Focaccia is a pizza-esque Italian bread enriched with extra virgin olive oil and usually herb flavoured. With focaccia you can experiment with lots of flavours, stuffing & toppings. When I was thinking about baking this bread, I intended to do a plain rosemary focaccia, but then I caught sight of some leftover olives in the fridge and decided to add them for a bit of flourish.

The recipe below is really easy to follow, you should give it a go….

• 500 grams all-purpose flour
• 350 mls water
• 2 tsp instant dry yeast
• 1.5 tsp sea salt
• 45 mls extra virgin olive oil
• 75 grams spanish black olives chopped
• 4 sprigs rosemary(finely chop 2 sprigs, the other 2 just remove the leaves)
• Salt & extra virgin olive oil

1. In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt, yeast in a large bowl.
2. Add water & olive oil to the dry ingredients, combine to form a sticky dough.
3. Cover the bowl and set it aside for about 30 minutes, during this time autolysis happens. During autolysis the flour absorbs as much water as it can, resulting in a dough that is easier to work with and requires less kneading.
4. Lightly oil your work surface & your hands with olive oil, turn out dough on to work surface. Knead the dough until its soft & elastic, this takes about 10-15 minutes. The oil on your hands keep the dough from sticking on to it.
5. Once kneading is done, set the dough aside in a lightly oiled bowl. Cover the bowl and leave the dough to rise for about 120 minutes.
6. After 120 minutes knock down the dough. Turn out dough on to your work surface.
7. Add the chopped rosemary & the chopped olives on to the dough, then lightly knead for about two minutes to combine the rosemary & olives.
8. Generously oil a large baking tray with olive oil.
9. Spread the dough on to the baking tray, whilst spreading you might find the dough springing back when you try pushing it wide. Don’t worry about this.
10. Cover the baking tray and let the dough prove for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius.
11. After 30 minutes, dimple the dough using your fingers. On this bread I also experimented with a fork.
12. Generously spread olive oil on top of the dough, followed by a few pinches of salt, some chopped olives & rosemary leaves.
13. Place the baking tray with dough in the centre of the oven and bake for about 30-40 minutes.
14. After baking, remove from tray and let bread cool on a wire rack.
15. Enjoy!

This is what I got upto this weekend. I made my first batch of macaroons ever, they tasted good. Never having made macaroons before, this was a fun bumbling experience. Will make some more next weekend, hopefully the next batch will grow some cute macaroon feet. Watch out Pierre Herme lol!

I want to give a shout out to Illy @ SAVOURY AND SWEET, AND EVERYTHING ELSE IN BETWEEN for his great tips on making macaroons.

Just wanted to share this amazing banana bread I made today. I got the recipe,from joyofbaking.com, this is my favourite banana bread recipe. Try it out, its great.

]]> http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/05/simplicity-banana-bread/feed/ 0 http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/04/simplicity-gooey-chocolate-brownie-with-creme-anglaise/ http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/04/simplicity-gooey-chocolate-brownie-with-creme-anglaise/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 18:56:14 +0000 Kiplagat http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/?p=176

Brownies are supposed to be easy to make but the three brownies I have had recently at different cafes here in Nairobi have not done it for me. First one was very dry but very buttery(a good thing for me! hehe), second was dry with almost no chocolate, & third was a dry brick. I was thinking of naming the cafes but though against it, Nairobi is too small. I don’t need enemies now.

I like my brownies really gooey & fudge like, with intense chocolate flavour. I really love chocolate, but I will not admit it in public. Imagine a thirty something African male chocaholic, not likely.

Anyway, so instead of whinging about other people’s brownies, I just made my own.

My brownie is real easy to make, you should try it;

• Grab 160 grams of the your favourite chocolate & 75 grams of butter, melt them both in a bowl over simmering water(a bain marie)
• Sift together 50 grams of plain flour & 50 grams of cocoa into another bowl
• In another bowl add 100 grams of sugar & 3 large eggs, beat it hard with a balloon whisk. Until its pale & has soft peaks.
• Stir eggs sugar mixture into the melted chocolate.
• Fold the flour & cocoa into melted chocolate.
• Pour the mixture into a baking tray prepped with grease proof paper.
• Baking in 160 degree celsius oven for about 25 minutes.
• At the end of the 25 minutes, the brownie will be soft & look under done. Thats alright, it will firm up as it cools down.
• Slice it up, I like to have mine with creme anglaise(english custard), creme anglaise is easy to make, google a recipe…. brownies also go great with glace cherries.

