Rice vlaai: rice pudding on a thin yeasted base
First the rice slowly turns into pudding in the milk; then it goes into the oven on a thin base of yeasted dough. The result is a creamy vlaai with a firm crust you can eat from your hand if need be, saving the crust for last.
Say Limburg and you say Limburg vlaai, writes Visit Zuid-Limburg. This is our own home version of rice vlaai: creamy rice pudding on a thin base of yeasted dough.
1 vlaai of 28 cm, 10 slices · Preparation: 40 min · Cooking: 75 min · Resting: 145 min
Times are guidelines; preheat during preparation where possible. Allow extra time to cool food before storing it.
Equipment
Shallow vlaai tin (28 cm diameter), mixing bowl, heavy-based pan, whisk, rolling pin and wire rack.
Ingredients
- 200 g plain wheat flour
- 3 g fast-action dried yeast
- 20 g caster sugar for the dough
- 1 g salt
- 70 ml lukewarm whole milk for the dough
- 1 medium egg
- 25 g soft unsalted butter, plus 5 g for greasing
- 800 ml whole milk for the pudding
- 140 g pudding rice (short-grain rice)
- 70 g caster sugar for the pudding
- 5 ml vanilla extract
- 2 egg yolks
Method
- Mix the flour, yeast, 20 g sugar and salt. Add 70 ml lukewarm milk, the egg and 25 g butter and knead for 8 minutes into a soft, smooth dough. Cover and leave to rise in a draught-free place for about 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile bring 800 ml milk and the rice to the boil in the pan, which takes about 5 minutes. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for 35–40 minutes into a thick pudding; stir often and scrape the bottom clean. Stir in 70 g sugar and the vanilla and take the pan off the heat.
- Leave the pudding to cool for 15 minutes. Beat the egg yolks, stir in a good spoonful of pudding, then mix this into the rest. Press cling film directly onto the surface to stop a skin forming.
- Preheat the oven to 200 °C, conventional heat. Grease the tin. Roll out the dough to about 3 mm, line the base and side and trim off the overhang. Prick the base and leave to prove for 15 minutes.
- Spoon the pudding into the tin and smooth the top. Bake for 25–30 minutes on a shelf below the centre, until the crust is golden and the filling lightly coloured and set.
- Leave the vlaai in the tin for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack, at least 1 hour. Cut into 10 slices.
Storage
Refrigerate the cooled vlaai covered at 4 °C within 2 hours of baking: the filling contains milk and egg. Eat within 2 days.
Allergens
Wheat/gluten, milk and egg.
Our own adaptation for home cooking, not kitchen-tested. The times are guides; the described signs of doneness show when the dish is ready.