Quick Cinnamon Bread: Easy no yeast bread

 Baking is not only for your tummy, sometimes it's about your mind.

Egg Bread (Gyeran-ppang): Korea Snack bread

I started to get lazy now, haha. Well, I couldn't work on my computer for 3 days since Thursday because my eye hurts, may be I playing too much game.

Mini cornbreads with vegetables

It's a long time since I used this book ............................. . At that time I made Fig and white chocolate cookies and I told you that I will review this book when I have a chance to make something from a savory part of the book. And now the time has come ^^.

As you know about the author, she is award-winning organic baker, so the recipes in her book represent the same feeling, no fancy dessert can be found here.
My first impression for this book is "I like it ^^", there are a lot of photos (almost every recipes come with the photos of the finished product). Even I can bake from the cookbook that has no photos at all, I still love to see the photos esp. when the photos are beautiful, it's a bonus, and this book is in this category.  

 I think beautiful photo is one  reason for some people to buy this book without knowing about the background of the author.

The book start with the Biscuits, biscotti & bites chapter, here you will get 16 recipes of cookies from: ginger, oat and sultana, pecan and cranberry, chocolate chip, oat and raisin,  to biscotti : polenta with cherry and nut biscotti, fig with apricot and nut biscotti, then biscuits: white chocolate and fig, ginger and chilli, pineapple with coconut and lemon, spelt with chocolate and hazelnut, walnut shortbreads, hazelnut macaroons, gingerbread, easter egg, granola bars and florentines. Most of them are simple, very easy to make, and yes wholesome.

 The next chapter is sweet tarts, the first part of the chapter is a 3 kinds of base, sweet shortcrust, chocolate shortcrust, and sponge dough. 
A lot of the recipes in this chapter use fresh fruits that will be great when they are in season and I don't see any recipe that calls for frozen fruits. Popina recommend that we should buy the fruits from the farmer market when they are in season. The recipes with fruits are apple and plum tart, rhubarb custard and crumble tartlets, fig grape and fragipane tartlets, nectarine and summer berry tart, rustic plum tart and chocolate pear and hazelnut tart . The only three recipes which use the chocolate and nut are chocolate and pistachio tartles, pecan and bourbon tartlets and chocolate and chestnut tart. So, if you can find fresh fruits easily when they are in their season, this chapter will be great.

 And the book of baking can't be complete with this chapter: Cakes & muffins. But don't think that you will find any things fancy here, cake for Popina is simple too.
The very chocolate cake, Popina carrot cake, lemon loaf with white chocolate icing, and cranberry, cherry and vine fruit cake are all the cake that you can find here ^^, anyway the very chocolate cake looks very tempting for me and I really want to try it soon. She put the recipes for other kinds of sweet right here too, like stolen, chocolate and hazelnut strudel, poppyseed strudel and pumpkin and cinnamon filo strudel, I think because her style is not the sweet queen, but the wholesome and delicious treats from the nature. Like when we look at her muffin recipes, all three of them call for fresh fruit, summer fruit and white chocolate muffins, wholemeal spelt, carrot apple and pumpkin seed muffins and the last one cranberry, orange and pistachio muffin (this is the only recipe that I see the frozen word, haha, for the frozen cranberry). The last part of this chapter devotes to brownies recipe, I think she really love chocolate too ^^, chocolate truffle brownies, cherry chocolate truffle brownies, double orange truffle brownies and the last one white chocolate and coffee truffle brownies.
So for 15 recipes in this chapter, I fall in love with the chocolate parts, haha.

Next chapter, Savory straws & bites. This chapter is very short, but it packed with a lot of interesting recipes, like Gouda and hazelnut bites, Stilton and celery bites, Cheshire and apple straws, Spinach and chilli straws, Parmesan and seed crackers, Cheddar and chive crackers, Simple spelt and oat crackers and beetroot, fennel and apple chutney, they seen to be great for entertaining event. The 2 recipe for savory muffins, spinach, garlic and nutmeg muffin and feta and tomato muffins looks very delicious, I think they show her own style, they have to contains fresh product like vegetables and cheese.

