Fruit and Nut Bread For Fresh From The Oven

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Tandy

This month, our host for Fresh From The Oven is La Cuisine de Sarah. She set us a lovely task of making a breakfast fruit bread. Ordinarily I would get the challenge on the 1st of the month, and then have a good three weeks to think about the recipe I am going to do, and make it. This month, we were overseas until the 7th and on the 8th I checked the challenge, and knew that the weekend would be the first time I would have to pay any attention to baking. With all the paperwork and office work that needed my attention, the fact that it was mother’s day on the 13th totally slipped my mind. I finally realized this on the 11th and Friday afternoon is far too late to sort out something for my mom. She lives in Johannesburg and up until this year, my sister has always been in charge of shopping for presents. This year my sister is living in Sydney, and my mom spent her first mother’s day without either of her children. When I moved to Gordons Bay my mom gave me a photo frame with a saying: there are only two lasting bequests we can hope to give our
children. One is roots; the other, wings - we have now flown the nest completely so to speak, and I can only hope it is with joy my mother watches us soar! I decided to make this breakfast bread to share with her virtually on mother’s day.

My first task on Saturday morning was to make candied peel but I decided to make Sally’s recipe, as she is my inspiration when it comes to Fresh From The Oven. I only used grapefruit peel as the recipe called for 2 teaspoons. I replaced the sugar with fructose, and used Canderel Yellow 0% for the dusting. I have a little left over which will get some use soon I am sure. Sally always comes up with an interesting twist for our challenges. I decided to make a fruit and nut bread as I much preferred the ingredients in my recipe book to the one for the fruit loaf. I would rather let the bread maker do the hard work, as it means I can spend time on other projects that need my attention in the kitchen.

what did you do for mother’s day this Sunday?

FRUIT AND NUT BREAD (750g loaf)

Adapted from Breville ikon Baker’s Oven Recipe Book

Ingredients:

1 egg (lightly beaten) and enough milk to make up 200mls

90mls apple juice

10mls oil

6.25mls salt

20mls brown sugar – I used fructose

3 cups bread flour

2.5mls bread improver

Grated zest of 1 lemon

5mls ground mixed spice

8.75mls yeast

Add at the beeps or to the fruit and nut dispenser

40mls raisins

10mls mixed peel

10mls dried cranberries

20mls dried apples, chopped

20mls pecans, chopped

Method:

Add the ingredients listed above in the order they are listed up to and including the yeast, into your bread maker

Add the balance of the ingredients into the fruit and nut dispenser or at the beeps as per your model of bread maker

Select the sweet setting on your bread maker

Cooks note: this recipe is not suitable for the preset timer

FRUIT AND NUT BREAD PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Layered Sponge Cake For Aspiring Bakers

Posted on April 30, 2012 by Tandy

I am in Scotland and will return to South Africa on the 8th of May – I will reply to blog comments then. This post has been scheduled in advance.

I have never taken part in an Aspiring Bakers Challenge before, but when I saw challenge number 18 on Sweet Sam’s blog I knew that the idea I had been playing around with in my mind, needed to take shape on a plate. I have been thinking about making a layered cake since I watched an episode of Master Chef Australia last year. I don’t usually make layered cakes, as it is only Dave and I at home, and the cake I make is a simple pound cake (thanks Celia for teaching me this) which stays moist all week. It has a simple ganache frosting and we enjoy a slice a night after dinner. April and May are very short months for me, as we spend a week of each month overseas. This leaves little time for challenges as the only time I can bake is over the weekends. I decided that our last weekend at home this month would be dedicated to packing the toiletries we need for our trip, and baking this cake.

The recipe I have used is a basic sponge recipe. It worked so well with my time constraints as you can get one layer going while the oven heats, and the next two layers started during the baking process. I used a simple whipped cream filling and topping as I wanted to blend the flavours. My idea was for a multi coloured layered cake, with vanilla on the bottom, coffee in the middle and chocolate on the top. I tied this all together by using nutmeg in the cream. The verdict – I would make this again but if I were making it for friends I would double the ingredients for each layer, to make it really stand out (and stand up). However, I made a small layered cake so that it would be finished before we left for Scotland.

