Cherry and Hazelnut Knots

Sometimes when I'm photographing my baking, it feels like I'm back at University. Have you ever experienced going to an exam fully prepared and confident that you'll do really well, but for some reason you barely manage to scrape through it; and then, all of a sudden, you pass with flying colours and get that feeling of blissful satisfaction?  

That whole experience mirrors here; sometimes when I make something - even by my standards - exceptionally good, I struggle to take a decent photo. Like with these knots. I uploaded the pictures and I couldn't see what I wanted to see, or more specifically taste; I tried and tried endlessly to get a picture that would tell you straight away, without reading the recipe, how lovely they are. I was really patient in the beginning... different spots, lighting, time of the day, nope.. the more I tried, the more disappointed I got and eventually in a state of great frustration I admitted defeat and decided to quit.  These are the shots I ended up with; the last one has a glimpse of what I wanted to achieve as it reveals the lovely texture and colour they have.

But, on the bright side I remembered an old rule - the next time I bake something less satisfying, I expect my camera to be more generous to me than my oven. And don't expect me to confess here and give you a clue whether that happened on these pages before - it is not going to happen!. 

In case you decide to trust my word more then my photography skills and can imagine how dry cherries and roast hazelnuts taste in combination with cinnamon, follow this recipe :

Cherry and Hazelnut Knots

225g strong bread flour

1/2 tsp salt

30g cold diced butter

1 1/2 fast action yeast

30g caster sugar

100g dried cherries

70g toasted chopped hazelnuts

1tsp cunnamon

1 egg

100ml warm milk

3  crushed sugar cubes

Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas mark 5

Mix all the dry ingredients together and add the beaten egg and milk,then knead to get a smooth, soft dough. Leave to rest until doubled in size.

Knock it back on a lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. roll each piece into a 20 cm long rope, then tie each one into a knot. Cover and leave to rise again non a greased baking sheet for about 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

brush them with a little milk  and sprinkle with crushed sugar cubes before putting into oven. Bake for 15 -20 minutes, and serve warm or cold.

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Daring Baker's Challenge

Easter bread

The April Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den . She challenged us to Spring into our kitchens and make Easter breads reflecting cultures around the world.

In my native Serbia, many type of breads are made for Easter, almost every family has it's own tradition, but they all have one common denominator - they all  look ornate and festive.
There are some beautiful examples of the bread that I made here and here.

Serbian Festive (Easter bread)

500g flour
100ml natural yoghurt
150ml warm milk
20 g yeast( fresh if possible)
5 tbsp oil
1tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 egg

and
100 g very soft butter
1 egg yolk

Dissolve the yeast in warm milk with a little bit of sugar and flour, let it rise, then mix with the rest of the ingredients, forming a nice smooth dough, and leave it to rest until doubles in size.

Divide into 8 equal pieces and roll circles about 25 cm in diameter. Spread the butter in each one (except for the last) and put stack one on the top of the other. Leave it to rest for 15 minutes and roll it out to make around 50 cm large circle and cut as shown below.

Roll the triangles, cut them in half and then arrange them around a battered tin, as on the picture above. Use the long  strips to roll roses that go in the middle. Cover and let it rise once again, until all the dough pieces come together. Bake in a preheated oven 200C/400F/gas 6 for about 50 minutes, cover with parchment paper half way through to avoid burning. 

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Timballo Verde

Potato, Spinach and Parsley Timbale

Traditionally Timbale is a dish of finely minced meat, or fish in a rich sauce, cooked in a drum like mould lined with potato or pastry. This is however, a vegetarian dish and has only the potatoes in common with it's older sibling. This is also what I go for on our meatless Wednesdays, although you should not stay away from it if having meat for dinner as it agrees with it very well, especially with the chicken breast fillets.  

Timabllo Verde

600g baking potatoes
500g spinach leaves
1 finely chopped onion
2 bunches parsley
4 eggs -room temperature
100g grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
100ml double cream - room temperature
3 tbsp  soft butter
pepper, salt, nutmeg,1  tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 175C/350F/ gas mark 4
Grease a round 22-24 cm baking dish with butter.

