Sage & Onion Tear & Share Bread

As-Salam Alaikum Sisters / Greetings Dear Reader,

If you ask any Brit what their favourite dinner is? a lot will still say a traditional roast dinner, even after all the wonderful food culture that is now in Britain we still love our roast meat and boiled vegetables.

This sage and onion tear and share bread which really are just bread rolls joined together (usually in a circle but I must have skipped over those instruction, ooops!) tastes just like the sage and onion stuffing that goes so well with a roast Chicken/Turkey dinner.

The next time your having a roast Chicken/Turkey dinner make up a batch of this bread and then you can make sandwiches with any leftover meat.

Also this bread would go well served with a chicken soup.

Please don't be put off by the white layer on top of the sage leaves, it's the milk glaze to help them stick and glazing bread with milk will create a soft crust. The leaves are simply for garnish and can be removed prior to eating.

Sage & Onion Tear & Share Bread

Makes 8 bread rolls
Slightly adapted from Hairy Bikers Sage and Onion Tear and Share Bread.
1-2 hours prep time
20 minutes cooking time

Ingredients

150ml whole milk, plus extra for glazing
400g plain white flour, plus extra for kneading
7g sachet fast-action dried yeast
1tsp caster sugar
1tsp fine sea salt
15g unsalted butter
1tbsp olive oil, plus extra for greasing bowl
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed
15-20 sage leaves, chopped, plus extra for garnish
ground black pepper

Method

Heat 125ml water and the milk in a saucepan over a low heat until lukewarm.

 

Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl and stir in the yeast, sugar and salt.

Make a well in the centre and stir in the water and milk with a large wooden spoon (You can use a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment to mix and knead the bread) Gather into a ball then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes. (5minutes if using a stand mixer)

Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover loosely with oiled clingfilm. Leave to rise at room temperature place for 60 minutes or until doubled in size.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and oil in a large non-stick frying pan and fry the onion and garlic over a very low heat for 10 minutes, or until softened.

Scatter the chopped sage over the onions and cook for a further 2-3 minutes. Remove from the heat, season with lots of ground black pepper and set aside to cool.

When the dough has doubled in size, tip it back onto a floured surface and flatten with the palms of your hands. Spoon the onion mixture on top and knead for a couple of minutes until evenly incorporated. Sprinkle with a little extra flour as it will become sticky from the extra moisture and fat.
Divide the dough into eight (approx. 100g per ball) and shape into neat balls by pulling the dough from the outside of the ball and pushing into the centre. Turn over with the ends underneath.
Place the rolls in a circle (oops I put them in a straight line!) on a large baking tray lined with greaseproof paper, making sure the dough balls are touching. Cover loosely with oiled cling film and leave to prove in a warm place for 45 minutes, or until doubled in size.

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C (Fan)/350F/Gas 6.

Brush the top of each roll lightly with milk and place a small sage leaf on top. Brush with more milk and bake in the centre of the oven for 20 minutes, or until risen and golden-brown. Transfer to a wire rack and leave to cool a little before serving.

Brioche For Breakfast - Algerian Chrik or Lamona

As-Salamu Alaikum,

Brioche:- an enriched sweet bread dough that can be baked in the traditional fluted tins or made into buns and whole loafs of various shapes. It's rich and tender crumb comes from using both butter and eggs in the dough.

Of course Brioche originated in France but like the baguette it too made it's way into Algerian cuisine during the occupation.

I adapted this version for making my chrik / lamona but I highly recommend you check out simplicity of my table by the sea's Chrik with a whole lot more detail and info on brioche masha'Allah.

Chrik are ideal for serving at breakfast, simply split, toast and spread with apricot jam (Algerians favourite)

Chrik

adapted from here
makes 12 buns

Ingredients

125ml warm milk
75ml warm water (you can replace 1 - 2 tablespoons with orange blossom water)
1 egg beaten
60g melted butter (I used salted) or margarine
zest of 1 lemon or half a large orange
70g vanilla sugar
425g plain flour
2 teaspoons easy blend yeast
Before baking
1 egg beaten with 1/2 teaspoon sugar
sesame seeds (optional)
12 whole almonds (optional)

Method

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer (fitted with the dough hook attachment) combine all dry ingredients.

