Chocolate Trufffles

Intro

Divinely disgustingly rich and rummy - another one of Fran's recipes. 

Recipe

Soak together for 10 minutes:

• 2 tablespoons chopped raisins
• 2 tablespoons rum

Melt:

• 150g good chocolate (darkish but not bitter)

Mix in:

• 1 lightly beaten egg yolk
• 25g soft butter
• a half cup icing sugar
• the soaked raisins (from above)

Rest in the fridge for 30 minutes then roll into small balls. Set in fridge for a bit, then dip in chocolate and and roll in coconut:

• 150g melted chocolate
• 1 cup coconut.

Apple Cake

Intro

This is one of the first desserts I can remember cooking for my family when I was a kid. Mum and Dad both worked and that meant that each of us kids in turn were responsible for preparing the family meal. Not surprisingly we are all pretty good cooks now. 

I got this recipe out of a Good Housekeeping cookbook my Mum was given by her Grandmother when she got married in 1963. I cooked it a lot when I was a pub cook in Gympie, Queensland. I used to multiply the recipe up and make it in a huge slab. I discovered that a good handful of flour = 1 cup and that I could cream butter and sugar much more quickly with my hand if I was in hurry. I would make whole cakes with my hand as the measurer and beater which was heaps more effective than a standard wooden spoon (in the absence of commercial mixers). When it was baking you could smell the cinnamon right through the pub and the bar staff would bring orders out for cake and cream. 

Recipe

Sift together

• 2 cups flour
• 3 teaspoons baking powder
• half teaspoon salt
• 4 tablespoons sugar

Rub in

• 4oz (125g) butter

Lightly beat together and add to the dry mixture:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk

Pour into a greased tin, and cover with:

• 3 or 4 sliced apples (peeling is optional)
• 1 tablespoon of mixed peel
• 2oz (60g) butter dotted over
• quarter cup of sugar mixed with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon.

Bake 180 degrees for 35 minutes or until done. Serve with whipped cream and / or icecream. This freezes well in portions, reheats well in the microwave and can be made entirely in the kitchen whizz if time is short (including slicing the apples).

Kate's Muesli

Intro

This recipe was given to me by my friend Kate but she knows it as Renske's Muesli after the friend who gave it to her. I've known Kate since the mid 1980s so I've been making this off and on for the last 25 years. This is for Liam - who loves it as much as I do and has clicked that muesli for breakfast sets him up with enough energy for the day. Its well worth buying organic whole grain oats - you really can taste the difference. Take the recipe as a guide or base to start from. Mine is always different; I often add pumpkin seeds and use whatever dried fruit takes my fancy. Cranberries and craisins are really nice. 

Recipe

Mix together

• 6 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups bran
• 1 cup wheat germ
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup nuts: almonds, hazelnuts etc

Melt together

• half cup oil
• half cup honey

Mix together then roast for about 20 minutes turning frequently to avoid burning. Once its cooled down a bit add

• 1 cup of chopped dried apricots
• 1 cup dried bananas.

Once cold, store in an airtight container.

Bagels

Intro 

The bambini love bagels and I too have developed a fancy for them myself. However, at $5 a pack of 4 they are a treat. 

This weekend I decided to have a crack at making them. I found this recipe online - complete with pretty pictures - but I am going to write it up here as well in case the original site ever ceases to exist. They are so yummy - the kids have just gobbled up the first tray hot out of the oven with butter and strawberry jam dripping down their chins and all over their hands. Luckily I ended up making 2 dozen because I wasn't sure if any of my 3 jars of yeast were good so I made 3 starter brews and then all of them turned out fine .... 

Recipe

• 1.25 cups of warm water
• 2 teaspoons active dried yeast
• 1.5 tablespoons sugar
• 3.5 cups flour
• 1.5 teaspoons salt

Dissolve the sugar in the warm water, add the yeast. Leave for 1 minute then gently disperse the yeast granules by stirring with your finger. Leave for 10 minutes until its formed a scummy, frothy mass. If it hasn't 'grown' then your yeast is buggered so throw it away and go buy some fresh yeast. 

Put the salt and flour into a bowl, add the yeast mixture. Stir together then knead for 10 minutes until smooth and glossy adding flour as necessary. (I had to add about 1/2 cup of water). Place into an oiled bowl and cover loosely with pleated greaseproof paper, plastic wrap or a damp teatowel until its doubled in size. 

Push it down, rest for another 10 minutes then push down again. Form the dough into 8 pieces. Roll into smooth balls, poke a hole with your finger and then 'form' smooth-ish round bagel-shapes. I spun mine around my index finger :) Place them on an oiled tray for 10 minutes. 

 Bring a pan of water to the boil. Gently drop the bagels into the water and simmer 1-2 minutes on each side. Lift out, place on a baking sheet (lightly floured), brush with olive oil and sesame seeds and ground sea salt. Bake 15-20 minutes in hottish oven (about 200 degrees).

Autumn Leaves Cocktail

Intro

In 2016 I did the coolest thing in my life and went on a 3 month round the world trip meeting people in the Koha community. It was amazing and is blogged about extensively on my other blog, Library Matters. The second half of my trip was in USA and I stayed with Brendan from Bywater in Portland. 

