Seeing all the different Breads at the Market the other day really had me inspired for about a million new recipes. There were all kinds of bread shapes and I couldn’t wait to get home and scribble down some ideas to play with.
I found organic flour here really quite easily too and I was always bringing “me friendly” yeast with me here. Erm hello Pizza.

So I played with this dough in hopes of making it a bit of a cross between my usual styles. I also had no measuring utensils here so it’s a pretty basic deal. I used Mugs and had already grabbed some Cheese free fresh  Pesto from the store (ultimate cheat ) thank you Italy. And a big batch of Pea pods that I had fun shelling. I’m sure frozen would work too though. I’ll try it and confirm when I’m home.

This turned out really pretty. I was quite proud of it. My Dad still wasn’t sold on the fact it had green in though. Still you can’t please them all. Everyone else liked it !
This is ideal for a picnic by the way. Or to dunk in some soup. I have to admit it was bliss tearing at it alfresco this evening.

Recipe:
2 1/2 Mugs of Flour (like an actual cup not a measuring one )
1 Mug Almond Milk (use the same mug)
1 Sachet Active Yeast
1tsp Sugar
1/4 Mug Olive oil
Salt

Pesto :
1/ 2 tub of Fresh Pesto
1 1/2 Mug Fresh Peas
Lemon
Olive Oil

Ok. So dough first kiddos. Gently heat Almond milk to luke warm , pop in Sachet of yeast and then sprinkle sugar on top and leave it alone for 10 minutes.
Measure out flour into a bowl add a good sprinkle of Salt. When Almond milk is frothy (that is a word isn’t it ?)
Pour into flour along with your Oil.
Stir until it comes together and then start kneading a little by hand just till everything is all together and looking smooth and happy. Pop a tea towel over the bowl and leave it somewhere warm for an hour or two.
Come back and squash your dough back down to being nice and smooth letting all the excess air out. Let this rest a little while, while you make the Pesto.

I literally just chucked half a tub of pesto and all the peas into a blender with lemon zest and juice, a little extra salt and while the blender was running (it took a little while ) I added oil to make a thick paste. That’s it…

Then roll the dough out (Mine wasn’t the best as I was improvising with a wine bottle… I mean hey , it’s Italy.) Into a large rectangle paint happily with your Pesto mix. And fold in thirds.. like so

Then cut this in two sections and roll them so the cut side is facing upward…

Then attach them together at the top and wrap them over and under in a pattern , then connect again at the bottom.

Pop onto a roasting tray (I used non stick) and leave for another half hour to rise a little. While you Preheat the oven to 400°.
Once the oven is hot cook for 30-40 minutes until Golden on the edges.

Picnic Season is in full flow in the sunshine state ! I have to say picnics are one of my all time favourite things. Any thing that combines sunshine, lying down , and food is always a win in my book. And I love coming with cute little individual servings for everyone. Keeping things portable and easily served at room temperature can sometimes be a little tricky though… But it’s all part of the fun! These savory little muffins went down well this weekend, and seemed to fit the bill. You can pile them up in a brown baggie and off you go !

Recipe :
1 Medium Sweet Potato
1 Large Red Pepper or three mini ones
Spray Oil
3 Tbs ground Flax
2 Cups Spelt Flour or Organic Flour
1.5 Tsp Baking powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Cup Oil
1/2 Cup Milk of choice
2 Tbs Maple syrup
2  Tsp Paprika
1 Tbs  Fresh Thyme (plus extra to decorate )
1 Clove Garlic
Salt

Preheat the oven to 400°. Peel and chop the Sweet potato into 1cm cubes. Chop Pepper too , spray with oil and toss with 1 ts Paprika. Pop in oven for 20 minutes or until soft through. We aren’t roasting them fully just making sure they’re soft.

Once they’re done lift out to cool and drop oven temp to 400°.
Line a muffin tin with papers.

Put flax seed in a little bowl and add 1/4 cup water and let that sit.
Put flour , baking powder and soda in a large bowl. Give it a light whisk to incorporate and remove any lumps from flour. Add in last tsp Paprika , grated garlic ,   Chopped Thyme and 1tsp Salt. Give another quick whisk.

In a seperate bowl pop oil (I used olive ) , milk (I used Almond ) and another 1/2 cup Water into a bowl and whisk in Maple syrup. At this point add this too your dry ingredients and add your flax mix too. Stir until combined , then stir through 2/3 of your Pepper and Sweet Potato mix.

Put 2 tbs of mix in each muffin tin (Mine made 12 ).
Then top with the last 1/3 of Peppers and Sweet Potatoes and extra Thyme.

So I don’t do alot of bread. So when I do its a treat. And today, we did it with style. A Sundried Tomato Stuffed beauty. I’m so happy with how this turned out. Just plain and simple flavors that really pack a punch. I don’t like it when things get too complicated. Simple suits me. No jokes about my ex boyfriends please.

So. Bread. It can be a pain in the ass bot to get right. But when you do , it’s so so worth it.. working with yeast is tempramental. But I start my bread a different way to others by starting the yeast first. I’ll show you what I did, it’s not then technical way of doing it but who’s going to know …. I’m not exactly inviting Paul Hollywood round for dinner.
Though I certainly wouldn’t say no…

Anyway. Bread.

Recipe:

500g Strong Flour
1 Sachet Fast Action Yeast
1 Tsp Salt
300ml Warm water
Sprinkle of Sugar

Filling recipe :
1/3 Cup Sundried Tomatoes + oil
Rosemary
Red onion

Topping :
Cherry tomatoes
Rosemary Red onion
Salt

Get 300mls of warm tap water into a jug. It needs to be warm but not hot. No kettles. Add your yeast and a little sprinkle of Sugar to get the Yeast to foam. Leave that to sit for a few minutes while you measure out your flour. ( You can use a stand mixer if you have the dough hook attachment. )
If not, we’re working by hand. Pop your salt in and then start adding your yeast mixture which is hopefully foamy now.
Stir it all together to make a dough with a spoon. Then once it forms a ball it’s going to need some kneading. A good 8-10 minutes worth !
(Though if your using a mixer it’ll probably be only half that).

Advice on kneading – you’re taking the ball of dough and your hand and using the heel of you hand to manipulate the dough underneath in one push then coming back on yourself to ball the dough up again and giving it another push. Continuously. Till your dough starts to spring back all on its own. Means all the gluten in activated.
Once you can poke a little hole in the dough and have it raise back. Your good to go. Pop it into a well floured dish and leave it to rest and rise for an hour.

When I came back my dough had exploded, it was more than double the size and that’s a good sign.
Squish all the air out and pop it onto a well floured board or surface and get rolling. Unless you’re skipping the filling step – if you’re skipping this bit , just shape as you like and decorate.

I rolled mine into a large rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. I toppes half with  chopped Sundried Tomatoes a little of their oil , a sprinkle of Rosemary and a few bits of red onion.

Now this bit is important. Fold the other side , over and then under the filling side. You don’t want any seams at the side of the bread , you want them underneath. 1 ) So it doesn’t pop open when it cooks , 2) so it looks pretty and not like some weird sandwhich.
Pinch it to seal well. So it’s all hidden like this :

Then slide onto an oiled baking tray.  Preheat the oven to 450°.

Now to decorate ! I make little wells with my fingers and filled them with half of Cherry Tomatoes and little sprigs of Rosemary. I then did a quick sprinkle of Red onion slices and splashed on more oil from thr Sundried Tomatoes. I added some finishing salt here too.

Once the oven is hot , pop in for 15-17 minutes. It might need turning part way through to brown evenly.

I served this still a little warm in large chunks.