Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "Magic Bread Dough"

I think it's a bit ironic that my favourite, most-used recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's "River Cottage Veg Everyday" cookbook is the pizza dough recipe. I do like vegetables, though, and there are some amazing recipes in this book. A friend of mine told me I HAVE TO BUY this cookbook, and he was right! The recipes range from unique to comforting and familiar, the pictures are gorgeous, the instructions are clear, and did I mention that there are over 200 recipes? So, money's worth? Yes. Here are some that I've tried:

Chachouka (my favourite veggie recipe from the cookbook so far)

Baby Carrot and Broad Bean Risotto (I used normal carrots and peas, it was still lovely)

Tomato and Mozzarella Risotto (I fried the leftovers the next day. Yum.)

Vegeree (a close second to the Chachouka)

And of course, the Magic Bread Dough. I've made at least 15 pizzas from this dough, and it turns out perfect every time. I tried out some other recipes before I found his, and the dough was never quite right: too thick, too chewy, too soft... then I tried his, and voilà! It makes a very thin, very crisp crust, and there's no need to pre-bake the crust. There are other ideas for the dough as well, flatbreads, pita breads, breadsticks and even rolls (hence "magic" in the title).

As for the sauce, I use this one from Allrecipes 'cause it tastes awesome, it's ridiculously easy, and I'm all for being lazy and cutting corners when it doesn't sacrifice on taste!

I usually top my half of the pizza with cheese (and the other half with salami for Mr. Greenolive) or if I have leftovers in the fridge, that'll go on my half too. Of course, fresh mozza is the best, but any grated or torn cheese will do. By the way, does everyone else already know that you can freeze cheese? Grated works great, but I prefer to take the little bags of mozza and throw them in the freezer, along with little tupperware containers filled with sauce and leftover balls of pizza dough.  Just move everything into the fridge the night before and let it defrost. Then roll out the dough, slop on some sauce, tear the cheese and bake for 12 minutes. Done like dinner!

Magic bread dough
(makes 3 pizza crusts)

• 500 grams white flour (type 1050 is best - any other kind won't deliver the crust I've been promising!)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon dried yeast

• 1 tablespoon oil (and a few drops for later for oiling the second bowl)
• 325 ml warm water

In your first bowl, add your dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon. Add the wet ingredients and stir until all the flour is combined. Scrape the mess out onto a lightly floured countertop, and have at it - knead for 10 minutes, at which point the dough will become smooth. Work out any aggression on the dough, it will take it and reward you with pizza :-)

Add a little bit of oil into a clean bowl and smear it around. Place your dough in the bowl and cover with a clean towel. Put in a warm place, draft-free place. I used to put it in my oven with the light on, until I realized that turning the light on also turns the fan on. Don't make that mistake - dough doesn't like fans. Anyway, it'll need about an hour or two until it has doubled in size.

Once it's ready, preheat your oven to the hottest it will go. Pull the dough ball out of the bowl and roll it into a log, then cut into three roughly equal sized pieces. Form smooth balls out of the pieces by rolling in circles and pinching together any parts that aren't smooth.

Then roll out one dough ball. I roll in one direction, pushing hard, then lift the dough, flip and twist a quarter turn, so that I end up with a uniform shape. If the dough doesn't want to stretch enough for your liking, leave it for 10 minutes, then come back and roll some more - you will get a larger, thinner crust that way.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, put your dough on it (four hands are easiest for transport, though rolling the dough around the pin will work too) and do any final adjustments to the shape of the crust with your hands while it's in the baking sheet.

Slop sauce on (about 6 spoonfuls) and smear around with the back of a spoon or spatula.

Scatter grated or shredded cheese, add any other toppings and slide into the oven (middle rung) for about 10 - 12 minutes. Close to the end of the baking time, check to see if the top and bottom are done to your liking. If you prefer a crispier crust or slightly browned cheese, move the sheet up or down. Careful - it'll go quickly now! I like it when the crust has brown spots on the bottom (I lift and check) but prefer not to have brown spots on the cheese.

If you don't want to make all three of the crusts on one night, wrap up leftover dough balls in plastic wrap and toss in the freezer. They'll wait patiently until you need them again, though you should probably use within a few months.

Buon appetito!

Olive Oil and Ricotta Cake aka Coconut Oil and Yogurt Cake aka Easter Cake aka Fourth of July Cake aka Make Me Cake

Cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake cake 

I bake a lot of banana bread. A l-o-t of banana bread. And although it contains sweetener and flour, it still is sort of masquerading as a healthy treat, which is how I justify eating half a loaf a week *cough.* But this time I wanted a cake that was clearly a cake. Soft, sweet, mmm-inducing-cake, that goes perfectly with a cup of milky tea.

I had bought the Smitten Kitchen cookbook as soon as it came out in Germany in 2013. I was so excited, because I've been reading Deb's blog for years. You can count on the recipes to work, and she always has a great combination of old favourites and exciting new ideas. I highly recommend both the cookbook and the blog! Oh, and of my cookbooks, it's my boyfriend's favourite, so if that's not a vote of confidence, I don't know what it!

