Courgette and Mozzarella Piadina

This recipe is one that's been loitering for the past few months - I think I made it even last year but had for some unknown reason not blogged it! The original recipe was taken from a Waitrose freebie magazine, no idea which one though as it was torn out a few months back! I've since made it a couple of times, changing the fillings each time and the base piadina is so easy to make its a handy standby!

Piadina meant absolutely nothing to me prior to making this but fortunately the picture helped to show us a nice, neat bread kind of thing stuffed with nice things. Frying bread is not something I regularly dabble in but I have made the odd doughy thing over the years that way.. and as our oven, is well temperately challenged and this recipe appealed as it didn’t involve it at all!

The piadina were fairly quick and easy to make and assemble, though having a second pair of hands also helps! Also reading the recipe from start to finish… Probably the best way of describing it is that its a cross between a pizza and pitta bread ! I didn't quite fully understand some of the instructions in the original recipe and I have changed it to how it worked for us. 

Serves two:

Ingredients:

2 courgettes
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 small garlic, crushed
½ red chilli finely chopped
1 lemon, finely grated zest only
250g self raising flour
125g mozzarella, drained. Torn into small chunks
20 basil leaves

Salt
Spray oil

Cut the courgette length ways into thin slices. Heat a frying pan and gently saute the courgettes until softened and golden. Remove from the heat and add the vinegar, garlic, chilli and lemon zest, season to taste.

Meanwhile place the flour in a large bowl, a pinch of salt and stir in 6-7 tbsp of cold water. Use a fork to mix it in and bring it together, then knead lightly until you have a soft dough.

Divide into two balls, lightly flour the worktop and roll out to form an 18 cm circle. Repeat with the other ball.

Heat a large heavy based frying pan, spray with oil and place on of dough circles. Gently fry on both sides, greasing as needed for 2-3 minutes or until lightly risen. Remove from the pan and repeat with the other circle. If the pan gets too hot just remove for little bursts to stop it burning.

With the removed circle, carefully use a sharp bread knife to make a large pocket, fill with half the courgette mixture, chunks of mozzarella and basil leaves. Repeat with the other one. Return to the pan, place a heavy saucepan on top to weigh it down and cook for a further 3-4 minutes or until cooked and lightly golden. Repeat with remaining piadina.

Slice into quarters and serve with a nice dressed salad and sauteed tomatoes.

Speculaas Fruited Bread

Recently I have been playing around with various dough's again. I had fallen out of the habit of making my own bread as I find it quite physical work and with my old joints routinely complaining it had gone on the back burner... however I have been trying new health foods and getting back into a more normal routine and my good friend C was complaining over how her bread had previously come out of the oven fit to tile the roof with, I decided it was time to dust off the dough slicer and get my hands floury again!

We had a lovely afternoon playing around with several different dough's on the go and fortunately C is now converted to home made bread and has made her own since this, with great success! Her only complaint is that the freshly baked smell is somewhat of a lure and magically disappears, I blame fairies personally.... I think with most things you have to get over the fear of things, easier said than done when anxiety follows you like an unwanted shadow but baking is very rewarding and excellent for getting the creative juices flowing and the soul some nourishment!

So whilst the white loaves and rolls were a success, they are not very exciting and whilst C was kneading her dough I decided to crack open a packet of Speculaas Spice mix, which was sent to me recently - it smells a little like what I expect heaven to be like! A fragrant burst of cinnamon, accompanied with fiery ginger notes and earthy cloves, among other secret spices that make me want to use it in pretty much everything I now bake! Its quite addictive to smell! 

Now whilst I had vaguely heard about Speculaas in the form of biscuits whilst on holiday some years back I really didn't know much more than that until Steven, from The Speculaas Spice Company got in touch and offered the chance to try it out. I am all for trying out new herbs and spices, my bursting at the seams cupboards are proof alone that I have a problem addiction to new ones and I really can say I like this stuff a lot! Steven set up the company based on his Dutch grandmothers recipe after moving to UK and craving the favoured biscuits, scented with the sweet Speculaas, and I am jolly glad he did.

