#31. Learn how to bake cakes - Blackberry Pie

I am trying to improve my baking skills.

As I have said before, I have had some issues baking cakes in the past, so I have tried my best to fix this... it is on the Life List you know.

I recently went to Chef’s on Buckley and bought some frozen Blackberries.

I thought they would be perfect for this recipe I found.

It is really easy, so I thought I would share it with you.

Blackberry Pie
Ingredients
Short Crust Pasty (you can use frozen if you like and skip this step)
2 and a 1/2 cups (350 grams) of Plain Flour
1 teaspoon of salt
3 tablespoons (30 grams) of caster sugar
1 cup (226 grams) of unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 2cm pieces
1/4 of a cup to 1/2 a cup (60ml to 120ml) of ice water

Blackberry Filling
1kg of frozen blackberries (thawed and all the juices drained)
1 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice
3 tablespoons (30 grams) of corn flour (corn starch)
3/4 cup (150 grams) of caster sugar
1/8 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon (14 grams) of unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Method
Empty the frozen blackberries into a sieve and thaw and drain the excess liquid.

Short Crust Pasty
In a food processor, place the flour, salt and sugar and process until it is all combined. Then add the cold butter and process until the mix is like coarse sand (about 15 seconds).

Pour 1/4 cup of water in a slow, steady stream until the dough just holds together when pinched. Add more water if you need to. Don't process for more than 30 seconds.

Turn the dough onto a work surface and gather into a ball. Divide the dough in half and flatten each half into a disk. Cover these disks with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

After the dough is chilled, remove one portion from the fridge and place it a lightly floured surface. Roll the pastry out into a 30cm circle. Fold the dough in half and gently transfer to a 23c pie pan. Brush off any extra flour and trim any hanging pasty off the edge. Refrigerate the pastry and cover with plastic wrap while you make the filing.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius (425 F).

Blackberry Filling

Place the thawed and drained blackberries into a large bowl and add the lemon juice and toss it in. In a separate small bowl mix together corn flour/starch, sugar and ground cinnamon. Gently mix the sugar mixture into the blackberries.

Remove the chilled pie crust from the fridge. Pour the blackberry mixture into the pie tin.
Remove the other portion of dough from the fridge and place it on a lightly floured surface.
Roll the pastry out into a 30cm circle and cut into strips to create a lattice for your pie.

Lightly brush the rim of the pastry with milk or cream.

Place the pie into the over on the lower shelf for about 30 to 45 minutes until the crust is golden brown and the fruit juices begin to bubble.

Place on a wire rack to cool for a few hours. Serve the pie with ice cream or whipped cream.

As you know, this is not a food blog so unfortunately we ate the pie and then remembered I should have taken a photo of the finished result.

So instead you get a photo of the pie on my very messy work bench (I was also making a roast dinner at the same time, hence the salt and pepper and the paprika!)

Enjoy!

#54. Master my mum's Italian recipes - Fritole

[Image by buttalapasta]

Fritole are Italian doughnuts, traditional to the Northern part of Italy. They are made in Venice during Carnivale and in other parts they are made for Christmas.

My Mum has always made them for New Years and I have always wanted to know how to make them.

We dug up a recipe that resembled something similar to how Mum makes it.

I haven't had a chance to make the Fritole yet, but I wanted to share the recipe with you all so you can give it a go.

They are really worth it (even if they are deep fried!)

Fritole
Ingredients
About 400grms of plain flour*
50 grams of caster sugar
30g of sultanas/raisins (soaked in rum – about 2 shot glasses) – you can add more or less sultanas if you wish
30g of yeast*
500ml of milk
3 eggs
Zest of 1 lemon (Mum added the rind to the caster sugar to flavour the sugar)
Cinnamon powder
Canola oil to fry
Vanilla/icing sugar to dust the Fritole when they are done

* Instead of using yeast/plain flour, Mum uses self-raising flour. She adds about 500grams and just makes sure that the consistency is really doughy

Method
In a bowl dissolve the yeast with some lukewarm milk (ignore this step if you use self-raising flour)

In a mixing bowl mix the eggs and the sugar together, add the cinnamon and the lemon zest to this. Slowly add some of the flour and then add some of the milk. Do this in batches until you get the consistency of dense cream, you can add more or less of each. Add the raisins (and if using yeast let it rise for about 1 hour).

