Gingerbread loaf

Despite best intentions I didn't get any posts done during my holidays. There really isn't any excuses. I sat down many a time to do some but seemed to get easily distracted by something else. 

Like my previous post I made this Gingerbread loaf for the April Bake Club challenge over at taste.com.au. It just looked so good and I really do like ginger. I had some gluten-free flour in the cupboard so decided to give it a go and see how it would turn out. Also with it being gluten-free I could easily give some of it to one of my friends. I was really pleased with how it turned out with the gluten-free flour. The texture was just excellent. It did sink a bit in the middle but it wasn't too bad. I think I should have cooked it another 5 minutes and it would have been fine. I was, however, rather disappointed with it otherwise. I reduced the sugar by half but it was still ridiculously sweet and the ginger flavour was crazy strong. Most of it did get eaten but all agreed that it certainly wasn't the best thing that I have made. It is not something that I will make again...it does look good though.

Cinnamon Snail Scrolls

I have finally managed to get some sleep and am starting to feel a bit more motivated to get things done. Although the weather isn't really co-operating with me at the moment. I had planned on gardening this afternoon but it is very cold and miserable outside although we haven't really had that much rain. However a day doing the stuff inside is a much better option and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day. 

Bill's Cinnamon Snail Scrolls looked really good but this recipe had a lot to live up to for me. My Gramma made the best cinnamon buns that I have ever had and I have her recipe and have made it numerous times. So having what I already considered the ultimate cinnamon bun recipe so I was a little bit apprehensive about what these would be like. Well, they were fine, but not as good as my Gramma's recipe. They weren't nearly as light a fluffy as hers, although looking at the picture in Sydney Food I am not sure they were supposed to be but I much prefer a lighter fluffier bun. I didn't put in the currants or sultanas as I am not overly keen on them. I also didn't ice them as I thought that it would be overly sweet. These were fine but I will be continuing to stick with making my Gramma's recipe. 

Cinnamon Snail Scrolls

Ingredients: 

• 14 g dried yeast
• 1/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 cup milk
• 125 g unsalted butter, cubed
• 4 cups plain flour
• 1 pinch of salt
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/3 cup currants
• 1/3 cup sultanas
• 80 g unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Method: 

• Dissolve the yeast in the warm water in a small bowl, and set aside until frothy. 
• Place milk and cubed butter in a saucepan over medium heat until butter is melted, leave to cool slightly.
• Combine flour, salt and white sugar in a mixing bowl. 
• Make a well in the centre, add eggs, milk and yeast mixtures, and stir until combined.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and kneed for 6-8 minutes, adding flour if dough is too sticky. Add the currants and sultanas during the last 2 minutes of kneading. 
• Place the dough into a lightly greased bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Leave in a warm place until doubled in size, about 30 minutes. 
• Punch the dough down and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Press out into a 23 x 60 cm rectangle. 
• Brush generously with the melted butter (saving some for later). Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon evenly over the dough.
• Roll the dough up lengthwise to make a log. Cut into 2 cm thick slices and place on a greased baking tray. Brush the tops with the remaining butter and cover loosely to rise again, until doubled.
• While the rolls are rising pre-heat oven to 180 C. 
• Bake the rolls for 20 - 30 minutes or until nicely golden.  

Tomato Pesto & Feta Swirl Bread

A few weeks ago I had the urge to bake something breadish. I was initially going to make some plain rolls and then thought that I could spice it up a bit by making some filled scrolls instead. I was thinking in terms of cinnamon scrolls. At the time there had been a spate of cinnamon swirl loaves on foodgawker and tastespotting. So instead of individual scrolls I thought I might make a whole loaf. However, I didn't really want something sweet, I was more interested in making something savoury. Going to the fridge I found half a jar of tomato pesto and half a block of feta cheese. They seemed like a perfect fit, although I think next time perhaps some parmesan as well. 

Late in 2009 I came across the perfect bread roll/dough recipe over at Phemomenon's blog and since then it has been my go to recipe for rolls and scrolls. It is such and easy recipe, although I have tweaked it a bit over the many times that I have used it. So when I decided to make this loaf I saw no reason not to use that same recipe and it certainly did not disappoint. I was rewarded with a fantastic loaf of bread that rose and browned beautifully. The tomato pesto flavour really worked well  and the little bits of feta were perfect throughout. I will definitely be using this recipe again and again and again. 

