Rum Baba

I'm featuring this today as it's a dessert which requires yeast, following on from Wednesday's On The Side column.

Rum Baba. Or Baba au Rhum, if you're French. But if you think we're tracing its origins back to France then wrong, wrong, wrong. I'm told it comes from eastern Europe. Poland/Ukraine way. Baba/babka/babushka are Grandma type names, so it's making a bit of sense. But then someone tells me that it refers to the shape of the cake, tall fluted, like a skirt. Eh? Most eastern European grannies are much like my own were, little and square.

Then we learn about exiled King Stanislaus of Poland, living in Lorraine. He was, as you probably knew, father-in-law of Louis XV of France. Apparently he brought the cake from Poland to France. Then, apparently, he found it too dry (from the journey, perhaps, or was he just a slow learner?) and decided to soak it in booze. Some say rum, some say sweet wine. Does it matter?

Well yes, according to the authors of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, (MAFC)

of whom the American Julia Child is the best known. If you think I'm pedantic (a charge to which I will always plead guilty) you really should get into these two volumes. A rum baba, we are told, is made in a baba tin, about 5cm deep and 5cm in diameter. It is to be flavoured with rum. This is not to be confused with a savarin (which is what they serve at Josephine Bouchon to make one large baba), cooked in a mould of the same name, and flavoured with kirsch. Oh, for heaven's sake, ladies.

But here's another bump in the road. I thought I had nothing better to do than to repeat the words of wisdom from MAFC. While the cooking style may seem a little dated these days, they've never let me down. Until today that is. We are effectively looking at a variation on a bread dough. I'm scratching my head as I read the recipe, then it dawns on me. These august ladies are telling you how to make a dough, but no mention is made of any liquid!

So I've turned to the BBC and Paul Hollywood. Before you start, you have to make up your mind what sort of mould you're going to use. Small individual ones, or one large savarin. Paul uses a tray with ring moulds about 11cm in diameter. You can get trays which can make 4 or 6 round babas. (See the photo below.) Alternatively you can use the small moulds, also known as dariole moulds.

As with any bread, there are three stages before baking. You make and knead your dough; you prove it; then you give it a second prove. But be warned, this one is fiddly.

Ingredients (for the dough)

100g softened butter; 50g granulated sugar, plus extra for lining the tin; 2 eggs; 7g fast action yeast; good pinch of salt; 225g strong white flour; 70ml milk.

For the syrup 

200ml water; 250g caster sugar; 60ml dark rum. (You may want to make extra for serving.)

For the Chantilly cream

250ml double cream; 100g icing sugar; seeds from 1 vanilla pod or 1tsp vanilla extract; fruit to garnish.

************************************************

Put the flour in a large bowl and add the yeast and sugar, making sure they don't touch each other. Add the sugar and mix well. Mix the eggs and milk together. Add the mixture to the flour, a little at a time, combining well. At this stage you want to knead; interestingly, while Paul's recipe tells you to tip it out on to a surface, his You Tube video shows the kneading being done in the bowl. It will be sticky, but you want it to end up smooth and glossy.

Then add in the softened butter (it occurs to me that melted might be easier) a bit at a time. Mix thoroughly until your dough is silky and stretchy. This will take another 6 minutes or so. Transfer to a clean bowl, cover and leave to prove until doubled in size. This should take at least an hour, possibly more dependent on temperature. Keep it out of a draught - dough hates draughts.

Prepare your moulds. Grease with butter and add a light dusting of sugar which will help them come out of the moulds. Knock back the dough and knead again for a few minutes.

Paul suggests piping the dough into the ring moulds. Try to keep them all about the same size, but don't worry that they look a bit rough. They will smooth out as they  rise.  If using cylindrical tins, just pull a piece of dough to half fill the tin. In either case, cover and leave to rise for another hour or so.

To make the syrup, heat the water, sugar and rum in a pan. Heat gently at first until the sugar melts, then bring to a rolling boil and remove from the heat. Play around with the quantities of alcohol until you get a cocktail you're happy with.

Preheat your oven to 180˚C/Mark 4. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes until golden. Allow to cool for a bit (but not completely) then remove from the mould/tins. They will be very fragile. Put them in a dish and pour over half of the warm syrup. Allow them to absorb all the liquid, then turn them over and pour over the remaining syrup. Refrigerate.

From here, it's up to you. I don't add cream but Chantilly is traditional. Simply whip the cream with the sugar and the vanilla. More piping is suggested. Similarly, garnish with fruit or whatever you fancy. At Josephine they offer you some more booze (two types) to pour over the finished product.

As this is really quite a fiddly pud, make sure you get it how you want it and don't be bullied by recipes. You could use Cointreau or Kirsch if you don't like rum. The trick is to get the balance between sweetness and booze. It's dish I've eaten and enjoyed, but never made. Good luck. At least I saved you from a rare Julia Child clanger.