Sunday Treat- Golden Brioche

Very delicious, rich and tender bread with a golden crust – great way to treat yourself and your family. Enjoy!

Prep time :  30 min + for dough to rise

Cooking time : 15-20 min

(Makes 6 large brioches)

Ingredients:

500 gram flour

7 gram dry yeast

1 teaspoon sugar

125 ml warm milk

1 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoon sugar

4 eggs, lightly beaten

175 gram butter, softened

1 egg yolk

1 tablespoon cream

Method:

In small bowl mix milk, 1 teaspoon sugar and yeast; leave to stand for 5 minutes.

Into large bowl sift in flour, salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar; make well in the centre then pour in eggs and yeast mixture, add butter. Mix until dough is smooth, glossy and elastic.

Transfer to a clean bowl; cover and let it rise for 1 h or until doubled in size.

Grease six large muffin cups.

Gently punch down the dough; transfer to a floured surface. Cut ¼ of the dough and divide into 6 parts, form into a ball; set aside. Divide remaining dough into 6 equal parts. Knead each part into round shape and place into greased muffin cups. Make an indentation in each larger dough ball and place a small ball into the indentation. Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in size.

Mix egg yolk with cream and brush brioches. Bake brioches in the 210⁰C preheated oven for 10 minutes then turn heat to 180⁰C and continue to bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Once baked place on a wire rack to cool down a little.

Daring Bakers October Challenge – Doughnuts!

The October 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was hosted by Lori of Butter Me Up. Lori chose to challenge DBers to make doughnuts. She used several sources for her recipes including Alton Brown, Nancy Silverton, Kate Neumann and Epicurious.

Cream Glazed Baked Cappuccino Doughnuts

(Makes about 15-20 doughnuts)

Ingredients: 

160 ml warm milk

1 ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 tablespoon butter, softened

100 gram sugar

1 sachet cappuccino mix

450 gram all purpose flour, plus extra for kneading

½ teaspoon salt

For the glazing:

200 gram icing sugar

4-5 tablespoons cream

Handful of roasted flaked almonds

Method:

In bowl mix warm milk, yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar; leave to stand for 5 minutes.

To the yeast mixture add butter, egg, sugar and salt. Then gradually add flour and cappuccino mix. Mix until dough is smooth.

Turn dough onto floured surface and knead a few times. Then place into oiled bowl and leave to rise in a warm place for about 1 – 1 ½ hr or until doubled.

Place dough onto floured surface; punch down the dough and roll it out to 3 cm thickness.

Cut out 10 cm circle and place to lined cookie sheets. Then cut out 5 cm circles form the centre; cover with cling film and leave to rise for about 30-40 minutes.

When ready transfer to the 190⁰ C preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. Leave to cool for a bit.

  

For the glaze, mix icing sugar and cream, whisk until smooth.

When doughnuts are cooled, dip the top of doughnuts into glaze then sprinkle with flaked almonds.

World Bread Day and Nutty Apricot Breakfast Loaf

This is 5^th Edition of World Bread Day, which takes place on the 16^th of October and is hosted by Zorra of 1x umrühren bitte. There are no restrictions what kind of bread to bake – it’s all up to you. Or if you don’t want to bake then you can buy your favourite bread and write about it.

I decided to bake something special for Saturday breakfast, something nutty and sweet : )

Prep time : 25  min

Cooking time : 50 min + cooling

(Makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:

400 gram all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

100 gram brown sugar

60 gram mixed nuts, roughly chopped

125 gram dried apricots

1 cup boiling water

250 ml natural yogurt

200 ml milk

Zest of 1 lemon

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 ⁰ C. Grease baking pan.

Place dried apricots into bowl and pour over boiling water; leave to stand 10 minutes then drain and chop.

Meanwhile in a large bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, lemon zest and sugar. Then mix in yogurt and milk.

Add chopped nuts and apricots, blend well.

Transfer batter to the baking pan and bake for 5o minutes or until done. Cool for 10 minutes until transferring to a wire rack.

Poppy seed Dinner Rolls

Nothing completes a perfect meal like rolls from the oven. Surprise your family and friends with easy - homemade dinner treats. And poppy seeds will add great variation to the ordinary rolls. Enjoy!

Prep time : 30 minutes + rising

Cooking time : 15 - 20 minutes

(Makes 10 rolls)

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons sugar

7 gram dry yeast

345 gram all-purpose flour, plus more

200 ml warm milk

Pinch of salt

3-5 tablespoons butter, melted

3 tablespoon poppy seeds

Method:

In a large mixing bowl put warm milk, yeast and sugar; mix all together and leave to stand in a warm place for 10 minutes. Add in melted butter and salt.

Gradually add flour to the yeast mixture, stir until a dough forms. Then turn the dough onto lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes or until smooth. Place dough into clean greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave it in the warm place to rise, about 45 – 60 minutes.

Punch the dough down and then turn onto floured surface. Roll out dough into 30x25 cm rectangle, sprinkle with poppy seeds.

Beginning with a long side, roll up dough in a roll and cut into 10 equal slices. Place slices, with a cut side up, on the greased baking tray. Cover and let it rise until doubled, for about 30 minutes.

Bake rolls in the 180 degrees C preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. Serve warm.

 

Chicken and Cheese Pasta Bake

(Serves 4)

Ingredients:

600-800 gram of cooked chicken, chopped

350 gram dried pasta

1 large onion, chopped

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

4 tablespoons of chopped basil

2 tablespoons of oil

400 gram jar of chopped tomatoes

50 gram of grated cheese

Salt, pepper to taste

Method:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

In a large saucepan bring up salted water to a boil; cook pasta following packed direction or just until tender. Drain and return to the saucepan.

Heat up oil in a frying pan, add onion and garlic; sauté for 3-5 minutes. Add tomatoes, chicken to the frying pan and continue to cook for further 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Spoon chicken and tomato mix to the ovenproof dish, sprinkle with chopped basil. Top with cooked pasta and sprinkle with cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Palmiers

Palmiers, also known as elephant ears, palm leaves or glasses, are French cookies made from puff pastry.

They are easy and quick to make, you just need puff pastry and sugar. If you don’t like heavy desserts then palmiers are perfect for you as they are light, crispy and simply delicious!

(Makes approx. 30-34 palmiers)

Ingredients:

2 sheets puff pastry

1 teaspoon of vanilla sugar

7 tablespoons of sugar

Powdered sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 200 degrees C. Line baking tray with parchment paper or non stick baking sheet.

In a small bowl mix sugar with vanilla sugar.

Sprinkle powdered sugar on working surface and cover it with pastry sheet.

Then sprinkle sugar mix over pastry and roll lightly with rolling pin then fold in two opposite sides of the pastry to the center. Fold in same sides to the center again and finally fold one side of the pastry over the other.

Slice the pastry sheet into about 2 cm thick slices and transfer to the non stick baking sheet or lined baking tray, place with cut side down.

Repeat with second pastry sheet.

Bake palmiers for 10-15 minutes then turn over and bake further 5-7 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool completely before serving.