In a small pan on medium-low heat add milk and butter until the butter has melted and the mixture is just warmed through, you don't want it too hot or it could kill the yeast once you add it to the dry ingredients!

Slowly add the warm milk, butter mixture to your dry ingredients. Next add the egg and then the water and mix until you have a soft smooth dough, about 1-2minutes.

Place dough in a medium sized, lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise for 1 hour.

Punch down dough and divide into 12 portions, each weighing around 65grams.

Form each portion into a ball and place on a lined baking sheet, flatten each ball with the palm of your hands, cover with lightly oiled cling film and let rise for another 1 hour.

Pre-Heat oven to 400F/200C/180C (fan). Glaze chrik and top with sesame seeds and almonds if using (press almond firmly into the chrik or they may pop off when baked) and bake for 15-20minutes or until the glaze darkens and the chrik sound hollow when tapped.
 

My Take On Algerian Kesra

As-Salamu Alaikum / Welcome Reader,

Kesra:- an Algerian flat bread that is good served at breakfast, spread with butter and honey.

It is a very hearty bread, quite dense due to being made only of semolina, and the amount of oil used but is totally satisfying..

Kesra is traditionally cooked on a clay tagine on the stove but I used a tefal non stick frying pan.

Depending on what region of Algeria you are in this bread is prepared in different ways and can be of different thickness. As I am no where near Algeria this is my 'British' take on it.

Kesra

Makes 2 large 1/2cm thick

Ingredients

2 cups fine semolina

1/2 cup coarse semolina
2 teaspoons salt
1 x 7g sachet of fast action yeast
1/4  cup oil (olive or sunflower)
Luke warm water (enough to bring the dough together)

Method

In a large bowl or your stand mixer fitted with your dough hook attachment. Add both types of semolina then salt, mix, add yeast, mix again, add oil, mix!

Add water slowly until the dough forms, I used just under 1 cup but this will vary depending on your climate and the absorption rate / quality of semolina being used.

Knead for  5 minutes in stand mixer or 10 minutes by hand or until you have a soft, smooth dough.

Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature for 30minutes.

Weigh your dough and divide into 2 equal portions or as many as you want depending on how thick and how big you want your kesra to be, remember to adjust cooking times.

Place your pan on hob and pre-heat to medium-low

Roll each kesra into a large around 26cm, 1/2cm thick disk, place on pre-heated pan and prick all over with a fork. Cook for around 15-20 minutes, turning every 5 minutes or so to avoid burning.

If you want your bread with more colour than mine (everyone likes their bread differently) either cook it at a higher temperature for a shorter time, keeping good care that it doesn't burn unless that's your thing! Or once the bread is cooked through place it directly on the heat source to char / get more colour on the edges.

 

Recent Recipes I've Tried & Love (Photos & Links)

As-Salamu Alaikum,

Here are a few photos & links to recipes I've recently tried and love masha'Allah wa Alhamduillah

Moroccan Chicken, Carrot & Potatoe Tagine -   My husband recently bought me a heat diffuser so I could use my Tagine on the hob even though he assured me it wasn't necessary, the label it came with said otherwise. I find putting the tagine inside the oven for an hour+ uneconomical and thought maybe it would use less energy on the hob? I halved the recipe and didn't add as much chicken but the whole family, kids and all really enjoyed it as it uses a few spices than what I am accustomed to using.

Sesame Seeded Hamburger Buns With Homemade Lamb Burgers - I followed the King Arthur Flour Recipe except I used sesame seeds only and the homemade lamb burgers were adapted from cooking with Alia's 'Merguez' style ground meat, I didn't use any harissa because I wanted my children to at least have a chance of liking them and I shaped them into burgers instead of sausage shape.
I made the mince stretch further by cutting the burgers in half once cooked (next time make them more like sliders as the buns aren't huge). The leftover mince which I didn't cook then got turned into spaghetti and meatballs that same evening.

