Apple and cinnamon cake with stone ground flour!

 Recipe in Italian

It's been long time since I've baked  a cake..... actually I don't even remember when was the last time I did! For sure before I've started my diet, or better and healthy and balanced diet.

Some times I still need a treat though....and once in a while if I go out for dinner I have a dessert to finish with my meal, but to bake a cake and the smell of the cake baking in the kitchen is all another story..... There is nothing better on a cold afternoon, when you are home alone than having a  warm slice of cake with a nice steaming tea and a good book!

I got this recipe from my sister years ago, it's from an old family friend....I'm still wandering why it took me so long to bake this cake! I still tried to bake this cake with healthier ingredients so I used stone ground flour instead of plain flour and brown sugar.

Mine it's very small, my mould form PavonIdea  it's only 12 cm in diameter. If you want to make a large cake just double recipe.




APPLE AND CINNAMON CAKE

INGREDIENTS

• 150g stone ground flour (type 1)
• 90g brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 50ml semi skimmed milk
• 50ml sunflower seeds oil
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon 
• 1 large apple

Whisk eggs with brown sugar until fluffy and doubled in size. Add the sieved flour, baking powder and cinnamon and mix with an electric mixer. Add the milk and oil and mix well until well combined. Peel and core the apple, then cut into thin slices half of it and into small cubes the other half of the apple. 

Mix the diced apple to the cake batter. Spread the thin apple slices into the base of the cake tin and pour batter over the apples. I used a silicon based mould , but if you use a spring form you need to grease and flour the tin first. 

Bake in hot oven at 160ºC for 30/35 minutes.

Allow to cool down and remove from tin

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Soft Sandwich Bread with Chia seeds!!!

Recipe in Italian

The day I baked the Brioche with stone ground flour my hubby said was the best sweet bread I have ever made ( I would say even the only one he tasted ). In truth the previous times I always used refined flour and sugar and thats the main reason he always refuse to taste any of them. But with that brioche I managed to tempt him.....I have to say it was almost impossible to resist with the good smell in the house! But anyway after all good comments about the brioche he also asked to bake a soft sandwich bread. Over the years I've studied a lot and tried to improve my baking skills to obtain a bread with a nice crumb and especially with a thick crust, ok probably in the last few months I baked to much bread with a nice crispy crust but thats the way I like bread. Everyone who follow my blogs nowadays knows that I love baking and if someone ask me to try new recipes I can't ignore the request. I've searched on the web for the perfect sandwich bread recipe, But they were all with refined flours, sugar and butter so modifying a few recipes I got this amazing bread! Delicious !!!




MULTI CEREAL SOFT SANDWICH BREAD WITH CHIA SEEDS

INGREDIENTS

Starter

• 82g multi-cereals flour (durum wheat, soft wheat, spelt, rye, rice, buckwheat, corn flour)
• 44g water
• 26g liquid sourdough starter (100%)

Final dough

• 420g multi-cereals flour
• 210g water
• 80g egg white
• 54g extra virgin olive oil
• 15g salt
• 1 tsp powder malt
• Chia seeds

Prepare the starter: Mix the sourdough, water and flour and let fermentation at room temperature for 12 hours.
In the morning prepare the final dough. On the stand mixer bowl mix the starter with the milk using the flat beater. Add the flour, malt, salt and egg whites.Knead well on medium speed until you have a smooth dough and until it picks off the sides and bottom of the bowl into a single mass. At this point add the olive oil in three stages, wait until is well incorporated before adding more oil. When all the olive oil is incorporated change the flat beater with the dough hook add the chia seeds and continue kneading. Continue kneading until you have a smooth, shiny and elastic dough. To check if the dough has been kneaded enough look for the 'window pane' effect. To do this cut a piece of dough from the ball, hold it up and try to stretch it out into a thin sheet. If you can make it thin enough to see light through it when you hold it up to the window, and the dough isn't tearing, then it is elastic enough to stop kneading. But if the dough tears when you are trying to stretch it then continue kneading for a few more minutes and try again. Place the dough in a oiled bow, cover with cling film and let fermentation start a room temperature for a few hours, then refrigerate for 10/12 hours. I then left bread dough to rise at room temperature overnight, about 8 hours.  When dough is doubled in size, divide in 3 equal pieces, form 3 smooth and perfect balls and transfer them into a large loaf mould ( mine is about 21x11cm). Cover with cling film and leave to prove for 2 – 3 hours, or until the dough has risen to just above the rim of the tin.
Brush the top of the bread wit some egg white and bake in a hot oven at 180ºC for 35/40 minutes. If the top of the bread gets to brown cover it with kitchen foil.
Allow bread to cool down before slicing! 