When developing this recipe I wasn't too sure how much to use - and erred on the side of caution but next time I would probably just go all out and add a whole tablespoon of the good stuff! I like to stick with a fairly white-ish bread mix with some added wholemeal flour, to add both colour and texture to the dough, plus fooling yourself into thinking its rather healthy, being wholemeal, cough cough.... I made two different shaped breads with the resulting dough, this being the winner upon vigorous taste testing. Its a hard life...

Speculaas Fruited bread
400g white strong flour
80g wholemeal strong flour

7g sachet easy yeast
½ tbsp Speculaas spice mix
320ml warmed milk
20g light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
Pinch salt
50g dried mixed fruit

Glaze:

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp Speculaas spice mix

1 tbsp Demerara sugar

This makes two loaves/ breads – one to keep, one to freeze unless you are feeding many people, in which case just cook all together.

Grease and line the base of two 8” sandwich tins

Sift together the flours, salt, and spice mix. Combine in a jug the vanilla, warm milk and yeast and allow to sit for 5 minutes. Stir into the flour mixture until combined and knead for 10 minutes or until soft, smooth and elasticy. Place in a floured bowl and cover, rest in a warm place free from drafts until doubled in size. 

Knock the air out of the dough, halve. Take one half and stretch out into a rectangle about 1 cm deep and roughly A4 in size. Sprinkle over the fruit, allowing an inch from the edges and roll up tightly, a bit like a swiss roll. Then stretch lightly until its sealed and roll gently back and forth until snake like, roll up in a circular method, a bit like a Cumberland sausage and place in the prepared tin, pressing down to fill to the tin edges. Repeat with the remaining dough in the other pan.

Warm the 2 tbsp milk in a small pan and glaze both prepared dough's. Sprinkle over the sugar and spice mix. Allow to prove for a further 20 minutes or until nicely risen.

Bake in a hot oven – about 190o for 25-30 minutes, turn over and tap the bottom – if it sounds hollow its ready! Allow to cool in the tin for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool fully. Though eaten warm with butter is most advisable.

We were too busy eating it warm to realise I had just this picture!

Disclaimer - I received a sample of Speculaas spice mix and no payment for this recipe and it remains the property of Anne's Kitchen and must not be reproduced without written consent. 

All opinions are my own.

Maple, Date and Pecan Hot Cross Bun's

My secret to better Easter Baking with Stork is giving Hot Cross Buns a modern twist by simply combining three of my favourite ingredients - soft dates - crunchy pecans and sweet maple syrup to create a delicious toasted treat!

Rather amazingly I had never made Hot Cross buns before this batch, however my boyfriend kept asking for them and along with an email dropping in from Stork, it seemed like fate and so over the weekend just gone, I did a little HXB research and after finally choosing a recipe that seemed fairly straight forward I then set about making them my own! I have baked with Stork since I was learning to bake but its normally the tub version, however this used the block version and it worked perfectly, its definitely something I will bake with again!

The recipe I chose as the base was from the River Cottage Handbook no3 simply titled Bread and it was easy enough to follow you just need plenty of time waiting in between the prooving's but it allowed me to crack on with also baking my mums birthday cake so it worked out well in the end! I used wholemeal flour instead of white to try and kid myself they are healthy and also swapped around the spices to what I had in the cupboard. And instead of normal salt I used some gorgeously pink Himalayan salt I bought recently!

Ingredients

250g strong wholemeal bread flour
250g plain flour
125ml warm water
125ml warm milk
5g powdered dried yeast (I used easy bake)
10g salt
1 medium egg
50g + 20g Stork block
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
50g chopped soft dates
50g pecan nuts
2 tbsp maple syrup

Crosses

50g plain flour
100ml water

Glaze

1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp water

Note that I used my mixer to make these as I can't manage anything that physical nowadays but you can do by hand it might just take a bit longer to knead.

