Dried and candied fruits
Below I will tell you about the main rules while working with dried or candied fruits, so your bakery is always fragrant and delicious.
Better use natural dried or candied fruits, with no artificial coloring. Colored candied fruits will dye dough around them and it will spoil the look of the pastry.
The best candied fruit to use – orange, citrus, lemon, grapefruit.
Attention! Candied fruits are never soaked in alcohol, only dried fruits.
Candied fruits get wet and lose their properties and aroma.
If dried fruits open in alcohol, candied fruits do the opposite. Candied fruits will reveal their properties precisely when baking, already in finished products.
Raisins are the basis of all dried fruits, they should be major part. They absorb alcohol the most and thereby extend expiration date of the product and give off moisture.
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Apricots, cranberries, figs, dried or dried cherries. This list of dried fruits is well suited for baking with dried fruits. We add them in a smaller amount comparing to raisins.
Infuse all dried fruits in alcohol according to color. Dark and light separately. In the process of infusion, cranberries or cherries can color the rest of the components.
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Alcohol
Alcohol acts as a flavoring agent and, most importantly, as a conservant, thanks to which such pastries are preserved for a long time.
The largest share should be for strong alcohol.
For example, Bacardi or Captain Morgan dark rum.
We do not take into account white rum, except for alcohol, it will not give any aromas to the baking. Dark rum will give products additional aromas and a rich taste.
Liqueurs such as Cointreau, Grand Marnier with an orange flavor will emphasize and enhance the taste. They also have a strength of almost 40 degrees.
I do not combine strong liqueurs with other types of alcohol.
For example, I want to infuse raisins for Rum Baba or Kuglof, I will use only liqueur.
Limoncello is very good for infusing dried fruit as an additional flavor.
If you want to feel the aroma of marzipan in baking, add a little Amaretto.
Limoncello and Amaretto can be combined with rum or cognac in smaller proportions relative to strong drinks.
Personally, I use the following combination for stoleni and Christmas cupcakes: dark rum, limoncello, amaretto, orange juice and zest. For Kuglof or Rum bread, strong liqueurs with an orange flavor.
We infuse dried fruits for 1-2 days. This period is enough for the dried fruits to absorb all the aromas and fill up. They will gradually introduce juices into the finished pastry and thereby extend the shelf life and prevent the products from drying out.
