Wednesday, May 25, 2011

It's Kringle Weekend!!!

The last Saturday of the month is 
Kringle weekend at Tree-Top Baking.  
Kringle is a is a Scandinavian pastry, a Nordic variety of pretzel, which arrived with Roman Catholic monks in the 13th century, especially in Denmark.   

Danish Pastry dough mixing.


The dough is then folded with butter (laminated), resulting in 100's of layer s of  flaky pastry.

Divided into units, the pastry is topped with a almond paste/sugar/butter mixture, sprinkled with raisins.

The filling and raisins are encased in the dough, then shaped into a "pretzel".

After proofing (raising), the pastry is egg washed, sprinkled with sliced almonds and coarse sugar.



The finished product, a flaky sweet pastry that we make the last Saturday of the month... enjoy!!!


Tuesday, May 17, 2011

It's All About Golden Syrup



Those of you who have tried our Anzac Biscuits know how great they are.  Well there is one little hitch.... they call for a product called Golden Syrup.  This is a product that is available here in the US, but the only brand we have ever found is Lyle's Golden Syrup.  While it is a great product, the cost is prohibitive for the amount we use. But wait... there is a sugar refiner in Canada that makes it  and it's called Rogers Golden Syrup !!! The bad news is that they don't import it to the US.

Since Gerry's  dad was born in Canada, and he had a real "sweet tooth", we always had some on hand. When we decided to start making it for our customers, we picked up a few jars on a visit to Vancouver.  Now into week three of our market, we realized that a few jars was not near enough.  After a web search, we found that it was available from a bakery supplier in Vancouver BC.  Thanks to Snow Cap Bakery supply in Burnaby and a quick trip up... well not that quick (think US border control and 100 lbs of syrup) we should be set for the season.

Now that we have enough Golden Syrup, Anzac Biscuits are yours for the season, get yours this week at the Bayview Farmers Market, Saturdays 10-2. 




14-Carrot Double Gold Dessert Cake
By now you likely know we were really impressed with almost everything we found in Australia earlier this year. This week we introduce a new line of cakes -- we call them dessert cakes. In Australia they're known as "health" cakes or  "baker's" cakes.  We're calling this week's variety "14-Carrot Double Gold Dessert Cake." A cousin of our popular Carrot Cake,14-Carrot Double Gold Cake has fresh-shredded carrots, dried apricots, walnuts... and is made with white AND whole wheat flours. It's finished with a light cream-cheese icing infused with orange zest. You're sure to like it...order one for Saturday

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Start Your Saturday With Us



Sprouted Wheat
One of our most popular breads is back again this year.  Sprouted Wheat starts out Tuesday morning as 20+ pounds of hard spring wheat berries.  They're poured into a large container and filled with water that's changed twice a day until Thursday morning.  By that point the grains have softened and begun to sprout.  Thursday afternoon the soaked berries are ground into a mash and then refrigerated until the dough is mixed Friday afternoon.  Each loaf includes more than a pound of the sprouted berries, a touch of salt, yeast and a very small portion of hi-gluten flour (to help provide structure to the bread). The loaf has a great texture, is slightly sweet, and is like nothing else we bake. Stop by Saturday for a sample...and add Sprouted Wheat Bread to your list of TTB favorites.


24-hours after first being soaked, grains have swollen nearly twice their size.

 Dough ready for final proof.


Last Minute Addition...

Kolackys
A very tender buttery pastry (kind of a cross between Danish Pastry and a cookie).  Topped with either raspberry or Apple. 

Wednesday, May 4, 2011

It's Mother's Day Weekend

Two Special Cakes For That Special Mom
  • Chocolate Indulgence: Three layers of moist chocolate cake, switched with two layers of rich chocolate filling, iced with chocolate buttercream and enrobed with chocolate truffle... $19.
  • Strawberry Indulgence:  Three layers of moist white cake, sandwiched with two layers of strawberry jam, iced with buttercream and enrobed in white truffle.  Decorated with fresh strawberries... $19.




This Week's Sourdough.... Cracked Wheat


Croissants... we do both, Butter or Pain au Chocoalte.



For the coconut lovers... Chocolate Dipped Coconut Macaroons