Schnecken

God I love them - Nigella Lawson

Well, high praise indeed - if Nigella "loves" them, then they truly must be good good good! And decadent and naughty and truly luscious. A friend recommended them to me a long time ago and the only regret I have about making them is that it too me too long to actually do it!

The verdict: OMG THESE ARE AMAZING!! I think this is my favourite recipe so far! Both to cook and especially to eat. Oh my.

You have the fun of making dough (I love seeing it go from a shaggy mess to a smooth springy ball, and then watching it rise).

And then the syrup, which looked to me to be more of a butter mix - until I microwaved it for 30 seconds and it was definitely a syrup then!

I don't think this is a necessary step, but it does make it easier to put the syrup into the muffin tins!

Then the fun of rolling out the dough - actually, that part wasn't a heap of fun, the dough was really springy and I thought it would never roll out to the required size (60x30cm/24x12") but it got there eventually - or close enough anyway!

Then you sprinkle the dough with the sugar and cinnamon mix, roll it up into a lengthwise sausage, and slice it into 12 pieces. These go into the syrup/nut filled muffin tin holes, and are left to rise for a while before baking!

Unusual or substituted ingredients: None - all are easy to obtain (unless you live in the US, which bizarrely doesn't seem to have golden syrup easily obtainable - let me tell you, you guys are missing out! Get it if you can! Light corn syrup is NOT an acceptable substitute!! I did have to buy demerara sugar, as I don't keep it in my pantry, but that was no hassle.

Special utensils or cookware: Just a muffin tin. Preferably one with nice DEEP muffin holes. Mine does not have deep holes, and even while the dough was rising (the second rise, once it's in the muffin tin) the syrup overflowed out of the holes!

It was even worse during the baking!! I had to put a tray under the muffin tin to catch the overflowing syrup. Let me tell you, it smokes up in the oven and makes a sticky sticky mess!
Repeatability: Oh yes! In case you didn't get it before, this stuff is GOOOOOOOD! I will definitely make these again. Preferably when I've got a crowd to feed, because they really are very rich. But they also go very well the next day, especially after a little bit in the microwave. Oh yes, they were just as good the next day!
Sauciness: See above re sauciness!! Nigella's final instruction is "Leave to cool, then apply to face - as if you needed my encouragement". Schnecken is saucy, sticky and oh so satisfying!
Overall pleasure level: If I could give these 11/10, I would! Heck, since I can make the rules, I'm going to - 11/10 for these!! Fantastic!! Make them, you won't regret it! Next time, I might try them with pistachios, rather than walnuts. Or maybe cashews. I don't think you can lose!

Maple-Pecan Bread

this is a bread that comes into its own with cheese - Nigella Lawson
The verdict: Look, pretty much any bread eaten warm out of the oven is going to be good. It smells good and it tastes good (especially with lots of butter!). But I don't know about this particular bread. Maybe I need to make it again - I'm not entirely sure I cooked it enough this time, it seemed a little doughy in the very middle.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: Nothing particularly unusual, although you don't often put maple syrup in a bread mix! I also used walnuts rather than pecans (a substitution which, despite the name of the recipe, Nigella suggests!).
Special utensils or cookware: None! Bread really is very very simple to make!

Repeatability: I think I should make this again to try and do a better job. I think next time I would mix the nuts in at the same time as mixing the dry ingredients - Nigella suggests you "sprinkle" them in while kneading, but I found this very difficult. The recipe uses mostly wholemeal flour, and I find it far denser than white flour. I felt I didn't get the nuts mixed in to the middle of the dough very well at all. I think the kitchenaid would have done a far better job of mixing them in!

Once the bread was cooked, a lot of nuts seemed to "fall off" when I was cutting it. But it still was very nutty!

Sauciness: As Bells has earlier said, bread is earthy rather than saucy! This wasn't too bad, and it was good with cheese. It'd be good to serve at a party! I've found warm bread is always a crowd pleaser!
Overall pleasure level: Hmmm, I think I'd give this 6/10.