]]> http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/04/simplicity-gooey-chocolate-brownie-with-creme-anglaise/feed/ 0 http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/03/cheddar-margherita-pizza-with-pimento-meatballs/ http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/03/cheddar-margherita-pizza-with-pimento-meatballs/#comments Mon, 09 Mar 2009 17:49:22 +0000 Kiplagat http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/?p=148

This is a really fast pizza I made for lunch, it is assembled rather than cooked from scratch. This is the lazy pizza that tastes better than anything Debonairs pizza or Pizza inn in Nairobi can do IMO. It is probably cheaper too.

• Grill ready made meatballs. I used the KMC(kenya meat commision) one’s, sprinkled some pimento, tumeric & coriander on the meatballs before grilling.
• Using a pizza base from the supermarket, spread some ketchup on the base.
• Add tomato slices.
• Place basil leaves on top of tomato slices.
• Slice meatballs into halves. Place meatball halves on top of the basil leaves.
• Grate some cheddar cheese & sprinkle on top of pizza. The more mature the cheddar the bigger the flavour hit
• Season with black pepper.
• Baking 240 degree centrigrade oven for 8 minutes.
• Presto…. Voila….. Mambo kwisha!
• Eat it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

]]> http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/03/cheddar-margherita-pizza-with-pimento-meatballs/feed/ 0 http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/02/chocolate-pithivier/ http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/2009/02/chocolate-pithivier/#comments Wed, 18 Feb 2009 18:22:15 +0000 Kiplagat http://arapleting.com/porkygourmand/?p=99

Pithiviers are a speciality from the town of Pithiviers in the south of France. They are usually served as coffee cakes. The traditional filling is an almond cream mixture with a hint of rum.

This recipe is adapted from Liam Tomlin’s book “Season to Taste”. Liam Tomlin is current executive chef at Cape Grace,Cape Town and former head chef of famed but now closed sydney restaurant Banc. His proteges at Banc have become prominent Australian restauranteurs; Chui Lee Luke at Claude’s, Justin North at Becasse, Peter Sheppard at Caveau, Warren Turnbull at Assiette , Matthew Kemp at Restaurant Balzac.

To make this pithiviers you need the following.

Puff Pastry

I took the easy way out & bought frozen puff pastry from the supermarket.

2. Roll out the puff pastry
3. Use a 8 cm pastry cutter to cut round bases and tops for the pithiviers.
4. Place tops and bases in the fridge for 30 minutes for pastry to rest before assembling the pithiviers

Creme patissiere (Pastry Cream)

• 1 Egg yolk
• 125 mls milk
• 2 1/2 tbsps plain flour
• 35 grams caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence

2. Combine milk and vanilla essence in sauce pan bring to boil, then set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar then whisk it silly. It will take a while. What you want is a mixture very pale, double in volume, thick consistency. Mixture should come down like a ribbon off the whisk(hard to explain)
4. Fold flour into egg yolks sugar mixture.
5. Take 1/3 of milk mixture, combine into egg sugar mixture in bowl.
6. Add egg sugar mixture from bowl, add to saucepan contain milk mixture.
7. Place saucepan on medium heat, whisk slowly until it thickens to shiny thick custard. This takes about 5 minutes. Set aside.

Chocolate almond filling

• 100 grams dark chocolate
• 55 grams caster sugar
• 55 grams almond meal
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 egg

2. Melt chocolate over a bain-marie(bowl over simmering water)
3. Cream together butter & sugar. Then stir in the egg, almond meal and cocoa powder. Add the melted chocolate and mix until the chocolate is fully incorporated.
4. Refrigerate for 1 hour until reasonably firm to mold into patties that about 6 cm in diameter. Freeze patties until ready to use.

Chocolate sauce

• 50 grams dark chocolate
• 75 mls cream
• 25 grams unsalted butter

2. Bring cream to boil.
3. Add chunks of chocolate into hot cream & incorporate it.
4. Finish it off with the butter & set aside

Assembly

• Place pastry base on floured surface, put a chocolate almond patty into the centre of the pastry bases. Brush the edge of base with egg wash.
• Place a pastry top over the chocolate patty and mould it around the patty removing any air pockets between patty & filling.
• Mark a pattern on pithivier with the tip of a knife
• Brush with egg wash then refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• Mark border with back of knife. Preheat oven to 220 degrees centigrade. Refrigerate again for 30 minutes.
• Bake pithiviers for about 15 minutes until crisp & golden

Serve with chocolate sauce & vanilla ice cream

Inspired by Jacques Pepin’s Tart Carree from his book “La Technique(Complete Techniques)”.

This tarts were amazing, banana & custard(creme patissiere) is one of my favourite flavour combinations.

