Bread Adventures: Wholewheat Bread with Oats and Seeds

I think you've noticed by now that I'm a big fan of Rachel Allen's books. This recipe is from her as well.

A friend asked me the other day for a recipe with a high wholemeal content, and I wasn't sure my usual recipe would work with more than 50% wholemeal flour. So I had a look through my books and stumbled upon this recipe for a wholewheat loaf with oats and seeds, which is from Rachel's Favourite Food at Home.

A lot of wholewheat breads can be very dense and crumbly, but this one is surprisingly light. It is a bit crumbly, but that's probably partly due to the sunflower and other seeds, not just the flour type used.

It has a lovely nutty flavour, and contains quite a bit of fibre, so is definitely a healthy option. I also roughly calculated the calorie content and based on 16 slices per loaf, there are around 117 kcals in each slice, which much better than the brown bread I've made before.


Wholewheat Loaf with Oats and Seeds
by Rachel Allen

Ingredients:
200g wholewheat flour
75g plain flour
75g mix of sesame, poppy, and sunflower seeds, plus 2tbsp for scattering
50g oats
25g bran (I used wheat bran)
1 tsp salt
350-400ml warm water
1 tbsp honey
15g fresh yeast or 7g (1 sachet) dried yeast
1 tbsp sunflower oil


Mix the flours, seeds (reserving the 2 tbsp for scattering the top), oats, bran and salt in a large bowl.


Pour 100ml warm water into jug and dissolve the honey in it, then stir in the fresh yeast. Leave for 5 minutes until the mixture starts to froth.


Once frothy, add another 250ml of warm water and the sunflower oil and mix, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir well to make a sloppy, wet dough. If it's too dry, add some more water.


Pour the mix into a greased loaf tin and scatter the top with the reserved seeds. Cover with clingfilm and leave to prove in a warm spot until risen to the top of the tin (approx. 1 hour).


Preheat the oven to 200°C (175°C for fan-assisted oven).

Bake the loaf for about an hour in the tin, then take it out and check if cooked. If not, return to the oven without the tin until the bottom sounds hollow when tapped firmly.

Cool on a wire rack.

Cooking Adventures: Lasagne

I've just finished portioning the leftovers of a big batch of lasagne, and because this batch turned out really well, I thought it best to write down what quantities I used so I remember for next time.

This makes a very big batch, would easily feed 8-10 I'd say.

I usually share it freshly baked with my parents and then have around 8 portions left for the freezer, but I make those smaller on purpose so I'm not tempted to overeat. ;-) Which is very easy with this...


This recipe was adapted from this one originally published in Rachel Allen's "Rachel's Food for Living".

I usually prepare the lasagne the day before I want to eat it, mostly because the bolognese sauce takes quite a a while to prepare and cook, but you could cook it straight after assembling, or prepare it earlier on the day of serving.

Ingredients:

• 3x 400g tin chopped tomatoes (I use organic ones as I've found them to be the best taste-wise)
• 4 medium yellow onions, chopped as fine as you can
  
• 1 large red onion, chopped finely
  
• 1 garlic clove, grated or finely chopped
• 150ml wine (ideally red wine, but rose works too, white only if it is semi-dry)
• 150ml water
• 2-3 tsp sugar
• pinch of salt
• ground pepper
• olive oil
  
• fresh or frozen herbs (basil, oregano, thyme, and/or a herbes de provence mix)
• 500g ground meat, optional (if I use meat, then it's usual half beef and half pork)

• 50g butter, unsalted
• 50g plain flour
• 600ml whole milk
• salt, pepper
• ground nutmeg
  

• enough lasagne sheets (I usually have some fresh ones in the freezer from making pasta and getting fed up with shaping the dough after rolling it, but it works just as well with dried) for a big baking dish (mine is about 25x33cm, and a good 7-8cm deep)
• parmesan cheese
• mozzarella or other good melting cheese to top the lasagne
  

First, heat some olive oil in a large frying pan or pot with a fitting lid. If I'm using minced meat then I usually fry it first until browned and cooked through, then set aside while I make the sauce.

If using no meat, or after you have browned the meat, gently cook the yellow onions over a low heat until they start to go translucent. Then add the red onion and continue to cook over a low heat with the lid on until completely soft, stirring occasionally to stop the onions on the bottom from burning. This stage can take anywhere from 10 to 25 minutes, depending on how finely you chopped the onions, and how full the pan is.