The last chapter, Savory tarts, I like this part the most ^^, all the recipes look great and mouth watering.

The chapter starts with 3 kinds of base that you will need to know before making any kinds of tart here, there are shortcrust, pizza dough and spelt pizza dough.

Then a lot of recipe like Butternut squash and parmesan tart, Goats' cheese, tomato and basil tart, Aubergine, red pepper and tomato tart, Pepper, pecorino and thyme tartlets, Honey-roast parsnip, carrot and shallot tart, Port-poached pear, celeriac, Stilton and walnut tartlets, Mushroom tart, roast potato and Spring onion tartlets, Spinach, feta and tomato quiche, Leek and mature chedder mini quiches, Courgette and fennel tart, Cheese burek, Spinach and cheese burek, Smokey vegetable, butter bean and paprika filo strudels, Little margherrita pizzas with olives, Rustic focaccia with red pepper and onion and Mini cornbread with vegetables. 

I love this part for the combination that she creates, all of them seen to be great.


Anyway, there are no chapter like equipment or ingredients suggestion as many cookbooks do, but I think it's not a problem at all because most of her recipes are easy and straight forward, you don't need anything much to follow and create her recipe, the most important thing is the fresh ingredients that the recipe calls for.
I like the way she say in the sweet tarts chapter that all of her recipes are only the suggestion, after reading and having the basic knowledge we can create the recipe that suits our taste and become our own "Masterpiece", read and create sound very good to me, haha.


So for me this book is quite good, like a break from the world of sugar ^^, because she gives a lot of savory recipes to choose from. I think that many people have the same problem, when you make a lot of cakes, cookies or anything sweet, no matter how delicious they are, your family member still need a rest from them. And what will I do, I don't stop baking (haha, I really love to bake you can be sure), but I switch to the other part of baking, like making bread or savory treats that anyone can enjoy it as a  breakfast or lunch.
Like this time I choose to make this mini cornbread. It's delicious and very flavorsome, the way of resting the batter before baking really helps to make the cornbread softer (when eating it you don't feel the grainy texture of the cornmeal). 
Anyway I have a suggestion that if you have tartet tin with removable bottom use them in this recipe, because the cornbread that I use the silicone muffin tin is more soggy than the one in tartlet tin (but if you only have the muffin tin, you can use it but when taking the cornbread out of the tin, you have to be more careful because the moister make the bread more fragile). 
So after a long text, now I will let you go into the kitchen to enjoy this mini cornbread and yes, we don't have to stop baking, just switch to the savory part, that's all, ^^.

Mini cornbread with vegetables 

Makes 8

1 ....................................... egg,  separated

260ml ............................. skimmed milk

200ml ............................. vegetable oil

120g ................................ strong flour (bread flour)

160g ................................ polenta (fine yellow cornmeal)

1tsp ................................. baking powder

1tsp ................................. salt

1 ....................................... large red pepper, deseeded and thinly sliced

9 ....................................... cherry tomatoes, quartered 

.......................................... freshly ground black pepper

Put the egg yolk, milk, oil, flour, polenta, baking powder and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk well until smooth. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to allow the polenta to soak up the liquid. this makes for better cornbread.


Preheat the oven to 200 °C
Brush the 8x9cm loose-based fluted tartlet tins, or 8 Texas muffin tins with butter.

Remove the cornbread batter from the fridge. Put the egg white in a separate, grease-free bowl and whisk until it forms stiff peaks, then fold it gently into the batter. Spoon the batter into the tartlet tins almost to the top and scatter the pepper and tomato on top, sprinkle with black pepper.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool before serving warm. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Mini cornbreads with vegetables and 

Review of Popina Book of Baking

Date Nut Bread with Cream Cheese: The best and delicious way to use Date!