Pizza Casareccia

While we all struggle to produce that thin-crusted, charcoal redolent pizzaiolo's pizza and fail, the Italians recognise that you need to go to the pizzeria for that and have instead devised a home-made alternative, doughier and with more topping, but very good in its own but different way - Nigella Lawson

The verdict: I LOVE homemade pizza - homemade from scratch that is! It is so easy and so yummy, and makes you feel very clever. I know pizza is so easy to get delivered, but when you have the time to make it (which I happen to have right now) it is so worth it!

Unusual or substituted ingredients: The great thing about pizza is that you can pretty much use what you've got in the fridge. Most people will have some cheese (even cheddar is fine!) and a bit of meat and some onion and capsicum or mushroom, or whatever you like on a pizza. You can go gourmet or traditional, whatever you like! The recipe (while it gives toppings) is really about making the pizza base.

Special utensils or cookware: None at all! You just need a bowl, a flat surface (on which to knead) and a baking tray. Although if you are me, feel free to cheat by using a KitchenAid with a dough hook for the kneading part - frees up a few minutes in which you can chop the toppings!

Repeatability: I will definitely make this again! Nigella suggested that this pizza should feed 4 people "generously". Husby and I ate all but one piece between us for dinner, it was that good!!

Sauciness: Mmmm, yes. I really liked that the recipe used half a tin of chopped tomatoes, rather than tomato paste, for the sauce. Interesting that this is spread on the pizza base before it is baked, and then you put the toppings on and bake again, enough to melt and brown the cheese (mmmm melted cheese!)

Overall pleasure level: Erm, I think mmmmmmmm melted cheese probably sums it up really!

Nigellan Flatbread

Look, the name is meant to be a bit of a joke.....Nigella Lawson

The verdict: I've long wanted to make these partly because I think the name is amusing (she's referring to the black seeds, called Nigella Seeds) and partly because I love the idea of making such a take away staple. I've only ever had flat breads from Indian restaurants and while I love them, I fancied the idea of making my own. But don't worry, I won't be making these each time we get Indian takeaway. That would just be silly.

Unusual or substituted ingredients: Being a bread making veteran now, I have a well stocked cupboard for such things, but you'll need to get some instant yeast and Nigella seeds. I found them easily a long time ago (remember the Poppy seed incident?) They're a kind of onion seed, I believe.


Special utensils or cookware: None. Just bowls and baking trays!


Repeatability: I will do these again. And again. And again. They were astoundingly easy because you don't let the dough rise as long as regular bread (an hour at most) and they only take 8 mins in the oven. I made them for a dinner party and as they cooked, I whipped them out and wrapped them all layered in foil to keep them warm in a very low oven. I served them with fresh dips.

Sauciness: I think my guests were incredibly impressed. 'You made these? Seriously?' Talk about a feel good cooking experience!

Overall pleasure level: See above. Huge feel good result. As Nigella herself would say, maximum pleasure for minimum effort. 10/10

The Essential White Loaf

I can't let Bells have all the breadmaking fun, can I? - Rose Red

Inspired by Bells' delight in making bread from scratch, and her excellent results, I finally decided to give it a go.Look at that - how good does that look!!

The verdict:

