Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Sesame Bread - No Yeast!

As you can probably tell, I went on a crazy bread-making spree.

Problem: No fresh yeast, and the instant dry yeast was out of date. I really NEEDED to bake - call it a compulsion - and it HAD to be bread. So I googled "Soda Bread" and "Easy Bread No Yeast" and stumbled upon this wonderful recipe for the easiest bread ever, with room to add flavour and herbs and nuts of choice. Yay. :)

Recipe borrowed from


I tweaked around the recipe a bit, using what we had in the kitchen (because I was too lazy to go out and buy more)

1 1/2 cups refined flour (maida)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (atta)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp black sesame seeds
3 tbsp white sesame seeds
2 cups club soda


Combine all the dry ingredients well, making sure the baking powder is well dispersed. Add the club soda - careful while measuring it out, don't let the fizz fool you into using less. Combine well, the dough will be sort of wet. Fold everything into a greased baking pan. Sprinkle extra sesame seeds on top. Bake at 200 Celsius until done (or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean).


My mother thought it had too much sesame.. But I loved it this way, with the flavour and nuttiness of the seeds being the primary hit of the bread. The recipe for the basic bread is quite standard - other flavours such as herbs and other seeds and nuts (flaxseed?) can be added too.

I did love this. Will make more and experiment with different flavours. Next time, I'll add salt. This bread is wonderful, toasted and slathered with butter. :D


Saturday, September 7, 2013

Oatmeal Chocolate Muffins

The best way to eat oatmeal is to put it in a chocolate muffin.

Truth.

1 1/4 cups flour
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup quick-cooking oats
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (best kind possible)
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil


Combine first 6 dry ingredients and mix well. Beat eggs + milk + oil together to blend. Add to flour mixture and stir. BATTER WILL BE VERY WET! Do not be alarmed.

Spoon into greased muffin pan. Bake at 200 Celsius for 15-20 minutes or till done.


Light sprinkling of oats on top of the batter before baking makes a pretty finish :)

Gorgeous Apple Cake

Recipe adapted from

Donna Hay's Fast, Fresh, Simple

This is a beautiful yellow cake topped with sliced apples and demerara sugar, with a gorgeous gorgeous end result that made me super happy :) :)

1 1/2 cups flour (I used maida)
3/4 cups caster sugar
125 g bitter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 apple, cored and thinly sliced
demerara sugar to sprinkle over the top


Preheat oven to 160 Celsius. Beat flour + sugar + butter + vanilla + eggs + milk in a bowl with an electric mixer until just combined. Spoon the mixture into a greased cake tin.


Top the mixture with the thinly sliced apples and sprinkle demerara sugar. Bake for 45 minutes or until just cooked.


Serve with fresh cream or vanilla ice cream :)

Oatmeal Bread

I really miss having a breadmaker at home. Its such a wonderful little machine - does all the kneading and proving and baking while we just enjoy the heavenly smell wafting through the house. However, ours stopped working a long time ago. I was browsing around for an easy bread recipe online, and stumbled upon this. Its perfect - stuffed with oats and super healthy.

Borrowed from


Like she says, its not a very exciting bread to look at.. But there isn't any commercially available bread that would taste half as good.

Recipe copied and pasted from the original site.

Easy Little Bread Recipe

1 1/4 cups / 300 ml warm water (105-115F)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast (one packet)
1 tablespoon runny honey
1 cup / 4.5 oz / 125 g unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup / 5 oz / 140 g whole wheat flour
1 cup / 3.5 oz / 100 g rolled oats (not instant oats)
1 1/2 teaspoons fine grain sea salt
2 tablespoons butter, melted, for brushing
In a medium bowl, sprinkle the yeast onto the warm water and stir until the yeast dissolves. Stir in the honey and set aside for a few minutes, until the yeast blooms and swells a bit - 5 - 10 minutes.
In the meantime, mix the flours, oats, and salt in a large bowl. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir very well.
Brush a 8-cup loaf pan generously with some of the melted butter. Turn the dough into the tin, cover with a clean, slightly damp cloth, and set in a warm place for 30 minutes, to rise.
Preheat the oven to 350F / 180C, with a rack in the middle. When ready, bake the bread for 35-40 minutes, until golden and pulling away from the sides of the pan. I finish things up by leaving the bread under the broiler for just a heartbeat - to give the top a bit deeper color. Remove from oven, and turn the bread out of the pan quickly. Let it cool on a rack so it doesn't steam in the pan. Serve warm, slathered with butter.
Makes 1 loaf.



Easiest No-Bake Cheesecake Ever

Cheesecake fanatics may refuse to classify this creation as technically a "cheesecake" but it IS :D

It is also sinfully easy and sinfully delicious :)


1 package Philadelphia cream cheese
1 can Nestle sweetened condensed milk
Juice and rind of half a lemon
1/2 tsp grated ginger
Digestive biscuits, crushed
Butter

Mix crushed digestive biscuits with just enough butter to enable packing into the base of a regular tart tin. Make sure sides and edges are adequately thick, and there are no holes or thin patches. Refrigerate.

Whip cream cheese + condensed milk + lemon juice and rind + ginger until well combined. Pour into the tart tin and refrigerate until set.

This cheesecake starts melting every time it is taken out of the refrigerator. So store in the fridge, remove only to serve.

Can garnish with more lemon zest.