Back to my Old Self

• Mood - Awesome
• Creativity - High
• Productivity - High
• Reading - Not enough
• Cooking - All kinds of yummy stuff
• Social Outings - Nil
• TED Talks - Nil, but emailed a few to friends to inspire them
• Movies Watched - Nil
• Painting - Nil
• Telescope Viewing - Nil

OK so the weather has changed. We have sunshine, cool wind and a beautiful t-shirt wearing kinda day. I'm baking & Cooking! It's amazing what the hot weather can do to me, it renders me useless. 

Yayayayayayayay It's not a scorching hot day.... Let's dance!

Anyway, anyway, anyway.... I'm making 

1. Maybe a soup, depends on my energy after I make the below...
2. Roast Vegetable Scrolls
3. Gnocchi in a garlic aioli
4. and if any bread dough is left over I may make a few small cinnamon scrolls for a treat tonight

OK so my bread dough is pretty basic

You need to put a 7g sachet of dried yeast into a bowl with 1 cup of warm water and a flat teaspoon of caster sugar, cover with cling wrap and let it sit for 5 minutes until it goes all foamy

Then I need you to sift into a dough mixer or however you usually make dough:

• 4 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons milk powder
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of love

When the yeast is ready, add 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and the yeasty water to the flour mix and mix with a dough hook until it forms a ball. Turn out onto floured board and knead for a good 5 minutes. This is a great workout for you upper arms and you'll deserve a cuppa in the end, or depending on the time of day, even a glass of wine. Place kneaded ball in a greased bowl and let it sit for 1 hour in a warm place.

Punch down the risen dough, knead for 5 minutes and form into loaves, buns, rolls... whatever. Leave to sit for another 45 minutes covered in plastic wrap or until well risen. Brush lightly with whatever glaze you prefer, I use a whole beaten egg with a tablespoon of water for a deep crust colour.

Bake in tins in  210 degree oven for 10 minutes then lower the heat to 180 degrees for an extra 30-40 minutes... free-form loaves may only need 20-30 it really depends on your oven. This recipe is enough for 1 large loaf, 2 medium or 16-24 rolls.

I made this:

Roll the dough out flat as you can

Place your roasted vegetables, spices, sauces,
 top with some cheese and...

Roll it up like a big cigar

Cut into desired widths

Place on a baking sheet/tray and bake until
 bread is golden

I serve these with a side salad, they're a meal in themselves. I call them "rustic vegetable pinwheels for giants"

No! I don't think that name is too long...

The Gnocchi:

• 4 {750g}desiree potatoes, unpeeled
• 200g [about] flour
• salt
• ricer or mouli
• Pinch of Love

Place potatoes covered in cold water, on the heat and bring to the boil. Let it gently boil for about 20-25 minutes until tender. Don't go piercing the damn thing too much because it makes the potato gluggy and water-logged. Just check after 20-25 minutes it should be fine.

Drain potatoes and while they're still hot put potato in the ricer or mouli. I don't bother peeling because my ricer discards the peel upon squishing.

Add salt and flour and knead until it forms a ball. Add more flour if necessary but be very careful here. Too much flour make the balls tough, and too little makes it mushy when cooked. You're just going to have to go by feel here. Roll sections into logs and cut out size and shape accordingly. I can go on about using a floured fork or a grater to make ridges, but seriously, I'm not Italian and I have no idea.  I just keep mine plain and it works just fine. 

OK so boil some salted water in a big pot and drop them in, when they surface to the top, use a slotted spoon to scoop them out and into a strainer. 

Toss in your favourite sauce and Bon appetit 

Yes I'm very tired now... I guess I can change the above Reading - Not enough to Reading - The rest of the evening.

I'm beat.

Happy Cooking and don't forget to dance

Oh, by the way...

Yummy!