Preparation time: 1 hour + 8 hours proofing time
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Portion quantity: 15
Difficulty of preparation: medium
Food type: pastry
Utensils: Rum cake or muffin molds, scales, biscuit grating, planetary food processor
Cuisine: French
INGREDIENTS
For the dough:
100 g of thick wheat sourdough
320 grams of wholemeal flour
280 g eggs (4 whole eggs + 2 yolks)
80 g butter
1 tbsp sugar
⅔ tsp. salt
For the syrup:
800 g water
400 grams of sugar
300 g rum
For greasing:
butter to grease the molds
COOKING INSTRUCTIONS
STEP 1.
In a large bowl, mix together the leaven and eggs. Add flour, sugar and salt. Knead dough for about 7 minutes with a food processor or with your hands until smooth. Add the butter and knead until the dough “takes in” all the butter and is smooth, about 15 minutes. The finished dough will be soft and smooth. Grease a dough pan with vegetable oil. With wet hands lay out the dough, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise in a warm place for 3-4 hours.
STEP 2
Sprinkle the work surface with flour. Grease the moulds with butter. Transfer the dough to the table. Divide into pieces about 50g in weight, put into the forms and sprinkle with flour a little. Cover the forms with cling film and leave to rise at room temperature for about 3-4 hours. The dough should visually rise and be soft to the touch.
STEP 3
Place a baking tray on the bottom of the oven. Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Pour a mug of hot water into the bottom of the baking tray. Put the babas in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes.
STEP 4
Prepare the syrup. Pour water into a large saucepan and bring to a boil. Add sugar and rum. Stir until the sugar is dissolved. Then turn down the heat to a low heat. Cook the syrup for 3 to 4 minutes more. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.
STEP 5
Take the ready babes out of the molds, place on a biscuit rack, and let cool for 5 minutes. Dip each baba in the syrup, still warm, one by one, so that the dough is soaked as much as possible. Return the syrup-soaked babas to the rack. Serve the chilled rum babas at once or let them stand in the refrigerator for 3-4 hours.
My tips and tricks:
Rum Bubas are ideal served with some sort of cream. It can be a classic butter cream, mascarpone cream or custard cream. Any sour berries and some kind of crunchy texture in the form of toasted nuts or caramel crumbs would be very good for this gastronomic alliance. Italians often add Limoncello to the syrup instead of rum. And if you don’t want to use alcohol, just make regular sugar syrup. Babas baked and soaked in syrup keep well in the fridge for 3-4 days.