Almond Scrolls - almost an almond croissant!

 This recipe was a bit of a random find. It looked too easy to be true and used ingredients we usually have in the house. I made them at night and put them in the fridge ready to bake in the morning. They were fine but I'm interested to see what hey are like fresh from being made and into the oven.

I'd roll them less tight to allow the middle to cook more. 

My guests and I thought they could be good with Nutella and chunks of dark chocolate, maybe blueberries or apple and brown sugar and cinnamon.

I'd make the filling recipe 1.5 x for two sheets of pastry.

Makes 12 cruffins

2 sheets of puff pastry

Almond Filling:
80 g almond flour
1 egg
40 g soft butter
45 g sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract

Combine all of the almond filling ingredients together.

Spread the filling onto both sheets of puff pastry.

Cut into 6 strips from each sheet and then roll them up cinnamon roll style.

Place into muffin tin and bake in a preheated oven at 185 degrees for 20 mins or until golden.

Sour dough discard crackers

 

Discard in the sour dough process seems like such a waste. These crackers are not only simple, they are delicious.

I use a variety of toppings...everything but the bagel seasoning, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, parmesan cheese grated

They take a while to cook, but its worth it.

Ingredients:

for 100 g of sour dough discard

add

1 tbs of melted butter (cool)

Oven to 150 degrees

Mix together discard and butter.

Spread over lined baking tray. 

Sprinkle with flaky salt.

Bake for 10 minutes , then use pizza cutter to cut into cracker sized pieces.

Continue baking until totally cooked through.

If the layer is too thick it might need to be flipped over to cook the underside.

Ciabatta bread

I could not believe how easy this was to make. I prefer 8 buns rather than a loaf but both work really well.

I like to use a container with a lid to my make my ciabatta dough, the same one i use for sour dough baking.

Ingredients:
325ml lukewarm water 
3g fast action yeast
50ml olive oil 
425g strong bread flour
10g salt 

-Water should be warm, once you’ve added all of the ingredients, use a spatula to bring it together the dough will be quite sticky.

-Allow the dough to rest for 30mins in a warm place. 

-After the 30 mins, dip your hands in water to avoid sticking and bring the dough together stretching and folding each corner of the dough.

-Rest for another 30mins

-Now repeat the stretching & folding again and allow to rest for another 30 mins.

-Make sure you flour the surfaces well, then use a floured bench scraper or a knife to cut the dough into rough rectangle shapes.

-Transfer to a baking tray and allow to rest for 15 mins in the tray then bake until golden brown and crispy! (Oven set to 200c fan)

Sour Dough - starter and bread.

 After a sour dough baking period a few years ago I decided to give it another try. This time I have watched lots of videos and read all about it. It's far more sucessful now I understand more. The next step is to get other whānau members making it from scratch!

It bakes best with a well fed starter which has had a few days of feeds...however a wee mistake using discard still made an ok loaf...it just ook longer to proof.

The best recipe for me comes from - The Real Sourdough Mom https://www.facebook.com/p/The-Real-Sourdough-Mom-61555299431119/

It suits me because I can fit it in with my lifestyle. I make it up to the cold ferment stage, then leave it overnight or for a few days on the fridge before baking.

Getting the oven to temp takes about an hour.

Sour Dough Feeding

Feed about every 12 hours. Mix water and starter before adding water. Use warm water if you want to speed up process.

30 g starter

125 g warm water

140g high grade flour

Sour Dough Bread Baking

Ingredients

250g active sourdough starter  (it should have at least doubled in size after last feed, the top should be slightly domed to show it is fully risen)

725g warm filtered water 

1000g high grade flour 

25g salt

Method

Prepare Dough: 

1. In a large mixing bowl, place 250g of active sourdough starter. 

2. Zero out the scale and add 725g of warm filtered water. Mix until the starter is dissolved. 

3. Add 1000g of flour and 25g of salt. Mix with hand until the dough is the same consistency and there are no pockets of dry flour remaining. Stretch and Folds: 

4. Cover the dough and let it rest for one hour. 

5. Perform stretch and folds every 30 minutes for four rounds. Bulk Fermentation: 

6. After the fourth round, cover the dough and let it bulk ferment on the counter for two hours until it increases by 50%-75% in size. (This step may take longer than 2 hours.) Shaping: 

7. Lightly flour the counter. Split the dough in half. 

8. Shape the dough into a large rectangle, then fold one side toward the middle, and repeat with the other side. Roll up your dough into a ball shape. Shape it into a round ball by pushing your dough out in a circular motion and pulling in about 3-4 times (tucking in the underside). Let rest for 20 minutes. 

9. Perform the final shaping by repeating the steps you did in the first shape. Place your dough upside down (seam side up) into a floured banneton. 