Note: Mum also added a few tablespoons of the canola oil into the batter once all the ingredients are combined. Supposedly it stops more oil than necessary absorbing into the doughnuts when frying.

Heat the oil in a heavy based pan.

Add a spoon full of the batter into the oil so they resemble small doughnuts (as in the picture above). When they are cooked, they should flip over by themselves and start cooking the other side. If this does not happen, you can flip them over yourself. Do this in batches and remove the Fritole out of the oil when they are golden brown.

Cool down on paper towels.
Add the icing sugar to the Fritole.

Eat and Enjoy!

#31. Learn how to bake cakes - Adriano Zumbo's Sweets & Lollies

Now I know this is not about baking cakes as such...
But I thought I would give myself a challenge anyway

I love lollies and sweets

I am addicted

Seriously, I have no problem whatsoever eating an ENTIRE pack of Haribo Gold Bears or Allen's Snakes in one sitting.

My drug of choice

Due to obvious reasons I have tried to cut down on my lolly intake, but when I saw this recipe on Masterchef Australia last year, I was salivating. I didn't care about the gingerbread house, I just wanted to eat the sweets that were made to decorate the house.

Image from MasterChef Australia

I thought I would set myself the challenge to make these lollies and sweets as part of my Life List adventures.

I tracked down the recipe and now all I need to do is buy all the ingredients and products that are included.

I am not sure how long this will take, but I hopefully they will be a success and I can show you all the finished product.

Recipe for the assorted sweets and lollies to decorate the Hansel & Gretel House.

Ingredients
Passionfruit Jellies
200g passionfruit pulp
150g apple puree
10g yellow pectin
38g caster sugar
250g caster sugar
90g glucose
12g citric acid solution (6g citric acid powder and 6g water)
Castor sugar, for dusting

Strawberry Jellies
350g strawberry puree
10g yellow pectin
38g caster sugar
250g caster sugar
90g glucose
12g citric acid solution (6g citric acid powder and 6g water)
Castor sugar, for dusting

Mandarin Jellies
350g mandarin puree
10g yellow pectin
38g caster sugar
250g caster sugar
90g glucose
12g citric acid solution (6g citric acid powder and 6g water)
Castor sugar, for dusting

Tangerine Rock
500g sugar
165g mineral water
220g glucose
10g tangerine compound
18g citric acid
18g bi-carb soda
Orange colour

Method
Passionfruit Jellies
1. Heat passionfruit pulp and apple puree to 60⁰C. Combine pectin and 38g sugar, sieve into fruit puree and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Add 250g sugar and glucose and whisk until dissolved. Bring back to the boil and continue to boil for 5 minutes or until mixture reaches setting consistency and runs off a whisk in a thick stream. Stir in citric acid solution and working very quickly fill silicon moulds and refrigerate to set and cool.
2. Turn out jelly and toss in caster sugar to coat.

Strawberry Jellies
1. Heat puree to 60⁰C. Combine pectin and 38g sugar, sieve into fruit puree and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Add 250g sugar and glucose and whisk until dissolved. Bring back to the boil and continue to boil for 5 minutes or until mixture reaches setting consistency and runs off a whisk in a thick stream. Stir in citric acid solution and working very quickly fill moulds and refrigerate to set and cool.
2. Turn out jelly and toss in caster sugar to coat.

Mandarin Jellies
1. Heat puree to 60⁰C. Combine pectin and 38g sugar, sieve into fruit puree and stir to combine. Bring to the boil, stirring occasionally. Add 250g sugar and glucose and whisk until dissolved. Bring back to the boil and continue to boil for 5 minutes or until mixture reaches setting consistency and runs off a whisk in a thick stream. Stir in citric acid solution and working very quickly fill moulds and refrigerate to set and cool.
2. Turn out jelly and toss in caster sugar to coat.

