Japanese biscuit "Castella": recipe for cooking

Anyone who has at least once in his life tried a Japanese biscuit, will agree that this product is worthy of special attention. Created many centuries ago, it still enjoys great popularity not only at home, but also abroad.

Honey "Castella"

Initially, the Japanese biscuit was made from eggs, sugar, flour and starch syrup. Over the years, the composition of the dessert has changed due to special preferences in the food of the inhabitants of this country. Over time, and in Europe, the taste of this unusual dish was appreciated. Today, every housewife can give pleasure to her household and make an original Japanese biscuit using the following main ingredients: 8 eggs, 100 grams of milk, 300 grams of brown sugar, 200 grams of flour and 150 grams of honey.

Cooking this dessert is easy:

1. First, you need to sift the measured amount of flour. The procedure must be repeated three times so that the product can be "saturated" with oxygen as much as possible.
2. Honey dilute in milk until completely dissolved.
3. Eggs beat up with sugar. The process must be carried out in a water bath for 15 minutes. During this time, the temperature of the mass should reach 60 degrees.
4. Put the egg mixture in the bowl of the food processor and continue whisking until it finally cools down.
5. There also pour the milk with honey dissolved in it.
6. Gradually add the flour without stopping the mixing.
7. Form a parchment, and then pour into it the prepared mass.
8. Remove excess air from the mixture. For this, the form must be knocked once on the table.
9. Baking biscuits should be done in the oven at a temperature of 180 degrees for 50 minutes.
10. Put the finished product in a plastic bag and send it to the refrigerator for several hours. This is necessary to make it more damp and dense.

Finished biscuit cut into small rectangles. In order not to damage the structure of the product, it is better to do with a sharp knife with a knurled blade.

Interesting to know

The history of the popular biscuit in Japan began back in the 16th century. It was then that merchants from Portugal landed off the coast of the island of Nagasaki for the first time. Together with tobacco, guns and various provisions, they brought with them a very tasty biscuit. Local residents liked the unusual product. He was called "bread from Castile", and in abbreviated form - "Castellum". But in those days it was not so easy to cook it for the Japanese themselves because of the high prices in the country for sugar. That is why the local culinary specialists began to develop new recipes for the production of "overseas delicacies." This is probably why the country still believes that the most delicious Japanese biscuit is baked in Nagasaki. Today this dish is popular in many countries of the world. True, they cook it mostly at home or in small bakeries. On a production scale, it is very difficult to make the Castellus. This product is very whimsical and sensitive to any changes in humidity or temperature.

Original foundation

The famous oriental biscuit is good not only for tea. It can be an excellent base for making other desserts. But first you need to bake a Japanese biscuit. The recipe for its preparation is, in principle, uncomplicated. To work, you will need the following set of products: 130 milliliters of milk - 85 grams of flour, 70 grams of butter, 80 grams of sugar, food color (if desired), 1 chicken egg, and 165 grams of protein and 120 grams of yolks.

The method of preparing the product includes the following steps:

1. In the saucepan pour the milk and put oil in it. Put the container on the fire and bring its contents to a boil.
2. Stirring constantly, slowly add the flour and brew the dough.
3. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees.
4. Put the dough into a combine and stir it a little to cool it.
5. Add egg and yolks. If you plan to make a colored biscuit, then the dye should be entered at this stage.
6. Separately, mix the whites with sugar.
7. Connect both masses. You need to work with a normal shovel.
8. After this, combine the mixture with a whisk for 2 minutes.
9. Cover with a special bakery paper.
10. Pour the mixture on a thin layer and send it to the oven for 15 minutes.

The result is a thin, delicate and very soft biscuit that can remain so for several days.

homemade baking

For beginners, you can offer a simplified version. Performing the simplest actions, they can get a real Japanese biscuit. The recipe is extremely simple and requires only the following components: 2 eggs - 70 grams of flour, a pinch of salt, 2 tablespoons of water (or milk) and honey, 63 grams of sugar (including 13 grams for sprinkling the mold).

Operating procedure:

1. If the house does not have a special shape, then it can be done by one's own hands. You must first build a rectangular box of thick paper. From the outside, it should be wrapped with foil, and from the inside - it should be laid with clean paper.
2. In a deep bowl, beat the eggs.
3. Gradually add sugar to them.
4. Put the container in a pan with water heated to 50 degrees, and once again thoroughly mix its contents.
5. Separately, dilute honey with water (or milk), and then add it to the egg mass.
6. Combine the salt with flour. Portionally enter into the container dry ingredients, mixing the contents with a wooden spatula.
7. Pour the mass in a pre-cooked form and bake in the oven at a temperature of 160 degrees. Willingness to check with a wooden stick or toothpick.

For better roasting, the mold should be placed on the lower shelf. If the surface of the biscuit quickly blushes, then it can be covered with a piece of foil.

