Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling!

Ham and cheese again ^ ^, couldn't help if I have a lot of this combination in my blog haha! Because they are so good together, right?

This time, the dough is the Italian bread that uses durum flour which gives the bread a golden color and good crumb. The filling is the combination of ham, mozzarella cheese, olive and basil (actually, I think there could be a lot of possibility, sauté onion can be great too, or fill it up with whatever your heart desired ^ ^. But beware of the saltiness of the filling, as the dough is a bit salty, or you can reduce the salt from 1 tbsp to 2 tsp, and your bread will raise a bit faster than the giving time.)

If you don't have the durum flour, you can use all bread flour, but the texture of the bread will be more like foccacia.

Anyway, this bread is really great esp. when you going to a picnic, because the dough cover all the filling inside, just slice it when you ready to eat, and enjoy the freshness and deliciousness of this bread.

Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling
Makes 1 loaf

7g	Instant yeast
300 ml (1/2 pint)	Tepid water
2 tablespoons	Olive oil
1 tablespoon	Honey
1 tablespoon	Flaked salt
150 g (5 oz)	Durum wheat flour
270 g (9 1/2 oz)	Bread flour
FILLING
200 g (7 oz)	Mozzarella cheese
200 g (7 oz)	Ham
	1 handful of pitted olives
	1 bunch of fresh basil

Put the bread flour, durum flour and yeast in a bowl, whisk to combine, add and salt whisk again. Pour the liquids mixture into the bowl.

Use large spoon (or pastry scraper) to mix everything together, and knead briefly to bring all the ingredients together.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead.

Knead by using the heel of your hands to compress and push the dough away from you, then fold it back over itself (see the picture here). Give the dough a little turn and repeat. Put the weight of your body into the motion and get into a rhythm. Keep folding over and compressing the dough.

Knead for 10-15 minutes or until the dough is soft, pliable, smooth and slightly shiny, almost satiny, the dough will stop sticking to your hand but it will be a bit blister from the grain of the durum flour.

Cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave the dough to prove for about 30 minutes.

Press the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm (1/2 in) thick. Don’t roll it as then the air trapped in the dough wilt be squeezed out.

Place the mozzarella cheese and put in layers with the hams, olives and basil on top of the dough.
Brush the edges with water and roll up the dough as you would a Swiss roll. Shape it into a circle.

Preheat the oven to 250°C/500°F/9as 10.

Put the loaf onto a baking sheet lined with greaseproof paper, and leave to prove under a tea towel for about 30 minutes.

Put the bread in the oven, then reduce the temperature to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and bake for 20—25 minutes or until golden brown.

Tortano: Italian Bread with Ham, Cheese and Olive Filling!

June 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #31: Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

The time has come for the challenge of the month from the daring bakers. This month is a Bakewell tart, one of the tart that I really want to try but it seen like I have too many things which I want to do on my list haha!.
So, I take this challenge as an opportunity to make this tart, and I'm really glad that it comes out very very good (Thank you Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar, this month is one of the best for me).

The tart contains three parts of the work, first the tart dough, the sweeten shortcrust pasty, the second is the jam (and I'm happy to say that I make the jam myself, ^ ^, which it's a good decision, because if I use the commercial one, this tart will be too sweet for me: I use Home made low sugar strawberry jam).

The last part is the Frangipane, the sweeten almond and butter mixture, easy to make and delicious, it can be use in other recipe too, (I think about the tart with Frangipane and fruit, it would be very good too).
You can make this tart with ease but if using commercial jam, I suggest choose the low sugar one or use only half of the giving amount. The pastry can be prepared ahead of time and assemble when you ready to make.
Serve this tart arm with a lot of sweeten whipped cream, and you will love this tart as I do!

Note by dailydelicious: If your tart pan is not deep, I suggest using the 10 inch instead, I use 10 inch tart pan for this time.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

Bakewell Tart …er…pudding
Makes 9 inch tart

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Prep time: 15-20 minutes
Resting time: 30 minutes (minimum)
Equipment needed: bowls, box grater, cling film

225g (8oz) all purpose flour
30g (1oz) sugar
2.5ml (½ tsp) salt
110g (4oz) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract (optional)
15-30ml (1-2 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it's overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Frangipane

Prep time: 10-15 minutes
Equipment needed: bowls, hand mixer, rubber spatula

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) almond extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) all purpose flour

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again.

With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

Assembling the tart

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, (my tip by dailydelicious: Using piping bag will make this task very easy, and your frangipane will be evenly spread), spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

Note by dailydelicious: My tart become brown on the top very quickly, about 18-20 minutes after putting it in the oven, so I suggest you watch your tart carefully, cover with foil if the the top is starting become brown.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.

June 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge #31:
Bakewell Tart…er…pudding

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache: Double chocolate double delicious!

