No knead bread – in a pot!

Making bread has never been easier! Or better! (Because when is easy not better, really?) Bread is not what it used to be. It´s still delicious, warm from the oven with butter melting into it, and a nice crust that holds it together. That hasn´t changed. What has changed, is the making of the bread. If I only knew what I know now… That all that kneading – is not really necessary! I was taught that when making bread, the most important thing is to knead the dough, for a loooong time. And several times. If you didn´t do that, the bread wouldn´t rise, it´d turn into a compact brick-like-bread-wannebe, and without the light fluffy texture you want from a good bread. So, that was the rule! Knead like crazy!

Still, I must admit, I didn´t always have the patience (or muscle strength for that matter…) to do that. I kneaded for some time, but never as long as the recipe demanded. Maybe I could have if I had, like, a pink or turquoise Kitchen Aid…? (Ahem….someone´s birthday is coming up soon…) And do I need that now that I don´t knead anymore! I do… It has other qualities! Besides, it´s pretty! Anyways, back to the bread. I know the no-knead-thing is kind of yesterday´s news around blogland, or any land, I guess. Even this particular kind is to be found on various blogs and sites around the internet, but to me, it was new! This is my first attempt at baking bread in anything else but a bread-pan. You see. The thing is. You bake the bread in a pot! Yup – that´s right! And doing that you get a crackly crust and a moist and fluffy inside – aka – yummy bread!

The simple method involves mixing all of the ingredients, letting the dough rise for a rather flexible stretch of time (8-20 hours-ish), and baking it at a really high heat after some minimal shaping and some extra rising time in a preheated dutch oven. The steam trapped by the pot’s lid contributes to a crispy, chewy crust, while an extremely hot pot assures a high and fast rising.

And the result: A perfectly symmetric round, beautiful tasty bread!
Looks good, and tastes good. And it´s dead easy! (And no kneading involved!)

No knead bread (1 bread)

250 g wheat flour
175 g spelt flour
3,5 dl water
0,5 ts dry yeast
2 teaspoons salt

1: Mix everything together in a big bowl, using a wooden spoon. There´s no need to get your stand mixer out, but if you want to, go ahead using the paddle attachment. When everything´s throughly mixed, and there are no lumps, cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours in room temperature.

2: Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Transfer to a bowl, and let it nap for 2 hours. When you’ve got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 200C/ 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. (Mine didn´t though…but it did increase!) Remove pot from oven. Carefully transfer the dough into the hot pot, making sure not to puncture it too much. It doesn’t matter which way it lands, though. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover – aka remove the lid – and bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden. Remove and let cool on wired rack.

4: Enjoy! (Like most breads, it´s best eaten within a couple of days.)

Kanelsnurrer or Cinnamon snurrs

And if you wonder whatever that means, snurrs or kanelsnurrer, I can tell you that a kanelsnurr means cinnamon swirl or roll, and is a delicious yeast bun of Norwegian origin. And even though I found the recipe in a Danish baking book by Claus Meyer, it turned out to be Norwegian. He had tasted these buns at some baking-event in Norway, and ever since he couldn’t eat or smell anything cinnamon without thinking of the Norwegian baker Morten Schakenda’s snurrer. After several trials and errors with help and advice from many Danish bakers and chefs, he still didn’t achieve the wanted result, and had to make a trip to the Norwegian wilderness to get the recipe. More precisely, to Morten Schakenda’s bakery in Lom. Luckily, he got it! I’m thankful for that, and so should you be. The recipe is from the book “Morten Schakenda om boller og brød og tilfeldigheter fra bakeriet i Lom” that was named the best Norwegian cookbook in 2009. And what can I say: These babies are simply delicious! And it’s not just another cinnamon roll recipe, like you may think. Well, I guess it is, in a way…..but with a twist! First of all, they have another look than the ordinary rolls, which make them slightly more interesting. And, there’s a lot of butter in the dough, making them moist and buttery, and in my case a little dense – but that probably has something to do with the lack of raising. So, no density guarantee, but that’s not for everyone anyway. I, however, like it heavy…And what better way to end my fantastic Easter holiday in Norway with a traditional Norwegian recipe like this. So, I might have had my fair share of waffles – Norwegian and Belgian, chocolate cake, marsipan, ice cream and everything that consists of fat and granulated sugar last week, but I had to make a final thing, and it had to end sweet…And no regrets! The perfect end to a perfect easter.

