Pizza

I like to make my own bread dough for pizza, it is ready in 30 minutes. It is a bit messy to make, but otherwise very easy. For best results, make the dough a few hours ahead and refrigerate until needed.

Ingredients:

• 1 tsp of active yeast granules
• 2 cups water
• 1 tbsp oil
• 250 gm strong bread flour, type 00 if you can find it.
• pinch of salt

Method:
Place the yeast, oil and water in a bowl, whisk a little to dissolve the granules, and leave to stand for a while, at least 30 minutes. Sift the flour with the salt into the yeast mixture, a little at a time, and knead. A wet dough makes best results.
Knead with floury hands until you get a consistent dough that doesn't stick. Stand it in the bowl for 30 minutes. It is now ready to use. However, if you leave this in the refrigerator for 12-24h you will get a better fermentation and flavor in the pizza crust.

Roll out and place on a pizza pan or baking tray, cover with your favourite pizza topping and bake at 250°C for 10-12 minutes, until the edge leaves the sides of the tray. Serve hot with salad.

Any left over dough can be kept in the refrigerator for a day or so, or even frozen for later use.

To make a pizza:
Turn on the oven to its higher setting.
Roll out the dough onto a baking sheet. Cover with your selected toppings, bake for 10 minutes until browned and bubbling.

Pizza toppings
Classic Margarita pizza: Tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, oregano,
Options: ham, chorizo, goat cheese, blue cheese, bacon, anchovies, black olives….

Bread Dumplings

To use up leftover baguette or any other bread.
I have used it to go with a casserole, with roast chicken, and in a broth.

For the dumplings

• 200g/7oz stale baguette or other bread (crust included)
• handful chopped parsley
• 250ml/9oz milk
• pinch of nutmeg
• 5-6 leaves of Sage (optional, instead of parsley)
  
  
  salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 free-range egg
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• butter, for frying
  
  
  1. Cut the baguette into small cubes and place in a bowl. Add the parsley or Sage. Bring the milk to a boil and pour over. Stir so that the milk is absorbed evenly, then cover and leave for 15 minutes.
  2. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper, stir in the egg, and mix in one tablespoon flour. If the mix is too wet (it should be moist and only slightly sticky), add a second spoon of flour. Wet your hands a little to help stop the dough sticking to them, then make 12-14 dumplings (smaller than a golf ball).
     
     
     3-, heat a knob of butter in a large frying pan and fry the dumplings on a medium heat for five minutes or until golden-brown and crisp, then drain.
     
     
     4- Or cook them in the oven next to a roast
     5- Or shape into smaller balls and serve with broth

Dumplings for Stews

These vegetarian dumplings from taste delicious in an autumn stew

Makes 12 large dumplings

Ingredients

• 1 cup self-raising flour
• 2 cups fresh white breadcrumbs
• 100g Butter or oil
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 small bunch mixed fresh herbs, such as chives, thyme and parsley, finely chopped
• 2 eggs

Method: How to make herbed dumplings

1. Put the flour, breadcrumbs, suet, chopped herbs, and seasoning into a large bowl, mix thoroughly, and then make a well in the centre.

2. Beat the eggs lightly with a fork and pour into the well. Mix with a fork, bringing dry ingredients into the centre, to form soft dough. Take over with your hands, working the dough until just combined - do not overwork as this will make the dumplings hard.

3. Divide the dough into quarters, then make three round dumplings from each quarter.

4. Add dumplings to simmering stew half an hour before ready to serve, and cover with lid.

Home Made Bread

Making home made bread is not difficult, it requires only a little time and patience.
The results are very satisfying and you can play around with ingredients to make your own personalised loaf.

You do not need to measure any of the ingredients, just make sure you have the following.
Ingredients for a basic white loaf of 700 gr. approximately.

• packet of good strong flour, with a protein content of 11% or more
• sachet of granulated yeast, or fresh bakers yeast
• water
• salt
• sugar
  

Put a walnut size piece of yeast, or a sachet of granulated yeast, a tablespoon of sugar, and a 200 ml glass of tepid water in a large bowl. Add 3-4 tbsp flour and mix it in with a fork. Leave this mix to stand for at least 15 minutes.
Add another glass of tepid water and a heaped teaspoon of salt. Sugar is important to help the bread rise, salt is important for the flavour.
Incorporate enough flour to make quite a wet dough.

Now knead the dough for 5-6 minutes. It will 'tell' you it is ready when it becomes slightly springy in consistency.
Put is back in the bowl and leave it to rise for 2-3 hours in a warm place, until it doubles in size. If you leave it in a cold place it will rise, but it will take longer.

Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it again, this time only for one minute or so. Shape the dough and place it in a non stick bread mold or on a non stick oven tray.
If you are making a round loaf, pull the dough and tuck it in under itself 4-5 times, shaping it into a ball. This will ensure it rises upward.

To get a good crust, I put the bread in a cold oven and spray some water over it. I then leave it to rise for a second time, until it doubles in size. Spray more water over the crust if you want to get a good thick crust.

Once the bread has risen, turn the oven on to 180ºC and bake for 45 minutes.
The bread is ready when it sounds hollow when you tap it.

Variations:

• use wholemeal flour instead of white, or half and half
• add some cereals and or nuts to the flour, about one cup will suffice
• instead of water you can use milk (sour milk makes very good bread) or beer.
  