LAYERED SPONGE CAKE

Ingredients:

For the vanilla layer:

1 egg

30g caster sugar – I used fructose

5mls vanilla extract

30g self raising flour

For the coffee layer:

1 egg

30g caster sugar – I used fructose

25g self raising flour

5g finely ground coffee

For the chocolate layer:

1 egg

30g caster sugar – I used fructose

25g self raising flour

5g cacao powder

For the filling and frosting:

1 cup cream

50g honey

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Cacao for dusting

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius

For the vanilla layer:

Place the egg, sugar and vanilla into a stand mixer bowl

Beat on a medium heat until the eggs are pale and more than doubled in size – the longer you beat the eggs, the more air you incorporate into them

Sieve the flour and gently fold into the egg mixture

Pour into a lined baking tin and smooth the top with a spatula

Bake for 10 minutes

Turn out straight away onto a sheet of baking paper and carefully remove the baking paper from the sponge

For the coffee layer:

While your vanilla layer is baking, place the egg and sugar into a stand mixer bowl

Beat on a medium heat until the eggs are pale and more than doubled in size

Sieve the flour and coffee and gently fold into the egg mixture

Pour into a lined baking tin and smooth the top with a spatula

Bake for 10 minutes

Turn out straight away onto a sheet of baking paper and carefully remove the baking paper from the sponge

For the chocolate layer:

While your coffee layer is baking, place the egg and sugar into a stand mixer bowl

Beat on a medium heat until the eggs are pale and more than doubled in size

Sieve the flour and cacao and gently fold into the egg mixture

Pour into a lined baking tin and smooth the top with a spatula

Bake for 10 minutes

Turn out straight away onto a sheet of baking paper and carefully remove the baking paper from the sponge

Leave each layer to cool completely before assembling

To assemble:

Whisk together the cream, honey and nutmeg until thick

Place the vanilla sponge onto your serving plate

Use a third of the cream on top of this layer and smooth it off

Then place the coffee sponge on top of this

Use another third of the cream on top of this layer and smooth it off

Then place the chocolate later on top of this

Use the balance of the cream on top of this layer and smooth it off

Dust the top with cacao to finish it off

LAYERED SPONGE CAKE PRINTABLE VERSION

My friend Colleen asked me how I got the cream so smooth. I have a lazy Susan in my kitchen and I use it for icing my cakes. The cake plate goes on top of the lazy Susan, and I use my palette knife to smooth the frosting while I slowly rotate the lazy Susan. I keep the palette knife steady and the rotation does the work for me.

I am submitting this recipe to Aspiring Bakers #18: Layers of Love (April 2012) which is being hosted this month by Sam of Sweet Samsations.

Tandy

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Cranberry and Raisin Muffins

Posted on April 25, 2012 by Tandy

For those of you who are regular readers of my blog you will notice that I always replace sugar with fructose in my recipes. I am sucrose intolerant which means my body cannot digest sucrose. I have been asked on a few occasions recently about this and I hope this post helps. I am not going to get into the benefits or lack thereof of any product. However, knowledge is power and so hopefully, the following will add to what you already know.

Sucrose, which we see most commonly in the form of cane sugar is a molecule that is a disaccharide composed of glucose and fructose and has the molecular formula C₁₂H₂₂O_11.Both cane and sugar beets are used to make sucrose. We come across various forms of sugar in our daily life and this is a ‘hidden’ ingredient in a lot of prepackaged products.

Glucose and fructose are both simple sugars (monosaccharides). Glucose is commonly known as dextrose. The molecular formula for both is C₆H₁₂O_6.Fructose is sourced from plant sources and is found in honey, tree and vine fruits, flowers, berries and most root vegetables.

Diabetics have a real problem with sucrose, glucose and fructose in their diets and it is important to keep this in mind when reading my recipes. They are designed for people like me, people that cannot process sucrose. However, this particular recipe is diabetic friendly. It uses Canderel Yellow, which is a sucralose based product. The most important thing to keep in mind here is that sucralose is a volume for volume replacement for sugar / fructose and so if you would like to substitute this for any sugar / fructose in my recipes, you need to do it per volume (i.e. cups) and not per weight (i.e. grams).

