Sweet blueberry marbled buns - Panini dolci marmorizzate ai mirtilli - Slatko mramorno pecivo s borovnicama

I like to capture memories of my time spent at home in Croatia and each time I come back to Italy, to my second home, I write down few words combined with a simple recipe and some pictures. Since some time all my efforts to put down some words were vain. There were other, more essential requirements in these last months that continue keeping me busy and there is a kind of psychological interruption inside of me. Probably my brain took a break trying to minimize all commitments me and Mr. M. are facing at present. Indeed my brain took a long break and it's still not giving signs of any kind of willpower to start running again. I’m afraid it will go on like this until all works in our home will be definitively over.

Yes, we will have bigger home and all our efforts will be rewarded! Now we are demolishing some walls, opening spaces and imagining how will it look like when all the dust and the dirt will disappear. Our tiny home is already full of light, can you imagine how much light will enter in our home when there will be three times more door windows!

The idea to have more space for all my useful and useless accessories without moving my house to another address was the winning one. Though I didn't consider myself being so restless. New projects bring me always fun and fascination...this time things are bit different and I feel less freak about it. So it is so hard to concentrate myself and it will be so until we finish huge amount of work and cleaning in our new home.

I've learned that in some segments of my life I can't decide what to do and I can't do different things at the same time. I must follow the events and wait patiently "my time" to come. In meanwhile my days are packed with things to do that I sometime even dislike, but I'm dreaming about near future when I will have time again to create something that will make myself fulfilled. This crazy desire is giving me the energy and good will to go on, to win the daily routine and to forget for a while all the rubble the construction workers are producing in the flat near to ours.

I have moved several times in my life and each time it was very positive experience. First time we moved with my parents I was too little to remember the feeling. Second time I moved abroad and when my parents moved from our old flat to the new house I was already living alone in a foreign country – in what I call now my second homeland! I never have experienced the move as emotionally tough moment, but my mother still tells me how hard it was for her to leave all her memories in our tiny old flat. In my memories I always go back to this flat as a beautiful space full of joy, but now my heart belong to our new home with the beautiful view and a big garden. It’s so amazing how much inspiration and positivity I find there. The truth is that I feel at home where my parents are. For me it can’t be different.

Most important thing about our new adventure is that at the end we won’t have to move, but we will have new house full of light with bigger terrace crowded with plants and trees! There is still one big wall to be demolished and I only wish we could finish all works before Christmas!

I was away from this space for long time, but before the fog obfuscate the horizon and make us crave for clear blue sky I want to remember last shiny summer days spent in the Croatian mountains and my simple old recipe for soft and tasty buns….this time I’ve added some colour to the dough, it’s all fault of my friend and very expert colleague blogger Marija! I was curious about the marbled brioche she prepares and I wanted to try this kind of preparation too. Mine is slightly different, very summery, but I find it so attractive...like all new and original experiences!

SWEET BLUEBERRY MARBLED BUNS
For the dough:

250 gr flour + more for blue dough

1,30 dl milk

50 gr butter

1 egg

25 gr sugar +1/2 tablespoon for the yeast

7 gr fresh yeast

pinch of salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground cardamom

For blueberry syrup (for blue dough):
100 gr of blueberries
1 tbs. can sugar
Cook 10 minutes on low heat, then mix with the blender to get smooth syrup. Let it cool.

For the filling:

some smashed bluebberies

remaining blueberry syrup

Lukewarm milk wash and sliced almonds for decoration

Dissolve the yeast and 1/2 teaspoon of sugar in little lukewarm milk and let it raise for 10 minutes.

Warm up the milk (don’t boil it) and dissolve the butter in it.

In one bowl put the flour, sugar, ground cardamom, slightly whisked egg and the yeast and start to knead the dough with the mixer. Gradually add in the mixture milk with dissolved butter and continue to knead for about 10 minutes. Add a pinch of salt and knead for another few minutes.
Separate 1/3 of the dough and add some bluberry syrup into it to get the desired shade of blue. Continue working the dough with some more flour to get the blue dough with same texture of the white dough.
Leave the two doughs in separate bowls to raise until double the volume (cover the bowls with the PVC wrap or the bowl cover).

Roll both doughs to 0,5 cm high rectangles: the white part must be twice as much as the blue one. Spread over the white dough the remaining syrup and some smashed blueberries. Arrange the blue dough on one half of the white one. Fold the remaining half of the white dough over the blue one to cover it completely. Cut 1cm large stripes, slightly roll each strip like a spiral (with one hand keep one end of the dough stripe fixed to the working table and with the palm of other hand roll the dough strip), wind the dough strip around your fingers and tie it like a knot. Place buns on the baking tray covered with parchment, brush each buns with some milk wash and sprinkle with sliced almonds.
Let the buns raise about 20 minutes and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 20-25 minutes.

PANINI DOLCI MARMORIZZATI AI MIRTILLI
Per la pasta:

250 di farina “00” + altra farina per l'impasto blu

1,30 dl  di latte

50 gr di burro

1 uovo intero

25 gr di zucchero + ½ cucchiaino per il lievito

7 gr di lievito di birra

un pizzico di sale

½ cucchiaino di cardamomo macinato fresco

Per lo sciroppo di mirtilli (per l'impasto blu):
100 gr di mirtilli
1 cucchiaio di zucchero di canna
Cucinare 10 minuti su fuoco basso, poi frullare con il frullatore ad immersione per ottenere lo sciroppo denso. Far raffreddare.