In a small frying pan melt the 20g of Stork, crush the pecans in a pestle and mortar and add to the butter along with the maple syrup. Stir well and bubble away for 2 minutes or until it turns sticky, cool for at least 10 minutes before making the dough. Mix with the dates, cinnamon and ginger.

Fit the dough hook onto your mixer and in the bowl place the flours, salt, water, milk, yeast and sugar and combine. Add the egg and butter and mix to form a sticky dough on a low speed. Add in the prepared pecan mix and carrying on kneading - I used speed 1 on my old Kenwood Chef for about 8 or so minutes or until its all nicely combined and you have a soft silky dough. Cover with cling film or a cloth and place somewhere warm until doubled in size. Mine took about an hour and fifteen minutes in the airing cupboard.

Knock back the dough and divide into 8 large or 15-16 smaller pieces and shape into rounds, place on a floured board and cover, allow to proove for a further 30 minutes or until doubled again. Mine are all slightly peculiar shaped!

Whisk together the plain flour and water to make a smooth paste ( mine was quite runny?!) Transfer to a piping bag (I buy disposable ones so much easier!)

Preheat the oven to 200o/ gas 6

Place the buns on a lined baking tray (I have a reusable non stick sheet its brilliant) and pipe over crosses.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until risen and golden in colour.

Meanwhile warm the maple syrup and water together, then brush the buns when they come out of the oven and allow to cool before weilding the bread knife and the butter!! 

Enjoy halved and toasted with lots of lovely butter on!

These are best eaten freshly made but will keep a couple of days in an air-tight container. I have frozen a few to test later on and will let you know if successful!


With thanks to Sophie at Blue Rubicon and Stork for providing some of the basic ingredients.

Spring Onion Pancakes

Historically Pancakes and I, were not close friends. Growing up when Pancake Day came around I was always eating something else, not being quite able to bear eating them. This is despite quite happily making their thicker cousins the drop scone and enjoying them too. This saga carried on till at least around aged 25. Then I got a bit older, learned to cook, felt brave one evening in early 2010 and then nearly abandoned it all after my first disastrous attempt!

Time passed..

And passed..

Then I plucked up courage in the summer of 2011, and with friend L's help we successfully made Tuna and Olive filled pancakes. I have since made them several times, though replacing the tuna with ham makes a wonderful substitution! However this is a once in a blue moon dish, not sure why but it just doesn't make a regular appearance. Though I did buy some tuna earlier so perhaps this week...

Nowadays I am feeling more confident with batter, and a couple of weeks back made a delicious king prawn stir-fry, and the marinade needs only egg white, leaving an egg yolk going spare...

By chance a few nights prior to Friday, my dad was over and we were discussing something he had seen about about how people tend to think the Chinese don't eat potatoes, which made me rummage through the cookery books until according to one called 'World Food - China' and yes in fact they do. Maybe not a huge amount but there are indeed recipes! Apparently the humble potato we English worship was introduced to China by the French. And according to wiki China is the worlds largest Potato producing coutnry. Blimey. That was unexpected!

Anyway, back to the recipe. Whilst going through said book, I spotted these spring onion pancakes, and by sheer luck the recipe uses 1 egg yolk! And so they were made, very succesfully. They produce a softish pancake, I added black pepper as thought needed a little boost. The recipe suggests them as a snack or to fill with crispy meats. We just dipped ours in sweet chilli sauce.

N.b. I have adjusted the original recipe quantities to suit us.

Makes 8

Ingredients

2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 heaped tbsp finely sliced spring onion
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
100g plain flour
1/2 tsp salt
8 twists black pepper
200ml milk
100ml water

1) Soften the spring onion in 1/2 tbsp of from oil total until lightly cooked - it will only take 2-3 minutes, using a flat non-stick frying pan

2) Clean the pan using kitchen paper. Make the batter by sifting the flour and salt together and gently combine in the eggs. Slowly stir in the milk and water, and remaining oil to form a creamy smooth batter.

