Focaccia Bread with Garlic,Basil ,Rosemary and Olives

I came I saw and was conquered.

I never knew how enticing the aroma of freshly baked bread stuffed with olives and basil and garlic and slathered with extra virgin olive oil is.

Up to a little while ago, I used olive oil as massage oil…and used it liberally on my hair too. Consequently, every time I cooked in extra virgin olive oil or used it as a salad dressing…I could only think of oiled hair.

Not the most appetizing thing on the surface of the earth.

So I decided to make a change.

Not in the cooking medium, but in the massage oil. I converted to extra virgin coconut oil.

That now puts me off banana chips for life!

But at least the smell does not haunt me anymore.

As to where I get the extra virgin coconut oil…south India!

So I can now slather my bread with olive oil instead of butter.

And I am happy!

Fresh herbs do something wonderful to bread. And a little bit of garlic goes a long way. The last two months I have been requesting the Morphy Richards dealer to give me two extra baking trays, but to no avail…he absolutely refused.

So I did what Indians are famous for...JUGAD!

If you are not Indian…that may take a little explaining...jugad means not the real thing, but an ersatz arrangement.

I got a local trunk maker to make me two sheets...these act as my cookie sheets and they were crying out for something more wholesome than cookies,.

So focaccia it was.

I saw and lusted after this bread here, now I know one thing…whoever wants to buy me a gift…see my wish list on flipkart.!

Beautifully rustic bread that needs no knives…just a soup to be dunked into.

Not very complicated, but a word of advice…follow the instructions.

I used fresh basil and fresh aniseed leaves. And a whole lot of garlic. And I topped it with dried rosemary.

The most important thing to note…invest in a bread bin and do not refrigerate the bread.

This is also part of my quest to look for the new flavors that jaggery/gur can bring out in bread.

Enough said…

For the

Focaccia Bread with  Garlic,Basil Rosemary and Olives ...

You need

2 ½ cups or 330 Gms flour

1 tbsp brown sugar or jaggery/gur

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp salt

8 -10 cloves of garlic (I used much, much more)

50 Gms olives (I used pimento stuffed olives)

Handful of basil leaves

1 tsp dried rosemary

For the starter

300 gms flour (2 tbsp less 2 ½ cups)

2 tbsp gluten

1 ½ tsp dried yeast

420 mils warm water

Start with a big bowl that can hold at least 2 ½ l of water.

Place the ingredients for the starter in the bowl and whisk them together. Just ensure you don’t have any lumps of flour.

Cover with cling film and set aside in someplace warm.

In about an hour, the mix doubles.

Now push up your sleeves and pouring the flour, the brown sugar-I used gur ki shakker (eliminates the mess of grating the jaggery) salt and the oil.

Knead for about 5 minutes till the dough is nice and elastic. You may need more flour to make a good dough.

Cover and set aside to prove. At this stage I dumped the dough in the fridge, as plans for soup and bread dinner were suddenly altered and replaced with chicken and rotis.

Next afternoon, the dough was ready to spill out…

So I got it out of the fridge, and let it rest till it came to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 220C/425F.

The two cookie sheets, over which I liberally sprinkled flour and set aside.

The dough out on the counter top, and spread with hands.

Sprinkle the chopped garlic, some halved olives and a lot of basil all over. Fold first, 1/3 to the inside and then cover with the rest.

 So you have three layers. So you have a rectangular shaped pillow like thing. Now cut into two.

One on each sheet, and spread the dough with your hands, my focaccia measured 12 inches by 7 inches and was a centimeter thick. This was my second attempt, the first time I did not spread the focaccia enough.

Stud the bread with the olives and sprinkle the rosemary.

Pop the two sheets into the oven. I also popped in some garlic to allow it to roast as well.

After 35 minutes, the bread was DONE!

Out and slathered with some extra virgin olive oil.

I am heading straight for a hyper mart when I come to Delhi next…I want sea salt crystals!

See the crumb…

Purrrrrfect!

And tasted so good, no need for any butter or soup or any accompaniment.

This was my second try…and definitely will not be my last.

Loved the bread…

I am off yeast spotting too...

Thank you Deeba for such a wonderful bread.

So what are you baking  today???

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Pineapple Pastry -Cake with Pineapple Curd-Happy Birthday Hubby Dear and a Contest entry

With every passing birthday of yours , my wish for you to grow old and spend my life with you turns true.

Wishing you a very happy birthday ,my love!

OMG! Its been so long already??
Crossed the big four -oh , at this stage in life...notice, its always the men that grow old.
Well, the operative words are "spend my life with you!"
And we are doing that.

