Ballymaloe - the no knead Irish Brown Bread

I quite like the kneading process in bread making. All that pull, stretch action is quite therapeutic and besides that sense of achievement when you knock the loaf out of a tin and slice to find it as good if not better than the store bought ones. I however loved the look of the Ballymaloe bread.  I wish I could use the whole wheat flour that we would get from the mill but settled for the packaged whole wheat flour that we use for rotis. The bread , the recipe is from David Lebovitz, was invented to simplify the process of bread making . This is indeed a simple, easy recipe for anyone to gain confidence in baking breads and using yeast.

By using the packaged wheat flour, the texture Lebovitz explains can change.  The dough as he said was not coarse, but a little sticky.  And I did have a problem in getting the baking parchment off the baked bread as we remove it from the tin half way through the baking process.  The baking with the loaf out of the tin gives it a crispy exterior.  

                ( The bread knife in the picture is over 50 years old :-)  )

I halved the following recipe - my comments in italics

Ingredients:
Whole wheat flour-stone ground - 400 g  (I used the packaged wheat flour)
All purpose flour - 50 g
Salt - 1 tsp
Tepid water - 150 ml + 275 ml (you may need more when you use ordinary wheat flour)
Dark molasses - 1 tbsp or 1 tsp treacle ( I used treacle)
Fresh yeast - 30 g ( I used dry yeast - 2 1/2 tsp - that is approximately half the quantity)

Mix the flours with salt in a bowl
Pour 150 ml into a small bowl and stir in the molasses, and then add the yeast, stirring a few time.
Let it stand till it foams - 10 mins or less depending on the warmth of the kitchen

Pour the yeast mixture and the remaining 275 ml water into the flour.  Do not stir till all the water is added or it will form lumps.
Stir till a batter is formed ( like an oatmeal consistency)
It may need a little more water if the dough is too stiff - that is if you have used the packaged wheat flour
However if you have used whole wheat flour like I have the dough will be sticky and rather wet.
Let it stand about 10 minutes
Grease well a 9" loaf tin and line the bottom with parchment paper
Scrape the dough into the prepared tin.
Smooth the top with a spatula or if sticky moisten the hand and pat the top
Cover over lightly with a kitchen towel.
Let it rise till it has almost reached the top of the pan ( about 20 minutes)

Just before that preheat the oven to around 230C
Bake for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes, decrease the heat to 200C
Run a knife around the outside of the bread to release it from the tin, tip it out of the pan
Remove the parchment paper
Place the loaf upside down directly on the baking rack and bake for another 15 minutes or till done.
The bread is done when you tap the bottom and it sounds hollow.

Cool on the rack totally, before you slice

The bread can be eaten fresh.  Or toasted. With butter, jam and cheese.  It even tasted better a day later. 

Mini Panetonne

A panetonne is a sweet bread from Milan that is generally made for Christmas.  It has a long drawn proofing, contains lots of dry fruits and orange zest.  It has a cylindrical base and a well risen dome shaped top.  I would not have given a thought to making it considering the process involved and also I did not have the panettone tin. But I watched James Martin in Home Comforts at Christmas, making a mini version in a muffin tin and I thought, why not?  Well here are the results.... pretty good if I should say so.. and also taking into account that I did not have a bread mixer and worked at the dough manually.  Recipe adapted from BBC Food

Ingredients:

Butter - 75 gms softened, plus extra for greasing
Candied peel - 50 gms
Dried fruits - 200 gms ( or raisins and sultanas)
Rum - 2 tbsp - you may substitute with orange juice
All spice - 1/2 tsp
Strong white bread flour- 425 gms and extra for dusting
Caster sugar - 60 gms *
Salt - 1 tsp
Fresh yeast - 18 gms ( I used 7 gms of active dry yeast)
Tepid water - 160 ml
Eggs - 2 nos and 1 for egg wash
Orange zest - 1 orange

* I would have liked a little more sugar - depending on the sweetness of the dried fruits - do consider adding another 20-30 gms more

Grease a 12 hole muffin tin with butter
In a bowl mix the candied peel, dried fruit with the rum.  Combine and keep aside.
To another bowl, add flour, sugar, salt.  Use food mixer if you have.  Makes the job so much easier.
Whisk the yeast with a little water in a separate bowl.  Then add it to the flour.
Add the remaining water and the whole egg and beat/knead till it comes together as a dough.

