A video popped up on youtube, on how to make the most fantastic sourdough. Mine is good, but it’s not fantastic, so I did watch the video to the end, I took notes, then, for science and research I decided to try a different method to the usual one. Get out of my comfort zone.

I started yesterday after lunch. Right now I have 2 delicious pieces with butter in my tummy and I think lunch today will be very simple- sourdough with butter, a couple of slices of prosciutto toscano, a couple of cherry tomatoes, cup of tea. Is the plan.

Interestingly, this recipe uses a third of the starter in comparison with the other recipe. Only 50g of it, mixed with 230ml of water, combined. 340g of bread flour, I bought a slightly more expensive one than normally. 7g of salt. All this combined in a bowl with a wooden spoon, till all the flour was incorporated. Covered to rest for 40 minutes. First of many.

Kitchen Aid does not come out of the pantry for this recipe. The dough needs to be stretched and folded, stretched and folded again. Lifted and slapped back and then again. Rest for 40 minutes.

At this stage one can add olives or whatnot, I used pecans, as Izzie loves my bread but hates olives and I’m a lovely mother, so no olives this time.

Stretch and fold. Lift and slap back. Rest for 40 minutes.

Stretch and fold, lift and slap back, cover and leave to proof for 2-3 hours, until doubled, says the method. Well,we went to school, to the shops, came back, it hasn’t moved much. I waited until after dinner, so more than 4 hours, the rise was disappointing, but I proceeded.

With oiled hands I have tucked the dough downwards, Paul Hollywood’s way, sprinkled with flour, left to rest for 30 minutes.

Then the interesting bit, I had to fold it “the envelope way”, like a French pastry, then rolled it tightly an finally place in a proofing basket- the stiched side up! That crack had to be pinched in, but that was still a new thing! One more sprinkling of flour and it was ready to proof overnight, but I opted out of the fridge, like the method said, mine hasn’t risen enough, so it stayed on the worktop under the plastic bag for nearly 11 hours.

This morning the rise still wasn’t astonishing, but I baked it in 220 degrees in my Dutch oven, 25 minutes under the lid, then 10 minutes without. Also, one long slice , not 2 or 3 across.

The crust is beautiful. We love the flavour. One of the best loaves yet. I think I have to send it to Steve.

They also have a recipe for focaccia there, I think it will be next!

Had to be made to satisfy a craving, of which there are many, when the weather sucks the way it did today. It rains, it’s misty, cold and miserable. Egarden.it delivered 3 new plants for me, which are covered and waiting for better weather, meanwhile cookies were baked. With Iza. After dinner.

Recipe from bbcgoodfood, fairly straighforward, with a scary amount of sugar, which I have not reduced today.

150g of soft butter creamed with 160g of sugar, half and half white and brown. 1 whole egg, a bit of vanilla paste. 225g of plain flour and 1/2 tsp of bicarb soda. A pinch of salt, then chocolate- I used Milka, chopped into small pieces and a good handful of hazelnuts too. Thick dough we were shaping into small balls and placing on baking sheet.

They went into the oven at 180 degrees for about 12-13 minutes, they did spread considerably.

Nice cookies, good combo with a cup of tea, will be packed to school tomorrow to be enjoyed by 11 year olds who don’t have to worry about their waistlines. 🙂

Yesterday morning I thought how nice it would be to have a lovely, fresh, crunchy croissant for breakfast on Sunday. I looked at recipes, picked one from the net and got busy. I’ve done half a portion not only because they are super calorific, but also because they’re delicious when fresh and warm, also wanted to make sure the recipe worked.

I used 250g of flour, a mix of plain and bread flour. 30g of sugar. 5g of salt. 140g of cold water mixed with milk. 25g of soft butter. Right before I went to bed last night I realized that I’ve messed up the amount of yeast I was supposed to use. The recipe called for dry yeast, but I like fresh, so as usual when they say 7g of dry, one is to use 21g of fresh, so I did, but I didn’t half it, like with the rest of the ingredients. In the end it wasn’t some super cock-up, but it made me wonder towards the end of the rolling out and folding process, just why is it puffing up so much!? 🙂

So, with all these a nice dough was created with the help of KA, it was left to rest and rise for over an hour, then once risen I rolled it out into a rectangle and I had my flat and pretty 125g of cold butter ready. And throughout the afternoon I rolled, folded and chilled it. Done it 4 times then left in the fridge overnight. It puffed up!