Kanelsnurrer
Makes about 15

5 dl cold milk
50 g yeast
1 large egg
1 kg wheat flour
150 g sugar
15 g sea salt
12 g cardamom
150 g butter

Filling
125 g soft butter
125 g sugar
2 tablespoons cinnamon

Additional
1 egg for brushing
sugar for sprinkling

Directions:
Pour the milk in a bowl. (The recipe says cold milk, but I would heat it up a little, my dough hardly rose at all….) Add the fresh yeast, and stir. Add the egg, flour, sugar, salt and cardamom. Knead the dough for about 20 minutes, or when you have a soft dough that is smooth and elastic. Cut the butter into small cubes and add them into the dough that will need another 20 minutes of kneading. (The long time kneading is important for the finished result).

On a floured surface, roll out the dough to a 40 cm x 50 cm square. Or any size of choice! If you’re like me, you don’t pay much attention to those measures. But don’t be like me. Only if you want to. The bottom line is, make a big square. Spread butter onto the dough and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. With your hands, smush evertying together so that it’s evenly distributed all over. (Oops – I might have overlooked this point which might have led to a caramel mess under the buns, but it might have something to do with my generous amount of filling. And that warm sticky caramel was actually divine, so who cares about a little mess?)

Fold a third of the dough towards the middle, and fold the other third over the first one, so you have 3 layers of dough. Roll out the dough to be 30×50/60 cm and cut it in 16 shreds. Twist every shred by grabbing it in both ends, and twist the ends in opposite directions, making 4 or 5 turns. Be careful not to squeeze out the filling. Take the twisted piece of dough with one hand, and turn it twice around your other hand’s index and middle finger. Put the remaining piece of dough over these twists, place it between your index and middle finger, and pull the fingers towards you, so the end is tucked into the bun. Place the buns on abaking sheet covered with baking paper, with the twists facing upwards. Cover and let them rise to reach the double size for approximately 2 hours.

Brush the buns with eggwash and sprinkle with sugar. Bake them on 200 C for about 12-14 minutes or till they turn golden. Cool on a rack, or enjoy immediately! Perfect to break apart and eat it bit by bit, making room for a zip of black coffee in between the bites!

Agnes Cupcakes – Sea salt chocolate

FINALLY, the day for collecting our cupcakes arrived yesterday. You see, my friend and I bought these coupons where you got 6 cupcakes for the price of three sometime back in the autumn. We were planning on collecting them when my friend finally settled in her new appartment, but things got complicated, so that was delayed. We then decided to go get them some time before the holidays for a little pre-Christmas celebration. That never happened. So we decided on collecting them when our exams were done in january. That never happened either! But yesterday at school when it started to snow, we figured we definetely needed those cupcakes to survive spending the day at the library. Ohh, and am I glad we did! I bought apple, banana and sea salt chocolate, but I only tasted the last one. It was quite rich, but really, really good. Especially the frosting. So judging by that one flavour, I can higly recommend Agnes Cupcakes. And I’ve only heard other people rave about it. But cupcakes and studies go well together I can tell you! Or, actually not. We didn’t get much done, but we had a lot of fun, though. We had our little oasis in between all the dusty old books with colourful cupcakes and fresh coffee! Lovely! It certainly raised the bar for studying a bit…

Crispy crisp bread

It’s funny. Food is a matter of fashion, and very influenced by trends it seems. Somehow certain recipes find their way through the internet, among people, and become a hit. Or maybe some recipes are just that good, that they would have been spread troughout the world either way. With or without the internet. That just speeds it up. From a mother to a daughter, from a friend to another, to a colleague…
I have a feeling this is one of those recipes.

It’s happened a number of times, when I have what I think is a new recipe, to try out, I spot several similar recipes on tastespotting or other blogs. Great minds think alike, I guess. Well, it happened again. I’ve never thought of making my own crisp bread. Ever. But a few months ago I visited my mother in law, and she had made a box full of crisp bread stuffed with seeds and grains, as a part of dieting her husband. I didn’t get to taste them, but I was very intrigued by the look of them, and instantly thought of making crisp bread myself. A couple of days later I met a girl from my class to study. And as always, we started to talk about food instead of chemistry, and she told me about a colleague of her who had brought some very delicious homemade crispbread to work. Now she had been given the recipe and was making them herself. And then, after some time I visited my parents. And what did I see? My mother had joined the ride and made them too! A box full of crisp bread, looking exactly like the one my mother in law made. Well, that was it. I had no other choice than getting down to buisness. I had been thinking about it for ages, but all kitchen-activity has been put off until my exams were over. They are now, so I’ll start my to-bake list with these. I figured I could check the internet for a recipe, but didn’t really think I would find any. I mean, who makes crisp bread? Well, everyone apparently. I didn’t even get to log in to bloglovin, before a crisp bread recipe practically was threwn at me. So I found something that looked like what I had in mind. With lots and lots of stuff in it. And it’s a low carb recipe, if you’re into that.

