Menu planning Thursday – 24 September 2009 (Recipe Cold-Risen Bread)

Right, going to start posting some recipe links…enjoy! 🙂

Thursday

• trying out Blender Quiche. Don’t have ‘Bisquick’ or ‘baking mix’, so just going to put the ingredients for baking mix in, switch on the blender and see what happens! 😉 Brownies for dessert (because I’m baking a large batch for DD7 for tomorrow night, we’ll just steal a few…) /// POSTSCRIPT: This dish turned out absolutely fab! Used cheese and some leftover ham as the base. Didn’t even use my blender (to save on washing up…) – just whisked the eggs with flour and baking powder, then whisked in cream, milk and oil. A very small crust forms around the edges of the quiche. We ate so much of it that I was worried there wouldn’t be leftovers for me… 😉

Friday

• DD7 isn’t home for dinner – she’s at a sleepover at the Scout hut (hence the large tray of brownies from yesterday…) Haven’t quite decided what we’re having – maybe some Veal in Horseradish Sauce which came from the butcher’s shop. Just needs defrosting and heating. No dessert, DS9 will get his weekly ration of sweets 😉

Saturday

• comfort food required today, methinks. So having a Danish classic Forloren Hare (‘mock hare, type of meatloaf). Will post recipe on Saturday 🙂 Served with baby potatoes, lots of cream-enriched sauce, beetroot and peas.

Sunday

• will use up leftovers of Forloren Hare and probably serve with pasta. Have been reminiscing with my Be-Ro book the last couple of days, so might make Eve’s Pudding (you’ll have to search for the recipe on http://www.be-ro.com/ it won’t allow me to make a direct link)with apples from the garden.

Monday

• trying out a new crock recipe today. Don’t know about you, but always feel exhausted Monday afternoon and it’s nice to be able to dish up and not have to think too hard 🙂 Thai chicken with home-made curry paste (but I’m using a jar…) Will serve with rice from the ricecooker. Promise to share recipe if it’s good!

Tuesday

• Scout night = need something easy. Will probably do Spaghetti Bolognaise (Spaghetti with meat sauce) Fry your mince/ground beef, add a good jar of tomato sauce, heat, serve, stand back and enjoy the ooos and aaahs from the kids 😉

Wednesday

• trying another new recipe today, will make it with Danish (frankfurter style) sausages (not smoked) Sausage Potato Soup Will probably do it in the crockpot, just to try. And will make some cold-risen bread, recipe below 🙂

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COLD RISEN BREAD

• a small packet of dry yeast (50g fresh if you insist on using it)
• 1 kg flour (white for ciabatta style, or mix wholemeal in for healthier)
• 2 teaspoons salt (I love Maldon Seasalt)
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 litre cold water
• oil (olive if you have it)
• dried herbs, salt & pepper (optional)

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar and the flour (keep back a cupful) in a large bowl. Pour in the water and mix – I use a handmixer but you can use a wooden spoon if you need the upper arm exercise 😉 Just mix until it is coming away from the sides of the bowl but is still gooey and’dusty’. Add a bit more of the flour if you need to. Do not knead! (That’s the best part of this recipe.)

Sprinkle on the rest of the flour, cover with plastic wrap and leave on the kitchen counter for about 4 hours. It will double in size. You can also put it in the fridge and leave it there for 12 hours or overnight. If you’re going to do the overnight thing, I’d use just half the amount of yeast because it will rise and fall again before you bake it.

Preheat the oven to 225 degrees, 425f. Tip the dough (which will still be bubbly and wobbly) into a LARGE baking tray. Mine is from Ikea and is 15″x 12″ or 38cmx30cm. I put baking paper in the bottom of mine, for easier lift-out and clean-up.

Now, if you want to make it look (and taste) really good, mix some dried herbs and salt and pepper in a little bowl. I sometimes get out my pestle and mortar and crush together: dried rosemary, chili flakes, garlic seasoning, lemon pepper and Maldon Seasalt. Use your fingers to make indentations (holes!!) all over the dough and drizzle over a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Then shake your herb mix over. More is definitely more in this context 😉

Bake for about 30 minutes (keep an eye on it, first time you make it) until it is golden brown.

Remove from oven and sprinkle more of that lovely Maldon Seasalt on.

Bon appétit!