No Knead Cheddar Cheese Bread

Ok so the recipe makes 2 loaves, I only have 1 bread mold (and even then there was too much! so I made some extra rolls with the leftovers).

So here are the measurements I used....

1 package active dry yeast
6 tblsp warm water
1.5 cups shredded cheddar cheese
6 tblsp shredded Parmesan cheesea
1 cup milk
1.5 tbsp sugar
.5 tbsp butter melted
1 tsp salt
3 to 3.25 cups all plain flour

1 egg white beaten
1 tbsp water

Topping:
1/4 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 tsp sesame seeds
1/4 tsp poppy seeds
1/4 tsp paprika

-In large bowl dissolve yeast in water, add the cheeses, milk, sugar, butter, salt and 3 cups of flour. Beat by hand or mixer about 3 minutes. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough.
-Do not knead, cover and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1-2 hours
-Stir dough down, transfer to greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise until doubled about 30 minutes.
-In small bowl combine egg white and water. In another bowl combine topping ingredients. Brush loaf with egg white/water mixture, sprinkle with topping, bake at 190C for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from pans and place on wire rack to cool.

Ok - I'm totally guilty, I cut into it while it was warm (not hot), I couldn't wait, it smelled amazing!

The original recipe calls for celery seed in the topping, I could only find celery salt and when I opened it and sniffed it - wow, no way way I putting it on! I did up the topping ingredients too, I'm a big fan of paprika and seeds! 

And here's a link to the original video;

Cheese Bread

Updatey!!

Ok, so it's been quite a few months since I posted anything - apologies to the few who actually read this!!
Work has been poo-house! Hence bringing me into a funk where I didn't even want to bake/cook!!
Anyway, thanks to 3 weeks leave (which I'm still on) I got up the desire to bake again!


So I spotted a 'no knead' cheese bread on one of my favourite YouTube channels (YoYoMax12 - check her out, she's incredible!) - I was so intrigued, but I've never used yeast before - so cautious as well!


Soooo, bought the ingredients - baked the bread! Soooo good (will be putting the recipe up!) and I found a little beauty on the back of the Tandaco Yeast box for a cinnamon tea bun! This is amazing! Steve even liked it (he wasn't keen on the cheese bread cos it was 'greasy' from the melted cheese - coming from a man who puts marmite and cheese on bread and shoves it in the microwave until it's soggy?! The bread was delicious! Ignore his opinion!).


So a few things I learned about yeast...
It's not as scary as I thought it would be!
I now know where the fresh bread gets that smell!
It takes a bloody long time to prep anything with yeast (yet very little cooking time it would seem?!) 
And, kneading dough is very therapeutic!


I hope you enjoy the recipes! 
I'll link to the YouTube video I got the bread from, because I didn't take a picture!

Strawberry sponge delight

1/2 punnet strawberries - hulled and diced
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp strawberry topping
8 sponge finger biscuits (halves length ways)
cream


Combine strawberries, sugar and topping in a bowl, set aside.
Place bottom halves of biscuits on plates, top with strawberries, drizzle with cream & chocolate, replace tops.

Smokey sausage and bean casserole

12 Chippolata sausages
1 cup green cut beans
1 can cannellini beans (drained & washed)
1 carrot diced
1 can crushed tomatoes
1 garlic clove crushed
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp smokey paprika


Cook sausages in large saucepan - remove from pan.
Place remaining ingredients in pan - cook for 5 minutes, return sausages to pan, cover and cook for further 30-40 minutes.

Served here with roasted potatoes and pumpkin dumplings (recipe in older posts)

Pea & Ham Soup - slow cooker

My first attempt at pea and ham soup... hopefully I've picked up my Nannas talent here! I'll let you know in 6 hours....


500g bag split yellow peas
2 cloves of garlic
2 medium brown onions
3 baby carrots 
2 medium potatoes
150g diced bacon 
1 ham bone (1kg)
pepper corns
parsley
water to cover


Rinse split peas and layer across the bottom of the slow cooker.
Dice garlic, onions and carrot finely - I wizzed them in a food processor to make really fine. Dice the potato into small cubes - place all in slow cooker and place in ham hock. 
Add pepper corns to taste, a sprinkle of parsley and cover with water. 
Cook on high for 4 hours or on low for 6-8 hours. 
Remove ham from bone and place back into soup with bacon. 

Apricot Beef Cabbage Rolls

Ok this is something I made up tonight - I was originally going to do a tomato thing, but I didn't have the ingredients for the recipe - and out of pure laziness, I decided to go with what I had in the cupboard, so the cabbage wrap idea wasn't mine, however, the filling is.

We'll see how it goes!

Ingredients:

Cabbage leaves

[sauce]

1 x pk french onion soup mix

1 x can apricot nectar

2 tbsp orange marmalade 

[filling]

500g mince beef

finely diced zucchini

finely diced pumpkin

finely diced onion 

cooked and cooled white rice (1/2 cup uncooked, which becomes about 1 cup cooked)

1 egg

ginger (to taste)

seasoning

a few tbsp worcestershire sauce

Mix sauce together in a bowl - allow to blend while preparing the rest.

Remove the outer, larger cabbage leaves carefully and blanch for a few minutes in boiling water until pliable - drain on paper towel.

Combine all filling ingredients together - lay out cabbage leaves and wrap around filling to create rolls. 

Place rolls in baking dish, pour over sauce, cover tightly with foil and bake in over (180 degrees) for 1 hour. 

Churros

Home made Churros - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!


This one is a really big surprise, because it definitely tasted authentic!! I was shocked, and you will be too when you see the ingredients.
They were so bloody good... I may/may not have made myself sick eating too many - this will remain unconfirmed ;-)


1 cup plain flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 cup water
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp vegetable oil
pinch of salt


Mix flour and baking powder in a large bowl.
Add the rest of the ingredients to a saucepan and bring to the boil. Remove from heat and add to flour mix. Mix until dough forms.


Let cool while heating oil to (deep or shallow) fry - I shallow fried and rolled them.
Place dough into piping bag with extra large star tip (or round tip/cut open end if you're like me and have lost your extra large star tip!). I made lines - cut them into smaller pieces [I was using a small pan] and fried in batches, a few minutes each was all they needed. Then I drained them on paper towel and rolled them in cinnamon sugar.


ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!?
I have no words for how delicious they were.