Like most of the dried fruit, date is very sweet, and it's a problem, haha. Because even I like to eat them, a lot of it will make me feel dizzy. I have a lot of it in my fridge, due to the fact that, first, I like to buy it and second, everyone like to buy it for me, ^ ^ . So I end up with the fridge full of this sweet fruit.

Most of the recipe will turn this sweet fruit into the sweet cake (or pudding), which is not what I want, I want to find the way to tame the sweetness not adding more of it.
So the journey to the great recipe begin,  in my room by browsing through the pile of cookbooks again, haha (well, you know that I just want to use the recipe in my books, so I feel less guilty when I buy more book, ^ ^, because I can say that I use it, right?).
Finally, I find it, it's the quick bread recipe in the book. I just got it, haha  from my last trip to the bookstore and really want to try some recipe and this Date Nut Bread with Cream cheese is very interesting.

The most of  sweetness of this bread comes from the date, itself more than the sugar (the sugar still needed as it act as a softener for the cake), and the nut helps reducing the sweetness too. But most of it is the way we eat, when spread the bread with the cream cheese, the bread transform from very sweet bread into the mellow bread. The tangy and creamy of the cream cheese make the bread less sweet and add a lot of the creaminess (as you can see that the bread use very little oil and it's a bit dry).
For this bread, the cream cheese is a must when serving, and or I can say that a lot of it will be the best, haha. When I ate the bread alone (when tasting it), I have to say that I didn't like it, the sweetness make me feel bad, but when cream cheese added, the bread is very delicious. 
When sandwich this bread together with (a lot of, haha) cream cheese, and serve it with a cup of strong coffee or tea, it can be your breakfast or a tea time treat, and yes, a very delicious one that you will love it too.

Date Nut Bread with Cream Cheese

Yield 1 loaf (9 x 5 inch) 

INGREDIENTS

175g ............................ Dates, diced

340ml ......................... Boiling water

110g ............................ Light brown sugar

50g .............................. Sugar

30ml ............................ Vegetable oil

1 ................................... Egg

310g ............................ Unbleached alI-purpose flour

15g .............................. Baking powder

6g ................................ Kosher salt

115g ............................ Walnut pieces, toasted 

..................................... Cream cheese (for spreading on slices)

1. Position one rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease the loaf pans.

2. In a medium bowl, cover the date pieces with the boiling water and set aside.

3. In another bowl, combine the brown sugar, sugar, oil, and eggs.

4. In a separate bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together. Pour the sugar mixture and the date mixture onto the dry ingredients and fold together until almost mixed. Add the walnuts and stir until just combined.

5. Pour the batter gently and evenly into the prepared loaf pans. Bake for 55 to 65 uiinutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the loaf comes out clean. Do not overbake.

6. Cool the loaves in the pans for 15 minutes, then turn them out and place on a wire rack to cool completely. This bread has a crunchy crust and stays fresh for several days. Enjoy it soon after baking and avoid wrapping it in plastic film until one day later, to preserve the crunchy crust. Store the loaves at room temperature unwrapped or refrigerate after wrapping. This bread freezes well wrapped in plastic film and then foil.

7. Serve each slice with an ounce (30g) of cream cheese for a delicious and satisfying treat.

Date Nut Bread with Cream Cheese: 

The best and delicious way to use Date!

Berry Coffee Cake: Easy, and delicious cake to start your day!

 

Coffee cake is very easy to eat, and well, very easy to make too. Because one of my sisters really love to eat coffee cake and that's the reason why I love to make it too.

So as a recipe tester ( haha, I already promote myself, ^ ^), I have to choose one recipe to try, and the coffee cake is one after I told my sister to make a decision between this recipe and the Berry Kuchen. Actually I didn't have to ask her because I already know the answer.
And I'm glad to make it, the cake is very good, not too sweet and moist (I think the streusel is too sweet for some people but I like it, taste like a oatmeal cookie). When I eat this cake, I like to eat the streusel and the berry first, then finish the rest of the cake.
The method of making this cake is like the way you make the muffin (or other quick bread), so it's very easy and very quickly to make too. So, if you want to have a freshly baked coffee cake in the morning, just prepare everything at night, like the streusel, the flour part, and the wet part, then mix all of the ingredients in the morning and put then in the oven. After 35-40 minutes your house will full of sweet and homey fragrance of this coffee cake. Imagine it, your morning will be great and your whole family will be happy very  too.