Beat in the butter a little at a time
Add the orange zest.  Continue to beat/knead for 4-5 minutes till the dough is smooth.
Keep it aside covered in a bowl to prove for about an hour or till it has doubled in size.

Knock back the dough.
Sprinkle over the rum-dried fruit mixture and knead the fruit into the dough either in the bowl or on a lightly floured surface.
The dough will be very sticky
Roll into a ball.  Cut 12 equal sized pieces/
Roll each piece into a ball on a lightly floured surface and place one into a muffin hole.
Cover tin with cling film and keep aside for 45 minutes till risen.

Preheat oven to 190 C / 170 C fan
Brush top of risen panettone with the egg wash.  Bake in oven for 18-20 minutes or till golden brown.
Remove from tin and cool on wire rack

Slice.  Enjoy with butter/cream or whatever.

Bread and Butter Pudding

K made the bread and butter pudding yesterday.  It was delicious.  The recipe was adapted from the Panettone pudding on BBC Good Food.  She used multigrain bread and added mixed fruit, citrus peel and cinnamon. The pudding is best with old bread.  Simple to make. Quite like our Double ka Meetha without the deep frying and the ghee.  It has its share of calories.  But somehow it is light and easy to have as a end of meal dessert.

Ingredients - 
Butter - 50 gms - K used salted butter, and it only added to the taste.
Bread slices - 8 nos
Eggs - 2
Cream - 140 gms
Milk - 225 ml
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Caster Sugar - 2 tbsp
Icing sugar for dusting
Cinnamon- 1/4 tsp
Cream to serve ( optional) - did not use
Raisins/Dry fruits/ Candied orange peel - as per taste.

Grease a shallow dish with butter
Preheat oven to 160C
Cut the slices diagonally or in wedges.  Keep the crusts on
Butter one side of the bread, lightly
Arrange the slices with the buttered side facing up

In a bowl, whisk milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, cream well.
Pour over the slices arranged in the bowl.  Add the raisins.

Put the dish in a round shallow plate with hot water.
Bake for 35 minutes
The top should be golden.

Dust the top with icing sugar

Serve with cream.

Besan Toast

If you like bread pakodi, this is probably a healthier alternative.  Easy to make for a quick snack especially if you have a few slices of leftover bread.  And with a few chopped tomatoes, onions and capsicum it adds a lovely new taste altogether.  Recipe from Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.  Try it, add your twist to it.  You cannot go wrong. 

Ingredients:

Bread Slices - 4 nos

Chick pea flour ( besan) - 1/2 cup

Salt to taste

Water to make a batter

Cumin seeds or powder ( optional ) - 1/4 tsp

Oil for shallow frying

Finely chop the following -

Onion - 1 medium 

Tomatoes - 1/2 

Coriander leaves

Capsicum 1 tbsp

Ginger - 1/2 tsp

Green chilies - 1 nos ( or red chili powder)

Mix all the ingredients to make a thin batter - like that of a pancake/dosa

Let it not be thick

Cut the bread slices diagonally 

Meanwhile heat a pan and smear with oil

Give a quick dip of the bread in the batter.  Do not keep it too long, it will crumble

And place on the medium hot pan.  Allow to brown slowly

You can place the chopped tomatoes and onions if they did not stick to the bread on top

When underside is brown gently turn over and brown the other side.

Ensure that the pan is too hot.  The batter needs to be cooked.

Have it hot with tomato sauce.  

Honey Oat Bread

I never thought one could make/bake Honey Oat Bread at home.  This was always my choice of bread at  a Subway outlet, and I thought of it as an exotic variety that had some special technique in its preparation till  I chanced upon the recipe at Maria's Menu .  It also led me to the original source at Bakingdom .  Both are great sites and worth browsing post by post .