For me, every birthday is possibly the most depressing day of the year. Suddenly it dawns on me , that one more year of my life is past...and I haven't achieved anything significant ...
But things are different for hubby dear. He , for one , is the most satisfied person I know...no issues with growing old, no problems with grey hair and he is the only person I know ,who does not have a sweet tooth. So he has no issues with weight too.
AArrrrggggggggghhhhhhh!
Totally like chalk and cheese , we are.
That is why , we are!
The only thing sweet hubby dear eats ,is pineapple pastry. And once a year, he obliges..so I have a set task. A cake that tastes better than a store bought pineapple pastry.

As usual I embrace all I do , whole heartedly!
So this is The Pineapple pastry with a little extra.
The extra being Pineapple curd.
And this is my entry to the Del Monte Blogging Contest.

I had hoped to have pretty pictures of the slices....only the cake ended up in my hair and on my face and on my clothes...so after the mandatory bite...sweet dog Romeo had a field day...he gorged on all the cake that did not land on me and myself.
How guys gang up...against a damsel in distress!
But a few clean slices were good enough to place on a Petty plate and taste.And the pineapple curd was what made all the difference.

From a simple clone of pineapple pastry, this became a gourmet Pineapple Pudding Cake.Soft and moist.
I used my ancient sponge cake recipe my mum taught me, which uses no oil or fat and the pineapple curd was sans any butter.Contrary to expectations, the cake is light as a feather and moist ...melting in your mouth.
Enough of blowing my own trumpet....
Since I can not invite all to taste my wares...you need to grease your elbows.
Three parts to the cake.The sponge, the frosting and the pineapple curd and Del Monte Pineapple Slices.

for the

Pineapple Pastry -Cake with Pineapple Curd-Happy Birthday Hubby Dear...

you need

5 eggs at room temperature
125 gms or 1 cup(remove 1 tbsp) flour
125 gms or 1 cup(remove 2 tbsp) icing sugar
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla or pineapple essence

Lets start at the very beginning...
Turn on your oven to 180C/350F. Line a round tin with parchment paper. Al foil is a bad idea. If you don't have the paper...grease and flour the tin generously.
I was a little generous with the paper.

The eggs.I weighed...Just like that.250 gms(with the shells.)

Whipped till more than tripled. The idea is to incorporate as much air into the eggs as possible.
The flours,and baking powder need to be sifted at least two times.I did four.

Add the icing sugar to the eggs.If you have superfine sugar, that is better than icing sugar-use that.

Continue to whip till all the sugar is incorporated.

In three batches, cut and fold the flour mix , here, it is important to restrain oneself.If you need to express your aggression...bake bread.

A sponge is like an untouched lady.You need to treat it with care!

Pour in the essence-I used pineapple...I wanted the fragrance to emanate from all the pores....and fold in.
Quickly , into the dish and into the oven.Just when the 10 minute mark had passed...we had a power cut.
I almost banged my head into the wall...but the gods were kind.The electricity returned in 6 minutes...so no damage was done.(almost- the cake would have been at least a centimeter higher ...)

Ranchi has been facing terrible weather...we haven't had a dry day in ages...rain, mist, drizzle,fungus,soggy cookies...we live with that now.
OK, technically...35 minutes good.Keep an eye...as soon as the cake looks done...test with a skewer.
Over baking will give you a HARD cake.
Once the cake is done, bring it out and leave to cool.

Basically let it mind its own business till you get on with the rest of your chores.

For the Pineapple Curd

3 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cup  pineapple juice
3 tbsp cornflour
a wee bit of pineapple essence

All the stuff into a pan.

Whisk well and turn on the heat.

Cook on a medium flame till the egg and cornflour cooks.Done now...

Take it off the heat and beat till cool,Place a sheet of cling film on the curd so a film does not form.

now the Frosting!
400 gms non dairy cream
Whip the Ice cold Cream

1 tin Del Monte Pineapple Slices

Sprinkles to put some colour on the pure white cake

Now to assemble the cake..Which incidently is Fat Free.
Remove the cake from the tin and slice It three slices.A little cream on the cake platter to ensure that your cake does not go for a walk.
First slice on.
Irrigate the slice generously with the Juices from the tin ,which I spiked with a little vodka.All good things need alcohol. There was no Bacardi...I was planning to turn this into a cocktail cake...So vodka it was!

Into the pineapple curd I added 5 slices of pineapple which I chopped - Puree would have made it easier to slice...but we, the people love bits.

Slather on this fruit laden pineapple curd.I did not have yellow food colour...a splash of sunshine would have looked really pretty.

Second layer on...Irrigate!
Now the non dairy cream.Topped with chopped pineapple bits.

Third layer on....Irrigate.
I used up 3/4 the juice and about 75 mils of vodka. The cake was quite drunk by the time I finished with it.
Sweet dog romeo slept through the night,nary a whine or growl!

