STUFFED MUSHROOM PARCELS (mushrooms en croute)

Sunday 8th January 2017.
Made this today for my roast dinner, each mushroom stuffed with Pateole mushroom spread and Meridian pesto, with cayenne pepper:

Decided to go with three, since they weren't all that big

With the two ends brought over the middle

One side brought up - with the surplus dough removed

Similar wth the other side

Dough squished and pressed into shape around the mushrooms and turned over - the weight keeps it together, and it looks a lot neater. The scraps have been rolled into savoury breadsticks (grissini)

The finished article, ready to serve (caught the top of the dough in our small top oven)
I served up half, initially, the came back for another quarter. It was gorgeous!

Sunday 15th April 2012.

Made this again today. (Full recipe further down the post)

The dough:

1 mug flour

1 tsp bouillon powder

1 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp dried oregano

3 large chopped sun-dried tomatoes

1/3rd mug yeast liquid containing 10g fresh yeast

Large glug of oil from the SDTs

Plus:

2 large Portobello mushrooms and 2 large button mushrooms

Stuffed with mushroom pate and vegan pesto

The dough was mixed and kneaded until smooth and divided into three pieces. These were rolled out and the mushrooms were placed in the middle:

The stalk was sliced and placed over the stuffing

The dough was gathered together over the mushroom, and the excess snipped off

The two button mushroom were stuffed, pressed together with the split stalks between them, then wrapped in the bread dough.

 They were left to prove for around an hour then baked - 20 minutes at 220C.

 The stuffing - just oozing out!

Tonight I had one with roast potatoes, etc, and a spicy tomato sauce instead of gravy.

The mushroom pate and pesto make a wonderful sauce which soaks into the bread base, so the effect is like an enclosed trencher - with trencher and topping cooked together. Simply gorgeous.

26th April 2011.

Stuffed field mushroom en croute - using a bread dough 

(Makes around 3)

Ingredients:                                                                

200g (1 mug) strong white flour                                        

1/4 tsp salt                                                                  

125ml (1/3 mug) lukewarm water                                                               

1 rounded dessertspoon fresh yeast

Splash of olive oil (optional)

Filling:

3 large field mushrooms

Mushroom pate
Vegan pesto

Method:

1. Measure the water and stir in the fresh yeast. Place the flour and salt in a mixing bowl, pour in the yeast liquid, then add the olive oil if using.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with a knife, cutting through the dough. When it gets too stiff for the knife, use your hand to squeeze the mixture together. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by stretching the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth. Do this until it is smooth – or until you get fed up!

4. Leave to prove for about an hour on your worktop, covered with a dry tea towel. Or place in an oiled plastic bag until you are ready for step 5.

5. When you are ready, divide the dough into 3 pieces. Form each piece into a ball and roll out into circles big enough to form a parcel with the mushrooms.

6. Prepare the stuffed mushrooms by removing the stalk, then spread the pate over the mushroom and cover with the pesto. Divide the mushroom stalk into two and place it in the middle of the circle.

7. Place the mushroom, filling down, over the mushroom stalk and bring up the edges of dough in 3 or 4 places to meet over the top of the mushroom. Squeeze the edges of dough together so they stick to one another and place smooth side up on a baking sheet. Repeat with the other mushrooms.

8. Leave to prove until the dough is risen and puffy then bake at 220C, 425F or gas 7 for about fifteen minutes. There should be some colour under the parcels to show that they are cooked right through.

SAVOURY VEGAN TARTS

Just 10 minutes in the oven at 220C

Bread dough:
200g (1 mug) white bread flour
1 crumbled stock cube
1 teaspoon curry powder
125g (1/3rd mug) lukewarm (handhot) water
1 good teaspoon fresh yeast (or level teaspoon dried active yeast)
25g sunflower oil (I used the oil from a jar of sun-dried tomatoes)

Filling/topping:
4 dessertspoon Pateole mushroom pate
1 dessertspoon vegan pesto (Meridian)
4 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped small
4 slices mushroom, 4 slices tomato

My top recipe for students

Bread – and pizza is a type of bread - is perhaps the easiest thing you can make in your kitchen. It only requires four ingredients – three, if you discount the salt, which is not strictly necessary. These three – flour, water and yeast - when mixed and kneaded, left to rise for a while, and baked will result in something wonderful!

