Garlic and Herb Focaccia

There's something very gratifying about baking your own bread. Firstly, there's the unmistakable aroma which fills the house, but also that slightly smug feeling of having baked your own bread and showing off about it. Focaccia is relatively easy as there's only one knead required when the flour is all added to the mix, then leave to rise, punch down, shape and rise again before baking.  

Most people think making your own bread (without a bread maker) is in the too hard basket, but it's really not. It just takes a bit of time and patience, not to mention a bit of elbow grease in that kneading process. 

However I'll share a couple sneaky shortcuts with you. In the kneading part, it can be made really effortless if you have a mixer with a dough hook (it's that weird squiggly looking thing that you thought you'd never find a use for). If you don't have a mixer with a dough hook, you'll have to do it the old fashioned way. I'm sure you an find dozens of YouTube tutorials on kneading bread, but the basic technique is to use one hand to fold the dough, the other to turn, and repeat for a few minutes till the dough feels smooth and elastic. 

The other shortcut tip I use is to warm the oven to about 40 degrees Celsius and use this as the place to rest the bread while it rises. A hot water cupboard is also a good place to pop it. Basically it just means that your bread has a sure-fired warm place to rise, draught free and stable. I find that using the oven also reduces the rising time a little. Mine only needed about 45-50 minutes, whereas sometimes (especially as the nights get cooler) it can take double that. 

Ingredients (Makes an 18 x 24cm tin sized loaf)

• 1/2 cup good quality olive oil
• 2 tbsp of dried or fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, oregano, basil or Italian mixed herbs) 
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 1/2 tsp active yeast (I use Edmond's Sure to Rise) 
• 1/2 tsp honey or sugar
• 2 1/2 cups plain flour 
• 1 tsp salt 

Firstly heat the oil in a small pan with the herbs and garlic and cook on low for a few minutes till aromatic. Do not let the garlic brown or burn. Set aside to cool. 

In a large bowl (or the mixer bowl for the dough hook) mix 1 cup of warm water with the active yeast and honey. Set aside somewhere warm for 5 minutes to let the yeast activate.

Add half of the oil mixture and one cup of the flour to the yeast mixture and mix briefly so that the flour is moistened. Set aside for another 5 -10 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 40 degrees Celsius and oil your baking dish, a rectangular slice tin is best, a few cm high on the edges. 

Now add the rest of the flour and salt, use your hands (or the dough hook attachment of your mixer) to mix the flour in and knead on a floured bench for a few minutes till smooth and elastic.

Pop the dough into the oiled tin, loosely cover with a tea towel, and pop into the warm oven for 40 - 60 minutes. Check frequently from 40 minutes, you want it to be at least doubled in size.

Once well risen, remove it from the oven and increase the temperature to 220 degrees Celsius. Knock the dough around a bit and press it down to fill the tin, using your fingers to make dimples on the top, then pour the remaining herbed oil over the top. Set aside for another 20 -30 minutes to allow it to puff up again. 

Pop the risen, piled dough into the hot oven for 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven when golden and sounds hollow when tapped. Remove to a wooden board or cooling rack and leave for 5-10 minutes before cutting and serving. 

This bread is delicious with soup, olive oil and dukkah, lathered in butter, or sliced lengthways and filled like a sandwich.  

  

Fill the tins with Simon and Alison Holst

Last year I gave up junk food. Yes. Truely. 
However, I should really define what I mean by 'junk food'. 
To me junk food is all that processed packaged, often individual serving size wrapped junk. The stuff where you read the ingredients and don't know what half of it is or what the numbers mean, yes, that JUNK. Emulsifiers, acidity regulators, 'natural' flavour (what does that even mean?!?), humectant, stabiliser 223, colour 110... yes, it's in some of our favourite supermarket aisle treats. Don't get me wrong I'm no saint, the convenience of muesli bars and packeted treats are pretty neat... 
... However home baked treats are hard to beat. Home baked goodness, where you know exactly what went into them. Where they are full of actual whole ingredients, sugar, butter, flour. Where you don't add numbers, chemicals, stabilisers, or anything from the world of food-science flavouring. Where you can eat real, home-made food, that all have that secret ingredient of love and effort. Yes, you can taste it, and yes, it is good. 

