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kat_lairI’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking over the holidays. A couple of days ago I was chatting to anime_fangirl_3 and promised to find her a couple of easy beginner’s recipes so she can try her hand at baking.
The tried and tested easy pizza This makes one pizza, usually plenty for 2-4 people. I often double or triple the amount, and make more. It keeps in the fridge up to a week and also freezes well, making it the perfect “in case of sudden visitors” savoury snack. Base Mix the dried yeast into the water (which should be body temperature, i.e. warm to the touch but not too hot) until it’s dissolved. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well (you’ll have to get your hands dirty for this). When ready, the dough should feel firm to the touch and not stick to your fingers too much. Form a round thin pizza base either with your hands or with a rolling pin, and put it on a over tray lined with baking paper. Leave to rise for 10 minutes. Fillings Filling 1 Spread the tomato pure on the base. Mix tuna, pineapple chunks, crushed garlic and oregano in a bowl. Spread the filling evenly on the base and top with grated cheese. Filling 2 Spread the tomato pure on the base. Slice the pepper, onion and mushrooms (if using fresh ones). Heat the oil in a pan, and cook the vegetables on the low heat until they soften (they don’t need to be cooked completely through as they’re still going into the oven). Add the salt and oregano. Spread the filling evenly on the base, and top with tomato slices and grated cheese. Oat Cookies Mixing cookie dough is easiest with a wooden spoon. Mix porridge oats and sugar together. Melt the butter in a pan and add to the mixture. Combine baking powder and flour together in a separate bowl (this is done so that the baking powder is mixed properly throughout the dough and the cookies rise evenly). Add the flour mixture into the dough. Finally mix in the egg. Use two teaspoons to put small amounts of dough onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. You don’t need to shape the cookies in any way at this stage as they spread out on their own in the oven. Remember to leave plenty of room between the cookies because of this. Bake cookies for about 5 minutes in +200 Celsius/Gas Mark 6 until golden brown. Keep an eye on the cookies as they can burn quickly! The cookies are soft when hot so don’t try to move them from the tray until they have cooled. Enjoy with cold milk! This third recipe is a bit more complicated and I wouldn’t recommend it unless you already have a fair bit of experience. Not only does this cake take some effort, but it is also entirely sinful and fattening. It also needs to sit in a cool dark place for 24 hours to firm up properly, which means it’s not suited for spontaneous chocolate cravings. I only make it for special occasions or when I need to impress someone :) Sacher Cake Filling Topping Melt the chocolate and butter together either in a pan (on low heat, stir continuously so it doesn’t burn) or in microway, and let it cool. Separate the egg whites and yolks carefully. Whisk egg yolks and sugar together. Add to this the melted chocolate and butter mixture, and then the combined flour and baking powder through a sieve. In a separate bowl beat the egg whites into hard foam (make sure you use a clean and dry bowl and whisk, otherwise it won’t work). Gently fold the whipped egg whites into the cake mixture. Either line the cake tin with baking paper or grease it with butter and dust with flour. Pour in the cake mixture. Bake in 175 Celsius/Gas Mark 4 for about an hour. Cover with tin foil about half-way through if the cake gets too dark. Let the cake cool well. Take out of the tin and cut it into 2-3 layers. Spread the marmalade between the layers and put the cake back together. Brush off the excess flour and crumbs. Melt the chocolate either in a pan (on low heat, stir continuously so it doesn’t burn) or in a microway. Whisk in the butter bit by bit while the chocolate is still warm. If the mixture looks too thick you can also whisk in some cream. Spread the topping onto the cake with a knife. The topping should not bee to runny, but make sure it doesn’t cool too much or it becomes too solid to spread easily.
1 dl water
⅓ bag (15g) dried yeast
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2½ - 3 dl flour
You can use almost whatever you fancy for the filling, use your imagination! I don’t usually measure the quantities and you’ll soon learn to judge the mount required just with your eyes, but here are a couple of options. Note that these make enough for one pizza and if you’re doubling the dough recipe, you need to do the same for the fillings.
2tbsp tomato pure
1 can of tuna (drained)
1 can of pineapple chunks (drained)
2 garlic cloves (optional)
3 dl grated cheese
2 tsp oregano
2 tbsp tomato pure
2 tbsp oil
1 red pepper
approx. 200g mushrooms (or 1 can of sliced mushrooms)
1 onion
½ tsp salt
3 tomatoes
3 dl grated cheese
2 tsp oregano
3 dl porridge oats
2 dl sugar
100g butter
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp flour
1 egg
***
anime_fangirl_3, don’t try this alone yet! Some people on my F-list will however be more than okay with this level of baking so I wanted to include it for you.
150g dark cooking chocolate
150g butter
4 eggs
1½ dl sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar (haven’t seen this in
1½ dl flour
2 tbsp potato starch
1½ tsp baking powder
1 - 1½ dl apricot (or orange or mixture of both) marmalade
170g dark cooking chocolate
50 – 100g butter
(½ dl cream)
Enjoy! And let me know how it goes if any of you decide to try them.