10 March 2009

Sourdough Savarin

Gorgeous isn't it?  I've been having so much fun with my sourdough starter, that I decided to try my hand at a savarin, which is a yeasted cake, soaked in rum and baked in a ring mold, and adapt it to use my starter.  I'm not sure I could reproduce it if I wanted to, but I'm going to try.  Since I used the sourdough starter, this recipe was all about patience.  I started it the night before I baked it to give the yeast a chance to do their thing, and then it had an additional 4-5 hours of rising time the next day.  I'm sending this beauty over to Susan at Wild Yeast for her YeastSpotting event.

Ingredients:

3/4 c. very wet potato flour sourdough starter
1/2 c. very warm water
1 1/3 c. high gluten unbleached white flour
1 Tbls. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

1.  The night before you want to bake the cake, combine the sourdough starter, water, flour, sugar and salt.  Mix until the flour is moistened, it should resemble cottage cheese.  Add more water if needed.  Cover bowl and leave over night.

2.  The next morning, mix in:

2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/3 c. high gluten unbleached white flour

3.  Knead the dough lightly, and add in:

1/4 c. unsalted, melted butter

4.  Knead the dough until the butter is completely incorporated and the dough is smooth and pliable.  Put the dough into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise about 1 hour.

5.  Lightly oil a Bundt pan.  Gently place the dough into the Bundt pan, spreading it out with your fingers so that it is even and fills the pan.  Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place until dough has risen to about an inch below the rim of the pan.  For me, this took about 4 hours.

6.  Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove the plastic wrap and bake the savarin until a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out clean (about 45 minutes)

7.  Immediately unmold the savarin and place it on a cooling rack (Below is a picture)
Unmolded savarin fresh from the oven

8.  Once cooled, make a simple sugar syrup by adding to a saucepan:

1 c. water
2 c. sugar
Grated zest of 1 lemon

9.  Put the saucepan over medium-high heat and bring the syrup to a boil.  After the mixture has boiled, remove from heat and add 1 tsp. vanilla extract

10.  Place the cooling rack on top of a cookie pan with sides.  Immediately soak the cake with the very hot sugar syrup by brushing it on thickly.  Pour the syrup that has drained into the pan back into the saucepan, re-boil it, and then pour that over the cake again.

11.  After soaking the cake with the sugar syrup twice, brush the cake with 1/3 c. rum

12.  Warm about 1/2 cup apricot or peach jelly in a small saucepan until melted.  Brush this over the cake after the rum.

13.  To serve, you can fill the center with whipped cream or serve as is with an accompaniment of sliced berries or serve plain.

Savarin after the first sugar syrup coating

27 comments:

Finla said...

Looks beautiful and i love the glaze.

Donna-FFW said...

Soaked in rum.. gorgeous just gorgeous!! You are becoming quite the yeast handler, I admire youyr talents!! BTW, if u get a chance pop in on my BLT post, I have a few comments for YOU there, sweetie pie!XXOOO

Cathy said...

You had me at rum ;)

Peter M said...

Congrats on having your pastitsio chosen as "tops"!

Now, do I get a slab of syrupy savarin?

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

That is quite a process and it paid off. What a gorgeous cake and soaked in rum - WOW an extra punch - YUM!

Wandering Coyote said...

I'm glad you're having so much fun with your starter! The savarin looks amazing!

La Cuisine d'Helene said...

This is so nice. Must taste good.

Reeni said...

It's really lovely and has such fantastic flavors! What a wonderful treat.

Julie Jams said...

Looks delicious!

Varsha Vipins said...

wow..pretty..loved the pics..:)

Stash said...

It's one of those things that I don't know what it is- all I know is it looks good and I must have it.

Chef E said...

Yeah I can have this! Its potato flour! Now tell me do I make the starter the same way?

Joy @ Joy Of Desserts said...

Bonjour Amanda! That is such an innovative take on a very classic and traditional French recipe, even changing the ring mold to a Bundt cake pan.

I'm so glad you left a comment on my blog because you enjoyed the visit to Paris and the French "macarons."

À bientôt, j'espère,
Joy
Joy Of Desserts

Gera@SweetsFoodsBlog said...

A wonderful and delicious treat...rum, grated zest, vanilla it must tastes really divine!

Selba said...

Definitely looks gorgeous :)

Sam said...

That looks amazing!

Anonymous said...

All I can say is "Uuuu" and "Aaaaa"... and oh, yes, where's the whipped cream? ;-)

Mr. Teacher Guy said...

turned out beautifully!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

Gorgeous . . . well yes it absolutely is gorgeous!! I know I have at least three recipes for this that I intend to bake but haven't been able to do it yet.
You've done an excellent Savarin . . . oh I'm wishing for a slice . . .

Sharon said...

This is quite a gorgeous cake! Rum is my friend ;)

Lori said...

I have a container that has been sitting out on my counter to start my sourdough mixture. It has taken me a couple years to get to that point. Oy! Your cake motivates me a lot more! Looks so good!

CurryLeaf said...

sooo beautiful..it looks.you surely are having fun with sourdough.I too am thinking of making the starter from your post,but being a bit lazy keep putting it off

Diana said...

That looks amazing! So beautiful.

Maris said...

This looks great! Let me just tell you, looking at pictures on food blogs in the evening is certainly NOT the best way to curb nighttime snacking :)

Your blog is great! Can't wait to read some more.

Anonymous said...

Wow, yes it is gorgeous. Can we do berries *and* whipped cream?

Abigail (aka Mamatouille) said...

Mmmmm, gorgeous!

Anonymous said...

Looks wonderful. Glad to knnow that I can bake a savarin in a bundt pan. I'm pretty sure I don't have any more space for another specially shaped cake pan :)

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