Puff pastry shell

I used frozen Puff Pastry bought at Nakumatt, not as good as home made one. The commercial varieties use random vegetable oils/fats instead of butter.

2. Cut puff pastry into squares.
3. Fold into triangle
4. Measure & mark about 1 cm into border of square sides of triangle. Cut along marked line.
5. Unfold, you should have square piece of pastry in the centre & large strip of pastry bordering the centre piece.
6. Brush outer edges of centre pastry with water.
7. Now the tricky bit.Fold outer pastry onto opposite edge, aligning its border with that of centre pastry.Trim edges.
8. Using a fork, poke numerous holes in centre pastry to stop it from rising.
9. Baking in 220 degrees oven for 20 minutes, then set aside.

Creme patissiere (Pastry Cream)

• 3 Egg yolks
• 100 mls milk
• 100 mls cream
• 25 grams plain flour
• 50 grams caster sugar
• 1/4 tsp vanilla essence

2. Combine milk, cream & vanilla essence in sauce pan bring to boil, then set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar then whisk it silly. It will take a while. What you want is a mixture very pale, double in volume, thick consistency. Mixture should come down like a ribbon off the whisk(hard to explain)
4. Fold flour into egg yolks sugar mixture.
5. Take 1/3 of milk mixture, combine into egg sugar mixture in bowl.
6. Add egg sugar mixture from bowl, add to saucepan contain mill mixture.
7. Place saucepan on medium heat, whisk slowly until it thickens to shiny thick custard. This takes about 5 minutes. Set aside in fridge until ready to use

Caramel

• 1/2 cup caster sugar
• 1/4 cup water

2. Combine in pan, heat until colour changes to hazelnut brown.

Assembly

2. Pour thin layer of caramel on the bottom of puff pastry shells. The caramel adds some crunch & also stops pastry from getting soggy
3. Spread creme patissiere(pastry cream) inside pastry shell
4. Arrange fruit on top of pastry shell
5. Dust with icing sugar & cinnamon

This is a very hilarious experience, with really great tasting results.When you cook/bake you should pay lots of attention. This is what happens when you don’t.

Adapted the recipe from lots of sources, whole meal flour added because i have run out of plain flour. Use 3 egg yolks because that is all I have in the fridge. Who the hell eats egg whites only?

My Ingredients

• 300 grams Plain flour
• 75 grams whole meal flour
• 2.5 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1.5 teaspoons salt
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 100 grams soft butter
• 15 grams melted butter
• 3 egg yolks
• 100 mls milk
• 50 mls water

How not to do it(this is how I did it)

Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl, add melted butter then the milk & water.

My sister then asks me to drive her to meet some friends. I assume it will take less than 10 minutes to drive down the road & back, I could also pass by the supermarket for more flour, eggs & milk. But as usual, Nairobi traffic has other ideas. Get back home 45 minutes later. Rush to check dough. Wonder what 45 minutes of autolysis will do. The dough is about 50% bigger already. Take dough out of bowl, knead it well for 15 minutes, then set it away to rise for 2 hours.

Watch tv, after 2 hours knock down the dough, then let it rest. Realise I have forgotten to prep the softened butter to integrate into the dough. Get the butter out, measure & dice it up. Let it soften up on kitchen counter. Go back and watch tv.

30 minutes later, the butter has softened up. Still watching news, 15 minutes later attempt to mix butter into dough. Butter is too soft, starting to melt. Freak out big time. Stick dough in fridge 30 minutes. It turns out alright.

Lightly knead the dough, then shape. Lay on baking tray to prove for 30 minutes. Watch more tv

Back 45 minutes later, proved well. Thinking of egg wash glaze.

Start making egg wash glaze, look for brush. Its missing, who has taken it. Improvise with fingers….. Not good.

Bake it 220 degree oven, 20 minutes.

Done……. It actually tastes real good. Not too sweet, not greasy…. not bad.

I love baking bread by hand, it is a slow but rewarding process. This bread took about 4 hours to prepare & bake. I am still a novice at baking, but the results so far have been very rewarding. You cannot compare home baked bread to the commercial crap in the supermarket. The only bread I buy now are from little bakeries that do artisan style bread. The bread at these bakeries may cost more, the taste & craftsmanship justifies the premium.

The first bread I baked was a foccacia, it turned out so good I thought I was born baking. Second bread was a white boule, it was a total disaster….. really bad. I always try to get better with every bread, the perfect loaf seems elusive. I’ll get there on my 10,000th loaf……

Recipe for this boule

I have adapted this recipe for myself from a variety of sources. Still trying to achieve the perfect bread.

Prep & Baking

This bread does not need any spread, I just dip it into some extra virgin olive oil with balsamic vinegar. yummo!