Wednesday 31 December 2014

Happy New Year 2015


My best wishes for a happy and prosperous New Year 2015 to you all. 



Enjoy the New Year, Stay Healthy,  Keep Well and God Bless.


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SWEET  FRUIT  BRIOCHE  FOR  SWEET  NEW  YEAR.

Our new year cake is fruit brioche as in the previous post.  We shared with our family and neighbours.

To my family, my girls: (Melanie-Lance and their children; Mary, Thomas, Henry and Lily) and to ( Jane and Ivy-Edwin and Milo) and to (Susan-Tristan and Alfie), HAVE A HAPPY AND SUCCESSFUL YEAR  AND  GOD BLESS.


It has been a good year and fun for having this blog.  To my followers and readers who generously gave me encouragements, and comments, thank you all for your support.


Next year will be another fun time, until then.
Happy New Year 2015
Susy

Fruit Brioche for The New Year.


Delicious sweet fruit brioche for the New Year.  I have baked the brioche, and today it is dressed sweetly.

The baking Process.

the dough after two hours proofing
the brioche dough









the brioche is added with sultana, glace orange peel
shaped and proof for the second round, and it is
ready for baking
freshly baked fruit brioche
beautiful, dark golden brown, and it is
ready for dressing when is cold













A very rich brioche,  more eggs are added to my basic brioche dough and also is Grand Marnier to the fruits.



The liquor gives extra citrus flavour.





To Dress the Brioche
topping: glace orange peel, cherries, sliced glace pears and
almonds flakes.


white chocolate icing is ready for
the dressing, glace fruits and
almonds flakes the topping
the dressed sweet fruit brioche
white chocolate icing and glace fruits
add almonds flakes on top













The last step is to decorate the sweet fruit brioche for the occasion and is shared with family-friends. It is a rich bread, based on France bread-brioche.   This brioche is very moist and soft, excellent to be served warm with black coffee. 



Sweet Rich Brioche for Sweet Happy New Year.
Susy

Monday 29 December 2014

Pear and Plum Tart


This tart uses brioche dough instead of short pastry.  I had a big batch of brioche dough that I used for different baking, and this is one of the baking.

The base is light but spongy, and buttery enough as you have in shortcrust pastry.  Reheat the tart to be eaten warm.
Brioche dough can be prepared earlier, and it freezes well.  At any time I wish to have the tart, the dough is readily available that is a big help.

In my town pear is not expensive at the moment, but it is a good idea to buy pears when they are in season.  Buy in bulk, and preserve them.  I saw some plums in the market, they are not cheap yet, but within a month or so they will be.  It is time to make jams, or cook and freeze them.

For the tart: poached pear in syrup can be delicious and sweet, but to make it better, I added plum jam which gives some sour taste or a tart taste, it provides extra rich flavour.

Pear and Plum Tart


Serve warm with ice cream, or cold with whipped cream.  I like simply as it is to go with small black coffee.


Cook the fruits a week before if you wish, refrigerated to be on the safe side.  I did home make plum jam, and I reduced the sugar, it was still sweet but slightly runny as I wanted it to be.

Pictures and explanations are clear enough, and I wish you will be able to follow what you have to do.  Give it ago to bake this sweet-tart, it is delicious to be served on a hot day too.  It can be a holiday treat for the family.
The Preparation
Poaching syrup: 2 cups white sugar, 1 cup red wine, 2 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick
Cook over medium heat, for 3 minutes until the sugar is dissolved.
Peel 3 unripe pears, halved and cored.  Put them in the poaching syrup, cook
bring to simmer for 6 minutes, lower the heat, cover the cooking pot and cook
over very very low heat for another 20 minutes until the pears are soft.
Half cup of plum jam and 1 tablespoon hot water mixed together,55 g almond meal,
place the cooked pear on a tray to cool.
Mix in the almond meal with the warmed soft plum jam and mix together
The beautiful red colour of almond meal and plum jam mixture
Brioche dough, roll and spread to make a thin round shape for the base\
of the tart
Place the dough over a lined round baking tray and spread the almond evenly
and jam mixture over the base of the tart.
Cut each pear into six and place the pears on top.
Bring the edge of the dough base over the filling, but not covering it
Bake in a preheated hot oven at 190 degrees C for 10 minutes, reduce to 160 C
 bake 20 minutes longer (cover the top with baking paper)
Freshly baked plum and pear tart



The tart does not look good-half side is burnt.  My oven door needs fixing (it does not close properly) that make the circulation of the heat uneven.

If you don't have brioche dough, use sweet short pastry instead.  Another good pastry is sour cream pastry, which is very easy to prepare and to work with.

The tart is my last baking for the year.


Thanks for visiting, until next post.
Susy


Wednesday 24 December 2014

Christmas 2014


Today is Christmas Eve, we are all busy for tomorrow the big day, take it easy but have fun.