Crisp bread
(makes about 30)

3,5 dl sunflower seeds
1 dl chia seeds
1 dl sesame seeds
2,25 dl bran
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon honey
5 dl water

Directions
Mix everything together. Leave the batter to soak for 20 minutes. Divide the batter onto two sheets lined with parchment paper. Even it out with a spatula, making it as even and thin as possible. Cut into squares with a knife or a pizza cutter. Bake on 170 C for about an hour, or until golden and crisp. Turn the sheets once or twice to make sure they’re evenly baked. When they’re done, immediately remove from the parchement paper. Allow to cool on a rack, and store in an airtight container. They can be stored for several weeks, but don’t expect them to last that long.

Mine came out very delicate and crisp. Maybe a little to crisp, because I rolled out the batter very thinly. And I forgot to cut them before I put them in the oven. I remembered after half an hour, but the damage was already done, and they very hard to cut in even squares. But don’t be like me. Cut them before you bake them, and it shouldn’t be a problem. Make them as thin as you want. But these are delicate babies, I tell you, so you’ll have to be very gentle. But for a clumsy girl like me, that’s hard. So next time I’ll probably make them a little thicker, and bake them a little longer. The taste is amazing either way. Crispy and crunchy and filled with so many good things, you can’t help feeling good eating them. You can add some spices to your liking, if you want some extra flavour. I added a little pepper and tzatziki-powder, just to spice it up a notch, and it was perfect. But don’t overdo it, the seeds are great on their own!

Pair with a slice of cheese and a cup of tea or whatever tickles your fancy. Feels good. Tastes good. And it does you good. No goofy add-ins here, it’s all natural. You’ll never return to store bought crisp bread again.

Pão de queijo – brazilian cheeseballs

If I were to pick one thing from the Brazilian kitchen, this – pão de queijo – would be it. And for me to not choose something sweet or cake like, or involving any delicious exotic fruit, well, that just means it has to be something out of the ordinary. Whenever something is chosen before cake, to me, that’s a sign of quality. When I lived in Brazil, I quickly became aware of these cheeseballs. It’s sold in all kind of cafés, it’s an easy snack on the go and everyone makes it at home. They origin from the state of Minas Gerais, but can now be find throughout Brazil. Though, if you’re ever in Minas Gerais, you can’t really miss the fact that you’re in the pão de queijo state. When I was in Belo Horisonte, the capitol of the state, I thought I’d died and gone to heaven. There was literally pão de quejio-shops, (yes!) on every corner! And some in between them. And here you didn’t buy 1 or 2 or 3 for a couple reais, oh no. You bought a bag filled with goodness. And with so many competitors, each shop had to be cheaper, or make a better offer. You could easily get 10 cheeseballs for 1 real, which is pretty close to nothing. Oh my. Happy days.

So naturally, back in Norway, the cravings began. I’d been acostumized to having pão de queijo whenever I felt like it, but it wasn’t all that easy now. The flour used for pão de queijo is farinha de mandioca, or cassava/manioc flour. And that my friend, turned out to be impossible to find. And trust me, I tried. After some time I had to face the facts – I would have to go to Brazil to get my beloved cheese balls.

But then, this easter, I was in Barcelona. Wandering around La Bouqueria which is a huge food market in Las Ramblas. And then, suddenly, between all the fruis, the sausages, cheeses and all the tapas bars, I was faced with a long lost friend. Farinha de mandioca! Cheese balls flour! And the exact same kind that I used in Brazil! I had found the Latino-booth…

And if that wasn’t good enough (Which it wasn’t. There’s only so many bags of flour you can drag across Europe) I just made a recent discovery. A newly opened shop, in my neighborhood, sells – you guessed it – farinha de mandioca. Not the same brand, but still the right kind I hope. I see a lot of cheesy weekends ahead. My life is complete.

This recipe I got from my host-mom in Brazil. Thanks Ica!
Cheese wise, anything goes I’ve been told, but I usually go for mainly parmesan cheese. That gives a nice salty flavour. And if I have some other cheese left, I put that in too. Philadelphia, Jarlsberg, Fetacheese – like I said, anything goes, but parmesan is a safe bet.

