Crusty white loaf...

I have been itching to try my cane bannetons that I first saw on http://shadybaker.blogspot.com.au

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I purchased them from

 https://sourdough.com/shop

I had seen pictures of these forms and had always thought they were made of clay but in fact they are cane.

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Before use, the bannetons need to be conditioned.  Using a spray bottle of water, lightly spray the inside then dust with a bit of flour then tip out the excess...

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Now it is ready to use.  Next time, I'll repeat the process so there is always a film of flour on it.

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I made my dough (after pulling a clanger with the first batch - I couldn't work out why the dough wasn't coming together in my mixer - it was so dry! Maybe it was something to do with the fact I had left out 200mls of water). Anyway, the next batch was good.

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After 45 minutes rising...

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I tipped it out onto kitchen paper and let it rise a further 25 mintes while my dutch oven heated up in a 230C oven...

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I plopped it in and put the lid on...

30 minutes in that hot oven...

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After 30 minutes, now leave the lid off and bake another 15 minutes...
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....and ta dah!

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A lovely loaf...

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Now, where's the butter and Vegemite??

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 

 

 
 

Jelly Cakes and Chicken Biryani...

I've never had much luck making cupcakes.  They tend to fall flat or overflow or brown too much.  My sister gave me her recipe for her All in Together cake which she uses when making jelly cakes.

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The cakes turned out quite well but were a little flat.  Lucky it doesnt matter once you dip them in cold, near to setting jelly then roll them in coconut.  These were the prettiest six - the others were a bit uglier but hey! - close your eyes and they taste the same.

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I put them all in the freezer as soon as they were finished - after I piped cream inside - (you should have seen the mess with all that coconut!). They are going to work for smoko (my belated offering for my birthday). They will have thawed by smoko time and ready to eat, lovely and cold.

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I tried another curry last night.  I had watched Rick Stein's India on Saturday afternoon and he made a Chicken Biryani.  It looked so good I had to make it!  This is the spice mix of green chillies, garlic, ginger, Kasmiri chilli powder, coriander, turmeric which is mixed with natural yoghurt to marinate the chicken in...

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I trimmed the chicken thighs to get rid of any excess fat and chopped each into about 6 pieces.

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This is the finished biryani. In there is layers of fluffy basmati rice, drizzled with saffron milk and rosewater then the chicked is laid on the rice, sprinkled with crispy fried onions then the layer is repeated.  It is then baked a further 30 minutes to heat it all through so it is steaming. Finally topped with roasted cashews and pistachio nuts...

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It was so good!

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/chicken_and_rosewater_70042

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Served with a cucumber mint raita, I think its one of my favourite curry recipes so far.

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Cheers - Joolz xx

 
 
 

 

Crusty Bread...

Rhonda Jean at Down To Earth 

http://down---to---earth.blogspot.com.au

had this great bread recipe in her Weekend Reading list so I mixed it up, late last night.  Here's the link to the video...

http://www.simplysogood.com/2015/01/crusty-bread-movie.html

 

The bread dough was all bubbly this morning...

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Ready to turn out onto the floured cloth to shape gently into a ball...

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...and onto some baking paper to rise for 30 minutes (while my LeCreuset dutch oven heats up in the oven to 230 degrees)...

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Now the pan is piping hot, drop the dough in and put the lid on...

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After 30 minutes with the lid on, now take the lid off...

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Give it another 15-20 minutes and then its done!

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My mother-in-law gave me this cake stand for my birthday - lucky much?

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It is a great loaf and will be so good for my toast in the morning.  I will definitely be baking this again and will try some of the flavour combinations next time.

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Cheers - Joolz xx
 
 
 
 

 

Autumn at it's finest...

The weather has been much better here. It was still and cold on Saturday but Sunday was bright and sunny.

Bri requested muffins so I whipped up a batch of Poh's basic muffin mix then added dried blueberries and choc chips.

They were really good. The addition of sour cream made them nice and moist.

Saturday we visited my sister and brother-in-law at their little permanent van at Beachport. On the way home, we bought some chips, potato cakes and chicken medallions...naughty!

Gus was in charge of dinner. A salad of rocket leaves, avocado, pear and parmesan drizzled with balsamic vinegar and olive oil.

Baked potatoes...

Pork chops with a strawberry balsamic sauce - it didn't plate up very nicely but sure tasted great.

Sunday morning, I snapped this pic at about 7am but it turned out so dark...

I edited this pic because it was so dark on my camera.  Have you ever played around with settings in your phone camera?

I stayed this dish cloth on Saturday but it didn't progress any further...

Sun streaming in the house is so nice after the bleak weather we have had.

I made bread sticks to have as nibbles with our lunch. We decided to have a paddock fire as the weather was so nice...

Sprinkled with olive gomasio...

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I had some olive paste so I made a simple olive pizza...

I just cut it into thin wedges and served it with tatziki dip - yum!

Don't they look great?

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Bri invited my niece and family out for a catch up...this is dear little Tex...such a smiley boy!

We enjoyed some Californian wine...excellent...

How's the serenity?

My sister and bro-in-law also called in and also Gus' mate...

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Brax entertained us with his dancing and antics...I think he ate 20 toasted marshmallows!

The fire was only small but it really threw out some heat...

This poor tree is dead - plenty of firewood in this one. We just need to get it felled for us...

Everyone left once it got dark but we stayed on, cooked some lamb chops on the spit for dinner then retired inside at 9.30pm...it was a big day!

Autumn is a lovely time of year if the sun shines!

Cheers - Joolz xx

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