A sweetened bread or cake made from a rich dough, baked in tall, cylindrical moulds. Plenty of legends surround the introduction/invention of 'Baba au Rhum.' Not so for basic baba. The origin of this item (while sketchy) is generally attributed to Slavic peoples. According to the food historians baba doughs range from simple yeast-based mixtures to complicated alcohol-drenched pastry, richer than Brioche dough. The custom of serving these sweet entrements spread from New Orleans to other portions of the United States, till now no fastidious chef would think of keeping a fashionable hotel or restaurant with including some of these in the daily bill of fare.'īABA OR BABKA OR BOBKA: is a sweet yeast bread or cake with a long history, and variations of it are found in many European countries. The Creoles applied these to the various delightful and refreshing fruits, which abound in Louisiana.

'The ancient French colonist brought the custom of serving sweet entrements and eatres, such as Beignets, Compotes, Souffles, Gelees, etc., from the old mother country to Louisiana. According to the 1902 Picayune Creole Cook Book, published by 'The Picayune,' a leading New Orleans newspaper: Some historians believe that the Ursuline Nuns of France, who came to Louisiana in 1727, brought this simple pastry to New Orleans, but this is not based on any facts. The French colonists of the 18th century brought the recipe and custom of making beignets to New Orleans. Beignets are considered the forerunners of the raised doughnut. After being fried, they are sprinkled with powdered sugar or coated with various icings.īeignets are like a sweet doughnut, but the beignet is square shaped and without a hole. To compensate for this problem, most sweet dough recipes specify twice the usual amount of yeast, and/ or call for a short rise and not having to rise until double in size.īEIGNETS: The word beignet (pronounced bey-YAY) comes from the early Celtic word bigne meaning 'to raise.' It is also French for 'fritter.' Beignets, a New Orleans specialty, are fried, raised pieces of yeast dough, usually about 2 inches in diameter or 2 inches square. Yes, the yeast does “overdoses” on the sugar, and hence, it takes a significantly longer time to rise or double the bulk of the dough. With so much sugar available, the science of yeast dictates that it would grow uncontrollably. Yeasted sweet bread or dough recipes call for a much larger proportion of sugar than a basic bread recipe, and usually have butter, eggs, and/or oil. Copyright © 2000 Sarah Phillips All rights reserved.

Sweet bread