So far I've made Peach and Sour Cream Pancakes (omg so good):

Plum Poppyseed Muffins (very fluffy, just lovely):

Tomato Scallion Shortcakes with Whipped Goat Cheese (the combination was to die for):

plus Gingerbread Spice Dutch Baby and Greens, Eggs and Hollandaise, but I didn't take any pictures of those, even though they turned out great as well. That means I was very hungry and they smelled to good to be plated properly. 

Now, on to the cake!

Deb wrote that this recipe is based on on of her favourite cakes, the French yogurt cake, but that she didn't have any yogurt, so she used ricotta and it turned out great. I didn't have any ricotta, so I used yogurt, and it turned out great. Plus I'm a new coconut oil convert, so I really wanted to use that instead of olive oil. This turned out so well that I really want to try her original recipe when I get a chance and when I do, I'll update this post.

I made a few other minor adaptations. I added a packet of vanilla sugar, plus more lemon zest than the original 1/2 teaspoon, because when it comes to vanilla sugar and lemon zest in baked goods, I can't hold myself back!!!

Later you'll see why this is called Fourth of July Cake - but I think it's also brilliant for other celebrations, say, Easter! Happy Easter everybody!

Wet Ingredients

• 250 grams yogurt (or ricotta)
• 80 ml melted coconut oil (or olive oil)
• 1 packet of vanilla sugar (I used the regular kind, not the fancy bourbon vanilla kind, but I'm sure bourbon vanilla couldn't hurt)
• 190 grams sugar
• 1 tablespoon lemon zest
• 2 eggs

Dry Ingredients

• 190 grams flour (I used 1/2 type 405, 1/2 type 1050)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• powdered sugar (to decorate the finished cake)

Mixed-berry Coulis

• 100 ml water
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed juice
• pinch of salt 
• 185 grams of frozen mixed-berries

Preheat oven to 175C. If you're using coconut oil, hack out a couple of spoonfuls of the stuff (which is solid at room temp) into a small pot and start melting it over low heat. Don't go anywhere, because it doesn't take long! While you're waiting, cut a piece of parchment paper to line the bottom of a 23 cm springform cake pan. I do this the lazy way: Pull paper out, place on bottom of pan, fit top part over bottom part, squishing paper in place. Trim edges to avoid fire in oven. Don't skip that last step...

Anyway, by now the coconut oil will be melted, so take it off the heat. Dip a pastry brush in the oil to grease the sides of your cake pan and set it aside. Pour the oil into a mixing bowl and add the yogurt, whisking quickly. The cool yogurt will make the warm coconut oil turn solid again, but that's ok, as long as it hasn't hardened into one solid lump in the middle. Add vanilla sugar, regular sugar, lemon zest, and finally the eggs, one by one, mixing well after each ingredient.

Now - Ms. Perelman, a woman after my own heart! She tells us to sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over the wet ingredients. No second bowl. Fabulous! Once all is sifted mix gently until everything is just combined. Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 30 minutes or until the cake passes the "toothpick test". The cake in the book was only golden yellow on top, and light brown on the sides, whereas mine turned out evenly light brown all over. 

When it's done, let it cool in the pan and make the coulis. Put all the ingredients into a small saucepan (I reused my coconut oil pot) and bring to a light simmer until the fruit is defrosted, which took me about 10 minutes. Squish all the fruit with a potato masher. Pour through a strainer and squish and scrape with a spoon till you can't get any more liquidy goodness out of the mush (the mush then, sadly, goes into the garbage). 

When you're ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the cake and release it from it's springform prison. The cake looks especially beautiful with some powdered sugar sifted over the top of it! (If you drop the lid of the sugar jar onto your cake, add more powdered sugar until you mostly can't see it anymore. Mostly.)

Cut individual slices and serve with a drizzle of coulis and maybe a fresh berry or two, if you're lucky enough to have them - and it makes it very patriotic, if you like that sort of thing :-) Goes brilliantly with a hot cup of tea.

Sickie Soup

The Cold is back. The weather is just gorgeous in Berlin right now, 20 degrees and sunny, but it still feels like winter because everyone is walking around sneezing their heads off. Pretty much everyone in my office has been off sick in the last couple of weeks. Including me. It always starts so innocently ... hm, I feel a bit of a sore throat. Fatigue. Is that a headache or did I stare too much at the computer today? Next day *BAM* I feel like crap and have a full-on cold that ends up taking weeks to fully go away.

I do have a secret weapon, though. Of course, it's important to sleep as much as possible, eat lots of fruit and drink lots of soil tea (what my British friends snobbishly call any tea that isn't black). But there's one more thing. It's a simple soup, very tasty, it makes me ingest even more liquid and it truly makes me feel better.

