Kruchy Placzak ze Sliwkami

[rdywenur]

www.stylistka.pl/czas-wolny/gotowanie/ciasto-na-niedziele

When I was in Poland (98) my cousin made this all the time. I wrote down the ingredients and when I came home made it and it came out perfect. (except forgot to write down butter so back then it was from memory) 2nd time was much later and I forgot to do something....so recently spoke to her on the phone (she is PC illterate and does not speak English at all so can't email her..darn)

So today I decided to make my placzak and 1) forgot to look for the cocao and there was none 2) after mixing ingredients the dough did not seem as it should be a bit too dry. I proceded to make it anyway and is edible but not as the way it is supposed to come out. So I have been hunting for a recipe on line that came close to what I have for a recipe (ingredients w/o instructions)

Can someone (Jaga) look at this recipe (Mine) and the link I found. Compare and tell me what I should be doing. Also Polish recipe says 1 stick margarine...is Polsih stick same as US stick (1/4 lb)


Here is my cousin's recipe:
3 cups flour
1 cup sugar
5 egg yolks
1tsp baking powder

Mix (knead)
divide into 3 equal parts
add cocao to the 1st ball (about 1tsp) and wrap and leave in refrigerator at least 1 hour to 2hrs.

Take one ball and pat into pan. Add fruit (plums or apples) I used Italian plums and eyeballed the amount (2 lbs maybe) for 13 x 9 pan. You must split the plums in half and remove pits and place on top of the dough. T Next take second ball and crumble on top of the plums. Beat the 5 eggwhites stiff , add 1/2 cup sugar and pour over the plums. Then take the last cocao and crumble over last. Bake at 180c which I did at 350F for 45min.


I need basically to find out why mine was so dry. (I figured it didn't really matter about part of the dough being chocolate and it didn't) Maybe I should have added more butter. Or maybe it was the way I mixed the ingredients together.

I hope soemone can help (if you understand this post that is) ;D

Oh I should take a photo for you huh? Okay coming......later.

[Pawian]

I won`t help you with this cooking problem.

What I can say is that I like plum cake very much. It has many tastes in it - it`s sweet and sour, soft and crunchy. Variety is the spice of life!

[Jaga]

Chris,

was it really not good? It looks very good on the picture? I am not sure what was wrong but I cannot help you because I have a terrible problem with my fruit cakes. I was trying to do current cakes and they were just.... fermenting all over the dough and the cake was just not edible at all! I wish I knew what I am doing wrong!

By the way, maybe the plums are different that these in Poland. In Poland we have so called Sliwki wegierki (hungarian), here plums are different.

[Jaga]

Chris,

sometimes I use sour cream instead of butter or butter and sour cream together. This should make it less dry

[rdywenur]

Jaga these are the plums I used. They are small in size and are called Italians plums, sometimes prune plums.

The Placzak was okay but it was the dough which came out very dry (too crumbly and should have been a bit more moist. I did look through many recipes and believe me each is different and many used smateny (now is this heavy cream or sour cream)

You can eat the cake. It is tasty just the since the dough was too dry it was more like a shortbread than a cake like consistency which it should have been. I am just trying to stay with my cousin's recipe.

[Jaga]

Chris,

these plums looks just like Hungarian ones! I will try to do the plum cake tonight with the plums from our young tree which had the first plums this year. I am planning to add some sour-cream also. I will let you know whether it was edible

[rdywenur]

I called my cousin last week and verified my recipe. In the mean time I just was checking some recipes on another forum I visit and lo and behold I find the correct version for my recipe. For some reason I did not have this information in my original recipe I wrote down in Poland. So here is the good version:
When I was in Poland everyone seemed to make this cake and served it with tea. My cousin Basia shared the recipe with me so I will share with you.

3 Cups flour
2 sticks butter
1 Cup sugar
5 eggs yolks (save whites for 2nd step)
1Tsp Baking powder

Mix (knead) and divide into 3 equal parts

Ist add cocoa(about 1 tsp) to one of the 3 parts you just divided. Leave in refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours. Take one ball and pat into pan add the fruit (italian plums divided into two is best) Just lay them side by side till whole pan is covered (I used a 13x9 in pan) You may also use sliced apples as the plumes are usually in season in the fall. Next take 2nd ball and crumble on top of the plumes. Beat 5 egg whites stiff, add 1/2 Cup sugar. Pour over the fruit.

Take 3rd ball (cocoa) and crumble last evenly over the mixture. Bake at 180C...I think that maybe = 350 to 375F for about 25 to 30 minutes. smacznego


When I went over the ingredients and then asked my cousin exactly what she did (I beat the egg yolks and then added the sugar and mixed more the lastt ime I made this)

She throws all into a bowl and then starts to knead. (mix) and use the best cooca you can ..I bought a Belgian one...no sugar, milk ..just cocoa. (good for making greeat hot chocolate in the winter time)