Potato, Rosemary and Cheese Bread

On the weekend, I had some families over for an afternoon tea.
Usually, I would bake a couple of cakes as well as biscuits for an occasion like that, but I knew that all the kids were going to attend a birthday party in the late afternoon and that they were most certain to overdose on sugar in those two hours.
That is why I baked only one cake and a couple of snacking bread.

For this one, I cubed and boiled some potatoes till just tender.  Once the potatoes were drained, I drizzled some extra virgin olive oil, garlic, rosemary, and a little salt over the potatoes, mixed them well and set aside.

I rolled out the bread dough, placed the cubed potato in a line at one end, sprinkled grated cheese all over, then rolled the dough from the potato end.  I then placed this roll on a baking tray lined with silicon baking sheet, shaped it into a horseshoe, snipped along it with a pair of kitchen scissors to create vents, and let it proof for 45 minutes or so before baking it in the 180 degrees celsius oven till golden brown. Approximately 30 minutes, but it depends on your oven.  Make sure the cheese is molten and bubbling.

Upside down pizza

There are upside down apple pies, upside down pineapple cakes, etc etc.

So, why not an upside down pizza?

I was actually stuck for dinner ideas on the weekend.  I didn't have much in the fridge and somehow I had to make a Sunday evening dinner.  It would have been sad to just present pumpkin soup on the table.  I was going to just bake some butter rolls to go with the soup, then I had an idea.

I fried some onions, paprica, and olives with olive oil.  I sprinkled some shredded cheese and covered the pan with the bread dough.  I baked it in the oven till the top of the  bread was golden and tipped the whole thing over a plate.  Voila!

Seviile Orange Marmalade

Up until now, I have managed to only post "baked" creations in this blog in accordance with the name I gave this thing.  But how could I resist this beautiful sunshine in a jar?

It was when we first moved to the Blue Mountains 5 years ago, I went to the local market and met the "Jam Lady" who appeared at many of the markets around the mountains selling her jars of jams and marmalades.  She had several marmalades and I asked her which one I should try.  She said of all the marmalades she makes, her favourite was the Seville Orange one.

Who am I to argue with the Jam Lady?  I bought a jar off her and I never looked back.

What I did was to look up Stephanie Alexander's recipe for Seville Orange Marmalade and cooked dozens of Seville oranges for the next few years.

Seville Oranges in Australia are available in the month of August.  Not all green grocers have them, so you may need to ask your local one to procure some for you.

Last year, however, a fellow jam maker (otherwise known as a friendly witch) in the mountains told me to cooke the whole fruit in water for a couple of hours before chopping them into small strips.

This makes chopping much easier and I will never make marmalade any other way.

I like the jelly in my marmalade, so I always put plenty of liquid in my marmalade.  Sometimes this requires more time, sugar and pectin, but the results are worth the trouble.

This year, I cooked 10 Seville Oranges and made about 24 jars of a standard Bonne Maman size.  I have already given some away.  Some of my friends and family are waiting for their supply for the year.  I should have just enough left for our consumption until August next year.

trying to be croquembouche

For my birthday a few days ago, to cheer myself up, I attempted to make a croquembouche for the first time.  I have made profiteroles dozens of times, so I knew I could do that part easily enough.  If it was just the matter of constructing a tower with the profiteroles, how hard could it be?

It was just going to be just for me, my hubby and our little girl, so I knew that it would be unwise to make a huge one.  Not because we wouldn't be able to eat  the whole thing, but because we probably would eat the whole thing.  

I baked 28 smallish choux buns.  Actually I baked more, but some disappeared.

I used a frozen puff pastry for the base.  

I filled profiteroles with custard and used caramel as glue to build a tower.

A circle of seven at the base, then six, then five, etc etc.

The final touch was to spin caramel around it.

I had a lot of fun pulling and stretching caramel.  That really was the best bit, except for eating the individual profiteroles.   

I had this notion that I dislike profiteroles with too much caramel around them.
I seem to recall hurting my mouth with shards of caramel and that is why I only used caramel as glue to hold the tower together.  And of course as decorative spun sugar around the tower.

Now I think that as long as I'm making croquembouche for enough people to be eaten in one sitting, ie.,  may be 3 profiteroles each, more caramel might be desirable.

I certainly had fun making it and enjoyed eating it even more.  Thank goodness I didn't make a huge one.  My jeans would have 'shrunk'.

Walnut and Dates Crusty Loaf

This rustic crusty bread is what I bake for myself once a week.
It is a beautiful bread with 25% wholemeal flour.  I throw in a handful of walnuts and a few dates before I roll up the dough for the final proofing.

The funny thing is, this bread stays moist and bouncy inside even when it is a few days old.  I think the secret is in the overnight proofing.  I knead the dough at night and leave it over night.  In the morning, I punch it down and let it proof for the second time.  Because it is so cold even in the kitchen at the moment, it takes a good two hours before the dough is ready for the oven.

Flour (strong 75% & wholemeal plain 25%) 500g
Salt 10g
Brown sugar 1 teaspoon
water 390ml
dry yeast 1 teaspoon


This bread is lovely on its own, with butter, and with cheese.

Potato Chocolate Cake

I found a new baking book and I'm in love with it.

I find that most cake books have similar recipes and I'm lucky if I can find one or two things I want to bake out of each book.

This one, however, is different.

I found so many recipes that I'm intrigued by, I have post it notes sticking out of all over the book.

Now I'm beginning to think that I would actually have to purchase this book as I can not bear the thought of returning it to the library.

The books is, Belinda Jeffery's Mix and Bake.

So many of her recipes are different to the standard cakes and slices.

This chocolate cake I baked today was inspired from this book.

 I am incapable of following a recipe, I did change it here and there.  For example, I used brown sugar rather than castor sugar.  I used more cocoa because I love really chocolaty chocolate cake.  I blitzed chocolate in the food processor instead of grating it.  The smallest potato I found in my pantry was heavier than specified in the recipe, but I wasn't going to waste 30g of potato.  

The result is a luscious chocolate cake.  

My daughter who said that she was not prepared to eat a cake that has a potato in it quickly changed her mind when I presented it to her and her friend who is spending a day with us today.  

Yes, we are blessed with a perpetual shrieking happy bubbly chatter in the background ALL DAY.  

easiest coffee cake

One day last week, I was expecting some people to come over and I wanted to bake a cake for them.  Usually, I have no trouble at all motivating myself to bake.  However, on this day, I was being extremely indecisive.  I kept putting it off all day till it came to the point that I had to start baking something immediately or it was going to be too late.

So I ended up baking this cake which is probably the easiest cake to make out of my collection.

It does not involve separating eggs or whipping.  You don't even have to melt butter, because you don't need butter for this recipe.  You just mix and pop it into the oven.  That's it.


Mix two eggs with 180ml of vegetable oil (I used light olive oil), 80ml of sour cream and 200ml of brown sugar.
Then add a shot of strong espresso or two teaspoons of instant coffee dissolved in 80ml of hot water.
Mix in 220g of self raising flour, pour it into a prepared cake tin (20cm) and baked in the medium hot oven for approximately 30 minutes.

It just needs some whipped cream and a drizzle of coffee essence to serve.