Cook the potatoes in their skins for about 20 minutes in boiling water. Sauté the onion in olive oil then add the washed and cleaned spinach, cook for couple of minutes and pour off the water.

Peel and mash the potatoes  while still hot.Wash the parsley and pluck the leaves, purée it together with spinach, season with salt, pepper and nutmeg (optional).

Whisk the eggs and cream together and stir into the mashed potatoes, add the spinach purée, half of the cheese, and season again if necessary.  

Pour the mixture into prepared mould, sprinkle with the remaining cheese and dot the top with butter.

Bake for about 25 minutes, or until golden brown and set.

It's equally good to eat warm or cold.

Adapted from The Italian Kitchen, Love Food

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Puff Balls and Lemon Rolls

To mark UK National Bread Week 

 Knowing the simple fact that bread is made of flour, water, yeast and salt (and sometimes a bit of sugar)  makes me wonder whether we really need that extra 15 or so ingredients that often don't have a name, and their presence is  presented in numbers instead, in our bread loaves. They are emulsifiers, fats, preservatives, enzymes, anti- fungal spray and some of them make sure that bread stays fresh for longer, which is ok, I agree in certain situations, when you go away .. camping.. or fishing.. but to willingly consume all those numbers on a regular basis, I am not up for that. 

For those of you who would like to step into the world of home-made deliciousness, here is one of my favourite recipes for one dough that could be used to make few different bakes. I will demonstrate two today. Just make one dough, divide it in half, let one half rise just for awhile, another one for longer, shape them  differently and in no time, you will  have two (possibly more) amazing breads.

The Dough

10g yeast(use fresh if possible)

500g strong bread flour

10g salt

350ml tepid water

I always dissolve yeast in a glass of warm water before combining it with the flour and wait to show the first sign of it being alive. There are fast action varieties that do not require that stage, but I don't work with them very often, so please follow the instructions on the packaging if you are using it. 

Combine the flour and salt add the yeast mixture and work the dough by stretching it and pulling it together until it becomes elastic and smooth, or use a machine to do it. Now, flour your work surface lightly, place the dough and form it into a ball - fold each edge into a centre of the dough, press it down and rotate the ball as you go along - you can see how here. 

You can divide the dough into half here, if you decide to make two different kinds of bread.

Puff Balls

Preheat the oven to 240C

Preheat the oven stone or upturned baking tray. Bake one or two at the time.

Half of the dough enough to make 10 balls.

Let the dough rest for 20 minutes.

Take it out of the bowl and cut into 10 equal pieces, each should weigh around 40 gr, round each piece into a small ball and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Make your work surface and your rolling pin clean of tiny pieces of dry dough or other particles that can get into the dough and stop it from puffing up. Dust the work surface lightly with flour. Now roll each piece into  a thin(1- 2 mm) disc.

Slide one or two onto baking tray and bake for  3 to 4 minutes, they should inflate quickly, take them out when golden brown and hollow. Cool them on a wire rack. Don't store them in a plastic bag as they will go soft. They are very crispy and a great companion to dips, soups and salads.. Keep your leftovers in an airtight container.

Lemon Rolls
Preheat the oven to 240C

Use the second half of the dough to make these fresh smelling lemon rolls. Before leaving the dough to rest knead zest of one lemon in. Shape it into a bowl and leave for one hour to rise. 

Take it out and cut into 4 -5 pieces, cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes. Shape them into rolls, line a try with a clean tea towel and dust with flour. Place the rolls next to each other, making a pleat in between to separate them. Cover with another towel and leave to prove for another hour.

When doubled in size, score the tops with sharp knife or razor blade, transfer them into a baking sheet,mist the inside of the oven with water spray and turn it down to 220C. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden.

These roll are partially good in summer with barbecued fish and salads.

Recipes adapted from Dough by Richard Bertinet

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Happy Easter

Srecan Uskrs - Hristos Vaskrese

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Pasteria

Nona Italia's Easter Cake

Nona Italia (real name is believed to be Maria) bakes an enormous amount of this gorgeous cake every Easter and gives it out to family members and friends. Although we are not in that circle, we are fortunate enough to be friends with her granddaughter Jodie, who is still to come and give her expert opinion on this cake made with her Nona's recipe (slightly modified).