Once you’ve made this pizza, there’ll be no turning back! Home-made pizzas taste far and away better than bought ones – and this one will cost you less than a packet of own-brand flour. (A young friend of mine swears she financed half her social life by selling her pizzas to fellow students whilst away at university!)

If you're using a mug, use a standard coffee mug for this recipe - but any old cup or mug will do; just make sure you use the same container for measuring the flour and the liquid. Really, this recipe is all about the base - once you've rolled it out, in truth, you can put virtually anything on it. But more than that, once you've made this pizza dough, it can be turned into a whole range of other breads. At the end of this recipe, I'll list a few and link to them. I'll add more as I get time.

Basic cheese and tomato pizza (with variations)

Ingredients:

200g (1 mug) strong white flour

1/4 tsp salt (optional)

125ml (1/3^rd mug) lukewarm water

1 teaspoon of any sort of yeast, stirred in the water until it is dissolved

Splash of olive oil (optional)

Topping:

Tomato topping – passata, 1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes or similar

100g Cheddar cheese grated

Method:

1. Place flour and salt (if using) into a mixing bowl. Measure the water in the same mug and add the yeast. Stir to dissolve then add to the flour. Pour the olive oil into the water in the bowl.

2. Have a little water to hand to add if necessary, remember, it is better for your dough to be wetter (slack) rather than drier (tight). Begin to mix by stirring the ingredients together with your fingers. Stir round in big circles, pulling the flour off the sides of the bowls into the middle. As it forms into a solid mass, keep turning it over and pressing it down to pick up the flour at the bottom of the bowl – but make sure it stays soft. Don’t be afraid to add more water to keep it soft! When all the flour has been mixed in, wipe the bowl around with the dough, turn it out onto the worktop and begin to knead.

3. Knead by flattening the dough out, folding it over, stretching it out and so on and so forth.

4. Form the dough into a round bap shape. Have plenty of flour to hand and scatter flour over the dough and worktop. With a rolling pin, roll it into a circle around  25-30cm (10-12”) across. Keep turning the dough around and refreshing the flour. Place the rolled out dough onto a tray lined with baking parchment (baking paper).

5. Pour the tomato topping over the pizza and spread it out with the back of a spoon, leaving it 1cm or half and inch from the edge. Sprinkle the cheese over the top of the tomato, and leave to rise.

6. When the dough at the edge of the pizza has become puffy, place in a hot oven - the hotter the better - for 10-15 minutes, checking after 8. When they're done the pizza will lift up all along one side when you check underneath, using a palette knife. The bottom should be browning from the edges.

To get a crisp bottom to the pizzas, there are several things you can do:

• Make sure you keep the wet topping away from the edges – and don’t overload the pizza;

• Have a heavy metal tray at the bottom of the oven to use as a pizza stone. If you do this, have your pizzas on baking parchment on an up-turned tray – then you can just slide the pizzas into the oven.

• Finish them off in a large, dry, frying pan.

Variations:
Use slices of cooked potato (new potatoes are nice) instead of tomato - and sprinkle the cheese with a strong herb such as rosemary or oregano.
Cover the base with a soft cheese such as Philadelphia, then thinly sliced onions, then chopped bacon bits - or sliced tomatoes or mushrooms.

The dough for this can also be used in many other ways - here's a couple of suggestions:
Sizzlers: divide the dough into four, roll each out into a circle, place a line of sliced tomatoes, mushrooms or onions across the circle and sprinkle with grated cheese. Then fold the sides over the top, place on a baking sheet and leave to rise.

Sausage and mustard parcels: Divide the dough into 6 pieces; flatten each piece out and wrap it round half a frankfurter or similar (I use vegan sausages) with a smear of wholegrain mustard.

Pasties: again, roll out 4 circles of dough, and place your chosen filling in the middle (mashed potato and cheese is good - perhaps with some onion, and maybe a teaspoon of curry powder). Bring one side over to the other and seal all the way round.

(More recipes to come based on this pizza dough)