Recipe - ( for one 9 x 5 " loaf )

All purpose flour - 3 cups - 380 gms + 2 tbsp
Oats - 3/4 cup - used quick cooking - but the other kind is ok too
Instant dry yeast - 7 g - 2 1/4 tsp
Salt - 1 1/2 tsp
Milk - 1 cup - 250 ml
Warm water - 1/4 cup
Unsalted butter - 2 tbsp
Honey - 1/4 cup  + 1 1/2 tbsp

Combine flour, oats, yeast and salt in a large bowl
In a small bowl take the milk, warm it make sure it does not boil - add butter - it should melt . Stir it in.  And then the warm water and honey

Pour the milk mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture.
I made the dough with my hand - remember the dough will be sticky at first, so flour your hands and work it well and patiently, adding little flour if necessary.  After 5 minutes the tough should be smooth and elastic.  If it gets too dry sprinkle a little water

Place in a lightly oiled bowl .  Cover and allow it to rise till it is double in size.  Should take an hour or also another half hour.

Prepare the loaf tin - line it with parchment paper

Now lightly flour a clean, dry work surface.  Place the risen dough on it.
Using your fingers, press dough to a 9 x 12 inch rectangle
Tightly roll the dough and tuck the ends as needed to make the loaf to 9 x 5 - the seam should be down as you place it in the loaf tin.

Cover with a clean towel and allow it to rise once again till is doubled.  Which should take another hours time

Preheat oven to 180C

Warm 2 tbsp of honey and brush generously onto the surface of the loaf.  Sprinkle the oats on top.

Place another empty loaf tin at the bottom rack.
Boil two cups of water and put in the empty loaf tin on the bottom rack

Place the loaf tin with the dough on a rack above the one with water and  bake for about 40 - 50 minutes till the loaf turns a golden brown

( In my oven , could be 'cos it is fan assisted - this happened a lot earlier about 35 minutes - so keep checking )


Allow to cool completely before slicing.

Apricot Couronne

There were sun dried apricots at home that no one wanted to eat.  And so I searched for recipes with apricots and it led me to Paul Hollywood's Apricot Couronne.  Having watched The Great British Bake Off , he is a big favourite of mine and have tried his Eight strand plaited loaf earlier on.

 The recipe seemed interesting.  I thought I had all the ingredients.  I should have checked. I normally do that, but this time I had no doubts.  I did not do my mise-en-place and started off very enthusiastically.  Mixed the dough and then discovered that I did not have the walnuts ! I was short on the apricots too. It was too late, and so I continued by just substituting it with what I thought was right.  I also should have checked some other sites on the procedure. Well, all in all - I did not stick to the original recipe, but the final product was good !

Couronne in Frech refers to the crown.  And this loaf is shaped like a crown.  It also has a lovely filling.

Reproducing the recipe as it appears on BBC Food Recipes and the changes I made.

Ingredients:For the dough

• Strong white bread flour, plus extra for dusting - 250gms
• Salt 5gms
• Instant yeast -7gms
•  Unsalted butter, softened, plus extra for greasing - 50g ( without realising I used salted butter ! )
•  milk - 105ml 
• Egg - 1 slightly beaten

For the filling

• Unsalted butter, softened - 90gms
• Light muscovado sugar - 70g ( Used demerara sugar)
• Ready-to-eat dried apricots, chopped and soaked in orange juice - 120gms ( I had about 100 gms)
•  Plain flour - 35gms
• Raisins - 60gms
• Chopped walnuts - 65gms ( I used almonds - I ran out of walnuts !)
• Orange  zest only - 1 

To finish

• Apricot jam - 50 gms ( I omitted this )
• Icing sugar 200gms
• Flaked almonds - 25gms Did not do this either

