May 16, 2013

Baking | Easy Same Day Focaccia … with some wholewheat too #comfortfood

“Good bread is the most fundamentally satisfying of all foods; and good bread with fresh butter, the greatest of feasts.”
James Beard

Whole wheat foccacia Focaccia … bread that comforts. Just simple bread is good enough sometimes. I am constantly torn between my two crusty favourites, the fougasse and the focaccia, both flatbreads that are hearty, chewy, flavourful and earthy. Breads that bring alive words by Robert Browning “If thou tastest a crust of bread, thou tastest all the stars and all the heavens.” Ottolenghis foccacia is one of my all time faves.

I needed to bake something soothing, something therapeutic. I lost a very dear maternal uncle over the weekend. He was the glue that held my mothers side of the family together. Intelligent, largehearted, a disciplinarian, always there, often intimidating, brutally honest, sometimes scathing, but a place we happily headed to year after year to spend two months of the summer vacations. It was routine, and we loved it as kids.

He passed away in Lucknow, the city of the Nawabs, over the weekend. That left a deep void, and restlessness. I knew I had to bake bread. I find comfort in food. It gives me an escape. Bread especially. Getting the dough going, seeing it rise, punching it down and then popping it into a hot oven. Always comforting and therapeutic.

Whole wheat foccacia

Focaccia is a flat oven-baked Italian bread, which may be topped with herbs or other ingredients. Focaccia is popular in Italy and is usually seasoned with olive oil and salt, and sometimes herbs, and may be topped with onion, cheese and meat, or flavored with a number of vegetables.

I remember making a similar focaccia when the tsunami struck Japan. Roasted Garlic Focaccia for the ‘Fukushima 50‘. Those days were devastating even though we were miles away from Japan. The images that rolled over and over again made life look so vulnerable. I had a helpless feeling then and yes, I baked bread.

I added a little whole wheat to the dough this time. The recipe yields two loaves, or two round breads. I baked one for lunch and left the other to slow rise in the fridge. Baked it the next day. Worked fine. I like to flavour the dough. Garlic and herbs are normally part of my dough as I love the depth they lend.

Depending on time on hand, roasted garlic is my first choice. If not, then I throw in some garlic cloves and the Thermomix blends them in with the flour. You can add minced garlic instead. If you love garlic like we do I mean! Else just skip it!!

The rest is pretty much your palette to play with. Once dimpled and looking pretty, give it a glug of extra virgin olive oil. Then dress it up! You can either sprinkle on some fresh herbs and sea salt, or like me, load the bread a wee bit more. I like to add sliced red onions, olives, jalapenos, pickled peppers, cherry tomatoes, even nuts.

I have two Victoria sandwich tins which are perfect for my bread. It’s a nice accommodative dough and the end result is always rewarding. A focaccia sandwich is the perfect answer for any left over bread. Stuff it with balsamic roasted veggies, a relish, cheese, slices of salami. I sometimes grill it too.

Recipe: Whole Wheat Foccacia

Summary: One of my favourite breads that doesn’t need much advance planning, and never fails to please. This focaccia is part plain flour and part whole wheat.

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes plus rising time Ingredients:

360g plain flour
130g whole wheat flour {aata}
30g vital gluten
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 3/4 teaspoon yeast
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 ½tsp teaspoon salt
1/2 tsp sugar
460 ml lukewarm water
45 ml extra virgin olive oil
Topping
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt
4-5 cloves garlic, sliced fine
cherry tomatoes, sliced onion, olives
Fresh oregano leaves

Method:

Preheat oven to 200C. In a large bowl mix with your hands flour, sugar and yeast.
Pour in the water. Add salt, roasted ,if using, and knead in the bowl for 5 minutes. Eventually add more water.
{Thermomix: Place flour, sugar and yeast in TM bowl. Run at speed 10 for 6-7 seconds. Add remaining ingredients, including the olive oil, other than the toppings and run on interval speed for 2 minutes {Don’t leave the machine unattended in interval mode}. Proceed …
Allow to rise covered with plastic wrap for about 1 hour or until it doubles.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Grease a shallow oven dish with plenty of olive oil. Pour the dough into this without kneading any further. {I used 2 round 8″ Victoria sandwich tins}
Generously pour extra virgin olive oil onto the focaccia and press with your fingers to create multiple wells. Add toppings.
The focaccia does not need rising at this stage {but it does not harm it. It will just make it thicker}.
Bake for about 20 – 30 minutes until risen and light golden brown.
Pour over some more extra virgin olive oil if you like.
Eat warm or at room temperature.