Christmas is the time to be together with family, friends, where ever you are, I hope you feel at home, happy and be peaceful. 

Have a Wonderful Christmas everyone, enjoy the celebration, be merry and happy feasting.

Thank you for your support.
It has been a very productive year, there were a lot of stories to tell, recipes to share. 


My best wishes for a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year 2015.



Colourful and Cheerful in Park Lane-Our home,  Specially at Christmas 

My Best Regards
Susy and Family

Friday 19 December 2014

Christmas Tree



No Christmas Tree for this year, instead we have beautiful cut flowers and fresh leaves from our garden for the Festivity.  A lovely arrangement of smoke bush leaves, three red roses, three angel eyes roses,  three angels and a golden star. The chain of golden stars for the glitters, with a massive star and little star at the top for the backdrop. It is new and different, but original.

We are celebrating Christmas with thanks, joy, hope and healing.

Christmas at Susan and Tristan for 2014, thank you both, I know that it is going to be fun.  All the family will be there to catch up, to celebrate and feast.

LOVE  AND  GOD  BLESS.
Thinking of you all, family and friends, especially at Christmas.



No Christmas Trees, But Stars and Angels
 The beauty of this fresh arrangement is, it can be changed every three or five days.








The Tree Angels

Day Time
Night Time









It is Christmas week, we are all busy; however we must have time for oneself and to be calm.

 Enjoy the happy and busy season.  Susy xx





Sunday 14 December 2014

Olive Bread Rolls


To celebrate my home preserved olives which are mature right now, I made crusty olive bread rolls.  As promised, I am sharing the recipe and showing you what to do to make the delicious olive bread.

In all my bread making,  I use ordinary plain flour, but if you have strong flour for bread, I should think it is better.  In my kitchen, the bread is baked in a domestic oven and using baking tins instead of stones.


Olive Bread Rolls

Ingredients 
600 g plain flour
13 g dry yeast
1 cup warm water to mix with the yeast
1 teaspoon salt, sugar and oil.
1 cup mixed fresh herbs: oregano, mints, fennel fronds and rosemary
An extra cup of warm water
Extra flour for dusting during kneading
1 cup chopped seeded olives
Method
Dissolve the yeast in warm water, keep aside until frothy
An electric mixer is used, attach the dough hook,
First I mixed the ingredients in an electric mixer and using the The dough hook to knead it until smooth.  Continued to knead by hand, that's The fun of it, I did it for 10 minutes. You will feel that the gluten is indeed well developed when the dough is very soft, smooth and it springs back when You press it.   Place in a bowl; cover with a tea towel let it proof for one hour.
Punch the dough down, now add some chopped seeded olives and shape as you wish, I made a loaf and eight small rolls.  Put in a baking tray, slash them and let rise again, about 30 minutes.
Bake in a very hot oven at 225 degrees C for 25 minutes for the loaf and 19 minutes for the rolls.
The Process
Mixing all ingredients
Adding a little flour while mixing to make the dough less sticky
After the dough is kneaded for five minutes in a low speed
The dough becomes soft but less sticky, transfer the money to a floured board to knead by hand for 10 minutes.  This part is the best because the fun has begun.
Knead the dough, use the palm of your hand, push forward and
fold the dough over and push back and forward, do it for eight -10 minutes
Feel the dough if the gluten is well developed, press it with your
fingers, and it springs back.  Now stop kneading.
Roll the dough to make nice round and put in a bowl to proof.
The dough is 1273 (almost one and quarter kg) it is big enough
to make bread rolls and a loaf.
 It is a good idea to weigh the dough, you can decide how heavy the loaf is going to be and also for the bread rolls.  For eight rolls you may need  560 gr dough, it makes 8,  70 gr for each roll.  The rest of the dough is for the loaf.

Place the dough in a bowl, and cover it with a tea towel to proof for one hour, you don't need to put in a warm place.
To proof, the dough, cover with a tea towel
Approximately after one hour, the dough becomes double.





Punch the dough down, knead lightly, add the seeded olives, roll and knead to shape the dough to make a large loaf and eight roll

Shaping the dough to a large loaf, place it on a baking tray, let it rise again for 25 -30 minutes.

The olive bread rolls and the large loaf are slashed, and to proof before baking for 25 minutes.

The olive bread and olive rolls are ready to bake, before putting them in oven, brush them with water, and you could sprinkle some flour to have a rustic look, then bake them in a hot oven at 225 degrees C,  For the roll bake for 19 minutes, and for the large loaf bake  for 29 minutes.
Freshly baked olive bread rolls
Freshly baked olive bread, it looks good, and the crust is good too.

I have a confession to make, I think I put a little too much water which makes the shape of the loaf rather flat instead of along firm loaf with a right height.

They are simply delicious buttered or add some cheeses: feta cheese and any preserved Mediterranean vegetables, or fresh grilled red capsicum, eggplant, mushroom and rocket salad.



Until Next Post
Susy