Beer Bread

I promised the kids sourdough beer bread for dinner on Sunday night. After reading the directions from and

that arrived from The Book Depository on Friday afternoon I found out it would take several days to develop the sourdough starter.

So off to the  internet I went to find a beer bread that I could make by Sunday night. I started to look at some of the 185 000 results Google gave me and quickly worked out I wanted a yeast bread that used rye, whole wheat and unbleached white flours and the beer. I couldn't find exactly what I wanted so I decided this mixture would work (Fingers crossed and a quick prayer). It worked beautifully - the bread has a great crumb as you can see above, smells and tastes faintly of stout and malt. We agreed it is one of the nicest breads we've had for ages. A mature cheddar or some stilton would go perfectly with this bread or cream cheese and jam. I will be making it again with a honey malt beer.

Ingredients:

• 100 g mixed grain flakes
• 50 g ground oatmeal
• 200g white bread flour
• 200g whole wheat flour
• 100g dark rye flour
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tblsp. instant yeast 
• One stubby of room temperature Coopers Stout – 365 mls 
• 125 mls warm water

Method

•  Mix together the dry ingredients in a metal bowl.
• Stir in the beer and water with a spoon.
• Mix the dough for 5 minutes ( you can do this in the mixer because this is a wet sticky dough but I just used the spoon).

• Cover the bowl with cling wrap and let it rise for at least 1 hour.
• Next I took a bowl scraper and turned the dough back on itself with this. It punched down the dough really well and mixed it at the same time. Recover.  Let rise for at least 2 hours punching it down hourly then refrigerate it overnight. 

• Next day get it out of the refrigerator when you get up. Put the dough somewhere about 22° C to warm. I have a defrost setting on my oven and in the winter this is perfect for a slow prove. (Below is a photo of the dough after I took it out of the refrigerator).

• The dough should have doubled in size. Shape the dough and put it into an oiled bread loaf tin. (I didn't knock it back completely just handled it enough to get it shaped and into the tin)
• Put it somewhere warm. (You can use a plastic container big enough to hold the tin and a hot water bottle filled with boiling water)and when it has doubled in height put into a pre-heated oven 180°C
• When you put the dough into the oven, spray the oven surfaces with a mist of water, or throw in 2 or 3 ice cubes
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crust is nicely browned.  Let stand for at least 15 minutes or ideally until cooled to room temperature. The bread smells so good you might have to leave the house to achieve this. 
•  The recommended temperature to cook bread is 200° C and if you haven't made bread before start at that temperature. My new fan forced oven seems to dry out the crust too much if I cook a loaf of bread at that temperature so I reduce the temperature to 180° C.

Winter Is Coming

I'm dreaming of winter. I love winter. I get to rug up and walk about in the wind and (last winter) rain then come home to snuggle up in front of the (gas) fire with my ugg boots, a daggy tracksuit, and a blanket to read a book without feeling guilty. No Guilt because the weather is terrible outside. 

Of course it should be mandatory that while relaxing with a good book in front of the fire, listening to the rain outside there should be a pot of really good tea and scones. Fresh, fragrant, delicious smelling, warm scones with home-made chunky jam and lashings of whipped cream.

This weekend the temperature plummeted to 30° Celsius. Jam Time. The local Farmer’s Market had beautiful stone fruit and citrus amongst its other offerings. 

So in anticipation of winter I made a batch of one of my favourite, incredibly easy, never fails jams - Peach, Nectarine and Citrus Jam.

Peach, Nectarine and Citrus jam

About 1 litre

Preparation time 20 minutes

Refrigerate overnight before cooking.

Cooking time 60 minutes

Extreme care should be taken with the boiling jam. It may spit when stirred.

Equipment Required.

5 x 200 millilitre jars with tight fitting lids

1 sharp knife

1 cutting board

1 food processor

1 large stainless steel, glass or plastic bowl

1 large wide heavy bottomed pot.