Chicken Kofta Curry - My curry was more orange in colour than the original recipe, maybe that was because I used half a tin of chopped tomatoes in place of the 2 large fresh tomatoes it called for in the recipe and despite that the spicing was there but nice and mild (no chilli's involved) due to using 1 cup of yoghurt to make the sauce. I used half the quantity of chicken mince to make koftas, I'm on a budget maybe next time I should add some vegetables to bulk it up.
Instead of using an egg to bind the kofta together, I added 1/2 teaspoon no egg orgran egg replacer without adding any extra liquid as I felt it wasn't necessary as this mince was rather wet from just being defrosted in the microwave. In fact adding the egg replacer altogether was probably not necessary but I wanted to be sure the kofta wouldn't fall apart once cooking that's happened to me before, usually when using any type of lean mince meat.

In sha Allah your inspired to try one of the above dishes, if you were to ask me which one was my favourite I would say the homemade burgers and buns because it involved a bit of my favourite past time, baking!

Before I forget, in all the recipes that call for parsley I used coriander as I dislike parsley.
 

8-Strand Plaited Loaf

As-Salamu Alaykum Sisters, Greetings Readers,

I would consider myself to be a morning person. I like to wake up early as morning is the most quiet and peaceful time plus i can get the majority of my housework done before i bake or in most cases i leave  the housework till later and bake fist because lets face it with toddlers you are cleaning and tidying up behind them all day and well the house still looks the same, or is that just me? and well baking always brightens my day like sunshine and makes me feel good!

Yesterday morning, a mixture of bright sunshine, clear blue skys with flakes of snow?! yes, masha'Allah what a combination! i was all up for getting my cleaning done and then on to attempting this challenging loaf that I'd wanted to try for so long....in fact i had tried and failed miserably many months ago, i ended up unravelling all the plait and i don't quite remember after that but i think i ended up making rolls or was it a regular loaf?......anyway i know i didn't bin it.

Not all things went to plan this time around either, i forgot the yeast! PANIC! with the last 500g of bread flour i had in the house, there i was weighing, stirring in the salt, oil, water then letting my stand mixer knead for 5 minutes all the while I'm psyching myself up to face the sequence of the plait/braid, daunting! so i set the dough to 'rise'.....1 hour later and nothing oops.

So what to do? well i googled the problem and read here to knead the yeast in now or mix the yeast with some flour, water, sugar in a seperate bowl and leave it to develop before adding to the dough.
I went for kneading the yeast in, it felt unpleasantly grainy but eventually did smooth out. I left the dough to sit for another hour, it did rise but nothing like usual so i decided to just proceed with the recipe and hope the second rise after shaping would do great things!

As you can see in the pictures above, there isn't that much difference in size but alhamdulillah it was still a good loaf considering the forgetful nature of the baker! It has a shiny golden crisp crust that comes from egg washing with a pinch of salt before baking and a super soft yet chewy interior.

If you would like to try this recipe, click here (it was featured on great british bake off) and note if you plait or braid hair, knit or crochet this should be easy for you considering your experience and skills masha'Allah, so go on give it a go and impress your loved ones.

Ok, so if your not an expert braider, baker or just want an easier yet impressive loaf,  try this braided cheese bread  i also featured on the blog many moons ago & remember if you do try any of the recipes i would love to see your results,  you can e-mail (can be found in about me page), tweet me a photos or leave me a comment including a link to your web space.

The thing i notice about all my homemade bread is that after a few hours the crust instead of staying crisp softens up, I'm guessing because there is no or little preservatives in the bread like shop bought? any ideas let me know.

This bread i loved with a slice of cheddar cheese!

Are you a get up and go kinda girl in the morning or a night owl?

Lemon & Thyme Bread Rolls

Asalam Alaykum Sisters, Hello Ladies,

 

 

How are you all? I've had a long week taking care of my poorly children, Alhamdulillah it's nothing major they have colds along with swollen gums due to teething for my youngest.

 

We have had quite a number of sunny days here this week Masha'Allah but not helpful when making pastry coupled with the kids being sick and needing extra care and attention i've not had the time or desire to do Take 2  of Vanilla Custard Slice, it is quite a time consuming process after all but certainly on my to do to bake list.