Preparation 

1. Place flour into a large mixing bowl and add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast to the other. Add the butter, milk and egg and mix to combine, using your hands. Continue to mix until you’ve picked up all the flour from the sides of the bowl. Use the dough to clean the inside of the bowl and keep going until you have a soft dough.
2. Tip the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and begin to knead. Keep kneading for 10-12 minutes. Work through the initial wet stage until the dough starts to form a soft, smooth skin.
3. When the dough feels smooth and silky, put it into a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave to rise for one hour, or until doubled in size.
4. While the dough is rising, make the filling. Beat the butter and muscovado sugar together until smooth. Drain the apricots and add to the butter mixture along with the flour, raisins, walnuts and orange zest. Mix to combine.
5. Line a baking tray with baking parchment or silicone paper.
6. Turn the risen dough onto a lightly floured surface. Taking care not to knock the air out of it, roll out the dough into a rectangle, approximately 33x25cm/13x10in. Turn the dough 90 degrees if necessary, so you have a long edge facing you. Spread the apricot mixture evenly over the dough. Roll up the dough tightly (like a Swiss roll). Roll it slightly to seal, then cut it in half lengthways (you can leave one end joined to help you twist the dough and form the circular crown).
7. Twist the two dough lengths together to make a rope, then join the ends of the rope to form a circular ‘crown’. Transfer to the baking tray. ( What you need to do is actually like braiding with the two cut portions )
8. Put the tray inside a clean plastic bag and leave to prove for 30-45mins, or until the dough springs back quickly if you prod it lightly with your finger. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
9. Bake the couronne for 25-35 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Set aside to cool on a wire rack.
10. Gently heat the apricot jam with a splash of water, then sieve it and brush it over the warm loaf to glaze. Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make a thin icing, drizzle over the loaf and sprinkle with the flaked almonds. Leave to cool before serving ( I did not do the jam glaze.  Only the drizzle of icing sugar.  No almonds either )

                                         ( I will replace this picture once I make it again)

Cinnamon-Raisin Bread

At the onset I must confess this was meant to be a Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Bread, but the swirls were just so faint that I dropped it (the swirl) from the title :-)   The  original recipe modified slightly is from The Kitchn.  I wonder where I went wrong with the swirls, since I religiously followed the recipe.  Perhaps it had to do with the rolling. PS - the swirls were there at the centre of the loaf, last picture added today 30 March , the swirls are more prominent when toasted - But that it not going to stop me from making this bread again 'cos it is a good tasting loaf of bread.

How to prepare a loaf tin -
Grease the tin bottom and sides with a thin coating of a flavourless oil - use a kitchen paper to ensure a thin film of oil.  Sprinkle the flour that is being used for the bread evenly all over the tin.  Then tap and tilt the tin to remove excess flour.   Put in the prepared dough to bake and when done, tilt the tin and the loaf will pop out easily 

Ingredients: for one loaf
Raisins - 1/2 cup
Warm water - 1/2 cup
Active Dry Yeast - 7 gms
Milk - whole or skim - 1/2 cup
Unsalted melted butter - 1/8 cup - 1 oz
Salt - 1 tsp
All purpose flour ( I used white bread flour) - 2 3/4 cup

Filling -
Granulated white sugar - 1/2 cup
Cinnamon powder - 3/4 tbsp

Egg wash - 1 large egg beaten with 2 tsp warm water

Plump the raisins for about 10 minutes in hot water.  Drain and set aside

Take a bowl add the warm water - (you can use the water that you soaked the raisins in, just make sure that it is not hot - but needs to be warm)
Sprinkle yeast over the top.  Give it a few minutes and then stir gently to dissolve the yeast in the water
Add in the milk ( warm), melted butter and salt into the water.
Followed by the flour and stir to form a shaggy dough.
Knead in mixer or by hand as I did for about 8-10 minutes to form a smooth but slightly tacky dough.
If it is sticky half way through the kneading ( as it states in the original recipe - sticky as in bubble gum) - add a little more flour
The dough is ready when it forms a ball without sagging and springs back when poked

Mix the raisins in a bit of flour to absorb the moisture and add these to the dough and knead till they are evenly distributed.
If kneading by hand, turn dough onto a work surface, make into an oval, sprinkle half the raisins over the top and fold.  Pat into an oval again and add the remaining and fold again.  Knead for a few minutes.

Return dough to the bowl.  Cover and keep in a warm place and allow to rise till it has doubled in bulk, which may take about an hour.

Meanwhile prepare the filling by combining the sugar and the cinnamon powder.

Combine the egg and water in a small bowl.  This is optional but helps in ensuring that when you roll the loaf later it binds it together and the layers do not separate when you slice the bread.