Proofing: 

10. Cover your dough with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and cold-proof in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 48 hours. Baking: 

11. Preheat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with a Dutch oven inside. 

12. Once proofed, flip the dough onto parchment paper. Score the dough. 

13. Place the dough with parchment paper into the preheated Dutch oven. 

14. Bake covered at 500°F (260°C) for 35 minutes, then uncover and bake for another 10 minutes at 425°F (220°C). 

15. Remove from the oven and cool for at least one hour before slicing.

Gin and lime marmalade

 I was given a large bowl of limes...too many to drink in gin and tonics. I'm not a marmalade fan but the gin and lime combo attracted me. It's delicious...especially on homemade sour dough bread.

Ingredients (3)

• 1kg limes
• 1.3kg white sugar
• 1/2 cup gin

Method

Step 1

Cut and discard both ends of limes. Halve limes lengthways. Thinly slice lime into 2mm-thick slices. Transfer lime and any juice to a large saucepan. Add 1L water. Bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Drain. Return limes to pan. Add 1L water and bring to the boil over medium-high heat. Boil, covered, for 30 minutes or until rind is soft.

Step 2

Place sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH (100%) for 2 minutes or until warm. Add to lime mixture. Stir over medium heat for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Bring to the boil. Boil for 15 minutes or until marmalade reaches setting point when tested . Discard scum. Add gin. Stir well to combine. Pour hot marmalade into hot sterilised jars  Seal. Cool

Ricotta Gnocchi

 I was looking for an alternative to potato gnocchi. I had a ricotta version on a recent trip to Melbourne and decided to find a recipe to try out.

It's really fast to make and cooks quickly too.

We prefer a smaller gnocchi. It needs to be cut and put on a well floured board. It can be frozen.

I've been pretty relaxed with the measurements and it still works.

Its great with a tomato based sauce. I've also made it with burnt butter with sage leaves and a garlicky mushroom sauce.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups (425g) whole milk ricotta cheese
• 3 egg yolks
• 1 cup high grade flour
• 3/4 cup  freshly grated Parmesan
• 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

1. Prep the water: Bring a large stockpot of generously-salted water to a boil over high heat.

1. Drain the ricotta: While your water is heating, place 3-4 paper towels on a large plate and spread the ricotta on the paper towels in an even layer.  Place another layer of 3-4 paper towels on top of the ricotta.  Then press down gently to let the excess moisture soak into the paper towels, trying to soak up as much of the excess liquid as possible.  Transfer the ricotta to a large mixing bowl.  (If it sticks to the paper towels, just use a rubber spatula to scrape it off.)  The drained ricotta should now weigh about 12 ounces.


2. Mix your dough ingredients. Add the egg yolks to the ricotta and stir briefly to combine.  Add in the flour, Parmesan, salt and pepper, and stir until 
3. evenly combined.  Avoid over-mixing.  The dough will be a bit moist and maybe a bit sticky, but it should be holding together well.  If it feels too wet, just add in another few tablespoons of flour.
4. Roll out and cut the dough.  Shape the dough into a round disk with your hands, then transfer it to a lightly-floured cutting board and sprinkle the dough with lightly with flour.  Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut the dough into eight even pie wedges.  Using your hands, gently roll out each wedge out into an even log, approximately 3/4-inch wide.  Cut each log into individual bite-sized little gnocchi squares.  Lightly dust the gnocchi with flour once more and give them a quick toss so that they are all lightly coated with flour.  (This will help prevent them from sticking together.)
5. Boil the gnocchi. Carefully transfer the gnocchi to the boiling water to cook.  Then once they float — usually after 30 seconds or so — drain the gnocchi.
6. Serve.  Serve immediately, tossed with your favorite sauce and whatever other ingredients sound good!

Sticky 5-Spice Roast Chicken

 

This is simple and really yummy. The skin on bone in thighs are a must.

This is another from Marion Gatsby https://www.marionskitchen.com/

Ingredients

3 tbsp hoisin

2 tbsp honey

1 tbsp oyster sauce

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tsp Homemade Chinese Five Spice 

4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs (or any skin-on chicken pieces)

Steps

• 

  In a large bowl, combine the hoisin, honey, oyster sauce, dark soy sauce, garlic and Chinese five spice. Add the chicken pieces and mix until well coated. Marinate for at least 10 minutes, although 1 hour is best (or overnight if you have the time).

• 

  Preheat oven to 180°C (fan-forced).

• 

  Line a large baking tray or roasting dish with foil. Top with a baking rack and place the chicken pieces onto the rack (make sure you keep the marinade for later). Pour a little water on to the foil to help prevent any marinade dripping on to the foil and burning.

• 

  Transfer tray to the oven and cook, removing every 10 minutes and basting with the reserved marinade, for around 30 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through.