3) Heat the pan to a moderate heat, add enough batter working fast to tilt the mixture to form a thin pancake. When the batter has set, and its lightly browned underneath, gently using a fork and serving spatula (or similar!) gently fold up and place on kitchen paper. Repeat with remaining mixture. If you are using as wrappers - don't fold them, use greaseproof paper or similar to seperate.

Chai Fruity Tear and Share Bread

Oh oh oh..

Is it a cake? Is it a bread? Pudding. Breakfast. Snack? Who knows apart from its super bloomin good!

I have polished off my ‘feeder’ crown. I think on behalf of other food bloggers I can quietly and confidently confirm there is a little feeder within us all. This bread got shared with two close friends who live within walking distance (mainly as I didn’t trust myself alone with it) and it didn’t last very long! One of the texts did involve the quote ‘sharing the fat’!

Come into my lair said the fruit to the belly!

Whoever said baking is an exact science obviously didn’t get out much. A little knowledge can be dangerous, but only to the hip to waist ratio. I think once you master the basics, the cookery world is your oyster, to explore and enjoy! I rarely stick to a recipe and this one was plucked from various inspirations, partially previous experience with other breads; seeing another blog and her sumptuous Swedish buns, plus above all having a curious mind and discovery of a love for chai tea thanks to the lovely Jenny. Oh and for some reason of late (hmm maybe Christmas...) I have recently seen lots of use for ground cardamom (have since purchased), one of my favourite spices and it must have tattooed its fragrant imprint upon my brain cells it appears!

The day of baking I hadn’t planned to make this recipe at all, but having my lovely beef stew simmering away on the hob, the smells were so good and triggered thoughts of lovely bread….

On went the kettle, out came the dried fruit mix, enroute spotted the box of chai teabags and voila! I pretty much made it up as a I went along and to be honest I don’t think I would change a thing. It barely made it 24 hours from birth to death. And that was with some restraint.

A sweet slice of heaven:

It’s the first time I’ve properly experimented with a sweet yeasted dough, and a lot of cross fingers went on but I couldn’t ask for more. Its slightly sweet, soft, light and full of plump fruit scented with cloves and hints of sweet spice. Oh and it looks rather pretty too! The mix smelt rather festive too, a gentle reminder of the approaching festive season…

Requires love and a 23cm springform tin

450g strong white flour
50g caster sugar
200ml milk – I used soya
25g butter/ margarine
½ tsp vanilla extract
Sachet fast action yeast
300ml boiling water
100g dried fruit
25g glace cherries roughly chopped
2 tbsp unrefined sugar
1 chai teabag
Egg wash – I swear by the spray one from Lakelands! If not just use a little beaten egg

1) Cover the fruit and cherries with 300ml boiling water and add the teabag. Allow to sit for a good hour or more before doing the next bits

Gleaming like jewels:

2) Meanwhile gently warm the milk with the butter till just melted, allow to cool to just above room temperature

3) Sieve together the flour and caster sugar. Add the yeast to the milk along with a heaped spoonful of the flour mix, mix well then rest for five or so minutes

4) Stir the milky liquid gently into the flour, along with a couple of spoons of the soaking liquor to get a sticky dough, turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes – try not to add any further flour as you want a dampish dough, just enough so it doesn’t stick entirely to the counter top! It should all be lovely, smooth and elastic. Place in a floured bowl, cover and leave somewhere warm until doubled in size.

5) Knock back the dough, smooth out into a long baguette shape and cut into around 14 or so chunks. I love my metal dough slicer! Use your fist to flatten each chunk – trust me it’s the best way and quite stress relieving – and fill roughly with a spoon of the drained fruit mix, pinch over stretching into sort of ball shaped – don’t be too precise, you want a few bits sneaking out and place in the centre of the tin and repeat until all the dough is used up in one layer – sprinkle over and press in any remaining fruit mix. Glaze with egg and sprinkle over the unrefined sugar. Allow to rest for a further 10 minutes or so whilst the oven preheats to 200o/ Gas 6.

