Bread

Man cannot live by bread alone… but I’d have a good try when it tastes as good as this. Not many things taste better than a thick slice of fresh bread, spread with butter and jam.. or vegemite.. or honey.


I recently made a conscious decision to buy less processed food and bake from scratch in an effort to reduce the number of preservative we, and particularly the boys, are eating. Did you know it now takes a dead body longer to decompose than 50 or so years ago, simply because of the high number of preservatives we are exposed to? So I bake a loaf of bread every second day, and sometimes a fruit loaf as well. We are not big bread eaters, but a sandwich for school lunch and a couple of pieces of toast occasionally for breakfast are all we need.

Years ago I had a bread machine. My husband didn’t like the bread, my son didn’t like the bread, and for all the (minimal) effort I went to, all I got was a small, high loaf that was difficult to cut and most slices had a hole in the bottom. Needless to say the bread maker got pushed to the back of the cupboard and was eventually sold at a garage sale.

The hardest thing about making bread is getting organized. To get around this problem I make up 10 bags of bread mix at a time. Each bag of mix contains all the listed ingredients except the butter and water. This means making bread is as easy as dump out the mix, pour in the water and knead. I sometimes put it in the mixer and let it do all the work, but more often than not I just stand at the kitchen bench, listen to the radio and knead away. I have even sat out on the front steps and kneaded in the bowl.

I often make the bread dough first thing so that it can rise during the morning and I eventually get around to baking it in the afternoon. I have let it rise in the evening, shaped it and left it in the fridge overnight and baked it in the morning. All have been successful; it just depends when you need the bread.

This is the recipe I use, one I have adapted from the original I found on Simple Savings

500g plain flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbspn milk powder
2 tsp bread improver (or vinegar)
2 tsp yeast
1 tbspn butter
300ml lukewarm water

Mix all the dry ingredients, store if required
Add butter; squash it into the flour a bit if you feel like it
Add water, using the ends of your fingers of one hand start stirring the flour into the liquid
Keep mixing and folding it over to incorporate all the flour
Turn out onto a smooth surface and knead until smooth
Return it to the bowl and cover with plastic wrap
Leave to rise in a warm place, about 1 hour or until doubled in size
Punch the air out of the dough
Turn it out and give it a quick knead
Shape as required or place in tin
Leave to rest 30mins
Brush with water for a golden but chewy crust (egg and milk wash give a crunchier crust(
Sprinkle with seeds if desired
Bake at 200C for 30mins
To test if done, the bread should sound hollow when you knock on the bottom
Remove from tray and cool on a rack – if you can wait that long.

Now someone please pass the butter and honey.

mmm... Chocolate

Compare and contrast... words that make many a student roll their eyes. Compare and contrast the writing styles of... Compare and contrast the foreign policies of... You get my drift. Well here we go again. Compare and contrast these chocolate cake recipes; chocolate fudge brownies, a recipe I cut from the Family Circle magazine years ago and the No Fuss Fudge Cake, a recent find on the Simple Savings website.

Can you tell from looking at them (probably not because I’m still learning to take good food photos) which is higher in cost and calories? You can’t and you can’t even taste the difference. The Chocolate Fudge Brownies are a traditional brownie recipe, making a solid but fudgey block that is easily cut into squares and eaten for afternoon tea or into larger pieces and served warm with chocolate sauce and cream for dessert.
The No Fuss Fudge Cake is the one you make when you haven’t had time to shop; the cupboard is empty and visitors are due. It contains no eggs, no milk, no butter and no chocolate. I now make it in a loaf tin which makes it easier to cut for school lunches, or in muffin cases.

Both are wonderful and delicious. The fudge cake recipe produces a high quality cake but is very easy on the pocket. I make it at least once a week and I’ve had no complaints from my boys.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies
250g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
150g unsalted butter (I always use salted because that’s what I have)
175g (3/4cup) caster sugar
3 eggs, whisked (or just dropped in as it is quicker)
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence*
150g walnuts, roughly chopped (I leave these out as none of us like nuts in sweet food)
75g (1/2 cup) plain flour, sifted (or not)

Pre heat oven to 160C and line a 20cm square cake tin
Place the chocolate and butter – m/wave is the easiest. Zap in short bursts and stir regularly. Cool slightly
Add sugar, eggs and vanilla to the chocolate and stir until well combined
Stir in flour and walnuts or other ingredients that you might be using
Pour into pan and bake 35 – 40mins until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Cool in pan

No Fuss Fudge Cake
1 1/2 cups plain flour

3 tablespoons cocoa

1 cup sugar

1 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla essence*

1 tablespoon white vinegar

6 tablespoons oil
1 teaspoon bicarb soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 180 C and line a 20cm tin with paper
Put the flour, sugar, cocoa and bicarb and salt in a bowl
Combine vanilla, vinegar, oil and water, add to bowl
Mix with beaters until smooth. You can use a bowl and spoon if preferred
Pour into the tin and bake 35 to 40 minutes
Cool for 10 minutes then remove from the tin
Ice with your preferred icing.

Chocolate Fudge Brownie

No Fuss Fudge Cake

* You’ll notice in the pictures of ingredients, the bottle of Vodka, or what looks like a bottle of Vodka. It is my vanilla extract. It was once a bottle of Vodka, but I added two cut vanilla beans and shake it regularly. Any alcohol comes off during the cooking process and I use it in all recipes that require vanilla.