Add the grated garlic, and cook over a medium to high heat until the onions start to turn golden, adding a bit more oil if necessary.

Once the onions are coloured to your liking, pour in the wine and water and stir for a moment, dissolving any bits on the bottom of the pan in the liquid.

Let come to a simmer and add the tomatoes, then bring to a simmer again. Season with the sugar, salt and pepper, tasting and adjusting the seasoning if necessary. If your tomatoes are a bit weak on taste, add some tomato puree or paste to liven them up. Simmer until the sauce thickens a bit.

I usually puree the sauce at this stage with a handheld blender, as I've found it makes it easier to layer the lasagne evenly.

Add the fresh herbs and taste again, adjusting to taste, then drop in the browned meat, stir and set aside while you make the white sauce.

For the white sauce, melt the butter in a pan, stir in the flour and cook for a minute or two. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly and bring to a gentle boil.

Cook the sauce until it starts to thicken, then add salt, peper and some ground nutmeg to taste.

To assemble the lasagne, spoon some of the tomato sauce into the bottom of the dish, then place a layer of lasagne sheets on top. Add more tomato sauce, then a layer of white sauce and a sprinkling of grated parmesan cheese. Follow with another layer of lasagne, tomato sauce, white sauce and parmsan until you've used up all the sauces or reached the top of your dish.

If baking directly, you need to top with the mozzarella or other cheese now and pop it in the preheated oven at 180°C and bake for 30 minutes until bubbling and golden.

Since I usually prepare this a day ahead, I simply store the assembled lasagne without the topping cheese in the cold oven. The next day, I turn on the oven (180°C same as for baking directly), top the lasagne with the topping cheese and bake it for 40-50 minutes, until bubbling and golden and smelling seductively.

I've found that by leaving the lasagne to sit assembled for a day, the pasta sheets end up perfectly cooked without going mushy, so this works especially well for dried pasta, but it doesn't do any harm to fresh pasta either, which has time to soak up some of the flavours and salt from sauces overnight.

This freezes very well cut into portions for one person, and I usually defrost them for 10 minutes in the microwave (cutting the portion in half and turning the middle to the outside after 5 minutes for even cooking), then top with some extra cheese and give it another minute or two to melt the cheese and make sure the lasagne is piping hot all the way through.

Baking Adventures: Christmas Cookies - part 1: Speculatius

This weekend I got properly started with the Christmas baking. I made some Lebkuchen last weekend, but that was just a short prelude to this weekend's proper baking. And I'm not done yet either, but I'm finally getting into the spirit of things, even if it's much later than usual for me, as I've been known to start planning my Christmas baking in late September!

This weekend, I made two kinds of Christmas cookies: Zimtsterne (cinnamon stars) and Speculatius. I made the cinnamon stars yesterday and forgot to document them, so I'll report on that at another time. However, although I prepared the Speculatius dough yesterday, I didn't get around to shaping and baking it until today, and this time remembered to take pictures.

I've been making Speculatius using the traditional wooden models for over ten years now, but especially in recent times I haven't made them every year, as I always struggled both with the consistency of the dough and the shaping with the wooden models.


This year however, after not having attempted them for at least 2 Christmas seasons, I tried again, and with only minor changes, I finally succeeded making the whole process work. :D

The recipe I'm using came with the first wooden model I bought from the Christmas market. It calls for the following ingredients:

• 250g soft butter (unsalted)
• 200g sugar
• 500g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, ground
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon water

This always ended up way too dry to handle, so in the past I've resorted to increasing the amount of water until I had a pliable dough. However, this led to it being too tough after baking, and it was kind of glue-like when shaping too.

Yesterday, when I set about making the dough, I wondered if there was an alternative to the water, and since I had all my Christmas cookbooks out anyway, checked to see what other recipes used as liquid. I found one that used one egg for 500g of flour, so that's what I tried, replacing the water in the recipe above with one egg.

And it worked!

So if you fancy giving this traditional German/Dutch recipe a try, here is the recipe with instructions for shaping with the traditional models. Alternatively, simply roll out to about 5mm thickness and cut out shapes with a selection of cookie cutters.