 

Berry Coffee Cake

Makes one 8x8-inch square pan

  

STREUSEL
60g ............................ cold unsalted butter
50g ............................ granulated sugar
100g .......................... light brown sugar
35g ............................ all-purpose flour
40g ............................ rolled oats
.................................. a pinch of salt

COFFEE CAKE
210g .......................... all-purpose flour
75g ............................ granulated sugar
1½ tsp ....................... baking powder
½ tsp ......................... salt
2 ................................ eggs
85g ............................ unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
½ tsp ......................... vanilla extract
170g .......................... sour cream
250g .......................... Fresh or frozen berry

Prepare to bake.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a 8 by 8-inch baking pan.

Make the streusel.

  

Dice the butter into to ½-inch cubes, then combine it with the granulated and brown sugars, flour,oats and salt. Use two knives, a pastry blender, or your fingers to mix the ingredients until crumbly . If you’re making the streusel ahead of time, cover and refrigerate it until you’re ready to proceed with the recipe.

Make the cake:

  

Lightly whisk the eggs, butter, and vanilla together.

 

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl with high sides. Make a well in the center.
Pour the wet mixture into the well, then add the sour cream by evenly distributing large spoonfuls around the edges of the dry ingredients. Gently mix the batter, using a large spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Use big, slow, circular strokes that scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with each motion. Don’t worry if the batter appears slightly lumpy, or if there are streaks of sour cream. The delicate texture of this batter is achieved through minimal mixing. (Some small patches of flour may still be visible; this is okay, as they’ll be absorbed during the baking process.) Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.

  

 Distribute the fruit in an even layer over the batter, then sprinkle evenly with the streusel. Bake for 35- 40 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time. The streusel should be crunchy and brown, and a skewer inserted in the center should come out clean.
Serve the coffee cake straight from the oven with plenty of fresh, piping hot coffee.

  

Berry Coffee Cake: Easy, and delicious cake to start your day!

Carrot and Walnut Quick Bread, Healthy Easy Bread

Last week after seeing a doctor, I feel like I wanted something more healthy in my fridge, ^ ^. Well, you know that baking is fun and eating it is great. I love to bake and I enjoy eating it too. But there is a time that we have to accept the truth, we can't live our life that way.

So, I try to find some healthy bread to balance my diet, starting by baking a quick bread. I mean, it's better for your health than cake right? This bread is very easy to make,too, it takes only 10-15 minutes for preparation, it's the real quick bread.

This bread is packed with all good things, carrot, walnut and rye flour. It's not too sweet, the sugar in the recipe is quite low, so it can be a good snack (ok, I have an unheathy plan for you, but it's delicious when serve it with the spreadable cream cheese, ha).

*If you like, you can add 25g of raisin, it will give this bread a sweet flavor and children will love it, too.

Carrot and Walnut Quick Bread

Makes 8X18 cm loaf

80g	Carrot, grated
30g	Walnut, roasted and cut into small pieces
70g	Unsalted butter
35g	Caster sugar
35g	Brown sugar
	Pinch of salt
1	Egg
¼ tsp	Baking powder
½ tsp	Baking soda
60g	Cake flour
40g	Rye flour

Preheat the oven to 180 °C

Sift both of the flour with baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Place the baking paper in the 8X18 cm loaf pan.

Beat the butter until light, then add both of the sugar, beat until combine.

Put the egg into the butter mixture, beat until combine.

Pour the flour mixture, carrot and walnut into the butter mixture.

Fold until homogenize.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 50 minute.

Carrot and Walnut Quick Bread