The Beach House - Sandy Bay

Every second Monday, A and I meet with our 'little people' and catch up over morning tea at a cafe we haven't tried before. Today we went to the Beach House. I had forgotten it was there, hidden behind a thick hedge, the ground floor of a block of elegant apartments overlooking the water in Sandy Bay. We arrived at 10am, and while it was only 7C outside, the sky was blue and the sun was warm. Two diners had decided to brave the outdoor tables, sheilded from the carpark by the afore mentioned hedge. This will be a lovely place in summer, but we went inside, not brave enough to endure the cold with little kids.

Walking into a large carpeted interior, empty except for a coffee drinker in the far corner, we decided on the wide lounge chairs by the built in artificial but stylish gas fire. It wasn't on, but one could imagine how cosy it would feel at night.

After deciding on a second breakfast I ordered at the counter. The only hiccup in an otherwise pleasant experience was the lack of smiles and the difficulty in getting a baby hot chocolate, rather than a baby chino. Once that was sorted and the kids entertained with toys, everyone was happy. The drinks arrived quickly as did the food. The latte was thick and delicious and the little people loved their drinks: a babychino served with sprinkles on top and a baby hot chocolate with a big marshmallow.

Danish Raisin Toast. This was advertised as thickly cut, and contained nuts as well as fruit. It looked great but was suprisingly bland.

The Ricotta Buttermilk Hot Cakes were served with a banana and caramel sauce. There were 3 hot cakes the size of typical pikelets, they were fluffy and delicious covered in the caramel sauce.

The Hash Brown was the best of our selection by far. Possibly reheated in the deep fryer, that didn't matter. It was crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside and full of flavour. We could have eaten many more of these.

Also on the menu was Vanilla Scented Yoghurt with a Stewed Fruit Compote, Eggs Benedict, and a mushroom dish served with goat's cheese and truffle oil.

I didn't get a chance to have a look at the lunch and dinner menu as between two active kids and meals that arrived very promptly we didn't have time to fill.

I'm glad there is a stylish cafe open all day close to a park where we often take the kids, this will be a nice way to round out a weekend afternoon.

The Beach House
Open breakfast, lunch and dinner
646 Sandy Bay Rd, Sandy Bay.

Fish Pie - an amazing taste sensation

Having bought a stockpile of fish after visiting a market at closing time I am steadily working my was through a freezer shelf of white fillets. Up until now I had not considered a pie. Reading elsewhere and seeing mention of a chicken and vegetable pie inspired the fish pie.

Keeping in mind that this pie was intended for anklebiters as well as adults, I set about it in a very mundane, mummy way. I diced some carrot and simmered it with dehydrated peas and corn, a very handy pantry staple. What I did though, was to simmer the vegetables in fish stock and once cooked I drained them and kept the stock, not letting it escape down the sink. I diced the fish, in this case a firm white fillet, labelled tusk fish. This was pan fried and much to my annoyance stuck to the bottom of the pan. It is a new frypan and not a nonstick coated one this time. Perhaps it wasn't as hot as it should have been. Once the fish was cooked it was put to one side with the vegetables. In the frypan, crusted with the remains of the fish, I made a white sauce using the retained fish stock. Once this was done, I added some chopped spring onions, stirred in the vegetables and fish and poured it into a baking dish.

The mixture didn't fill the dish to the top, so instead of laying the puff pastry across the top of the dish, I cut it to size and lay it on top of the filling. I decorated it with the cut off pastry, gave it a brush with a beaten egg and baked it is a 200C oven for 30 minutes. After letting it stand for 5 minutes we sat down to ate.

I cut through the crunchy pastry and scooped out the filling onto everyone's plate. Both kids turned up their noses at it and this was indeed fortunate as after one taste my husband and I devoured ours and started on the kids. What had started out as a routine fish pie had turned into a mouth watering gourmet experience. Perhaps the vegetables cooked in the fish stock, the white sauce then made with this stock, incorporating the crunchy pieces of fish stuck to the bottom of the pan had elevated this dish from ordinary to something special. We both agreed that this is a dish that shall definately be appearing on the family menu again.

When I make a white sauce now, I use a scoop from my bulk mix. Both the kids like maceroni cheese and to make up a small amount of white sauce can sometimes be somewhat tiresome. I came across a recipe on the Simple Savings web site for a bulk white sauce mix that saves a lot of time and trouble and allows you to make up as much sauce as you need.

Bulk White Sauce Mix
2 cups milk powder (skim or full cream)
1 cup plain (all purpose flour)
2 teaspoons salt
200g butter

Process all ingredients in a food processor until they resemble fine bread crumbs
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for 2 months or indefinately in the freezer.

To use the white sauce mix
1/2 cup white sauce mix
1 cup cool water
combine the white sauce mix and water and whisk over medium heat until thick
Add cheese, curry, etc if required.

I now have a new camera, so once I have read the instructions and found the right buttons there will be pictures to accompany the words.

Happy eating!

The First One

I spend the first hour of my day reading blogs. That quiet time before the sun and the kids get up, sitting in a pool of light from the lamp by the computer, nursing my first hot chocolate for the day, I read my way around the world. Reading my favourite blogs I mentally tasting the foods that others have cooked, reading recipes and restaurant reviews and wishing I could be there.

I spend a lot of my day in the kitchen, not barefoot and pregnant, but happily pottering around baking for relaxation, experimentation and for my family of boys.

So it occurred to me that if I like to read everyone elses food experiences, you might like to read mine. Here it is - my first ever blog.