Sour dough:
Sour dough bread is heavier in consistency and has a great, slightly sour flavour. It is made by leaving the yeast mixture to stand for a few days. After a few days you can add a small piece of yeast to the yeast and flour mix, and continue as above.

Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire Puddings

• 2 eggs
• 150 ml milk
• 100 ml water
• 120 gr plain flour
• pinch of salt
• tbsp melted butter
• Extra butter, to cook

Whisk all of the ingredients in a measuring jug, to make it easier to pour into the tin.

Take one large tin or 8 individual molds. put a little butter in the bottom of the tin. Heat the tins with the butter in a hot oven at 180ºC.
When the butter is smoking, take the tins out and pour a little batter into each tin, up to 3/4 of the height as they will rise.
Bake for 30 minutes, until risen and golden.

Serve with roast meat, or with sausages and onion gravy.

Bagels

Ingredients:

• 1 tablespoons of yeast.
• 2 tablespoons of sugar.
• 1 tablespoon of salt.
• 400 of bread flour, more if required
  
• 200 ml of warm water
  

Preparation:

Place the dough ingredients in a large bowl and knead for 10 minutes.
Alternatively, make your favourite bread dough. Let it rise once in the bowl.

When the dough is risen, punch it down and remove it to a well floured surface; cut into 8 equal pieces and shape to form donut shapes.

Cover and allow to rest for about 20 minutes or until they have risen again.

Bring 2 litres of water to boil with 1 tablespoon of sugar. Poach all the bagels, 2 or 3 at a time, for 5 minutes, turning them once.
Take them out of the water, put them on a towel to dry slightly.

Preheat your oven to 175°Centigrade.
Place simmered bagels on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 175º centigrade for about 25 minutes or until brown.

Serve cold, with salmon and cream cheese, or ham and pickle, etc.

Coconut Crunchy Bites

Make together with Christmas Biscuits

Ingredients:

• 1 egg white
• 60 gr grated coconut
• 60 gr sugar
• pinch of salt

Mix all of the ingredients with a fork until lightly combined. Shape the bites into small balls or sticks. Place on a baking tray and bake in a moderate oven 160ºC for 35-40 minutes until golden.
They will be soft as they come out of the oven and as they get cold they will become crunchy.

Christmas Biscuits

A favourite recipe for all the family to enjoy.
Because there is a egg white left over, I always make them with my Coconut Crunchy Bites.

• 110 gr butter
• 190 gr plain flour
• 60gr walnuts
• 90 gr sugar
• pinch of salt
• 3 cloves
• 1 egg yolk

Pound the walnuts with the sugar and the cloves until they are finely ground. I do this in an electric grinder.
Mix all of the ingredients breaking the butter between your fingertips until the mix resembles fine crumbs. The biscuit mix should come together now, if it doesn't add a few tablespoons of milk.
Shape the biscuits into small walnut size balls, flatten slightly and place them on a baking tray.
Bake for 35-40 minutes at 160ºC, a medium oven. The biscuits should be cooked but still pale in colour.

Garlic Bread

This is a classic recipe with my own twist. Serve it with salad, omelette or steak.

Ingredients for 4:
1 day old french baguette, cut into 2cm slices

For the garlic butter mix the following
150 gr soft butter
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
salt and pepper
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:
Turn the oven on to 180ºC
Spread about 1/2 tsp of the prepared butter onto both sides of the bread slices. Reassemble the bread loaf and cover with aluminium foil. At this point you can refrigerate or freeze until needed. It will keep in the fridge for 3-4 days, and 4 weeks in the freezer.

To serve:
Bake the bread in the oven for 20 minutes. After this time open the foil and left the bread brown for a further 10 minutes, until it gets brown and crunchy.

Serve very hot.

Bacon and Onion Quiche

I never bother to bake the pastry blind, I find that in a fan oven the base of the pie comes out cooked through. It takes about 50 minutes to make from start to finish, less if you buy ready made pastry. And you can experiment with different fillings.

Ingredients for a 20cm base pie:
200 gr plain white flour
100 gr butter
good pinch of salt
a little milk

For the filling
3 eggs
500 ml milk
150 gr bacon, cut into thin strips
1 onion, sliced finely
150 gr grated cheese
salt and pepper, grated nutmeg
1 tomato to garnish

Make the pastry.
Put the flour in a bowl with a good pinch of salt, cut the butter into small dice and mix into the flour. Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips until the mix resembles fine crumbs. Add some milk, a tablespoon at a time, until the pastry comes together; do not overwork the pastry because you don’t want the gluten to develop and make the pastry rubbery. Wrap in a plastic bag or cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take the pastry out of the fridge, roll it out on a floured surface, and line a well greased pie dish or plate.

To make the filling: turn the oven on at 180ºC
Gently fry the bacon and onion in a little butter for 5-6 minutes until the onion starts to brown. Spread over the pastry case. Sprinkle the cheese over the bacon and mushrooms.
Whisk the eggs with the milk; add salt, pepper and a good pinch of grated nutmeg. Pour the eggs over the cheese. Slice the tomato and arrange the slices over the custard.
Bake the pie in a moderate oven for 35-40 minutes. Do not worry if the custard looks wobbly when you take out of the oven, it will continue cooking for a few minutes. Serve warm or cold, with a green salad.