6) Place the tin in the middle of the oven, throw half a cup of water into the bottom, close the door quickly and bake for thirty minutes or until it sounds hollow when you tap the sides – don’t try to turn it upside down like you would with a loaf – it will be very hot and it’s not the kind of bread!

7) Once your beautiful beast is out of the oven, allow to stand for a couple of minutes then undo the tin clip, carefully loosen and slide onto an airing rack, cool for a good thirty minutes before brandishing your bread knife and losing your dignity as you make strange noises in earshot of your flatmate mumbling ‘oh its so good’ and realise instincts are the best thing in baking. And life.

Nb: I hold no responsibility for weight gain.

Thanks to Paul for helping me with the final name for this!

Don't forget I am also on facebook and its comments like these 'P.s. Best bread ever' makes my heart go all squishy happy so fire away with your thoughts! I love hearing from you!

21st Century Easy Cheesy bread

I truthfully was a little dismissive about the recipes prior to reading Lorraine’s Pascale’s cook book, post seeing the rather glam, and also skinny chef proclaiming ‘oh I eat all the pies honest’. Well I do and I certainly am not tall, nor skinny, maybe she just nibbles on the crusts or has good genes?..

Anyway I digress, following a little sleepover at a dear friends I took along my copy of Great British Bake Off Showstoppers, which I won in a competition recently yippee (why hello Mr Hollywood!), so we swapped books and I read through her copy of Cooking Made Easy. Whilst most of the recipes were pretty simple, as if the title didn't already give you an idea, I stumbled upon her 21st century Cheese, Ham and Chive bread and the mind started scheming as to how much time I had before I had to start work..

I love the taste of home-made bread, but combining shift work, cooking mostly for one and a weakness for anything freshly baked means that home-made bread is rarely on the menu chez Anne’s Kitchen. However what instantly grabbed me was the use of self-raising flour – no yeast to rise the bread, therefore no rising time either! Within an hour of leaving my friends house I had two of the loaves nearly cooked in the oven, and believe me I am not exactly speedy freak in the kitchen! It pretty is much mix and stir and bake, you really can’t mess it up!

Due to what I had to hand at the time, the cheese got substituted for some vegan soya based cheese I was trialling, I omitted the ham and also the spring onions, one thing I did add thought was a good sprinkle of some chilli sea salt I bought recently on impulse – this was so made for topping bread! Little spicy, salty crystals that burst in your mouth, yum!

The bread itself was pretty impressive for something so quick. Naturally due to the missing yeast element, its more spongy like in texture and a little heavier than compared to a white loaf but is definitely going to become a regular feature, purely for the ease if anything and also that undeniable self smugness of having home-made bread!

I think the original quantities would make a fairly large beast but I split my finished dough in two, and baked two smaller loaves, stashing the spare into the icy depths of the freezer until girlfriend came over and we, er, devoured the whole thing in one sitting, but we did eat it with smoked mackerel salad and enough pickles to almost deter her soon to be husband, so was fairly balanced on the grand scheme of things!

 

Ingredients for my version:

425g Self raising flour
100g grated strong Cheese – soya works fine
Just under 250ml water
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp English mustard powder
½ tsp salt
Approx 10 leaves fresh basil, shredded
Few twists black pepper
Chilli sea salt to finish

Pre-heat oven to 200o/ gas 6

Mix the dry ingredients and the basil in a bowl, saving a small handful of the cheese. Stir in 200ml of the water, adding extra if needed to form a dough, use your hands to knead together until smooth.

Shape into one large, or two small rounds, place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and flatten slightly. Score the tops if you remember. Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and a pinch of your spicy sea salt. Quickly squirt (or throw a cupful) of water into the bottom of the oven to create steam and bake for approx. 35 minutes, or until sounds hollow when tapped on its bottom and your bread is lovely and golden in colour.

Allow to cool a little before grabbing the butter and your bread knife.

Basil infused Bannocks with Broccoli and Pesto Soup

Hooray, I finally have something to blog! My beloved DSLR camera is safely back home this morning and I thought it deserved some long overdue usage! I have just realised how many B's there are in the post title, is a bit of a tongue twister!