Pasteria

Filling:

500g over cooked pudding rice (left to set over night)

500g ricotta

120gr caster sugar

blossom water to taste, I put 2 spoons, you can easily pour 1/2 bottle

1 orange, zest and juice

pinch of grated nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

11 egg yolks 

200g mixed peel

Pastry:

250g plain flour

50g butter

4 egg yolks + 1 egg

Rub butter into flour, add eggs, one at the time and stop if the dough is wet enough ( depends on size, you may not need to use them all) Wrap in a cling film and refrigerate until ready to use, may leave it overnight.

Filling:

Cook the rice, you should need about 250g of raw rice, as it usually double in size, depends on rice, maybe  even less as for this recipe you will need it over cooked, until the grains almost disperser. When cooked put in a colander and let it set overnight.

The next day, mix the rice with one half of the sugar, and ricotta with the other. Preheat the oven to 230 C, gas  mark 8. Combine rice and ricotta mixture, then add the egg yolks, blossom water, nutmeg, orange peel and cinnamon. Grease 25 cm - 10" tin with butter, roll 2/3 of the pastry and cover the bottom and the side and pour the filling. Use the remaining pastry to roll and cut 10 thin strips, criss cross them over the filling ( five strips horizontally, five vertically). 

Bake on high temperature for 10 minutes, then  reduse to 180C/gas mark 5 for about 1 hour, or until cake appears golden and firm to the touch.

Serve as small slices when cold.

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Easter eggs

Vintage style

We will be colouring our Easter eggs the traditional way today, but I wanted to get a bit playful and decorate a few eggs with pieces of lace and some vintage style paper napkins. 

In addition to the lace and napkins, you'll need boiled eggs, a pair of small scissors, and lightly beaten egg whites to make your design stick to the eggs.

Cut the desired design out from a napkin in a single layer, brush some egg white on the eggshell of a boiled egg and let it dry, frame it with a piece of lace. ..

although you can do either - decoupage, or a lace arrangement .

You can also use dried flowers and use egg-whites to "glue" it to the egg and also to seal it.

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Easter cookies

Classic shortbread

This is the second post in my Easter series. I've spent my time playing like a little child and I've had such a wonderful time baking and decorating these shortbread cookies!

I followed a classic shortbread recipe and made one batch with cornflour, and another with rice flour. Although I used both ingredients before, I'd never used them at the same time and or seen how they compare. Cookie after cookie, I decided that I don't have a preference, as both versions are excellent in their own way - rice flour gives a granulated, crunchy biscuit, while the ones made with the cornflour melt in the mouth. You know what you like best.

Classic Shortbread
Easter cookies

250g salted soft butter
100 g caster sugar
10g vanilla sugar
250g plain flour
125g cornflour or rice flour

Preheat the oven to 170C/340F/gas mark 3 1/2

Cream the butter and sugar, add vanilla sugar, then gradually sift the combined flour and cornflour (or rice flour), mix unitl it binds together, then knead with your hands until smooth, but don't overwork it. Wrap it in a cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough to 5-6 mm thick, then cut into shapes of your choice. Line the baking sheets with a parchment paper and bake for about 15- 20 minutes. Let them cool for few minutes before transferring them carefully to a wire rack..

For the decoration I used the ready to roll icing, natural food colouring and stencils. Simply roll the icing, stencil it if using a stencil and cut to the same shapes as the cookies. Use a drop of water to put them together. Few cookies I topped with moulded melted chocolate (duck, bird, Easter egg, bow).

Instead of vanilla sugar, you can use an orange zest and pinch of ground cardamom seeds, or lemon zest, cinnamon, even salt and pepper.

Adapted from Bake and decorate by Fiona Cairns

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Easter Bread

An attempt to match my Nan's Milibrot 

 Maybe there are better tasting and smelling Milibrot breads (milk bread that originates from Germany- Milchbrot) that have been made out there, but my Nan's will always be my favourite. So, naturally I tried to replicate what she used to bake without a recipe and without mistakes... and failed every single time. The truth is that even if I succeeded, I wouldn't have known; how can you recreate a memory? I don't think it's possible and yet, it felt that I came very close to my imagined perfection with  this "rehearsal Easter bread".

