A hearty welcome

Welcome to my page. Quite simply, it is a baking blog that holds my baking ventures. I have dedicated myself to regular baking experiments and promised to include detailed notes and hopefully the recipe and a picture or two!
Enjoy, and please feel free to leave comments.

~A

Thursday 15 August 2013

Something Healthy

At least I think it's healthy... it my opinion, if it has seeds, then its healthy.

I was home sick the other day and I felt the need to do something slightly productive. So whilst watching Downton Abbey for the millionth time, I to and froed from the lounge to the kitchen, punching and flavouring my what-I-call (thanks to Miranda) 'Healthy-Seedy Bread'.





Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon yeast
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil 
  • 1/2 cup wheat germ (I just used natural bran)
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup each of sunflower, pumpkin and sesame seeds (or any seed you can find)
  • 2 cup high-grade flour (wheat flour)
  • 1 cup all purpose flour

I think people can become quite daunted with the idea of making bread - but really, you've got it ALL wrong! Making bread is easy!

Well, within reason.

And it is incredibly rewarding - once you've done it once, you won't go back...





Method:


  1.  Place water, yeast and honey in bowl of stand mixer (it is possible to do this with hand mixer too) and use a spoon to dissolve the yeast and honey. Let it sit for 5-10 min or until the mixture starts foaming. 
  2. Once yeast is ready, add oil, salt, high-grade flour and bran. Knead with the dough hook, adding a little flour as you need, until the dough pulls away from the side of the bowl. The dough should be soft and supple, just not sticky. Continue to knead for 10 minutes.
  3. Once kneaded, lightly spray with oil and place in a bowl covered with plastic wrap and set it somewhere warm (once again I did my 'over-the-sink' heating system).
  4. Let this rise till double the size - normally about an hour. 
  5. Turn the dough onto the bench and mould it into a loaf shape, gently placing it in a loaf tin (I ended up making two smaller loaves, so don't worry about the size). 
  6. Once again let this sit, covered, somewhere warm for another 45 minutes.
  7. Put the oven to 190'C.
  8. Gently sprinkle water on the loaf, scatter some more seeds on the top, and then wet it again.
  9. Pop it in the oven for 45 minutes or until it has a beautiful colour on top, sounding relatively hollow when tapped on the bottom.







Such a delicious toast bread. Please eat with lashings of butter.

~A

Wednesday 7 August 2013

Something Yeasty

This was an accident.
I was bored and decided to make bread, but my normal bread recipe book didn't have anything that I really wanted to make, and I didn't have the correct ingredients to make a 'normal' kind of bread.

Instead, I was on Pinterest and saw an interesting and incredibly different kind of bread. Japanese bread!

Very different and quite complex, this took me most of the day, but I enjoyed the challenge, and once again this magical patience that seems to possess inside of me when I bake, helped in the process of making this bread fantastic!

WARNING: It is very complex and requires bench space, multiple spoons, pans and dishes. Have everything prepared if possible beforehand!

Ingredients AND Mixture: 

Tangzhong Mixture:


  • 1/3 C flour
  • 1 C milk
  • Whisk (rather briskly!) together in a small saucepan over a medium heat until the mixture is thick, pale and very smooth (a few blobs will be okay), but refrain from a complete boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
In a small bowl, combine:

  • 1/2 C warm milk
  • 2 tsp yeast
  • 3 Tbs sugar
  • Whisk to combine and set aside to let the yeast start. 

In a mixer (if you don't have one, a hand mixer will do - but not nearly as easy...) combine:

  • 2 3/4 C flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 Tbs powdered milk

Once the tangzhong is cooled off so it won't hurt the yeast, measure 120 grams of it and add it to the yeast mixture with 1 large egg. Mix gently together and pour over dry ingredients in a large bowl. Let your dough hook work the dough until mixed then add:

  • 2 Tbs softened butter

Allow the hook to work that in and if your dough is a bit shaggy, add some flour (up to 1/4 cup or so) a little at a time until the dough doesn't cling to the sides to the bowl anymore. Let the mixer knead the dough for about 8 minutes.
Remove the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead by hand until the dough is less stick, soft warm and working well in your hands.

Place in a large, oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, and put in a warm place (I filled a small sink of hot/warm water about 3 inches and placed the bowl over the top so the heat rose up under it). Allow to rise for 60 minutes or until double.

Once risen, divide the mixture into 4 equal pieces. Form each piece into a ball, tucking the dough underneath several times, creating  little 'bottom'. Place the four balls in a round cake pan, mine was slightly bigger than 8", and that was slightly too big. Place plastic wrap over the top and allow to rise for 45 minutes to an hour.

Carefully brush with a beaten egg. And bake at 175'C (or 350'F) for approximately 30 minutes. After 20 minutes in the over, lay a piece of tinfoil carefully over the top to keep the bread from over browning.

And voila!



This bread was so easy to eat on its own, warm, but it would be lovely with butter and soup? It is a sweeter bread than expected, so don't be alarmed. It might be better just to eat it straight from the oven.....
That's what I did!!


Friday 2 August 2013

Something Cold

This one is a little different.

Yes, it is the middle of winter, and yes, I made ice-cream. But when you taste this delectably creamy tub of glory, you will be making it all through the year.

And surprisingly, the recipe is very easy. It also requires no special ice-cream maker or any of that nonsense. Although I did use a KitchenAid, which is very helpful, so if you do have one on hand, please use it for it will make your life that little bit more fun!

My ice-cream is infused with fresh lemon rind, which is probably one of my favourite flavours.

Ingredients: 


  • 3 eggs (once again I use my fresh duck eggs which are larger and richer so it had a creamier taste)
  • 500 ml cream
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • Rind of two small lemons

Method:


  1. Separate the eggs
  2. Beat the egg whites until they are stiff and glossy
  3. Put the egg whites away in a bowl to sit
  4. Beat the cream and icing sugar until thick and creamy
  5. Add the egg yolks and lemon rind (careful not to grate the white pith for it makes the flavour bitter) - combine 
  6. Gently fold in the egg whites until smooth
  7. Pour gently in an ice-cream container or any other kind of plastic box with a lid and freeze overnight

Voila!

The lemon rind will gently permeate the ice-cream with a beautiful aromatic flavour that adds freshness to the creaminess.
Adding a few cherries on top always helps...