A great heading for this post, and a great name for a bakery; it was also the theme for my Mother's Day lunch. Dutch Delicious (near the traffic circle at 13232 118 Avenue) has become a family favourite. And I'm not saying this happened to me... but don't call the bakery at midnight assuming their voicemail will give the hours, because then the baker will pick up resulting in a pretty awkward situation.
Family meals are always a struggle, dealing with the different preferences of everyone. I decided to stick with sandwiches, but do them a little differently. My family is Danish so we're big on the open-face san
dwich, and I also love the breakfast spreads you see in the Netherlands (the picture to the left = best breakfast ever). I tried to combine the two, and put out a platter of different breads (whole wheat Dutch and light rye), deli meats (porchetta, capicolla, peppercorn turkey, and sausage), hard-boiled eggs, and cheeses (medium gouda and mozzarella) from Dutch Delicious, the Italian Centre Shop, and Sobey's. I set out little bowls with dijon and wholegrain mustards, and also had crudités with dip. For a Mother's Day drink I made Pimm's Cocktail filled with fruit (with a virgin version for Court made with strawberry juice & sparkling water). Basically, this was just a fancied-up version of our normal weekend lunches. For dessert I made Brown Sugar Cheesecake and Court brought over some of her Vanilla Cupcakes for those crazies who don't eat cheesecake.
Now, back to the bakery. They have a small deli and cheese section and the rest is breads, buns, cookies, and small pastries. They also have a cute little table where you can eat in if you like, and I saw a few people doing that when I was there at around 9:30 on Saturday morning. It's best to get there early, as the best picks are gone by lunchtime. They make delicious almond cookies and almond tarts - so delicious that I haven't branched out much from those. If you like ginger the ginger tarts are also very good. They also have a very large selection of imported grocery items from the Netherlands, including my favourite: chocolate sprinkles (chocoladehagel - as seen in the picture). I also buy my dutch rusks there (I'm addicted) as well as good pickled beets and a lot of other harder to find foods if you're interested in Dutch, Scandinavian, or German cuisine. I still don't know the hours, but I do know that they're closed on Sundays.
Friday, May 15, 2009
Dutch Delicious
Saturday, November 29, 2008
Tempting Tea Bread
If you can braid hair, you can braid bread. It really is that simple, and I particularly like looking more impressive than I actually am. This sweet bread is fantastic served with tea or coffee, and if you're not a fan of cardamom you could switch it up and use cinnamon instead. Cardamom is a standard ingredient in Scandinavian baking, and for me it gives a nice warm, wintry feel to this bread. Because I don't have a bread machine due to space constraints in my small apartment, I headed over to my parent's today to make this.
Cardamom Tea Bread:
1 cup/250 ml milk
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp softened butter
3 cups/460g plain flour
1/3 cup/70g sugar
1 pkg/7g active dry yeast
3 tsp ground cardamom
Topping:
1 egg white, slightly beaten
pearl sugar or other decorative sugar
Add all the ingredients into the bread machine and select the 'Dough' cycle. Remember to keep aside the remaining egg white, as you'll need it for the top. Once complete, separate the dough into 3 equal portions and roll them into 30-35cm/12-14" long ropes. Braid them together as shown in the photos.
Preheat your oven to 375F/190C. Put the braided dough onto a greased baking sheet and allow it to rise until doubled in size. This works particularly well in the warming drawer of your oven, if you have one. If not, just find a warm place and cover with a tea towel until risen.
Brush the dough with egg white to cover all exposed areas, and sprinkle with pearl sugar. Bake until golden brown, around 20-25 minutes. Watch carefully near the end, as mine turned out a little too dark this time because I wasn't paying attention.