Spiced Duck Legs with EASY Orange Sauce, Sous Vide!

I love using my sous vide to cook meat. This recipe has a youtube clip to help.

The sauce is best made well ahead and left to slowly reduce.

I try to cook two dinners at once and freeze half the sauce for next time.

For the duck:

Cook in sous vide at 75 degrees for 12 hours.

6-8 legs of duck Star anise 3-4 cloves Thyme Chinese 5 Spice For the sauce: 1 small onion 1-2 cloves of garlic, crushed 3 cups of low sodium chicken or duck stock (Yes, low sodium) 1 cup of fresh orange juice 3 tbs sherry vinegar Pepper A christmassy slug of Grand Marnier (around 1/4 cup) 2 tbs brown sugar 2 tbs orange zest 1/4 stick of cubed butter Tips: If your sauce is thin at the end, add a little cornflour slurry to thicken it. Do this also if you need a little more volume of sauce at the end. If the sauce needs a little more tart, add a squeeze of lemon, more rind, or more vinegar. We suggest low sodium stock to control the salt as it reduces. If you need to add salt at the end, feel free. You can add salt, it's very hard to take it away! Some stocks can become too salty when reduced. Duck legs are very moist. It's very difficult to screw this up and dry them out! You’d literally need to forget about them to mess it up. Make sure your oven is well pre heated to 225 and cook them until the skin is well browned and crisp. Don't be scared to push it. They’ll be tender. Trust me :) They also reheat beautifully the next day in the oven, 180C for 10 minutes.

Hot Cross Buns

 Hot Cross Buns

Last Easter I tried multiple recipes to find the best. As expected what was considered 'the best' depended on who was eating them.

I had hoped buns mixed in my kitchen aide would be as good and those kneaded by hand...sadly this was not the case. 

My favourites were using Chelsea Winters recipe.

Hot Cross Buns

Makes 16 buns

Prep time – 30 minutes, plus 3-4 hours rising time
Cooking time – 17-20 minutes

Ingredients

Super Booster
1 ¼ cups high grade white flour (or strong flour)
1 ½ cups milk
2 tbsp sugar
3 tsp active dried yeast (check expiry date)

Fruit
1 ½ cups raisins, sultanas, chopped apricots or a mixture
Zest and juice of 2 oranges (I like to strip the peel off with a peeler then chop finely)

Dough
3 cups high grade white flour (or strong flour)
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp mixed spice
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt
50g chilled butter
‘Super Booster’ (see recipe above)
1 free-range egg, lightly beaten

Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup reserved fruit liquid from above (make up with water if need be)

Crosses
½ cup flour
1 tbsp sugar
3-4 tbsp water
½ tsp baking powder

Method

Fruit
Heat the orange juice and zest in a small saucepan until hot. Add the fruit to a bowl or a resealable bag and pour the orange liquid in. Seal/cover and leave for an hour or so, or overnight. Drain the fruit in a sieve before using and reserve the liquid.

Super Booster
Add the first measure of flour to a large mixing bowl.

Add the milk to a heatproof bowl and microwave in 20 second increments until it reaches skin temperature – about 32c is ideal. If it gets too warm, just let it cool down to skin temp before using.

Add the sugar and yeast and whisk gently for 20 seconds or so.

Make a well in the flour and pour in the milk mixture, stirring to combine evenly. Cover with a clean damp cloth or a plastic bag, and leave somewhere draft-free* for about 45 minutes. It should be bubbling away nicely and puff up.

Dough
Once the superbooster has risen, add the second measure of flour, sugar, spices and salt to a large metal or plastic mixing bowl and stir. The bowl needs to be big enough for the dough to double in size in later.

Finely chop the chilled butter and add to the flour mixture along with the Super Booster mixture and egg. Stir with a wooden spoon to bring it all together into a rough dough.

Tip it out a clean benchtop you’ve cleared some space on. Start to knead – it will feel very wet and sticky at first and your hands will feel caked in dough. You can rub your hands in a little more flour to clean them, adding the crumbs back to the dough. Keep kneading and eventually, the dough will stop sticking to your hands and the bench so much. Don’t be tempted to add heaps of flour – a little bit at the start is OK, but a sticky dough will produce muchbetter buns than a dry dough. My tip is to invest in a dough scraper to clean the bench as you go – it’s a lifesaver.

Knead firmly for 10 minutes – it needs to be very smooth and stretchy (see tips below). You should be puffed with a mild sheen of sweat by the time you’re done (it’s good fitness). I literally stand one leg and throw all my weight into it. Once it’s ready, leave to sit for 5-10 minutes to relax before adding the fruit.

Drain the fruit well in a sieve and tip on to the benchtop. Squash the dough out on top and knead it all together for another minute or so. It will feel slippery and weird to start with – just persist with gentle kneading and it will all come back together into a cohesive, very sticky dough eventually.