We spend one glorious afternoon at an amazing restaurant at the top of a building with the most outstanding views, food and cocktails. We drank 'Autumn Leaves' and I have never been able to replicate it - although this comes close. 

Recipe

• 3/4 oz Wild Turkey rye whiskey
• 3/4 oz apple brandy
• 3/4 oz  vermouth
• 1/4 oz Strega
• 1/4 oz cinnamon bitters
• 1/4 oz Cointreau (optional)

Shake over ice and serve with a twist of orange peel.

Sourdough Pancakes

Intro

So you will have figured out that I am in love with sourdough and have quite a repertoire now of recipes to use up discarded starter - including these pancakes.

Ingredients

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup sourdough starter
• 1.5 cups milk
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons oil

Method

Sift dry ingredients together, then add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Cook in 1/4 cup dollops on a greased, hot cast iron pan. When bubbles have appeared flip the pancake over for a further minute or so until cooked. 

Sourdough Bread

Intro

In 2018 I was off work for awhile because I had a PE. In my boredom I started a sourdough from scratch out at Waitarere Beach. I have had that starter ever since and still find it a miracle that from 'fresh air' I was able to make a lively yeasty thing that with only flour, water and salt makes gorgeous bread for about 50c a loaf. 

Maintaining the Starter

The starter needs to be fed every 12 hours.

To feed the starter weigh it then take out what you need for baking (see bread recipe below, cracker recipe or pancake recipe or chocolate brownie recipe.. You need to save a minimum of 140g of starter to be going on with.
Generally I feed my starter with its equal weight so for 140g of starter I add 70g of strong bread flour (high grade) and 70ml of almost luke warm water. You can change the formula if you prefer a wetter starter so 60g of flour and 80ml of water. If you want to grow the starter faster then add 140g of flour and 140ml of water to the 140g of starter.  Stir it well, doesn't matter if its a bit lumpy, then place in a sealed glass jar on a bench etc but out of direct sun and head.

If I am planning on baking that day I feed it at 7am and can then use it to bake from about 11am - 2pm.

The starter can keep in the fridge for a week. If you want to cook on Saturday then get it out and feed it Friday night and Saturday morning.

Sourdough Bread 

3 sizes are shown below depending on how much starter you want to use:

• 130 / 260 or 390 grams of sourdough starter
• 25 / 50 or 75 grams of rye flour*
• 25 / 50 or 75 grams of wholemeal flour*
• 250 / 500 / 750 grams of strong bread flour (high grade)
• 1.25 / 2.5 / 3.75 teaspoons of salt
• 250 / 500 or 750 mls of lukewarm water (approx)

* Ideally - but you can just use plain flour so: 300g/600g/900g of plain flour instead of the 3 flours.  

Place all ingredients except the salt in a mixer with a dough hook and mix for a couple of minutes until a raggy dough. Cover mixer with a towel and leave to autolyse for 30 mins at least but up to an hour or two. Then add the salt and mix for 5 minutes or more until it is a smooth mix. It will be looser than a hand kneaded dough (and you could do this by hand). 

Tip into an oiled bowl, cover with glad wrap. Every 30 minutes or so get your hands into it and lift, stretch and fold the dough over itself several times.  If you can do this 3 or 4 times it makes a good difference. This stretches the gluten. Leave the dough to double in size. This will take a long time.  If I make it at 11am it might not have doubled until 3pm. This is because of the natural yeast. My favourite way is to leave it to rise overnight in the fridge.  This also makes the next step heaps easier.

Once it has doubled in size push it down then portion it out shaping it into oiled tins or make cobs. You want to stretch the shape over itself and under to create a tension on the top.  (Find a video on You Tube for this step - its really hard to explain.)  Pop into tins or a bannetton, sprinkle with flour and leave to rise again. Ideally you really want to do one of the rises slowly in the fridge.

Preheat your oven to 250c. Place an empty dish into the oven with about a cup of water in it. Slash the tops of the risen loafs several times using a razor blade.

Place the loafs in the oven, along with the dish with water, and bake for 40 minutes, dropping the temperature down to 220c for the last 20 mins if the loaves have browned too much. Remove from tins and cool on a rack. Sourdough keeps really well and also freezes well.

Notes and variations

• I use the 390g of starter recipe and place it in 2 loaf tins. The dough fills 2/3rds of tin and rises to the top. This produces a big loaf great for slicing and toast.
• I sometimes spread dough out into a big lamington tray and make focacia. eg stud it with cubes of cheese and teaspoons of onion marmalade, or olives and cheese, pushed into the dough. Once the dough rises brush it with oil and sprinkle with Maldon sea salt or herbs.
• You are not supposed to use a tin for sourdough and I have used a baneton quite successfully, cooking the cob in a preheated Dutch oven works the best. 
• Replacing a quarter of the flour with seeds works really well: sunflower, pumpkin, linseed and sesame is a good mix. 
• Walnuts, apricots, raisins and mixed spice.
• For paprika and cheese bread make a thick slurry with olive oil and paprika (3 tablespoons of paprika) and on one of the last folding steps spread the dough out flat and brush the paprike oil on and top with a cup of grated cheese. Then do the last folding steps to swirl the paprika through. Carry on as normal.