A few weeks back I was flicking through my copy of Bread, part of the River Cottage Handbook series and whilst being tempted pretty much by every recipe, Bannocks in particular caught my eye...

I had previously never heard of a Bannock, and a quick googling tells me they seem a Northernly thing… a type of quick bread that’s made from grains.. more handily it was made using oatmeal, and as I’ve been on a mission to use up all the odds and ends gathering dust in the bottom of the draw it meant I could give it a good use, other than throwing into a casserole to thicken!

The book recommends serving with soup. I was intending to use up a (shh!) tin of mushroom soup that’s been lurking in the cupboard but being on a lazy day off from work, and told myself that if I’m gonna make the bread, I might as well do the soup too! I made a small batch of broccoli soup, by frying off a little diced onion, then adding the stalks for 5 minutes and some veggie stock, added the chopped up florets and simmered until soft. Then simply stirred through the last of a jar of pesto, roughly 2 scant teaspoons. Together with the bannocks it made a great combination, as I had also added basil oil to the bannock mixture which was subtle enough not to over power.

The bannocks are super quick to make – less than a minute to make and a couple in the pan to cook. These are fragile beasts and at several points found myself questioning the recipes success but I persisted – and they came up a treat! They are oaty, and wholesome tasting.

In the original recpipe it makes two, but I scaled down as was only me eating and don't think these would re-heat that well..

62g medium oatmeal, and a little extra
Teeny pinch salt
Teeny bit bigger pinch baking powder - say 1/8 tsp
1 tsp basil infused oil, plus oil to grease the pan. The book also recommends using fat or butter.
2 ish tbsp hot water

Method

Place a heavy-based frying pan on a medium heat.

Mix together the oatmeal, salt and baking powder In a bowl, add the basil oil, then enough water to make a stiff paste. This is the fun part!

Sprinkle a little more oatmeal on a suitable board, tip the mixture on to it. Sprinkle a bit more oatmeal over and flatten to a just under a centimetre, working quickly before it cools. Cut it into quarters.

Add a little fat/oil to the hot pan, and cook the bannock for a couple of minutes on each side, until browning lightly. Serve hot with a little butter on if desired.

Pesto Monkey Bread

As promised in my recent post about my heavenly Macaroni cheese with spinach, bacon and Dolcelatte, this is the special bread you have been waiting for!

Whenever I make bread, firstly I have to be in the mood – and secondly I *really* like to play around with dough and see how the mood takes me…every time the results are different but overall I've never had an inedible or really bad loaf, so I must be doing something right!

Fresh From the Oven - Olive and Herb bread

This months Fresh From The Oven challenge was set by the lovely Helen from Fuss Free Flavours and was ‘To bake something yeasted, using flour where you know either where it was grown or where it was milled’.

I did try to find a local supplier of flour but unfortunately didn’t manage to get very far, but then luckily I remembered I had bought some lovely flours bought at a food show from Gilchester Organics. They are based in Northumberland, and both grow and mill their own grains and produce fantastic, flavoursome flours! I remember talking in depth with them about dough and they really were both lovely and helpful to deal with, advising on what would suit my baking style best. Though lugging 3 bags of flour home after on the tube was not so good!

I used a mixture of 4 parts Pizza and ciabatta flour and 1 part Farmhouse flour to make a sort of focaccia style bread; made with basil infused extra virgin olive oil and stuffed with green olives and finished with a little grated Parmesan, sprinkling of Maldon sea salt and a generous pinch of dried Italian herbs.

320 ml warm water
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp basil infused extra virgin olive oil + extra for finishing
8 green olives, roughly chopped
1 tbsp grated Parmesan
500g bread flour – see above for my combination
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
Good pinch salt flakes for finishing
7g fast action yeast

Combine the water, yeast, sugar and oil, set to one side

Sift together the flour and salt, make a well and stir in nearly all of the liquid, leave a little back as you don’t want the dough too wet but I find different flours can be thirstier than others, you can always add more if needed

Turn out onto the counter and knead*, you shouldn’t need any extra flour; the dough should be pliable, springy and soft, without being sticky. Add a little extra liquid if its too dry. You can either knead by hand for 10 minutes or in a mixer for about 5 minutes, though I do prefer to knead by hand, I find it relaxing!