 And just when I was proudly enjoying the moment of success and was nibbling through my second slice, I heard my daughter saying - Not bad, but not quite like Nan's. Oops! What I had between two bites , was a moment of clarity and what she said all of a sudden made sense; I shouldn't try to match my Nan's Easter bread, I should patiently wait my turn to create a similar memory for someone instead.

Milibrot - Easter Bread

190 C/375 F/ gas 5
26 cm /10" oiled and floured round tin

550g flour
1 tbsp dry yeast
250 ml warm milk
50 g caster sugar
70 gr soft butter
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
10 g bourbon vanilla sugar ( or vanilla essence)
pinch of salt
zest of 1 lemon
1 tsp mahlep powder (optional)
1 egg yolk mixed with a drop of oil to egg-wash

Start by dissolving yeast in warm milk, add a spoon of sugar and couple of spoons of flour, mix and wait for yeast to become active and  bubbles appear.  In a separate bowl, mix the flour, vanilla, lemon zest, sugar and salt. Beat the eggs with cooled malted butter; add the yeast and egg mixtures and to the flour and  mix until you get a very smooth, slightly shiny dough. Cover and leave to rest for half an hour, then knock the dough back, knead slightly and cover to rest until almost triple in size (for about 1 hour, depends on a temperature in your kitchen).

Take the dough out on a floured surface and divide it into 3 equal pieces, each should weight around 300g, roll 90 cm long sausages and make a long plait (because the dough stretches as you go you should end up with 90 cm long plait).

Starting from the middle arrange the dough in circle, cover and let rise until it doubled in size.

Brush with an egg yolk wash before putting into the oven and bake for 35 minutes, or until golden brown in colour.

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Chocolate Avocado Cake

The cake that divided the family 

 I decided to go out of my comfort zone and bake a cake with  non-typical  ingredient. I didn't roll the dice to decide which one I will use, but it certainly felt like I was gambling with my baking reputation among friends and family that like my baking just as it is, traditional - with little modern twist (their words, not mine). And I emphasize a little.   

Avocado was an obvious choice because I wanted to make a somewhat healthier icing and replace butter as the fat. My verdict - beautiful combination of chocolate and avocado! My daughters verdict? - Calpol Cake. If I didn't tell the crowd what  gave the cake that gorgeous velvety and silky green colour, I am certain that the cake would of have had a much warmer welcome.  But ,with the main ingredient revealed while the cake was still in a fridge,I had a hard time convincing them to even take a bite.  Luckily, my sister, who doesn't like very sweet desserts, came to the rescue and we had few bonding, sister to sister talks over this cake. 

For the sake of my waist, I will be using avocado the old fashion way- in salads and dips, and postpone my plans to make chocolate- beetroot cake, until further notice!

For those of you out there that are more open minded about what your dessert should look and taste like, here is the recipe:

Chocolate Avocado Cake

200 g  dark chocolate

1 tsp coffee powder

200g flour

2 tsp bicarbonate soda

pinch of salt

200 g unsalted butter, softened

4 eggs

100ml yoghurt

For the Cream:

1 ripe good quality avocado

1 tsp lemon juice

250g icing sugar

handful of walnuts, toasted 

Preheat the oven to 180 C/gas mark 6, oil 24 cm round tin and lay the bottom with parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate with coffee powder then set aside. Beat  the sugar with butter and mix the rest of the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. Add the eggs, one at the time to the butter mixture until they are well incorporated, then combine the half of the flour mixture, add yoghurt and then the rest of the flour. At the end pour the cooled, melted chocolate and mix to get even smooth texture. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cocktail stick comes out clean. Leave in the tin for 10 to 15 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool down.

For the cream it's the best to use a food processor or a blender. Blend the avocado with lemon juice until all lumps disperser, then start adding icing sugar and keep blending on a mid to high speed until you get a nice smooth and thick consistency. If it is not thick enough just add a bit more sugar as you go, make sure that you do not put too much as it will firm up in the fridge. 