Now the cream slathered on for good measure and made to look pretty with little frosted shells.
A sprinkle of sprinkles and we were good to go!

The wait till midnight is generally the most agonising part of the day...
And then ...most of the cake ended up as a weapon of mass destruction...cake fight , after years.
Cleaning up at 1 am , and then being the only one in need of a shampoo was not what I bargained for.
But then , It was a cake well spent and eaten!

Special ,was the need of the day...and after almost  being crushed under a water laden tent..(My life is so super exciting...that is another story)...one needed to lighten the mood!
And you wondered why I was slacking.
Honestly...my plate is so full...7th grade Hindi and Sanskrit and History and all stuff....
If I had studied so much in my own school career...I would have been a PhD at least three times over by now.

Not taking away from the person...the cake was yum...wet and fruity...and if you use the cream as a hair pack...Fat free!
This was a reason to celebrate the most special person in my life...and I think I succeeded...happy birthday hubby dear...lets do many more cake fights!(next time I will be prepared!)

So what are you baking  today!!!


Coming up...healthy Oat meal Spicy Cookies...

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Double Chocolate Chunk Bejeweled Cookies

The most precious jewels you will ever have around your neck are the arms of your loved ones...

Jewels around my neck...that's what any normal girl would love.Yes, we also Love the arms around us...but a string of jewels is so much lighter ,no??and the aura creates a halo around our pretty faces...double the result with a single investment!

In this day and age, what man would not want double the returns of his investment.
I'll give yo a better deal...jewels encased in chocolate , with some health benefits thrown in!
What could be better??

Light on the pocket, they give so much pleasure..because they talk about your love for someone...
These cookies will make a girls heart melt.Men , too find stuff hard to resist!

So true...!
All you strapping young lads ...what a sweet thing to do for your girl!
I remember the sweetest thing that my guy made for me...he fashioned me a few pairs of earrings out of rifle rounds-yup bullets-fully loaded...and one pair out of copper pennies.
And ,No. He still is ! My guy!
So I can proclaim all!
BTW, neither of them had any jewels...but they are still precious!
You don't need a person to bake them for...bake them for your self!
Good for you.
Honestly!

The oats and the jaggery/gur and the flax seeds and then, there are the anti oxidants in the chocolate.
Simple to make and sweet dog romeo followed me from the time I cracked the egg open into the mix. He was     shuffling in and out of the kitchen while the cookies baked.And when I carried them out to photograph them in gods fresh air...he followed me out.
Sweet child handed him some m&m's(sweet child has high standards ... and an indulgent aunt!) which Romeo ignored in favour of a few cookie crumbs.
We took pity on him and he looooooooved them!
Ready to gobble more!!!
Romeo vetoed them...

Try them out, they are loosely adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens Magazine recipe.So you really cant go wrong!

for the

Double Chocolate Chunk Bejeweled Cookies...

you need

1/4 cup butter/margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar(I used gur ki shakker-jaggery)
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 egg
2 tsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
2/3 cup flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
110 gm semi sweet chocolate
55 gm white chocolate-I did not have any
1/2 cup dried cherries-I used tutti frutti

Pre heat the oven to 180C/350F.
Start with the butter. I used fresh white butter.Cream the butter and add in the sugar.This is what  gur ki shakker looks like.You can use brown sugar, but the taste of the jaggery makes the cookie enter another dimension.

Add the plain sugar and whip together.

Once these are whipped together, break the egg in and mix.

Now the cocoa and the flour.Time to ditch the beater and use a spoon.Wooden they say...

Add in the oats-I had ground the all my oats into oat flour to use in the Oats Adai, so went with that. I thought I'll never have to sow any wild oats , but...
That , and the ground flax seeds in.

Now the coarsely chopped chocolate. I did not have any white chocolate...that would have looked really pretty.Correction, I had...but it had found its way into sweet child's tummy...

Truth be told, I used around 150 gms of chocolate. And the dried cherries...well not available, so I used Tutti frutti-Candied Pumpkin-I think.

Mixed it all together.Spoon full of dough onto the baking tray, slightly flatten the top and pop into the oven...for 10 minutes. They will be a little soft when they come out, but harden on cooling.

This recipe yields about 18 cookies.If you have white chocolate, sprinkle some on the top. The cookies will be even prettier.
After you bring the cookies out, leave them for a minute on the tray and  then let them cool on a wire rack.
Store in an air tight container and enjoy the decadence of chocolate...and chocolate.
Sweet Dog seems spoilt for choice.

Beautifully tasty cookies , definitely worth a try.

Baubles...
Inspired?

So what are you baking today???

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