Sunday baking has become a bit of a ritual lately, and Simon and Alison Holst's The Complete Home Baking Collection is a great resource for keeping those tins full. 

It has all the classic treats that Grandma used to make, plus some awesome twists, plus there are whole chapters dedicated to baking fresh bread, festive treats, and gluten free baking. 

Gingernuts were the first thing I saw when I first opened this book, late one weeknight eve. The drive to make them was overwhelming, so I whipped up a batch right there and then (that's how easy they were) and took them in for staff morning tea the next day. Check the recipe below. 

Another time saver recipe I whipped up this weekend was the Mix-in-a-minute Dark Chocolate Cake, which I filled with raspberries, whipped cream, and smothered in a dark chocolate ganache. Literally mixed in a minute, thanks to the food processor method. 

This is also great way to get kids into the kitchen, building their awareness of how food is produced and helping fill their own lunch boxes. 

But what about the sugar, the fat, the healthiness you ask? What about it?? My grandmother had a great saying, "everything in moderation, including moderation itself" so go on, make that cake, and eat it too. 

Mix-in-a-minute Dark Chocolate Cake (pp.48)
Ingredients (makes a 30 x 20cm cake):

• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp canola or other oil
• 1 1/2 cups water 
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence 
• 2 cups of plain flour

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 (170 fanbake), with the baking rack just below the middle. Line a 30 x 20cm baking pan or small roasting pan with baking paper and coat with non-stick spray. I used a 22cm round cake pan, so it took 50 minutes to bake in total. 
2. Put sugar, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a food processor, and pulse to mix. Add oil, water, eggs and vanilla essence to the dry mixture and process for about 20 seconds to combine well. Add flour and pulse briefly about 5 times again until smooth. Pour the fairly thin mixture into the prepared baking pan. 
3. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean. Cook cake in pan on a rack, then turn out or cut straight from the pan. 
4. Ice as desired (there's a dozen icing recipes to choose from in the book) or top pieces with whipped cream and fruit or berries. 

Gingernuts 
Ingredients (for 80 small biscuits):

• 100g butter
• 1 rounded household tbsp golden syrup
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 - 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups plain flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180 (170 fanbake). Line baking trays with baking paper. 
2. Melt the butter in a medium-sized pot, or microwave safe bowl. Remove from heat when melted. Dip an ordinary tablespoon into hot water, then measure the syrup with it. Add the syrup, sugar, ginger (use more for a stronger flavour) and vanilla essence. Add the egg, then mix well with a stirrer or wooden spoon. 
3. Sift in the flour and baking soda. then mix everything together again. 
4. Stand pot or bowl in cold water to cool the biscuit mixture so it is firmer. With wet hands, roll teaspoonfuls of biscuit mixture into small balls. Put these on the prepared baking trays, leaving room to spread. Bake one tray at a time, for about 10 minutes, until golden brown. While biscuits are still warm, lift them onto a cooling rack. When cold, store in an airtight container. 

Note: if biscuits don't spread, you have used too much flour. If they spread too far, you have not used enough. 

Friday night = Pizza night

Pizza is one of those things that's always satisfying. Especially, when it's homemade. Sure you can buy a plethora of pizza bases ready to go, and sure, they taste good enough, but homemade, homemade is always so much more satisfying. Tonight I split the base in two and made one, a vegetarian favourite, broccoli and feta, the other, spicy chorizo and mushroom, with homemade tomato sauce. 

Friday pizza night is a bit of a tradition in my house. One that began about 4 years ago, when I was flatting with other pizza and beer enthusiasts. We'd each do our own toppings, and share to see who could come up with the best combination. Tonight was the best night to bring the tradition back to life, firstly because I finally have a new oven (YUSS!!) and secondly, the rugby's on. 