Form the kneaded dough into a ball, cover and allow to rest somewhere warm for 1-2 hours or until at least doubled in size. I find the airing cupboard most useful for this part!

Knock out the air, you can now shape and garnish with the oil, herbs olives and cheese as desired, leave to rest for up to a further hour or until it has puffed up a little further.

Bake for about 18-22 minutes at 170 fan/ 190o, depending on size of bread, check its cooked through by carefully tapping on the bottom of the bread, it should sound hollow.

Allow to cool on a wire rack and serve with salted butter if desired. Is very good for dipping into the sauces left from dinner! Best eaten on the day of making.

Mid week bread baking - with sausages in!

I don't normally get the chance to bake much bread during the week as I do shift work, though luckily was on the 'early' today and as the beloved was going to be home later this evening the kitchen beckoned and I decided to make some bread, using a pretty failsafe recipe translated and passed on from the Italian In-law's :) I also realise that I've been using this base recipe for a couple of years now and never blogged it!

This dough makes rolls, loaves and is very flexible as can use fresh or dried yeast, plus a variety of things liked dried herbs or even sweeter with a few rum soaked raisins and cinnamon! Flavoured oils are also good, I like to make rosemary infused oil specially for breads. Depending on the time of year it seems and flour ratio you may need a little more or a little less liquid.

Overall I like to mix 70/ 30 mix of organic stoneground wholemeal and strong white bread flour for most of my bread but today just used strong white bread flour and made some poppyseed rolls, along with a few experimental ones filled with a half a bockwurst sausage (like frankfurters!) which were really good!

When I was in Amsterdam last year I had something similar and had been meaning to make ever since, were very tasty warm from the oven!

Amsterdam Bread -

Todays mix was:
450g strong white bread flour + extra for dusting
1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast
280ml warm water (maybe go for 250ml next time as needed a little more flour)
2 tsp EVOO
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

A little milk for finishing

Place the yeast, sugar, 1 tbsp flour and 1/2 the water in a bowl, mix well and leave to settle for about 5 minutes.

Sift the flour, add the salt and mix in, make a well in the middle. Add the remaining water and oil to the yeast mix, stir into the dry ingredients until you have a dough, tip onto a well floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes until soft and smooth, place in a covered bowl and allow to rest in a warm place for 45 minutes or until doubled.

Tip out onto a lightly floured surface, knock the air out and shape as desired! Either milk or egg wash, you can sprinkle with herbs, cheese etc at this stage. Allow to rest for a further 20 minutes or so. Heat the oven to 180o fan/ 200o. Small rolls will take about 12-15 minutes, turn upside down and tap - if hollow sounding then will be cooked. Allow a little longer for larger shapes. Can really recommend using baking parchment to line your tins as no sticking!

These are previous ones using the base recipe:

Left: Italian herb - right: Sultana and rum

Seeded bun loaf and mini rolls

Poppyseed topped with rosemary oil and herbs round loaf:

Stuffed Bun's - Fresh from the Oven

Over the last year or so I have been really getting into breadmaking and recently read online about a baking blog called Fresh From the Oven
and signed up for this months challenge - Stuffed Buns, certainly a very new and different side of breads for me! They are soft, fluffy little buns and make a good snack or as part of a meal.

The recipe comes from Ria's Collection I have put in brackets some ingredient amendments for UK based bloggers, as this recipe originates from India.

This is a great recipe for a lazy afternoon of baking.

♥Stuffed Bun♥
Yields 12 buns (I made 15, lost count whilst seperating!)