After the dough has doubled, roll it on a counter.  It should be slightly less wide than the baking pan and rolled as long as possible.  The thinner the better.  If the dough shrinks back, rest it for a few minutes.

Brush the entire surface of the dough with egg wash leaving about two inches clear at the top.  Sprinkle the cinnamon and sugar.  Starting at the end towards you, roll up the dough.  At the top, pinch the seam closed. Transfer to the prepared loaf tin seam side down

Let the loaf rise until mounded over the top of the pan ( takes about half hour to 40 mins)

Halfway, preheat the oven to 190C.
Brush the top of the loaf with egg wash and bake for about 40-45 mins until golden brown and gives a hollow sound when tapped.

Remove loaf from pan and allow to cool completely ( can take a couple of hours) before you slice it

Toast and have it with a pat of butter.  Enjoy !

The swirls -

Eight-strand plaited loaf and some buns

Tried a hand at making bread.  Especially since S had recorded a few episodes of The Great British Bake Off and Paul Hollywood whose recipe this is, is quite good looking !  I did a good job at preparing the dough but when it came to the actual braiding of the dough I was a total mess, and then S took over, and made a pretty good one.  Her first attempt !  So all the loaf pictures are of her effort.

The recipe as it appears on the BBC food recipes site.

Ingredients

• Strong bread flour - 500g
• Fast action dried yeast - 7 g
• Salt - 10 g
• Olive oil - 2 tbsp
• extra flour for dusting
• sunflower oil for greasing bowl
• Egg - 1 beaten lightly with a pinch of salt and milk/water - to serve as egg wash
  
  
  Place the flour in a large bowl. Add the yeast on one side of the bowl and add the salt on the other side. Salt should not be placed on top of the yeast, as it can kill it and make in in-active.
  
  
  Add a good splash of olive oil to the flour
  Measure out 340ml slightly warm water and add three-quarters to the flour mixture, and mix together by hand, then add the rest of the liquid.
  Turn the dough out onto a work surface and knead by hand until the dough looks silky and stretchy. This will take approximately 10 minutes. Use very little flour and more of oil on work surface.  Use the palm of your hands to knead.
  
  
  Oil a medium sized mixing bowl and place the dough into the bowl. 
  The dough should be smooth and shiny ( because of the oil )
  Cover with cling film and set aside to rise, for about an hour, or until the dough doubles in size.
  
  
  When risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead, to knock the dough back. Shape the dough into a rectangular rod and divide into eight equal parts. 
  
  
  Roll out each piece into a strand about 40cm/16in long.
  Lay the strands out on the lightly floured surface like an octopus, fanned out from a central point at the top. Stick all the ends at the central point to the table with your thumb.
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Braiding sequence:
  
  
  Number the strands of dough from 1-8 from left to right.
  Every time you move any strand it will take the new number of its position in the row.
  Step 1: place 8 under 7 and over 1 ( This step only occurs once and is never repeated)
  
  
  Step 2: place 8 over 5 
  Step 3: place 2 under 3 and over 8 
  Step 4: place 1 over 4 
  Step 5: place 7 under 6 and over 1 
  
  
  Repeats step 2-5, until all the dough is braided.
  Tuck both ends of the loaf underneath to give a tidy finish.
  
  
  Place the plaited dough onto a floured baking tray, and leave to prove for another hour, until risen again.
  
  
  
  
  
  Preheat the oven to 200C/375F/Gas 5.
  Brush the loaf with the beaten egg wash and bake in the oven for 20-25mins.
  
  
  
  The crust should be golden.  And when you tap the surface it will be hard.  Tap the bottom and it should sound hollow. 
  And allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before you attack !
  
  
  Tips:
  For someone attempting this the first time, use only half the amount.  The plaits are easier to work on rather than very long ones.
  Be generous with the olive oil.  It helps in the braiding process also.
  Use less flour.
  To divide into 8 equal portions.  Roll out into a rectangular shape of even thickness.  Divide into two. Divide each half further into two and another two.  You will get eight equal parts.
  