I made these muffins with two aims in mind – firstly would they have the same texture and taste as my regular muffins and would they store well? They are slightly sweeter than my blueberry muffins, but this could be because of the dried fruit. They kept very well and I was still eating them three days later for breakfast.

CRANBERRY AND RAISIN MUFFINS

Ingredients:

215g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ cup Canderal Yellow (or your locally available Sucralose product)

50g dried cranberries

25g raisins

60g butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

Mix together the dry ingredients

Melt the butter

Add the milk to the egg and then add the melted butter

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid

Gently fold in until just mixed – you want a lumpy texture

Spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin

Bake for 15 minutes

Allow to cool on a wire rack

CRANBERRY AND RAISIN MUFFINS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

disclaimer: I have not been paid to advertise Canderel Yellow, however, the product was given to me at no charge at a bloggers event hosted by Canderel.
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Hot Cross Buns For Fresh From The Oven

Posted on April 12, 2012 by Tandy

I can remember at high school being late for a class and telling the teacher “better late than never” (cheeky bugger me) and he replied “better never late”. Well, for Easter I had planned to do a recipe post on hot cross buns, but the next thing I knew it was April already, and I was LATE. And then, The Little Loaf set this month’s Fresh From The Oven challenge and it was for Hot Cross Buns. So, now I had to make them! But I knew I could not get the post done in time for Easter as the first free moment I would have to bake would be on Easter Friday. We were going out for lunch and I knew that they would make a welcome dessert, especially as they would be freshly made. We did a taste test, comparing them to ones made in a bakery, and mine were judged to be the best! They are spicy, and easy to make, and the recipe I am sharing with you is straight out of the book for my bread maker.

HOT CROSS BUNS

Breville Ikon Bakers Oven Recipe – adapted slightly

Ingredients:

For the dough:

340mls water

40mls oil

10mls salt

60mls brown sugar – I used fructose

4 cups bread flour

60mls milk powder

20mls ground mixed spice

20mls ground cinnamon

11.25mls yeast

1 cup raisins

½ cup dried cranberries

For the crosses:

40mls water

¼ cup flour

For the glaze:

½ cup icing sugar, sifted – I used Canderel Yellow (sucralose)

½ teaspoon allspice

¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 tablespoons water

Method:

Place the ingredients into the bread maker in the order listed, up to and including the yeast

Place into your bread maker with the dough setting for bread, and the add nuts option selected

At the beeps, add the raisins and cranberries

Once the machine has finished its process, divide the dough into pieces and shape into rounds

Place the rounds close together on a lightly greased baking tray

cover loosely with lightly greased cling wrap and leave to stand in a warm area for 20 minutes

Preheat the oven to 190° Celsius

Mix the batter for the crosses until smooth and place into a piping bag with a small nozzle

Once the buns have doubled in size, remove the cling wrap and pipe a cross onto each bun (you can make them quite thick as the batter goes a long way – I made stars as I made mine too thin and had batter left over)

Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown

Combine all the glaze ingredients into a small mixing bowl and stir until all mixed in

Place onto a wire rack and glaze and leave to cool for 10 minutes

HOT CROSS BUNS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Apple Flan

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Tandy

It is not often that I made a dessert twice, other than my chocolate cake, which I used to make every weekend. But I made this apple flan twice so that I could get a photograph of it. The flan was baked for my chopping board chit chat for Woolworths, but they chose not to use the recipe. We had the first attempt at a dinner party at my friend Erica’s house, and the second attempt we enjoyed on the Sunday for tea.

