Fennel seed and onion loaf

I’ve been trying to find a way to convince you to bake this bread but all I can think of is that it tastes delicious and goes really well with a glass of ice cold beer (which is always a winner imho). :)

Oh, and the leftover slices are great lightly buttered and toasted on a nonstick frying pan. There - I hope you give it a try.

Fennel seed and onion loaf
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Australian Gourmet Traveller

¼ cup + 2 tablespoons (90ml) olive oil, divided use
1 onion, finely chopped
2 teaspoons fennel seeds, plus extra for dusting
3 ½ cups (490g) all purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
4 teaspoons (12g) dried yeast
2 teaspoons superfine sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup (240ml) warm water
milk, for brushing
crushed coarse salt or sea salt, for sprinkling – I used Maldon

Heat ¼ cup (60ml) of the olive oil in a small saucepan over medium heat, add onion, sauté until very tender (6-8 minutes), stir through fennel seeds, cook until fragrant (1 minute), remove from heat, season to taste and cool.
Combine flour, yeast, sugar, fennel mixture and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix to combine. With motor running, add water and remaining oil, knead until smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes), then transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat, cover and rest in a warm place until doubled in size (30-45 minutes).
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line a large baking sheet with foil.
Knock back dough, divide in half and roll each piece on a lightly floured surface into a 35cm (14in) long cylinder. Place onto prepared baking sheet, cover loosely with plastic wrap, stand until risen (15-20 minutes). Brush with milk and scatter with extra flour, fennel seeds and coarse/sea salt. Bake until golden and cooked through (25-30 minutes), then cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Store in an airtight container until required. Bread is best eaten on day of making.

Serves 6 – I halved the recipe above and made a 30cm (12in) loaf of bread

White chocolate, lime and candied kumquat truffles and two kinds of recycling

Hollywood has been recycling some of the movies I loved watching on TV as a kid; last night at the movies I saw the trailer for the new “Conan the Barbarian”, which, to be honest, did not impress me much – for starters, they do not have James Earl Jones as the villain. :)

I’ll stick to recycling food – isn’t it much better? Needing to use up the candied kumquats left from the cupcake recipe, I made truffles – and they turned out absolutely delicious.

White chocolate, lime and candied kumquat truffles
based on a truffle recipe from the gorgeous The Sweet Life: Desserts from Chanterelle

1/3 cup (80ml) heavy cream
225g (8oz) good white chocolate, finely chopped
finely grated zest of 1 lime
1 ½ teaspoons lime juice
heaping 1/3 cup finely chopped candied kumquats*
icing sugar or cocoa powder, for rolling

Place cream and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and melt over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until creamy and smooth. Remove from the heat, add the lime zest, juice and kumquats and mix to combine. Set aside to cool, then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours or overnight. Using a small cookie-scoop or a small spoon, make truffles with 1 slightly rounded teaspoon of ganache per truffle and roll into the icing sugar or cocoa. Place in fluted paper cases and serve.
Truffles can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.

* remove the kumquat slices from syrup and place over a wire rack; set aside overnight to dry, then chop

Makes about 25 truffles

Blueberry muffins with doughnut topping and Indiana Jones

Despite being responsible for bringing Ralph into my life I don’t like Steven Spielberg as a director; I find that most of his movies are immersed in a squishy atmosphere, it’s just not my cup of tea. But I have to say that I adore the Indiana Jones trilogy, each and every movie, the first being my favorite.

You might as well be thinking: “why is she talking about Indiana Jones?” – well, after several blueberry muffin disasters – some too heavy, others with no flavor at all – Flo Braker’s absolutely perfect recipe has became my holy grail of blueberry muffins. :D

Blueberry muffins with doughnut topping
from the delicious and wonderful Baking for All Occasions

Muffins:
1 ¾ cups + 1 tablespoon (255g) all purpose flour
½ cup (100g) superfine sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup (180ml) buttermilk*, well shaken
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (89g) unsalted butter, melted and tepid
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cups (225g) fresh blueberries

Doughnut topping:
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons (42g) unsalted butter, melted

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F. Butter and flour a 12-cup standard muffin pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, eggs, lemon zest and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry ingredients and lightly whisk with a fork – do not beat the batter, it’s not supposed to be smooth. Using a spatula, fold in the blueberries.
Fill the prepared pans with the batter (¾ full). Bake the muffins until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan, over a wire rack, for 10 minutes then carefully unmold them, transferring to a wire rack.
Make the topping: in a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon. While the muffins are still warm, gently dip the tops in the melted butter and then roll into the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place on a wire rack.
Serve warm or at room temperature.

