Banana Bread

Banana bread is a 'never fail to please' tea time cake. Sliced and smeared with creamy butter....oh how my taste buds tingle just thinking about it!

Who can compare baking their own to store bought? The smell wafting through the house is amazing, and having the chance to spread the butter over a freshly out of the oven, warm slice.....ouu! there go my taste buds again!

Here is the latest recipe I used, and it worked like a charm

(Recipe adapted from Simply Recipes)

4 medium size ripe bananas, mashed
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar 
1 egg, beaten
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour
Handful of pecans, crushed


Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). 
2. In a large mixing bowl cream together the sugar, butter and vanilla, then stir in the mashed bananas 
3. In a separate bowl sift flour, baking soda and salt 
4. Add the flour mix to the banana mix and stir together with a wooden spoon 
5. Pour batter into a greased loaf pan, sprinkle top with pecan and bake for 1 hour (or until a knife comes out clean from poking into the middle) 
6. Cool on a wire rack

Sweet Bread (Slovak Christmas Bread - Vianocka)

This year is Marek's first year away from home during the holidays. It was my priority to make it as special as possible. This meant spoiling him with plenty of slovak baking!
The first thing I made was this gorgeous sweet bread Slovaks call 'Vianocka' (pronounced vee-a-noch-ka). I haven't got too much experience with bread making so I was crossing my fingers with this one, and you know what? it worked! The bread turned out brilliantly! Marek had the biggest smile on his face when he saw it. He said it looked and tasted authentic.
I have to admit I am quite proud of this one ;)

1 pack active dry yeast (8g)
2 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cup warm water
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 large egg yolks (keep the white for glazing)
1/2 cup softened butter
1/2 cup raisins
zest of half a lemon
1/2 cup sliced almonds

Instructions:
1. In a small bowl, mix together yeast, 2 tbsp sugar and warm milk. Set aside for 15 minutes

2. In a large bowl or stand mixer combine flour sugar and salt. Add the egg yolk, softened butter, raisins, zest and yeast mixture. Using a dough hook or by hand, knead until dough is smooth and elastic.Transfer to a greased bowl, cover with greased plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to let rise until doubled in size

3. Punch dough and knead until all air pockets are removed. Divide the dough into atleast 3 strands. Cover and let rise for another 15 minutes. Braid the strands and tuck the ends under. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet, cover again with greased plastic wrap and let rise until almost doubled

4.Bake in the oven at 375 F for 30 minutes. Reduce oven to 325 F. Lightly brush bread with beaten egg white and sprinkle with almonds. Bake an additional 30 minutes or until bread is medium golden in colour. Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack

Toast a slice of this and coat in butter = H-E-A-V-E-N

Homemade Pizza

We went to some friends for dinner and hockey night a week ago. We were treated with homemade pizza! We love pizza! It's probably our favourite "treat" meal. They even had a stone slate! I have to get one!!!
But get this... I have never made homemade pizza! I've made pizza from bread bases (ie Ciabatta Pizza), but never made the dough from scratch. I know, shocker right?

We usually buy the Dr Oetker Restaurante Pizza. It's the dish we usually have at the end of the week when I'm tired and just don't feel like cooking. But, uuuummm, hello!! why don't we have it on nights when I do feel like cooking and have homemade pizza?? Duh! I don't know where my foodie head has been floating off to in the past.
So this weekend I went for it. Wow! It was so quick and easy. It was actually quicker and easier than making the effort of getting my coat and shoes on, walking to the shop, waiting in line and buying a frozen pizza.

PIZZA DOUGH
1 (8g) package active dry yeast

• 1 cup warm water (cooler than bath water but warmer than room temperature)
• 2 cups all purpous flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons white sugar (optional, I read sugar makes the crust a bit puffier)

Instructions:

1. In a small bowl mix water with yeast. let stand for about 10 min, then add olive oil

2. In a large bowl combine flour, salt and sugar

3. Make a well in the middle of the dry mixture, then pour in wet mixture. Stir together well until a dough forms. Cover with a cloth to let rise for about 30min, or until dough has doubled in size. Meanwhile heat the oven to 375 F (190 C, gas mark 5)

4. Roll dough out (or toss it in the air and pretend you're an Italian cooking in your own pizzeria, like I did) onto a floured surface until it's round and about 1-2 cm thick. Place on a pizza baking sheet (or stone slate if you're lucky enough to have one already)

5. Top with tomato sauce, cheese and toppings of your choice and bake in the oven for 20-25 min, until reached desired golden colour crust and top

I didn't have any tomatoes or sauce on hand but I had some sundried tomato alfredo sauce leftover. Why not eh? I made a sundried tomato alfredo pizza with mushrooms, spinach and mozzarella. Yum yum yum yum!!

Olive Focaccia

My first attempt at making bread and I have to say I am quite pleased.
I took some to my work office to share and get some more feedback. It was a hit!

I used a recipe from my Good Housekeeping Cookery book but somehow measured something wrong and it started off with way too much liquid for the amount of flour so I kept adding flour to balance it out and it turned out pretty darn good considering. So here is my recipe

1 sachet (7oz) of dried yeast

550g (20oz) strong plain white bread flour

325ml tepid warm water

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tsp salt

100g black olives - sliced or roughly chopped

Instructions:

1/ Pour 150ml of the warm water into a jug and sprinkle dried yeast on top. Leave for 10 minutes until foamy

2/ Sift the flour and salt into a large bowl and make a well in the middle. Add the yeast liquid, olive oil and remaining warm water. Mix all together into a soft and smooth dough (add more flour if necessary)

3/ Knead the dough for about 10 minutes until dough becomes smoother and elasticated, then place dough ball into a lightly oiled bowl, cover and leave to rise for about 1 1/2 hrs or until dough has doubled in size

4/ Lightly oil 2 shallow baking tins. Knock back the dough and knead on a lightly floured surface for 1 minute. Add the olives and knead again until evenly combined

5/ Divide th dough in half and shape each half into the oiled shallow baking tins. Coven with a damp towel and let rise for 30min-1hr, or until dough is puffy

6/ Using your fingertips, make dimples all over both dough surfaces. Drizzle with some olive oil and sprinkle generously with coarse sea salt. Bake in the oven at 200 C (gas mark 6) for 25-30 minutes or until golden (but not too browned or it will harden)

7/ Transfer focaccia to a wire rack and sprinkle with a bit more olive oil. Leave to cool, with a cloth covering it if you prefer a softer crust

TIP: To make bread extra soft place an oven proof bowl full of water at the bottom of the oven while the bread is baking

Serve with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Enjoy!