APPLE FLAN

Ingredients:

1 box short crust pastry

8 apples, cored

Lemon juice for drizzling

2 tablespoons sugar – I used fructose

1 teaspoon cinnamon

50g butter, melted

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

Butter and flour a 25cm flan tin

Roll out the pastry to 30cm round

Gently place into the flan tin and bake blind for 20 minutes

Thinly slice the apples and cut in half

Drizzle well with lemon juice

Mix together the sugar and the cinnamon

Place as many layers as you can of the apples in concentric circles on the pastry – make sure you overfill the flan as the apples will drop when they cook down

Sprinkle one teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar over each layer

Pour over the butter

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes

Sprinkle some cinnamon sugar over the top as you take it out the oven

Leave to cool before trimming the edges and removing the apple flan

APPLE FLAN PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Croissants For Fresh From The Oven

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Tandy

This month, the challenge set by Lavender and Lovage for Fresh From The Oven is to make croissants. Watch out for all the attempts on the first of the month by visiting here. I decided not to follow the given recipe, but to use the recipe for Viennese croissants that I found in my copy of Larousse Gastronomique. There was a recipe for a savoury croissant and I thought that it would make a change from the sweet buttery croissants we normally eat. Also, I am very inspired by Sally from My Custard Pie, who each month surprises me with what she makes for this group. My croissants did not rise, so I could not use them in the savoury dish, which meant a whole new recipe was developed to go with my small, tasty treats.

My croissant attempt started with reading Delicio8′s post and I began with a sense of trepidation. The dough did not rise and that might have had something to do with me not feeding the yeast as I did not use sugar. In hindsight I should have added the yeast to the milk, and the salt to the water. I then followed the advice from Delicio8 and I started with softened butter – this was as much as a buttery mess and I assume hers was. So, I turned to cold butter which after the second addition I decided needed to be cut thinly. During my second rolling out of the pastry, some stranger decided to walk through my property and the rolling was put on hold while I scrambled to lock the back door, set off the panic alarm and wait for the armed guards to arrive. Turns out the person invading my space was from the telephone company! After that excitement I managed to roll the dough and sort of measure out the triangles. This was the easy bit. But, the croissants did not grow in size at all! They were however as crispy as any I have ever had, and the taste is amazing. Would I make them again? I think not – they are readily available for a Sunday breakfast treat from our local food store. However, give them a try if you have some time to spare, as time is all you need.

© Carrot and Beetroot Soup with Croissants

VIENNESE SAVOURY CROISSANTS

Adapted from Larousse Gastronomique Page 330

Ingredients:

7g dried yeast

6 tablespoons tepid water

Pinch of salt

6 tablespoons milk

175g butter

250g flour

1 egg, beaten

Method:

Add the yeast to 1 tablespoon water and set aside

Add the salt to 1 tablespoon milk and set aside

* this is what I did but, if I were to try again I would change this around

Heat 25g butter with the rest of the water and milk over a low heat until the butter melts

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre

Add the salt and milk, then the butter mix, and then the yeast

Mix until you have a smooth paste

Set aside to prove for 1 hour

Spread the dough out on a floured baking tray

Cool in the fridge for 30 minutes

Roll out on a floured surface into a thin rectangle

Cut 75g cold butter into thin slices

Place the butter on 2/3 of the rectangle

Fold into 3 starting with the unbuttered third

Roll out the dough, place back on the tray

Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour

Roll out on a floured surface into a thin rectangle

Cut 75g cold butter into thin slices

Place the butter on 2/3 of the rectangle

Fold into 3 starting with the unbuttered third

Roll into a 20cm square, place back on the tray

Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes

Roll into a very thin rectangle measuring 30x60cm

Cut into two lengthways

Cut each half into 6 triangles

* since doing this I have seen a TV program where the chef started with a square which makes more sense to me

Roll each triangle from the base up

* the same chef also cut a small slit into the base to give the croissant its shape

Arrange on a buttered baking sheet leaving plenty of space between each one

Leave to stand for 1 hour

Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

Brush the croissants with the beaten egg

Bake for 15 minutes

VIENNESE SAVOURY CROISSANTS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Blueberry Muffins