  
  Since the braiding sequence was done only to half the dough, we were left with more.  These were made into eight equal round portions and placed side to side ( touching) on the tray.  After proofing they were baked along with the loaf and we had 8 rolls.  These were not the buttery soft rolls, but good enough !
  
  
  
  
  
  Enjoy !

Cinnamon Crisps

A microwave recipe that I saw at Cakes And More .  Nice and simple.  If you like rusks but hate the cardamommy flavour that most of the store bought ones have - than you should try this.  And you can experiment with them.  Make it with brown or white bread.  And great use of stale bread that might be just lying there.

Ingredients -
Brown Bread - 4 slices - you can use white too
Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp
Powdered sugar - 2 tbsp
Cinnamon Powder - 1/2 tsp

Mix the butter, sugar and cinnamon.  Apply on both sides of the slices.
Stack the slices.  And cut them into vertical strips. Four strips - 16 in all
Even sized strips ensure even cooking.

Take a microwave safe plate.  Place the strips only along the perimeter of the plate.
Do not place anything in the centre and those would cook faster and you could end up with some burnt ones.
(So you may need to make them in batches - maybe 3 or more)

Set the microwave on high for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes.  Keep a close eye as anything done in the microwave to avoid burnt sticks.
Take the plate out.  Even if they seem soft, they will harden as they cool.

Remove from plate and cool thoroughly if you have enough left to store.  And keep them in an airtight container.

A tip from Cakes and More- you can make savoury ones too.  Use herbs and salt in the butter instead of sugar.  If you do like cardamom, replace cinnamon with it.  You can experiment and have the best home made crisps in record time.  Original recipe - here 

Shahi Tukda - with a twist

This is a different kind of Shahi Tukda.  Another recipe from Rak's Kitchen *  I ran out of cornflour but had custard powder.  I mean custard powder is after all cornflour with a flavour - and this fortunately had just vanilla.  It was quite nice.  Of course, not the original Shahi Tukda but was nice and light. I had an able assistant with the younger one at home. And  Happy Birthday V.

Ingredients:
Bread Slices - 2 nos ( I used brown bread) - with the crust removed.
Milk - 200  ml
Sugar - 1/2 cup
Ghee - 4 tbsp
Cornflour - 2 tsp (in this case I used vanilla flavoured custard powder)
Saffron - pinch
Nuts - for garnish

Preparing the bread
Cut the slices from which the crust have been removed into triangles
Put a little ghee on a pan, and when it melts add the triangular slices and allow it to brown evenly and get crisp.  Remove and keep aside.

Make the syrup
Take the sugar in a bowl.
Add water so that it just covers the sugar layer.
Heat and make a thick syrup.  It should not flow easily.  But do not allow it to crystalise.

Make the custard
Dissolve the custard powder in about 2 tsp cold milk and add to the remaining milk
Heat till you get a fairly thick custard.
(Addition of sugar to custard is not necessary -optional - or like I did just add a tablespoon)

NOW:
Take the fried bread and immerse in the syrup for just a minute or less.
The bread should not be soggy.
Remove and keep on a plate.  Do this for all slices.

Arrange the slices on a plate
And pour the custard on the slices - allow some time for the bread to soak some of it
Garnish with nuts.

Have it warm.  Or chilled. Will be enjoyable either way.

What you can do different:
Use white bread
Deep fry the bread - you will get a uniform browning - but mind the calories
Toast the bread and then lightly apply the ghee and toast again if required.
Make a nice rabri - by thickening the milk - reduce it on a low fire till thick
Or use condensed milk.
Garnish with pistachios

* Link to Rak's Kitchen 

French Toast

I have done a post earlier on the Bombay Toast aka the French Toast. But I came across this recipe at One Perfect Bite - a lovely blog with pictures that are absolutely drool-worthy.  There is also a nice blend of recipes for all.

This is a version of French Toast that she claimed resulted in a firm and non soggy toast. And I found it true.  It is like dipping bread in pancake batter and toasting it.  And what's more, the leftover batter - there almost always is some - that can be made into a pancake!