Add the dough back to the mixing bowl, pop a plastic bag on top and leave in a draft-free place* (see tips below) until it’s doubled in size – usually an hour or two – it depends on the temperature of the surroundings, among other things. It’s a visual clue, not a timed one.

When it’s doubled in size, tip out on a clean benchtop and divide into 15-16 even pieces (you can weigh them if you have electric scales). Firmly roll (and I mean firmly – I use the bench and really roll it around hard with one hand) each portion until you have a fairly smooth ball.

Place the balls 1-2cm apart on a baking tray or metal baking dish lined with baking paper (mine was about 30 x 20cm). My buns were pretty much touching start with, so all the buns joined up nicely as they rose.

Cover with lightly oiled clingfilm (or I prefer uncovered in the turned-off oven with the bowl of boiled water) and leave to rise again for another hour or so until puffed up into proper bun size – they don’t rise any more when cooking, like cakes do.

Preheat the oven to 180c regular bake.

Crosses
Only do this just before you pipe the buns, or the mixture goes claggy. Stir the flour, baking powder, water and sugar together with a fork to form a smooth paste.  Add to a piping bag with a small round nozzle (or a snaplock bag with a tiny corner cut off). Pipe thin crosses on top of each bun.

Bake immediately in the middle of the oven for about 20 minutes – or until dark golden brown all over. You can turn the oven up to 200c for a couple of minutes if they aren’t browning.

Glaze
Use the reserved fruit liquid and any water needed to make up 1/3 cup of liquid total. Add this to a heatproof bowl with the sugar. Microwave on high for 1 minute then whisk to dissolve the sugar.  Brush on top of the buns as soon as they come out of the oven.

You did it! Homemade hot cross buns! They won’t look perfect because it’s home baking and you can’t produce buns like the bought ones – nor should you want to. No matter what they look like, you’re an absolute legend and they will taste better to you that anything you’ve bought a shop.

If eating them more than half a day later, I’d toast them.

*Dough rising
There’s no set time for dough to rise, room temperature is usually OK in the warmer months. It will rise slowest in cold conditions and faster in warm humid conditions (ideal temperature is about 32c). Try placing a bowl or tray of just-boiled water in a turned-off oven and pop the covered dough in there with it. Shut the door and there will be enough warmth trapped in there to help it rise nicely. It’s worth noting that yeast dies at temperatures above 50c, so don’t be tempted to warm it up too much.

Tips

Kneading
Proper kneading at the start means a lighter bun at the end. Knead by pushing the dough away – literally stretching it out – downward and away from you with the heel of your hand, then grabbing it and bringing it and repeating. You’re stretching out the gluten strands in the flour so the dough can rise properly. At the end, try to stretch and coax a piece of the dough out into a ‘window’ with your fingers – when the dough is ready, it should stretch enough you can see light through a thin pane of ‘glass’. If it’s not ready, it will just tear. You’ll get there – just keep going until you do. It’s a good workout!

Using a machine
I prefer not to use a machine – it actually ends up taking longer to achieve the result you want. However, if you must, you can use the dough hook on the machine to start the kneading process. Use a low speed for 5 minutes. You’ll need to finish the kneading by hand for another  5-10 minutes to get the ‘window-pane’ result I’ve mentioned above, which is critical.

BASQUE BURNT CHEESECAKE

 BASQUE BURNT CHEESECAKE

A very simple 'make ahead' dessert with wow factor. It needs a berry sauce to pour over it. This can be made from fresh or frozen berries.

The key is remembering to get the cream cheese to room temp before starting.

INGREDIENTS

• 750G CREAM CHEESE, CHOPPED AND SOFTENED
• 1 CUP (220G) CASTER (SUPERFINE) SUGAR
• 4 LARGE EGGS
• 1½ CUPS (375ML) DOUBLE (THICK) CREAM
• 1 TEASPOON VANILLA BEAN PASTE
• 1½ TABLESPOONS PLAIN (ALL-PURPOSE) FLOUR OR RICE FLOUR

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F). Line a 22cm (8½ inch) round springform cake tin or a 22cm (8½ inch) skillet with 3 large pieces of overlapping non-stick baking paper, ensuring paper comes above the rim+. 
2. Place the cream cheese and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Using the whisk attachment, beat until smooth and soft peaks form. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition, until combined.
3. Add the cream and vanilla and beat until just combined. Sift in the flour and beat on a low speed, until thick.
4. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 15 minutes, then rotate and bake for a further 10–15 minutes. The cheesecake should rise up like a soufflé and caramelise, almost burning on the top, but still have an extreme jiggle in the middle.
5. Once out of the oven, allow to cool for 1 hour (the cheesecake will sink a bit), then refrigerate until chilled. Serves 10–12