Pão de quejio
2 cups farinha de mandioca
1 cup of hot milk
2 cups of grated cheese
3 eggs
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt

Directions
Turn the oven to 200 C.
Heat up the milk, oil and salt.
Mix into the flour.
Grate the cheese and add it to the mixture together with the eggs. Add more milk if it needs more liquid. According to the recipe one should be able to form little balls, but don’t worry if the batter is to sticky. They will still taste delicous, just have a rougher look. I usually make mine about the size of a cupcake, but you can make minis or make them bigger, just adjust the baking time.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until they have a golden surface. On the outside, a golden crispy crust, but one the inside, there’s sticky melted cheese. You can eat them as they are, but as anything else in this world, it get’s better with butter. Hot from the oven, sliced in half, with some butter spread on and an additional slice of cheese just to top it off! Holy cheese-o-rama, that stuff is good. So if you have this flour available, you owe it to yourself (and to me) to try this. Enjoy!

Homemade peanut butter

I’m not really sure how the idea of making my own peanut butter entered my mind, or where it came from. All I know, is once the thought of homemade peanut butter hit me, that was pretty much all I could think of. And I cursed myself for not thinking of this sooner. But then again, peanut butter is actually a rather new acquaintance in my life, so I guess it was soon enough. We don’t go back that long, PB and I, only about a year. Of course I knew about this product, but I didn’t buy it or eat it on a regular basis. Meaning never. And you know, if a product isn’t part of your grocery shopping routine, you pass it in the aisles, and unless it is presented right in front of you, you forget that it exsits. That’s the way it works around here anyway, and that’s exactly what happened to peanut butter and me. But luckily, we reunited. For life. I will never forget you again, PB!

What made me approach the peanut butter shelf in the store, was a blog post about oatmeal and peanutbutter. I love oatmeal, and I found this combination intrigueing enough to actually buy pb. And then it was done. Iwas in love. With oatmeal and peanutbutter, and peanutbutter itself. It’s now officially on my breakfast list which consists of a few chosen items. I am extremely predictable when it comes to breakfast. I think it goes back to the days when I was a little girl, and all I liked was mayo and cucumber or mayo and tomato on my bread. But that’s another story…

Anyway. I made my peanut butter without a recipe, but there are some out there if you want to do it right. Some recipes requires oil and salt, some only oil and some only peanuts. Roasted or unroasted. I figured it couldn’t go all wrong, as long as I had the main ingredient – peanuts. And I was right, it didn’t go all wrong! I forgot to roast the peanuts (though that was the ONE thing I was going to do) but it still turned out delicious. But next time I’ll be sure to roast them, for extra flavour.

Peanut butter

Peanuts (roast for 30 minutes on 175 C)
Vegetable Oil
Salt

Place the peanuts and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Place the lid back on and continue to process while slowly drizzling in the oil and process until the mixture is smooth, 1 1/2 to 2 minutes. Take a spoon, or better yet, a finger and do a taste test. If approved, place the peanut butter in an airtight container and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 months.

Enjoy!

New old plates

There hasn’t been much blogging or baking lately. I realize that. I’m just trying to eat my way through our pantry and our freezer, before I fill it up with more stuff. But now that I have these beautiful new plates, I have to put something onto them soon.

I was at the salvation army shop yesterday. And I don’t think I’ve ever entered that shop without buying something. There’s always something. Most often – a lot of things. I love second hand shops, flea markets and the salvation army shop. It’s so much more satisfying finding something there than in – let’s say – IKEA. Not that I don’t love Ikea, but when you find something in a second hand shop, it’s so much more personal. You feel grateful and lucky for finding that one special item, and hold on to it like it was your baby. Well, maybe you don’t, but that’s my shopping style, anyway. I’ve been to one too many flea markets. That’s what 9 years in the school band does to you. It’s in my blood. My dna. I’m becoming one of those who lines up 2 hours before it opens, with my knitting, pushing my way through the queue running like a maniac to the kitchenware… No, I’m not quite there. Yet.

Anyway. Yesterday was no exeption. I found two beutiful plates that I just had to have. Especially the flower-printed one had my name on it. And raised in a flea market, I know to turn the plate to see where it’s made and what it is. And this was Figgjo Flint. My favourite! A Norwegian porcelain company whose older/retro products have become very popular. The other plate was Swedish. Don’t remember the name, and I’m too lazy to get up. Besides I bought a pack of napkin rings. Brand new!

So next thing: food. I promise. These plates – filled with something – are coming to a blog near you. Soon.