Per la farcia:

qualche mirtillo schiacciato

la rimanenza dello sciroppo di mirtilli

Poco latte per spalmare i panini e mandorle a lamelle

Sciogliere il lievito e 1/2 cucchiaino di zucchero in poco latte tiepido e lasciare lievitare per 10 minuti.

Riscaldare il latte (non fatelo bollire) e sciogliere il burro nel latte caldo.

In una ciotola unire la farina, lo zucchero, il cardamomo macinato, un uovo leggermente sbattuto ed il lievito e cominciare ad impastare con il mixer. Gradualmente aggiungere all'impasto il latte con il burro sciolto e continuare ad impastare per 10 minuti. Alla fine aggiungere un pizzico di sale e impastare ancora per qualche minuto. 

Separare 1/3 dell'impasto, aggiungere nell'impasto sufficiente sciroppo di mirtilli per ottenere la desiderata sfumature del blu. Continuare a lavorare l'impasto con altra farina sufficiente per ottenere l'impasto blu della stessa consistenza di quello bianco.
Lasciare i due impasti a lievitare nelle ciotole separate fino al raddoppio del volume dell’impasto (coprire le ciotole con la pellicola trasparente oppure con il coperchio delle stesse ciotole).

Stendere entrambi gli impasti a forma di un rettangolo spesso 0,5cm: la parte bianca deve essere grande al doppio della parte blu. Spalmare il rimanente sciroppo di mirtilli sulla parte bianca e cospargere sopra i mirtilli schiacciati. Sistemare l'impasto del colore blu su una metà dell'impasto bianco. Piegare la rimanente metà dell'impasto bianco sopra l'impasto blu e coprirlo completamente.
Tagliare le strisce di pasta larghe 1 cm, arrotolarle leggermene a modo di spirale (con una mano fissare un’estremità della striscia di pasta al piano di lavoro e con il palmo dell’altra mano arrotolare la striscia di pasta su se stessa), avvolgere la striscia di pasta intorno alle dita e annodarla per creare un piccolo nodo di pasta.

Sistemare i panini sulla teglia rivestita da carta da forno, spalmare ogni panino con il latte e cospargerli con mandorle a lamelle.
Far lievitare i panini una ventina di minuti ed infornare nel forno già caldo a 180°C per 20-25 minuti.

SLATKO MRAMORNO PECIVO S BOROVNICAMA

Za tijesto:

250 gr brašna

1,30 dl mlijeka

50 gr maslaca

1 cijelo jaje

25 gr šećera + ½ žličice za kvasac

7 gr svježeg kvasca

prstohvat soli

1/2 žličica svježe usitnjenog kardamoma

Za sirup od borovnica (za plavo tijesto):

100 gr borovica
1 žlica šećera od trske
Kuhati 10 minuti na laganoj vatri, zatim izmiksati štapnim mikserom u gusti sirup. Ohladiti.

Za nadjev:

nekoliko zdrobljenih borovnica
ostatak sirupa od borovnica

Malo mlijeka za premazati pecivo i listići badema.

Otopiti kvasac i 1/2 žličice šećera u malo mlakog mlijeka i ostaviti da se diže 10 minuta.

Zagrijati mlijeko (ne treba vrijati) i u toplom mlijeku otopiti maslac.

U zdjelu staviti brašno, šećer, usitnjeni kardamom, lagano razmućeno jaje i kvasac, te početi mijesiti mikserom. Postepeno u tijesto dodavati mlijeko s otopljenim maslacem i miksati 10 minuta. Na kraju dodati u tijesto prstohvat soli i mijesiti još par minuta. Odvojiti 1/3 tijesta, dodati u tijesto dovoljno sirupa od borovnica da bi dobili željenu nijansu plave boje. Nastaviti mijesiti tijesto s dovoljno brašna da dobijete plavo tijesto iste konsistencije bijeloga tijesta.
Staviti svako tijesto u posebnu zdjelu i ostaviti da se tijesta dižu dok im se volumen ne udvostruči (pokriti zdjele prozirnom folijom ili  poklopcem).

Razvući oba tijesta u pravokutnike debljine 0,5cm: bijelo tijesto treba biti dvostruko veće od plavoga. Premazati bijelo tijesto ostatkom sirupa od borovnica i posuti po njemu smrvljene borovnice. Stavit plavo tijesto preko polovice bijelog tijesta. Zatim preklopiti drugu polovicu bijeloga tijesta preko plavog tijesto i potpuno ga prekriti.
Izrezati trake od tijesta široke 1 cm, lagano ih zarolati u spiralu (s jednom rukom držati jedan kraj trake od tijesta na radnoj plohi, a s dlanom druge ruke lagano zarolati tijesto), oviti traku od tijesta oko prstiju i zavezati u mali čvor.

Poslagati pecivo na pleh za pečenje prekriven papirom za pečenje, premazati svako pecivo mlijekom i posuti listićima badema.
Ostaviti da se pecivo diže dvadesetak minuta, te peći u zagrijanoj pećnici na 180°C oko 20-25 minuta.