No bread is an island

...entire of itself. (With apologies to John Donne!)
I live and breathe breadmaking. I’m an evangelist who would like everyone to make his or her own bread. I want to demystify breadmaking and show it as the easy everyday craft that it is. To this end I endeavour to make my recipes as simple and as foolproof as I possibly can.

I call my blog 'No bread is an island' because every bread is connected to another bread. So a spicy fruit bun with a cross on top is a hot cross bun. This fruit dough will also make a fruit loaf - or Chelsea buns or a Swedish tea ring...
I'm also a vegan, so I have lots of vegan recipes on here - and I'm adding more all the time.

Saturday 20 September 2014

4 MINUTE PIZZAS ON MY CHIMINEA. HAVE I FINALLY CRACKED IT?

I've done away with the top 'mini-oven' - and I'm cooking my pizzas BBQ style!
As regular readers will know, I've been making pizzas, and tweaking my methods, ever since I bought my chiminea a few years ago.

Here are some previous posts on the subject.

April this year.

August 2010 when I first acquired my new toy.

And there's a few more in between, links in those posts.

So to today!

Wednesday 17 September 2014

VEGAN COFFEE MORNING FARE!

This was what I was left with: some GF carrot cake, couple of marzipan and apple tartlets, 2 Danish pastries, 2 Bialys  and some Pane al cioccolato
Every month or so, my friends and I hold a coffee morning - and this week it was my turn to play host.

I always do a bit of experimenting on these occasions, push the boat out a bit, and use the opportunity - I'll be honest - to show off a bit.

So the evening before, I set to and made a rich chocolate loaf,



following this recipe, followed by a gluten-free carrot cake.


I had intended to make a coconut cream topping on the following morning - but I ran out of time.

Although I did allow myself a couple of hours in which to do a bit of experimenting, making Danish pastries (using Pure soya spread), 


Bialys (bread shots) filled with marzipan and mincemeat or marzipan, dates and chocolate, and marzipan and apple tartlets.

The four Bialys on the left were filled with marzipan and mincemeat - the other four have marzipan, followed by chopped dates and topped with half a square of dark chocolate
All these were made from 400g white flour, plus 3 dessertspoons sugar, 15g of yeast and 240g water - in other words, a simple sweetened bread dough.







PANE AL CIOCCOLATO (Italian chocolate bread)




Tuesday 16th September 2014


And here's the pic
Monday 15th September 2014
Making one of these for my coffee morning tomorrow.

Ingredients:
200g strong flour (1/3rd wholemeal)
15g cocoa powder (about a dessertspoon and a half)
2 dessertspoons sugar
50g dates - chopped into quarters
60g dark chocolate - chopped roughly
25g walnuts - chopped into quarters
25g flaked almonds
100g sultanas - soaked for 30 minutes in hot water - use the water for the yeast liquid, but make sure it has cooled sufficiently
100ml yeast liquid made with 20g fresh yeast and 80g of the soaking water
50g olive oil (I used Lidl's Extra Virgin, which is all we have - but any olive oil is fine)

Monday 15 September 2014

VEGAN CARROT CAKE


Monday 15th September 2014
Made a gluten-free version of this tonight, for tomorrow's coffee morning. No walnuts so I replaced them with  flaked almonds.

This time I baked it in the microwave! 

2 reasons for this:
1. Six minutes in there as against 30+ mins in an oven at 180C - talk about saving the planet!
2. And it rises about 25% more in the microwave than it does in the oven.

Also, if you're in a hurry, the microwave wins hands down!

I shall attempt to make a coconut cream topping for it in the morning.

[Pics to come]
31st August 2012

Ingredients:
165g s/r flour
200g sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground ginger
80g grated carrots
70g chopped walnuts
80g vegetable oil
220ml water

Method:

       Preheat the oven to 180C

       Measure the flour, sugar, spices,carrot and walnuts - stir to distribute 

       Add the oil and water to the mix and stir – initially with a large spoon or spatula, then with a whisk
       Pour in to an oiled and lined 20cm (8” inch) baking tin or cake tin
       Put in the oven and cook for between 35-40 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean
       Leave on a cooling rack in the tin for ten minutes
       Turn out on to the cooling tray


The only way I’ve found not to gorge on this cake is to, as soon as possible, cut it into, say, 50g pieces, then put them in the freezer. This way I can allow myself one piece per day.

Variation: For a gluten free version of this, simply use Dove’s gluten free flour in place of the flour


Monday 8 September 2014

BREADMAKING AT HADSPEN VH, 2014


Breadmaking made easy workshop, 10.00am - 4.00pm

28th Sept and 5th October at Hadspen Village Hall


Here's where I shall post everything about these two workshops - the planning, the breadmaking, the pics.