Rum Baba with Rum and Raisin Parfait

Baba

1. Put the milk in a saucepan and heat it to 30°C.
2. Meanwhile, grease the baba moulds with softened butter and then dust with flour and set in the fridge.  
3. Transfer the warm milk to a bowl and mix in the yeast with 50 g of the flour. Cover and leave for 20 minutes. This is our little pre-ferment. After 20 minutes it should be bubbly and active, if not then leave for a further 10 minutes.  
4. Mix both remaining flours with the sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. 
5. Add the eggs and then the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients and start to mix with the dough hook slowly until everything has come together.  
6. Turn up to a medium speed and mix for 5–7 minutes until a soft, thick & shiny dough forms and it starts to come away from the sides of the bowl. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.  
7. Dot over the butter in chunks, then mix at a medium-high speed for 5 minutes. If any butter gets missed, then scrape down the edges of the bowl. You’re looking for a shiny, stretchy dough. Check it is ready by doing the windowpane test – you should be able to stretch a small amount of dough thin enough to be able to see through it.  
8. Take the dough out of the bowl and slap it down on a lightly oiled work surface with both hands. Fold it in half, then turn a quarter clockwise and repeat. This helps to develop the gluten strands.  
9. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a tea towel (kitchen cloth). Leave to prove at room temperature for 30–45 minutes until the dough has more than doubled in size.  
10. Once the dough has proved, knock it back by pressing down on it. 
11. Put the dough into a piping (pastry) bag. Squeeze the dough into the chilled moulds to fill just less than three-quarters of the way up and cut off each squeezed portion with kitchen scissors.  
12. Put the moulds on a tray, cover with the tea towel (kitchen cloth) again and proof at room temperature once more for 20–30 minutes.  
13. Preheat the oven to 180°C fan.  
14. Uncover the dough, place the tray in the oven and bake the babas for 25 minutes. Turn the heat down to 150°C fan and bake for a further 10 minutes.  
15. Allow the rum babas to cool in their moulds before adding syrup.  

Syrup

1. Heat the sugar and water on a low heat in a saucepan until the sugar has dissolved and it is around 104°C. 
2. Stir in rum and lemon juice and zest to taste.  

To serve

1. To soak the babas just before serving, make sure the syrup is still warm but take it off the heat. 
2. Dip a rum baba inside to fully immerse, gently rotate it and baste it for a minute or so. 
3. Take out and serve with rum and raisin parfait and some extra soaked raisins. 

For the Basic Parfait: 

1. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
2. Put the sugar and water into a saucepan and heat to 110°C/230°F.
3. When the syrup reaches the correct temperature, start whipping your yolks at a medium speed.
4. When your syrup reaches 118°C/244°F, turn the mixer down to a slow speed and slowly pour in the hot sugar down the side of the bowl. Whip for 10 minutes back at a medium speed until the mixture is cool.
5. Gently fold in the lightly whipped cream and raisins and their rum.