Braided Pizza Bread

Bread is one of those staple foods I have not had much success with so far. Searching high and low, trying out different recipes with variable results - I had almost given up. That's when I came upon this amazing recipe like the proverbial 'hit rock bottom before achieving a high'. It is deliciously easy to make and believe me, will be gone from the table before you know it.

Without further ado, here's the recipe

Ingredients -

For the Bread
1 ½ cups All purpose Flour
2 ¼ tsp Instant dry yeast
1 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Sugar
¼ cup Milk
¼ cup Water
2 tbsp Olive Oil + a little extra
Garlic Oil to drizzle [To make garlic oil - warm 4-5 tbsp Olive oil, drop 1-2 cloves of crushed garlic in it and let steep]

For the stuffing -
1 Onion chopped fine
1 Tomato chopped fine (without seeds)
1 Capsicum chopped fine
½ cup Corn Kernels
1 tsp dried Basil
1 tsp Chilli Flakes
1 tsp Italian mixed herbs
1 Cup Mozzarella Cheese
¼ cup Pizza Sauce
Garlic Salt to sprinkle (Sea Salt/Rock salt is a good option too)
Salt to taste

Method -Preheat oven to 200⁰C (190⁰C for a fan forced oven)

For the bread –

Add the flour, salt, sugar and yeast to a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the milk and water (both lukewarm). Mix to form pliable dough.  At this stage the dough could be sticky. Add the oil and knead for 5-7 mins. Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, coat it liberally with oil, cover with a damp cloth and set aside till it doubles in size.

This will take about an hour (depending on how hot / cold the room temperature is in your kitchen)

Punch down the dough and knead well for 2-3 mins. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into a rectangle making sure it is not too thick. This could be done on a ‘flour dusted’ clean work surface or on a sheet of baking paper.

For the stuffing –

Heat oil in a pan, add the onion and sauté for 2 mins or just enough to get rid of its raw smell. Add the remaining vegetables and cook on high flame for 2-3 mins. Remove from heat, add the herbs, chili flakes and salt and mix well.

To put them all together –

Longitudinal, along an imaginary center line spread some pizza sauce. Sprinkle mozzarella so as to cover the pizza sauce.

Top it with the prepared vegetable mixture. Sprinkle once more with mozzarella and herbs.

Score the dough with a sharp knife starting from the stuffing, radiating outwards at an angle.

Bring in the slit strips alternating from both sides to give a ‘braid’ like appearance.

Brush the prepared bread with the garlic oil, sprinkle lightly with some garlic salt, herbs and some mozzarella.

Cover with baking paper and let rest for 15-20 mins.

Bake in the oven for about 30 mins or till the top is golden brown.

There you have one delicious home baked bread ready to serve.

Enjoy!!

............................................................................................................


This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Peach Cobbler

A 'Cobbler' finds it's origins in the British American colonies of old. There are several different variations of this dish depending on the region it is made in.
The recipe here is from the 'deep South' (USA), the Southern classic Peach Cobbler. The southern people are quite generous with their Cobbler recipe serving it with a dollop of Vanilla Icecream!!

Ingredients -
113g unsalted Butter
1 cup all purpose Flour
2 cups Sugar
1tbsp Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1 cup Milk
410g Canned Peach slices
1tbsp Lemon juice
Ground Cinnamon or Nutmeg

Method -

Melt butter in a 13"x 9" glass baking dish.
In a bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the milk, stirring just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Pour this batter gently over the melted butter. Do not mix it up.

In a pan, add the remaining sugar, canned peach slices along with it's juice and lemon juice. Bring to a boil over high heat while stirring continuously. Once it is boiling, remove from heat and gently pour over the batter in the glass dish. Again, important - Do not mix it up.

Sprinkle with cinnamon / nutmeg. Bake in a preheated oven at 1900C for 40-45 mins or till the top looks golden brown.

Serve warm with a dollop of Vanilla Icecream or whipped cream and garnish with roasted chopped Hazelnuts.

This dish is best eaten warm with the cold icecream or whipped cream. Having said that it can be served cold as well

Notes : During the baking process, the fruit along with the juices, sinks down to the bottom of the dish and the batter layer rises to the top. Therefore it is important to not mix the layers.

When serving the cobbler, cut a piece and turn it over when plating up so that the bottom layer consisting of the fruit is now the top.

............................................................................................................


This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.

Panforte di Siena

Panforte is an Italian fruit and nut dessert not unlike the traditional Christmas fruit cake. The origins of this dessert go back to the Tuscany region of Italy (so I understand from Wiki!) It is quite a dense cake made almost entirely with fruit and nuts. A little flour binds the whole dish. The spices lend a deliciously heady aroma.

Ingredients –

250g Figs or Pitted Dates
50g Honey
100g Soft Brown Sugar
½ tsp Ground Cinnamon
½ tsp Ground Clove
½ tsp Ground Nutmeg
½ tsp Ground Cardamom
½ tsp Ground Black Pepper
250g Candied Fruit
50g blanched Almonds
50g toasted Hazelnuts
4 tbsp sifted Plain flour
50ml Vin Santo dessert Wine or Rum
Icing Sugar for dusting

Method –

Preheat oven to 150^oC. Line a 25cm round or 20cm square cake tin with baking paper.

Mince the figs / dates and put them in a pan with just enough water to cover the fruit. Add honey, sugar and spices.

Cook gently for about 10 mins and then transfer to a bowl. At this stage the fruit mix should be soft and sticky but not wet.

Add the candied fruit and the nuts. Mix well. Then add the flour and wine and mix to a sticky mass. Spoon mixture into prepared tin and bake for 30-40 mins.

Take out from the oven and let cool in the tin. When cooled take out of the tin. Sprinkle generously with icing sugar and serve with a glass of your favourite bubbly!!

Transfer to an airtight container. It does have a long shelf life provided there is any leftover!

bon appetite!

............................................................................................................


This blog does not accept any form of advertising, sponsorship, or paid insertions. We write for our own purposes. However, we may be influenced by our background, occupation, religion, political affiliation or experience.The views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely the blog owners.
This blog does not contain any content which might present a conflict of interest.