Tangerine Rock
1. Cook sugar, water and glucose to 155⁰C but do not allow to colour. Add remaining ingredients and mix to combine. Pour into half sphere silicon moulds, add stick and allow to set.
2. Make a batch of the mandarin jelly, half fill cone moulds with jelly, submerge a tangerine rock stick and fill with more jelly to encase. Allow to set.

Recipe by Adriano Zumbo via Master Chef Australia

Wish me luck!

Little Piggy Rolls

Bacon and Cheese Rolls [image by Zahara Dessert]

I have noticed that when you get a dog and you are out walking said dog, complete strangers have no qualms about coming up to you and having a chat. It also doesn't help that Ziggy-Stardust is quite pretty and often people just stop us to tell me how beautiful SHE is (Poor thing... it is not his fault he looks so feminine!).

Getting a dog has also been a really good way of meeting the people in my local neighbourhood, as before Ziggy we only really knew a very small handful of our neighbours.

We live near a big park where a lot of people walk their dogs. Somehow we have joined what I call a 'Mothers Group'. It consists of a group of people who meet up after work and catch up while their dogs go mad playing with each other.

This group is made up of people from all walks of life and I feel that I am starting to make some great 'new' friends.

My 'new' friends and I decided that it would be a great idea to meet up on a sunny Sunday afternoon with some wine and food and have a picnic in the park while our dogs played. We have done this twice now and both times we have gotten very tipsy and really enjoyed each others company.

For the last picnic I made my mums 'Bacon and Cheese Rolls', something she has made to bring to picnics for as long as I can remember. These rolls were an amazing success at the dog picnic, so I thought I would share with you the recipe, as I said I would for #54 of the Life List.

Ziggy hanging out in the park [image by Zahara Dessert]

The Recipe
Ingredients
The Bread Dough
(I based this on Jamie Oliver's 'Basic Bread Dough Recipe from 'Happy Days with the Naked Chef').

1kg of bread flour (plain)
625ml of tepid water
3 x 7g sachets of dried yeast
2 tablespoons of sugar
2 tablespoons of salt
extra flour for dusting

The Fillings
I did 2 flavours - Bacon and Cheese and Olive and Rosemary.
You can do any flavour combination you wish.
(if you want, you can remove the cheese from this recipe)

Bacon and Cheese
250 grams of bacon, chopped finely
1 large onion, chopped finely
250 grams of grated cheese (I used a combination of tasty and Romano cheese)

Olive and Rosemary
250 grams of olives (pitted) - I prefer Kalamata
1 large onion, chopped finely
250 grams of grated cheese (I used a combination of tasty and Romano cheese)
2 sprigs of fresh Rosemary

Method
The Bread Dough
Pre heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Meanwhile, put the flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the centre of the flour. Pour in half the water in the well and then add the yeast, sugar and salt and stir with a fork.

Slowly bring in the flour to the centre and combine the ingredients together. The flour should start feeling like rolled oats. Add the remainder of your water. Continue to mix until is starts getting sticky.

Flour your hands and turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Continue mixing. If you feel the dough isn't coming together add some more water or flour.

Continue needing the dough for 5 minutes, where you should get a silky and elastic dough (see photo below).

Once you have this, shape the dough into a ball and place it back into the mixing bowl. Cover with cling film and allow it to prove for a about 30 minutes, or until it has doubled in size.


[image by Zahara Dessert]



I put the dough outside to prove in the sun [image by Zahara Dessert]

 While the dough is proving, start to make your fillings.

The Fillings

Bacon and Cheese
Finely chop the onions and bacon and add to a pan with a little olive oil. Fry over a medium heat until the onions are translucent and the bacon crispy.

Take off the stove to cool.


Bacon and Onion [image by Zahara Dessert]

 Olive and Rosemary
Finely chop the onion and add to a pan with a little olive oil. Fry over a medium heat until the onions are translucent. Add the chopped pitted olives and the rosemary leaves. Warm through.

Take off the stove to cool.

Olive and Rosemary [image by Zahara Dessert]

The dough now should have doubled in size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut into 4 portions.

