I have a ton of recipes with kefir to talk about, and this coconut and apple plumcake is one of them.
There are quite a few, and in the end, I might not even manage to publish them all! Perhaps I’ll have to redo some of them, following the notes I scribbled on the fly during their creation, hoping to make sense of them…
😀
…Oh yes! Because I realized that in the “creative moment” (ooooooh creative moment! 😄) I lost some ingredients in the pen, others I had in my head and told myself I’d write them down later, but then I didn’t. In one case I didn’t have paper handy and wrote on the back of a receipt, but it was small and didn’t fit everything so I abbreviated and well… now I can’t make sense of it anymore! And this recipe, specifically, is written on the back of a receipt, a memory from our vacation. 😊
I should be more precise, I know, but you know how it is, right? While you’re there, about to pour some kefir and oops, you remember you need to weigh it, so you weigh it, mix it, and realize you need more, so you weigh it again and add more, and well… it ends up that you don’t always write it down, you just add it. And in the end, when you set it to rise, you tell yourself, okay, now I’ll write down what’s missing, but you don’t remember anymore!! 🤭 Darn it… did I add 30 grams or 40? or 50? and the water? were they grams or milliliters? Hmmm…..
For someone who at eight years old made the dough for flatbread by eye, measuring the flour, the lard by spoonfuls, and the hot water as needed… it’s not always easy to be precise. Cut me some slack.
But why, you might ask, all this chatter just today?
Well, there’s a reason, of course.
And the reason is the lemon.
There is one. It’s written on the note. But I don’t remember using it. I don’t remember grating the zest, and I don’t remember if I added the juice before or after or during everything. Instinctively, I’d say the juice is used to keep the apple from browning, but that’s not the case because I remember deciding to use the apple last minute.
However, the lemon is there, because it’s clearly written “1 lemon zest and juice”, there it is, written between the brown sugar and the coconut. It’s there.
And so, you decide when and how to add it to the dough. In any case, I know you’ll do it right! 😀 😉
〰〰〰
- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Cheap
- Rest time: 3 Hours
- Preparation time: 20 Minutes
- Portions: 15Pieces
- Cooking methods: Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: All Seasons
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2/5 cup brown sugar
- 2/3 cup shredded coconut
- 1/2 cup milk kefir (or plain yogurt)
- 1 1/2 tbsp corn oil
- 1 egg
- 1 lemon (juice and zest)
- 1 tsp honey
- Half cube fresh yeast
- 2/5 cup water (or kefir whey, if available)
- 1 apple
- to taste powdered sugar (for garnish)
Tools
- Plumcake Mold
- Bowl
- Parchment Paper
Steps
Proceed as you would with any yeast dough:
Dissolve the yeast in the water with the teaspoon of honey.
In a bowl, beat the egg with the sugar, add the other liquids, i.e., the kefir, oil, and the water in which the yeast was dissolved.
Gradually incorporate the flour and coconut.
Work the mixture until you obtain a soft dough.
Let the dough rise by placing the bowl in a sheltered place (I always put it in the microwave) until it doubles.
After rising, transfer the dough into a plumcake mold (or two small ones) lined with parchment paper and let it rise again for about an hour, or until it has at least reached the edge of the mold.
Just before baking, slice the apple thinly and embed the slices into the dough.
😃 I hadn’t planned on adding this apple initially, then at the last moment, I decided and did it.
The operation was fun because the dough was rising in my hands (literally) and as I proceeded with the operation, the already inserted apple slices tended to rise, so I tried to push them back, and in a couple of cases, the slices even broke. In short, it was a blast. I really enjoyed making this coconut and apple plumcake, and never mind if I don’t remember the lemon!!Bake at 392°F (200°C) for 30-35 minutes. Midway through, I lowered it to 356°F (180°C) because the surface was browning a bit too much.
☝ Please, I never get tired of saying this, adjust temperatures and times based on your oven and also the type of mold used.
Take it out, dust with powdered sugar (optional), and enjoy.
Most of this coconut and apple plumcake we ate almost immediately, just slightly warm.
The little left, we saved for breakfast the next day. It was excellent even cold. 😋
And if by chance you notice any resemblance to the light brioche dough plumcake… yes, it is! I had in mind a kefir-style revisitation of that recipe, even though, as always, the variations of the case came naturally. 😉