Chiffon biscuit

In cooking, there is another way of preparing a biscuit of a similar consistency. It was created much later, in 1927, and was called "chiffon". For comparison, you can consider this biscuit recipe. In the oven for its baking, the usual forms for cupcakes are often used. However, in this case the composition of the ingredients will be different: 200 grams of flour - 2.5 teaspoons of baking powder, 5 eggs (plus 1 more protein), 210 grams of sugar, 135 milliliters of water, 5 grams of salt, 2 grams of citric acid and 90 Milliliters of olive oil.

Cooking method:

1. The first step is to warm the oven. The temperature inside it should be from 160 to 170 degrees.
2. Then you need to break the eggs, separating the yolks from the proteins.
3. In a deep bowl, pour out the sifted flour.
4. Then add the rest of the dry ingredients (salt, sugar and baking powder).
5. In the middle of the "hill" make a deepening, and then pour in water with oil and yolks. Corach them into the bead for 1 minute, until the mass becomes homogeneous.
6. In another container with the help of a mixer turn proteins into dense foam.
7. Gradually add to them citric acid and sugar. Beat for a long time until you get the characteristic peaks.
8. Partly introduce proteins into the egg mass.
9. Pour the dough into a mold and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.

Many people prefer this kind of biscuit recipe. In the oven it turns out to be very soft and lush. In addition, the product is perfectly cut and does not even crumble.

Alternative option

There is another recipe, with which you can also make an excellent sponge cake "Castella". To do this, you need: half a glass of flour, 7 eggs (plus 3 yolks), 50 grams of any vegetable oil (odorless), 75 grams of honey, 5 grams of salt and 300 grams of sugar.

The process of making such a biscuit is somewhat similar to the one used in the previous versions:

1. Pre-sifted flour pour into a bowl along with salt.
2. Beat the remaining ingredients (except oil) with a mixer in another container.
3. Put this container in a pot of boiling water and continue to whip for 10 minutes. Sugar should dissolve completely.
4. Carefully insert flour.
5. Separate part of the dough and grind it with butter, then return it and make the final batch.
6. Put the weight in the mold.
7. Bake for 15 minutes in the oven at 170 degrees.
8. Make the flame smaller. Continue baking for 45 minutes at 150 degrees.

To cool such a biscuit is better right in the form.

Chocolate Delicacy

Those who like the flavor of cocoa, can cook at home a chocolate dessert in the oriental style. To taste the finished product was close to the original, you need to prepare a sponge cake in Japanese. For this purpose the following composition is suitable:

105 grams of eggs and 15 grams of yolks, 10 grams of whole milk, glucose (or liquid honey) and cocoa powder, 80 grams of sugar, 25 grams of corn oil, 50 grams of flour, a pinch of salt, soda and vanillin.

Method of preparation:

1. First, the oil must be heated, and then add cocoa to it and mix it.
2. Pour the milk.
3. Introduce the salt with vanillin. After stirring, allow the mixture to cool completely.
4. Separately, beat the eggs with honey, adding yolks.
5. Without stopping, add small amounts of sugar. Should get an airy foam mass. But in the Japanese dessert, they should not be. Therefore, stirring must be continued with a hand-whisk.
6. Add cocoa butter to the mixture.
7. Introduce slowly flour, carefully mixing, so that no lumps remain.
8. Pour the dough into a form lined with parchment.
9. Bake for 5 minutes at the bottom of the oven at 170 degrees. After this, the form should be rearranged a little higher and wait another 27 minutes.

After cooling, the finished dessert can be eaten. If you pour it with a soft cream, you will get a perfect cake.

Tenderness of cotton

In small cafes, Japanese often serve a delicate dessert with a wonderful silky texture. It is sometimes called "cotton". Japanese air biscuit is made from the following products: 3 eggs, 225 grams of cream cheese, half a lemon peel, 100 grams of cream (10%) and sugar, a teaspoon of vanilla, 30 grams of flour and rice starch.

Cooking process:

1. The form for baking from the outside should be wrapped with foil. Inside, it needs to be smeared with oil and covered with thick paper.
2. Oven to warm up to 180 degrees.
3. Boil one and a half liters of water.
4. Eggs divided into yolks and squirrels.
5. Cream in a saucepan bring to a boil.
6. Part sugar to grind with yolks white.
7. With a thin trickle add hot cream to them.
8. Cheese to knead and parts to introduce it into the egg mass. Beat whisk until smooth.
9. Proteins mix with a foam. Do not stop stirring, fall asleep sugar.
10. In the creamy mass, add starch, flour, vanilla and zest.
11. Step by step enter proteins with sugar.
12. Transfer the dough to the mold. To make large bubbles with air out of it, the container should be raised and sharply hit the table.
13. Bake in the oven in a water bath for 5 minutes.
14. Reduce the temperature to 160 degrees and wait another 45-55 minutes. The finished biscuit should spring in the center.
15. Turn off the fire. Remove the form from the water bath and leave it to cool in the oven with the door open.

Literally in 40 minutes the dessert will be ready for use.