 

I have managed however, to get in the kitchen at some point this week to bake, bread and not just any bread either.
 

These Lemon and Thyme rolls appear on the surface nothing different to the norm but hidden away inside there are jewels of citrus flavour and aromatic thyme.

Unlike pastry, Bread Baking is easy, all you need is your hands/stand mixer if you like the hands free approach and patience to let the rolls rise.

Using fast action yeast makes the rise time even quicker as there is no need to let the dough rise in a bowl for an hour first and then another rise time after shaping , you can simply go right ahead knead, divide up your dough, shape into balls, let rise for an hour and then bake.

I hope I've encouraged you to get in the kitchen and bake these, if you prefer you can swap the thyme for coriander, forget the lemon all together or both and you will still end up with pleasant rolls  just without the punch of flavour.

Lemon & Thyme Bread Rolls

Makes: 12

Ingredients

• 500grams strong white bread flour
• 2teaspoons fine sea salt
• 2tablespoons fresh thyme leaves only, this equals about 12 average size thyme sprigs, remove small leaves from woody stem.
• 1 lemon, zest only = about 1/2tablespoon
• 1 x 7g sachet fast action yeast
• 1/2tablespoon runny honey
• 2tablespoon extra virgin olive oil plus more for work surface, hands, brushing roll tops before baking.
• 300ml* lukewarm water

*The amount of water depends on the quality, absorption rate of the flour you use so be careful and add a little at a time, remember you can always add more but you can't take away if you've put too much, you need just enough to make a shaggy dough (see picture below) before kneading.

Method

 

• Weigh then place bread flour in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle salt evenly over surface of flour then mix, i use a butter knife to do this but a spoon is ok too.
• Sprinkle lemon zest and thyme leaves over flour, mix
• Sprinkle yeast and pout honey evenly over flour, mix
• Make well in center of flour, add olive oil and water, mix adding more water until a shaggy dough is formed.
• Knead for 10 minutes by hand or 5 minutes in your stand mixer until you have a smooth dough like this:

• Lightly oil hands, lift out the dough and weigh, as you see mine was 841gram, divide by 12 = 70.08 each dough bowl has to be around 70grams so divide up your dough into 12 portions and then shape into round balls, here is how i did it, thank you to my son for the helping hand!

 

1.-4. -  On a lightly oiled surface, flatten dough into a disk, fold each 'side' into center, this creates a 'spine' enabling the dough to rise evenly.

5 - 6 Flip ball over,  shape into a neater ball shape by placing your right hand like a cage over the ball. With your fingers touching the surface at all times move you hand in a circular motion to get nicely shaped rolls.

• Place rolls on a lined baking sheet and brush tops with olive oil to prevent the cling film from sticking. Leave to rise at room temperature  for1 hour. 
• After an hour add an old roasting tin to the lower rack of  your oven and pre-heat to 220C/200c (Fan), total rising time will end up being about 1 hour 10-20 minutes.  

 

• Once your oven is ready, carefully take out the hot roasting tin, add ice cubes or pour cold water into your very hot roasting tin and place back in oven. The cold water hitting your hot roasting tin creates steam. Steam is ideal when baking to get the best rise out of your bread and create a crisp crust. 
• Bake bread rolls on middle rack of oven for 15minutes. Remove roasting tin after 8minutes. 

• Remove rolls from oven and transfer to cooling rack.



Serving suggestion: serve with your favourite chicken soup. Also these rolls would be great as part of a tasty chicken salad sandwich.

 

Until my next post, Fee Amanlillah

Chickpea and Lentil Soup With Homemade Wholemeal Bread

Salam Alaikum / Greetings readers,

Today I present to you a simple and comforting meal which is suitable for the plummeting temperature that comes with the change of season here in England.      

Homemade wholemeal bread can be heavy but not if you follow my recipe i promise! the only 'out there' ingredient that the original recipe called for, was a vitamin c tablet... as i didn't have one of those to hand i missed it out completely and still ended up with a loaf which was light, tender and a good nutty flavour comes from using wholemeal / wholewheat flour which is more expensive but healthier than bleached white flour.
 