[image by Zahara Dessert]

Roll out a portion of the dough with a rolling pin until it is quite thin and resembles a pizza base.

Now add half of your filling onto the base, and make sure you spread it out over the entire dough. Add the cheese over the toppings.

[image by Zahara Dessert]

Once you have done this, pull the dough and roll up over the filling so you make a long snail like scroll. The end result should look like a long sausage. Tuck the ends of the sausage in, so no filling escapes.

Repeat for the other portions of dough and fillings.

[image by Zahara Dessert]

Using a floured knife, cut the dough into 8-10 portions. Place gently onto a tray with baking paper and flour.

Let the dough prove again for about 30 minutes.

Add to the oven and bake for about 20 minutes or until the scrolls are golden brown.

These scrolls are also great for breakfast or an afternoon snack.

As I have said before, this is a not a food blog, so please excuse the un-styled and unprofessional photos!

Enjoy!

The Birthday Challenge...#31. Learn how to bake cakes (and not blame the oven)

Stephanie Alexander's classic Reine de Saba popularly known as the flourless chocolate cake

[image by Zahara Dessert]

Today is my husband's birthday and yesterday we had our family over for a BBQ at our house to celebrate.

I set myself the challenge to make a cake that was worthy of this celebration and redeem myself from the infamous birthday cake disaster from 2 years ago.

I used this recipe by Stephanie Alexander, it is a flourless chocolate cake.
It was given to me by my good friend Alissa who is a 'cake making goddess'. As it was tried and tested, I thought I would give it a go.

Note: I did have a packet mix as a back up, just in case there was another disaster.

I am very proud to say that it was a major success.

It did not burn.
It did not implode
It did not crack
All the ingredients that were used in the recipe were in the cake
It was nice and gooey in the middle
It tasted great

And most importantly the birthday boy loved it! (he even said I could quote him!)



Ziggy waiting for the cake to bake... as you can see, he was as nervous as I was [image by Zahara Dessert]

 

I got a bit excited with the lining of the baking paper, but I didn't want the cake to stick to the pan or leak [image by Zahara Dessert]



The final product in all its glory! [image by Zahara Dessert]

 Although I can't say LL #31 is completed. I can say that I am well on my way to become a much better cake baker than what I was.

#31. Learn how to bake cakes (and not blame the oven)

My mother is a very very good cook. Being Italian, her speciality is traditional Italian, but she does like to branch out and try new things now and then... at the moment she is obsessed with perfecting an Indian curry she tried while she was holidaying there.


She excels at savoury dishes, however she doesn't often make desserts. She never rarely has. And when she does she sticks to things she knows.



Lemon Diva cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting [image by Zahara Dessert]



I on the other hand love making desserts. Often when I was young, I would spend school holidays cooking a number of exotic sweets I had heard about or tried somewhere. By exotic I mean things that Australian children would have found 'normal' but for me were so strange, like Lemon Meringue Pies or Caramel Slices.

However recently I have lost my ability to bake desserts.

It all started when I moved into our home here in Marrickville. Cakes wouldn't rise or they would come out burnt. I would make scones and they would turn out hard and brittle like Rock Cakes.

I blamed the oven. There was something wrong with the seal on the door and the temperature would be much hotter than the setting indicated.

I realised on my husband's birthday one year, when I was making him a chocolate birthday cake that the oven was not entirely to blame. I had spent all morning making the cake and realised while it was in the oven that I had forgot to put sugar in it! Thank goodness I had enough ingredients to start again so I set off making a second one, only to forget to grease the tin. So when the cake came out it was stuck to the tin that it broke when I tried taking it out. We bought a store bought cake for his birthday that year.

We have recently bought a new oven and I have slowly started to  redeem myself!

I have perfected cupcakes. My favourite ones to make are Lemon Diva cupcakes with a Cream Cheese Lemon Frosting.

I have also recently made Pumpkin Scones that did not turn out like rock cakes but actually turned out light and fluffy, like scones should.

I am so proud.

So the quest to perfect my baking skills continues. I will keep you updated with my progress. Wish me luck! 



My homemade pumpkin scones [image by Zahara Dessert]