Ingredients:
Egg - 1
Unsalted butter - 1 tbsp - melted

Milk - 3/4 cup

Vanilla - 1/4 tsp

Sugar - 2-3 tbsp - according to sweetness desired

Refined Flour - Maida - 1/3 cup

Salt - pinch

Bread - 4 slices

Lightly beat the egg in a shallow plate

Add the melted butter 

And the milk and vanilla. Whisk

And then flour, sugar and salt and whisk again till blended.

Meanwhile heat a pan - on slow-medium heat

Dip a slice of bread into the batter for a few seconds on both sides till coated

Drip off excess batter

And place on medium hot pan 

Add a little butter ( you could also use any good refined oil if you wish)

Allow to brown slowly, the flour also needs to get cooked, and then turn over till both sides are done.

Dust with powdered sugar.

  

Or have it without that if you want to do away with extra sweetness

Basic White Bread

Guest post - from the elder one, who is trying her hand at baking.

Makes 2 medium sized loaves.

Prep time: 10 mins + 1 ¼ hours rising time.

Cooking time: 30mins

Ingredients:

450g (1lb) strong white plain flour

2 teaspoons salt25g margarine or butter

2 teaspoons or (a 7g sachet) dried yeast

200ml warm water

Oil for greasing

I have a food processor so I carry out the first 2 steps in it.

Combine the flour, salt and margarine for 30 seconds.

Make sure that the margarine is soft or slightly melted so that it mixes well with the flour.

Add dried yeast and combine further.

With the motor running add water little bit at a time till the mixture forms a soft dough.

Take the dough out of the processor and knead with the hand folding the dough to trap as much air as possible.

If the mixture is very sticky more flour can be added.

Place the dough in a large bowl.

Cover with an greased piece of cling film or plastic bag and leave in a warm place for three quarters of an hour or till doubled in size.

Then divide the dough into 2 loaves and knead lightly by hand for a minute.

Shape into rounds and place on an greased baking tray.

Make 2 shallow cuts at the top of the loaves to make crosses.

Leave to rise for a further 30 mins.

In the meanwhile, preheat the oven to 220 C.

Bake for 25-30 mins until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Leave to cool on the racks before you eat it.

A spread cooked by Laku and Bobo

* The desert recipe is right at the end of this post*
Two of them cooked dinner for us last week. The meal started off with a cold pasta salad. It had macaroni, cucumber, boiled potato, capsicum, tomato, tossed with olive oil, ketchup, oregano and chilli flakes. Very nice especially on a hot summer day.





This was followed by stuffed capsicum - the filling was vegetarian - soya granules, peas, potato flakes and other masala for a tasty bite. Recipe can be got here




This was followed by a rich mushroom corn with white sauce, which was demolished with garlic bread.









Then for some yummy dessert.



I only know that these ingredients were used - a sauce of coffee, chocolate, cream, butter, jam and Marie/digestive biscuits, topped with vanilla ice cream. Once frozen and cut the layers were clearly visible. And it dissolved in the mouth and slid down the gullet and settled on the already existing layers of fat. But who cared!

Recipe for the Chocolate Biscuit Cake - (sent by Laku)
Layer 1

Biscuits- Marie or digestive. Nothing that already is sweet by itself.
2 to 4 tbsp- Coffee powder
Jam (Most flavours except Marmalade can be used)


Layer 2
1 cup- Fresh Cream
100 gms Butter
4 to 8 heaped tbsp of Cocoa/ Drinking Chocolate
Powdered Sugar

Topping
Thin layer of Vanilla Ice cream


1. Take a glass dish. Preferably square for easy arranging.
2. Make a coffee decoction and dip the biscuits in. Long enough for it to soak, but make sure they don't get too soggy and break.
3. Place one layer of the biscuits as a base without leaving any gap. If need be, break the biscuit in half for the centre bit.
4. Spread a thin layer of jam over the biscuits.
5. Now spread a generous helping of the mixture with all the ingredients in Layer 2.
6. Keep making such layers in alternation till the dish is almost full, making sure that the last layer is the chocolate mixture.
7. Spread a thin layer of vanilla ice cream on top of the cake.
8. Cover with cling wrap/aluminium foil and freeze without disturbing the same for at least 2 hours.
9. The dessert is ready when you can cut through it with a sharp knife like a cake.
10. Enjoy cold.