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Italian Baba cake
Baba (Pellegrinio Artusi's Baba, yeast dough cake with powdered sugar, currants, raisins, candied fruit, Marsala and rum)
Originated from: Italy
Occasion: Any time & special times
Contributed by: Taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi (1891, 1907)

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Ingredients

For batter
200 grams (about 7 ounces) Hungarian or other very fine flour
70 grams (about 2 1/2 ounces) butter, melted and lukewarm
50 grams (about 1 2/3 ounces) powdered sugar
50 grams (about 1 2/3 ounces) sultanas or dried currants
30 grams (about 1 ounce) Malaga grapes, dried and seeded [raisins]
30 grams (about 1 ounce) brewer's yeast
about 1 deciliter (about 2/5 of a cup) of milk, or better, heavy cream
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon of Marsala
1 tablespoon of rum or cognac
10 grams (about 1/3 of an ounce) of candied fruit, cut into small strips
a pinch of salt
a dash of vanilla

For mold (ideally made of ribbed copper)
butter for greasing
icing sugar and flour mixed together for dusting sides and bottom of mold

For decoration
Icing sugar

Original Italian Text
Farina d'Ungheria o finissima, grammi 250
Burro, grammi 70
Zucchero in polvere, grammi 50
Uva sultanina, detta anche uva di Corinto, gr. 50
Uva malaga, a cui vanno levati gli acini, gr. 30
Lievito di birra, grammi 30
Latte o, meglio, panna, decilitri 1 circa
Uova, N. 2 e un rosso
Marsala, una cucchiaiata
Rhum o cognac, una cucchiaiata
Candito tagliato a filetti, grammi 10
Sale, un pizzico
Odore di vainiglia



Directions

Mix the brewer's yeast with 1/4 of the flour, and little of the lukewarm milk to form a small loaf.

Score the top of the loaf with a cross, not to ward off the witches, but to see when it has risen.

Place the dough in a covered bowl coated with a little milk in a warm area.

About half an hour later, while the dough is still rising, beat the eggs with sugar in a separate bowl, add the rest of the flour, then the risen dough, the melted lukewarm butter, the Marsala and the rum.

If the dough is too hard, soften it with a touch of lukewarm milk,

Blend well with a wooden spoon until the dough does not stick to the sides of the bowl.

Add the raisins and candied fruit and set aside to rest.

When the dough has risen, stir it a little and then place in a mold that has been greased with buttered and dusted with icing sugar mixed in with flour.

Place a lid on the mold and allow the dough to rise in the mold for about 2 hours in a warm place (There should be no drafts). The dough should double in size.

When the dough has doubled in size bake until it is done (insert a straw which should come out clean to check if it is done).

Turn off the oven, but keep the baba in the oven to dry it out completely. This is necessary because the cake is so thick.

When the cake cools, and removed from the mold, it should have the color of bread crust.

Dust with confectioners's sugar.

Serve cold.



Original Italian Text

Questo e un dolce che vuoi vedere la persona in viso, cioe per riuscir bene richiede pazienza ed attenzione.

Con un quarto della detta frina e con un gocciolo del detto latte tiepido, s'intrida il lievito di birra e se ne formi un pane di giusta sodezza. A questo s'incidea col coltello una croce, non prerche esse e gli altricosi fregiti abbiano paura delle streghe; ma perche a suo tempo diano segno del rigonfiamento necessario, ad ottenere il quale si pone a lievitare vicino al fuoco, amoderatissimo calore, entro a un vaso coperto in cui sia un gocciolo di latte. Intato che esso lievita per il che ci vorra mezz ora circa, scocciate le uova in una catinella e lavoratele collo zucchero; aggiungete dipoiil resto della farina, il panino lievitato, il burro sciolto e tiepido, la marsala e il rhum e se l'impasto riuscisse troppo sodo, rammorbiditelo col latte tipido. Lavoratelo molto col mestolo finche il composto non si distacchi dalla catinella, per ultimo gettateci l uva e il candito, e mettetelo a lievitare. Quando avra rigonfiato rimuovetelo un poco col mestolo e versatelo in uno stampo unto col burro e spolverizzato di zuccchero a velo misto a farina.

