Friday olive bread

I have to admit that I love olives. The first time I tasted the real, tasty, big olives, I thought they were coming from heavens. And I'm not talking about those tiny, canned stuff you get in the supermarket, no. Forget about those tasteless products, I don't know who thought they were actually edible, they are much more for decoration.

So the "real" ones can be found in specialty shops, or markets. I buy them on the market each sunday, where I can face the producer and I can choose from like 20-25 different "types". These differ not just in colour and size, but the way they are prepared: some are spicy, some are natural, some with green herbs, others with some lemon stuff... Oh yes, there you can find your variety! As for the price, I think they are inexpensive: I usually buy 100g for about 1€, and that is enough for about 1 week. So the next Sunday I can set out to the market again...

Olive bread
Okay, the olive bread recipe is pretty much the same as the "standard" bread recipe, except that we add the olives (100g for 500g flour), olive oil (I used pumpkin seed oil for this one), some herbes and a bit more salt. All the rest are the same...
The one which I made this week was really delicious, but I'm not totally satisfied yet, as I didn't feel the olives enough... perhaps I missed some salt or some herbs... Anyway, I'll improve the recipe slightly and I'll come back with this topic a bit later.

Chocolate oatmeal muffins

Once upon a time there was a land with many-many tiny inhabitants. They were not just short in a matter of human size, but they had small villages with cute little houses and whatever they made with their hands, cooked or baked, were also small. Thus, one would consider the whole land as a place of dwarves. But they weren't dwarves, they were... the happy people of Muffinia, as the land was called.

It happened that once the little Prince of Muffinia ordered the chef of the Royal Cuisine to come up with a recipe that is new and unique. A recipe that fits the taste, suitable for breakfast and even for a snack, if one wishes to have. The poor chef worked day and night, making countless new recipes, but nothing seemed to fit the Prince's delicate taste.

So the disappointed chef set out to the forest, looking for the Witch of the Northern Woods, who was said to know everything about food - especially desserts and beyond. The witch was expecting him, and she welcomed the sad man with ginger bread and all-coloured tea.
- What can I do for you, great chef? - whispered the witch, with a spark in her eyes.
- I am looking for a recipe - he said.
- Oh, the Prince asked a new recipe of you, is it? For the joy and all occasions.
- How do you know about that? - asked the chef with great excitement.
- I know a lot more than you may think - answered secretly the witch, and then she added: - I will tell you the recipe you need, but you have to promise that nobody will ever get to know that I gave you this. Do you understand me, great chef?
The chef agreed and listened carefully while the witch uncovered the secret formula...

On the next day the chef gave a present to the Prince just after lunch. The present was nothing less than what the Prince ordered! He tasted the dessert, chewing every single bit with great care and once the last mouthful was swallowed, the Prince turned to the chef:
- It is not a coincidence that I made you the chef of my cuisine. You brought me the best dessert which meets all my requirements, so now I announce you the Best Chef of Muffinia!

And from that day the muffins the chef baked for the Prince became the official desserts of Muffinia.


Now I am sharing the secret recipe with you... but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone this is coming from me!

Chocolate oatmeal muffins
Ingredients
120g flour (whole or semi)
80g oatmeal
50g chocolate chips
50g unrefined cane sugar
30g raisins
150ml water
2 tbsp butter (or oil)
1 bag of baking powder (no sulphates!)
1-2 pinches of cinnamon
pinch of salt

Preparation
Combine all the dry ingredients, then pour in the oil and water, and mix until just moist. Put in the pan and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes.

Beware! This is my first muffin recipe... you will get moooore...

The bread story

When I was a child, we used to have fresh bread several times a week. The products coming from that bakery were always good - we had no complains at all. In fact we didn't know what to complain about, as everything was just as they had to be. Even the pastries were just perfect. I remember the fresh bread put on the table, still warm and amazingly crispy... and the Sun was shining outside and birds were singing, and all the children were happy.
Oh, am I exaggerating?

Anyway, I also can recall that things began to change a few years ago. I think it wasn't too long after that when I decided to bake my own bread one day. Oh yes, that was the wind of change... I still hear in my ears.

So the years went by, and I suddenly came up with the idea of buying a bread machine. And, as it had to be, my disappointment came instantly: not a single bit of a bread was edible out of the first 20 tries. I was wondering what could have been wrong, what had I possibly messed up - but I didn't see the point, that one cannot make real bread with any kind of machine.
Again some time passed before I decided to try the whole thing again with my bare hands and fresh yeast. At that time I used to by only whole wheat flour, as the first signs of my awakening consciousness. Should I mention that even the very first try of this "natural" method was a complete success? Well, that wasn't my best bread I have ever made, but clearly showed I was on the right way.

Years after my first try I bake my own bread. My favourite is whole wheat bread made with sourdough (see picture on the left), but the repertoire consists of many-many different ones, as I'll show them one by one on this blog.




Whole wheat bread with sourdough
Ingredients
500g organic whole wheat flour
300ml lukewarm water (or, if fresh sourdough is used, ~140ml)
15g dried organic sourdough, yeast added (or, if fresh, 200g sourdough)
10g salt
2 tbsp oil

This is quite a basic recipe. Just mix the dry ingredients thoroughly, then add the oil and water (and the wet sourdough, if you make with that), knead the dough for about 10-15 minutes (thank God, with the sourdough we don't need to knead that much), and put it aside (covered!) for about 30 minutes. Then knead it once more for 1-2 minutes, to push the air out of the dough. Shape your bread and make some cuttings on the top, then cover with a cloth and put aside for 2 more hours.
Preheat the oven for 180°C degrees, and when ready, bake the bread for 45-50 minutes, depending on your oven. Take it out and let it cool on a grid. Cut once it's cool enough...

A new dawn and a new breakfast

It's not been more than a few weeks now that we decided to move together. I can't find words how fascinated I am waiting for Her and waiting for our lives together. Not just because I love her, but because it's a whole new experience and a whole new adventure for each of us - and I am so excited that as the day of Her arrival gets closer, I can sleep less and less.

Today was a great day. Unlike any other sundays in the recent months, today was really calm (and not raining finally) and I met happy people on my way to the market in the morning. It was there when I decided about my sunday lunch and monday meals (it's good to think in advance while marching to the market).

Okay, at first I wanted this fast sandwich to become a light, monday-morning breakfast. And then, I ended up having that for sunday lunch, and it wasn't even fast. But preparing all the fresh ingredients is fun and in the end, assembling the whole meal is like a game - so time just flies by.
I love homemade bread, especially because I bake them with sourdough, which I eventually buy at the nearby organic store (yeah, you can make sourdough on your own, but why bother when the organic one costs less than 0.2€ per bread?). A touch of butter, slices of tomato, some cheese and pieces of olives - oregano and some dried basilic sprinkled over the whole, grilled in oven for a few minutes and served with salad and fresh basilic.
A really tasty and light monday morning breakfast! ;)