You do get what you pay for in this instance although i should think processing flour to make it white would end up costing the manufacturer(is that the right word?) more in the long term?  
 
Now soup, my children are not yet lovers of spicy food. Even a pinch of black pepper is pushing it with my 3year old son but alhamduillah my daughter seemed to enjoy this while he stuck his nose up at it and ate the bread. I know it's common thing for toddlers to be picky eaters so i try not to worry too much, some days i will cater to my son's picky ways more than others because at the end of the day i don't want to be cooking separate meals for everyone for the rest of my days...am i alone on that?
 
Let's get down to the nitty gritty the recipes, peace until next time inshaAllah
 

Wholemeal Bread

Makes: 1 loaf (i use a 30x10x5cm loaf tin but you can use any you have but you will need to adjust the baking time i.e. keep checking after 3/4 of the time is up)

Ingredients

425g / 3 ½ cups strong wholemeal bread flour

50g / ⅓ cup plus 1 tbsp strong white bread flour

1 x 7g / 2 ¼ tsp sachet easy blend fast action yeast

1 ½ tsp salt

3 tsp brown sugar

up to 400ml / 1 ¾ cups warm water

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

 
Measurments in green colour are estimates.

You may need extra olive for work surface if kneading by hand

Method

1. Put the flours, yeast, vitamin powder (if using), salt and sugar into a bowl and mix well. Add 300ml water, and stir in well, then pour in the olive oil and work in well. You should have a soft, sticky dough: if not, add a little more water. Cover and leave for 10 minutes.
2. Tip out on to a lightly oiled work surface, if using a stand mixer leave it in the bowl! Knead for 10 seconds, then put back in the bowl and cover. Repeat twice more at intervals of 10 minutes, then leave the dough to rest for 15 minutes.
3. Flatten the dough into a rough rectangle about the length of your baking tin, then roll up tightly, and put into a greased tin, with the join facing downwards. Cover and leave to rest in a warm place until it has doubled in height (at least 1½ hours).
4.  Pre-heat the oven to 220C/200C Fan/430F/Gas Mark 7 then turn the temperature down to 200C/180C Fan/390F/Gas Mark 6 and cook for a further 15–20 minutes, until the crust is a deep brown, and the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Turn out on to a cooling rack.

Chickpea And Lentil Soup

Serves: 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 toddlers

Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

½ tsp fennel seeds

1tbsp tomato puree

½ tsp ground ginger

½ tsp turmeric

½ tsp ground Cinnamon

1 tin chopped tomatoes (400g)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp brown sugar or to taste

1 stock cube dissolved in 2-3cupswarm water

¾ cup lentils that have been rinsed, soaked over night

1 ¼ cup canned chickpeas,drained and rinsed

3 sprigs coriander

1 dried bay leaf

salt and pepper, to taste.

Method

In a medium sized pot with a lid, heat the olive oil at medium heat and add onion and fennel seeds, cook gently for about 10minutes or until onions are translucent, stirring occasionally.

Add tomatoe paste, spices, garlic and a tiny amount of water to prevent spices from burning, sauté for a few minutes before adding chopped tomatoes, bay leaves and sprigs of coriander. Turn up the heat to high and bring to boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer.

Add your stock (the cube mixed with water), lentils and chickpeas (you can leave the chickpeas out until 10minutes before the end but i like to add them now).

Season with a little salt, pepper and sugar remember you can add more once the soup has reduced a little and the flavours have melded together. Cover pot and let simmer for about 40 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Check for seasoning, add more of salt, black pepper and sugar as you like. Remove bay leaf and coriander sprigs before serving.

Brown Eyed Baker's Burger Buns

I know i said my next bake it! wouldn't actually be baking BUT i couldn't resist! These burger buns are just perfect in everyway, slightly hard on the outside, super soft inside.

I had spotted these a while ago over on Brown Eyed Baker, but i've struggled making a super tasty burger for a looong time, so i kept the recipe in mind ready for the right time which was yesterday mashAllah (has Allah willed) dh brought home some frozen halal lamb burgers (we are not normally a frozen kinda family if you catch my drift) to make myself feel less guilty about eating frozen food (not literally) and that i'm not a great cook i made these buns and proved, yes indeed i am all baker!