Unusual or substituted ingredients: Just your standard breadmaking stuff - flour, water, bit of butter and salt. And yeast. I'm not down with that fresh yeast business, so I use instant yeast, and (while I've never used fresh yeast) this seems to work perfectly fine, and it keeps in the fridge for ages. And no fussing with little sachets which may or may not give you the right amount. Just measure out what you need.Special utensils or cookware: None. Nigella suggests using a mixer with a dough hook (which I have) but I really wanted to do it by hand. And it's not hard! If I was really busy and making bread, I might use the mixer, but for a lazy weekend pleasure, there's really no need. Except for the kneading bit (heh!! sorry, couldn't help myself). Kneading is fun. I'm not sure if I noticed the point at which the dough is supposed to become smoother and so on, but it seemed to work out ok.As for leaving it to rise, well, that was the hard part - I just wanted to cook it and have bread - I started making it a little too late in the morning - although it ended up being just in time for lunch. The question I had was whether the dough had in fact increased by half it's size again at the end of the allotted time (plus a bit). But I couldn't wait any longer!Repeatability: I would definitely make bread again. This white bread is really so so easy. And so yummy.Sauciness: But yeah, not saucy. As Bells has previously noted, bread is earthy, not saucy. It is a little messy, in the mixing/kneading stage, but licking your bread-doughy-fingers is not quite the same as when you are cooking, say, some type of chocolate delight!Overall pleasure level: Oh, this is fabulous. Making it was a pleasure, eating it was a pleasure. And despite all Nigella's warnings that the bread won't get crusty in a standard domestic oven, this bread was perfectly golden and crusty on the outside, soft on the inside - yum! I think that makes it a 10!

Sourdough

I know the idea of a long-drawn out tripartite baking process is not necessarily a welcome one, but presumably you do this because you want to, not because you are trying to find time-saving ways in the kitchen and kind of stumbled onto this by mistake - Nigella Lawson



The Verdict
Still on a bread kick, the decision was made to bake sourdough in tandem with fellow blogger, Tanya. She lives in hundeds of kilometres away in Brisbane, so it was long distance tandem baking. She just so happens so be a Nigella fan, too, so we chose the sourdough recipe from Domestic Goddess and set about making it on Wednesday last week. Yes, that's right - it's a recipe that takes days. Fortunately, much of the process is set-and-forget. And is it great? Oh yes it is. Even if Nigella says her version cheats a little.

Unusual or substituted Ingredients: I don't mess around with bread recipes. I do as I'm told so I didn't change anything, but she does give you the option of making rye or white sourdough. I chose rye. Above, that muddy looking sludge is what's known as the starter. That's flour, a pinch of yeast (that's apparently the cheating part - you're not supposed to do put that in traditionally), a hint of milk and warm water. For three days, that disgusting mixture bubbles and froths away. It's living. How cool is that? That's about the most unsual thing I've cooked since starting the project, I think.

Three days later you make a sponge.


That's where you take some of the starter (the rest gets kept as a sort of family pet for future use) and mix it with more flour and you leave that for about 18 hours. It's certainly a drawn out process!

Finally by Saturday afternoon, we got to the proper bread stage. Here's my loaf proving in the sun. It actually had a tea towel over it, but that doesn't make for as nice a photo.

Special Utensils or Cookware: None at all. As always, you could knead with a dough hook, but I like the hand method.

The dough, after punching it down

Repeatability: Well now that I have the tasty starer in the fridge (you have to feed it periodically to keep it alive) I will have no problem making sourdough whenever I feel like it. All I need is the 18 hours to grow the sponge. Hmm...it's still going to be a time consuming effort, no matter which way you look at it. I don't care. This was GREAT! My husband and father in law thought so too.

Sauciness: I don't think of bread as particularly saucy. It's earthy. Not saucy. But not everything needs to be!

Overall pleasure rating: 10 out 10 for me. This was fabulous. I feel a huge sense of achievement for making my first sourdough and it was delicious. I served it with a big bowl of Moroccan Lamb Soup. Perfection!

Bells

Finnish Rye Bread

It's dense, dark and aromatic in an extraordinarily comforting way - Nigella Lawson

My love of bread making is well documented here. It's safe to say I'm quite passionate about it. So when I announced last night I would make Finnish Rye Bread, Sean, who is in tune with such things, noted that being the winter solstice, something dense and harking from one of the northern-most parts of the world seemed somehow fitting.

The Verdict
I chose to use the cool-rise method that Nigella mentions in the opening paragraphs in the Bread and Yeast chapter. That is, make the dough, put it in the fridge over night and let it rise while you sleep.

Unusual or substituted ingredients - Oddly enough I had both rye flour and dark muscovado sugar in the pantry. What can I say - I cook a lot of Nigella recipes and she calls for these sorts of things. So i substituted nothing.

