kat_lair: (tickle my tummy bitch!)
kat_lair ([personal profile] kat_lair) wrote2007-04-08 11:57 am
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Recipes!

Happy Easter to All!
 

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking and baking over the holidays. A couple of days ago I was chatting to [profile] 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
1 dl water
⅓ bag (15g) dried yeast
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp oil
2½ - 3 dl flour 

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
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.

Filling 1
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

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
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

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.


Bake the pizza for 15 minutes. The oven temperature should be about +250 Celsius or Gas Mark 8. Serve with salad.



Oat Cookies
3 dl porridge oats
2 dl sugar
100g butter
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp flour
1 egg

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.
[profile] 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.



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
150g dark cooking chocolate
150g butter
4 eggs
1½ dl sugar
1 tsp vanilla sugar (haven’t seen this in UK so replace with a couple drops of vanilla essence)
1½ dl flour
2 tbsp potato starch
1½ tsp baking powder

Filling
1 - 1½ dl apricot (or orange or mixture of both) marmalade

Topping
170g dark cooking chocolate
50 – 100g butter
(½ dl cream)

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.

Leave the cake to stand in a cool, dark place for 24 hours. The finished cake is very rich and solid, and keeps up to two weeks. It can also be frozen but must be thawed slowly (can’t mircroway it or the chocolate melts!) and served immediately after.

***

Enjoy! And let me know how it goes if any of you decide to try them.

[identity profile] pushkin666.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 11:30 am (UTC)(link)
Okay, the sacher cake is seriously making my mouth water *G*

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 01:30 pm (UTC)(link)
it is rather yummy! I made one for Easter and there's still half of it left!

[identity profile] pushkin666.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
half - that's incredibly well done - mine would be eaten by now LOL

[identity profile] claudia-writes.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 12:38 pm (UTC)(link)
damn. how psychic is this!? I just made a pizza base like 5 mins ago! But I do it with baking powder instead of yeast, and also no salt cause I'm not allowed to eat it.

Oat cookies look delicious! I must try them. immediately!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 01:32 pm (UTC)(link)
It's baking time everywhere! I just made a bread roll dough and am just waiting for it to rise...

Let me know how you get along with the oat cookies :)

[identity profile] lolabobs.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 03:35 pm (UTC)(link)
what is 'dl'? I can't work out what it stands for!?

oat cookies look good.. I might have to vist mother and bake (my oven is rubbish and doesn't cook well - absolutely everythin has to cook on gas mark 9.. not good for the precision of baking!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 05:44 pm (UTC)(link)
dl stands for desilitre, i.e. 1/10 of a litre. I've seen it used in some English cookbooks so I thought I was okay with that. 1dl is approx. 3.5 oz or 1/2 cup or just under 1/5 pint... uhm, I hope that helps.

Damn you and your imperial measurements!

I hope the cookies turn out okay though!

[identity profile] lolabobs.livejournal.com 2007-04-09 10:48 am (UTC)(link)
thanks! have never heard of desilitres - how odd! I've been baking since I was a little girl!

ps: Imperial measurements are yay!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-09 05:09 pm (UTC)(link)
Hee, I've learned to cook and bake with metric measurements so I guess it's all relative. But seriously my UK bought measuring jugs have desilitre marks as well as ounces...

[identity profile] anime-fangirl-3.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 04:04 pm (UTC)(link)
AH brilliant!!!!!!!1

I'm gonna go copy this and print it out! I'll give it ago on Tuesday, i'll hafta ask's mum's permission to use her kitchen tho XD

Thanks a TON honey!!!! This was SO sweet of you!!! *huggles* Thankies!

One question tho.... What measurement is dl? Sorry, i must sound so dumb, but i even asked mum and she didn't know! XD

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-08 05:53 pm (UTC)(link)
You're welcome honey. I'm sure your mum will be able to help you with the baking.

I'm sorry about the whole dl thing... see above comment for equivalent imperial measurements. However, most measuring jugs have desilitres as well as ounces on them. Mine does and it was bought in the UK!

For easy recipes like the top two, the measurements don't need to be exact. For example, you don't necessarily need to measure how much grated cheese you put on top of a pizza - jut put some on until it looks like there's enough, you can judge it with your eyes.

Let me know how it goes.

[identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com 2007-04-09 08:32 am (UTC)(link)
We make our own vanilla sugar by storing a vanilla pod in a sugar jar. You realise you have just talked yourself into making a sacher cake to impress me? I shall check out the ingredient list and might even get as far as a spring form tin.

[identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com 2007-04-09 08:36 am (UTC)(link)
P.S. Not sure about availability of potato starch.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-09 05:17 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll be happy to make Sacher Cake to impress you, and maybe as a payment for the washing machine dial *gg*

Potato starch is used to thicken things and to keep them from being too runny, e.g. mixing with the jam to make it stay on top of a tart and not run all over the oven. According to the all knowing internet corn starch and tapioca flour can be used as substitutes.

[identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 08:35 am (UTC)(link)
Corn starch it is, then! That's the only one you're going to get in this part of the world!!

Colin's first reaction was, 'Oh, she must have turned the dial the wrong way,' which I denied on your behalf, and in any case these things are designed to stand up to kids and men (and housewives in a temper) so one Kat shouldn't have been able to do anything drastic. However, when he actually looked, he said he thought it was probably suffering from plastic fatigue of some kind and was just waiting for the next unsuspecting person to touch it!! And it didn't cost anything unless you can work out what a teaspoolnful of glue out of a big container might be worth!!!!

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 08:44 am (UTC)(link)
Sacher cake is a go then! Perhaps one weekend, I can make it on Saturday and as it needs to sit in a dark corner for a day, it would ready to serve on Sunday. Genius!

Thanks for defending my honour! I did turn it the right way, I even carefully checked the right way before turning just to avoid doing any damage. Clearly it was out to get me!

[identity profile] moth2fic.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 09:03 am (UTC)(link)
It obviously considered me and then thought I might kick it and waited till I was safely out of the way and there you were, all unsuspecting and innocent ...

[identity profile] entangled-now.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 11:03 am (UTC)(link)
The Sacher cake does sound monstrously delicious and I am going to steal it and make it just so you know (after complicated mathematics to change metric into imperial because all the scales and jugs in my house are ye olde fashiondee.) To be honest I didn't know what 'dl' stood for either but I checked the comments and might have a stab at it. If I can replace the potato starch with corn starch (because I know there's some in the cupboard) that will work.

The pizza has an utterly different base to the three we make so I might try that as well, after all new recipes usually need a few goes to get right (which I suppose is a good enough excuse to make large quantities of cake and pizza!)


Thank you for these.

[identity profile] kat-lair.livejournal.com 2007-04-10 07:15 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm quite thrilled people want to try the recipes, despite having to do mathematics with the measurements. Just goes to show how determined people are when chocolate cake is on the line!

Have fun baking and let me know how it goes!