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Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

Chocolates for Easter, Part II

Posted in Recipes on April 8, 2012| 75 Comments »

We made a batch of experimental Easter chocolates this year, using Callebaut white and a blend of Callebaut 811 (54%) and 70% dark.

The white chocolate was tempered first, drizzled into the moulds, then allowed to set up in the fridge.  The tempered dark chocolate was then ladled over the white.  We made two large eggs – I particularly love how the white and dark mingled in the bottom one to form a lighter shade of brown…

Two-toned lollipops were made by highlighting the design features in white chocolate first, using a small paintbrush…

The bows on these eggs took several coats of white chocolate…

And with all the leftover bits and pieces…

…I made a new cake!  Recipe to follow soon…

Wishing you all a joyous, chocolate-filled Easter!

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Chocolates for Easter, Part I

Posted in Recipes on April 7, 2012| 60 Comments »

Easter at our house involves a lot of chocolate!

I made yet another food processor cake – this one lasted just two days…

Our Easter lollipops are a blend of Callebaut 811 (54%) and 823 (milk)…

The hens and eggs were made by filling one side of the mould with tempered chocolate, clipping on the other half and then giving them a good shake and roll…

We’re trying a new dark chocolate blend this Easter:

  • 40% Callebaut 811 (54%)
  • 40% Valrhona Guanaja (70%)
  • 20% Callebaut Cocoa Mass (100%).

We’ve made just a few large eggs – chocolate this dark is a grown-up treat…

Finally, a batch of feuilletine chocolate was shaped into a variety of shapes, including these bears on sticks.  The pailleté feuilletine was added to the dark milk blend to create a “Kit Kat” style chocolate…

More to come tomorrow!

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Whole Spelt and Walnut Sourdough

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on April 5, 2012| 60 Comments »

When our friend Craig came over for dinner recently, he brought a stunning loaf of whole wheat and walnut sourdough with him.  It was so good that I was keen to try something similar.

I’d recently purchased wholemeal spelt flour from Weston Milling and decided to make a hybrid dough with walnuts.  The finished bread was very moreish –  Pete and I ate half a loaf standing up in the kitchen, slice after slice – it was that delicious. Spelt flour has a nutty flavour which complements the walnuts particularly well.

Here’s the formula…

  • 300g active sourdough starter (166%, fed at a ratio of 1 cup flour to 1 cup water)
  • 600g water
  • 500g bakers/bread flour
  • 500g wholemeal spelt flour
  • 200g walnuts
  • 18g fine sea salt

The finished dough is at 70.5% hydration.  If you’re using a 100% starter, increasing the water to 660g should do the trick.  I wrote a little about dough hydration here.

These quantities made one 900g and two 600g loaves…

It was a great opportunity to try out the new, smaller bannetons I’d  recently bought from Chefs’ Warehouse…

I hadn’t tried the Weston Milling spelt before, and was very chuffed with how well it baked up. I bought it at Southern Cross Supplies in Marrickville – from memory, the 10kg sack cost me $28, which is much cheaper than spelt flour has been in previous years.  I might need to buy some more, as I can see this becoming a regular loaf at our place!

. . . . .

Edit: Since starting this post, I’ve made the walnut loaves again…

…as well as a batch of sourdough rolls, made to the same recipe minus the walnuts, and shaped using our easy fold and cut method shown here…

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Food Processor Chocolate and Hazelnut Cake

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , , on April 3, 2012| 93 Comments »

Do you remember our old food processor?

The one that I’ve been operating with a chopstick for the last four years?

Well, after nearly a quarter century of frequent use, it finally died.

And Pete bought me a brand new, super fantabulous Magimix 5200 XL…

It comes with a 30 year guarantee on the 1100W motor (three years on parts) and enough kit to require its own shelf in the cupboard.

I’m a very, very happy girl!

One of the first things we made was this easy chocolate cake – a homely, old-fashioned recipe from the lovely Gill…

  • 250g (8oz) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 250g (8oz) white sugar (or 125g each of brown sugar and white sugar)
  • 4 free range eggs
  • 125g (4oz) self-raising flour
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used homemade)
  • 60g (2oz) Dutch-process cocoa
  • 60g (2oz) hazelnut or almond meal

1. Have all the ingredients at room temperature before starting.  Preheat the oven to 160C (320F) with fan. Grease a loaf tin and/or line it with parchment paper (I used this Chicago Metallics tin and these loaf tin liners).  I’ve also baked this cake in a 20cm (8″) round springform tin.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sifted cocoa and hazelnut or almond meal.

3. In the large bowl of the food processor (my new machine has THREE bowls!), pulse together the butter and sugar until well combined and light in colour.  Scrape down the bowl.

4. Add the vanilla and then the eggs one at a time and continue pulsing to combine. Add a spoonful of the flour mixture each time (if required) to stop the batter from curdling.  Then add the remaining flour mixture, pulsing until just combined.

5. Scrape the batter into the lined loaf tin and bake for 60 – 70 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the thickest part of the cake comes out cleanly.  Allow to rest in the tin for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

The second time I made this, I baked it in a 20cm round tin, and topped it with our ever reliable chocolate frosting.  It took about an hour to bake.  I wasn’t quick enough to take a photo of the whole cake, but here’s a slice…

I’ve been searching for months for a family style chocolate cake – uncomplicated yet flavourful, without being overly rich or heavy.  This one ticks all the boxes.  Being able to make it in minutes in the food processor is, if you’ll excuse the pun, icing on the cake!

. . . . .

For more food processor cakes, click here

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Baking Bread

Posted in Recipes, tagged , , on March 30, 2012| 66 Comments »

When my cousins Dilys and Brian came over for dinner a couple of months ago, they brought with them a bottle of Wollombi Roasted Garlic Olive Oil.

This delicious oil was consumed at a rapid clip – we dunked bread into it, garnished pasta and risotto with it, and drizzled it over our roast vegetables. When finished, there was a generous quantity of roasted garlic left in the bottle that I was loathe to throw away…

…so I incorporated it all into a batch of ciabatta dough, reducing the water content slightly to make it easier to shape…

  • 300g active sourdough starter (166%, fed at a ratio of 1 cup water to 1 cup flour)
  • 620g water
  • 500g bakers/bread flour
  • 500g remilled semolina flour (semola rimacinata di grano duro)
  • 18g fine sea salt
  • 50g roasted garlic

The loaves were quite garlicky, and a great accompaniment to the soup we had for dinner that night!

. . . . .

Small Man loves cheese and olive rolls, and takes one to school every day for lunch. I bake a dozen every other weekend – each roll weighs about 200g, and is filled with pitted Kalamata olives and King Island Surprise Bay Cheddar.  They keep very well in the freezer, and defrost perfectly by lunch time…

I’ve reworked the recipe over the past year and now use the following formula:

I wasn’t going to blog about these as I’ve mentioned them before, but Small Man, bless his heart, walked into the kitchen last Sunday and said:

“Mum, the olive rolls seemed to have turned out particularly well today.
You should take a photo of them for your blog..”

Given he eats them every day, I was flattered that he thought this batch was worth commenting on!

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