Cut the sponge into half fill with the half of the cream, reserving the other half for the top. Decorate with roasted walnuts.

(Recipe adapted from "Sweet tooth" by"Lily Vanilly)

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One year later

With my dear guest Lana
 from
La Cuisine Creative

One year ago I pressed the publish button for the first time and gave this blog a life. It felt surreal, strange and it was totally out of character, for someone who always has to have a plan, and a back up plan and is constantly two steps ahead. So, you can imagine how confusing it was not to have a clue where I was going or what I wanted it to do with it and no wonder that it took a lot of identity searching, blog research, and more photography related nightmares that I can count to finally feel settled and at home (ishhh). 

 Do you remember the first comment on your blog? For me, it was awhile before I even realised that the few "visits" that my traffic chart was showing was actually me "admiring" my own work, and when that first  word -Yummy- appeared in the comment box, I wanted to go to Bulgaria and thank Yoli in person. She is not visiting, (at least not commenting) any more, but to the girls who helped me to keep going and always put the smile back on my face during the rainy days Lana, Milkica and Petra I own a special thank you.

Few weeks back, I wrote that I recently made a friendship, first on-line, then in person, with a fellow blogger and that she agreed to be a guest on these pages soon, so you could meet this beautifully humble and creative person through her work. 

Please meet Lana who made us a proper, English tea party to celebrate! 

                                                    

                                                         Mini tarts

Ingredients: 150 g plain flour, 75 g chilled unsalted butter (cubed), a pinch of salt, 1 tbsp water

Put the plain flour into a food processor and add the butter and salt. Whiz until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add a tablespoon of water and whiz again until it just starts to come together. If it looks a bit dry, drizzle in a teaspoon or two more of water.

Tip out onto a board, bring together with your hands and knead lightly to bring the dough together. Wrap in a cling-film and chill for 15 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Remove the pastry from the fridge, unwrap and roll it out on a lightly floured board until it‘ s about 2 mm thick. Use to line 6 tins, reserving the remainder (wrap and chill this bit as you‘ll need it later  for the lattice topping). Prick the base a couple of times with the fork and bake in the oven 10-15 minutes, until the pastry looks dry.

Make the filling ( I used the Sfogliatelle one) and spoon into the pastry cases.

Roll out the remaining pastry on a lightly floured board and cut it into 5 mm strips, long enough to fit across the tart tins. Place on top of the filled tarts and pinch them into the pastry edge. Brush the strips with water and sprinkle with sugar. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden. Serve warm or cold.

Mini muffins

Ingredients: 225 g self-raising flour, ½ tsp salt, ½ tsp ground white pepper, 100 g finely chopped ham, 40 g salted butter, 20 g Cheddar ( finely grated), 1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley, 150 ml natural yoghurt, 1 large egg, 100 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 200 C. Grease the mini –muffin tin generously with butter.

Sift the flour into a medium bowl. Add the salt and pepper, ham, cheese and parsley. Toss everything together.

Mix the cooled, melted butter, yoghurt, egg and milk together in a bowl.  Mix dry and wet mixtures together.

Spoon the mixture equally among the grease tin holes and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Leave to cool for a minute or two, then use a spatula to gently prise them out of the tin, and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

                                                       Pistachio kisses

Ingredients: 2 medium egg whites, 100 g caster sugar, 50 g dark chocolate, 40 g shelled pistachios

Preheat the oven to 130 C. Line two baking sheets with baking parchment .

Whisk the egg white until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, a spoonful at a time, whisking well between each addition, and continuing to whisk until stiff, smooth and glossy.

Spoon the mixture into a pipping bag and pipe meringue kisses onto the baking parchment. Bake the meringues in the oven for 1 hour or until they come away from the parchment.

Melt the chocolate over very low heat just until melted. Dip the bottoms of the meringue kisses into the chocolate, then roll chocolaty bottom into chopped pistachios.

  

Adapted from Miss Hope‘s Tea Time Treats. J

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