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Tandy

When I was in my twenties, I worked at the Hard Rock Café. We would get to work at 10am in the morning to tidy up from the night before, and set up for lunch. The kitchen opened for lunch at 12pm and closed at 3pm. After this, we could eat and if there was enough time before the supper shift started, I would rush home to spend an hour with my partner. He owned a restaurant and our hours were crazy. I was allowed to arrive an hour later than the rest of the staff for the supper shift – but that meant that I could not eat supper. It also meant that I had to make my lunch count. We started serving meals at 6pm and during the week we closed the kitchen at 1am. On a Friday and a Saturday the kitchen closed at 3am and on a Sunday night, relief was in sight, with the kitchen closing at 11pm. Some night shifts saw me getting home, showering to get the smell of hamburger out of my waist length, very thick hair, and then climbing into bed for a few hour’s sleep. On those mornings, there was no time for breakfast. Thankfully there was a very good coffee shop next door to the Hard Rock, and they made the most amazing blueberry muffins. Barbara, the owners wife, and I would get one each morning to have with the first of our many cups of coffee that would sustain us throughout the day.

So, when I saw the theme for this month’s mingle on Mele Cotte’s blog (cherries and berries) I knew I wanted to turn my hand to blueberry muffins. Blueberries are in season right now, and this recipe seemed like the perfect one to share.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients:

215g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

½ cup sugar – I used fructose

75g fresh blueberries

60g butter

1 egg, lightly beaten

½ cup milk

Method:

Preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

Mix together the dry ingredients

Gently mix in the blueberries

Melt the butter

Add the milk to the egg and then add the melted butter

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid

Gently fold in until just mixed – you want a lumpy texture

Spoon the mixture into a prepared muffin tin

Bake for 15 minutes

Allow to cool on a wire rack

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy
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Baked Apples

Posted on February 24, 2012 by Tandy

This month, my friend Hila is the host for Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. She challenged us with a Heart Healthy theme and even though this is part of my every day eating, I was not sure what to share with you. Dave and I have eaten a heart healthy diet for many years. I do not want him to die of heart failure or some such ill, and I come from a family where both my parents have high cholesterol. It has not skipped a generation for some time, and my sister suffers from this as well. I however am lucky, and can eat what I want when it comes to fat and butter and all the good things. I look after our hearts by making sure we eat healthy food, we exercise often, and we watch our alcohol intake. What I cannot do, is protect our hearts from sadness. Today my heart is heavy. I woke up to sad news, and this is news I cannot share, so the burden of sadness is mine alone. And worry – I am worried about the person who shared the sad news. I am worried, because there is nothing I can do. My heart is heavy because I fear that the person who is hurt, has been hurt beyond repair. I am sad because they cannot move away from what is hurting them as they are the one inflicting the hurt. I cannot mend the broken heart.

The saying “an apple a day keeps the Doctor away” could be the perfect heart mending advert. Apples help reduce heart disease and help with controlling cholesterol. So, where I will have to leave my friend’s heart mending to those that can help, I will share my simple recipe to keep your hearts healthy.

BAKED APPLES

Ingredients:

30g pistachios

30g cranberries

½ teaspoon rose water

15g butter, melted

1 apple per person

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius

Roughly chop the pistachios and the cranberries

Add to a bowl with the rose water and the butter

Core the apples and then cut off the bottom of the cored bit and plug it back into the bottom of the apple to make a stopper

Fill to the top with the pistachio and cranberry mix

Bake for 12 minutes

If you are serving this as a dessert, add a spoonful of crème fraîche to the bowl when dishing up

BAKED APPLES PRINTABLE VERSION

I used really small apples, but if you are going to use larger ones, please see Misk Cook’s post for a few more instructions on how to bake them.