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Agedashi Tofu!!!

 Recipe in Italian
Hi Everyone!!!! I've got these photos on my files since july and all I've been publishing recently, at least in the Italian blog, is bread recipes or brioche. I know that many of you, or at least many Italians, will stuck up your nose, but spending lot's of time in Japan I got used to eat tofu and I actually love it! I love Asian food, Thai, Korean, Chinese or Japanese..... Tofu has a plain taste but cooked with good ingredients can be really delicious. I love Agedashi Tofu, it's one of my favourite Japanese dishes. Easy and quick to make!




AGEDASHI TOFU (FRIED TOFU)

INGREDIENTS

• 2 blocks of tofu  of 150g each
• 200ml water
• 2 tsp dashi stock powder 
• 2 tbs soy sauce
• 3 tbs mirin
• Potato starch to dust the tofu
• Frying oil
• Spring onions

Wrap tofu in kitchen paper to drain the excess water. Start to prepare the dash stock by boiling the 200ml of water. Add 2 teaspoons of dashi powder and mix well until dissolved. Add the soy sauce and mirin to the stock. Cut the tofu in two or three pieces and 

dust each piece with the potato starch. 

Fry the tofu in hot oil until lightly golden brown. Drain to remove the excess oil ( to remove it from the hot oil I used the slotted spoon from PavonIdea).

In a bowl serve one ladle of hot stock, add the fried tofu and sprinkle with some spring onions. Serve hot.  

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Brioche with stone ground flour, sourdough starter, raisins and pine nuts !!!

  Recipe in Italian

I absolutely have to share this recipe also in English! It's an amazing and delicious brioche made with a stone ground flour, my liquid sourdough starter and honey instead of sugar.

It's not an easy preparation but I wanted to see how my starter works with a rich dough with eggs and butter. I'm just trying to get ready for the Christmas  season, this year I would love to try to bake panettone.....a really difficult task! Last year I made the Pandoro...and I was so happy with the result!




BRIOCHE WITH SOURDOUGH STARTER, HONEY, RAISINS AND PINE NUTS

INGREDIENTS

• 430g strong flour ( I used stone ground flour, type 2, w280)
• 125g milk
• 65g water
• 100g sourdough starter 100% hydration
• 96g honey
• 5g salt
• 1 whole egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Zest of one organic lemon
• 100g butter

• 200g raisins
• Limoncello
• Pine nuts
• 1 egg white

Method

Soak the raisins in lukewarm water with a few tablespoons of Limoncello.

On the stand mixer bowl mix the sourdough starter with the milk and water using the flat beater, add just enough flour to have a soft dough. Knead on low speed. Add 1 egg yolk, 30g of honey and immediately just enough flour to give to the dough a soft consistency. When all the ingredients are well incorporated, add 1 more egg yolk, 30g of honey and more flour, knead until well incorporated. At this point add the egg white, the remaining honey, the 5g of salt, lemon zest, vanilla essence and all the remaining flour. Knead well on medium speed until you have a smooth dough and until it picks off the sides and bottom of the bowl into a single mass. Add the diced butter at room temperature into three times. Wait until is well incorporated before adding more butter. Continue kneading until you have a smooth, shiny and elastic dough. To see if the dough has been kneaded enough look for the 'window pane' effect. To do this cut a piece of dough from the dough, hold it up and try to stretch it out into a thin sheet. If you can make it thin enough to see light through it when you hold it up to the window, and the dough isn't tearing, then it is elastic enough to stop kneading. But if the dough tears when you are trying to stretch it then continue kneading for a few more minutes and try again.

At this point change the flat beater into the dough hook, add the raisins and knead on low speed until well incorporated. 

Transfer brioche dough into a bowl, cover with cling film and allow to rise at room temperature for 3/4 hours. When fermentation has started and dough it's rising put in the fridge overnight. In the morning remove bowl from the fridge and allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in size. At this point you can form the brioche. The total weight of my dough was 1200g. My loaf tin from PAVONI IDEA it's not really big. 

