Monday, October 20, 2014

Brioche - Sweet and Savoury

It's been a long time since I made these but after hearing someone retell a story about staying with us and the brioche I made, I thought it might be time to give this one another go.
The recipe is simple and I used the dough for both the sweet and the savoury version. The dough was made in the bread maker and then the completed brioche given time to rise in the oven. The rose during baking too.
They probably could have been glazed to make them look better but the still tasted great. They are best eaten in the day they are baked (straight out of the oven was pretty good) but are ok the next day warmed a little bit.

Brioche Dough
1 cup milk
3 tbs melted butter
2 eggs - plus enough milk to make 1/2 a cup
4 1/4 cups of high grade flour
1 tbs sugar
2 tsp yeast

Make dough in bread maker on dough setting.
Divide dough in half (if making half sweet, half savoury) and roll the dough out to roughly a 15cm by 30 cm rectangle.
Spread filling over the dough.
Roll dough up in a spiral to form a long sausage.
Slice into brioche slices (about 10 cm)
Place slices on tray covered in baking paper with space between ti allow for rising.
Bake at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes

Sweet filling ideas

  • chopped white chocolate and frozen (or fresh) raspberries
  • brown sugar (or coconut sugar) and cinnamon
  • chopped dark chocolate and raisin
Savoury filling ideas
  • pesto, finely chopped mushroom, capsicum and cheese
  • cheese, bacon
  • cheese and pineapple
  • sundried tomato and feta cheese




Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Strawberry, Coconut, Raspberry Banana Bread

I've looked at different fruit bread recipes and thought they just seemed odd - not a cake and not a loaf but I've changed my mind. Isabella and I had a 'girls' holiday in Melbourne staying with friends. One morning walked to the local cafe for breakfast. The recommendation was the toasted rhubarb bread. I was not expected to be 'wowed', but I was!
We came back and I looked at a range of recipes to try. I wanted something that was not too unhealthy and this one appealed because it had chia seeds and lots of fruit in it.
I used fresh strawberries and frozen raspberries and 3 bananas.
We LOVE it and Isabella and I have had it for breakfast for the last three days - toasted with butter.
I'm going to try to reduce the sugar next time and probably use coconut sugar. The banana and fruit makes it sweet anyway.
This will also be a great breakfast recipe when we have people staying. It lasts well because we had it toasted. YUM
Thanks Lynn and Bec for the recommendation!


Strawberry, Coconut, Raspberry Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS
  • 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup ripe mashed banana (about 2-3 bananas)
  • 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted and cooled
  • 1/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup nonfat plain greek yogurt 
  • 2 tablespoons unsweetened almond milk (soy, coconut, or skim also work)
  • 3/4 cup diced organic ripe strawberries
  • 1/4 cup smashed organic raspberries (or you can use more strawberries)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, plus 3 tablespoons for topping (sweetened is fine, too)
  • 2 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 2-4 strawberries, sliced for topping

INSTRUCTIONS
  1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 9-inch loaf pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  3. In a seperate large bowl, beat together banana, brown sugar, egg, coconut oil vanilla, yogurt, and almond milk until smooth and creamy. Slowly add dry mixture to wet ingredients, and mix until combined. Gently fold strawberries, raspberries, coconut and chia seeds into the batter.
  4. Place batter in prepared loaf pan. Sprinkle top evenly with 3 tablespoons of coconut. Place sliced strawberries over the top of the bread. Bake for 50-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 20 minutes, then remove from pan and return to wire rack to finish cooling. Bread is even better the next day (they always are). Bread will stay fresh for a few days when wrapped tightly.