Perfect Bread Dough

Adapted from Phemomenon

Ingredients:

• 1 c warm water
• 1/2 c warm milk 
• 3 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3 1/2 c plain flour, lightly spooned into measuring cup, then leveled off
• 1/2 c extra flour if required

Method: 

• Combine water, milk, yeast and sugar in KitchenAid bowl and stand until frothy. This should take 5 - 10 minutes. 
• Add oil, salt, and 2 cups of the flour  and, using the paddle attachment, beat on a low speed to combine. 
• Add in a further 1 cup of flour and continue beating until incorporated. 
• Change to dough attachment and add remaining 1/2 c flour (adding some or all of the extra 1/2 c if the dough is too sticky). Continue to mix the dough until it pulls away from the sides of the bowl. 
• Increase speed slightly, I don't go over 3 on mine for doughs, and let knead for 10 minutes. 
• Remove the dough from the bowl, oil it with some olive oil and return the dough to the bowl turning it to coat in the oil. Cover and let rise until doubled in size, approximately 20 minutes.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Press dough out into a rectangle the same width as the pan you plan to bake it in.
• Spread with tomato pesto (however much you like) making sure to leave a border around the edge and top with crumbled feta cheese. 
• Carefully roll the dough up and place into your bread tin with the seam at the bottom of the pan. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for approximately 20 minutes. 
• In the meantime pre-heat oven to 200C. 
• Brush the top of the loaf with either melted butter, milk or beaten egg (I forgot to do this) and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes or until golden. You may need to turn the pan halfway through baking to get an even colour. 

This was lovely served warm or cold and even toasted up really well under the grill. 

July 2008 - Cheesy Mustard Soda Bread

I will just quickly get this one started while I am waiting for the sparky to finish getting my power point working again. I shouldn't be too late for work, maybe 30 minutes. That is not too bad I guess. It is a different guy this time. If it has been the guy that I usually deal with I would have just left him to it and gone to work but when it is someone new I just like to be a bit more careful.

There are a lot of delectable recipes in issue #73 and like most other issues it was difficult to decide what to make. My initial menu plan for the month has me making Jill Dupleix's Roast Marmalade Chicken with Winter Salad. I really liked the sound of this. The main reason that I didn't end up making it is that I don't have any marmalade in the house. I do know that marmalade makes a nice glaze and is used in some other recipes I just don't eat it as a spread so I was reluctant to purchase a whole jar. The recipe serves 4 and only uses 3 tbsp and I would be using even less so it made me even more reluctant to buy it. I usually make marmalade as part of my Christmas hampers as my grandmother loves it. So I might keep a small amount for myself this year when I make it and I will try this recipe then. I am going to have to start making note of where all these recipes that I want to try at a later date are or I will forget....

I would highly recommend Jamie Oliver's creamy mushroom soup on the front cover. It is an excellent recipe and a terrific soup. I had never made mushroom soup before I came across this recipe in Jamie's Dinners, which is a fabulous book in itself. I would definitely recommend that all mushroom lovers make this soup.

I considered making, and am actually going to make tomorrow night, Tobie Puttock's Shanghai Beef Noodles. I love Shanghai noodles, although I haven't had it with beef before. I have had chicken and just a vegetarian one so I can't wait to try it with beef. I have been pleased with the recipes of Tobie's that I have tried so I am hoping that this one doesn't let me down.

Another recipe that was considered very carefully was Skye Gyngell's Slow-roasted pork belly with apple-paste aioli. What a glorious combination it sounds. After roasting pork belly for the first time this year I was keen to try another roast. The only thing that held me back from making it was the need to make the associated recipe of apple paste to go in the aioli. This required 2 kg of granny smith apples, sugar and lemon juice. It makes a lot and then states that it will only keep for a week. So as much as I wanted to try it I decided that I would make some thing else.

While deciding on something to have with the Baked Beetroot & Apple soup I was flicking through this issue and came across Jamie Oliver's Cheesy Mustard Soda Bread and I thought it would be the perfect accompaniment. I made half a recipe although it still made a lot. It was a bit denser than I would have liked, although maybe that is what soda bread is supposed to be like. I couldn't taste the mustard in it, so I would recommend using more, and it seemed a little light on for cheese too. It was nice but not something that I would be rushing to make again.

Cheesy Mustard Soda Bread

Ingredients

• 350 g wholemeal flour
• 175 g plain four
• 1 tsp mustard powder
  
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  
• 50 g freshly grated cheese
• 350 ml milk
  
• 1/3 c. (80 ml) sour cream

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 C.
  
• Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl and make a well in the centre.
  
• Mix milk & sour cream together and pour into dry ingredients.
  
