CRUMPETS ARE GOLD!!!

Okay - Today Lilli asked for crumpets for breakfast, of course we didn't have any coz it's always a treat I buy when I do the grocery shopping. Now as you know we try to buy as much unprocessed/fresh stuff as possible and try to make as much from scratch at home. Anyway, when Lil asked for crumpets I remembered seeing a recipe for crumpets in one of my old fashioned cookbooks. When I found it, it looked a bit complicated, so googled a recipe and found the following :)

**I only made a half batch, in case they didn't work out - and I got about 18 from the recipe. I made it in the breadmaker, but would be easy as to do by hand...


FANTASTIC CRUMPETS!

Put in your breadmaker:

2 tsp dried yeast
600g strong plain flour
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
800mL slightly warmed milk

allow this to mix (Knead for a bit and then mixing) and then rise for 1 hour (it should be double the size).

Then add in:

1/2 tsp bicarb mixed in 1Tbs warm water. Run the dough cycle again. After this rise it should be bubbly and about double the size.

Heat your frypan on medium heat. Grease some egg rings (apparently you can actually buy crumpet rings which are a bit bigger). Pour about 2Tbs or 1/4 Cup of the mix in each egg ring (should be about 3/4 up the side of the ring). The top will go bubbly and will look almost set, and at this stage flip it and cook for a minute or so. Put on a rack to cool and then repeat the process until the mix is gone.

Recipe Time!

So I have been meaning to put this recipe up here for a long time. This Homemade Laundry Liquid recipe is courtesy of my lovely friend, Ness Schenk. So here is how to make the laundry liquid that we use :)

1 bar Sunlight laundry soap
1/2 cup of Letric Washing Soda
10 litres of water

First grate the bar of soap into a decent size saucepan and then add 1 litre of boiling water from the kettle. Stir this on medium heat on the stove top until the soap has completely dissolved. Add the washing soda, and mix really well. Transfer the mixture into a container that will hold 10 litres and add hot tap water to fill, stir really well, it should be really runny. Let it sit overnight, and in the morning it will be set like jelly. Give it a really good stir, or you can roll up your sleeves and squish it between your fingers to mix. Then just add 1/4 of a cup per load of washing. If you want your washing to smell like something other than clean, you could add 5mls of your favourite essential oil. I don't do this, as I love just the plain fresh smell of my clothes.

This is safe for front loaders. Also if you have any stains on your clothes you can pre treat them with a scoop of the liquid and give it a scrub with a nail brush.

If you like to use fabric softener, I recommend using 1/4 of a cup of vinegar instead, it is amazing!
----------------------------------

Okay - so this is my new favourite recipe. I made this for the first time yesterday and it is awesome... and with not much butter, no milk or eggs, is reasonably low fat. I made it as mini muffins, but the recipe is for a bread type thing. The recipe made about 20 mini muffins, and in this situation only take about 10 minutes to cook. I found that when I got them out of the oven they look reasonably cooked on top but when I touched the top of the muffin it still seemed quite goo-ey inside. At first I thought they would need more cooking time, but when they have rested for 10 minutes they are firm, just like a normal muffin. Also, I thought the ingredients were going to be wrong, as the mix looked really dry, but when all the ingredients were combined, I put the electric mixer on for 2 minutes and it all came together looking like a normal cake batter. Anyway, here is the recipe.

White Chocolate and Banana Bread

* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1 pinch of salt
* 3 ripe mashed bananas
* 2 tablespoon soft butter
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup white chocolate chips
* 1/2 cup chopped pecan nuts or walnuts (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Grease a 9×5 inch loaf pan and coat lightly with flour to prevent sticking.

2. Sieve the flour into a mixing bowl and add the baking soda and salt.

3. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugar then add in the mashed bananas and mix well.

4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add the chocolate chips and nuts if you are using them.

5. Pour into the prepared loaf pan and bake for about 45 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

6. Allow to cool in the loaf pan for 10 minutes and then place on a cooling rack to cool fully.

Bread Recipe

Well I have had a heap of people ask about the bread that I make and some people on facebook have asked for the recipe. We use this one because it doesn't use any fat or artificial products (no oil, no powedered milk etc). The only thing we have found is that it doesn't last as long as conventional bread maker recipes or pre-mixes. To combat this we actually make a half batch every two days instead of a full loaf that would last us nearly a week but go a bit hard after a few days.

The recipe is actually Jamie Oliver's Basic Bread Recipe. He obviously makes it from scratch but I just put the ingredients in the Bread Machine, in the following order. (I will write the full amounts - as I said we halve the amounts):

625ml (2 & 1/2C) of Tepid Water
2 Tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Fine Sea Salt
1kg Strong Bread Flour
3 x 7g Sachets of Dried Yeast (or 30g of Fresh Yeast)

The main thing I try to do is that the yeast only touches the flour before mixing (and I only do that because that's what other bread machine recipes say to do).

Here are the instructions from Jamie Oliver on how to make it by hand:
Stage 1: making a well
Pile the flour on to a clean surface and make a large well in the centre. Pour half your water into the well, then add your yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Stage 2: getting it together
Slowly, but confidently, bring in the flour from the inside of the well. (You don't want to break the walls of the well, or the water will go everywhere.) Continue to bring the flour in to the centre until you get a stodgy, porridgey consistency – then add the remaining water. Continue to mix until it's stodgy again, then you can be more aggressive, bringing in all the flour, making the mix less sticky. Flour your hands and pat and push the dough together with all the remaining flour. (Certain flours need a little more or less water, so feel free to adjust.)

Stage 3: kneading!
This is where you get stuck in. With a bit of elbow grease, simply push, fold, slap and roll the dough around, over and over, for 4 or 5 minutes until you have a silky and elastic dough.

Stage 4: first prove
Flour the top of your dough. Put it in a bowl, cover with clingfilm, and allow it to prove for about half an hour until doubled in size – ideally in a warm, moist, draught-free place. This will improve the flavour and texture of your dough and it's always exciting to know that the old yeast has kicked into action.

Stage 5: second prove, flavouring and shaping
Once the dough has doubled in size, knock the air out for 30 seconds by bashing it and squashing it. You can now shape it or flavour it as required – folded, filled, tray-baked, whatever – and leave it to prove for a second time for 30 minutes to an hour until it has doubled in size once more. This is the most important part, as the second prove will give it the air that finally ends up being cooked into your bread, giving you the really light, soft texture that we all love in fresh bread. So remember – don't fiddle with it, just let it do its thing.

Stage 6: cooking your bread
Very gently place your bread dough on to a flour-dusted baking tray and into a preheated oven. Don't slam the door or you'll lose the air that you need. Bake according to the time and temperature given with your chosen recipe. You can tell if it's cooked by tapping its bottom – if it sounds hollow it's done, if it doesn't then pop it back in for a little longer. Once cooked, place on a rack and allow it to cool for at least 30 minutes – fandabidozi. Feel free to freeze any leftover bread.