Tandy

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Grape And Blueberry Flaugnarde

Posted on February 23, 2012 by Tandy

In December I was asked by Woolworths to do a blog post for their chopping board chit chat on grapes. I was in a baking mood and so I decided to use a clafoutis recipe to highlight the grapes. Clafoutis is usually made with cherries and as soon as I had one bite, I was taken right back to Brittany where we had our first taste of Far Breton. This traditional dessert is often made with grapes, so I was right on the money so to speak. I used green seedless grapes known as Prime and they are not very sweet and have a firm skin. It may have been better to cut them in half before I started baking, but either way, the taste it wonderful. You may be wondering what a flaugnarde is? I could not call this a flan so I turned to wikipedia for some help: This is a flan-like baked French dessert with fruit arranged in a buttered dish and covered with a thick flan-like batter. Similar to a clafoutis which is made with black cherries, a flaugnarde is made with apples, peaches, pears, plums, prunes or other fruits. Resembling a large pancake, the dish is dusted with confectioner’s sugar and can be served either warm or cold.

GRAPE AND BLUEBERRY FLAUGNARDE

ingredients:

400g green seedless grapes

100g blueberries

100g castor sugar – I used fructose

125g flour

pinch of salt

3 eggs

300mls milk

icing sugar for dusting

butter for your baking pan

method:

place the fruit into a bowl and dust with 50g castor sugar

leave to stand for 30 minutes

preheat the oven to 180° Degrees Celsius

butter a flan dish – I used my tatin dish

sieve together the flour, salt and the remainder of the castor sugar

beat the eggs well and them mix into the flour

mix in the milk thoroughly

pour over the fruit

bake for 35 minutes

cool until lukewarm and then dust with icing sugar

GRAPE AND BLUEBERRY FLAUGNARDE PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy

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Bagels

Posted on February 16, 2012 by Tandy

I love the challenges set for us from Fresh From The Oven. I am baking breads I would never try otherwise. This month was no different with us having to bake bagels! Now, being of Jewish decent, bagels have formed part of my diet for a long time, usually served with cream cheese and lox. These bagels were given similar treatment – we had them with home made gravadlax, smooth cottage cheese and dill with friends for our Sunday afternoon wine tasting session. I also made a special breakfast and served them with scrambled eggs, dusted with chives. I will make these again without a doubt. The machine does all the hard work, they are easy to shape and even the poaching was not difficult. It is the poaching that gives the bagel its ‘hard’ outside texture and they feel quite odd when you take them out of the water. I used caraway seeds on mine as I am not a big fan of sesame seeds or poppy seeds. Use what ever topping you choose, and experiment with what you put in them – I think there are so many possibilities out there. Do take a look at Purely Food’s blogpost for her recipe, and watch out for all the bagels.

BAGELS

makes 7

ingredients:

450g bread flour
7g instant yeast
2 teaspoons salt
250mls warm water
1 tablespoon canola oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 egg, beaten
caraway seeds for topping

method:

in a large bowl add the salt to the flour and then the yeast – keep the salt and the yeast separate

stir the oil and the honey into the water

using a stand mixer at a low speed, slowly add the liquid to the dry ingredients

knead for 10 minutes

add more flour is the dough is too wet – the dough is stiffer than normal bread dough but will still have elasticity

lightly oil the mixer bowl, return the dough to the bowl and turn to coat in the oil

cover with cling film and put in a warm place until doubled in size

lightly oil two baking trays

remove the dough from the bowl, punch it down to knock the air out and knead briefly

roll in to a sausage shape and divide into 7 pieces – I used my scale and each piece was just over 100g

as you work one, keep the others covered with a clean tea towel

shape the bagels by rolling each piece into a ball, pierce a hole in the centre with your finger, pull the dough open wide by twirling it round your index fingers (wider than you think you need as the hole will shrink when the dough proves, is poached and then baked)

place on the prepared baking tray and repeat with remaining dough

cover and allow to rise for a further 10-20 minutes

preheat the oven to 200° Celsius

fill a large sauce pan with boiling water and return to a simmer

gently place each bagel into the water to poach (do not try to put too many bagels in at once as they will expand slightly)

poach for 90 seconds on each side, turning gently with a slotted spoon

remove the bagels from the water, allowing them to drain first and place on the prepared baking trays spacing them about 3-4cm apart

brush with the egg and sprinkle with the topping

bake in the oven for 15 minutes, then turn upside down for a further 10 minutes to cook the bases

cool on a wire rack.

BAGELS PRINTABLE VERSION

Tandy