For the dough:

Ingredients:

Dry yeast-1 tbsp (I used 1/2 tbsp of Allinsons Dried active yeast)
Warm water 2 tbsp
Milk 1/2 cup (150ml)
Salt to taste
Oil 1/2 cup
All purpose flour 2 cups (275g, I used strong bread flour)
Sugar 1/4 cup (looks a lot but honestly works!)
Egg 1, beaten
Egg white 1, for egg wash
White sesame seeds for sprinkling

Method

Dissolve the yeast in warm water with 1/2 tbsp sugar and 1/2 tbsp of all purpose flour. Leave aside for 10 minutes.

Boil the milk and allow to cool down till it is warm to touch. Add sugar, oil and salt.

Mix well with a wooden spoon till the sugar dissolves and add 1 cup flour and mix to a smooth paste. Add the beaten egg, yeast and mix. Add the remaining flour and mix well till it forms a smooth dough.

Knead well for 10 mins.[We knead it using our hands]

Let it rest till it doubles in volume. (mine didn't double, just a gentle increase but think may have been too cold in the kitchen)

Punch down the dough lightly using your palm and divide them equally.
Flatten them into small discs and fill them with 1 tbsp of the filling. Re-shape them into a ball.

Sprinkle the top with sesame seeds.



Let it prove for another 20 mins.

Bake them in a pre-heated oven at 200 degrees for 10 mins.(fan 175o) When it starts to brown, give them an egg wash using 1 slightly beaten egg white. (Keep an eye on them as catch quickly!)

♥Spicy Indian chicken filling♥

Ingredients
Boneless chicken-200g, boiled and shredded
Onions 4 big, finely chopped (I used 2 giant ones)
Ginger garlic paste-1 tbsp (I cheated with jarred version)
Chilli powder-1/2 -1tbsp [depending on your spice level]
Coriander powder-1/2 tbsp
Salt to taste
Oil-3 tbsp

Method

Heat oil, add the ginger garlic paste and saute till it gives out a nice aroma.
Add the onions. Saute them till soft and transparent.
Reduce the heat and add the powders and mix well for 2 mins.
Add the shredded chicken and mix well.

Keep it off the fire and let it cool.

Use it for filling the dough.

*Veggie filling: You can substitute chicken for paneer/cottage cheese, potatoes , mushrooms etc

Bacon and Cheese Pasta Bake

Serves 3-4
Easy
Ingredients

6 slices good smoked bacon
80g mature cheese grated
Any parmesan that needs using up
350g conchiglle or penne pasta

*Also the ingredients below for sauce

1) Cook pasta till al dente

2) Fry or grill bacon till crispy and tear into 1inch pieces, mix with cooked pasta and transfer to oven proof dish

3) Make up the sauce as per below and season with black pepper, pour over the pasta, top with a little extra cheese and grill until golden, about 10-15 mins.

*Cheese sauce: Makes 1 pint
45g flour
45g butter
1 pint milk

1) In a large glass bowl or jug add the butter and microwave for about 30-40 seconds till melted and slightly bubbling, remove and place milk in a seperate container in microwave for about 40 secs.

2) In the meantime stir in the flour to the butter and whisk to form a roux (paste) remove the warm milk and add 1/3, whisk well making sure you scrape the bottom, place back in microwave for one min, remove whisk well and add another 1/3 milk, whisk well and return for a further minute, remove add last of the milk and put back in microwave, set it for 2 mins and stop as soon as it thickens should take between 1min30 to 2 depending on wattage.

3) Remove and whisk well making sure all blended, should be thick and stiff, if not keep cooking until so.

Garlic Ciabattas 2 - The Daddy!

Wow what can I say, made garlic bread on sunday and was best have ever made and had which I am very proud of!!

Ingredients

1 nice ciabatta
150g good butter (I like Kerrygold)
1 small handful fresh parsley chopped roughly
2 cloves crushed garlic
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

1) Pre heat oven to 180o
2) In a bowl blend the above ingredients
3) Slice the ciabatta through the middle to form two halves
4) Spread generously with the butter mix
5) Place in oven on a tray and bake for 6 minutes, if you want a crispier finish switch to grill mode for a further two mins

6) Serve immediately!