Simple breakfast bread (dairy free)

I wanted a bread recipe I could make sandwiches with, turn into toast for breakfast, and do everything we do with packaged white bread. I no longer buy that and most of the homemade versions I found called for milk or butter (or both). I thought of making Kim Boyce’s oatmeal bread, which is delicious, replacing the butter with olive oil, but the making of that recipe is not as straightforward as I needed it to be.

I reached out to King Arthur Flour’s website and I bring you my take on their white breakfast bread: a bit of whole meal flour, a bit of oats, no dairy. It is not a light bread and I like it that way, but the big surprise came when my 3-yeard old nephew saw the bread cooling on the counter and asked for some. I gave him a tiny piece, so sure that he would not enjoy such a dense kind of bread, but he devoured it in seconds and asked for seconds (and thirds). :)

Simple breakfast bread
slightly adapted from here

1 1/3 cups (320ml) lukewarm water
1 ½ teaspoons dried yeast
1 tablespoon demerara sugar – for the caramel flavor; use granulated if you prefer
½ tablespoon honey
1 ½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
3 cups (420g) all purpose flour
½ cup (70g) whole wheat flour
1/3 cup (30g) rolled oats
1 ½ teaspoons table salt

Place the water, yeast, sugar and honey in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook. Whisk with a fork and set aside until foamy. Add the olive oil, flours, oats and salt and knead for 8-10 minutes until a smooth and elastic dough forms. Transfer to a large bowl brushed with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and set aside to prove for 1 ½ hours, or until doubled in size.

Brush with olive oil a 5-cup capacity loaf pan. Punch the dough to remove the excess of air and transfer to a slightly floured surface. Roll into a large rectangle, then fold it like a letter and fit into the prepared pan. Cover and set aside to prove again for 1 hour – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown – bread should sound hollow when tapped with your fingers. Cool in the pan over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto the rack to cool. Cool completely.

Makes about 10 slices

Venetian carrot cake

I’m not one of those people who think that one has to love everything about their country just because they were born there – no, definitely not my style. There are lots and lots of things about Brazil I’m not fond of, lots of things that need to change.

That said, I have to be honest with you: Nigella’s Venetian carrot cake is good, but our Brazilian carrot cake wins by a landslide. ;)

Venetian carrot cake
slightly adapted from Nigella Kitchen

Cake:
½ cup (77g) golden raisins
¼ cup (60ml) rum
¾ cup (150g) caster (superfine) sugar
½ cup (120ml) regular olive oil, not extra-virgin, plus more for oiling pan
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
2 ½ cups (250g) almond meal (ground almonds)
½ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
2 medium carrots, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
finely grated zest and juice of ½ lemon
3 tablespoons sliced almonds

Cinnamon scented cream:
1 cup (240m) heavy cream
1 tablespoon icing sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line the base of a 23cm (9in) springform pan with baking paper, then grease the paper and the sides of the pan with olive oil.
Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the rum, and bring to the boil over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer for 3 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
Whisk the sugar and ½ cup of olive oil in a stand mixer or by hand, until creamily and airily mixed together. Whisk in the vanilla and eggs. Fold in the ground almonds, nutmeg, grated carrots, raisins (and any rum that clings to them) and finally the lemon zest and lemon juice.
Scrape the mixture into the prepared cake pan and smooth the surface with a rubber spatula. The batter will be very shallow in the tin. Sprinkle with the almonds and bake until the top is risen and golden and a cake tester comes out sticky but otherwise more or less clean, about 30 to 40 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it sit on a rack for 10 minutes before removing the sides. Let cool until ready to serve. Transfer the cake to a serving platter.
Place the cream, sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk until soft peaks form.
Serve the cake with the cinnamon cream.

Serves 8-10 – I made 2/3 of the recipe above and used a 20cm (8in) round cake pan with a removable bottom