Now, I'm not saying I stand and chop vegetables for ages, but I do sort of stumble around the kitchen, haphazardly "peel" the garlic and ginger (oh. I lefvd somb peel ond. Oh well, ind id goes) then throw in the rest of the ingredients. Heck, if you lean over the stove and breathe in some of the steam you've got your inhalation done for the next few hours too! Not that I do that.

If you're one of those fancy schmancy types with homemade broth in your fridge/freezer then, yes, use it! If not, the amount of bouillon you put in really depends on its quality and on your tastebuds, so add a little bit at a time. Leftover rice, noodles, potatoes, veggies and meat are clearly *made* for this soup, and will reduce the cooking time. But if you don't have any of that, it'll still taste good.

Sickie Soup

• ca. 1 L water plus 3-5 tsp bouillon powder (veggie or chicken are best)
• two handfuls of uncooked rice or noodles
• 1 clove garlic, peeled
• piece of ginger, about the size of your thumb, peeled and finely chopped or grated
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 green onion, chopped
• pepper to taste (go easy on the salt, bouillon is already very salty)

Stumble to the pots and pull one out, then stumble over to the faucet and eyeball about one liter of water. Stumble back to the stove and try not to spill any water on your way there. Turn on a burner, stop to blow your nose (one nostril at a time, and gently, please!). Start adding bouillon, tasting until you like the strength. Throw in the rice, ginger, smoosh the garlic in a garlic press and add it too. Wait about ten to fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure the rice isn't sticking to the bottom of the pot. Try the rice after about 10 minutes and once it's done, turn off the heat. Stir in the beaten egg - if you can stir really quickly while pouring, you'll have a smoother, creamier soup. If you stir more slowly, it'll be more like a egg drop soup ... which, by the way, is what Sickie Soup is blatantly ripping off ... Anyway, add the green onion and pepper to taste and serve with a pile of tissues, because you'll need them!

Vegan Leek and Potato Pie

Ooooh, a new blog. Bear with me, people, this is my first time blogging.

The latest thing that I've made that I'm crazy about is this amazingly easy, yet super tasty vegan leek and potato pie. It tastes really good warm, and absolutely amazing cold the next day for lunch.

As tasty as the filling is, the thing that I loved about this recipe is the crust. I've avoided pie and quiche crusts for years because I thought they were finicky and difficult. And loaded with saturated fat. Well, Mark Bittman says that Butter is Back - but I'm still sticking with olive oil for this crust, because it doesn't have to chill in the fridge. That's right, you heard me. You stir together the ingredients for the dough and then you roll it out. DONE. Like dinner.

I found this recipe after realizing that I had bought way too many leeks for my leek and potato soup. I prompted google with "recipe leek and potato" and out plopped "pie." Well, ok! 

Here's a link to Becky MacKay's recipe at The Rose Kitchen. The pie is part of her Vegan Challenge, in which she goes vegan for a week (and tricks her husband, who didn't realize her secret plans! Hilarious! I know my boyfriend would be getting antsy and start ordering burgers by Wednesday if I did that. Oh wait, that was last week.) I also want to try her Black Olive Wild Mushroom and Vegan Pesto Pizza. Yum!

Anyhoo, the amazing spelt and olive oil crust was courtesy of Natalie Ward at Cook Eat Live Vegetarian, which has drool-worthy pictures and makes me want to go to Malaga, Spain and order from her company, Fresh to Go. 

Potato and Leek Pie

(for a 9" or 23 cm baking pan)

For the filling:

• 2 leeks, sliced
• 4 potatoes, diced
• 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp dried herbs - I used an "Italian blend" but really, anything goes
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 heaping tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)

For the spelt and olive oil dough:

• 250 g spelt flour (I used whole grain)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp dried herbs
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup cold water

Preheat the oven to 180 C, oil and flour your baking pan. 

Boil or steam the potatoes until they're soft. In a large pan, simmer the leeks in the coconut milk with the spices over low heat. If they start to get dry, add a few tablespoons of water. Once they're soft, add the garlic, potatoes and nutritional yeast, stir, and turn off the heat.

Mix the flour, salt and herbs in a bowl, then drizzle in the olive oil. Stir with a fork until it's well combined and crumbly-looking. Add an ice-cube to the 1/2 cup of water, then slowly pour the water (without the ice-cube) into the flour and mix it with the fork. Once it comes together, knead it a little, but don't overwork the dough, or it will be tough.

Once it forms a ball, cut it into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll both balls out (I didn't need to flour my countertop, the dough didn't stick at all). Line your pan with larger half of the rolled out dough and fill the pie case with the vegetables. Place the smaller half of the rolled out dough over the top.  Pull the bottom layer of dough up and over the top layer, squeezing and sealing all the way around. Make a pretty decoration on the lid if you like (I kinda wanted to do the whole pi symbol thing, but then I forgot).

Bake at 180 C for 45 minutes or until the dough is bit darker in color (my flour was whole grain, so it was already brown - but it took on a bit of gold as well. I knew it was done when the crust was firm and crisp when I poked it).