Don’t miss a post Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

May 5, 2013

Baking | Spicy Vine Tomato Relish … jars of goodness in season

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.”
Lewis Grizzard

Spicy Vine Tomato Relish … I think this was a fitting end to my ‘harvest’ of cherry tomatoes. It was a tough choice. I waited forever, read almost 6 months, for the tomato plants to grow, then flower, then finally bear fruit.

Waited with baited breath to see if they would turn red, yellow or orange as the different packets of seeds suggested. Warded the hungry Coco off them as she took a serious shine to them and stole a mouthful whenever she could. I guarded them with my life. Literally.

Finally I got nice big bowlfuls to harvest, some cherry tomatoes and some plump bigger red ones too. I didn’t have the heart to eat them. I wouldn’t let anyone near them. Oh the irony. I could not bear to let them go!

Spicy vine tomato relish This was the first time I had grown tomatoes and couldn’t believe my luck. They were so pretty. Nature never ceases to amaze. Fresh produce inspires like nothing else. I shot them whenever I could. They shone in every light. The shadows haunted me, in a good sort of a way that is. Playing with light Thanks to Neel @ Learn Food Photography with his 30 Days of Better Food Photos, I dreamt, breathed, lived and shot tomatoes on the vine. All the time. Then reality struck! I had to get moving before they went away unsung. I headed for What Katie Ate. She always inspires. ALWAYS! I knew I had to make the Spicy Vine Tomato Relish. I whiled the day away experimenting with light again. So fulfilling. From pretty fresh tomatoes, to roasted on the vine tomatoes, to being stirred in the pot tomatoes, I lived it all. Tomato therapy!!

Spicy vine tomato relish You might think I was walking the obsessive line, but I really enjoyed it. You might wonder what all the fuss about a simple relish is? This relish is like my baby. I feel emotional about it, have a deep connect with it. My heart sings each day when the lad comes back from school saying ”That was the best sandwich ever. My friends think so too.“

I know what changed. Instead of tomatoes in his sandwich {with balsamic roasted vegetables, smoked chicken ham and cheese}, he gets a slathering of Spicy Vine Tomato Relish.

Serve it with crackers and crudites. Smoked chicken ham roll ups with a teeny relish hint within, mini burgers that get a spicy kick all make irresistible hors d’oeuvre. The spicy vine tomato relish is a great addition for the cheese board too. It’s something you can get creative with. With summer here, finger foods rule in our home. Yours?

Interestingly a recent survey in the UK by Ladbrokes Bingo found that 19% of women would prefer to bake or cook with their friends than hit the town with the girls. 40% said that they would put on a few nibbles & 23% said that they would lay on a buffet so finger food or food that is easily shared is popular!

Sign of the times to come? Never has food been so comforting, so uniting, so central to conversation, such an emotional experience. The more I immerse myself into this delicious world, the more emotional and connected I feel. I’d say join the party. Make relish! Have fun!

Spicy vine tomato relish Bruschetta with some relish, feta and fresh herbs, a cheese platter with sharp cheddar and relish, chicken ham roll ups with mozzarella relish and crisp bell peppers… the possibilities are endless. I even slathered a focaccia sandwich with it. Nom Nom Nom…

Yesterday I woke up early and headed to the kitchen to make one last batch to use up the remaining tomatoes. I wished I could just preserve the little beauties on the vine. Relish was the next best option!

Recipe: Spicy Vine Tomato Relish

Summary: A Spicy Vine Tomato Relish full of flavour and savoury goodness that celebrates the magic of tomatoes on the vine. It’s handy to have a few jars in the fridge. A great way to preserve an abundant crop. Adapted from What Katie Ate

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours
Ingredients:

3 cups baby vine tomatoes
1/2 a kilo fresh red tomatoes, peeled, chopped
1 head roasted garlic {I love garlic}
3 shallots, finely chopped
1/4 cup spice vinegar
1/4 balsamic vinegar
1 tsp mustard paste {or powder}
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1/2 tsp garam masala {I didn’t have all spice}
1/2 tsp sugar
Sea salt & freshly ground pepper

Method:

Place tomatoes on baking sheet and roast until soft. Remove vines, if any.
Place with remaining ingredients in a heavy bottom pan and simmer gently for about 1 1/2- 2 hours until reduced by about half. Taste and adjust seasoning if required.
Cool and bottle.

Don’t miss a post
Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

Posted: May 5, 2013 by Deeba @ PAB |Filed Under: Baking | savoury | Vegetarian | baking, cherry tomatoes, eggless, food, gluten free, healthy, holiday baking, in season, recipes, relish, savoury, spicy, summer, tomatoes, traditional, vegetarian, vine tomatoes 17 Comments

April 30, 2013

Baking | Traditional Savarins with Crème Patisserie : Daring Bakers – you win some, you lose some!

“Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you who you are.”
Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin

Traditional savarins Savarins. It was the Daring Bakers time of the month on the 27th. I missed posting. Missed not because I didn’t complete the challenge, but despite baking very early in the month, something didn’t quite work out right. I lost the steam to post it. Yet, as a part of this fantastic group, I have a larger responsibility so here goes. Better late than never I guess!

Traditional savarins 3

Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farina challenges us to make a traditional Savarin, complete with soaking syrup and cream filling! We were to follow the Savarin recipe but were allowed to be creative with the soaking syrup and filling, allowing us to come up with some very delicious cakes!

Time to share something that didn’t quite work out right, yet was pretty to photograph. Also time to ponder why. You win some, you lose some. I often lose some but that doesn’t reach my blog. The amount I experiment at home gives me huge ground for failure. Thankfully you are not at that receiving end as who would like to read about the ones that went wrong?

I loved baking these. The dough seemed good too, maybe didn’t pass the windowpane test. They came out looking rustic pretty. I made half the recipe suggested. Even half made loads of mini savarins. Where did the problem lie? Not sure what I did wrong, and why things went astray, but the savarins refused to ‘drink up‘!

I soaked the little ones in an Orange Spice Tea Syrup, then filled the centres with pastry cream. Some were topped with balsamic strawberries and others with candied kumquats. They looked irresistible.

We ate them. They were OK. The kids didn’t ask for seconds immediately. Quite perplexed at the fate as they were rather dry inside. Maybe I should have dunked them in hot spiced tea syrup.

I reserved the larger ones for later. They went into a filter coffee syrup, hot this time, and I had plans for Tiramisu Savarin. I was sure I had figured out the issue. Sadly I hadn’t. The blighters didn’t drink up the coffee and get soaking good! For a paired pastry cream, I had lofty ideas. I added some espresso and homemade irish cream to the pastry cream and whipped up some delicious Tiramisu pastry cream.

Didn’t hit the ball out of the park. At all. The good bit was that I used the little savarins for a food photography 30 day exercise I was part of with Neel @ Learn Food Photography. So many savarins on hand ensured that I had something to shoot for 3-4 days! The above pictures explore depth of field {f2.8/f11/f22}. Today is the last day of the exercise. It was a fabulous learning experience.

Did I regret that the savarins failed? I did feel sad, but didn’t regret it. No! Baking is always a learning experience, this was just a little steeper! I might not try the recipe again since it was quite involved. You can view it here, and I am sure you will have better luck. A lot of Daring Bakers certainly did. Check them out here.

I have included the Crème Patisserie recipe below, and balsamic strawberries too. It is one that I make in the Thermomix and it takes me all of 7-9 minutes. You can try making it the traditional way keeping the ingredients the same. It’s a yum recipe. I put it to good use on the Bittersweet Dark Chocolate Fallen Gateau. Was delicious!

Recipe: Crème Patisserie

Summary: Simple, easy and delicious, a crème patisserie recipe which is very versatile. Pour it over desserts, add whipped cream to it and fill a cake, or pipe into choux pastry.

Prep Time: 5 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes
Ingredients:

Crème Patisserie
200ml milk 2%
60g sugar
1 vanilla bean
1 1/2 tbsp {10g} cornflour
1 egg
150ml low fat cream
Balsamic strawberries
200g strawberries, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped {optional}
1 tbsp aged balsamic vinegar

Method:

Crème Patisserie {can be made the day before}
Stove top method
Bring the milk to a simmering boil. Reserve.
Whisk the egg yolk and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the flour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
Pour the boiling milk into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. Then stir in the cream until the mixture is well combined.
Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and heat it under low setting. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain / pour it into a clean bowl. Cool, cover and chill.
Whip the low fat cream to soft medium peaks. Gently fold into chilled cream patisserie.
Thermomix Recipe
Place sugar and vanilla bean in TM bowl, and process for 30 seconds on speed 10. Add remaining ingredients, plus vanilla bean shell and cook on 90C/Speed 4 for 7 minutes {until thick}. Strain into a bowl immediately to cool. I chilled it overnight.
Balsamic Strawberries
Place all ingredients in saucepan and simmer for 2-3 minutes until the strawberries soften. Strain strawberries, transfer to bowl. Return syrup to pan and reduce to a thick syrup. Pour back over strawberries and cool completely. Can be stored in a jar in the fridge for 4-5 days.