Speculatius:

• 250g soft butter (unsalted)
• 200g sugar
• 500g plain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, ground
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon cloves, ground
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
  

1. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the spices, then sift in the flour and baking powder and knead to form a firm dough.
2. Rest the dough in the fridge for at least an hour, preferably over night. It will keep for several days in the fridge.
3. When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200°C (175°C for fan-assisted ovens).
4. Roll out the dough in small portions and cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
5. Or, if using wooden speculatius models, proceed as follows:

Dust the models with sufficient flour to coat the insides, shake off excess but not too vigorously. You need a good covering of flour or the dough will stick, as I finally figured out this year. Do NOT oil the boards first, even though all the recipes tell you too!

Press enough dough into one hollow to fill completely, then cut off the overhang with a sharp knife or wire.

Hold the wooden model at a right angle to a hard surface (best to cover with some cloths or other soft protection to prevent damage) and tap the edge firmly onto the surface to loosen the biscuit, easing it out of the model carefully.

Place the shaped cookies on a lined or greased baking tray.


When the tray is full, bake at 200°C (175°C for fan assisted ovens) for about 10 minutes until the cookies turn pale golden. Cool on a wire rack.


The cookies improve if stored in a sealed tin for a few days, as the spices can develop then. They keep well for at least a week stored in a cool, dry place.

Happy baking!

Baking Adventures: Panda Cookies

So the other day, a friend linked me to this site which has a recipe and instructions for bread where each slice looks like a panda face.

I liked the idea. A lot.

But I thought: panda bread, hm not sure what to do with that. It's obviously a sweet dough too, so...

Then I thought, hey how about cookies? I want to bake cookies anyway.

So that's what I did.

I picked a recipe for German black-and-white-shortbread style cookies, which works along a similar principal to achieve a patterned effect, and simply coloured a portion of the dough with green food colouring paste (I'd meant to use matcha as in the original, but simply couldn't find any affordable stuff).

The result is looking pretty good.


But now you're probably interested in the recipe, right?

Okay, here it is:

Ingredients

1/2 vanilla pod
300g unsalted butter. softened
150g icing sugar
1 pinch of salt
400g plain flour

for the colouring:
1 tbsp cocoa powder
green food colouring

1. Slit the vanilla pod open lengthways and scrape out the seeds.

2. Cream the butter with the vanilla seeds, icing sugar and salt until well blended and fluffy.

3. Sift in the flour and knead together swiftly.


4. Divide the dough into 3 portions: 115g for the dark eyes and ears, 330g for the white face, and the rest for the green background.


5. Quickly knead the cocoa into the smallest portion of dough, then form it into a ball and wrap in cling film.

6. Work the green food colouring into the largest portion of dough until you're satisfied with the colour, then also form a ball and wrap in cling film.

7. Wrap the plain dough in cling film as well and rest all three portions in the fridge for at least an hour until chilled through.


8. Once the dough is chilled comes the complicated part. Making the panda face. It is best here to refer to the original site, and I used the following amounts of dough for the different parts:

• Just under half the plain dough for the face, 2/3rds of the dark dough for the eyes.
• A good 3rd of the left over plain dough for the hollow between the eyes, and the rest of it to frame the face.
• The rest (1/3rd) of the dark dough for the ears.
• 1/4 of the green dough for the hollow betwene the ears, and the rest to wrap around everything (more or less).

9. Once you have assembled your logs (it might be easier to do two shorter strands), wrap in clingfilm again and chill for another 30-60 minutes.


10. Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F, slice cookies off the log (about 4-5mm/1/4 inch thick) and place on a lined baking tray.


11. Bake for 10-14 minutes, making sure the edges don't brown too much, as it will spoil the pattern.


12. Let cool on a rack and enjoy!

Leftovers Adventures: Mashed potato

Today for lunch I had baked potatoes made from new potatoes that were on the larger side.

I overestimated my stomach's capacity, and had one good-sized potato left over.

So I decided to make some mashed potato with it for a small dinner.

I microwaved the potato (skin still on) for a minute until hot, peeled it, then added a dash of cream and some salt and mashed it all up. I wanted to add some butter but didn't have more than a quarter teaspoon left.

Then I remembered that I still had some homemade herb butter (my bbq staple: unsalted butter mixed with some salt and fresh-frozen provencal herbs from the supermarket) in the fridge that needed eating as well.

Well what can I say? The result tasted amazing. The herbs really complemented the slightly sweet note from the baked potatoes, and the butter enriched it just enough without making it too greasy.

I would post a picture except it's all gone already!

I will definitely keep this trick in mind for the next time I want mashed potatoes (I usually make them from baked potatoes anyway, because I like the slight roasting flavour this gives to the potatoes).