Last night I binged on “Heweliusz” on Netflix, this morning woke up aroud 7 and was done sleeping, so I got on with my dough. Rolled it out once more, cut into triangles and rolled into croissants, before leaving for an hour’s final proving.

When I was happy with the rise, I brushed them with beaten egg and milk and baked for about 22-25 minutes in 190 degrees. Together with an excellent cup of coffee they were fantastic. All 3 Bankses were very happy. I think what could have maybe made them even better, next time, if they were just a bit more salty and less sweet. Maybe salted butter next time? And less sugar?

A delivery came from Bronte yesterday, from Tipici e Food, the place we visited in June. We ran out of everything we bought there long time ago, but signor Antonio ships his quality pistachios all over Europe ( apart from the UK, he said, too expensive after Brexit). So we now have a lovely stash of the most fantastic pistachio products and also 2 bottles of this delicious liquor, quite evil, when one tries to have alcohol free weekdays!

I’ve been looking for a nice recipe for a good pistachio cake, where I could use some of the ground pistachios I just received. So many food blogs out there, not all for me. When I’m after a recipe I don’t want to spend 5 minutes scrolling down somebody’s bloody life story. I don’t want to keep reading if the recipe is written for mentally challenged and explains in details, that they want me to use 2 whole eggs, which means 2 yolks and 2 whites. Next!!! The recipe for pistachio cake which recommends using a green food colourant – no. Why?!

I finally settled this morning on a recipe that called for no butter, no artiticial colouring, tweaked it just a touch and I’ve just finished my first piece.

I’ve had a packet of ground, raw pistachios, which I’ve gently toasted on the frying pan, I used 60g. 150g of plain flour, 1 1/2 tsp of baking powder, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, a pinch of salt. 2 whole eggs I whipped with 120g of sugar, less that in the recipe, some of it was vanilla sugar. Some grated lemon zest went in and a tiny bit of cinnamon. The toasted pistachios. 150g of greek yoghurt and 150 ml of olive oil, all nicely combined, onto the lined baking tray. 175 degrees, 30 minutes, done.

Once cooled I tipped a small jar of pistachio cream from Bronte, which was perfectly sweet and had great consistency to spread, so I didn’t have to mess about with the original recipe’s ideas of dilluting it with water and adding sugar. A final sprinkling of ground pistachio completed the picture. Might share some with Lara. 🙂

The best thing I have put on the Easter table this year. Top. Surely not very healthy, super calorific, expensive, but it was delicious and enjoyed by us and friends. Any excuse will be good to make it again. Before that happens, we have Sicilia to look forward to, I’m told pistachio di Bronte is going to be epic. A few more weeks!…

The recipe comes from mojewypieki.com.

For the base I used 160g of digestive biscuits, 55g of melted butter and a handful of mixed nuts, which I have blitzed all together until I had a grainy mixture, ready to spread and flatten on the lined bottom of a tray. Gave it 8 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees, while I got on with the rest.

500g of Philadelphia cheese, 100 g of pistachio paste, 100 g of Greek yoghurt, 3 whole eggs, 130g of sugar ( reduced by 50g in the original recipe), 1 tbsp of plain flour, all well combined, but not whipped into fluff. Onto the pre-baked base and into the oven in bain marie, 150 degrees, for a bit less than an hour. When I took the cheesecake out it still had a slight wobble to it.

When it was completely cool I finished it off with a topping, pistachio topping, so that there were no doubts what the flavour is. 🙂 50g of pistachio paste, 80 ml of cream and 2 tsps of icing sugar, gently combined and poured all over the cheesecake. Covered with cling film, it spent a cosy night in the fridge.

Before serving I decorated it with chopped, unsalted pistachios and some raspberries. 10 out of 10.

A spontaneous creation on Tuesday morning. We’ve given Izzie a day off today for a couple of reasons, lousy wet weather being one of them, so she was enthusiastically cutting the cookies and even decorated some of them- not that they needed decoration!

Recipe from mojewypieki.com.

150g of soft butter creamed with half a tall glass of sugar and some vanilla sugar too. A zest of one big lemon. Some candied orange peel, always a good idea. 1 egg, 250g of plain flour, 0,5 tsp of baking powder and a good splash of lemon juice ( the recipe called for lemon extract, I don’t use such inventions).

Cookie dough cooled in the fridge for over an hour and then we multitasked- Izzie was cutting the cookies, I was making lunch and baking them. 180 degrees, 9 minutes, until the started catching some colour on the edges.