* homemade buttermilk: place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk. Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 1/3 cup (80ml) capacity muffin pans and got 8 muffins

Lemon ginger cake - a baking session inspired by The Cure

There are songs I’ve loved since I was a kid but even after learning English I still don’t understand certain parts of their lyrics – thank heavens for the Internet. :)

Last week I spent much of my lunchtime listening to some of those songs and following the lyrics online. “The Caterpillar”, one of my all time favorites – which video is great, too – was an almost complete mystery to me; reading that Robert Smith was singing “dust my lemon lies with powder pink and sweet” made me realize that I hadn’t baked a lemon cake in quite a while – so I did bake one and added crystallized ginger to the batter (inspired by Martha’s recipe).

Great song, great cake. :D

Lemon ginger cake
slightly adapted from the always great Baking by Flavor

Cake:
2 ¾ cups (385g) all purpose flour
1/3 cup (40g) cake flour*
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (400g) superfine sugar
finely grated zest of 2 large lemons
2 tablespoons lemon juice
4 large eggs
1 cup minus 2 tablespoons buttermilk**, well shaken
heaping 1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger***

Syrup:
½ cup (120ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup (100g) superfine sugar

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 25cm (10in) Bundt pan (or use cooking spray).
Sift the all purpose flour, cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Cream the butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed for 3 minutes. Add the superfine sugar in three additions, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the lemon zest and juice. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 30 seconds after each addition.
On low speed, alternately add the sifted ingredients in three additions with the buttermilk in two additions, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally.
Fold in the chopped ginger.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and gently shake the pan from side to side to level the top.
Bake for 55 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Let the cake stand in the pan, over a wire rack, for 5-8 minutes, then carefully invert it onto another rack. Place a sheet of baking paper under the rack to catch any drips of glaze.
Make the brushing glaze while the cake is cooling in the pan: in a small non-reactive bowl, mix the lemon juice and sugar. Using a soft pastry brush, brush the hot cake with the glaze, including the sides. Cool completely before slicing – sift the cake with icing sugar before serving if desired.
The cake will keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container at room temperature.

* homemade cake flour: 1 cup (140g) all purpose flour minus 2 tablespoons + 2 tablespoons corn starch

** homemade buttermilk: place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk. Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

*** if I were to make this cake again I would use a lot more ginger; I am a ginger addict so adjust the amount according to your taste

Serves 16

Pecan-coconut bread pudding - new things can be really good

I usually choose the movies I watch by director: some I love, others I avoid like the plague. If I know nothing about the director I try to find other good reasons to watch the movie (yes, I am sort of neurotic about my movie choices, bear with me). :)
Take Marc Webb, for instance: I had never heard of him until I saw the trailer for "500 Days Of Summer"; then I thought: the trailer was beautiful, the cast was great and the soundtrack amazing - I ended up loving the movie (one of the best I watched in 2009).

Now, take this dessert: I’d never heard of a pecan coconut bread pudding in my life – I did not even recall seeing this recipe when I bought the book, years ago. But then I thought: I am a bread pudding convert (thanks to Nigella and Donna Hay), love both pecans and coconut and do not mind a little chocolate on the side. So I gave it a try. And ended up eating the two bowls you see on the photo while watching TV. ;)

Pecan-coconut bread pudding
from a great book I should use more often: The All-American Dessert Book

2 cups cubed French or Italian bread, including crust, lightly toasted in the oven – I used brioche
½ cup (50g) shredded sweetened coconut
1/3 cup (37g) coarsely chopped pecans
2 large eggs
scant 1/3 cup (55g) packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup (160ml) whole milk
½ cup (120ml) heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (45g) dark chocolate chips
heavy cream, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter four 1 cup (240ml) capacity ovenproof ramekins. Divide the bread cubes equally among them.
Spread the coconut and pecans in a large baking sheet and toast in the oven, stirring every 3 minutes, until the pecans are fragrant and the coconut is golden, 5-6 minutes. Set aside. Reduce the oven temperature to 160°C/325°F.
In a medium bowl, using a fork, beat the eggs until frothy and smooth. Add the brown sugar, stirring until it dissolves. Stir in the milk, cream and vanilla until well blended. Sprinkle half of the pecans and coconut, with the chocolate chips, over the bread. Pour the egg mixture on top. Lay a sheet of baking paper over the top of the ramekins and press down to keep the bread submerged. Let stand for 10 minutes. Peel off the paper. Evenly sprinkle the remaining pecans and coconut over each ramekin.
Place the ramekins in a large roasting pan and place it on the oven rack. Add enough boiling water to the pan to come halfway the sides of the ramekins. Bake just until the pudding feels set in the center when lightly tapped and is nicely browned on top, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove from the oven and transfer the ramekins to a wire rack. Let cool for 5 minutes then serve with cream, if desired.

Serves 4