Before going into the fridge for the night.

Special Cookware or utensils - Nigella says you can use a dough hook attachment for the kneading. I say 'don't be daft!' I knead by hand and can't imagine a time when I won't.

Repeatability - Try and stop me. This bread was amazing. The problem will be NOT making it every weekend to the point of getting sick of it. I'd do the cool rise again too. It does make it a little hard to give it the second knead in the morning but it warmed up in the sun that pours in our kitchen window soon enough.

The bread before it went in the oven - in glorious early morning light.

Sauciness - Oh yes. Making bread is my new favourite thing - has been for six months now so I guess it's not so new. But I am not tired of it. I'd make it more if it I didn't work. I'd do a lot more in life if I didn't work but that's another story.


Overall Pleasure level - Sean and I were in complete agreement. This was the best bread I've ever made. It's dense without being too heavy or too chewy. And it's marvellous dunked into soup on the second day.

Potato Bread

'...there's a certain chewiness about it, an almost waxy softness.' - Nigella Lawson

Does that sound like bread? Waxy? I wouldn't have thought so, but now, I know what she's talking about.

Until a friend taught me to bake bread at Christmas, I studiously avoided the bread section of How To Be a Domestic Goddess. Once shown the steps, I was an immediate, evangelical convert to the art of bread making. You just can't beat it. I'm so enamoured of it now that when I'm in a grumpy mood, my husband tells me to go and bake bread. He knows the good that comes from it.

So to potato bread. Nigella says to save both the water you've boiled your peeled potatoes in, as well as 300g of cold potatoes (that was about 4 small potatoes).

Elsewhere in the book, Nigella advocates putting potato water in any bread, not just potato bread. She seems to suggest it improves the longevity of the bread. I don't care. If the bread I made today is any indication, longevity isn't going to be much of an issue. The loaf is half gone before we've even reached the middle of the afternoon!

The verdict

Unusual or substituted ingredients: You can use fresh or instant yeast. I'm pretty happy with instant. It's all I've ever used. I suppose one day i'll try fresh. And it's kind of gross to think of water you've boiled potatoes in as edible, but trust me, it's worth it.

It's worth noting too I used about half the salt Nigella suggests. I've found her 1tbs in other breads too much in the past so I use about half a tablespoon now.

Special Utensils or Cookware: Nigella talks about using a dough hook, if you have one, although elsewhere in the book she extols the virtues of kneading by hand. I think that's because this bread is heavier and wetter than others but I managed fine without a dough hook. I do love kneading, though.

She also suggests using a potato ricer to mash up the potatoes before adding them to the mix. It just so happens I have one, left over from my first flush of love for Nigella. I bought a lot of stuff she said to buy. I used it once and tossed it aside as useless.

I thought it would be perfectly useful for the texture you'd need for this bread though. However, it was tough and stiff and the potatoes were hardened from a night in the fridge so I had to get Sean to do this bit for me. He was cursing it within seconds too. I say, just mash them with a masher or a fork.

Repeatability: I happily make bread all the time but sometimes veering away from standard bread isn't so good. This is not one of those times. I'll never look at potato water or cold, grey potatoes in the same way. This is a delicious, slightly unusual bread. Not in the least bit heavy and not overly flavoured with potatoes. You can taste them, but they really just add to the flavour, rather than defining it.

Sauciness: Bread is less saucy, more earthy, to me. I was kneading away happily when I declared to Sean, hey, I am making bread from scratch with potatoes I grew myself! He could see how my mind was working and said, 'No Bells, we are not growing our own wheat as well.' Damn.

Overall pleasure level: There's certainly a level of smug self satisfaction that comes with making your own bread. I highly recommend it. It's worth it just to be amused/thrilled by the sight of your dough growing at a steady rate in a warm spot in the kitchen.



Now, I'm on a campaign to convince RoseRed to make bread. There are plenty of other recipes for bread in the book and I'm not making them all!

Maybe use the comments to back me up and convince her she needs to give it a go? :-)