll ever be brave enough try dampfnudeln. (Hope your pan has recovered.)

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  12. Wow they look great! I'm always in awe of the technical, no idea how they even began to approach this week's! Glad you enjoyed them :)

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  13. Wow, they're impressive! I've never watched Bake Off so I've learnt a lot just by reading your post.

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  14. I agree it is a funny sounding name and yes their paleness doesn't make them seem like something tasty so it is good to hear they do taste good! x

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  15. They look great to me! I'm always impressed by how the contestants manage to do so much in such a short space of time - but it does seem a bit unfair to give them s recipe that takes longer than two hours!

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  16. Im so with you on the serving them what a devil to get out when they where warm but if you leave them in the pan to go cold then...... Full marks for making a rather ugly dish look good. But I don't know about you I'm sticking to baking buns in the future none of this poaching lark

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  17. By the looks of things, you did very well with the technical challenge. There's a boy here who's also having a go at bakes from each week's episode (seems the steamed dumplings are being given a wide berth). Consequently, there's a mister here who is, how can I put it... bulging.

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  18. Dampfnudel! How interesting! I've never heard of them and they sure look interesting. They look wonderful when cut open -- but I might have had a hard time getting past that pale top! Good for you for giving them a try -- it sounds like a LOT of work!!!

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  19. If you say they taste OK I believe you but they have a singularly anaemic look to them. They remind me too closely of what my Nan used to call her roly poly duff - a wrinkled suet log that came out of the cotton sheet it was steamed in and got sliced up to be served with jam. It stuck to the roof of your mouth for hours.... I'm sure yours were light and fluffy as described so well done with the technical challenge. Go put them on the gingham altar!!

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    1. Printed Material, you made me laugh out loud with this comment. Roly poly duff set me off. Just the name, and then I read your description. xo

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    2. Printed Material, you made me laugh out loud with this comment. Roly poly duff set me off. Just the name, and then I read your description. xo

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  20. I didn't fancy trying them so even though Ant wanted to give them a go, I wanted to eat chocolate bread!
    Well done :)

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  21. Even my North German friend had to Google the recipe as she had never heard of it!

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