Recipe can be found here

Oh and if you haven't a crepe/pancake maker, buy one! they are great, not only for pancakes but you can cook flat breads, drop scones etc also good for re-heating breads and things too.

Braided Cheddar Cheese Bread

Granted these braided loaves are not the best example of the braiding technique you will ever see.

I can assure you they are packed full of cheesy goodness and have an extremely soft interior, you won't remember the shape or form they come in but you will remember the delicious flavour, which what is most important right?

I made this bread way before Ramadan and it is what i am craving right now. Once i stock up on cheese, we are fresh out as of last night! I'm definitely making these again inshAllah (God willing).

Adapted ever so slightly from braided farmer's cheese bread

Yield: 2 braided loaves
Prep Time: 2 hours
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup milk
• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1 cup warm water (100 degrees F)
• 2 packages active dry yeast (1/2 ounce)
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cheddar cheese, grated
• 5 cups bread flour, approximately

Preparation:

In small saucepan, warm milk and butter until butter is melted. Set aside until warm (100 degrees F). In small bowl add water. Stir in yeast until dissolved.  (note: if using fast action yeast there is no need to reactivate the yeast in water first just add along with the dry ingredients.) In large bowl, add warm milk and butter. Add yeast water. Stir. Stir in sugar, salt, and 2 cups of flour. When batter is smooth, mix in grated cheddar cheese. Continue to mix in flour until a stiff dough is formed. Turn dough out onto floured board and begin to knead in the remaining flour until the dough is firm and smooth, not sticky.

Put dough in greased bowl. Turn over so that dough top is also greased. Cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for about 1 hour or until double in size. Punch down dough and knead for about 1 minute. Divide dough in half and set one half back in bowl.

To make a braided loaf, divide dough into 3 equal pieces. Work each piece with your hands to form a long rope, about 15 inches in length. Pinch ends of the 3 dough ropes together and tightly braid the dough. Pinch ends together again. Repeat for second loaf.


Preheat oven 190 degrees C / 170 degrees C (Fan) / 375 degrees F / Gas Mark 5. Grease and sprinkle yellow cornmeal or semolina on two baking sheets. Place each loaf on a baking sheet, cover and let rise in warm, draft-free place for about 30 minutes or until double in size. Bake at 375 degrees F for about 40 minutes or when loaf sounds hollow when you tap on the bread top. Remove from heat and let cool on rack.

* You can brush each loaf with egg white and sprinkle poppy seeds if you wish, the egg white will give your loaf a nice shiny crust!

This bread i feell would work well alongside a rich and thick tomato soup!

Khobz dyal Zraa' - Moroccan Whole Wheat Bread

Khobz dyal Zraa' (Moroccan wheat bread) is a popular bread for women to bake at home in Morocco.


The 50/50 ratio of whole wheat to white bread flour makes this bread rich in flavour yet light in texture, perfect for serving alongside your favourite soup or stew.



Recipe can be found here http://moroccanfood.about.com/od/breadandrice/r/Wheat_bread.

If you haven't noticed I have got a thing about using recipesi find from a google search...I must get back to those recipe books / cake decorating magazines I have piling up in my living room cupboard VERY soon....

Pizza anyone?

Salam Alaikum & Hello,

It's Friday! no free from recipe this week (still working on it) however, i do have a top tip amongst my collection of pizza making photos which makes up (i hope) for missing tuesday's top tip post.

Enjoy!

  

 Bake for 8-10minutes in a pre-heated oven set to the highest temperature.

Naan Bread

True Naan Bread i guess is baked in a Tandoor oven but guess what? yes, i don't have one of those, so my extra hot  electric fan oven and grill will have to do.

You will also be forgiven for thinking that from my photo it looks very much like Pita bread (i keep thinking that too) but unlike pita bread, Naan bread is denser and made, at least in this recipe using yoghurt, eggs and milk  resulting in a quite rich yet ultra soft and some would say spongy bread.

If you want to make this recipe, head on oven over to BBCGOODFOOD

Baked Moroccan Harcha (Harsha)

Harcha (Harsha) is a moroccan flatbread made of semolina and is usually pan-fried.