Chocolate and chocolate, well, I never have enough chocolate in my life ^ ^. This time, for the best morning, why don't we serve something warm and indulgence, like this chocolate muffin with the ganache.
Even the look seen like you need to do a lot of work to create this muffin, the truth is it's very easy to prepare.
The ganache that use for the muffin can be prepared ahead and while baking the muffin, you just make another batch of the ganahe. The power of the muffin and the ganache depend on the type of the chocolate that you use. This time, I use only 55% cocoa mass type, which make the muffin a bit light (well, accept the truth, not everyone love deep dark chocolate >*<), but you can use 70% type if you like. I find the muffin is soft and this is a bit like cupcake than muffin (you can see from how it's prepared, the method is the same as butter cake). If eating the muffin alone, the taste will be like a light chocolate cake but when you have a ganache on top, the taste is more intense and very very good. Serve this muffin while still warm and the ganche still gooey (and a bit sticky haha), and your morning will be one of the best morning of the year!

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache
Makes 8 (6cm muffin)

Ganache for use in muffin
65 ml	Whipping cream
35g	Dark chocolate (chopped)
Muffin
100g	Unsalted butter
70g	Sugar
1½	Eggs
1g	Salt
½ tsp	Vanilla extract
210g	Cake flour
5g	Baking powder
70ml	Milk
40g	Chocolate chips
100g	Ganache
Ganache for topping
50ml	Whipping cream
50g	Dark chocolate (chopped)

First make the ganache for the muffin:

Bring the cream to boil then take out of the heat, pour the chocolate into the pan.
Stir slowly until all the chocolate melt and the ganache is smooth.
Pour the ganche into small bowl and let it cool completely.

Make the muffin:

Preheat the oven to180°C
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Cream the butter and sugar , until the mixture is smooth and light in color.
Add the egg in 2 additions, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scarp down the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla.

Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the milk in 3 additions, until just incorporated.
Pour the ganache and chocolate chips into the batter, mix until just combine (there will be a little marble effect).
Pour the batter into the paper cases.
Bake for 18-20 minutes or until the muffin spring back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted near the center come out clean.

While baking the muffin make the ganache:

Bring the cream to boil then take out of the heat, pour the chocolate into the pan.
Stir slowly until all the chocolate melt and the ganache is smooth.

While the muffin just come out of the oven, poke the top of the muffin with the stick.
Pour the hot ganache over the muffin, serve warm with more ganache if you want.

Chocolate Ganache Muffin with Chocolate Ganache:
Double chocolate double delicious!

Mini Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze: Small in size but big in flavor!

Well, I still don't want to do anything much, but I don't want to sit still too, haha. And last month, I just got a lot of new books and one of them is .............but I think that they might add something interesting in their new book ^ ^.

Anyway, we will talk about the book later, because when I browsed through the book I saw this recipe, I thought I really want to try it. But after reading the recipe, I have to make a little change (or you can call a lot haha) because I don't have buttermilk, so I use the yogurt instead, I don't like too sweet cake so I reduce the sugar amount and I change the type of the flour (the original recipe calls for bread flour, but I want a soft cake so, I use all purpose flour).

I made it in small size, but after tasting it, I think there should be something more to make the cake better, because the cake is bit dry (in my opinion).
So, at last I add the lemon glaze and Voilà, finally this is the cake that I want ^ ^.
I think a small but full of flavor little cake, can be the best treat to accompany the afternoon tea, oh! what a lovely day!

Mini Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze
Makes 6 (9 cm bundt cake)

For the cake
140g	All purpose flour
1g	Baking soda
1g	Salt
75g	Unsalted butter
100g	Sugar
1	Egg
	Zest from 1 lemon
80ml	Plain yogurt
15ml	Lemon juice
Lemon Glaze
60g	Icing sugar (sifted)
1-3 tsp	Lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°F/ 177°C

Coat the bundt pan with a light film of fat.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt.

Blend the egg and lemon zest.

Cream the butter and sugar , until the mixture is smooth and light in color.
Add the lemon and egg mixture in 2 additions, mixing until fully incorporated after each addition and scarp down the bowl as needed.

Add the sifted dry ingredients alternately with the yogurt in 3 additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated.
Add the lemon juice and blend.
Pour the batter into prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes or until the cake spring back when lightly touched and a skewer inserted near the center come out clean.
Cool the cake in the pan for a few minutes, then unmold onto the racks to cool completely.

Mix the icing sugar with the lemon juice (add the juice bit by bit until you reach the consistency that you want).
Lightly pour the lemon glaze over the cake before serving.

Mini Lemon Yogurt Bundt Cake with Lemon Glaze:
Small in size but big in flavor!

Blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting

I always fall in love with lovely book and this one is no exception ................. Anyway I have to tell you that if you like sweet cake, this book is the one for you, but if you have the same taste as me, you may find the frosting in this book is
too sweet.

I tried this recipe by making only 1/6 of the original recipe, (so if you want to make the big one just using 10 inch ring mold), but I adapted the recipe a bit (well, I reduce the sugar, increase the sour cream, and add more blueberry).

