Větrník, or věneček? Try these classic Czech cream cakes from Myšák
Batter is generally considered to be the pride of pastry chefs. And it is not only in the Myšák pastry shop that traditional desserts made from this type of dough are among the most popular. Under the direction of the head pastry chef Lukáš Pohl, dozens of cream cakes are prepared from it every day. Try baking them at home, here is the recipe.
For 20 smaller větrníks:
- 250 ml milk
- 250 ml water
- 100 ml sunflower oil
- 100 g butter
- 50 g semolina sugar
- 5 g salt
- 330 g plain flour
- 420 g eggs (approx. 8 pcs)
Procedure:
- Pour the milk, water and oil into a saucepan, add the butter, stir in the sugar and salt. Stir and bring to the boil.
- Once the mixture in the pot starts to boil, add the flour and beat the mixture for about 2 minutes - stir it and heat it until it is smooth, compact and does not stick to the bottom and sides of the pot or the cooker. Once a whitish coating appears on the bottom of the pot, the dough is baked.
- Place the dough in a bowl, let it cool to body temperature (it must not be hot!) and then incorporate the eggs into the dough with a whisk or hand beater - one at a time. Each egg needs to be thoroughly incorporated before adding the next. Properly worked, the dough is soft and glossy and has the consistency of thicker mashed potatoes.
- Preheat the oven to 170 °C. A hot-air oven is ideal - the hot air gives the batter a nice rise and dries it out optimally. If you have a conventional oven with top and bottom heating, always place a baking tray with a little water on the bottom - the steam will ensure the dough is risen. Keep in mind that every oven bakes a little differently - you will only get better at baking batter with practice.
- Fill a pastry bag with an open cut (star) tip with the batter. Line a baking tray with baking paper and get to work.
- Spray the pinwheels on the baking sheet as full rounds. Proceed as if you were tracing a spiral, from the outside to the centre. The diameter of classic pinwheels tends to be slightly larger than that of the wreaths, roughly 8-10 cm. For mini-wreaths it is again 4 cm.
- Hold the bag perpendicular to the sheet. Make the shapes at regular intervals, they will swell during baking. After creating the shapes, "tear off" the tip with the end of the dough. If you want them to be the same size, trace a glass on the other side of the baking paper with a pencil.
- The dough should be at room temperature and should be sprayed as soon as it is worked out. Rolling it out will make it a little stiff and then harder to work with. Always make the dough fresh, and don't store it in the fridge - it could get thin.
- Bake the cakes for about 30 minutes in the middle of a preheated oven, ideally with only one baking sheet in each. Don't open the oven during baking - if you open it before the dough has had time to form a baked, caramelised crust, the shapes may not rise or may fall apart. Open the oven towards the end of baking and tap the bottom of one piece - you can tell when the dough is well baked by the 'thud', it should 'rattle' in your hands. Let them cool completely, ideally on a wire rack, before cutting and filling.
Tips: Use plain flour - it is important in the recipe as it contains a lot of gluten. It will ensure that the dough rises properly during baking, will hold air bubbles in the casing and hold its shape.
Are you more in the mood for a věneček, or "wreath"?
You can make these by making a circle on the baking sheet - leaving a hole in the middle. If you want to make the them taller, you can smoothly squeeze a second ring on top of the first. And the size? The rings should be about 7 cm in diameter for standard wreaths like from a cake shop, 4 cm for mini wreaths.
The dough shells can easily be frozen. Let the baked shapes cool completely and then place them in a bag - seal it carefully so the dough doesn't get wet. Store in the freezer. Let the shells thaw at room temperature before filling (do not use the oven or microwave) and then work with them in the same way as with fresh ones.