I  won't lie i found pan frying these a nightmare, they simply fell apart when i tried to turn them over, maybe i was flipping too soon or pressing the dough balls out too thinly in the pan... your guess is as good as mine.

I decided to use my trusty oven to bake the rest, here's how.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups (250g) fine semolina
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (125 g) soft butter
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup (120 to 180 ml) milk
• 1/4 cup coarse semolina flour (optional)

Method:

• In a mixing bowl, blend together the fine semolina flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add the butter, and blend well using your hands or a wooden spoon.
• Add 1/2 cup milk and mix until a dough forms. It should be quite moist and easily packed into a large mound. Add an additional milk if necessary to achieve this consistency.
• Shape the dough into balls any size that you feel like(I used a heaped tablespoon of dough) and leave the dough to rest a few minutes.Meanwhile Preheat your oven to 180C/160C(fan)/350F/Gas Mark 4. Roll the balls in the coarse semolina (this is optional for appearance and texture) and flatten each ball into a disc about 1/4" thick, place on a non stick baking sheet.
• Cook the harcha for 12-15minutes, if you want yours to be golden brown on both sides i suggest you flip them over halfway through baking. Leave to cool on baking sheet for 2-3minutes before transferring to a serving plate.

Serve immediately with golden syrup, honey, jam, cheese, and/or butter.

Adapted from about.com

Baguettes

Salam Alaikum / Peace be upon you and Hello my fellow lady bloggers,

Most authentic French baguette recipes I come across on the internet or in my baking books take far longer to make and bake than this one I’m sharing today. My husband being from Algeria, the French influence on the culture and cuisine of his home country is evident even 50 years on from the country’s independence.

Did you know? It is against the law in France to use preservatives in bread. So the baguette is made every day in bakeries across France. In Paris you will often see people especially in the morning, sitting in the park eating this simple yet satisfying staple along with jelly, I wonder if they have yet cottoned on to the peanut butter and jelly/jam flavor combination, me thinks not.

Enjoy these however which way you choose, a personal favourite is to serve them with a lamb stew or soup.

Note to self – next time actually take a photo of the baguette with that nice bowl of soup you made instead you were just to inpatient/hungry.

Ingredients

White Bread Flour - 500grams

Water warm to touch - approximately 325mililitres, depends on your climate

Yeast, fast action dry – 1 x 7g sachet

Salt – 2 teaspoon

Method

1. Place flour in a medium size bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, sprinkle salt evenly over flour, give it a mix with your hand/spoon, or let the mixer do the work for you! Sprinkle yeast evenly over the flour and mix again. Make a well in the centre of your flour, add 1 cup/250 millilitres and mix together adding more water little by little until dough forms then knead by hand for 10 minutes or 5 minutes in your stand mixer. Check if dough is kneaded enough by pressing a floured finger into the smooth dough, the indentation should spring back.

2. Lightly coat a medium size bowl with oil (I used extra virgin olive oil but it’s up to you), place your dough inside the bowl and then turn it over so the top is coated with oil, cover with plastic wrap or a clean, damp tea towel and leave to rise at room temperature for 45 minutes to 1 hour or until it has nearly doubled in size.

3. Remove dough from bowl and knock back the dough by kneading for a minute or two. Weigh the dough it should be around 800g, whatever the weight divide it by 4 which in this case would give you 4 x 200g balls, leave dough balls to rest for 15 minutes and then shape into baguettes, look to this video i found on how to shape baguettes.

Then place your shaped baguettes onto a fine semolina or cornmeal dusted baking tray, cover and let rise again for at least 20 minutes, meanwhile put a oven safe dish or tin inside your oven and pre-heat to 390°F/ 200°C/ 180°C/ Gas Mark 6. Before baking make 3 slits in the top of baguettes with a knife on angle, add cold water or ice cubes to your oven proof dish that should be hot in the oven so be careful! Bake the baguettes for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped underneath.

One last photo because i was in a arty mood the day i made these.

Posterized using picmonkey

References used to make this post: French Baguette