To calculate how much dough you need to put inside the mould, simply fill it until the edge with water, weight the amount and water then multiply for 0.6.

The total amount of brioche dough for my 21x11cm h6cm mould it's 780g, 1300g x 0.6=780g. Shape the brioche as you prefer, I simply divided the dough into 3 equal parts, 260g each, and distribute them into the loaf tin. Cover with cling film and leave to prove for 2 – 3 hours, or until the dough has risen to just above the rim of the tin. 

Brush the top with the remaining egg white, sprinkle with pine nuts and bake in a hot oven at 200ºC for 15 minutes, cover the brioche with kitchen foil and bake at 180ºC for 35 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 

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Pizza with liquid sourdough starter

 Recipe in Italian
Let's see if I can keep up with the updates. Now I want to share this amazing pizza, published quite recently in my Italian blog. Long fermentation with my liquid sourdough starter (100% hydration). At the beginning I thought it was going to be a disaster.....the fermentation was so slow, actually didn't rise at all in the fridge and then suddenly about 10 hours at room temperature the dough exploded and got lots of nice bubbles. 

This focaccia is really soft and with a rustic taste, you gotta try it!!!




PIZZA WITH LIQUID SOURDOUGH STARTER

INGREDIENTS

• 100g strong stone ground flour
• 200g multi cereal flour ( Spelt, wheat, enkir)
• 50g sourdough starter
• 240g water
• 12g salt
• 1 tbs extra virgin olive oil

Topping

• Tomato sauce 
• origano
• Salt 
• Extra virgin olive oil

In a stand mixer mix the two flours with the sourdough starter and the water. At last add the salt. Continue kneading until you have a smooth dough and until it picks off the sides and bottom of the bowl into a single mass. At this moment add the olive oil and continue kneading until well incorporated. Change the flat beater to the dough hook and continue kneading for a few minutes until the dough is smooth, shiny and elastic. The dough will clean the sides of the bowl and make a slapping noise.
Transfer dough in a oiled bowl, cover with cling film and keep at room temperature for a few hours, then put in the fridge overnight for about 12 hours.
Remove bowl from the fridge and allow dough to rise at room temperature until doubled in size. Lightly oil an oven tray and stretch the dough with wet hands. Be careful no to break all te fermentation bubbles. Spread some tomato sauce on the pizza base, season with olive oil and salt and let rise at room temperature for 1 hour. Pre-heat the oven at 200ºC.
Sprinkle the surface with some fresh origano and bake the pizza at for 15/20 minutes.

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Tuna panna cotta finger food!!!!

Savarin moulds from Pavoni Idea 

 Recipe in Italian

Wow...it's been almost o1 year that I've completely abandoned my English blog.....how lazy I am!!!

To be honest I haven't been cooking much recently and also the Italian blog it's crying for recipes. But I few months ago I've decided to eat healthier and I've started my diet...in august I've been away in holidays and I was really naughty! But I went in amazing places with good food...and how could I resist to the Turkish delicacies in Istanbul?

Today's recipe is from my sister ( only the photos are mine and as you can see they are not really good) for my nephew Christening. They are just amazing! Savoury panna cotta with tuna and tomato. Everybody at the party loved them.... Even though I had just started my diet (was back in june) I couldn't resist them!

Perfect finger food, delicious and really pretty too...don't you think so too?




TUNA PANNA COTTA FINGER FOOD


INGREDIENTS

• 140g fresh double cream
• 50g butter
• 80g tuna in olive oil
• 6g Martini dry
• 3g gelatine sheets
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 200g shortcrust pastry (for my recipe click here)

To decorate

• Cherry tomatoes 
• mayonnaise

In a saucepan heat up double cream, butter, drained tuna and bring to a 85ºC temperature. 

Remove from heat and blend with a mixer. Filter the cream and season with martini dry, salt and pepper to your taste. Soak the gelatine sheets in water, squeeze and incorporate them to the cream. Pour the panna cotta in the Savarin moulds and allow to cool down. Chill or freeze until set. 

Roll out the pastry, cut small circles, slightly larger than the mini panna cotta, prick the base with a fork and bake in a hot oven at 160ºC for 10 minutes or until lightly golden brown.

Allow to cool down completely.

Brush the base of each disk with mayonnaise, top with the panna cotta and decorate with the cherry tomatoes. 

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