Ladle

Jar filling funnel

Ingredients

750 grams each of 'ready to eat' peaches and nectarines

1 kilogram white sugar

2 oranges and 1 lemon

6 cloves or ¼ teaspoon of ground cloves

Method

Scorethe skin of the peaches and then blanch them until the skins split (30-40 seconds).  Refresh (cool) in cold water until you can handle them. the skins should pull off in your hands. Other wise peel them as finely as you can.  Slice up the citrus and remove the seeds. Chop the flesh and rind in a food processor until only small 2 - 3 mm size bits of rind are left.

Combine cloves, sugar, pureed oranges, lemon and all the juices from the food processor in the bowl. Break peaches and nectarines into smallish chunks over the bowl so you catch the juices. Stir, cover, refrigerate overnight. Stir regularly to dissolve the sugar.

Transfer the fruit/sugar mixture to the saucepan. Bring to the boil over medium heat. Stir about every 30 seconds until it boils and then stir frequently until mixtures forms a gel on the back of a wooden spoon and fruit breaks down (50 - 60 minutes). Regular stirring will prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pot and burning.

To test setting point, remove the jam from heat and spoon some onto a cold saucer. Return to freezer for 30 seconds and then draw a line through it with your finger. If it doesn’t run back together, it’s ready. If not, cook another few minutes and then test again. If you can find them remove the cloves.

Ladle hot jam into warm sterilised jars and wipe them clean with a hot, damp cloth. Seal the bottles as soon as you can, and cool completely. The lids should vacuum seal as they cool. Store any that don’t in the refrigerator and eat those first. To sterilise the jars, wash them well in hot soapy water. Rinse in hot clean water and turn them upside down and allow the jars to drain. Don’t wipe them dry. Turn them back up the right way and put on an oven tray. Place into a 100° Celsius oven for at least 10 – 15 minutes. Dry the lids with a lint free cloth.

Summer meals

It is hot, hot, hot, here today. I've been making jam so the house is overheated . I had no choice. The peaches and nectarines, at the Farmers Market, were to good to pass up. I'll tell you more on those when the jam is finished.

So for dinner tonight I wanted something quick involving minimum mess and fuss.

I am trying to cook my food using minimal oil and fat so while I was at the Farmers Market I decided that a warm eggplant salad, cous cous and chicken tenderloins would be just the shot.

This is it without the chicken (for the vegetarian of the house).

Warm Eggplant Salad with Cous Cous, Tomato Kasundi and Baba Ganoush.
 Serves 2

Equipment

1 sharp knife
1 cutting board
1 frypan with lid
1 sandwich press (electric grill)
1 metal bowl
plastic wrap
bake paper

Ingredients

Eggplant salad
1 small eggplant
2 small onions or 1 large
1 zuchinni
2 large ripe tomatoes - diced
1 teaspoon ground coriander 
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup chopped parsley

Cous Cous

 1/3 cup dry cous cous
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 tablespoon preserved lemon skin - finely chopped
boiling water

1 jar Tomato Kasundi
1 tub Baba Ganoush

300 grams of chicken tenderloins.
1 teaspoon Lemon pepper

Method

Preheat the sandwich or electric grill.

Cut the eggplant into 1 cm slices and cook between 2 sheets of bake paper in the grill.

While it is cooking put the cous cous in a metal bowl with the parsley and lemon and just cover with boiling water.
Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.

Cover the bottom of the fry pan with water or vegetable stock.
Slice the onion and zuchinni into thin slices and heat covered in the frypan.
When the eggplant is cooked add it to the frypan with the cumin and coriander. Cover with the lid and allow it to steam over a low heat until the liquid is nearly gone.
Add the diced tomato and parsley and cover again. Turn off the heat. Leave it to sit while finishing up.

You could also do all this is in a plastic bowl in a microwave if you wanted too.

After the eggplant is cooked add the chicken tender loins to the grill press.
Sprinkle with the lemon pepper.
Cover with a piece of bake paper and cook until golden, about 5 minutes.

Pile the cous cous and vegetables on a plate add a big spoon of baba ganoush and tomato kasundi.
Top with chicken if you want it.

Cooking the vegetables in water or stock rather than oil gives this dish a fresh and different flavour. Tradition tells us to fry in oil but try this method and see and taste the difference.