For the frosting, I reduce the sugar too. But if you want to use the original frosting recipe just use 100 g of confectioners’ sugar than 60g, (which I found the sweetness is not bad, when you eat with fresh fruit, but if your blueberry is sweet, using less sugar will be better ^ ^).

The cake is soft and very good, I like the texture of it, and when eating with the frosting and fresh fruits, this cake is great. And don't forget that it's very easy to make too.

Note: If making 10 inch cake, the baking time will be 40 minutes.
The frosting for the 10 inch cake will be 3 times of this recipe, not 6.

Blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting
Makes 15 cm cake

Cake
60g	Unsalted butter
50g	Sugar
1	Egg
½ tsp	Vanilla extract
75g	All purpose flour
1¼ tsp	Baking powder
¼ tsp	Salt
50g	Sour cream
1½ tsp	Whole milk
55g	Fresh or frozen blueberry
Frosting
60g	Confectioners’ sugar
40g	Butter
80g	Cream cheese
	Fresh blueberry for decorating

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C.

Greased and dusted 15 cm ring mold with flour.

Sift the flour, salt and baking powder together, set aside.

Put the butter and sugar in a bowl, then beat with hand mixer until light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla, and egg, beating well after each addition.
Beat in the flour mixture.

Add the sour cream and milk and mix well until combine.
Stir the blueberry into the batter, then pour the batter into the prepared mold.

Bake until the cake is golden brown, and the cake spring bake when touched, about 25 minutes.
Let the cake cool completely before frosting it.

Make the frosting:

Beat the confectioners’ sugar and butter together, add the cream cheese and beat until the frosting is light and fluffy.

Frost the cake with the frosting and decorate with fresh blueberries.

Blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting

Chicken Farm Bakers' Project #11 Welcome To Rain With Tart & Pie: Chocolate Custard Tart

Chicken Farm Bakers' Project #11 Welcome To Rain With Tart & Pie: Chocolate Custard Tart, and the theme for this month is very suitable for me.
I start getting a cold from the first of June and still, well the weather here is very bad, rainy and hot, haha, I just don't have the right word to describe it >*<. So, the best thing for me (and for this month) is everything that I like to eat ^_^, such as chocolate and whipped cream, haha. I choose to make the chocolate custard tart, the mixture of soft chocolate filling that is going very well with the lightly sweeten whipped cream, another comfort food for me. I found this tart is very comforting, and delicious, haha, it reminds me of the first love (a cold chocolate drink and whipped cream, ^ ^), and I just can't stop longing for chocolate. But this tart is not a dark side of my love, it's the children side, the mild flavor of the chocolate custard filling, that really make you eat it more. So, if you feel the same as me, (I really don't want to go outside), take your time to make this tart and you might fell in love with this chocolate tart too.

Chocolate Custard Tart
Makes 21 cm tart

Tart shell
85g	Unsalted butter
1tbsp	Sugar
1	Egg
½ tsp	Vanilla essence
185g	Cake flour
Chocolate filling
250ml	Whole milk
100ml	Whipping cream
1	Egg
75g	Sugar
2tbsp	Cocoa powder
1½tbsp	Corn starch
	A dash of salt
10g	Unsalted butter
Topping
100ml	Whipping cream
10g	Sugar
	Dark chocolate (grated)

Make the tart shell:
Beat the butter until soft, add the sugar, then beat until combine.
Pour the egg and vanilla essence into the butter mixture, beat only 1 minute, the mixture will be curdle.

Put the flour into the butter mixture, beat just until the mixture looks like bread crumb.
Using your hand to push the mixture into a ball.
Take the dough out of the bowl and knead for 3-5 time just until the surface of the dough seen smooth. Cover with plastic warp, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C

Lightly butter the tart pan.
On the floured surface, roll the dough into a 4-5 mm sheet.
Using the rolling pin to move the dough over the tart pan.

Cut the dough and push the dough to fit the tart pan trim off the dough, then using a fork to prick the tart shell.
Put the tart shell in the oven and bake for 15-18 minutes or until lightly brown.

Make the chocolate filling:

Sift the cocoa powder, corn starch, sugar and salt together, set aside.

Put the cream and milk into the medium pot and bring to simmering (not boil).

Meanwhile, beat the egg until light (the egg yolk and white are homogeneous).
Pour the sifted ingredient into the bowl, mix to combine, then pour the milk and cream mixture into the egg mixture gradually (whisk all the time).


Pour the mixture through a strainer into a medium pot.
Bring to simmering over low heat, until the mixture thicken.
When the mixture is thicken, take the pot from the heat and put the butter into the custard and whisk slowly until the butter is melted.
Pour the custard into the tart shell.

Refrigerate the tart for 4 hour or overnight.

When ready to serve:

Whip the whipping cream with the sugar until soft peaks formed.
Pipe the whipped cream over the tart, and sprinkle with the grated dark chocolate.

Chicken Farm Bakers' Project #11
Welcome To Rain With Tart & Pie: Chocolate Custard Tart