Alexandrian cake on melted milk

20 servings
12 hours

How to make the Alexandria Cake? Prepare the right foods - everyone should be at room temperature. Take the top grade flour. I have fresh yeast, but you can take dry, 20-25 grams. Take the best butter, do not replace it with margarine or spread. It should be room temperature. Raisins are light, candied fruits are orange, but it is better to take different, multi-colored ones.

Steam the raisins with hot water for 8 minutes, rinse, remove the tails and dry. Finely chop candied fruits, if necessary. I used a mixture of pineapple candied fruit and homemade orange peel (how to cook them, there will be a link at the bottom). Sprinkle raisins and candied fruits with flour, mix and shake extra through a sieve or colander, so candied fruits and raisins will be evenly distributed in the dough.

Engage in the preparation of opara . /It is not entirely ordinary, since it does not contain flour, so it should last 8-12 hours/. Lightly whisk the eggs and yolks with the sugar, only to dissolve the sugar.

Then add soft butter to the egg-sugar mixture, do not melt it.

Stir the oil well until uniform with a mixer at low RPM.

Crush fresh pressed yeast into another container, pour in a little warm milk/so that your finger is not hot/, rub them well. Top up the rest of the milk and stir until completely dissolved . /If the yeast is fresh and of high quality, they should disperse quickly. Check expiration date and do not use old/. Melted milk will give the cakes a beautiful hue and a brighter creamy taste.

Now pour yeast into the egg mixture, mix with a mixer at low rpm.

Cover with a towel and leave for 8-12 hours at room temperature to ferment. It is convenient to cook the para in the evening so that in the morning it is ready.

This is the appearance of the finished opara after fermentation.

There will be an oil layer in the opara on top, and there are many sizzling bubbles under it.

Separately, sift the flour 3 times, mix it with salt and vanilla sugar. Then add in parts to the steam, mix everything well. At first I intervened with a whisk, when it became difficult, I continued kneading with my hands. The dough should not be hammered, but tender and sticky to the hands. To facilitate, brush your hands with odorless vegetable oil, do not clog with flour.

Add raisins, candied fruits and a spoonful of cognac/cognac will give the baking a special airiness/. Keep kneading, the dough will stay soft and sticky, and it should be.

Transfer the batch to a deep oiled container, taking into account the fact that the dough will increase significantly in volume. Cover the dough with an oil-lubricated film/in the film I make small holes/or a towel and leave it warm for proofing for 1. 5 hours . /I put it in heated to t 35 & # 039; and the oven turned off/. For control, I put a skewer, the dough rises so much more easily and smoothly.

As time passes, the dough will increase approximately threefold. I had a bowl for kneading dough on 5L, transferred to a 7L pan and it was just enough. Finished dough - 3. 120 kg.

Gently wash the dough, divide into pieces according to the number of molds, form an even bead and fill the greased molds with 1/2 - 1/3. Cover the moulds with film and place in a warm place on proofing for 1 hour. The forms can be greased with both butter and vegetable oil, then sprinkle with flour and shake off the excess.

During this time, the Alexandria dough should rise 2 times. Bake in the preheated oven at t 180 & # 039; about 20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160 & # 039;, cover the top with foil or parchment and bake for a further 40 minutes. Do not open the oven unnecessarily. Then turn off the oven, remove the foil and leave the cakes in it for 30 minutes. I bake in top-bottom mode at an average level. You focus on your oven.

Check your readiness with a skewer if dry comes out, which means the pastry is ready! Let the cakes cool. I just cover them with a towel, I don't put them on my side. Then remove the cakes from their moulds. Do not cook the glaze beforehand, as it sets quickly, so cook just before application.

Start cooking GLAZE. Beat the chilled whites to a lush foam, first at low speeds, then gradually adding speed. Without stopping to beat, add the sifted caster sugar in parts. At the very end, add the lemon juice and continue to whisk a little more. The glaze should be of uniform consistency, smooth and shiny. To make the glaze thicker, add the icing sugar, but a little bit each. You can buy ready-made glaze as you like.

When the cakes have cooled, cover with icing and garnish with pastry sprinkles. The cakes mature within 8 hours. This is how they will be in the cut. Well baked, light, airy, porous, slightly wet dough. Moderately sweet, with a pleasant creamy taste and vanilla aroma. The taste can be slightly changed by adding various flavors to the glaze. You can add more to this amount of raisins and candied fruit dough.