Excellent addition to a cup of tea.

I saw this recipe somewhere on the internet long time ago, copied it and resisted making it due to the size of my waist. I’ve been trying to eat less after Christmas, definitely drink less and snack as little as possible, so butter cookies were not urgent to make, shall we say.

Today I decided to give them a go, the weather is really cold, while at home it’s warm, clean, cosy and lovely and now it also smells with matcha.

I used 240g of plain flour and 20g of matcha. 170g of soft butter got creamed together with 120g of icing sugar and a pinch of salt. 2 egg yolks added, then the flour and matcha combo, slowly, bit by bit. 50g of chopped white chocolate, but also a generous handful of unsalted pistachios, not in the recipe, but I had some, I love them, so why not.

Once all nicely combined I rolled the dough into a couple of sausages with the help of cling film, chilled them in the fridge for over an hour and then sliced and baked in 180 degrees for about 15 minutes. I’m pleased to say they are not overly sweet, Florek says they would benefit from some more white chocolate, I like them a lot. I recently chucked my Wilton food colourants, as they were out of date and not used in a long, long time. My palate has changed a lot, those days of indulging in macaroons and baking a couple of times a week are long gone. These days I’d always choose some cheese and another glass of wine instead of a sweet treat.

Second coffee of the day is on the horizon, alongside a cookie or two. 🙂

Last day of the year, there were plans of a fairly large party this evening with Steve, Ale and their friends and Casellas. But the location intended for the party turned out not available, so we split the party up and we’re heading to Casa Casella later tonight, 6 of us, not 17. I’ve made a cheesecake and it’s a good thing it will not have to be divided between 17 people. It really is rather good, I must say. After a comfortable rest in the fridge I have portioned it and tried it and there will be no shame, shall we say! 🙂

It was all baked yesterday. For the base I used 150 g of Biscoff biscuits, crushed in the food processor. Nigella recommended digestive biscuits, but there was only a chocolate version in Esselunga. This blitzed with 70 g of melted and cooled butter was pressed into the lined round tin.

700g of Philadelhia cheese, 3 eggs, 3 yolks ( my cholesterol levels are rising just by typing this), gently combined together by KA. 150 g sugar added, some of it vanilla. A big fat drop of vanilla paste. Good squeeze of lemon juice. A bit of my candied orange peel. All this poured into the tin and baked in 180 degrees, in bain marie, for 50 minutes. Then a quick topping of sour cream, about 150 ml, some icing sugar and more vanilla paste added to the top, another 10 minutes and out of the oven. Left to cool completely, into the fridge for the night.

Obviously in Nigella’s book it looks stunning, my top layer wasn’t glamorous enough, so I grated a bit of dark chocolate on top and a few flaked almonds.

It is super moist and creamy. And delicious. And it will be the last thing we’ll eat this year. 🙂

Some very sad pears were sitting in the fruit bowl, so I looked up Giallo Zafferano and turned them into a lovely, light and moist cake. Unusual for me, to bake without butter, but instead I used a tub of ricotta.

First thing, the pears were peeled and chopped into small cubes, drizzled with some lemon juice and set aside. KA was busy whipping 250 tub of ricotta together with 130g of sugar, plus some vanilla sugar( we’re off to Poland in 2 days, will be stocking up on essentials!), to this went 3 whole eggs, one by one, a generous amount of lemon zest, 16g pack of powdered yeast and finally 220 g of flour. All this nicely combined together, pears in and into the lined baking tray. It baked in 180 degrees for over an hour. Once baked, finished with icing sugar. Might take a chunk over to the neighbours. 🙂

Yesterday after school I have succeeded in making the impossible happen- I convinced Florek to purchase 2 pairs of new shoes for himself. One of the baits was a promise of chocolate and cherry muffins. Florek hates clothes and shoe shopping, but we got through it. And now there is a tray of warm, delicious muffins on the kitchen top and they are delightful.

I used the recipe from mojewypieki.com, nice and simple, but I added some of the posh cherries we first tried when Molly brought over her cheesecake.

I used 450 g of ripe bananas, the wight before removing the skin, mashed them in the blender, plus 2 eggs. 225 g of plain flour, 3 tbsps of cocoa, 80g of brown sugar, 1 tsp of bicarb soda, 125ml of veg oil and also some chopped dark chocolate, because why not, indeed? Cherries, though quite small were chopped in halves. All nicely combined together, baked in 170 degrees for about 20 minutes.

They are light, moist and seriously delicious.