I like to keep my base quite no frills, using the edmonds pizza base ratio, that way I let the toppings shine. The boys, both meatlovers, decided the broccoli was "all good!" and struggled to pick a favourite. 

Base

• 1 tbsp Edmonds active yeast
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 cup of warm water - it should be body temperature, mix half a cup of boiled water with cold water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 cups of plain flour
• 1 tbsp oil

Mix yeast, sugar and warm water in a bowl. Set aside, somewhere warm and draught free (a 35 degree oven works well for this if its a cold day) for about 15 minutes till yeast has become frothy. Meanwhile get started on making on the toppings, as below. 

Mix in sifted flour, salt and oil. Combine with a knife till the dough starts to come together. Tip onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about 10 minutes. You'll feel the dough become smooth and elastic. 

Oil a large bowl, place the dough in and cover with a tea towel. Put back in the draught free warm place for about an hour till it's doubled in size. 

Preheat your oven, and pizza stone to 220 degrees celsius Punch the dough down and knead again before splitting it in half (or quarters if you want smaller pizza's). 

Roll gently, or press into 30cm pizza tray. Or if you have a pizza stone, roll the dough out on greaseproof baking paper - this makes it easier to get it off the bench and on the stone pre cooking. 

Once rolled, oil the base. 

Broccoli Feta and Red Onion Pizza 

• 2 red onions, sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
• 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
• Oregano, salt and pepper
• 60g feta

Heat oil in a saucepan and on a low heat, sauté the onion, balsamic and garlic for about 10 minutes till softened, stirring often. Set aside

Prepare broccoli by lightly steaming or microwaving for 2 minutes

To assemble spread sautéed onion onto prepared base, sprinkle grated cheese and arrange broccoli florets over the top. Sprinkle with oregano, salt and pepper. 

Bake 15 - 20 minutes till golden. Remove from heat and crumble feta over top. Slice. Serve. 

Spicy Chorizo and Mushroom Pizza 

Tomato Base 

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 2 stalks celery, finely diced
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• 1/2 tin crushed tomatoes (or 6 fresh) 
• 1/2 cup water or stock
• 1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/2 tsp each of dried marjoram, thyme, chilli flakes and pepper
• 1 tsp each of dried basil, oregano, and salt

Toppings

• 1 chorizo finely sliced
• 6 mushrooms, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups grated cheddar cheese
• handful of jalapeños (optional) 
• handful of marinated eggplant - artichoke, sun-dried tomato, olives or other antipasto veggies would also work well, just don't go overboard, simple is best. 

To make the sauce heat oil in a saucepan, add herbs and spices till they start to sizzle, reduce heat and add garlic, celery and carrot. Sauté for 5 minutes till softened. Add tomatoes and water or stock, increase heat, and cook, stirring every couple of minutes till sauce is thick. You can puree it, or leave it chunky, I like it chunky to be honest. 

Once base is ready, spread the sauce over, then half the grated cheese. Arrange mushrooms, chorizo, marinated veggies, and jalapeños on top. Sprinkle with the rest of the cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes. Slice. Enjoy. 

Baking bread: the old fashioned way

I love books, and in particular I love cookbooks. However not all cookbooks are created equal. Some filled with glamorous pictures might be nice to look at but are never things that you would bother making due to extravagant ingredients or laborious steps. Some on the other hand are down to earth, practical, easy and downright delicious. My all time favourite cookbook I 'borrowed' from my mother a few years ago. She was given it as a 30th birthday gift, the inscription tells me. It has come to be my favourite book. Beautifully handwritten, illustrated and never fails to taste good and feel good, Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest. 

Today I made Mollie's Date and Wheat Germ bread. Naturally sweetened with a drop of honey and softened dates. Despite, the dates, this is a savoury bread and best served warm with butter. Rested three times for optimal flavour and texture. 

Below are pictures of her step by step bread making guide, I couldn't explain it better, or more beautifully. She uses these steps to make a dozen different breads in this book. 

Date and Wheat Germ Recipe

Ready for the oven... 

Finished loaf

Finished rolls