La forma migliore di stampo, per questo dolce, a quella di rame a costole, ma badate ch'esso devessere il doppio piu grande del contenuto. Copritelo con un testo onde non prenda aria e ponetelo in caldana e entro un forno da campagna, pochissimo caldo, per lievitarlo; al che non basteranno forse due ore. Se la lievitatura riesce perfetta si vedra il composto crescere del doppio, e cio arrivare alla bocca della stampo. Allora tirate a cuocerlo, avvertendo che nel frattempo non prenda aria. La cottura si conosce immergende un fuscello di granata che devesi estrarre asciutto, nonostante lasciatelo ancora a prosciugare in forno a discreto calore, cosa questa necessaria a motiva della sua grossezza. Quando il Baba e sformto, se e ben cotto, deve avere il colore della corteccia del pan; aspolverizzatelo di zucchero a velo.

Servitelo freddo.




Notes

The recipe in this entry was taken from "La Scienza in Cucina e L'Arte di Mangiar Bene manuale Pratico per le Famiglie" compilato da Pellegrino Artusi. The book was first published in 1891. Since then many Italian editions have been published. English translations of this cookbook under the title "Science in the Kitchen and the Art of Eating Well" are available. At www.archive.org Olga Ragusa's selection of recipes from Pellegrino's famous Italian cookbook can be found in its entirety (It's free to download). Her selection entitled, "The Italian Cook Book," was first published in 1945 by S.F. Vanni.... The following text was taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia:" Baba Baba with rum Origins Place of origin Italy Region Campania Area of ​​production The Campania Details Category sweet Recognition PAT Sector Fresh pasta and bakery products, biscuits, cakes, pastry and confectionery The baba or babba is a sweet baked dough with yeast of beer, typical pastry Neapolitan . Its diameter can vary from 5-7 cm up to 35-40 cm. It's also divided into two and filled with chocolate or cream. In addition, there is also a version with essence of bergamot. The baba is a derivation of a sweet sourdough, a native of Poland, which is called Babka ponczowa , "sweet grandmother" (from Babka , "old"), and kept the round shape with the cream in the middle. Used by French chefs, the "baba" has taken the accent on the final syllable, while the Neapolitans have doubled consonant. The inventor of the baba was King Stanislaus Leszczyński, being in-law of Louis XV , was delighted to invent new dishes. The sovereign, edentulous, apparently could not eat Kugelhupf, a typical dessert of the French ' Alsace , which he found too dry. It was then soaked in Tokaj and syrup. The typical mushroom shape is due to the famous confectioner Nicolas Stohrer , who arrived in Paris with Maria Lesczynska, girlfriend of the French King. At number 51 of rue Montorgueil still the house offers some delicious sweet taste. Another version of the origins reminded them of the king flared skirt (round) of older women who are called Babka. Another story tells that the king, bad-tempered, sweet flung against a cupboard, smashing a bottle of rum. She went to soak the cake and Stanislaus then tasted it and found it very good. In the nineteenth century the master Brillat-Savarin invented a liquor which was matched to fruit salads. The French pastry of the "brothers Julien" had the idea to close the salad in a baba properly brushed with apricot jam, was born the baba "Savarin." The earliest sources on the Neapolitan sweet date back to 1836 when the cook culinary Angeletti wrote a manual that describes the recipe with raisins and saffron, these gradients lost over the years because of the "vulgarization" of commercial bakeries that have baked with new types cream and sour cherries or maybe served mignon with ice cream parfait. Recipe The technique of kneading and rising times are two great secrets of this renowned dessert. It is left to rise for a long time in a mold of a truncated cone elongated, then baked in a hot oven. Takes on an amber color and a characteristic shape of a "mushroom". After cooking is extracted, and you do it "dry" for at least a day to lose most of the moisture. Then is placed partially submerged in large containers filled with hot liquid of choice: sugar syrup, rum, or other liquors such as limoncello. It is, finally, summarily deprived of excess liquid and sent to authorized retailers. Some bakeries will cover the surface with a glaze apricot, which makes it more shiny and attractive. A variant of the baba is the so-called "savarin", which while retaining the same basic ingredients of the baba provides for the introduction of a bit 'of milk in the dough: the result is a paste clearer and spongy, less sour flavor, that lends itself much better to the production of large "sweet baba" garnish with whipped cream, fruit and jelly...." Photo: Mary Melfi.

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