• Mix to form a wet, sticky dough then divide in two and form into balls.
  
• Flour hands and pat balls down to form 2 discs approx 20 cm across.
• Score the top into six pieces then bake for 30 minutes or until it is brown and crusty on top.
  

April 2008 - Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Issue #70 is just packed full of wonderful recipes and I went back and forth trying to decide what to make. The luscious chocolate fondant with mint chocolate ice cream on the cover looked so rich and lovely. The mint ice cream would have just been a wonderful touch. I am not a huge fan of chocolate fondants though. They always look so good but I find myself strangely disappointed with them. I think it normally has to do with the quality of the chocolate used to make them. I don't have any decent chocolate in the house at present so there is no point making them.

The Roast Capsicum & Tomato Soup with Spinach & Goat's Cheese Muffins looked really good and would make a lovely lunch time meal. However, red capsicums were ridiculously expensive when I went to buy some. I thought that I could just make the muffins, but discovered that the smell in the fridge that had been getting worse and worse was actually the goat's cheese...oh dear, what a waste, so no muffins either.

Phillip Johnson's Poached Quinces sounded really nice and there was also a Spiced Quince Trifle recipe that used the poached quinces. All of it sounded so great. The poaching liquid is nicely spiced with vanilla, cloves, star anise and cinnamon but it used a whole kilo of caster sugar! That is for 6 quinces but it is still a lot of sugar. Plus quinces still haven't hit the stores here yet. I would have thought that the would be in stock by now, hopefully they will show up soon.

Jill Dupleix's Kumara & Pancetta Tart was another option. This is a very easy looking tart and with the addition of a nice green salad would make a wonderful lunch. I am always looking for things that I can make for lunches as I come home from work for lunch and need to have things that I can grabs relatively quickly. I don't want to be cooking when I come home so things like this tart and salads are great especially in the summer. It is getting easier now as the days are starting to cool down so I can just heat up some left overs, and I have nice soups and stews in the fridge to keep me going. I ended up using my kumara in a meal on the weekend so didn't have any to make the tart with.

In the end I decided to make Jamie Oliver's Potato & Rosemary rolls as I had made Chorizo & Bean soup last night and I thought that the rolls would go really well with the left over soup for lunches for the rest of the week, and probably into the weekend. This was a really easy recipe to make. I only made half of it as a full recipe makes 12 rolls and that is too many for me to eat before they are stale and while I realise that I could freeze them, they just wouldn't be the same. The dough came together quickly and I loved the addition of the semolina into the dough. The flavoured oil that the potatoes were doused in was terrific, although I did find that the anchovy flavour didn't blend as much as I would have hoped. I would probably leave them out the next time and just add a touch more salt. I would highly recommend making these, they are easy and tasty.

Potato & Rosemary Rolls

Makes 6

Dough

Ingredients

• 100 g fine semolina
• 400 g strong flour (I needed probably another 50 - 100 g as it was quite sticky)
• 2 tsp salt
  
• 7 g (2 tsp) dry active yeast (or 1 sachet)
  
• 2 tsp caster sugar
• 325 ml lukewarm water
  

Method

• Pile semolina and flour onto a clean surface and sprinkle over salt.
  
• Make a well in the centre and pour in half the water and then add yeast and sugar to the water.
  
• Leave for a few minutes for the yeast to start to froth and then start mixing in the flour until you have a slurry then add the rest of the water. Work in the rest of the flour and knead for 5 minutes or until you have a smooth springy dough.
  
• Put it in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to prove in a warm place for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
• Knock back and then flatten out with your hands. Sprinkle with potato mixture (below) and fold over, then knead to mix in the potato.
  
• Divide into six (or more if you want smaller rolls) and place on a greased tray. Place in a warm place for 20 minutes to rise.
  
• Pre-heat oven to 200 C while rolls are proving.
  
• Drizzle over a little olive oil and bake for 15 - 20 minutes until cooked through and golden.
  

Potato Mixture

• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 rosemary sprigs, leaves picked, roughly chopped (I didn't chop them)
  
• Zest of 1 small lemon
  
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 2 anchovy fillets
  
• 2 tbsp olive oil
  
• 350 g boiled potatoes, roughly broken up (still warm)
  

Method

• Crush garlic, rosemary and lemon zest with a little sea salt in a mortar & pestle.
  
• Pound in the anchovies, stir in oil, lemon juice and a few pinches of pepper.
  
• Scrape mixture into a bowl, add still warm potatoes and toss to combine.