Tag Archives: knead

Onion and Olive bread

15 Sunday Jan 2012

Posted by in pizzas and bread

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Onion and Olive Bread

After a busy Christmas season and getting settled into my new flat I finally got the time to do a proper bit of cooking this weekend. Making bread is a little messy but every time I make it I ask myself why I ever bother to buy it as it’s so easy to make, tastes great and there is a strangely satisfying feeling of seeing it rise.

One of the beauties of making your own bread is that you can put whatever you want in it. From cheese, olives, seeds to lardons.

What you need:
7g of yeast
Pinch of sugar
300ml warm water
500g of flour

150g of roughly chopped green onions
1 1/2 chopped onions
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped dried rosemary

Add your yeast, warm water and sugar in a bowl and leave for 10 minutes.

In a pan fry the onions until they are golden.

For the dough, in a bowl add the flour and make a little well. In the well add the yeast mixture, onions, olives, rosemary, salt and pepper. Gradually incorporate the flour into the well and mix until it becomes dough. Add  more water or flour as necessary (the dough should not be sticky but elastic).

Place the dough on a clean floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes. Place the dough into a large bowl and cover with a damp cloth and leave to rise for 2 hours in a warm place. After the two hours knead for about a minute and shape into a flattish round shape. Place the dough on a greased baking sheet/ tray. With a knife make criss-cross cuts into the top of the dough and cover the dough for another 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 220C. Dust the top of the dough with a little flour and place the dough in the oven for 10 minutes. Then lower the heat to 200C and continue cooking 20 minutes. The loaf should sound hollow and have a golden crust.

You can eat it warm or cold. I had some for my breakfast with some smoked salmon, yum!

Enjoy
Mel

Raspberry cheesecake

09 Sunday Oct 2011

Posted by in Desserts

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After seeing a simple but perfect cheesecake being made on Australia Masterchef, Alexis and I decided to give it a go. Now it’s not the cheapest cake to make but it is delicious and from time to time really worth making it. Mine was a little different to the Masterchef one, they used ground almonds in the base, I didn’t and I added rasberries to the mixture.

What you will need:

For the base
1 cup of plain flour
1/4 cup of sugar
90g chilled chopped butter

For the filling
330g cream cheese
500g ricotta
4 eggs
1 cup of sugar
1 tbsp grated lemon rind
1 lemon’s juice
1 1/2 tbsp of cornflour
1 1/2 tbsp water
As many raspberries as you fancy (I used about 2 handfuls and sliced in two).

You will also need a deep circular cake tin (one with a removable bottom and clasp is best)

Pre-heat your oven to 150C. In a bowl add in all the ingredients for your base and knead them all together with your fingers, you know it’s ready when the mixture looks like breadcrumbs. Butter your cake tin and add the base mixture to the bottom of the tin. With a spoon flatten the mixture so it becomes hard and homogenous. Place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Whilst your base is in the oven prepare your mixture. In a small bowl mix the cornflour and water and then add all the ingrdients together in a large bowl except for the raspberries. Whisk all ingredients together. Take your base out of the oven and pour in your mixture. Then add in your raspberries.

Put your cheesecake in the oven for an hour, then turn the oven off and leave the cheesecake in the oven for an extra hour. It’s not over yet – you’ll need to leave it in the fridge for about 2 hours. Though I was in a rush so I put the cheeseake in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Unclasp the cheesecake and either leave it on the tin base or move it onto a plate. I had some raspberries left so I made a quick coulis by adding a bit of sugar and the raspberries in a pan on a low heat until they melted together.

Enjoy
Mel